Chapter 10

010. Outside the Well. (5)

010.

Invisible Hand.

This is a skill of the rare grade that I obtained as my second reward from the Awakening Room.

The first ability fitting its name, "Invisible Hand," is "Psychokinesis."

The ability to exert physical force that cannot be seen with the naked eye using magic power.

It was a kind of power that often appeared in movies and comics.

'Psychokinetic Explosion.'

However, compared to the second ability, "Psychokinetic Explosion," the psychokinesis was actually a very mild power.

Psychokinetic energy, which refers to the processed magic power used to manipulate psychokinesis.

Psychokinetic Explosion is the ability to make this psychokinetic energy explode.

A power I haven't used in actual combat yet.

I had only experimented with it a few times very weakly.

Now, I unleashed the Psychokinetic Explosion at full power.

“Kyaah!”

Goblins trying to squeeze through the slightly open door.

Monsters that made one shudder just by the snake-like eyes they revealed.

At least twenty of these monsters bared their killing intent to kill me.

I poured psychokinetic energy through the gap.

Zzzz, Whiiing!

‘Gulp.’

My magic power ability is ‘6’.

The sum of the ‘1’ I received when I first awakened and the ‘5’ free ability points I gained when my level opened.

It was the maximum investment I could make at this point.

However, unlike when I used psychokinesis casually, my heart felt constricted.

The pain that made it hard to breathe was a threat from my heart, warning me not to push it further.

The psychokinetic energy, which was violently fluctuating, even urged me to make it explode.

‘Explode.’

Crack!

Even though it was not a tangible force, the psychokinesis exerted a physical force.

The psychokinetic energy gathered and distorted the space.

The view through the door gap twisted, and a dangerous smell spread intensely.

“Close it!”

Everyone here could sense that something was wrong.

My shout was proof that there was no hesitation in their actions.

The door was closed.

And.

Crack, Boom───.

“Ugh!”

“Cough.”

The shock and roar from the other side of the fire door.

It felt like a bomb had exploded, and all we could do was hold onto the door.

Fortunately, the time didn’t last long.

The Psychokinetic Explosion, which left no trace, quickly subsided, making the surroundings calm.

Everyone held their breath, trying to figure out what had happened.

Ding!

Of course, I had to receive a message, which I didn’t have the mental capacity to do.

.

.

.

The message that kept popping up said that I had killed goblins.

I had killed goblins even before awakening, but this was the first time I received such a message.

And, as expected, the first message I encountered continued.

System experience and gold.

It felt like I was playing an RPG game.

I had already predicted this to some extent by looking at the status window.

A system that gives skills and items, but if you can’t predict the levels and gold, aren’t you a fool?

I’m not that kind of fool, so I focused on understanding the value of the experience and gold.

‘One goblin gives 1 experience and 1 gold.’

The goblins killed by the Psychokinetic Explosion totaled 21.

It was a straightforward number, so there was no need for calculation.

And my eyes naturally moved to the status.

Ding!

─── ◆ STATUS ◆ ───

▶[ Endurance: 008 ]

▶[ Agility: 006 ]

▶[ Magic: 006 ]

[ Gold ]

▶[ 135, 250, 021 ]

─────────────

The received experience increased the percentage next to the level by 21.

In other words, I needed to kill 100 goblins to reach level ‘2’.

This meant that leveling up would be more challenging than I thought.

However, the experience points didn’t really catch my eye.

‘...The insurance money is insane.’

I just realized how enormous the over 100 million gold I received was.

A strange thrill ran through my body.

* * *

I wiped out the goblins that had gathered with the Psychokinetic Explosion.

However, there were a lot of goblins.

Every time we went down a floor, more than ten monsters rushed at us.

Although the Psychokinetic Explosion showed its powerful force, it was still difficult to use comfortably.

The magic power consumption was high, so I needed to rest after using it once or twice.

Most importantly, the strong backlash that my body couldn’t endure made me reluctant to use it.

“Huff.”

Whoosh, Slash!

“Squeak!”

“Chirp...”

Still, we pushed forward step by step.

Chasuhyun, who had the power of Wind Claws, calmly killed one by one, unlike me who used excessive force.

Of course, she couldn’t handle all the goblins alone.

We needed to combine our strength to break through this path.

Dongchan and Jinho, who held shields and spears, swung their weapons diligently.

However, they, who had not yet awakened, had clear limitations.

Ping, Thud.

Whoosh!

“Squeal!”

Ding!

Filling the gap was my responsibility.

The combination of the skill ability ‘Psychokinesis’ and the item ‘Flame Dagger’.

Using psychokinesis to eliminate the short reach of the dagger, the efficiency was insane.

‘It’s like a telekinetic sword from a martial arts novel.’

A telekinetic sword, where great masters control their swords by infusing their will into them.

In this world that has become a game, such beings might appear someday.

However, I didn’t need to wait long and successfully implemented it in reality.

Of course, it was embarrassing to call it an incredible destructive power.

‘It still doesn’t move.’

While I was busy launching the Flame Dagger into the air to snipe goblins, my eyes kept watching the cat knight standing next to me.

A strange being walking through the blood-soaked battlefield as if on a stroll.

He seemed to have no intention of joining the fight.

In fact, this was partly due to my request.

‘If Melaipa kills them, the experience and gold will be lost.’

The sword wielded by this cat knight easily split goblins in two.

A grateful being who saved my life, but his skill was so terrifying even to me.

The goblins he killed left nothing behind.

As a mercenary under my command, it was clearly unfair for the experience and gold to disappear into thin air.

However, since there was no one to complain to, I restrained him for now.

To wait until I was in a dangerous situation or until I requested it.

‘Still, we haven’t even reached half.’

Even though I had thrown myself into danger, leveling up was still a distant goal.

The number 100 was a much larger scale than I thought, making it inevitable.

“Eek! Ahhh!”

Among everyone fighting with the strength of a hundred, the only one who was still a civilian and not a warrior was Seona Kim.

She, who couldn’t pull herself together, was trembling and clinging to my collar.

Her high-pitched screams also attracted more goblins, making our situation worse.

However, there was no room to take care of Seona Kim.

If she continued to lose her composure, it would likely lead to a bad outcome.

Reading my expression, she flinched, shuddered, and covered her mouth with her hand, showing that she was quick to notice.

“Damn. There are so many!”

The 1st floor, where we had struggled to reach.

The lobby, which should welcome guests, was filled with monsters instead.

It was impossible to think of escaping.

“Phew. If I fall, take care of me.”

“Are you crazy? That thing earlier?”

“Yeah. Block the door well.”

Seeing the goblins rushing through the open door, I had no choice but to use it.

No matter how much my body protested, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to kill dozens of goblins at once.

The magic power inside me surged violently.

‘Psychokinetic Explosion.’

Zzzz, Whiiing!

Crack!

The people who blocked the door without me had already found the rhythm.

Beyond the door they were holding, space exploded.

Ding!

.

.

.

‘Ah, I feel like I’m going to die.’

My body, which was fine even during a 40-kilometer march in the military, collapsed like a power outage.

I barely held on to my consciousness because the situation wasn’t over yet.

Dongchan supported me.

In the fading consciousness, I realized that a massacre of goblins had occurred.

It was a risky move, but it produced good results.

Ding!

And the message I had been waiting for continued.

A faint smile appeared on my lips.

* * *

After killing most of the goblins with the Psychokinetic Explosion, we escaped the company building.

Even after getting out of the well, we still had to run and dash.

The goblins, which were too numerous to handle, didn’t leave us alone.

“Block that side!”

“Okay!”

The reason we could hold on was largely due to my improved performance as my level increased.

However, that wasn’t all.

Dongchan and Jinho, who had killed ten goblins and awakened, also provided significant help.

Crack, crack, crack.

While running, I spoke, and Jinho, who stopped, touched the ground.

Soon, the asphalt trembled and a wall of earth rose.

The red earth wall, which was surprisingly solid, perfectly blocked the path of the charging goblins.

This was the power Jinho obtained upon awakening, a skill to manipulate the earth.

He didn’t give the exact name but said it was a technique to control the earth.

It was clearly a useful power, just by looking at it.

“Goblins are coming from the front too!”

However, blocking the back meant the front this time.

With goblins everywhere, it was inevitable.

“Die!”

Dongchan took charge of the front.

He swung a hammer the size of a human head at the goblins, cursing them.

Whoosh.

Thud.

“...Gasp.”

It looked like a clumsy swing, but the hammer hit the goblin’s head, completely caving it in.

The monster, unable to even groan, fell to the ground.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Thud, thud, thud!

“Die! You bastards!”

Dongchan, who had invested all his free ability points into strength and endurance.

He was already strong and had become even more monstrous.

Swinging the rare-grade battle hammer, he looked like a barbarian.

Thanks to Dongchan’s overwhelming presence, the front became easier.

When Chasuhyun joined and I launched the Flame Dagger, the monsters soon collapsed.

“I can see it! There’s a blue door! Don’t stop, keep running!”

Finally, our destination was in sight.

I don’t know what’s good about being close to the company, but Dongchan’s apartment building was already in sight.

We squeezed out our strength and ran towards the building entrance.

“There are some inside too!”

Unfortunately, goblins poked their heads out from inside the apartment building, greeting us.

Their eyes, filled with killing intent, welcomed us intensely, beckoning us to come in.

“Why wouldn’t there be? Push through!”

“Stop coming out, you cockroach-like monsters!”

Dongchan, excited by the fact that there were monsters in his own home, squeezed out his remaining strength, and I supported from behind.

Fortunately, there weren’t many, so we could quickly clear them.

“Jinho, block the entrance.”

“Okay.”

Crack, crack, crack!

Since the distance to the goblins chasing us was quite far, Jinho moved leisurely.

As his hand touched the ground, the wall of earth soon separated the inside and outside of the building.

And we finally collapsed.

“Phew. It’s so tiring.”

“You talk like that, but you fought like a dog?”

“Haha, all thanks to this. Rare-grade is the best.”

He could handle the heavy battle hammer well because it was a rare-grade item.

It was a weapon with an inherent battle skill for handling the hammer, which is why I could entrust the front to him.

It was quite a fortunate thing.

“Let’s rest for a moment and then go up. I’m drained.”

“Yeah. Let’s all rest for 10 minutes and check for injuries.”

We decided to take a short break before moving up.

Moving with exhausted bodies was not a good way to advance in an area where safety was not secured.

Since 10 minutes was quite enough time for us, who had already awakened, to recover.

However, it was hard to rest comfortably.

“W-Who are you! How did you get here!”

A group of people greeted us.