The Gorgon’s bulk easily dwarfed an average rhino. Its iron horns were grotesquely massive — the kind of size that made your gut clench just looking at them.

That mass, those horns, that speed — it was a dump truck with failed brakes, plain and simple. A single graze and you’d be riding the express to the River Styx, full package, one-way tour to the afterlife.

But the goblins of Asvillam? By any angle you looked, they were anything but ordinary. Look at those bulging biceps and forearms. These were warriors forged not by hellish pickaxe swings — no — by the drill manual. Solid fighters.

«Thrust!»

«Let’s thrust!»

«Waaaaaah!»

Go Byeonggap chanted, and Gobungi echoed. The 1st Infantry drove their spears in unison to the cadence. The long spears, crafted from Horn Gabri bone and Helm Beetle horn, showed devastating power.

“Kweeeek!”

The Gorgon line crumbled from the front ranks. The goblins budged back a little, but they weren’t swept away.

«Fall back!»

Go Byeonggap barked. The 1st Infantry swiftly retreated to the rear and re-formed their lines. Go Byeonggap and the raid team filled the gap.

The raid members had only just begun mastering the mid-grade manual. The internal energy they emitted was pitiful and crude compared to Byeonggap’s.

But that didn’t mean they were weak. At least against lower monsters, they held an overwhelming edge.

“Kkwuk!”

“Kkuiik!”

Gorgons screamed their death-cries and bid farewell to this world. The ways they died were all different. One lost its head, another split down the middle, one was crushed, one burned, one exploded…

Death, abundant as a harvest. Let the requiem sound!

«Thrust!»

«Let’s gooo!»

The 1st Infantry advanced again. Their momentum was like a battering ram smashing a city gate. Sharp spears shot through the gaps left by Byeonggap and the raid team.

“Kuuooooooh!”

The bastards didn’t just take it lying down. One slipped through the torrent of spears and breached. It rammed a hob goblin with its forehead.

«Kkeek!»

The struck hob goblin went flying. Lucky it wasn’t impaled directly on the horn. But the impact seemed heavy.

“Kuuooooooh!”

The Gorgon leaped high. The 1st Infantry were all spearmen, so their response to an enemy that had infiltrated the center of their formation was weak.

‘Dangerous!’

The Gorgon dropped straight down onto the fallen hob goblin. Go Byeonggap sprinted there immediately, but it seemed he’d be a hair too late.

Right then. A silent sword flew in and severed the Gorgon’s neck. Thanks to that, the hob goblin kept its life.

‘Who?’

Go Byeonggap’s eyes flew open in surprise.

«Doran?»

The owner of those fierce sword-aura lines was Doran. She stood triumphant, bracing herself with a two-handed sword whose blade was absurdly long, the tip grounded against the earth.

«Lord! I want to fight too!»

«Aye, well-timed! Join the fray!»

«Yes! Hey, dummy—get up. Now.»

«Nngh… Ah, fine.»

Doran entered the fight. She might not have mastered the formal manuals, but she was a swordsman you could trust. Her martial level rivaled the raid team’s without a single step back.

Which is exactly why she was the one running the goblins’ swordsmanship drills.

«Charge!»

«CHAAAARGE!»

Spears and horns crossed. On one side, blades extended; lightning and sorcery hailed down. From every direction, mournful groans seeped out, soaking the ground.

A longspear drove into Gorgon’s single eye, punching through to the brain. Thick saliva mixed with blood and brain matter dribbled down.

Well-honed blades drank deep of enemy flesh and splintered bone. Kiriyan and Dorma rained down every curse and spell they knew, their magical assault battering the enemy lines into collapse without mercy.

Where enemy corpses piled into mountains, they climbed over them to mop up the survivors.

The battle wound up fast. Go Byeonggap and his goblin army savored their foregone victory.

«We won!»

«Wooaaaah!»

«Lord! Lord! Lord!»

New Asvillam’s army had finished its first campaign in triumph.

* * *

«Listen up, we don’t have much time. I know you’re tired but try to move a little faster.»

«Yes, sir!»

The battle had ended faster and more overwhelmingly than expected. With time left over, they decided to harvest the meat. One-eyed though they were, they were still cattle.

‘At least we had few casualties.’

Any fierce battle left scars in one form or another. It was just a matter of degree. In that sense, the damage the goblins had taken was minor.

‘Asvillam has all kinds of medicines stocked up, so healing won’t be a problem.’

The potions he’d stocked before the expedition. Three types of healing pills bought from the Ancient Shop. With just those, even serious wounds could be wiped clean as if they never existed.

The transport of the bedridden goblins from the second floor of the building was already finished. The meat-collection work wrapped up shortly after.

«Alright, let’s do a headcount! Everyone gather around!»

«Gather!»

«Starting from Gobungi.»

«Starting!»

«Call out your numbers from the back.»

The numbers flew past quickly, starting with Gobungi. Not a single one was missing.

«Good. Everyone, head back to Asvillam quickly. Make sure to treat the new ones well.»

«Yes!»

«I’ll join you in Asvillam as soon as I can. Until then, please—let nothing go wrong.»

The goblins returned to Asvillam. Only the cold stench of blood lingered in the area that had blazed with fighting spirit.

“No time to dawdle.”

Go Byeonggap threw all his strength into working his legs. He worried whether he could make it back to the camp on time.

“If we wake the others, it’ll just make a headache. …Let’s hurry.”

As he ran, he scraped the filth off his body. There was no point in advertising he’d been in a scuffle somewhere.

‘That was close.’

12:57 AM. Go Byeonggap reached the camp. Luckily, Kim Daeyeop didn’t make a big fuss. The squad members were asleep, oblivious to the world.

“You’re later than usual today. I was starting to worry something went wrong.”

“Ahaha… I got a bit turned around on the path.”

“Hmm?”

Kim Daeyeop sniffed the air. Blood smell? He muttered, then scanned Go Byeonggap from head to toe.

“Mr. Byeonggap, did you get into a fight somewhere—”

“Aigo! You must be tired, so get inside and go to sleep. Any handover items? E-early, get inside. Hahaha.”

“…Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Of course. What could possibly happen? I just went for a short walk.”

Go Byeonggap almost shoved Kim Daeyeop into the tent. After that, he sat in the folding chair and let his weary body rest.

‘I’m beat.’

He had to wage a second battle against the drowsiness crashing down on him.

Time, as always, passed fleetingly. Night gave way to a bright day. Squad C began their day in earnest.

“As I relayed yesterday, we’ll push through to Point 25 today.”

“But is that even possible? No matter how I think about it, it seems tight.”

“We’ll have to cut meal times and work overtime. No choice if we want to match the other squads’ progress.”

“Well… then let’s get going right away.”

Squad C’s progress was slower compared to other special task forces. The reason was simple: Jeong Seongyeong was away for two days, personally handing Jo Gwangheon over.

Jo Gwangheon—that psycho’s trial was probably wrapping up around now.

Squad C finished their roughly fifteen-minute breakfast and immediately threw themselves into the mission.

It was around 10:30 AM when they wrapped up Point 24-5. The hunters were slaughtering monsters like exterminating rats.

‘Are you telling me they were just going through the motions until now?’

It was as if they were showing him firsthand how much the exceptionally skilled could achieve when they gave it their all.

The porters were sweating profusely to keep up with the hunters’ pace. Go Byeonggap was fine, already beyond the lower tier, but the other two were at death’s door.

Squad C immediately plunged into Operational Point 25.

“We’ll have an early lunch. Then, without a mid-meal break, we’ll clear Point 25 in one take. Everyone, take note.”

The three porters hurriedly prepared lunch.

He’d thought even the meal would be combat-like, but it wasn’t. Lunch passed quietly.

The squad members quietly shoveled beef fried rice into their mouths—a step up from the mountain-vegetable bibimbap. Then, out of nowhere, an exclamation burst out.

“Whoa, this is insane.”

“Huh?”

The speaker was an unexpected one: Sim Seungseop.

The squad members’ gazes naturally shifted toward him. Sim Seungseop almost never spoke unless he was on the phone with one of his girlfriends.

“Say what?”

“Whoa… Is this for real?”

Sim Seungseop just stared at his phone, letting out a sigh. Han Changhun, curiosity piqued, craned his neck and tried to get a look at the screen.

Sim Seungseop graciously handed the phone over. As if daring them to see for themselves.

“Huh? Were you looking at the news? Say what? Did someone’s dating rumor break… Huh? Wha—!?”

Han Changhun was also stunned. By then, even Bu Yeonggeon, who had seemed utterly indifferent to worldly affairs, showed interest.

“What’s the matter?”

“What is it? Hey, let me see too.”

“Something happen?”

The three crowded behind Han Changhun’s back. The porters stared at them with blank, uncertain eyes.

“What the hell is this?”

“Holy shit. Is this real?”

“It’s not some tabloid rag. Looks like it’s legit.”

“Where the hell is that? Never heard of it in my life.”

“Isn’t it somewhere in Africa?”

The squad members were horrified. Everyone wore expressions thick with shock. The atmosphere was ominous.

By then, Go Byeonggap couldn’t hold back his curiosity anymore. What the hell kind of article had they read to get a reaction like that?

“Seriously, what’s going on? Did something major happen?”

“Hey, Byeonggap. You know where Sierra Leone is?”

“Sierra… what?”

Jeong Seongyeong snatched the phone and trotted over to Go Byeonggap. Sim Seungseop muttered quietly, ‘Ah… my phone.’

Jeong Seongyeong showed Go Byeonggap the phone. The other porters nearby also fixed their eyes on the screen.

“They say a monster wave hit this place called Sierra Leone. But the scale is insane.”

“Hang on. Let me read it.”

Go Byeonggap quickly scanned the article. His usually calm expression gradually twisted into shock.

The article read as follows:

By Korean standards, it was around 2 a.m. this morning. Right when Go Byeonggap was standing guard duty.

Around that time, a monster wave of colossal proportions erupted in a country called Sierra Leone. The initial outbreak was confined to Sierra Leone, but it was now reportedly spreading across all of West Africa.

The area already devastated was several times the size of South Korea’s landmass. The number of monsters that had poured out of the rift was estimated to be well over a million.

In terms of scale alone, it was the equivalent of 4,000 A-rank rifts erupting simultaneously.

Monsters swept across Africa with their characteristic mobility. Emergency suppression efforts were launched, but they were laughably inadequate.

It was because Sierra Leone and the surrounding countries were desperately impoverished.

It was said that millions of people had already been brutally killed. Even now, lives were evaporating by the second.

Well, it figured. A million monsters strong. Even a hunter of considerable strength would struggle to survive the storm.

‘If that calamity had broken out in Korea…’

Korea would have vanished into the annals of history that very day. The thought sent a chill crawling down his spine.

“Should we really be sitting around here doing nothing?”

Jeong Seongyeong asked, pinching a cigarette between her fingers. She wasn’t directing the question at anyone in particular.

“Hmm. This might sound cold, but isn’t it none of our business? It’s not even a neighboring country.”

“What? They’re saying over three million people have already died! You heard that, right?”

“Well, of course that’s tragic. But there’s nothing we can do about it right now, is there?”

“Aish, what the hell. What kind of bullshit is this supposed to be?”

“…Alright, seems like everyone’s about done eating. Let’s get ready to move.”

Bu Yeonggeon tried to reign in the fractious mood. Jeong Seongyeong looked utterly incredulous.

“Is the operation the problem here? Shouldn’t we be contacting headquarters about this?”

“If it were a real problem, headquarters would have contacted us first. We just do our job. We came here to work, so we work.”

Bu Yeonggeon was resolute, almost to the point of seeming cold-hearted. The truth was, he had a point.

Even if the worst disaster in history was unfolding, it was happening across an ocean. There was no immediate physical threat to Korea.

Arguing about it here wouldn’t accomplish a damn thing.

“Besides,”

Bu Yeonggeon said, rising to his feet.

“Something feels off. And if that’s the case, all the more reason to wrap up this expedition as quickly as possible.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Where do you think the most dangerous place in the world is right now?”

“Africa, obviously.”

Jeong Seongyeong answered as if it were obvious. But a moment later, she caught the real meaning lurking beneath his words.

At about the same time, Go Byeonggap saw it too.

‘The most dangerous country is…’

It wasn’t the handful of African nations currently in chaos.

Then where? Some Middle Eastern country that still couldn’t stop fighting its internal wars, waging conflict day in and day out?

No. Not that either.

Go Byeonggap slowly turned his head, scanning the surrounding landscape. His eyes took in the mountain ridges, the fields, the rubble of collapsed buildings.

And above it all, countless rifts sat perched as if they had every right to be there.

“Ah.”

He let out a quiet sigh.

That was it. The most dangerous country was none other than Korea. A cramped little nation sitting beneath hundreds of thousands of rifts.

“Alright, let’s move.”

Bu Yeonggeon urged his squad members on. No one talked back to him.