The Automatic Rooting Range Is Too Wide - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Auto Looting Range Too Wide Episode 22

Episode 22: Spring Day Event (3)

It was when the two people acknowledged Mincheol’s skills.

【All members have been recruited!】

【The monsters inhabiting the Event Stage will now be revealed!】

【Hunt as many ‘Hop Goblins’ as possible!】

A specific message appeared about which monsters to hunt in the Event Stage.

As soon as they saw the message, Kim Cheol-su and Aunt sighed.

“Damn, Hop Goblins?”

“Oh my god… We have to fight those horrible creatures.”

Only Mincheol didn’t understand the situation.

“Are Hop Goblins that dangerous?”

Mincheol was hearing the name Hop Goblin for the first time.

Even in all the games he’d played, while he’d seen many goblins, he’d never encountered Hop Goblins.

He could only vaguely guess they might be some kind of special goblin.

“Are you serious right now? How many floors have you climbed without knowing about Hop Goblins?”

“I haven’t passed the 10th Floor yet.”

Mincheol spoke vaguely about his floor level.

He judged there was nothing good about being too specific.

The man who heard Mincheol’s answer nodded with an expression as if he’d expected it.

“Well, that figures. There’s no way someone who splits trees by throwing axes would have a low floor level… What? You haven’t passed it?”

Both people stared at Mincheol with shocked faces.

“Someone who hasn’t even passed the 10th Floor… splits live wood with throwing?”

“Then it makes sense you wouldn’t know. Hop Goblins are monsters that appear starting from the 11th Floor.”

Was not passing the 10th Floor really that surprising?

Mincheol, feeling slightly annoyed, asked the two people.

“What floors are you two climbing?”

“I’m on the 13th Floor.”

“I’m on the 14th Floor.”

This time it was Mincheol’s turn to be surprised.

‘They didn’t look that strong?’

Who would have thought both of them were his seniors?

Naturally, he became worried.

How strong could Hop Goblins be to make even people climbing the 13th and 14th Floors reluctant?

“What exactly are these Hop Goblins?”

At Mincheol’s question, Aunt explained step by step.

“Simply put, you could say they’re tall goblins.”

“Then there’s no need to be scared, right?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. They’re not just tall. They’re stronger and smarter too. Imagine it. Monsters as cunning and aggressive as goblins, but with big bodies too.”

When he imagined it, it felt quite eerie.

Now he could understand why the two people were so despairing.

“Even though Hop Goblins appear after the 11th Floor, they’re very rare below the 15th Floor. But this event says only Hop Goblins will appear, so we naturally cursed.”

In game terms, didn’t that mean only elite monsters that occasionally appeared would show up?

There was good reason why the two people cursed first.

‘But they’re kinder than I expected.’

Despite their fierce appearance and intimidating build, they were very gentle people.

Mincheol silently apologized for judging them based on their appearance alone.

“Seems like the explanation is done, shall we start moving?”

Then, Kim Cheol-su, who had been listening quietly, spoke.

“How should we arrange our formation? I think it would be better for us two who have faced Hop Goblins to take the front line.”

“You’re smart, young man. Let’s do that. Since this friend seems to specialize in throwing, having him take the rear would be best.”

Aunt readily agreed. Naturally, Mincheol decided to follow that opinion too.

* * *

The three people began wandering through the Forest, each taking their positions.

“Kieeeek!”

“Aaaah! I got stabbed! This bastard stabbed me!”

“Behind! It appeared from behind!”

Occasionally, shouts and screams could be heard from far away.

Somewhere out of sight, everyone seemed to be fighting hard against Hop Goblins.

“Stop.”

Then, Kim Cheol-su stopped the two people and said while staring at the thick bushes.

“Two of them.”

As soon as he finished speaking, two Hop Goblins burst out through the bushes.

“Uryaaah!”

As soon as the Hop Goblins appeared, Aunt rushed forward.

Kwang-.

After striking one hard with her shield, she swung her war hammer.

“Kieek!”

But the Hop Goblin was no pushover either. As soon as it got hit by the shield, it stepped back and dodged the war hammer.

“Haah!”

The situation on Kim Cheol-su’s side wasn’t much different.

He swung his machete widely, but the Hop Goblin dodged it leisurely.

And it licked its lips with its dirty tongue while glaring at Kim Cheol-su.

‘Damn, they really are troublesome bastards.’

‘Even one is troublesome, but two of them appeared.’

The two people stared at the two Hop Goblins with tense faces.

This was why they sighed when they heard about Hop Goblins.

Hop Goblins only shared the name; they had to be considered completely different monsters from goblins.

They were smarter, stronger, and more dangerous.

Guild awakeners might be different, but they were burdensome monsters for ordinary awakeners.

‘When the hunter throws projectiles, there will be an opening, so I need to aim for that moment.’

‘I need to stay as close as possible so the hunter can hit them.’

But right now, they weren’t alone but formed a party.

Trusting Mincheol behind them, they started the battle again…

Then, with the sound of tearing wind, something brushed past both their faces.

With a dull sound, the Hop Goblins flew backward.

Lying spread-eagled on the ground and trembling, the Hop Goblins had hand axes embedded in their chests.

The axes were struck so hard that the blades were buried so deep they couldn’t be seen.

Without needing to check, they were instant kills.

“…”

“…”

The two people turned around with shocked faces.

Then they saw Mincheol taking out hand axes from his inventory.

Suddenly receiving focused attention, Mincheol asked with a puzzled face.

“Huh? Why?”

The two were so shocked they couldn’t say anything.

Hop Goblins were monsters with exceptionally fast reaction speeds.

The fact that it casually dodged even when the two swung their weapons was proof of that.

On top of that, their vitality was extraordinary. They calmly ignored wounds that would have killed a human.

Yet those Hop Goblins not only failed to dodge the axe, but died in a single blow.

And this was against an awakener who was only climbing the 9th floor.

‘…He’s even more of a monster than I thought?’

‘Is he some super rookie being raised by a large guild?’

While the two were in shock, Mincheol approached the Hop Goblin and pulled out his hand axe.

He placed the blood-stained axe on his shoulder and said to the two.

“What are you doing? We need to go hunt more.”

* * *

The three wandered through the forest, continuously hunting Hop Goblins.

“Hunter! Over there! There’s one running away!”

“Hunter! I’ll distract it!”

The hunt went very smoothly.

When the two held down the Hop Goblins, Mincheol would immediately throw his hand axe to finish them off.

The battles ended so quickly that there was no time to get injured, let alone waste stamina.

Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There was a dangerous moment along the way.

A Hop Goblin that jumped out from behind ambushed Mincheol.

“Hunter!”

“No!”

Kim Cheol-su and Aunt couldn’t help but be terrified.

Humans couldn’t be excellent in every aspect.

They thought that since Mincheol excelled at throwing, he would be weak in close combat.

“Kieek! Keueeek!”

But contrary to their worries, Mincheol kicked the Hop Goblin’s knee to break it, then split its head with his hand axe.

It was over in the blink of an eye.

“…”

“…”

Seeing Mincheol instantly dispatch the Hop Goblin, the two could only be stunned again.

The Hop Goblin that they had trouble facing even one of was killed in an instant.

And by an awakener who hadn’t even reached the 10th floor yet.

‘I don’t want to admit it, but…’

‘Aren’t we unnecessary…?’

After hunting Hop Goblins for a while, the three decided to take a short break.

“This place seems safe.”

Kim Cheol-su, who had been surveying the surroundings, said to the two.

Mincheol asked Kim Cheol-su with a curious expression.

“I’ve been wondering since earlier, how do you know when monsters are approaching?”

“It’s my unique skill. Don’t pry any further.”

Unique skills were an awakener’s greatest weapon and secret.

Unless the other party spoke about it, prying was rude behavior.

The three each found a spot and sat down to rest.

Then, a rumbling sound came from Kim Cheol-su’s stomach.

“Ahem.”

Kim Cheol-su coughed to hide his embarrassment.

“You’re hungry, right? This damn Tower is really troublesome at times like this.”

Aunt said with a laugh.

You couldn’t bring items from Earth into the Tower.

Only items made from Tower materials could be brought in.

Food was the same. The problem was that food made from Tower materials was expensive.

Even hardtack that cost a thousand won on Earth cost tens of thousands of won here.

So except for upper-floor awakeners who earned big money, no one bought food as a general rule.

“Everyone seems hungry, so please have some of this.”

Of course, for Mincheol whose finances were comfortable thanks to auto looting, this didn’t matter at all.

Mincheol took out various snacks from his inventory and handed them to the two.

The two who received the snacks asked with surprised faces.

“No, how did you get this…”

“They said the event would be a long battle, so I brought some along.”

“That’s not what I mean…”

“Would you like some water too?”

Mincheol also took out several canteens. The two were even more shocked.

“Hand axes and even food… Young man, just how much is your inventory capacity?”

“20kg.”

It was actually 40kg, but he didn’t answer honestly.

This was due to advice from Hunter Community user King Burger to hide personal information as much as possible.

“2, 20kg you said?”

“Young man, are you really affiliated with a large guild?”

“How much do you two have?”

“Obviously 5kg.”

“Same here.”

From their answers, Mincheol realized his mistake.

He had forgotten because he was getting them so naturally through EX-grade rewards.

Inventory expansion tickets were such precious items that even top-tier users couldn’t get them.

【We will now tally the intermediate rankings!】

Then, a message appeared.

【Before announcing the rankings, you may decide on a team name.】

“That’s what it says, so what should we do?”

Mincheol asked the two. The two looked at each other’s faces, then spoke simultaneously.

“I don’t care what we decide on.”

“Just call it Hand Axe.”

Mincheol didn’t care either, so he decided to follow Aunt’s suggestion.

【You have set your team name as ‘Hand Axe’.】

【The intermediate rankings will be announced.】

【1st Place: Seol-aeng.】

At the mention of Seol-aeng, Mincheol tilted his head.

“Seol-aeng? Could it be the Seol-aeng I know?”

“Nothing strange about it. In events, people who want to can team up together.”

“Isn’t that a bit unfair?”

Mincheol asked as if it was absurd. Then Kim Cheol-su shrugged his shoulders.

“The Tower is inherently unfair anyway. Just look at unique skills.”

At the mention of unique skills, Mincheol had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

After all, wasn’t he himself sweeping up EX-grade rewards thanks to luckily obtaining auto looting?

【2nd place….】

【3rd place….】

The rankings continued to be announced after that. There were even some famous guilds that Mincheol had heard of at least once.

【12th place: Hand Axe.】

“What? 12th place?”

“Is this for real? We didn’t see it wrong, did we?”

As soon as the ranking was revealed, the two people let out cheers of joy.

“Is being 12th place really that amazing?”

“Amazing? Of course! I’ve never placed in the top 20 in any event before!”

“M-me too!”

Unlike the two celebrating people, Mincheol felt somewhat disappointed.

‘If I could have used auto looting, I could have gotten a higher ranking.’

Using auto looting would have let him throw hand axes to his heart’s content.

Then he could have achieved a higher ranking than now.

‘But I can’t reveal auto looting just for the sake of rankings.’

Mincheol had no intention of revealing that he was the Zero-second Swordsman.

That’s why he was hiding auto looting when with other people.

If someone noticed the existence of auto looting, there was a risk they might associate it with the Zero-second Swordsman.

While Mincheol was thinking this.

Suddenly Kim Cheol-su’s expression changed.

“Someone’s coming.”

At Kim Cheol-su’s words, the two people immediately stood up from their seats.

Along with the sound of rustling through bushes, three people revealed themselves.

Just looking at their appearance, they seemed ordinary. They had no tattoos, and their eyes looked gentle.

The problem was their reaction.

“Oh, people! We found more people!”

“Wow, finding them this quickly – what good luck.”

“I told you I was right! I said they’d be around here!”

They showed no wariness at all upon seeing Mincheol’s group. Instead, they grinned and rejoiced.

Seeing their reaction, Kim Cheol-su and Aunt’s faces darkened.

‘Damn, they’re PKers (Player killers).’

‘Looking at their reaction, these guys have killed a lot of people.’

In events, the benefits gained from killing other awakeners were greater than focusing on quests.

Moreover, awakeners who died in competitions were revived. In other words, the psychological burden of murder was reduced.

Due to these factors, awakeners who specialized in killing other awakeners – the so-called PKers – would sometimes appear.

“We want to buy some things but we’re short on points.”

“Don’t think about resisting. If you do, you’ll die painfully.”

“Oh, and don’t try to run either? I hate troublesome things. I might lose my temper and do something terrible.”

Kim Cheol-su and Aunt swallowed dryly.

They had encountered various PKers while participating in events.

These three were particularly vicious among PKers.

‘What should we do? Should we fight?’

‘If we get eliminated here, we’ll lose half our points.’

While the two were conflicted.

Something brushed past the sides of their faces.

At the same time, hand axes embedded themselves in the faces of two PKers.

Kim Cheol-su and Aunt turned around in shock.

There they saw Mincheol frozen in the position of having thrown hand axes.

* * *

‘Wow, they really showed up.’

As soon as the three PKers appeared, Mincheol couldn’t help but tense up.

He had already fought awakeners on the 5th Floor, but that was only once.

He still had some aversion to PVP.

But thinking of the event rewards, he couldn’t easily back down.

‘What would Michael Alzen have done?’

Mincheol recalled the video of Michael Alzen he had watched last night.

-Hey, you idiots, listen carefully. A fight doesn’t start only when you draw your weapons!

-There’s an atmosphere before that. You can tell from that atmosphere whether a fight will break out or not.

-Why am I saying this? So you don’t get screwed over like idiots waiting for the other side to draw their weapons.

-First strike wins! Got it? If you don’t know, drill it into your skull.

-If it’s an unavoidable fight, throw the first punch! That’s how you win!

‘A surprise first strike. How could I do something so terrible.’

But even on the 5th Floor, following Michael Alzen’s teachings had saved him from losses.

‘Ah, PVP really doesn’t suit me.’

Mincheol sighed deeply as he took out hand axes from his inventory.

‘I really don’t want to do this… But if I’m going to do it anyway, I might as well kill them for sure, right?’

Mincheol aimed for the faces of two PKers and threw his hand axes.

And with great force at that.

Thunk, thunk.

With dull sounds, the two men’s heads split open.

The remaining person looked at Mincheol with an incredulous expression.

-You know what people and monsters have in common? If you lose in momentum, you’re screwed!

Mincheol recalled Michael Alzen’s first teaching.

“Where do you fucking bastards get off spouting bullshit?”

Mincheol faithfully practiced Michael Alzen’s teachings.

“Come at me, you piece of shit! I’ll bury your head in Samdocheon like your grandfather!”

Quite refreshingly at that.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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