Chapter 12: The Stakes Rise in the Stone Goblin Forest

“Five big ones!” 

“Five billion?” 

“No idea, they just said ‘five big ones,’ but it’s probably not five hundred million, right?” 

Kim Jun shrugged in response to Seo Jin-yong’s question. 

“The price sounds decent, but is it doable?” 

At Seo Jin-yong’s words, Jang Jun-hyuk and Choi Yoon-seul turned their gazes to Kim Jun. 

They had ruined countless games or caused significant damage in the past, but Earth was on a different level from the games they’d tackled before.

It had no major in-game issues, nor was there a lack of players. 

Ordinary methods wouldn’t make a dent. 

“It’s not like we’re contracting to completely destroy it.” 

Kim Jun knew that bringing Earth down entirely was impossible. 

He planned to negotiate the job with conditions limited to causing a few negative incidents. 

“They’re offering to void the contract too, so we should take it.” 

“…!” 

“…!” 

At Kim Jun’s next words, expressions of shock appeared on Seo Jin-yong, Jang Jun-hyuk, and Choi Yoon-seul’s faces. 

“They’re really giving us the contract?” 

“Yeah, five big ones and the contract as payment.” 

Kim Jun nodded, answering Jang Jun-hyuk. 

Jang Jun-hyuk and Choi Yoon-seul chimed in. 

“Even if it’s five hundred million, we should take it.” 

“We have to do it! I’ve been having nightmares about being investigated because of that thing.”  

They had done illegal work to sabotage games in the past. 

While they’d erased all other evidence, the contract remained a loose end. 

As long as Jang Seok-ho held onto it, the contract was unlikely to surface unless he went mad, but the lingering possibility had always kept them on edge. 

And now, they were being offered a chance to have it destroyed? 

“Here I am!” 

At that moment, a lively voice rang out. 

The four, including Kim Jun, turned toward the source. 

The mage, Jung Ha-yeon, approached with a grin. 

Stopping in her tracks, she tilted her head and asked, 

“Why do you all look so shocked?” 

In response, Kim Jun smirked and filled her in on the conversation. 

“Wow, Jang Seok-ho must be raking it in, huh?” 

“Well, given his position, he probably is. So, what do you say?” 

“They’re voiding the contract? Of course we’re doing it!” 

Jung Ha-yeon replied with a broad smile. 

*** 

Beep-beep-beep! 

The moment the alarm blared, Kang Ju-ho opened his eyes. 

“Already…?” 

It felt like he’d just closed his eyes, and now the alarm was ringing? 

He checked the time to see if it was a mistake, but it was correct. 

Kang Ju-ho turned off the alarm and got out of bed. 

He immediately picked up the intercom and called the kitchen. 

“Yes, young master!” 

The booming voice of the head chef, Kim Tae-ho, echoed through the speaker. 

“I’ll have toast.” 

“Just eggs again?” 

“No, add some ham too.” 

“Got it! Come down in five minutes!” 

“Okay~” 

Kang Ju-ho ended the call and started stretching. 

After loosening up, he headed to the kitchen. 

The table was already set with toast and milk. 

“Thanks for the meal!” 

After finishing the toast and washing it down with milk, Kang Ju-ho stood and called out to Kim Tae-ho in the kitchen. 

“Haha, when do you want lunch?”

Kim Tae-ho emerged, laughing heartily. 

“1 PM!” 

“Something light?” 

“Yeah, I’ll be eating light for a while.” 

“Understood!” 

After hearing Kim Tae-ho’s reply, Kang Ju-ho returned to his room. 

He picked up his phone and called Kim Seok-ju. 

-Hey, hyung. You ready?

Kim Seok-ju answered shortly after. 

“Yeah, just need to brush my teeth and log in.” 

‘I’ll hop on first and work on my proficiency!’

“Cool, see you in five.” 

Kang Ju-ho ended the call, brushed his teeth, and climbed into the capsule. 

“Hyung, we’ve got a problem.” 

The moment he logged in, Kang Ju-ho heard Kim Seok-ju’s urgent voice. 

“A problem?” 

Kang Ju-ho tilted his head at the sudden news. 

“Yeah, three parties entered the forest in the short time I was here.” 

“…!” 

Kang Ju-ho was shocked by Kim Seok-ju’s next words. 

Even though Kim Seok-ju had logged in first, it hadn’t even been five minutes. 

Three parties in that short time? 

“All of them had four or five members. We’re gonna have to compete.” 

Three parties weren’t the end of it. 

Countless others had likely entered the forest before Kim Seok-ju logged in. 

In other words, endless hunting like they’d done at dawn was likely impossible now. 

“Let’s move fast.” 

Kang Ju-ho spoke with a hint of regret. 

He led the way into the forest. 

It didn’t take long for Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju to spot a group of stone goblins. 

But they didn’t stop. 

They kept walking. 

-!@#%!@ 

-@!%$@ 

Clang! Clang! Thud! 

The stone goblins were already engaged in combat with a party of five users: two healers, one tank, one melee dealer, and one ranged dealer. 

“Give me a heal!” 

“Why won’t this thing die?” 

“Exactly! I’ve hit it eight times already!” 

The users were panicking as the stone goblins refused to fall. 

Kang Ju-ho observed them and thought, 

‘Swords and bows, huh…’

The party composition wasn’t bad: one tank, two healers, two dealers—a standard, safe hunting setup. 

The problem was the dealers’ weapons. 

The melee dealer wielded a sword, and the ranged dealer used a bow. 

Stone goblins were weak to blunt weapons like hammers or clubs, taking more damage from them. 

Conversely, they were resistant to swords and bows. 

If a hammer dealt 150 damage, a sword would only deal 50—three times less. 

‘They’d have been better off with one less healer and an enchanter.’

That wasn’t the only issue. 

In their current situation, having two healers was inefficient. 

If they’d replaced one healer with an enchanter, attribute enhancements could have sped up the kills, saving mana on healing. 

Kang Ju-ho turned away with a sympathetic look and kept walking. 

Soon, he and Kim Seok-ju found an unclaimed group of stone goblins and stopped. 

As if on cue, Kim Seok-ju moved to the left to scout. 

“Seok-ju.” 

Kang Ju-ho called him back. 

“Yeah?” 

“Let’s just go.” 

Kim Seok-ju looked surprised. 

“You’re not checking?” 

Even if another group joined the fight, it could be trouble. 

“We can handle it now.” 

The group ahead had four goblins. 

Even if another group intervened, they could manage. 

“Plus, there are tons of parties around.” 

The chance of another group interfering was low with so many parties nearby. 

“Got it. Physical Enhancement! Attribute Enchantment!” 

[Physical attack power increased by 24% for 3 minutes.] 

[Weapon enchanted with water attribute for 3 minutes.] 

[Shield equipped.] 

[Shield enchanted with water attribute for 3 minutes.] 

With Kim Seok-ju’s buffs applied, Kang Ju-ho approached the goblin group. 

The goblins soon noticed him and charged. 

“Attribute Shackles!” 

Kim Seok-ju cast the spell, and Kang Ju-ho broke into a run. 

A stream of water shot from the staff, passing Kang Ju-ho and binding the goblins. 

Boom!

Kang Ju-ho’s shield bash hit the nearest goblin, sending it flying.

As always, it didn’t move after hitting the ground. 

He immediately swung his hammer at the next goblin. 

When the goblins were tightly packed, Kang Ju-ho could take down three before the shackles wore off. 

He swung his hammer and shield relentlessly, managing to kill all three before the shackles ended. 

The battle was over in less than a minute. 

After collecting the dropped items, Kang Ju-ho moved on to the next hunt. 

“It’s definitely gotten crowded.” 

“Yeah, way too crowded.” 

Finding an unclaimed group of stone goblins was no easy task. 

Too many people were hunting in the Stone Goblin Forest. 

“The slime area’s probably packed too, right?” 

“Probably. All the mages must’ve gone there.” 

Slimes, on par with stone goblins, were highly resistant to physical attacks but weak to magic. 

Mages likely flocked there. 

Even if it wasn’t crowded, Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju couldn’t switch. 

Their weapons, attributes, and skills were optimized for stone goblins, not slimes. 

Killing a stone goblin took 5 seconds, but a slime could take over a minute. 

In other words, they were stuck in the Stone Goblin Forest. 

“Should we go deeper?” 

The only way to avoid competition was to hunt deeper in the forest. 

Deeper in, the stone goblins were stronger—higher health, defense, and attack power. 

That’s why most parties stuck to the forest’s entrance or middle areas. 

“Can we handle it?” 

“Based on that last fight, I think we can. Plus, they give more experience.” 

“Hmm…” 

Kim Seok-ju let out a thoughtful hum. 

Then, with a smile, he decided. 

“Let’s do it!” 

Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju turned deeper into the forest and started walking. 

As expected, fewer parties were present deeper in. 

“Let’s hunt here.” 

Kang Ju-ho stopped, eyeing a group of six stone goblins ahead. 

“You’ll check, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

Kang Ju-ho nodded at Kim Seok-ju’s question. 

At the entrance or middle, other parties made scouting less necessary. 

But in this less populated area, they had to check. 

Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju split to the left and right to scout. 

Fortunately, no other groups were nearby. 

“Let’s go.” 

“Physical Enhancement! Attribute Enchantment!” 

[Physical attack power increased by 24% for 3 minutes.] 

[Weapon enchanted with water attribute for 3 minutes.] 

[Shield equipped.] 

[Shield enchanted with water attribute for 3 minutes.] 

With Kim Seok-ju’s buffs, Kang Ju-ho approached the goblins. 

“Attribute Shackles!” 

As always, the battle began with Kim Seok-ju’s spell. 

Kang Ju-ho opened with a shield bash, sending one goblin flying, then started taking down the bound goblins one by one. 

Thud! Thump! 

[Level Up!] 

As the fourth goblin fell, a level-up message appeared. 

“…!” 

Kang Ju-ho flinched, startled by the message. 

It wasn’t just a level-up notification. 

[Class Change Quest ‘Blacksmith of the Battlefield’ has been generated.] 

A quest generation message appeared too. 

‘Class change quest?’

Kang Ju-ho was taken aback by the message. 

-!@##@! 

But the battle wasn’t over. 

He set the message aside and focused on the fight. 

Soon, the last goblin fell, and the battle ended. 

Kang Ju-ho immediately opened the quest window to check the ‘Blacksmith of the Battlefield’ class change quest.