Chapter 23: Gemstone Kill

Exitra picked up a piece of the boar meat he was butchering.

Then he smeared it with blood.

Ray’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Ah! I think I’ve heard that before. Giant Black Mountain Goats are sensitive to the smell of blood!”

“This is rldkhsd afbld goek…”

Alfredo clicked his tongue lightly.

Then he grabbed a piece of meat and coated it with blood.

He didn’t like it, but he fully agreed with the idea of luring the creature outside.

“Let’s go.”

“No need to say it. I’m already moving.”

Exitra and Alfredo moved quickly.

Their destination: a large clearing east of the territory.

There, they could trap the creature without putting anyone else in danger.

“Silph!”

Exitra summoned Silph.

Then, using wind magic, he directed the scent of blood straight into the Giant Black Mountain Goat’s nose.

Meeeeeeeeeh!!

The Giant Black Mountain Goat sniffed the air, turned its head toward the fleeing Exitra and Alfredo, and started chasing them.

They had successfully drawn its aggro.

— [It’s coming.]

— [Whoa, it really is chasing them after smelling the blood!]

— [But isn’t it going to catch up?]

— [Exitra has low agility and stamina, right? If he keeps running like this, he’s gonna get caught!]

— [That thing chasing them is terrifying.]

“Haha, don’t worry. There’s a reason I’m a Spirit Mage.”

Whoosh—

The wind wrapped around Exitra, pushing him forward.

“With spirits, I can run faster. And I can eliminate air resistance, so I don’t get tired as quickly either.”

It did use up some spirit power, but there was no other choice.

If he got caught before luring the creature, their entire plan would end before it even began.

— [Whoa…]

— [You can do that too?]

— [What the heck;;; This is way different from the Spirit Mages I know.]

“There it is.”

How long had they been running?

The large clearing Ray had mentioned finally came into view.

There were quite a few items lying around.

It looked like a training ground, though it hadn’t been used in a long time—everything was rusty.

“That’s the place.”

“I know.”

Tap!

The two landed in the center of the clearing.

“Drop it!”

They tossed the meat.

Just in case, to prevent the blood smell from scattering, Exitra used Gnome to bury it deep underground.

Thud!

Right on cue, the Giant Black Mountain Goat arrived.

Its massive body towered at about 5 or 6 meters tall, with a huge build to match.

Meeeeeeh!!

Its bleat was so loud, it felt like their bodies were vibrating from the sound.

‘Wh-What kind of goat is that…? Why is it so scary…?’

‘I’ve never seen a goat up close like this before…’

‘Can they even take that thing down?’

‘Is there any chance they’ll win this bet?’

“…”

Alfredo stared at the Giant Black Mountain Goat.

It was so massive, he couldn’t even imagine defeating it.

His limbs trembled, and strength left his body.

Fear.

Now that he was face to face with the beast, he finally understood.

‘I can’t win.’

It was an impossible opponent.

There was a reason it was called a disaster.

He tried to act tough, but the fear was overwhelming.

“What’s this? Are you shaking?”

Exitra raised an eyebrow as he looked at Alfredo.

“If you’re scared, you could’ve just said so.”

“When did I ever say I was scared?!”

“Oh? So you’re not scared?”

“Of course not!”

“Then why are you trembling?”

“I am not trembling!”

“Well, if you say so, I’ll believe you.”

“It’s not about believing me! I’m seriously not scared of that thing!”

Alfredo gritted his teeth.

The fear that had gripped him moments earlier disappeared.

In its place was anger.

He could handle anything—

Except being looked down on by Exitra.

“Fine. I’ll show you. I’ll take that thing down by myself!”

Alfredo confidently drew two daggers.

— [There he goes again.]

— [Yup…]

— [He fell for the provocation again… Is he always this easy to push?]

— [I’ve never seen a little brother like this before… Poor guy…]

— [Sorry, bro… It’s our fault.]

“Hmph!”

Alfredo charged at the Giant Black Mountain Goat.

Charging in with two daggers might have seemed reckless, but Alfredo’s class was Assassin.

Using his agility, he leapt onto the creature and began attacking.

‘I’ll show you! This thing’s no match for me!’

“Haap!”

With a determined yell, Alfredo slashed with his daggers.

But they did no damage.

The creature’s hide was so tough, the blades simply bounced off.

There was a reason it was called a disaster and a harbinger of restarts.

It had extremely high health, physical defense, and magic resistance.

Alfredo’s attacks couldn’t pierce it.

It made him wonder if the creature was even meant to be defeated at this stage.

It was that strong.

“What the hell…!”

Alfredo steadied himself.

He didn’t give up and continued attacking.

But nothing worked.

His daggers couldn’t even break the surface.

It was like fighting a giant ogre.

‘Damn it… How are we supposed to kill this thing?’

“Huff… Huff…”

After his nonstop attacks, Alfredo was clearly exhausted.

He had just finished a successor match earlier, hunted wild animals, and done logging.

To be honest, he was already running out of stamina.

So much had happened in a single day.

Just surviving through it all was enough to deserve praise.

— [He’s totally a boss.]

— [How are we supposed to beat that!!]

— [No! Dogry! He needs waxing!!!]

— [Impossible to kill!!]

‘Damn it…’

“What on earth is he doing?”

Alfredo wiped the sweat from his brow as he stared at Exitra.

Then his eyes widened.

“Wait, what is that guy doing?!”

‘What the hell?’

Exitra was just standing there doing nothing—just watching.

While Alfredo was clinging to the creature’s back, struggling to stay alive, Exitra was calmly standing on the ground, watching it like he was at a theater.

“What the hell are you doing!”

One of them was risking his life, and the other was just idly watching.

‘What kind of messed-up situation was this?’

“Hey! What the hell are you—”

Alfredo stopped mid-shout.

There was something unusual in Exitra’s eyes.

A state of extreme concentration.

His eyes were locked onto the Giant Black Mountain Goat, observing its every move.

‘Almost… just a little more and I’ll see it!’

— [What is Exitra doing?]

— [He’s just staring, huh?]

— [He looks super focused though.]

— [He’s about to shoot lasers from his eyes!!! ZAAAAP!!]

— [Honestly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if he did shoot lasers right now, lol]

The chat was exploding, but Exitra didn’t pay attention.

His eyes flicked rapidly back and forth.

And then, at last, his gaze sharpened.

He’d found it.

It wasn’t exactly a “strategy,” but—under the goat’s belly, just barely visible through the fur… that was it.

‘Found it. Not quite a guide-level trick, but hidden under all that fur on the lower belly… that’s the spot.’

The Giant Black Mountain Goat wasn’t meant to be beaten at this stage.

But before his regression, it had been completely analyzed—its behavior patterns, weaknesses, everything.

‘Symbol of a reset? Game over? That crap has nothing to do with me.’

“Still… I really almost took too long.”

The sun had begun to set.

Because of its black fur, the weak spot had been hard to see, and it took him longer than expected to find it.

‘If the sun had gone down completely, it might have taken even longer.’

‘In that case, Alfredo wouldn’t have held on.’

The reason Exitra brought Alfredo here was simple:

He needed someone to buy time—a decoy while he located the goat’s weakness.

The knights were useless for that.

‘I figured an assassin’s agility could dodge its attacks. Looks like I was right.’

***

Exitra began gathering spirit energy with all his might.

“Using all available spirit energy. Lock target. Set position. Select attack method.”

He was calculating everything—reading the creature’s next move and preparing the counter.

“Alfredo! Get out of there!”

“Tch!”

Alfredo sensed something was about to happen.

He kicked off the Giant Black Mountain Goat’s back and leapt far away.

The moment he was clear, Exitra launched his attack.

Vrrrmmmm!

“Gnome! Pierce it!”

Sharp stone spikes erupted from the ground.

Beneath the creature’s belly, hidden in the fur, was a small red gem.

That was its weak point.

‘Got it!’

The attack was fast and precise.

The spike drove straight toward the weak spot.

But—

[Meeehhhhhh!!!]

‘Was it animal instinct?’

The goat sensed something sharp approaching from beneath and tried to jump.

But Exitra had anticipated that too.

“Not so fast!”

Snap!

Exitra flicked his fingers.

The exact piece of ground under the goat’s hooves suddenly collapsed.

Not the whole floor—just the small spot it was stepping on.

A jump required footing.

He didn’t need to create a huge pit—just remove the contact point.

[Meeeehh!]

CRACK!

The red gem on its belly shattered under the impact of the spike.

The Giant Black Mountain Goat collapsed.

Its weakness had been destroyed, and it died instantly.

“Phew…”

[Side Quest ‘Attack of the Giant Black Mountain Goat’ has been cleared.]

[You have gained 30 points.]

[You have earned the achievement: ‘How the Hell Did You Beat That?’]

“What just happened…?”

Alfredo looked completely stunned.

It all happened in an instant.

One moment, something burst out of the ground.

The next, the massive goat had fallen dead.

Alfredo couldn’t even comprehend what had just occurred.

And neither could the viewers.

— [What just happened?]

— [What did I just watch?]

— [Did something happen??]

— [???]

They hadn’t caught what actually happened.

They only knew something had gone down.

— [Was that even an achievement?]

— [Forget that—HOW DID HE KILL IT?!]

— [Bro, the achievement name was exactly my reaction lol]

— [Wait, seriously though… what the hell did he do???]

— [???]

[‘My Eyes Are Tree Knots’ has donated ₩10,000.]

<What the heck just happened? Please explain… i…….>

“I’ll explain it for you guys.”

“While Alfredo was fighting the goat, I was watching. And then I noticed something strange—a red gem under its belly, hidden by fur. I figured it might be important, so I targeted it. Turns out, that was its weak point.”

This was a pre-planned answer.

He had expected someone to ask.

‘If I said I regressed, they’d just tell me to get checked into a psych ward.’

Besides, he had no intention of revealing the truth.

Returning to the past and possessing detailed knowledge of the game was his advantage alone.

Hidden cards should remain hidden.

— [Whoa…]

— [So the goat actually had a weak point?]

— [Couldn’t even see it.]

— [I didn’t know that at all.]

The chat was in awe.

No one had ever successfully taken down the Giant Black Mountain Goat.

And yet here was Exitra—doing it as a spirit mage, a class considered trash-tier.

It was a truly shocking feat.

No one had believed it could be done, and yet he’d pulled it off.

“Now then, I’ll distribute the stat points I got.”

Exitra opened his status window.

He had gained 30 points from defeating the goat.

He allocated 5 points each to Strength, Stamina, and Agility.

The remaining points all went into Spirit Power.

Then he closed the window.

— [Huh? He didn’t dump everything into Spirit Power?]

— [But Spirit Mages seem unbeatable when their spirit power is high…]

“Ah, well… if you only raise Spirit Power, your stats get way too unbalanced. You get super weak physically, tire out quickly, and can’t carry anything heavy.”

Focusing only on one stat had serious drawbacks.

Sure, high Spirit Power was good—but the other stats couldn’t be ignored.

“Anyway, now it’s time for the real show.”

The event wasn’t over yet.

[‘The Chairman’ has donated ₩1,000,000.]

<Doggy~ Time to take a bath. We need to wax you.>

It was time for Dogry’s full-body waxing session.