Transcendent Warrior with a Dimensional Shifting Inventory

33

＜Goblin Lord slain. As a reward, 10 seconds of return time will be credited.＞

I thought I would earn a lot of return time if I killed the Goblin Lord.

But it was the same 10 seconds as the minions.

‘What the heck is the standard?’

The return time credit system is truly incomprehensible.

Anyway, with the death of the lord, the goblins became disorganized again.

As the lord’s control disappeared, they were once again drawn to the smoke of the tomari tobacco leaves and crawled out of the underground space.

Watching this phenomenon from outside, General Drake knew that the Goblin Lord was dead.

He ordered his soldiers to open fire.

“Fire!”

Swish-

Thousands of soldiers fired their crossbows at the goblins who were hallucinating and causing trouble.

The corpses of goblins pierced by crossbow bolts piled up in the smoky tobacco smoke.

The special forces led by Minhyuk walked around deep underground, where the smoke of the tomari tobacco leaves couldn’t reach.

Then, they slaughtered all the remaining goblins in sight.

Eventually, they discovered the place where the female elves were imprisoned.

Hundreds of naked elves huddled in a corner of the underground space, shivering.

Half of them had swollen bellies.

Gasp-

There was an elf in labor, giving birth to a goblin pup.

Kee-aaak-

Goblin pups that had just crawled into the world bared their teeth and wailed at the soldiers.

“Die, you vermin!”

Swish, swish-

The soldiers stabbed them to death with their spears.

.

.

.

The special forces finally escaped through the west exit.

They had wiped out all the remaining goblins while passing through the underground space from the east exit to the west exit.

Those who came up to the ground, lured by the smell of cigarettes, had already been completely annihilated by the main force.

They had succeeded in retaking Tamirn Fortress.

Wow!

The soldiers’ cheers echoed through the sky above the fortress.

After the operation was completely over, the eastern sky began to turn gray.

＜Remaining Return Time: 1 day, 23 hours, 30 minutes, 30 seconds＞

Minhyuk’s return time had almost accumulated to two days.

Since it was noon on Sunday, he could now stay in the real world until Tuesday noon, past Monday.

Tomorrow, he would first go to the real estate office.

He would sign a contract for a house to move into.

Somewhere he could move into as soon as possible.

If possible, it would be nice if it was clean and spacious.

There should also be a place nearby to park his truck.

‘I’m finally escaping the Gosiwon.’

He felt happy, but also a bit regretful.

It was a large-scale operation where 4,000 troops were deployed to eliminate 10,000 goblins.

However, the reward for the success was only a little over a day’s worth of return time.

‘Isn’t that too stingy?’

Human nature was truly greedy.

When he was accumulating tens of minutes of return time, he felt like he could breathe easier if he just got a few more hours.

But now, even though he had accumulated two days, it felt insufficient.

He wanted to live lavishly, accumulating weeks, months, years.

The more he had, the more he wanted, just like greed for money.

‘Anyway, let’s just focus on the heart of Teiden for now.’

The princess ascended to the highest point of the fortress.

There, she planted a flag that she had prepared herself.

Flutter, flutter-

The sun rose beyond the flag of Asdel.

The princess turned her head and looked west.

Asdel’s citadel was far beyond her sight, but it was there.

‘I wish I could deliver this joyful news to Father!’

***

There was a monarch who received the news of the recapture of Tamryn Fortress before the Emperor of Asdel.

It was the King of Melbeck.

He had sent scouts near Tamryn Fortress in advance.

The King of Melbeck spoke to the ring on his hand.

“Keep a close eye on their movements.”

-Yes, sir!

The scout’s voice came out of the ring.

The King of Melbeck’s ring was a magical tool that allowed him to communicate with people far away.

It was an ancient artifact made with now-lost techniques and was an heirloom of the Melbeck royal family.

Through the ring, he could hear real-time information about Asdel’s expedition.

‘Things are going according to plan.’

The King of Melbeck made a satisfied expression.

He had not informed Asdel of Kudalkang’s death out of goodwill or loyalty.

It was an act born of his own wicked nature, which would kill others to survive.

Most of the news he sent to Asdel was true, but some of it was false.

It was true that the dragon had killed Kudalkang and absorbed his magic bead.

However, it was a blatant lie that Kudalkang’s excrement was mass-distributed in the market, informing them of Kudalkang’s death.

Melbeck also had an Altar of Gaho.

And just like the Altar of Gaho in Asdel, it was losing its power.

So they too were after Kudalkang’s heart to restore the altar’s power.

However, there was no easy way to kill Kudalkang.

Unlike Teidon, who enjoyed drinking under the moonlight.

He had to be confronted head-on.

So the previous king of Melbeck raised an army of over 200,000 to hunt down Kudalkang.

He mobilized all available manpower and resources from Melbeck Castle and formed a massive expedition to settle the score once and for all.

However, when he arrived at the lake with his army of 200,000, Kudalkang was already dead.

His heart had already been taken by the dragon.

All his hopes were dashed in vain without even a proper fight.

The previous king of Melbeck collapsed on the spot, vomiting blood from the shock.

And he returned to the castle, where he died of heartache.

Eventually, his son succeeded to the throne and became the current king.

The new king planned to use the army of 200,000 for other purposes.

Asdel’s expedition waited until they could get their hands on the Heart of Teidon, planning to seize it by force.

“We will open a new era for Melbeck with the Heart of Teidon!”

The King of Melbeck shouted to his subject.

“Call the general!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

A little while later, the general entered the palace.

“You called, Your Majesty.”

“Prepare to depart immediately!”

“Depart?”

“Lead 200,000 troops to Asdel and bring back the Heart of Teidon!”

The general’s expression was one of disbelief.

The King of Melbeck explained his plan to the general.

“I don’t know how they got their hands on that rare star metal, but no matter how good their weapons are, there’s no way 200,000 troops can’t defeat a mere 4,000. Don’t you agree, Tarman?”

The general’s name was Tarman.

He was the acquaintance General Drake had told Minhyuk about.

He had told him to seek Tarman out and finish learning swordsmanship if anything happened to him.

Clench-

Tarman gritted his teeth.

He was swallowing his anger.

He had a hunch.

The reason the late king had coughed up blood and collapsed wasn’t because of the shock of having the Heart of Kudalkang taken by the dragon.

From Noble mtl dot com

The late king had been murdered.

And the culprit was his son, the current king, who had long coveted the throne.

He had poisoned his father, taking advantage of the chaos of the expedition.

But he only had a gut feeling; he had no proof.

If he had certain evidence, he would have cut off that unfilial son’s head right then and there.

Tarman said to the king.

“We can’t take someone else’s lifeline in such a cowardly way just so we can live!”

“What! This is war! What’s cowardly about fighting a war? For the general of a nation to say something so narrow-minded. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Tarman had no intention of arguing with the king any further.

Thud-

He took off the cloak and armor he was wearing right in front of the king.

The king’s eyes widened, and he asked him.

“What are you doing?”

“I quit being a general!”

“What did you say!”

The king was furious and shouted to the soldiers nearby.

“What are you all doing? Hurry up and arrest that man! No, just kill him!”

The guards attacked Tarman with spears.

Tarman dodged their attacks with quick movements and snatched a spear from a guard.

Thud-

Thud, thud-

All of the guards collapsed at Tarman’s spear.

However, none of them had lost their lives, they had only suffered injuries to their arms and legs.

The king gritted his teeth, realizing that he could not defeat the general with force.

“That damn bastard…”

Tarman spoke to the king.

“When I come for you again, it will be to take your life!”

“What, what did you say! I’ll rip him to shreds! Listen here! Kill that bastard right now!”

The guards rushed in at the king’s cry.

Tarman broke through their encirclement and escaped the palace.

And he swore to himself.

‘I will definitely find evidence that you poisoned the late king!’

***

Since they were stationed at the fortress, it was very easy to deal with the attacks of the beasts.

Minhyuk gave his soldiers time to rest in shifts.

He had recaptured the fortress a day earlier than expected, so he gave them a reward.

After resting for about half a day, they would start collecting the Pookari fruit in earnest.

“Commander!”

An officer guarding the west entrance came running towards Minhyuk.

“What’s the matter?”

“There are elves outside!”

Minhyuk nodded.

The reason why the elves had come was obvious.

They must have come to take back their kin who had been kidnapped by the goblins.

Minhyuk went up to the castle wall.

He looked down and saw the elves.

There were about 50 of them.

They were all wearing clothes made of plant leaf fibers.

And they all had bows on their shoulders.

The elf woman standing at the front looked up at Minhyuk and shouted.

“I am Jeria, the representative of the elves living in the Konoe Forest! I have something to say to your representative!”

The elves called the forest east of Asdel ＜Konoe Forest＞.

More than 30,000 elves lived in the Konoe Forest.

The elf named Jeria was dazzlingly beautiful.

Her features were like a sculpture, her skin was like silk,

Her neckline, shoulders, waist, and hips made men lose their minds.

The soldiers looking at her gulped without realizing it.

One of the dwarf soldiers muttered in a small voice.

“Elf women are beautiful on the outside, but cold as ice on the inside.”

“What is your purpose here?” Minhyuk asked her. “I am the commander.”

“First of all, I sincerely congratulate you on your successful defense of the fortress against the goblins! And I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“I would like to take our kin, who were captured by the goblins, back to their original homes.”

Minhyuk spoke to her in a cold tone. “Even though you knew your kin were being held captive by the goblins and suffering terribly, what have you all been doing up until now? What were you doing, that you’ve only just now shown up to take them back?”

“…”

Jeria couldn’t speak.

She just blushed in shame.

A moment passed in silence.

Then Minhyuk spoke again.

“Take all of your kin.”

Jeria’s eyes widened, and she asked Minhyuk, “Yes? Really?”

“But there is a condition. In order to take them, you must first bring me something of equal value.”

“We live in poverty in the forest! We have nothing to give someone like you!”

Minhyuk told her the condition for taking her kin.

“Bring me 100,000 Pukari Berries.”