Apostle of the Void

Chapter 23 - The First Journey on a Strange Continent (3)

The request area was said to be a half-day’s walk through the forest from here.

It’s different from Karshiko.

In Karshiko, the city was right on the surface, so you could easily access medical facilities if anything went wrong.

But in a rural place like this, you can’t expect that kind of support.

"Give me a private room."

Arzen unpacked his things in the guild\'s lodging. Being a rural branch, it was about 30% cheaper compared to the big cities. Affordable.

On the way here, he had noticed an alchemist’s shop, where the owner was haggling with a herbalist over the price of herbs. The way the alchemist meticulously pointed out the quality of each herb showed he only bought the best, which made Arzen trust him.

"How much for a stamina potion?"

The alchemist enthusiastically pointed to each glass bottle on display as he explained.

“This one’s almost pure extract—give it to a dying granny, and she’ll be dancing in no time. One silver coin.”

"Hmm."

“The next one is diluted by half—it’s a high-grade potion, 50 copper coins.”

"Alright."

“The one diluted again from that is mid-grade, 25 copper coins.”

"Hmm."

“And the low-grade potion is 10 copper coins each."

“They all look thick and either green or blood-red. They look disgusting.”

“Hey, kid! I get that you’re young and don’t know much, but didn’t your parents teach you? The nastier it tastes, the better it is for your body.”

He didn’t seem like the type to bargain.

But Arzen knew the prices were close to the standard rates, so he wasn’t being ripped off either.

However, there’s always a way to find a loophole—something Arzen had learned from The Divine Guillotine.

“Hey, old man. I’m planning to give this potion to my grandma right away. If she doesn’t start dancing, can I get a refund?”

“It’s just a figure of speech! Of course, it’s not literal.”

“Then isn’t that false advertising?”

“Ugh.”

“If you don’t want to get reported, give me two mid-grade potions for 20 copper coins each.”

“I can’t go lower than 23 copper coins each.”

“And I was also hurt when you brought up my parents since they’re dead. Can I talk about that somewhere, too?”

“22 copper coins.”

“Deal.”

“Good.”

After sealing the deal, Arzen stopped by the hardware store and bought a few thin copper plates.

He then went to a tailor shop and asked them to sew the plates into the lining of his Akahalu hide robe.

Goblins may be poorly armed with stone knives, but they’re cunning enough to coat their weapons in poison, so a wound near the organs could be fatal.

“Granny, know any good places to eat around here?”

“There’s nothing special in this rural place. But if you go three blocks left, you’ll find a restaurant run by Sini. It’s decent enough.”

“Thanks. You’ll have my robe done by tomorrow morning, right? I’m leaving tomorrow.”

"I was called the Queen of Repairs back in my day, you brat. Don’t worry; just eat well and clean your feet before going to bed."

"Pfft, even so, calling yourself a queen is a bit much."

After taking a hard hit from the old lady, I stepped outside.

The restaurant recommended by the repair shop didn’t exactly serve anything special.

However, the sandwich made with summer mountain herbs was quite impressive.

The main ingredient, the egg, was a lightly cooked soft-boiled egg, and it didn’t have any fishy taste—just a healthy flavor, which was nice.

Arzen always preferred outdoor tables, no matter which restaurant he went to.

The evening atmosphere in the countryside felt much richer compared to the city.

It might be because of the thick scent of the forest.

"The cicadas are still chirping even at night," Arzen murmured as he finished off his sandwich.

Before long, the birds\' chirping diminished, and the nighttime insects began to sing.

After settling the bill, Arzen returned to the branch’s lodging.

"I had planned to focus on training in the Void…"

Feeling quite fatigued from the journey, Arzen collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

"Right over there."

The mission area was a coal mining town.

"Indeed…"

Coal mines tend to be vast compared to typical caves.

Naturally, this also meant a larger number of goblin colonies.

"Those pests are making it impossible to work. But they don’t even come to take on the job."

"Hmm."

"Adventurers have been coming in groups, but after a few attempts, they just give up and leave. Now a kid like you shows up…"

Hearing that, Arzen pretended to hold back tears and said, "Sir, I didn’t really want to come here either. But I couldn’t just watch the goblins run rampant… I wanted to be of some help, even if it’s just a little…"

The locals who guided Arzen to the mission area felt their eyes moisten at his brave and noble spirit.

"I’m really sorry!"

"I didn’t realize you were such a remarkable child!"

"We should at least make sure you have something to eat."

They were so easily swayed.

"I was born a genius at acting and looks, so I can’t help but earn favor with the world!"

Building goodwill with the client is essential for a higher performance rating.

Completing the mission can lead to a greater contribution score from the guild.

In short, it’s a necessary task for rapid advancement.

"Could you give me a rough map of the mine?"

Looking at the map, it was clear that the mine extended three underground levels deep.

So, it was likely that goblins had multiplied inside like ants.

But in front of Arzen, this posed no problem at all.

"I could clear it out in a day."

Goblin extermination was merely a secondary goal.

"My real objective is to unlock the two skills I missed while chasing after the garbage known as ‘romance!’"

Goblins are nocturnal creatures.

During the day, they were quite feeble, resembling the lowest tier of steel-ranked adventurers.

So, he decided to take them out in bulk during the day.

"Should I, a being who has played in the celestial realm of adventurers, be stuck catching goblins all day, you worker bee? Kaz to Arcturus!"

The Apostle\'s commands are absolute.

The servants of the Void responded to that command, gnawing through dimensions and slipping out through the gaps.

"Su Ja Kunia."

"Su Ja Heros."

The servants fused their bodies, mutating their physical structures to suit the Apostle\'s desired combat.

"Worker bee, advance forward!"

Arzen commanded the worker bees to charge into the pitch-black interior of the coal mine with the void creatures.

"No, it means nothing if I can’t see it myself. Light of Prayer."

In communion with the celestial realm, a golden radiance rose.

It illuminated brightly from the mine entrance to the far depths.

Bat droppings were falling from the stalactites.

"Goblins and bats have a wonderful symbiotic relationship!"

Finally, Arzen spotted two goblins dozing off on guard duty.

"Your filthy cohabitation ends here, as it has come to my attention, the future gold-ranked adventurer, Arzen! What business do you have living together without even being married? Get out, you bastards!"

The worker bees charged forward!

The jaws of the worker bees mercilessly sliced through the goblins’ flesh!

"A pitiful low-tier monster like this doesn’t even need the worker bees to step in!"

The slime’s toxicity and acidity were nearly self-destructive, acting as natural enemies to the void creatures…

"But these guys are truly food for the void creatures!"

The power of the void creatures slaughtering the goblins was absolutely overwhelming.

"At this rate, it won’t take even half a day to finish!"

As Arzen giggled and moved forward, he suddenly felt a chilling sensation at his feet.

The sensation of a thread snapping…

And as soon as he felt it, a sharp pain shot through his shins.

"A trap…?"

Frowning and looking down, his eyes widened in shock.

Piercing through his leather boots was… an arrow.

It was a crudely carved wooden arrow, with poison glistening on the tip.

"Ugh, my foot!"

Dizziness began to swirl in his head, and the urge to vomit unpleasantly stirred in his gut.

"Ugh!"

Don’t panic.

"I, Arzen, am the finest healer who survived the Divine Guillotine!"

It was easy to detoxify poison used by low-tier monsters, like munching on a chicken leg.

"It’s just that I didn’t need to be cautious since I wasn’t expecting a trap! Healing it will be all it takes!"

Just as he was about to cast a healing miracle on his swelling shin, he suddenly felt a gaze from the left.

"Huh."

Not just from the left.

There were also sights from the right, above, and right beneath his feet… he saw light!

It wasn’t just simple light; it was the gleam of eyes reflecting back.

“G-goblins…!”

In an instant, the earth of the coal mine split open as if it were collapsing.

“Kiiee!”

“Kiieeet!”

Dozens of goblins burst forth from the walls and ceiling.

They swung their clubs at Arzen, who was falling into the depths of the mine.

The void creatures had already charged forward to engage in slaughter. This was truly a critical moment in his adventurer life.

‘No way I’ll let it end like this!’

If he were to face a crisis from goblins, it would shatter his pride.

His pride, already destined to rise to gold rank in the future, would be in ruins!

“Don’t you dare crawl out! You pathetic low-tier monsters! Barolus!”

Barolus… In that instant, the Apostle’s command reached even the realm of the void.

A high-ranking entity of the void tore through the fabric of dimensions and surged forth.

It created a rift in the connection between the lives and fates of monsters within its reach… a demon.

“─────!”

The demon’s five claws crushed the heads of five goblins.

At the same time, its hand became a shield, protecting the Apostle who had fallen to the ground.

“Kiik, kiiee!”

This was a color of slaughter not of this world, but from an alien realm.

Goblins, trembling from the primal terror, soiled themselves and fled into the darkness of the mine.

Arzen gasped for breath as he rose to his feet, and only then did the worker bees follow him, leading the void creatures behind.

‘Right, the problem with the void creatures is their speed…’

No matter how tightly the squad was arranged, they were vulnerable to ambushes.

‘What a useless situation!’

Though he didn’t voice his concern about the worker bees getting hurt, it was clear that improvements were needed.

‘By the way, summoning a demon is truly incredible…’

Its power was unquestionable.

But he also found it exceedingly satisfying that it instilled such overwhelming fear in the monsters.

Though it did cost him blood in return.

“Ugh.”

It was akin to a holy miracle.

Just like divine miracles, if the void miracle was recited in haste, it drained far more energy than usual, putting immense strain on his entire body.

‘Damn it, the bruises from the fall are killing me.’

Arzen felt the fracture in his right shoulder blade.

The added iron plate meant to block the goblins’ ambush only amplified the impact from the fall.

Arzen spread the void creatures out above, below, left, and right, focusing first on healing his whole body.

‘Complete healing can only be done twice a day… assuming I haven’t used many other miracles.’

If he were to use the power of the void as he was now, once a day would be the maximum.

‘Alright, I admit I underestimated the goblins. That was my mistake.’

He seemed to have overlooked the survival strategies that even the lowest-tier monsters had to avoid extinction.

‘Let’s face it: the knowledge I learned from the Divine Guillotine was mostly focused on support and healing!’

Traps like these?

The first-class pathfinders from the Divine Guillotine had completely dismantled the traps, so there was no need to worry about them.

‘If I had asked with curiosity about what kind of traps there were and how to disable them, I would have been punished… So I just decided to ignore them from some point on.’

Here’s the key point:

‘For me, Arzen, to rise to gold rank…’

It was something he truly didn’t want to admit.

He needed some low-tier monsters to use as stepping stones.

In other words, he needed to form a party.

‘First, I’ll find a pathfinder. And it would be nice to have a warrior who could act as a slave in the front lines.’

But if he returned to Euphoria to form a party, it would look like he had fled in fear from the goblins.

‘There’s one thing I, Arzen, cannot tolerate since escaping from Divine Guillotine…’

That was watching the bastards who had made a fool of him live their days happily and normally.

Arzen had no intention of allowing these despicable low-tier monsters to finish their day peacefully.

“You cockroaches, the lowest trash in the monster pyramid! I will return! This future gold-rank adventurer, Arzen, will come back to wipe you out, so get ready and wait for it! Do you understand? Are you listening, you lowly bastards!”

What Arzen felt while living at Divine Guillotine was that waiting for a beating was scarier than getting hit.

- I’ll keep hitting you until you die.

After such a declaration, the time spent waiting to be beaten was much more painful.

‘In other words, right now, I can say I’ve given these guys a greater pain than death…’

This wasn’t running away.

It was making them tremble in the utmost fear.

“Clear the way, worker bees! I need to head back to the surface for now.”

* * *

Using the void creatures, Arzen swept aside the goblins blocking his path and made his way to the first floor of the mine.

When he finally escaped the mine, he had been struck by four poisoned arrows.

His robe was tattered and torn from being hit by clubs. He had fallen into a trap.

Even after consuming all the potions, Arzen had suffered for about two days in the village.

Thanks to the goodwill he had built up in advance, the villagers cared for him diligently, which was fortunate; otherwise, it could have been dangerous.

‘I’ll kill them… Those goblins, I’ll wipe them out… Not leaving a single one of them in this world…!’

After three days of barely recovering, Arzen gritted his teeth and returned to Euphoria.

It was what they called a strategic retreat.

He had merely given the enemy a chance to tremble in fear. He definitely wasn’t running away out of fear.