Apostle of the Void

Chapter 25 - The First Journey on a Strange Continent (5)

Arzen sat cross-legged on the bed with a stern expression.

“Worker Bee, sit here. This whole week has been wasted searching for stepping stones of pain and fury… Now, we’ll start a serious executive meeting.”

There may have only been Worker Bee, but in moments like this, setting the mood was key.

“Let’s review the last battle. What were we lacking?”

A foundation of stepping stones to serve as pathfinders and the vanguard?

Of course, that’s a big one.

But even for the future Diamond-class Arzen, there were areas to improve.

“The weak point of the Void Bugs! They’re vulnerable to ambush!”

Arzen had been trained back when he was part of Divine Guillotine to respond faster to others’ dangers than his own.

That’s why his reaction was always a half-beat slower.

Even in deadly situations, Arzen’s body had ingrained the instinct to save the officers of Divine Guillotine first, no matter the cost.

‘That must change… I am the ruler. I must transform this instinct with the authority of a future Diamond-class king.’

The only thing that matters is me!

A new survival instinct must be engraved—‘It doesn’t matter what happens to other people.’

‘It would be nice if that were easy… But I was originally trained as a support role.’

All adventurers put support roles in the safest position on the battlefield.

The reason is simple.

Every single one of them, without exception, is vulnerable to ambushes. As support roles, most have slower reflexes as well.

‘I can’t afford to show such a pathetic sight to those low-tier adventurers who’ll be traveling with me from tomorrow.’

As the future Diamond-class, maintaining dignity is essential.

If Arzen’s own abilities couldn’t be polished in a rush, then he would simply borrow the power of the Void.

‘Of course, if I had enhanced the Void Bug instead of the demon back then, there would’ve been no problem, but it’s not my fault things went wrong.’

Exactly.

The demon who tempted him not to enhance the Void Bug was the one at fault.

“So, what do we need? A new skill. And so, from now on, I’m launching the ‘Complete 30 Void Bugs in One Day Project.’”

Arzen pointed at the potions placed on the bedside table.

‘A total of 10!’

These were potions he had spent his entire fortune on.

Four red potions for stamina recovery, and six golden ones primarily for restoring divine power.

“With these potions, I’ll keep recovering my strength and keep pushing forward, Worker Bee. I’ll leave some for you to lick up, but don’t even think about sleeping until we summon all 30 Void Bugs.”

* * *

Summon, Void!

Empty your core, Vacant!

Extract, Void Bugs! Vacuity Overdrive!

“Come forth, 26th Void Bug!”

Nothing.

“Bring me another potion!”

Buzz… Several bees opened the cork of the potion, pouring the liquid into Arzen’s mouth.

‘Gwaaahhh!’

Even while screaming at the nauseating taste, Arzen refused to break his concentration.

"Come out, come out! I said, come out already!"

All 25 Void Bugs were gnawing at the dimensional rift, widening the hole for the newcomer to pass through.

And finally!

The 26th Void Bug successfully crossed over from that dimension into this world.

“Nice!”

Arzen let out a victorious shout, jumping off the bed. He did a little celebratory dance, shaking his hips.

“Worker Bee, what time is it?”

Instead of checking the clock tower, Worker Bee pulled aside the curtains.

The warm light of the morning sun was pouring gently into the room.

“What the— It\'s already morning?!”

Arzen hurriedly threw himself out of bed. Worker Bee quickly commanded the Void Bugs to clear the glass potion bottles out of his way, ensuring none tripped him.

The Void Bugs also neatly stacked his toiletries and towel into a basket. Unlike the Karshiko branch, the sink here was located outside the lodgings in a shared area.

Arzen hastily splashed some water on his face and hair. That was all the grooming he bothered with, but even with such minimal effort, he was an incredibly handsome young man, as expected of a half-elf.

The boy quickly threw on his Aka’halu robe, slipped into his new boots, and bolted out the door.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

Arriving 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled meeting time, Arzen wondered if he’d rushed unnecessarily.

However, the other three were already there, chatting amongst themselves.

Kitan was crouched down, inspecting several knives of various types that were laid out on the ground, checking the condition of his gear. As soon as he sensed Arzen’s presence from afar, he lifted his head and waved excitedly.

“Arzen! Arzen’s here!”

What is he, a puppy?

Arzen felt a little embarrassed, glancing around nervously, but he had to admit that deep down, he was pleased.

He quickly walked over to the group.

“You’re early.”

Jerome, the Dwarf gunslinger, was wiping the long barrel of his rifle with an oiled cloth. He nodded in greeting.

“Why are you all here so early?”

“Our party’s ‘rage manager’ doesn’t like waiting or being made to wait, so we tend to be punctual. In that sense, you’ve probably scored some points with Sia.”

Sia, who had been alternating between the request form and the local map, spoke up.

“Yeah, I like it.”

Arzen leaned in and whispered to Jerome.

“Is she seriously the ‘rage manager’? Why does she have such a scowl on her face even though she said she likes it?”

“Have you ever known a Dwarf to lie?”

“I can hear you, you know!”

Sia folded the map and request form in half and tucked them into her coat. She wore mostly medium armor—not a full suit like a knight, but leaving the joints unarmored for flexibility. Where her body wasn’t protected by the armor, she wore leather gear to maintain mobility.

What stood out the most, however, was her right arm. It wasn’t covered by either armor or leather, instead wrapped entirely in magical bandages.

He wore a hooded cloak over his armor instead of a helmet.

As adventurers level up, their gear varies greatly, showcasing their individuality.

They find the most comfortable and suitable equipment through accumulated battle experience.

‘Above all, heavy armor is incredibly expensive; the fact that he bought that... Huh, he must be making good money since he\'s Silver Rank.’

In that moment, he realized that he had truly stepped out of the world of low-tier adventurers.

It had been a long time since he saw a heavy-armored warrior.

“Let’s get going once we’re ready.”

***

He thought they would only exchange trivial chatter during their journey, but these guys were professionals, not just a bunch of misfits.

As soon as they left Euphoria, they moved onto a path not used by people but by wild beasts.

This was to avoid drawing the attention of goblin sentries.

Kitan led the way, skillfully clearing various vegetation from the exploration jungle path.

“Aren’t we going to get lost? The forest is so dense.”

As Arzen voiced his concerns, Kitan pulled out a compass and shrugged.

‘A compass! That must be quite expensive, too.’

Those with brass or steel gear were essentially poor, relying on sundials during the day and constellations at night to navigate.

“Kitan never gets lost.”

Sia said.

“Even if he loses money, look—his route to the quest area is a perfect straight line.”

“How is that even possible?”

“When Kitan is charting the course, you shouldn’t interfere. We should sync our signals in the meantime.”

“Signals?”

“Yeah, signals. The frontline and the healer coordinate their signals, right? Don’t pretend you don’t know; I can tell you do by your expression.”

He knew.

But since it was a new concept to him, he pretended to hear it for the first time.

He sounded just like a rookie adventurer.

‘Signals, huh...’

When he was under Divine Guillotine, there were no such signals.

He had to adapt swiftly to each of their unpredictable actions, or he’d end up beaten to a pulp.

Thinking about this made Arzen respond somewhat brusquely.

“Is that really necessary? I don’t think it’s needed.”

“Are you pretending to be a newbie, or do you genuinely not understand? Signals are essential when dealing with strong monsters, not just small fry.”

“Hey, Sia. It’s hard to expect a signal from a Steel Rank adventurer. I’m the Steel of our group, Arzen! I’m the weakest among us!”

Jerome, who was lugging a heavy weapon and following from behind, chimed in.

“What are you saying, you little squat dwarf!”

Arzen shouted back angrily.

“I’m Gold Rank Steel, Arzen! It’s not that I don’t need signals; I can manage on my own, so there’s no need to set them!”

“Sure, sure. Got it.”

“I’m serious!”

Jerome threw his hands up with a sigh, as if he genuinely found it unfortunate.

“Of course, I want to trust you, but humans are far better at lying than our kind. Our race is very intelligent, so we believe in statistics, not people. Please don’t fight against statistics, Arzen.”

At that, Sia crossed her arms with a hum.

“True. I might be expecting too much from a Steel rank. He’s still just a Steel rookie.”

Arzen stomped his foot in frustration.

“Ah, come on! What do you mean statistics! If you can’t trust it, at least you can follow basic signals! Charge, Switch, Wall. Those three.”

Charge means to advance, while Wall is for defense. Both require the healer to cast a protective miracle on the front line.

Switch refers to a change.

When the front line suffers extreme damage, they retreat to the back line, where the healer must apply a healing miracle.

“You said you could land a spear throw yesterday, right? Then you can also do holding.”

Holding is the act of restraining.

It involves the front line holding down an enemy that has been exposed.

“But holding doesn’t just happen with one signal, and only healers of Silver rank or higher can pull it off, so let’s not try it on our first mission.”

He couldn’t speak up.

The experience of discussing signals felt so new.

‘A signal is a structure established through mutual respect, isn’t it…’

Everything about his life as an adventurer until now had been completely fake…

But he couldn’t easily express that sentiment.

“You’re looking down on me too much. I’ll show you what I can do later. You’ll see what holding really is—like a fantastical show.”

At that moment, Kitan suddenly stopped and cut through the underbrush by the roadside at ankle height.

“Goblin droppings. It’s huge. Want to take a look, Arzen?”

“?”

“I wonder if it’s fresh since it’s still soft. Want to touch it? Poke it with a stick.”

Arzen recoiled in disgust.

That guy is really insane.

But Sia approached Kitan with a very serious expression.

“What do you think? Are we in their territory?”

“Yeah. There are plenty of traces.”

“What’s the rough number?”

“Probably over a hundred. If they’re leaving droppings everywhere, it indicates territory. Goblins usually act like this if there are over a hundred of them.”

Following Sia, Arzen glanced at Kitan.

“This filthy creature didn’t even clean up after itself while moving around? But isn’t that area outside the mission zone?”

Kitan shook his head and picked up a couple of stones from the ground.

“Hmm… That’s just a distraction to hide their traces. Chasing that could lead to a wild goose chase. There might be traps. Goblins are hunters too. Oddly enough, they’re quite clever in this regard.”

The moment he threw the stone onto the droppings in the mud, the ground sank.

It was a pitfall trap.

Not just any pit, but a deadly trap with sharp wooden stakes poked into it.

“Thanks to Arzen, we learned some valuable information! If they’re setting traps like that to catch boars or humans, it must be at least a rank 200 trap! Thanks!”

‘What is this guy… Did I underestimate him because he’s Bronze rank?’

‘He’s a complete expert.’

‘Could he really be a master at goblin hunting?’

“No, it’s only natural that I don’t know goblins well since I’ve played in much deeper waters. This guy is from the lower class, so he knows a lot about them.”

Arzen felt a sense of superiority in such trivial matters.

“But it seems some clumsy fool has been randomly poking around here lately. It’s just making everyone more cautious, so the traps have become thorough and there’s a lot of bluffing with the traces.”

Instead of speaking up, Arzen decided to join in the complaining, sweating nervously.

“Really? I want to see the face of that pathetic guy.”

Hmm~.

Just look in a mirror, and you’ll know~.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure!”

Seeing that he had much to learn from Kitan, Arzen moved closer and started asking various questions.

Kitan responded sincerely to every question.

“Did you choose this path to find traps like these?”

At Arzen’s question, Sia shook her head instead.

“No, the most important thing in goblin hunting is to eliminate the root of the problem. You must uproot their base. Otherwise, there’s no point in hunting them down. The residents here will suffer from goblins again.”

If the base isn’t eliminated, the goblins reproduce like cockroaches and crawl back out in no time.

Goblins have no females, only males, and they use a bizarre method of interbreeding.

Even scholars haven’t figured out how the genetic implantation occurs, but they’re definitely disgusting creatures.

The sixth great demon, Uruk, is similar in that regard.

“Sia is right. By following the types and traces of traps and droppings, we can tell if there’s one base or two or three.”

“Oh.”

“That’s why we’re moving in such a large circle. Don’t worry, Arzen! I’ll make sure to guide us properly! That’s my job.”

Kitan smiled and skillfully wielded his jungle sword, clearing the path so Arzen could follow comfortably.

Arzen hesitated for a moment.

He clenched his eyes tightly while staring at that hand, then quickly stepped forward before anyone could see.

- Hey, just stay back because you’re in the way.

- Curious about why it is like this? You don’t need to be curious at all. Just focus on using miracles properly, you little brat.

- Ugh, why does that heavy piece of junk have so many questions?

- Hey, do you think I’m easy to mess with? You’re speaking to me as if it’s a given. Ha, you brat.

In that brief moment, Arzen found himself overlapping the past and present.

‘Ah, damn…’

And in that dizzying thrill, he thought to himself.

‘Heading towards the mission area while sharing knowledge… modifying the plan like this…’

Damn…

This was exactly what he had dreamed of…

A real adventure…