Seeing goblins swarming from all directions, I picked one side.
The direction with the fewest of them.
The goblin charging right at me lost its balance and tumbled.
The ground was uneven, littered with obstacles.
Shiiik—thunk!
I leaned forward, thrusting the iron rod into the fallen goblin's neck.
"Kieek?"
One goblin flew over me.
It had jumped at me from behind.
Whoooosh.
As I charged forward, I yanked out the iron rod I'd slammed down and swung it from up high down low in a wide arc.
Thwack—boom!
The airborne goblin got smashed by my rod and crashed into the ground.
Its spine must've snapped.
"Kiruk."
Another goblin slashed at me with its claws, but I could see the move crystal clear.
I shifted just one foot, dodging the attack by a hair's breadth.
'Slow.'
Exactly that.
I was a completely different person from the me of an hour ago.
I'd already killed over ten goblins, and not once had I taken a solid hit.
"Kiaaaak!"
I spun my body, evading the goblin charging from the side.
At the same time, using the centrifugal force, I smashed the head of another goblin on the opposite side with my swung rod.
"Kek."
It was a violent spin I couldn't have pulled off before.
Human joints have their limits, after all.
Leveling up hadn't just boosted my stamina and strength.
My entire body's functions—explosiveness, flexibility, everything—had improved to an absurd degree.
Tap tap.
Standing still wasn't an option.
I charged ahead and kicked the goblin lunging at my legs.
Swoooosh.
Then I slid over a car like it was nothing, landed, and regained my stance.
I whipped around and stabbed the goblin that had leaped after me with the rod.
I hooked the goblin's body on the car frame to pull the rod free, then hurled myself toward the car's trunk.
Thud.
One goblin rushed me but smashed its head into the car's side and toppled over.
"Kieeek!"
I circled around the car, whittling down the goblins one by one.
Thrusting, swinging, sometimes kicking.
By the time their numbers dwindled to what I could count on one hand...
"Kigik... kkuk."
I saw the goblins hesitate, no longer charging.
"Heh."
A laugh escaped me.
These ugly monsters were no longer my match.
"You do get scared, huh?"
The goblin straight ahead flinched.
I charged and stomped its face with my knee.
Then I stepped on its fallen body and slowly drove the rod into its chest.
"Kiririk..."
In the end, the remaining few turned tail.
I rushed them again before they could scatter.
My level went up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
One skill had turned the tide of battle.
⚙ TARGET DETECTION ⚙Detects the energy and emotions of targets within a certain range.
And that included not just humans, but monsters too.
Through Target Detection, I felt it vividly.
The fear rising in the goblins, who had been filled only with murderous intent.
Of course, I could've guessed they were scared from their expressions and actions.
"Hyung-nim! You okay?"
Once the fight ended, Jang Ho-seop came running.
He handed me some water and asked if I was hurt anywhere.
"I'm fine."
"Whoa, you're seriously amazing. How do you even move like that?"
Jang Ho-seop's excited voice echoed through the quiet street.
"Did you train in spear arts or something? We have places like that in Korea too, right?"
"Nah, nothing like that. I just imagined the most efficient way to move and fought accordingly."
"Ooh... Hyung-nim, are you some kind of genius? A spear genius... Uh, that sounds kinda weird."
Jang Ho-seop was hyping me up to an almost excessive degree.
But really, I'd moved in a very straightforward way.
"It's just that the level up improved my physical abilities, so it looked that way."
"Aw, come on. Not everyone with good physique can pull that off."
Still, it felt good.
It'd been a long time since someone kept praising me like this.
"You dodged like you had eyes in the back of your head, swishing around like that. I almost yelled out from where I was hiding."
Being able to dodge goblin attacks without looking was thanks to the General Skill I'd gotten at level 10: Target Detection.
Because it wasn't visual—it was just a sense.
Jang Ho-seop didn't know about my skill.
He'd explained his own skills in detail but hadn't asked about mine.
"If you map out the surroundings in your head, anyone can do it."
"Huh? Even... even me?"
"Yeah. You could do it too, Jang Ho-seop-ssi."
I had gotten help from the skill, sure.
But I could've fought similarly even without it.
So I told him he could too.
"How? Oh, I don't mean to pry! If it's hard to talk about..."
"When you open a door at home. You know where the handle is without looking, right? You open it carefully."
"Huh? Yeah... I guess I do it unconsciously."
"That's it. When you get water from the dispenser... or sit on the toilet. You know it's there without looking."
When fighting the goblins, I'd mapped every little pebble nearby in my head.
Then overlaid the goblins' movements I sensed from the skill.
I couldn't get specific actions from the sensed energy alone.
For that, I imagined from the goblins I'd fought on the overpass.
So yeah, I probably could've fought similarly without the skill.
Goblins always made noise, after all.
"But still... this isn't home."
"Unfamiliar space, same principle. Just visualize it more precisely and in detail."
This fight made me realize something.
My visualization—what I called mental imaging—meshed perfectly with Target Detection.
"So try practicing visualization, Jang Ho-seop-ssi. It'll help."
Because sounds only give approximations, but Target Detection gives exact info.
I couldn't see a goblin's exact posture without looking.
But I could tell distance, approach speed, if it jumped, and so on.
"Man... Hyung-nim, you make it sound so easy at the end there. Like, 'that's all you gotta do.'"
"Huh? I didn't say it was easy."
"No, I mean... Some people can't gauge distance even when they see it."
That's why practice is needed.
I couldn't visualize at this level right from the start either.
"Practice makes perfect. Make your imagination as close to reality as possible."
"Ah... that's not what I meant."
Jang Ho-seop was getting frustrated.
Then he finally said something that shut me up.
"So what you're saying is... like, 'buy low, sell high' with stocks?"
My US stocks suddenly came to mind.
The graphics card company—its stock tanked early this year.
I still can't forget how that felt.
"Uh... Hyung-nim?"
"I get what you mean."
My mood soured instantly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I cut off the goblins' heads and fingers to collect them.
The knife on my multitool worked great—easier than expected.
I smashed the bones with Jang Ho-seop's hammer.
Knock knock knock.
We arrived at the pharmacy.
Surprisingly, the glass door was intact, but we couldn't see inside.
They'd deliberately covered it.
"Wh-who's there?"
A man's voice came after I knocked on the locked door.
"People. Mind opening up?"
"Rescue team?"
"No, just passersby."
Several voices murmured inside.
Lots of warnings about danger and caution.
Someone said even making noise was risky.
"It's safe."
"Really?"
I reassured them it was safe.
The cloth covering the glass door was pulled aside.
The blinds on the full-length window next to it rolled up.
"Oh my god..."
A man in a white coat stared at me in shock.
Probably because I was covered in goblin blood.
"Is it really safe? There were so many monsters..."
The dim pharmacy was packed with people.
They all kept asking if the goblins were really gone.
I confirmed it multiple times.
"Now, can you open the door? I need medicine."
"Ah, sure."
The man who'd first answered was the pharmacist.
As he reached to unlock the door...
"No!"
Another man grabbed the pharmacist's wrist.
The pharmacist turned around.
Then he spoke soothingly.
"Look. No monsters now."
The pharmacist stepped aside so the others could see outside.
Thanks to that, I locked eyes with the guy who'd yelled no.
"See? Gonna open the door now?"
"Still, we shouldn't open it."
He insisted even after checking outside.
The guy looked early twenties.
Baby fat on his face, skinny build.
Bowl cut and slit eyes were distinctive.
"He's hurt. Needs first aid now..."
"What if we all die?"
Slit-eyes glared at the pharmacist.
Voices rose.
"Huh?"
"Those outside were goblins!"
"It's safe now."
"Safe my ass. Can't you see he's covered in blood?"
Slit-eyes turned to the others.
"Look at that blood color! Goblins have poison in it. Letting him in puts us all at risk!"
The pharmacist looked at me, startled.
"Is that true?"
"I don't know."
"Any weird symptoms? Chills, dizziness? Trouble breathing...?"
The pharmacist grilled me.
I still had some body heat, but I figured it was battle aftermath.
Nothing else unusual.
"Hey, how do you know goblins have poison?"
While I explained to the pharmacist, a woman inside asked slit-eyes.
"Of course they do. Even if not poison, pathogens or whatever... Bad stuff can spread, so we gotta be careful."
He had a reasonable point.
But his tone lacked conviction.
I called out to slit-eyes through the glass.
"You sure goblin blood is poisonous?"
"Poison or whatever, it's gotta have something."
"Did you awaken a Fundamental Skill?"
"Fundamental... what?"
I thought maybe he'd awakened and tested a skill.
If so, I'd have bolted straight to the hospital.
'Doesn't seem like he knows anything.'
Problem was, I wasn't just covered in goblin blood.
I'd been hit, scratched by claws—wounded.
Even a rabid dog bite can kill.
Let alone a green-skinned monster.
Couldn't relax.
"How about this. Come into the hallway? I'll grab the meds you need and bring them out."
As people got uneasy at slit-eyes' words, the pharmacist offered a compromise.
"Sounds good."
A bit annoying, but acceptable.
Mission accomplished, at least.
But slit-eyes blocked the pharmacist again.
"If you go out, that's it."
"Huh?"
"You won't get back in."
The pharmacist gave slit-eyes an incredulous look.
"This is my pharmacy. Who are you to..."
"What if you catch something from him and bring it back? Ever think of the others?"
The sun was setting.
No lights on in the pharmacy or any nearby buildings.
'Power's out too.'
Time was short.
Darkness would come soon.
"I get the infection worry. I'll be careful. If you're scared of airborne or droplet spread, anyway..."
"Ugh, whatever. You go out, you're done. Got it?"
Slit-eyes cut off the pharmacist.
His face and tone rude as hell.
"No, this is my pharmacy. Listen to me..."
"Wow, pulling rank in a crisis 'cause it's your shop."
"When did I pull rank?"
The pharmacist raised his voice too.
Conversation going off the rails.
"You are! Worry about your own conscience? Screw the rest of us..."
"Enough! If you're that scared, go to another floor. Out!"
The pharmacist grabbed slit-eyes' arm.
Dragging him toward the hall door.
"Hey? Pushing people around?"
Problem was, slit-eyes had buddies.
Two guys who'd been quiet approached the pharmacist.