Ren ripped his fist out of another mine gnome's chest cavity.
The small, gray body dropped against the rocks like a wet rag. Thick green blood spilled over Ren's boots. He flicked his hand to shake off the gore, then tossed the fresh core into his dimensional storage.
The outer edges of Z41 were completely wiped clean.
Over the past few hours, the five of them turned into a walking nightmare. These weren't fights. It was a systematic purge. The second the gnomes caught the overwhelming aura of the E-Rank Armored Goblin, or saw the White Goblin's blur, they dropped their rusty pickaxes and ran for their lives.
Ren opened his storage and checked the haul.
"Ninety cores."
A massive number for any rookie. But it didn't satisfy his greed. The rocky forest was huge. Hunting down single gnomes took way too much time and burned through his summons' stamina.
'They're hiding somewhere.'
Ren scanned the scattered footprints in the dry dirt. 'They're all running in the exact same direction. The spawn rate dropped too fast.'
He bit his bottom lip, thinking hard. Searching blindly was a total waste of time.
"Why look for them, when one of them can just lead us to the nest?"
The squad moved silently through the jagged rock formations. Suddenly, Ren threw his hand up. All four summons froze like statues.
Behind a massive boulder, a mine gnome was shaking violently. It hugged its knees to its chest. Its wide eyes rolled around in absolute terror.
The Sewer Goblin crouched low. Its claws twitched, ready to pounce and snap the prey's neck.
"Stop," Ren ordered mentally.
He stepped forward slowly. He purposely made his boots crunch against the gravel.
The gnome snapped its head around. Its eyes practically tore open at the sight of the human and the red-eyed armored monster standing behind him.
Before the gnome could even open its mouth to scream, Ren shot forward. He didn't use his full speed. He threw a perfectly calculated side kick straight into the gnome's shoulder. Just enough force to shatter the bone and cripple it, but not enough to kill.
Crack!
The gnome flew back and tumbled over the sharp gravel. It shrieked in high-pitched agony, clutching its dislocated shoulder. But survival instinct beat the pain. It scrambled up, stumbling. It looked back to see Ren standing there with a deadpan expression, just watching.
The gnome didn't think twice. It turned and bolted as fast as its stubby legs could carry it, leaving a trail of green blood drops behind.
"Stay in the shadows. Follow it."
The five of them slipped after the prey like invisible ghosts.
The blood trail led them through a messy maze of rocky crevices, far off the beaten paths. The tunnels shrank. The air grew colder and damp, until they hit a deep ravine ending in a massive, pitch-black cave entrance.
From a high rocky cliff, Ren watched the scene.
Dozens of gnomes were flooding into the entrance. Some carried pickaxes. Others dragged rotting wooden carts. They kept looking back in sheer terror, running into the dark looking for safety.
'Oh, looks like this is their nest.'
Ren stepped back and sat down in the shadows. He leaned against a rock and signaled his summons to stay completely still.
One hour. Two hours. Three hours.
Ren didn't flinch. He kept his eyes locked on the entrance. He watched dozens go in, but not a single one came out. The cave swallowed them whole.
When the movement outside completely died down and no new gnomes showed up, Ren stood up. He dusted off his clothes.
"It's time."
He turned to his summons and split the squad.
"White. Rock Gnome." Ren looked at the two. "Head to the back exit and the top vents we spotted. If any gnome tries to run, snap its neck. Don't let a single one out alive."
The White Goblin nodded and vanished in a flash. The Rock Gnome followed with heavy, armored steps to block the narrow tunnels with its body.
Ren looked at the Armored Goblin and the Sewer Goblin.
"You two... are coming with me through the front door."
The cave entrance was wide and damp. The smell of sweat, rust, and old blood clogged his nose. Thanks to Night Vision, the inside of the cave lit up in sharp, gray detail.
It was total chaos inside. Hundreds of gnomes. Some were frantically digging into the walls. Others huddled in the corners, shaking and speaking in some weird, garbled language.
Ren took his first step into the massive cavern. He purposely stepped on a piece of scrap metal.
Screech.
Hundreds of gray faces snapped toward him at the exact same time.
Pickaxes froze in mid-air. Rocks slipped out of shaking hands.
The nightmare they ran from... just followed them straight into their home.
"I've been looking for you guys," Ren's voice echoed, cold and steady.
The cavern exploded into pure panic. Hysterical screaming. Gnomes trampled each other trying to scale the inner walls, while a brave few tried to lift their pickaxes to defend themselves.
"Kill them."
The E-Rank Armored Goblin charged like a furious tank with cut brakes. It stomped its massive foot on a group of gnomes, snapping their bones like dry twigs under its weight. It swung its rock-armored arm, launching six gnomes straight into the cavern wall. They turned into splatters of crushed green gore.
The Sewer Goblin scaled the rough walls with terrifying ease. It dropped straight from the ceiling. Its bald tail whipped around the gnomes' throats, crushing them silently before moving to the next victim like a deadly shadow.
Ren didn't just stand and watch. He charged into the absolute chaos.
His 15 Speed made him completely untrackable to them. He dodged a desperate pickaxe swing just by tilting his torso. He grabbed the gnome's extended arm, snapped it at the elbow with one squeeze, and drove a crushing knee straight into its face.
[Gained 10 Exp.]
[Gained 10 Exp.]
[Gained 10 Exp.]
[Leveled up!]
[Leveled up!]
[Level: 8 | Current Exp: 40/600]
Blue notifications poured down his vision like a waterfall. He ignored every single one. He focused entirely on moving. Dodging. Breaking. Crushing.
The Armored Goblin was a walking natural disaster. It triggered [Rock Armor]. The rusty pickaxes hitting it just shattered like glass without leaving a single scratch. Then it popped [Critical Strike]. Its stone fist punched straight through two gnomes at once like they were made of wet paper.
The massive cavern quickly turned into a locked slaughterhouse. No exit. No hope.
[Leveled up!]
♢♢♢♢
Thirty minutes later.
Silence finally took over. Ren's light panting was the only thing breaking the heavy quiet.
The cave floor was totally carpeted in corpses. Sticky green blood formed small puddles between the rocks.
Ren stood there, wiping the blood off his knuckles with a torn piece of cloth. The Armored Goblin stood next to him. Its stone plates dripped with gore, but its massive chest rose and fell smoothly. It didn't show a single sign of fatigue.
"Gather the cores."
Ren and his summons started ripping the cores out of the gnomes' chests. One after another. A fast, routine motion.
He tossed them into his dimensional storage, his mind tallying the numbers.
"...one hundred twenty, one hundred twenty-five... one hundred thirty."
A hundred and thirty F-Rank cores in just one fight.
A wide, genuine smile broke across Ren's face. This fortune covered more than half the cost of his grandfather's surgery. Evolving wasn't a pipe dream anymore. He was holding it right in his hands.
While grabbing the last few cores, his eyes caught something shining in the smashed rock wall.
He walked up to the inner cave wall. Deep blue metal was embedded tight into the stone. This was what the gnomes were digging up so frantically.
He touched the metal with his fingertips. The system screen flashed instantly.
[Item Found: Blue Lapis Ore (Rank F)]
[Description: A hard metal with poor mana conductivity, but extremely high mechanical durability. Commonly used to forge basic hunter armor and weapons. Holds good commercial value.]
"Metal." His eyes lit up with excitement. "I can sell this too."
Ren picked up a metal pickaxe off the dirt. With the help of the Armored Goblin's smashing blows to break the surrounding rock, he dug out dozens of heavy blue ore chunks. He threw them into his dimensional storage until it nearly hit its 1-cubic-meter limit.
"Let's get out of here."
Ren left the cave through the high side tunnel.
At the back exit of the ravine, the White Goblin stood quietly, licking green blood off its sharp claws. Beside it, the Rock Gnome stood like an impassable living wall.
Right in front of them sat a pile of thirty dead gnomes. They tried to escape the hell inside, only to find a faster death waiting for them.
"Good job." Ren patted the Rock Gnome's rough armor.
He collected the last thirty cores. Total count: 250 cores in a single day. An insane fortune for an F-Rank summoner.
'With this, I can secure my grandpa's surgery and even have extra cash. But I'm thinking of going deeper.'
Ren walked back into the main cavern. The smell of blood was sick and heavy, but the place was safe now. His monsters fully secured the entrances.
He sat down on a flat rock and leaned his exhausted back against the cold wall. The four goblins spread out around him in a defensive guard formation.
Ren slowly closed his eyes. He let his body rest for a bit before continuing his little adventure in this zone.
Outside the cave area, near the edges of the Z41 gate.
A group of teens wearing blue academy uniforms walked in. A teacher led them. These were clearly local academy students arriving for their usual training, but...
"Professor, we haven't found a single gnome or any other monster!" one of the girls complained.
"We didn't find anything on the other side either. It's like they just vanished into thin air."
The professor looked surprised. "Oh, this is really strange. This zone hasn't been purged in over a week. The monster count should be slightly up. Anyway, let's head deeper. The gnomes might have formed a tribe instead of digging wildly."
They kept walking, completely clueless that five nightmares were currently wiping the zone clean.