I Became a Goblin Ancestor

After following the two who introduced themselves as executives of the Hunter Association, climbing corridors and stairs, and riding elevators for a few minutes.

In between, whenever we encountered hunters, they would give me strange looks or buzz among themselves, but passing by those, I finally arrived at the 4th Exam Hall where the leader of the Punishment Team was said to be.

“We’ve arrived. It’s right here.”
“Then we’ll with- Gah! Ahem! We’ll withdraw now.”

The woman who bit her tongue at the end, although she didn’t show it outwardly, must have been quite nervous while guiding me.

Her furrowed brow suggested she had bitten quite hard, but I couldn’t pay attention to that, so I just maintained silence until the two withdrew.

Then the two men and women turned their feet and left the corridor where the exam hall was.

Only after confirming that the two had completely left did I gently place my hand on the door, caressing my expectant heart.

“They said she was a hero…”

It took almost 10 minutes to get here after getting off the flagship, but I still felt anticipation in my chest.

Perhaps because Yeon-ah had gilded it so much, I felt quite expectant.

Of course, as much as my expectations had grown, I would be very disappointed if Seo-hyun’s appearance didn’t meet those expectations, but for some reason, I didn’t think that would be the case.

Just a simple feeling. But trusting my own intuition, which was more reliable than anything else, I eventually applied a little force to the hand I had placed on the door.

Creeeak—

The stiff iron door makes a heavy sound as it drags on the floor.

I stepped into the exam hall through the opened door, and what I saw upon entering was the interior of the exam hall made of achromatic steel.

“Are you… no, are you that team leader?”

I asked like that, looking at the red-haired woman standing in the center of such an exam hall with her hand on a dark blue greatsword.

“Ah, you’ve come. Yes, I’m Ahn Seo-hyun, the leader of the Punishment Team. I’ll be in charge of your exam today, so I look forward to working with you.”

Seo-hyun’s tone was quite overbearing, but thanks to the unique gentle atmosphere she exuded, it didn’t feel that threatening.

Rather, Seo-hyun’s appearance felt like she was being considerate of me.

At that, I closed the door of the exam hall, approached Seo-hyun leaving only about three steps’ distance, and looked her up and down.

“Hmm… So you’re that person called a hero?”
“A hero… Indeed, those around me call me that. It’s an honorable and excessive title bestowed by the ancestor.”

For now, I came here in the position of an exclusive hunter.

As Yeon-ah had been considerate and guaranteed my freedom, I muttered like that in semi-formal speech to match her, and Seo-hyun nodded lightly at my words.

Indeed, befitting the word hero, I felt an extremely powerful strength from Seo-hyun.

A strength comparable to what I felt from Yeon-ah when I first saw her.

However, if Yeon-ah exuded a powerful aura as a mysterious force, Seo-hyun, on the contrary, was showing her strength as a physical force.

Although not a muscular, burly body, I could see with my own eyes a physique trained to the limit, as if countless techniques had been compressed.

And the amazing effort and its results flowing from there.

“Impressive.”
“I express my gratitude for your praise.”

I wondered what kind of battles she must have fought with such a body to be called by the name of hero.

I put honest praise in my mouth for her body that made me curious about that, and Seo-hyun let out a small laugh at my praise.

But I couldn’t just keep examining her like this.

The reason I came here was to get a hunter certificate issued and to check on Seo-hyun, so now that I had half achieved the latter purpose, I also had to achieve the former purpose.

“So I heard I need to take a test from you to get a hunter certificate issued, what kind of test do I need to take?”
“Hmm, now we’re getting to the main point. Well, the answer to that question is simple. As you desire an A-rank hunter certificate, the power you need to show is befitting an A-rank hunter… or exceeding that. However, in this exam hall where I’m alone without any tools, how do you think that will be measured?”
“…A fight?”
“Correct answer.”

In short, it meant I could get a hunter certificate issued if I proved I had A-rank or higher power by fighting Seo-hyun in front of me.

I smiled brightly at that very simple and clear test method.

“I like this test method. Then what are the details of the test?”
“The content of the test is also simple. You just need to kill me three times using everything you can use. Death is meaningless to me, so don’t hesitate to attack.”
“Death is meaningless… Alright, I got it.”

I nodded with a short sigh at Seo-hyun’s words.

I had certainly confirmed that the members of the Punishment Team had the power of immortality.

Just yesterday, the exclusive hunters of the Punishment Team showed that they didn’t die and regenerated even when their whole body was burned by my fire.

So it could be assumed that Seo-hyun, the leader of the Punishment Team, would naturally have such power as well.

And like the appearance they showed, probably the one called the ancestor of the Punishment Team was a race with the power of immortality.

But apart from recalling such obvious facts, I inwardly mulled over the words Seo-hyun had just uttered.

‘To the extent of saying death is meaningless?’

In the past, that is, before our goblin race crossed over to this world, there were quite a few yokai among the yokai of the previous life who had the nature of immortality.

Yokai who would eventually revive no matter how many times they were exorcised or priests tried to make them attain Buddhahood.

However, they merely had the power of immortality, not those who had become indifferent to death.

They were yokai who trembled in fear, saying that death was always scary even though they had experienced death many times, and rather, because they had experienced death many times, they were cowardly yokai.

But despite being just a human, how firm and solid must her mind be to speak indifferently about death being meaningless?

‘I like her more and more.’

Therefore, I smiled even more at Seo-hyun’s appearance that met my expectations and.

“Then let’s start the test now.”

Crack—!!!

“Good, that’s one.”

The moment I heard her words signaling the start of the test, I swung the Hwa-gon I was holding and blew off her neck.

Well, you see…

Regardless of how much I liked her, I wanted to finish the test quickly.

Crack—!!!

Before finishing the word “start” and closing her mouth, her vision turns to the sky with the pain felt in her neck.

‘Fast.’

A reaction speed beyond imagination.

Until now, I thought my dynamic visual acuity was second to none thanks to countless battle experiences, but that thought was shattered for the first time.

‘It’s an impossible physical ability.’

Her neck was blown off before I could even recognize that the club was being swung.

It means she possessed instantaneous speed that at least my dynamic visual acuity couldn’t react to.

In addition, the fact that there was not a hint of hesitation in the process of swinging the club to hit the lower jaw and pulling out the neck meant that she had the strength to pull out my neck without resistance.

In short, an opponent with no chance of winning if I get close.

Of course, if I keep fighting close like this, I might win someday, but what I’m doing now is just a test.

It was a test to see exactly what kind of power and to what extent this girl, the ancestor of the General Management Team, could use.

Pop—!

Therefore, the moment her neck flew off and she finished her momentary thought, Seo-hyun immediately regenerated a new head at the severed part and quickly jumped backward from where she was standing.

“Fire.”
“I already know you have fire-based abilities!”

As Seo-hyun jumped backward, the girl, Shin-yeon, chose to intercept from afar rather than following her.

Shin-yeon grasped a small spark in her hand at the same time Seo-hyun herself kicked off the ground.

However, since she already knew that she had the ability to handle fire from the ancestor’s incident, Seo-hyun immediately gripped her greatsword tightly as soon as she saw it.

And as soon as Seo-hyun landed at a distance of about 10m from Shin-yeon, a pillar of flame stretched out in a straight line.

Seo-hyun swung her tightly gripped greatsword with full force towards it.

Whoosh—–!!!!!

The sword ki swung with all her muscle strength rings through the air.

Along with an ear-splitting air-rending sound, Seo-hyun’s sword ki bisected the approaching fire pillar.

Although the ceiling and floor of the steel-made exam hall were greatly damaged as a price for swinging with full force, it would be no problem if repaired later.

“That was quite a heavy blow…”

Therefore, Seo-hyun was about to evaluate Shin-yeon’s attack that she had perfectly blocked at this moment, but.

“That’s two.”
“…?!”

At Shin-yeon’s calm declaration heard the next moment, Seo-hyun could realize that the fire pillar just now was not an attack but a deception.

Crack—!!

“Kuh…?!”

Something that sprang out from behind, where nothing was felt, pierces through Seo-hyun’s heart area and passes through.

“Kuhak…! Wa, water?”

When she looked to see what it was, what had pierced her heart was none other than transparent water.

However, watching the water that had just been stained with blood turn red, Seo-hyun clenched her teeth and straightened her posture.

‘To think that such a large fire pillar was just bait…’

The fire pillar was just a blindfold for that water spear to completely take her life.

Even though she wasn’t fighting with all her might, if Shin-yeon could use this level of power recklessly, Seo-hyun couldn’t even imagine how many lives she would have to sacrifice before she could kill Shin-yeon if she fought with her life on the line.

To that extent, Shin-yeon’s power felt unbelievably strong to Seo-hyun.

If comparing in terms of power, wouldn’t she be on par with that American vampire Gwangyeon or her ancestor?

No, perhaps Shin-yeon might be even beyond them when she goes all out.

“…Where did she disappear to?”

However, just as she was lost in such idle thoughts, Seo-hyun opened her eyes wide at the sight of Shin-yeon who had disappeared at some point.

She looked to where Shin-yeon had been in the instant moment of regenerating her body and finishing her idle thoughts, but Shin-yeon had long since disappeared.

It was barely even a second, yet where on earth had she disappeared to?

While holding such doubts, Seo-hyun hurriedly looked around, and at that moment.

“…! Is it there?!”

With an intuition built up through long battles, feeling a sensation like an electric current, Seo-hyun swung her greatsword towards the ceiling above her head, excluding even the process of thought.

As she raised her gaze along with it, sure enough, as her intuition had felt, she caught sight of Shin-yeon clinging to the ceiling.

Yes.

She undoubtedly caught sight of her.

Even though her intuition was correct, it was just correct.

Just because her intuition was correct didn’t mean Seo-hyun’s attack could reach Shin-yeon.

Clang—!

The blade of the greatsword swung reflexively bounces off helplessly against the bat Shin-yeon was holding.

Then, of course, Seo-hyun’s body became completely defenseless.

And the next moment, the only words Seo-hyun could hear were Shin-yeon’s voice, no different from the beginning, as if reciting an obvious fact.

“That’s the last life.”
“Indeed… Impressive.”

If there’s a chance next time, I hope we can clash with full force.

Of course, for the sake of this defense city, such a thing should never happen.