Morning broke, but the chill of the night still lingered. A thin mist hung low over the fields, wrapping Goblin's Grove in an uneasy stillness.
Lee Jun sat in front of his small tent, steam rising from a cup of herbal tea in his hands. Around him, goblins stood on quiet guard. They all knew—
The threat hadn't left.
"It didn't strike… because it didn't need to," Jun muttered, repeating his own words from the night before.
🔹 News from the Outside
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the dungeon entrance.
"Yoohoo! I brought breakfast and gossip!"Kang Minho appeared with his usual grin, holding a plastic bag full of kimbap and bread. "You look like you saw a ghost."
Jun stood quickly. "Minho... we almost did."
Minho froze mid-step, smile fading.
"You're serious?"
Jun nodded. The two sat by a small fire, and Jun recounted everything—the scentless tracks, the fading magic web, and the creature with glowing cyan eyes.
Minho was silent for a long moment. Then he pulled out a tablet from another bag and showed Jun something.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure… but this sounds a lot like a rare monster I read about in the guild archives.They call it… Nyxwraith."
🔹 What Is a Nyxwraith?
Minho explained:
Nyxwraiths are intelligent predators.
They only appear in dungeons with a balance of life and death energy.
They don't kill for food—but to absorb life force and memories.
Dungeons attacked by Nyxwraiths often suffer permanent damage: crops die, animals vanish, even dungeon cores collapse.
"They say if you see its eyes and live… you've been marked.It'll come back—and when it does, it won't be testing you anymore."
Jun clenched his fists. "How many hunters does it take to kill one?"
"According to records? Usually a full team of B-rankers.Plus a barrier master and an alchemist."
Jun sighed. "We have none of that."
"But you've got something they didn't." Minho pointed to Godon, standing nearby with burning eyes. "Goblins evolving beyond reason."
🔹 Two Problems
Jun stood and paced.
Two problems, equally urgent:
Nyxwraith, who could strike at any moment.
Veilroot, which had to be sold quickly—before it attracted more death-aligned energy and attention.
"Minho… we leave for your guild tomorrow. I need to sell the Veilroot now, before this place becomes even more of a magnet."
Minho nodded. "I'll arrange a meeting with my branch leader.But we need to be careful. Veilroot can fetch a price equal to mid-grade artifacts."
"We'll sell half. Five roots. The rest... we keep. To trade, or in case we need an alchemist to fight the Nyxwraith."
🔹 Chapter End:
That night, Jun wrote short notes for his goblins—patrol orders, rotation schedules, fallback plans if the creature returned while he was gone.
"Protect our home," he said softly, patting Godon's shoulder.
And for the first time in a long while…Lee Jun stepped out of Goblin's Grove—not as a porter, but as someone with power.