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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 8: Anomalous Entity
Even when managing the same entity, occasionally, a new version emerges.
Of course, that doesn’t mean a completely new entity shows up.
Anomalous entity.
It sounds grand, but it's really just a mutation.
For example, like now.
A kobold with absurd muscles.
"…But this one feels like it's way too far gone, doesn’t it?"
Boom!
A huge club smashed into the spot where I had been standing.
Hissss.
White smoke rose from the ground where the club had struck.
"This way, you monster!"
Mari fired arrows to divert the attention of the kobold warlord.
Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.
Three shots while running.
Each arrow hit its mark with precision.
However...
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The effect was minimal.
Mari couldn’t leave any noticeable wounds on the kobold warlord’s skin with her dull arrows.
"Raaaah!"
As the warlord’s gaze shifted away.
Khan immediately swung a strike at the creature’s neck.
Clang!
When the blade touched its neck, there was a sound like metal grinding.
"Damn! That didn’t work either?!"
Khan looked stunned.
The insane sight of sparks flying when skin meets sword.
Only a slight scratch appeared on the kobold’s neck, while Khan’s weapon shattered.
Neither Mari nor Khan were weak.
In the span of 99 retries, both Mari and Khan had grown significantly.
Mari had reached the level of intermediate archery, capable of hitting 100 out of 100 targets with her eyes closed.
She could hit a target perfectly while doing a backflip if she wished.
Khan, too, had reached level 3 of basic swordsmanship, a veteran's level.
With their increased skill levels, their power had risen enough that ordinary 9th-tier creatures were no match for them.
In fact, their individual physical abilities had surpassed that of the kobold warlord.
Despite this, they were struggling like this for one simple reason.
'Our gear sucks!'
Honestly, this was an absurd case.
No matter how anomalous the entity, it rarely mutated to this extent.
At most, a creature’s traits would change slightly.
‘Now I see why there were three warnings.’
The number of warning messages depends on the gear and rank of the personnel challenging the stage.
Put simply, the warning triggers when the system calculates that the personnel are at a serious disadvantage against the creature.
The fact that we received three warnings said it all.
But there was no such thing as an impossible stage.
If you focus and look closely, there will always be a way.
And indeed, there was.
“Take this!”
Having picked up another weapon, Khan aimed for the warlord’s feet this time and slashed.
Clang!
The result was the same.
Khan’s all-out strike left only a small scratch.
Wham.
The giant club smashed into the spot where Khan had stood.
But Khan had already dodged using his sixth sense.
Screeech!
As Khan fled, the warlord seemed furious, wildly swinging its club in frustration.
…Well, I suppose it had reason to be mad.
To it, we must seem like pesky rats, running away after testing it out.
To calm it down, I fired a light shot toward its eye.
Whoosh.
The arrow hit one of its eyes dead-on.
Screeeech!
No matter its body's toughness, there was no way to train the eyes.
After four minutes, we finally landed a solid hit.
Though it did drive the creature into an even more enraged frenzy.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
With each punch the kobold threw, the ground caved in.
Taking a direct hit from one of those might cause serious injuries.
'Still, it’s just a strong fool.'
Khan had his sixth sense, and Mari had the evasive skills from her intermediate archery.
And I had both.
It would be hard to let that happen even if I wanted to get hit.
Screeech!
While keeping distance and evading the kobold, Mari shot me a glance.
“Administrator, how long do we have to keep running like this?!”
I suppose she was frustrated, having run for over four minutes after realizing our gear couldn’t deal any damage.
I checked the time hovering in the air.
[00:35]
"Hmm, I think that's enough. Time to fight back."
Hearing the word "fight back," Mari's eyes lit up momentarily, but she quickly realized something and lowered her head again.
"But our weapons are too worn out to work."
"The weapons will arrive soon."
"…Weapons will arrive?"
I slightly nodded to Mari’s puzzled question, then shouted loud enough for Khan to hear.
"Khan! That’s enough. Retreat to the hill!"
"Yes!"
Khan stopped engaging the warlord and began running toward the hill where we were.
There was no need to distract the warlord anymore.
It was still a kobold at heart.
Kobolds prioritize attacking cowardly opponents who lose their will to fight.
I had confirmed earlier that the warlord retained this trait, so there was no problem.
Screeech!
As expected, the kobold warlord let out a fierce roar and charged toward Khan, chasing him as he ran toward us.
I checked the time once more.
[00:05]
The kobold warlord reached us just in time.
Its massive frame stirred the air around it.
The warlord didn’t stop there, lifting its club high.
It was preparing an all-out strike.
A shadow loomed over us.
[00:02]
Mari, sweating, nervously asked me.
“Uh… Administrator. Are you sure we’ll be okay?”
Khan, standing next to her, scolded her sharply.
"Hey! Do you still not trust the Administrator?!"
"It’s not that I don’t trust him. But doesn’t that thing look like it’s putting an insane amount of strength into that club?!"
Watching the two getting along again, I couldn't help but smile.
[00:00]
To get to the point, the giant club didn’t end up smashing our heads.
Instead, we heard a valiant shout from beyond the hill.
"Charge, knights! Drive out these disgusting monsters!"
At the same time, a rain of arrows, numbering in the thousands, precisely struck the kobold warlord.
“Kee, keeeeeeek!”
The kobold warlord staggered back, retreating under the relentless barrage of arrows.
As the knights advanced onto the field, the barrier that had been holding the kobolds in place also dissipated.
The horizon was now swarming with grayish monsters, but it was fine.
The only kobold we needed to clear the stage was that one.
I turned to the old white-haired knight beside me and asked,
"Excuse me, could I borrow your sword for a moment?"
"Hm? Are you an adventurer?"
The white-haired knight gave me a quick glance and then handed me his sword without hesitation.
"To have survived a battlefield with equipment so worn it can’t even be used... you're quite something! Yes, go ahead! Rampage to your heart's content!"
[Knight's Longsword (C-)]
- A longsword forged by the master craftsmen of Camelot. The blade is exceptionally sharp. If you’re not careful, you might even cut your fingers on it.
A C- rank weapon.
That would do just fine.
With the sword in hand, I charged straight at the kobold warlord.
“No way am I letting anyone else take the final blow.”
Considering the five grueling minutes I had spent just to weaken it, I wasn’t about to let someone else finish it off.
[Basic Swordsmanship (LV. 3)]
I could see a white line on the kobold warlord, now bristling with arrows.
Following that line, I brought the sword down.
Swish.
The longsword slipped into the kobold warlord’s neck with surprising ease.
The warlord, who hadn’t taken any damage from our attacks for five minutes, was now effortlessly sliced through.
As I withdrew the sword, I was reminded again of the importance of proper equipment.
[Stage Clear! (+15 Points)]
[You will be transferred to the waiting room shortly.]
The clear message popped up, and soon after, a blue flash guided us back to the waiting room.
"Ugh, I’m exhausted. I really can’t go on anymore."
Mari collapsed onto the floor of the waiting room.
Soon after, Khan also slumped down onto the ground.
We might have finished the stage quickly, but encountering an anomalous creature was pure bad luck.
‘And they’ve just been waiting here?’
The other staff were also sprawled out, but no one moved to head back to the dormitory just yet.
Feeling a strange sense of responsibility, I gathered everyone’s attention.
"Everyone, listen up. First, I want to thank you for following my unreasonable requests so well."
I bowed my head toward the staff gathered in the waiting room.
Seeing me, who had been acting so strictly until now, bowing my head, the staff exchanged puzzled looks with one another.
‘Yeah, this must feel strange.’
But that was fine.
A good Administrator should be able to understand the hard work of their staff.
If there’s a whip, there should also be a carrot.
That was the ideal Administrator.
"So, for the rest of the day, I’m giving everyone free time. The dormitory is at the end of the hallway to the right, so feel free to head out."
Yet, even with that, no one moved first, as they continued to exchange glances.
With no other choice, I had Khan take charge of dispersing the staff.
"Khan, dismiss them. Lead the staff to the dormitory."
"Yes! Following orders!"
It felt like they were following me even more loyally, but I figured that wasn’t a bad thing and opened the Administrator settings.
Immediately, I started constructing the necessary buildings for the company.
‘We’ll need a blacksmith and a training ground right away, won’t we?’
The total cost for constructing [Blacksmith (LV. 1)] and [Training Ground (LV. 1)] came to 1,000 points.
It was a cost I could manage.
[Construction of the Blacksmith has begun. (Time remaining: 07:59)]
[Construction of the Training Ground has begun. (Time remaining: 07:59)]
[Points remaining: 57]
It was a bit disappointing to see all those points vanish instantly, but having the blacksmith and training ground completed in just three days was certainly encouraging.
‘Hmm, a Administrator who burns through all the points earned by their staff in less than a day...’
Well, considering the staff's meals and the points I had to offer to HQ, I might have to do some solo grinding later, but...
That wasn’t something I needed to worry about right now.
‘No, this is all an investment in the company.’
Yeah. It was an investment.
Right.
I pushed the thought of points out of my head, doing my best to convince myself, and opened the mailbox.
[You have unread messages. Would you like to check them?]
[Yes/No]
Dozens of messages popped up in front of me.
[Anomalous Creature Secured (Achievement Unlocked)]
- Work efficiency has increased. (Points earned will increase.)
The first message was about achieving an accomplishment and securing the anomalous creature.
With the increased point acquisition, the company’s growth would accelerate.
‘Once the other staff have better weapons, they’ll be able to take down the kobold warlord, too.’
The reason it took so long was because our weapon grades didn’t match.
It wasn’t because the kobold was overly strong.
Once the blacksmith and training ground were completed, handling two creatures at once would be a breeze.
Opening the management tab, I saw that a new containment room had appeared next to [Kobold Raid], just as I had expected.
Closing the screen, I checked the next message.
[The anomalous creature 'Kobold Warlord' has been recorded in the company.]
[The Foundation's Star absorbs knowledge about the creature. 'Strong Body' acquired.]
My eyes widened at the message.
‘Strong Body?!’
Strong Body was a skill that all close-combat staff needed to learn, as it granted them skin as tough as steel.
On top of that, I remembered that it also boosted overall physical stats.
‘No wonder it was so damn tough...’
Looks like that kobold had the Strong Body skill.
Thanks to that, I effortlessly acquired Strong Body for myself.
‘It’s not something you can normally get so easily…’
I had assumed it was trash because I kept copying useless beastfolk languages, but...
This time, I actually gained something valuable from it.
Getting Strong Body was definitely a nice surprise.
But even better than that...
[Rank 8 employee 'Shin Seongjin' has met certain conditions and is eligible for promotion.]
[Rank 8 employee 'Mari' has met certain conditions...]
[Rank 8 employee 'Khan'...]
A massive promotion event for all Rank 8 employees.
If anyone heard that there was a Rank 9 employee who made it to Rank 7 in just three days, they wouldn’t believe it.
A smile crept across my face.
"As expected, if it’s me, it’s a god-tier game. If it’s someone else, it’s just luck-based trash."
Let’s start with promotions, shall we?
