Chapter 4: Quasi Monsters
"They even put a barrier here!" Majin exclaimed as he landed near the entrance of the road leading to the top of the Mountain of Return.
He was quite surprised to see the academy and guilds had put a very large barrier around the Mountain of Return. Although it made sense, as they wouldn't want monsters wreaking havoc on a dungeon that could be controlled by humans.
Still, it seemed pretty suspicious to Majin. The Mountain of Return was easily dozens of kilometers wide, and putting up such a large barrier was very expensive, as they had to use mana stones every second to make it work, since they couldn't place hunters in this dungeon.
"Oh! I can still enter it," Majin thought to himself. When he tried to touch the large transparent barrier, it felt as if there was nothing there at all. Majin was initially disappointed, thinking he wouldn't be able to enter the Mountain of Return with the barrier protecting it, and he'd have to wait a whole week before he could exit the dungeon.
But now his mood was much better, since he could explore the Mountain of Return now.
As soon as Majin entered the mountain after passing through the barrier, which didn't even seem to exist in the first place, he tried to exit but couldn't.
"So... It's just a one-sided barrier!" Majin thought to himself as he started to climb the stairs leading to the top of the mountain. It wasn't that he really wanted to exit the mountain, but he just wanted to check what kind of barrier it was.
"And it was just a one-sided barrier. One-sided barriers work as their name suggests; they only stop people from one side from passing through. For example, this barrier will let anyone from outside enter the mountain but won't let anyone exit it.
"Those guilds really are demon cults," Majin thought to himself as he climbed the stairs to the top of the mountain. It was clear to him that the guilds who set up this dungeon also made this barrier.
But the thing is, there are many students who might enter it without knowing, as sometimes seeing barriers is quite hard if you don't have high mana sensitivity. Once they enter, they most likely get killed by monsters since they can't exit the mountain due to the barrier.
And Majin doesn't think that any newly awakened hunter has the power to break a barrier like this. It might be a C or B rank barrier at least.
"Hmm! What's this sound?" Majin thought to himself as he suddenly heard a marching sound so loud that it even made small rocks on the road vibrate.
As he tried to search for the source of the sound, he activated his Law of Air to jump and climb a tree.
What he saw was a valley area on the left side of the stairs leading to the top of the mountain. Majin wasn't able to see the plain area since there were trees on both sides of the stairs.
The only thing he was able to see in the valley were goblins, wielding stone and even iron weapons. But the goblin that grabbed Majin's attention was a very large red one walking in the center of the army, wearing a key around its neck.
"Quasi-Monsters," Majin muttered under his breath as he observed the goblins conversing. Quasi-monster was a term used to refer to monsters with some level of consciousness and intelligence.
They came into existence due to the breeding of monsters and humans, often as a result of Rapes after one side defeated the other and took their territory.
However, despite their intelligence, they weren't as strong as real monsters. Real monsters possessed mana, which many low-level quasi-monsters lacked. The goblins in front of Majin were among them.
Though their numbers were large, if there were more people, they could easily overcome the goblins.
"There are around a thousand goblins," Majin calculated. "I have around 500 mana left, so if I use the Law of Fire, I'm dead," he thought to himself. It was clear he wasn't the type to rush into a fight without a plan.
"Should I use the Law of Air?" he pondered.
In fact, he didn't want to engage in any fights where he wasn't certain of winning. However, this one seemed important. He remembered Seo-jin mentioning that his older sister used the Mountain of Return to exit the dungeon during her test and was able to enter a top guild because of it.
Seo-jin had said that the only way to exit the dungeon using the Mountain of Return was to use a key.
"Where are these monsters even going?" Majin thought to himself. The goblins seemed to be moving in one direction, which made sense; if they were all packed into a single room like a boss room, no one would be able to fight them alone. But since they were moving, one could slowly pick them off.
"Is that Seo-jin!?" Majin exclaimed as he saw Seo-jin with some of his minions walking behind him, heading toward the goblins.
"He isn't stupid enough to fight them head-on... right?" Majin thought to himself as he tried to descend the valley without making any sound. Although he could just fly down, it would cost him too much mana, which he didn't want to waste right now.
"You stupid monsters! Come at me!"
But suddenly, he heard Seo-jin's voice from dozens of meters away, thanks to the passive power of the Law of Air, which enhanced his hearing. Upon hearing Seo-jin's words, Majin just facepalmed himself.
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