The morning sun at the north gate of Bakasa City shone gloomily, obscured by industrial smog that never cleared. In the carriage parking area, Dayat was checking his equipment. He wore a second-hand leather jacket (bought from the flea market) that was slightly oversized, hiding his Tactical Crossbow wrapped in dull cloth on his back.
Beside him, Dola stood calm in her hobo cloak. Her hood was pulled low, hiding her face and blue eyes that constantly scanned the surrounding area.
"Dol," Dayat whispered. "Are you sure Dalgor won't be mad I took his Crossbow? He said he wanted to research it?"
"Calm down, Master. In the Royalty Contract Article 4 Section 2, it states: 'The Inventor reserves the right to hold the Original Prototype for field testing purposes'," Dola replied. "Besides, Dalgor is busy being drunk on the pulley schematics Master drew last night. He won't even realize Master is gone."
Dayat nodded. "Okay. Mission focus: Deliver goods, get money, go home. Don't look for trouble."
They walked to the assembly point. There, a horse carriage loaded with wooden crates containing wheat and mining equipment was ready. And next to it stood two people who would be Dayat's temporary teammates.
The first was a young man with flaming red hair in plate armor that was too shiny for a rookie. He carried a Greatsword on his back. His name was Bara. Rank E.
The second was a young girl in a white priestess robe who looked nervous, hugging a wooden staff tightly. Her name was Lina. Rank F (Healer).
Dayat approached, raising a hand. "Hello. I'm Dayat. This is my wife, Dola. We're part of the escort team."
Bara turned. He scanned Dayat from top to bottom, then snorted dismissively when he saw the copper Rank F badge on Dayat's chest.
"Tch. Another Rank F? And no Mana?" Bara spat on the ground. "Hey, Nyssia that long-eared receptionist must be joking. Sending a porter for an escort mission?"
Dayat smiled thinly, holding back his temper. "I'm a Marksman, not a porter."
"Marksman? Using what? A slingshot?" Bara laughed loudly, then patted his own chest. "Listen up. I'm Bara, Rank E, future Rank S. Your job is simple: Don't die and don't burden me. If there are monsters, run behind the carriage. Let me handle it."
Lina, the healer girl, squeaked softly. "P-please don't fight... We are one team..."
"Roger that, Mr. Big Shot (Bang Jago)," Dayat replied lazily. He pulled Dola back to the rear of the carriage.
"Psychological Analysis," Dola whispered. "Subject Bara possesses confidence disproportionate to his combat abilities. The type who usually dies first in horror movies."
"Shhh. Don't jinx him, Dol. Even if he's annoying, he's our meat shield."
The convoy began to move. Carriage wheels creaked across the rocky road toward the barren hills in the north.
Three hours of travel passed without incident. The scenery outside Bakasa's walls was dominated by limestone hills and dry bushes. The sun grew hotter.
Dayat and Dola walked casually behind the carriage. Dayat occasionally chatted with Lina who walked beside the cart.
"So you can use healing magic?" Dayat asked.
Lina nodded shyly. "Yes, Big Brother. But only minor wounds. Scratches, bruises. I can't fix broken bones yet."
"Not bad. Useful," Dayat praised.
Suddenly, Dola's steps stopped.
Dayat, knowing his wife's cues by heart, immediately went on alert. "What is it, Dol?"
"Master," Dola's voice sounded sharp in Dayat's ear. "Seismic sensors detect an anomaly. There are low-frequency vibrations underground. The pattern is... coordinated."
"Earthquake?"
"No. Digging. Multiple objects moving toward the surface. Right in our path."
Dayat immediately shouted to the front. "Oi! Bara! Driver! Stop!"
Bara, walking proudly in front, turned with an annoyed face. "What now? Tired? So weak—"
Before Bara could finish his sentence, the ground in front of the carriage exploded.
BOOM!
Dust and gravel flew everywhere. The carriage horse neighed in panic, almost tipping over.
From the gaping hole, hunched creatures about a meter tall emerged. Their skin was dull brown like soil, their eyes blind, but they possessed large claws and protruding fangs.
Mole-Rat Goblins.
Not one or two. But two dozen. They flooded the road like a flash flood.
"Ambush!" the Driver shouted in panic.
Bara drew his greatsword. "Hah! Just mole rats! Come here!"
Bara charged forward, swinging his sword. SPLAT! One Goblin was sliced in two. Black blood sprayed. Bara laughed. "Weak! Take thi—ARGH!"
Three other Goblins jumped from Bara's blind spot, biting his legs and arms unprotected by armor.
"It hurts! Let go, you bastards!" Bara stumbled, trying to shake them off.
Lina screamed as two Goblins ran toward her. "Help!"
"Formation collapsed in 5 seconds," Dola reported flatly. "Master, permission to use violence?"
"Permission granted! Protect Lina, I'm taking firing position!"
Dayat threw off the cloth wrapping on his back. The jet-black Tactical Crossbow was now clearly visible under the sunlight.
Dayat didn't panic. He had faced a transparent tiger. Compared to that, these Goblins were slow.
He cocked his crossbow. CLICK.
He aimed at the Goblin about to pounce on Lina.
THWACK!
The bolt flew silently.
THUD!
The Goblin's head was pierced from the side. The creature was flung away, dead instantly before it could touch Lina's robe.
"One," Dayat counted. He cocked again rapidly.
THWACK! THWACK!
Two consecutive shots. The two Goblins biting Bara's legs fell with bolts stuck in their necks.
Bara, just freed from the bites, looked back in shock. He saw Dayat standing calmly, holding a strange weapon he had never seen, picking off enemies with machine-like accuracy.
"That... what weapon is that?" Bara muttered.
"Focus, Idiot!" Dayat shouted. "Don't space out!"
Dola moved like a shadow. She didn't use weapons. She used efficiency. Every time a Goblin escaped Dayat's shots and got close, Dola swept their legs or kicked their jaws with measured hydraulic force. Enough to break bones, but looking like "standard martial arts" to the untrained eye.
In two minutes, the two dozen Goblins were leveled with the ground. Corpses littered the road.
Bara was panting. His armor was dented and bloody. Lina was sobbing near the carriage wheel.
Dayat lowered his weapon, staying alert.
"Too easy," Dayat mumbled. "Why would Goblins attack a convoy? Usually, they're afraid of the main road."
Dola walked to one of the Goblin corpses. She flipped the creature's body. On the Goblin's neck, there was a small crystal necklace blinking red.
"Master, look at this," Dola said. "This is not Goblin jewelry. This is a Lure Rune."
Dayat stepped closer. "You mean?"
"Someone put this on them. This is a remote aggression trigger. This attack was not natural. It is sabotage."
Dayat clenched his fist. Valmir. It must be that Deputy Head Artisan. He wanted to kill Dayat on his first mission to make it look like a workplace accident.
"You guys..." Bara walked closer, looking at Dayat with a new gaze—a mix of shame and awe. "You... you're good at shooting?"
"Not bad for a porter," Dayat teased.
But before they could celebrate victory, the ground shook again. This time the vibration was much stronger. The carriage shook violently.
"Master! Step back!" Dola shouted.
From the rocky hill beside the road, a landslide of large boulders fell. And from behind the dust of the landslide, a giant figure rose.
It was four meters tall. Its body was made of solid granite held together by magic mud. Its eyes glowed yellow.
Rock Golem – Level D.
This was a monster immune to normal physical weapons. Its skin was as hard as a fortress wall.
"Golem?!" Bara's face went pale. He dropped his sword. "We're dead... My sword won't scratch a rock!"
The carriage driver had already run away in terror, abandoning his horse.
The Golem roared—the sound of grinding stones painful to the ears. It raised its stone fist the size of a water barrel, ready to smash Bara.
"Dol! Weakness analysis!" Dayat shouted, retreating to find a position.
Dola's eyes scanned quickly. A red grid appeared in her vision.
"Outer structure: Solid Granite. Physical immunity: 90%. Weak point: Core in the chest, protected by a 10 cm thick rock layer."
"My steel bolts won't penetrate 10 cm of rock, Dol!"
"Correct. But rock has a resonance frequency. If hit with the right vibration at a structural pressure point, the rock will crack."
"I didn't bring a drill, Dol! I only have arrows!"
"Use the Blunt Tip bolt Master made from fishing weights yesterday. Aim exactly at the microscopic crack on the Golem's left chest. I will guide the laser aim."
Dayat felt his quiver. He had one special bolt whose tip wasn't a sharp needle, but a solid iron ball (like a mini hammer). He made it for fun to "hit" people without killing, but it was useful now.
The Golem stepped forward.
BOOM! BOOM!
Bara tried to run, but he tripped. The Golem raised its fist high.
"BARA! DUCK!" Dayat shouted.
Bara reflexively covered his head.
Dayat loaded the blunt bolt. He aimed.
On his retina, Dola projected a virtual red dot—marking the microscopic crack on the Golem's chest invisible to the naked eye.
"Distance 40 meters. Angle correction 2 degrees up. Master must hit that point with millimeter accuracy."
"You're crazy... the target is as small as a coin!"
"Trust me. And trust your tool."
Dayat exhaled. The world seemed to slow down. The Golem's roar faded. There was only him, his Crossbow, and that red dot.
Focus.
Dayat squeezed the trigger.
THWACK!
The iron-ball-tipped bolt flew. Not to pierce, but to smash.
KRAAAKK!
The impact sound was loud like a shattered bell.
The bolt hit exactly on the Golem's chest crack. The massive kinetic energy from the Crossbow channeled into a single focal point.
The small crack widened. Became a gap. Then a hole.
The rock layer protecting the Golem's chest crumbled, revealing a Yellow Crystal Core pulsing inside.
The Golem stumbled backward, its fist missing Bara and hitting the ground beside him.
"Core exposed!" Dola shouted. "Shoot the core now!"
Dayat was ready. His left hand grabbed a regular sharp steel bolt, loaded it, cocked, and aimed in a fluid motion trained by muscle memory (via data transmission).
"Die, you giant gemstone!"
THWACK!
The second bolt flew. Entering smoothly into the newly opened hole in the Golem's chest.
SHATTER!
The sound of breaking glass. The steel bolt destroyed the Golem's core crystal.
The yellow light in the Golem's eyes went out instantly. The giant body froze, then—because the binding magic was gone—the body collapsed into a pile of ordinary rocks.
RUMBLE!
Thick dust covered the road.
Silence.
Dayat lowered his weapon, panting. His bandaged hand felt hot, but he didn't care.
Bara lifted his head from the ground. He looked at the pile of rocks in front of him, then turned to Dayat standing tall with thin smoke coming out of his weapon (friction effect).
"You..." Bara's voice trembled. "You destroyed a Golem... with two shots?"
Lina, hiding behind the wheel, looked at Dayat with eyes sparkling in admiration.
Dayat wiped the sweat from his forehead, then walked casually toward Bara. He extended a hand to help Bara up.
"Still wanna call me a porter, Mr. Big Shot?" Dayat asked with a smirk.
Bara took the hand. His face was beet red from shame.
"Sorry... I was wrong," Bara mumbled. "You're not a stick figure. You're... a monster."
Dayat laughed. He turned to Dola. His wife stood still, but Dayat could see a small thumbs-up protruding from under her cloak.
Mission one: Success.
Sabotage threat: Handled.
Reputation: Increased drastically.
However, as Dayat picked up the shards of the Golem's core crystal, Dola approached and whispered.
"Master, keep this shard. There is residual foreign Mana here. This is not a wild Golem. This is a Summon."
Dayat gripped the crystal tight. His eyes stared toward Bakasa City in the distance.
"Valmir," Dayat thought. "Just wait. I'm bringing you a souvenir."