Chapter 3

Just as Kaminari was thinking about when he'll awaken or how to awaken. The car abruptly stopped, shoving him forward and planting his face into the partition wall.

Bam!

He quickly pushes his face away from the wall and rubs his nose to ease the pain as he knocks the partition wall angrily.

Knock~ Knock~

The driver immediately realized his mistake and opened up part of the partition wall as he hurriedly apologize for his sudden stop.

"I-I'm very sorry, young master!"

Seeing the panic and worry on the middle-aged man's face, Kaminari calmed himself out of his anger and stared at him.

"So, what was the reason why the car suddenly stop?"

"U-Umm, there seems to have been some sort of accident at the front, young master. That's why I had to stop"

"I see..."

"I really am sorry, young master! Please forgive this impudent servant!"

Kaminari sighed and rub the back of his head in annoyance as he ignored him and went out of the car. Narrowing his eyes, he looked toward the front as he could see smoke wafting out from afar.

Seeing this, he slightly raised his right eyebrow and felt curious. Without waiting, he started to head toward it.

"W-Wait! Young master, where are you going?!"

"To find out the person who made me slam my face into a wall"

Thinking about what had happened earlier, Kaminari resentfully rub his sore nose and walked forward without looking back.

"T-This..."

The driver who was looking out the window of the car saw his back slowly get farther away and hesitated before deciding to get out and follow him.

"W-Wait! Wait for me, young master!"

His driver ran desperately to catch up to Kaminari as he started to sweat bullets.

Swoosh~

The moment his driver catches up with Kaminari, a semi-truck flew right past above their heads and landed exactly at their car, crushing it into pieces.

Crash! Boom!

Kaminari mechanically turned his head back and turned pale as he saw his car obliterated, he gulped and couldn't help but imagine if he were still in the car right now.

'I would have been crushed and forever be gone in this world'

Just the thought of that made his back cold from the sweat and felt extremely lucky that he got out.

As for the driver, he had already plummeted from the ground due to nervousness and anxiety at the sight of the car being smashed. He thanked his past self for following his young master or else he might have already turned into a pancake by now.

Groooowl!!

A loud and hoarse cry of a monster resounded and instantly woke them up from their dazed state as they turn around and saw in the distance a large and muscular bluish-skin monster, wreaking havoc from its surroundings.

"...a hobgoblin"

The middle-aged man driver who heard this was frightened, he knew a thing or two about the world of hunters and awakeners. As someone who has been an exclusive driver for the Ryuji Clan for years, he had managed to pick up a few things.

And one of those was knowledge about some monsters, he knew what they were from listening to the stories the hunters tell from time to time within the clan.

It's a monster rated as a high-tier C-rank by the association and they're usually found in the C-rank goblin dungeon as a boss monster.

Not only are they so much physically stronger than your typical goblin but they are also intelligent and can command several goblins which makes them a dangerous enemy.

Though goblins are weak individually, once they're united and fight as a group then they become a high-tier E-rank monsters.

It's the reason why the hobgoblin was rated as a C-rank in contrast to the low-tier E-rank goblin since they can command them to fight as a group.

Nee-naw~ Nee-naw~

Out of nowhere, a blaring sound of a siren resounded throughout the area, alerting all the civilians in the vicinity.

[Warning! Warning! A Dungeon Break Has Occurred! Please Evacuate to the Nearest Shelter as Fast as Possible!]

[Warning! I Repeat Please Evacuate...]

As if the alarm was the sign to run, Kaminari immediately grab the middle-aged man driver on the ground, pulling him up and dragging him away as the two of them bolted right away and ran as far away as possible.

'Shit! Of all the things, this happened. I should have just stayed home'

Kaminari gritted his teeth as he listens to the anguish cries of pain behind him, the only thing he could do was pray for their souls to rest in peace.

'I'm sorry, I really am sorry...'

Just as they were running away, the two of them happened to pass by a pair of mother and daughter who seemed to have fallen to the ground out of panic.

"Waah~ Help! Mom! Please, someone, help us!"

The little girl was desperately calling for help as it looked like her mother broke her ankle from the fall.

"Please, someone! Anybody! help~"

Even though the girl was calling for help desperately, no one bothered to help at all and ignored the two as they run past them, acting as if they weren't there.

And this scene made Kaminari furious as he couldn't help but looked at the pair and the approaching monsters back and forth with hesitation.

"Y-Young master?! We need to go! The m-monsters are coming!"

The middle-aged man driver panicked when he saw his young master stop abruptly in the middle of the road as he could already see the monsters slowly getting closer and closer.

The only reason it hasn't arrived yet is due to the obstruction of cars on its way as well as some humans who were unlucky enough to get its attention.

"Waah~ mom... sniff... please someone... sniff... help us..."

Kaminari who heard this finally relented and bit his lip as he ran toward the pair while dodging and weaving at the frantically running civilians.

"Argh! I'm so gonna regret this!"

Kaminari arrives beside the two and immediately helped the mother up as he carried her at his back while he took the little girl in his arms.

"Thank you, my dear... thank you..."

"Yeah, yeah... thank me later"

Having done that, Kaminari propped himself up and ran. He shortly passed by his driver but not before leaving a message.

"Stop standing there and let's go"

"Y-Yes!"

The middle-aged man driver then followed behind his young master as the group moved farther and farther away from the approaching monsters.

Ha~ Ha~

They'd been running for several minutes now as they unconsciously dropped their guard down, thinking they were safe when all of a sudden multiple cars started raining down from their area.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Everyone who was ahead of the crowd was utterly crushed into bloody pieces by the plummeting cars as all kinds of organs flew everywhere.

"Kyaaaahhh!?"

"W-What the hell?!"

"Bleugh!!"

Panic started to form from the escaping crowd as they all shouted and cried while some even straight-up vomited.

"...!?"

Kaminari who saw this hastily shielded the little girl's eyes from the disgusting carnage that occurred.

Even he who has seen a lot of things felt like vomiting from the sight, then what about a little girl who was still innocent?

Unfortunately, his driver of his was not as strong-willed as him and directly vomited at the sight.

As for the mother of the girl, she turned pale and felt grateful to Kaminari for shielding her daughter's eyes. It was already bad enough that her daughter got to experience a dungeon break, she didn't want her to have another trauma.

Kekekeke!

A loud crackling laughter resounded throughout the area that brought chills to their spines for every single one who heard it.

They all simultaneously turned their heads around and saw a large and muscular bluish-skin monster at the distance smiling at them creepily with it holding a car in its hands.

"R-Run!?"

Nobody knows who said it first but the moment they heard it, they all scattered frantically like headless chickens.

But Kaminari was the only one who wasn't panicking as he was staring at the hobgoblin with scrutinized eyes. The reason for that is he noticed something wrong, there were no goblins beside it all.

From what he remembered earlier, there was a pack of little goblins following beside it. He knew for sure they were there but for some reason, they disappeared.

How could they disappear just like that?

"Kyaaaaaahh!"

"M-Monste- Arghh!"

Kaminari now knew the answer to his question, there he turned his head back and saw a pack of goblins slaughtering the people ahead while they cackled like a maniac.

"H-How?! How did they manage to get here so fast!?"

The middle-aged driver turned pale and was frightened at the sudden appearance of goblins.

"They snuck into the cars"

"S-Snuck i-into the cars? W-What do you mean, young ma- Ah!"

Kaminari didn't answer him and just pointed at the cars that were thrown earlier, there the driver saw goblins coming out of the wreck and finally figured out what he meant.

That hobgoblin didn't throw those cars for the fun of it but was actually a strategy to ambush the fleeing humans.

They should be happy that they managed to crack the mystery but for some reason, they weren't happy at all. That's because they are now trapped and just waiting for the monsters to butcher them.

Not only was the hobgoblin behind them but the front was also packed with goblins which blocked their path.

"T-That's rights! The alleywa- No!?"

The middle-aged man driver thought they could escape at the alleyway between the buildings but sadly he was slapped by the cruel reality when goblins started coming out of them.

Now they're really utterly trapped and have no way to escape as both the goblins and hobgoblin slowly close in into their position.

"W-What do we do, y-young master?"

Kaminari sighed in annoyance and took a deep breath as he calmed himself down.

"Here, take them"

"...?"

Kaminari passed the pair of mother and daughter to his driver and quietly took out a pair of brass knuckles in his pocket.

"Make sure to follow behind me closely and protect them, understood?"

"T-That... what is the plan, young master?"

"We fight our way out"

"What?!"

Kaminari didn't wait for him and instantly charged forward fearlessly, his driver could only put his trust in him and helplessly follow right behind him.

Kekkekek!?

Just as expected, their group got the attention of the goblins since they seem to be the only lambs heading their way.

Kekekek!

Keekkeke!

Kekekke!

Three goblins rushed out at an alleyway close to them and quickly surrounded Kaminari from three directions, one from the front and two from his sides.

The group behind Kaminari felt nervous and anxious at the thought of getting close to monsters. After all, they have been taught how terrifying they were from the past histories.

Swoosh!

The first to charge at Kaminari was the one on his left, it immediately screech and swung its sword downward at him.

"..."

Kaminari calmly took a light step back, barely missing the edge of the sword on him, and took the chance to punch its throat as a counterattack.

Bam!

Unlike the others who thought that he wouldn't be able to inflict any damage on it, the goblin actually felt pain from the spot he was punched at.

Kkeukk!?

Everyone knows that monsters that come out of a dungeon can only be hurt by mana or magic since it's already been proven throughout history.

So how did he manage to inflict damage on it?

The answer was the brass knuckles he was wearing, they're actually an E-rank artifact. Although they are the lowest rank in level, they are still nonetheless an object augmented with mana.

Even though the government has restricted ordinary civilians to possess artifacts but Kaminari isn't an ordinary civilian, he is the young master of the Ryuji Clan.

Naturally, he would be able to acquire one even if it is the lowest of the lowest rank.

And he's already satisfied with it since he didn't expect to get to use it. It might even be the reason why they'll be able to get away safely from this situation.

Moving unto the battlefield...

Kaminari didn't bypass the chance that the goblins were stunned by the fact that one of them was actually hurt. He instantly moved to finish off the one who initiated the attack first.

Swish~

With a leg sweep, the goblin tumbled and fell as his face planted on the ground. Not waiting for it to react, he finished it off with a hard punch at the back of its neck.

Crack~

It didn't even get a chance to say anything before its neck snapped and broke, killing it as its life withered away.

Kekekke?

Keekeekke?!

The two goblins let out questionable cries when they saw one of their companions die just like that.

After finishing it, Kaminari instantly targeted the goblin who was at the front and pulled his leg back as he kicked hard at the dead goblin's body toward his target.

Swoosh~

The dead body swiftly flew and slammed into the goblin, pushing it back a few steps but it shortly reacted as it tossed the body away.

Unfortunately, it was too late since Kaminari had already arrived in front of it and pulled his right arm back as he smashed its face with his brass knuckle, rendering it stunned as several of its teeth broke.

Bam!

He was about to finish it off with the same hard punch on the neck when he heard a sharp whistle behind him that made him jump back, just managing to avoid the slash from the other goblin.

Keekkeke!!

The goblin was infuriated when it found out the human in front of it managed to avoid its attack. With a frantic scream, it crazily waved its sword at him with multiple slashes as Kaminari dodged and weave from the blade.

Swish~ Swoosh~ Slash~

The more Kaminari dodge the blade, the more the goblin became irrational from the anger, this naturally didn't miss his eyes, and used it to distract the goblin away from its attention as he quietly signal the group behind him.

The middle-aged man driver saw this and nodded as he led the pair of mother and daughter away and headed to the alleyway where the three goblins came out.

Seeing them safely leave, Kaminari decided to end this before it gets worse.

Slash~

The moment the goblin slammed down his sword at Kaminari, he sidesteps thereby dodging the blade, and shortly took a step forward as he grab the goblin's arm that was holding the sword.

Kkeukk!?

With Kaminari's left hand clutching unto the goblin's arm tightly, the goblin couldn't move or slash at him and panicked. He smiled coldly and smashed hard his brass knuckles into its face.

Bam!!

But he wasn't done yet, he pulled his arm back and punch the goblin again and again to the point that its face had already turned deformed. It let out a pained groan before it couldn't hold on anymore and died.

He watched indifferently as he let go of the goblin and its body gradually dropped to the ground lifelessly.

Plop!

Kaminari looked away from the body and stared next at the remaining one while he wiped off some of the greenish blood that got on his face from the bloody beatdown.

The remaining goblin happened to see its companion fall to the ground and saw how deformed its face has become.

Kkeuk!!

The goblin couldn't imagine what agonizing pain it felt before it died and trembled in fear just from the thought of that. That's when he saw a shadow cast over him and looked up.

There he saw the human who mercilessly killed off its companion and saw the human staring at him with a cold and indifferent look.

The goblin turned paled and sweated and was about to attack when a punch hit him hard, killing it instantly but not before letting out a terrified and pained scream.

KKEEUKK!!