I'm Trying To Go Broke, So Why Do I Keep Getting Richer?!-Chapter 226: The one that couldn’t be seen

Leo’s gaze hardened. The peaceful development path was a trap. In a world of systems, you were either the hunter or the prey.

"System," Leo thought, his heart beating faster at the thought of possibly gaining a new toy. "I’ve spent my whole life trying to minimize risk and maximize profit. But this time, the risk is too rewarding."

He reached out and tapped the screen.

[Option One Selected: Eliminate the Host of the Simulation System]

[Warning: Target’s Power Level is significantly higher than the Host. Direct confrontation is not advised. Proceed with caution.]

Leo let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He wasn’t a fighter, and he certainly wasn’t a dragon-slayer, but he had something the Goblin King didn’t realize yet.

He was someone that most probably couldn’t be seen in a simulation so his existence was unknown to the Goblin king who believed he knew everything that was going to happen.

[Option One Confirmed: Target... the Goblin King]

[Assistance Package Initialized: To facilitate the System Hunt, the system has granted a temporary skill. While active, the Host cannot be detected by any sensory skills for 24 hours.]

Leo felt a cold, numbing sensation wash over his body. Looking down at his hands, he saw them turn slightly translucent, as if he were being erased from reality.

"Twenty-four hours," Leo whispered, his voice sounding low even to his own ears. "I have one day to kill a King and a Dragon."

He didn’t wait any longer. Creeping out from the tree, he moved toward the cave entrance. The air inside was just as disgusting as the time he had escaped from this cave.

.... 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"This place," the Dragon Lady’s voice echoed, "it feels... old. Older than the Great Peaks. Why can’t I sense any life forms? Usually, dungeons this deep are crawling with guardians."

The Goblin King stopped. He reached out, touching a crystalline formation on the wall.

"Because they are waiting. The simulation showed that this place is more dangerous than you can imagine. Even I died in this place at the end of the simulation.

"You better be careful, and follow my instructions. Because the beasts here are really strange... They are nothing like the things you have faced before."

The goblin king summoned an armor that materialized on top of his body, along with a sword that was held firmly by him.

He had already experienced this dungeon in the simulation. He had also realized that most of the army that had entered this dungeon was already dead as they came across their corpses in the simulation.

He turned his head slightly, and for a heart-stopping second, his eyes seemed to sweep right over the spot where Leo was standing.

Leo froze, hidden behind a rock. Even with the system’s cover, he still felt like he was caught.

"Is something wrong?" the woman asked, her hand moving toward the hilt of a blade at her hip.

"Nothing, I guess I was just imagining things," the Goblin King answered, his eyes narrowing.

"If this place is so dangerous, why don’t we just destroy it?" The dragon asked, nodding her head.

"Then let’s burn it all and be done with it." she added, her pupils slitting into draconic vertical lines.

"Patience, Ignis."

The Goblin King was really curious about this dungeon, a place that he had never seen in his previous simulations. Moreover, even the beasts he saw here were incredibly powerful.

He was certain that this place had more to it than it let it. He really wanted to see what was at the core of this place, after all, he had died before reaching that place.

They continued deeper, descending a maze-like path. Occasionally, they heard the sound of footsteps, as beasts of the dungeon approached them.

However, to Leo’s surprise, just the dragon girl alone was able to take them out.

The beasts that had almost killed him, were dead. And they were killed with such ease that Leo felt a little embarrassed that he was chased by them.

Then again, he realized that they weren’t weak. It was just that the dragon was so strong. After all, if she came with her real body that was thousands of meters long, she could’ve destroyed this entire place.

Leo simply trailed after the Goblin King that was opening a path for him. And fortunately, he didn’t have to be worried about getting attacked from behind since every path that the goblin king walked through, had been cleansed thoroughly.

The skill that he had gained to kill the goblin king also helped him a lot, keeping him hidden not just from the dragon but also from the creatures of the dungeon.

After walking for over an hour, and stepping over the corpses of tens of dungeon beasts, the Goblin King finally reached a passage that was thousands of meters long, yet filled with nothing but corpses.

Those were the corpses of his soldiers that had fought for the Goblin Empire.

Over hundred thousand bodies of various species, mostly mutant goblins had filled the passage.

Still, the Goblin King didn’t feel any remorse. He could simply return and create more goblins to further reinforce his army.

Without even the slightest of hesitation in his eyes, he stepped over the bodies, and made his way forward.

However, from this long onwards, he became more cautious. It was only after walking past the bodies, he had died to traps and monsters.

This time, he wasn’t planning to fall for the same traps.

After ensuring that the Goblin King had disappeared from his view, Leo also stepped over the bodies, and carefully made his way forward.

Along the way, he even picked up a sword to accompany the Goblin Spear that he had been carrying.

"If my leg wasn’t injured, It would’ve been so much better," Leo mumbled, shaking his head.

As he made his way out of the passage of corpses, he realized that he had almost lost his way. The goblin king was nowhere to be seen as the passage that they had taken was split into multiple branches.

"The heck? Which one did they take?" Leo was almost frozen in place in disbelief as he stared at three passages, but he couldn’t find out which one to take.

So far, he was only safe because he was trailing them. But now, he was at a point where he might even lose that.

As the dungeon floor was made of strange rocks, he couldn’t even check for footprints.

"Urgh." He dubbed his forehead, and cursed inwardly, before selecting one of the three paths at random, hoping for the best. After all, if he lost this opportunity, he might never get that add-on feature to his wealth system.

....

Meanwhile, in the center of a room stood a massive gate. Surrounding it were hundreds of stone statues, gargoyles, knights in rusted armor, and multi-limbed beasts.

The Goblin King, having knowledge upto the point of his death in the simulation, had easily passed through most of the traps until he reached the point where he hadn’t, in his simulation.

He arrived at the massive gate, and caught the sight of the vanguard team.

At start, there were over twenty people in the vanguard, most of whom were powerful followers of the goblin king like the Elf Queen, or the descendants of demigods.

Most of them were already his lovers, and were able to do anything for him. So he was slightly relieved to see them alone.

The only problem was that less than half of them could be seen. Out of over twenty that should’ve been in the vanguard team, only five were standing here.

"Your Majesty!" The ladies went down on a knee, welcoming the goblin.

Meanwhile, the goblin simply asked, "Where are the others?"

Without even waiting for an answer, the goblin king sighed. Just seeing the shift in their expression, he understood what might have happened.

They were truly dead, even though he didn’t come across their corpses. He didn’t find it too shocking either, after all he had also died in this place, if not for that being a simulation.

Suddenly, the Goblin King stepped forward and hugged the women that had survived, to console them.

"I am here now. Nothing will happen to you!" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile, the Elf Queen spoke with hatred filled in her heart, "It’s all because of that human! If we weren’t chasing after him, nothing like this would have happened! When I find him, I will crush his head!"

"Which human?" The Goblin King asked.

His question surprised almost everyone. After all, in their eyes, he was a person that appeared to know everything.

There was nothing that could escape his eyes, and so far, there was never anything that he wasn’t prepared for. So how could he not know about the human who caused all this?

Even though they were surprised, they still explained everything and told him about the human who was brought back when he was half dead.

They also told him that he had simply disappeared when they came to check on him, and were following his trail, believing him to be an outsider.

’Even Outsiders can’t escape my simulation. So what’s with this human? Why didn’t I see him in any? Just what’s so special about him?’

Even the Goblin King was at a loss of words. Ever since he was reborn in this world, this was the first time he experienced something like this.

.....

While the Goblin King was thinking about his identity, Leo was almost pulling out his hair.

He had walked for a long time, yet he didn’t manage to catch a single glimpse of his target.

Slowly, he was starting to get a feeling that he might have taken the wrong path. However, it was too late to return now.