The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

"With so many Slimes, even a giant sea monster would have a hard time getting out of there alive."

......

Qige was no longer calm and collected. Instead, he stood behind the Rangers, frowning as he watched them draw their bows.

The two of them had already fired over 100 arrows, emptying several Quivers. A Ranger would typically only carry two Quivers into a forest. If they kept shooting like this, they would run out of Arrows.

"This test of yours is a bit strange," Qige muttered to himself. "To be willing to use so many Slimes to block the entrance... there must be some good stuff inside this Relic."

Gradually, the number of Slimes dwindled. The two Rangers stood with bows at the ready, waiting.

"We can go in," Qige said to Matel, who was behind him. "But we still need to be cautious. Watch out for any remaining Slimes or traps."

"Will there be more traps?" Matel asked.

"Maybe. But I think this entire stone chamber is the trap," Qige sighed softly. "A trap on such a grand scale... It’s truly unheard of."

"Everyone, enter the Relic!" Matel said loudly, also reminding his teammates of the precautions.

And so, the remaining 38 people all walked through the stone gate of the Fortress.

......

"They’re all inside?" Shire asked, staring at Broken Tooth.

Broken Tooth, who wore a circlet of twigs and grass on his head, nodded to confirm that they had all gone in. He also relayed everything he had seen with the telescope to his leader.

’I wonder how many people the Slimes took out. Five? Two?’ Shire stroked his chin, deep in thought. ’But that was only meant to deal with ordinary Adventurers. It wouldn’t be very effective against an organized group like the Brotherhood.’

’But the second stone chamber is what I prepared for the veteran Adventurers. I hope these ’guests’ will enjoy it.’

"Follow them immediately. Be careful not to expose yourself." Shire patted Broken Tooth’s shoulder. He was glad to have a subordinate like him, one who could keep him informed of the enemy’s movements.

He then called over Red Eyes and ordered him to lead his subordinates into ambush in the Brain-Eating Monster room. "Remember to extinguish the torches. Wait until they enter with their torches lit, then shoot the torchbearers with your Hand Crossbows."

"After you’ve fired five Arrows, everyone retreat."

Red Eyes nodded, leading a few goblins out through a gap in the cheval de frise.

......

"This stone chamber is huge," Yak said, holding a torch and clicking his tongue in amazement as he looked at the ceiling.

"It is quite large," Qige said, strolling behind him.

"There must be tons of good stuff in here!" Yak shouted with delight, swinging his Two-handed Axe a few times for emphasis.

Qige quickly sidestepped to avoid getting hit by the WHOOSHING axe and said teasingly, "And just a moment ago, you were saying this trip was for nothing."

"No way! Didn’t you say the master of this Relic was a big spender? We’ll see just how big. We’ll clear the whole place out!" Yak grinned. "I’ll act like one of those stupid nobles, give a little wave and a bow, say ’thank you for your gift,’ and then send him on his way with my axe."

"Something seems wrong over here!" a team member shouted from a distant corner.

Everyone gathered around. One of them said, "This looks like it was buried. There was probably a door here originally."

"The Heart Stealer is afraid of us going in," Emlyn said with a laugh.

"Dig it out," Matel ordered. He called two burly men forward, and they quickly cleared away the pile of earth.

"It’s pitch black inside," Yak said, standing at the front with a torch. He was always the first one in.

"The usual method," Matel said, looking at Qige. The other man didn’t speak, merely nodding.

Three goblins were thrown into the stone chamber. Matel and Yak remained on high alert for any potential developments inside.

But other than the GEE-LEE-WAH-LAH shouts of the goblins, nothing happened inside the stone chamber.

’Empty?’ Matel thought, slowly tracing the scar on his face as he considered the situation inside.

"Pull them back and let’s see," he said.

The three goblins were dragged back. They were unharmed and were glaring at the Storm Brotherhood, shouting WAH-LAH-WAH-LAH.

Yak slapped each of the goblins across the face, finally silencing their "cursing."

"Throw all the goblins in. Remember to use longer ropes," Qige suggested. "This might be a trap room. After all, the previous chamber didn’t have any traps."

"You’re right. In total darkness, it would be easy to miss Crossbow Arrows or trapdoors," Matel nodded.

So, the remaining seven goblins were all thrown in. They were noisy and ran chaotically all over the room. Soon, Yak and Matel heard the sound of them repeatedly bumping into walls.

"Pull them back. Be careful, they might chew right through the ropes," said Qige.

Yak immediately pulled on the ropes, yanking the goblins back. Just as expected, three of the ropes were nearly chewed through.

"There are probably no traps inside, but we need to advance cautiously," Matel said loudly to the team, his eyes on the lively goblins.

Everyone laughed as they watched Yak discipline the goblins.

"Looks like this room ahead isn’t dangerous."

"They thought a few Slimes could stop us."

"These things from the forest are so brainless."

"Who knows what kind of good stuff is in there."

"Alright, prepare to enter!" Matel issued a series of commands. He drew his Longsword, held up a torch, and went in first. "Battle formation! Warriors in front, Healing Personnel in the center! Mage Apprentices and Rangers, guard the rear! Wanderers, remember to protect the Healing Personnel!"

Several torches illuminated the stone chamber as the Adventurers filed in and quickly fell into formation.

"There are some wooden racks here," someone said.

"I think something just ran past."

"I saw a few small dark shapes, too."

"There’s a SHUFFLE SHUFFLE sound of footsteps."

"On guard! Watch out for an ambush!" Matel loudly warned his teammates.

But immediately after, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, as if something had hit him. He looked down and saw a Crossbow Arrow stuck in his Chest Armor.

"Careful! It’s an ambush! There are Crossbow Arrows!" he yelled at once.

A series of SWOOSHING sounds followed, and several people cried out, apparently hit by Crossbow Arrows.

"Close ranks! Healing Personnel, be ready!" Matel commanded quickly, scanning the area with his sword. The Crossbow Arrow hadn’t penetrated very far and hadn’t affected him much.

The team’s formation quickly tightened up to prevent Crossbow Arrows from getting past the Armored Warriors and hurting the teammates behind them. At the same time, everyone quickened their pace, wanting to rush forward and find the ambushers.

"Huh? What’s that?" a team member said, looking at a small red ball on top of a wooden rack.

"What is it?" His teammate next to him followed his pointing finger and also saw the red ball. Then, several more appeared next to it.

"It looks like an animal’s brain," he muttered to himself. But in the next instant, his face drained of color as if he’d remembered something.

"B-B-Brain..." His eyes went wide. He pointed at the little red balls that kept appearing on the rack, stammering. Suddenly, one of the red balls leaped up and flew straight at his face. He watched as a needle-like proboscis, dripping with slime, extended from underneath it.

"Brain-Eating Monster!" he finally shouted, batting away the flying creature with his weapon.

But immediately, two more leaped at him. One of them latched directly onto his head. He watched as the needle-like proboscis plunged into his eye socket.

Screams rose one after another. The members of the Storm Brotherhood were shocked to find they were surrounded by Brain-Eating Monsters. These red creatures were everywhere. While one or two Brain-Eating Monsters were easy to handle, there were too many now. Their formation was too dense, and many cases of friendly fire had already occurred. Once someone was hit by a weapon, they would falter for a moment, and a Brain-Eating Monster would immediately crawl onto their head.

"Everyone spread out! Throw your torches on the ground!" Qige shouted at once. It was the only way to get the situation under control.

"This test of yours is a bit beyond the curriculum," he said, grinding his teeth in anger.

Hearing Qige’s voice, Emlyn immediately spread out with his teammates. He drew his Short Sword and focused all his energy on defending against the Brain-Eating Monsters’ attacks. Screams echoed constantly in his ears, and out of the corner of his eye, he kept seeing people fall to the ground.

’Just how many Brain-Eating Monsters are there? Is this Heart Stealer that insane? I’m not going to die here today, am I?’

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He had thought joining the Storm Brotherhood would bring great wealth and opportunities for advancement, that he could venture deeper into the forest, defeat more monsters, and improve his combat skills. But now, they had barely gone in and had already encountered such a powerful enemy.

For the first time, he regretted his decision.