Chapter 10: Resistance
Rain walked away from the cages with measured steps, trying to maintain the outward composure of a common goblin while her mind furiously processed what had just happened.
"Unable to complete infection. Resistance."
The system's words echoed in her mind like a puzzle demanding to be solved.
She moved away from the central area of the camp, looking for a quieter spot. She found a corner near the cave entrance where few goblins wandered, and sat against a rock, pretending to rest.
-(Why did it fail?)-
She repeated it twice in her mind, as though repetition might produce a different answer.
The animals had been infected without issue. The goblins too. But this girl, a human child locked in a cage of branches, had resisted. It wasn't incompatibility. The system had said resistance. As though something inside that girl had actively pushed out what Rain had put in.
-(Calm down, Rain. You need to think clearly.)-
She exhaled mentally.
-(First Theory: the human immune system in this world is stronger. That's plausible.)-
It made sense at a certain level. If this was a fantasy world with magical creatures and constant danger, it was logical that humans would have developed more robust defenses to survive.
-(But that doesn't explain why there was an active block rather than simple incompatibility.)-
-(Second Theory: Magic.)-
The word felt absurd even in her mind, but she had spent several days being a conscious virus in the body of a wolf, and now she was a goblin. Absurdity had stopped being a useful filter long ago. If in this world there were beasts with black blood that the system didn't recognize as living beings, then magic existed. This world clearly didn't follow the rules of her previous life.
-(If there are mages... could they detect diseases? Purify them? Maybe humans in this world have access to medical magic that protects them from infections.)-
She vaguely recalled fantasy books where clerics could cure diseases with a touch. Purification spells. Divine blessings.
Which led her to another conclusion.
-(Third Theory: Divinity.)-
That was even harder to process. But if there were gods who granted protection to their followers...
She rubbed her face with the green hands of her goblin body, a completely human gesture that probably no nearby goblin would recognize as such.
-(I don't know. And that bothers me more than it should.)-
Being in a new world without understanding its rules was one thing. Finding something her own system couldn't explain was another. It was like discovering the game board had pieces nobody had mentioned to her.
-(I need more data. I need to try with other humans. But that can wait.)-
She stood up, shaking the frustration from her mind with more effort than she expected to need.
She looked toward the cages in the distance, where the noble girl remained locked inside.
-(Does she have some kind of blessing? Or is it something inherent to all humans in this world?)-
Too many questions. Not enough answers.
-(I need more data. I need to try infecting more humans to see if it's a general pattern or something specific to her.)-
But she immediately dismissed that line of thinking.
-(No. Now is not the time to obsess over this. I have more immediate objectives.)-
She stood up, shaking the frustration from her mind.
-(First: infiltrate this tribe completely. Second: infect as many goblins as possible. Third: explore the cave and better understand its structure.)-
-(Humans can wait. For now.)-
Over the following hours, Rain dedicated herself to observing and participating in the tribe's routines.
She helped stack wood. Participated in food preparation. Spoke with other goblins using her newly acquired [Goblin Understanding], keeping conversations simple and functional.
"You. Help move stones."
A larger goblin grunted, pointing to a pile of rocks they were apparently using to reinforce part of the perimeter.
"Yes. I help."
Rain replied, moving to carry out the order.
Applying [Contact Transmission I]
Every time she touched another goblin, passing tools, helping carry objects, she left traces of pathogens on their skin. It was subtle. Discreet.
And effective.
Over the course of the hours, the announcements arrived periodically.
New host infected. New host infected.
New skills acquired from hosts: [Rock Throwing I] [Strong Grip I]
She didn't pay too much attention to the specific skills she was acquiring. She already had enough to work with. What mattered was the network.
-(The more I infect, the more options I'll have when the moment to act comes.)-
By the time the sun began to set again, she had infected at least eight additional goblins.
-(Almost half the tribe is within my reach now.)-
But there was something else she needed to explore.
The cave.
She had watched several goblins enter and exit throughout the day, but always briefly. There was clearly something important inside.
-(I need an excuse to go in without raising suspicion.)-
The opportunity arrived when one of the older goblins, one who seemed to hold a role as a storekeeper, grunted an order at her.
"You. Carry food inside. Put with others."
He handed her a bag made of animal skin, filled with strips of dried meat and some fruits.
Rain nodded and took the bag.
-(Perfect.)-
The cave entrance was larger than she had thought from outside. An irregular opening in the rock that descended into darkness.
Inside, the air was cooler but also heavier, thick with the smell of humidity, wet stone, and something else, something organic and unpleasant.
Applying [Night Vision I]
Her eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light. The cave wasn't entirely natural. It appeared the goblins had expanded and modified the original structure, carving wider passages and creating small side chambers.
The main corridor descended gradually, with improvised torches driven into the walls every several meters, providing a weak and flickering light.
She passed several goblins sleeping in side alcoves, curled up on piles of hides and dry leaves. Some snored loudly. Others simply rested with their eyes open, staring into nothing.
She continued deeper inside.
The first large chamber she found was clearly a food storage room.
Piles of dried meat hung from bone hooks driven into the walls. Baskets filled with roots, tubers, and fruits. Several carcasses of small animals piled in a corner, in varying states of decomposition.
Rain set down the bag she was carrying alongside the others and continued exploring.
The next chamber was an improvised arsenal.
Bone and wood spears stacked against the walls. Sharp stone daggers organized into piles. Crude bows with strings made from tendons. And most interesting of all: weapons that had clearly not been made by goblins.
Metal daggers, some broken, others simply nicked. A short sword with a rusted and cracked blade. A small axe with a split handle.
-(Spoils of war. Or of raids.)-
She moved closer, examining the objects with scientific curiosity. She pulled out a metal dagger that was rusted but still held a sharp tip and hid it beneath her rags.
In the other corner of the chamber there was clothing. A great deal of clothing.
Torn tunics. Trousers stained with dried blood. Cloaks with claw holes. Worn leather boots.
All of it human.
-(They attack humans regularly. Enough to accumulate all this.)-
She went through some of the smaller objects scattered among the clothing.
Compasses with cracked casings. Damaged travel bags with cut straps and looted contents. Medallions and amulets, some bearing symbols she didn't recognize.
-(Travelers. Merchants. Adventurers, perhaps.)-
-(This tribe isn't just a threat to animals. They actively hunt humans.)-
The information was useful. It gave her a clearer picture of the power dynamics in this world.
-(If goblins can kill humans on a regular basis, then humans here are not invincible. They have weaknesses. They make mistakes.)-
She continued deeper into the cave.
The corridor widened toward a final chamber, larger than the previous ones.
And at the center of that chamber, there was a throne.
It wasn't elegant or sophisticated. It was simply a large rock crudely carved into the shape of an elevated seat, decorated with animal hides and hanging bones.
The Leader's throne.
But what caught Rain's attention was not the throne itself.
It was what surrounded it.
Bones.
Many bones.
Scattered in a semicircle before the throne, like a macabre display. Animal skulls mixed with larger ones, and some that were more rounded.
Rain approached slowly.
Noticing that among them there were also human skulls. At least five. Some still had fragments of dried flesh clinging to them. Others had been bleached completely white by time.
She crouched beside one of the more recent ones, examining the marks. Fractures from blunt force impact on the left side. Bite marks on the cervical vertebrae.
-(A violent death. Devoured afterward.)-
She processed it with the same coldness with which she had processed everything else. Or tried to.
Because there was something about standing before five human skulls, in a body that wasn't hers, in a world that wasn't hers, that didn't allow itself to be processed entirely cleanly.
These people had had names. Someone had probably waited for them. Someone who never knew what had happened, who kept waiting long after it had stopped making sense to wait.
Rain knew that kind of waiting well.
-(Stop.)-
She straightened up. She pushed the thought away with the same efficiency she had learned to push away all the others that were of no use to her.
-(They weren't weak civilians. They were fighters. And even so, they died here.)-
That was what was useful. That was what mattered.
The rest she stored in some nameless place and moved on.
This meant that this goblin tribe, despite its primitive appearance, was dangerous.
-(The Leader must be especially powerful. To keep trophies like these... it must have personally killed some of these humans.)-
She straightened up, looking at the empty throne.
-(When I take this tribe, that will be my next target. The Leader.)-
A noise behind her made her spin around quickly.
Another goblin had entered the chamber, one she didn't recognize. It was larger than her current body, with scars on its chest and a distrustful expression.
"What you doing here?"
It grunted with an accusatory tone.
Rain thought quickly.
"Leader. Send. Check weapons."
Another simple lie.
The goblin looked at her with suspicion for a moment longer than was comfortable, but finally grunted with disinterest and moved off toward another chamber.
Rain waited until she was sure she was alone again, then headed toward the exit.
She had seen enough.
-(The tribe is more organized than I thought. They have storerooms, arsenals, and a brutal leader.)-
-(But that doesn't change anything. It only means I'll have to be more careful.)-
She left the cave, returning to the outer camp where the night fire was already burning.
The infected goblins mingled with the healthy ones, and nobody noticed the difference.
Rain sat near the fire, watching.
-(Four infected now. No more than half the tribe.)-
-(Soon they'll all be under my control.)-
-(And then... this tribe will be mine.)-
She looked toward the cages in the distance, where the silhouette of the noble girl was barely visible in the darkness.
-(And maybe... just maybe... she can give me the answers I need.)-
-(About humans. About this world. About how to fulfill my promise.)-
The fire crackled. The goblins grunted and conversed.
And Rain waited.
Patient.
Calculating.
Inevitable.