"Most Goblins live in tribes."
As they traveled through the forest, Larry shared what he knew with the two inexperienced youths, "A small tribe usually won't have more than thirty Goblins, and the medium-to-large tribes tend not to pick the outer forest as their territory."
"So, you're saying the outskirts of the Loran Forest aren't actually that dangerous?"
Lin Mo thought back to the Goblins he'd encountered before. 'Even when there were more of them, if I couldn't win, I could always escape.'
"Normally, that's the case..."
Larry nodded, but didn't continue.
After all, he had never actually been in the forest before. This information was just something he was repeating from others, a little tidbit to show off in front of the two youths.
If they pressed him for more details, he would have come up empty.
So, he pulled an old pocket watch from his pocket and made a show of opening it to check the time.
"It's already past two in the afternoon. If we don't want to spend the night in the forest, we have to head back around four at the latest."
Lin Mo glanced at the watch in his hand. Tucked inside the cover was a yellowed photograph of a much younger-looking Larry. Standing beside him was a young, blonde woman.
She wasn't a classic beauty, but she had a nice figure. She held gently onto Larry's arm, her expression serene.
"That's my wife... Her name is Julina."
The wrinkles on Larry's face deepened as a proud smile spread across his lips.
"She gave me this watch, back when we had just gotten married..."
"Alright, alright, Larry. Stop bragging about the good old days."
Leo chimed in from the side, looking indignant. "I really don't know what Julina saw in you. You really lucked out marrying such a wonderful girl."
"Haha!"
Larry's laughter grew even more smug. "Now, don't be like that, Leo. Your shrew of a wife has her own special charm, doesn't she?"
"You!"
Leo was getting angry, about to step forward and grab Larry by the collar, when a thin plume of smoke rising slowly in the distance cut short the neighbors' banter.
The men exchanged a look, their expressions turning grim. They began to move cautiously toward the rising smoke.
...
The vegetation in the Loran Forest was incredibly dense. On any other day, this would be a huge headache; you never knew if a Goblin was lurking in a nearby bush, ready to knock you out from behind as you passed.
Now, however, that same dense foliage served as cover. With Larry in the lead, the group hid themselves in the undergrowth and began to crawl forward cautiously.
About two minutes later, they parted a small clump of bushes and saw exactly what they had expected.
Several Goblins were gathered around a campfire, holding sticks skewered with mushrooms and berries.
Nearby was a small cave, and a pile of bones lay scattered near its entrance. Parts of the skeletons were blackened, as if they had been charred by fire.
"A lair..."
Larry whispered in a low voice, "We're in luck. Goblin lairs are often full of plundered supplies and treasure!"
"Plus, at this time of day, most of the Goblins are out wandering and foraging for food. These ones must be the guards left behind," Leo added.
Larry looked at his companions, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "There are only seven of them. We can definitely handle that. If we just take them out..."
'The bounty for these Goblins, plus whatever treasure is in that lair... even if times stay as hard as they've been, I won't have to worry about my wife starving or my newborn son going without milk.'
Leo clearly had the same idea. While he wasn't nearly as pleased with his own wife as he was with the virtuous and gentle Julina, life still had to be lived. If they could just make a big score today, they wouldn't have to live so wretchedly anymore!
Maybe then, his wife might even become a little gentler, like Julina, with a radiant smile always on her face.
Rhein didn't join the discussion. He glanced at the bones by the cave mouth, seemingly recalling something, his fingernails digging into his palm and leaving shallow marks.
Lin Mo also remained silent, staring into the pitch-black mouth of the cave as if trying to see deeper within.
When it came to knowledge and experience of this world, he was far behind Larry, so he couldn't refute their assumptions.
But he just had a bad feeling, a premonition that something was about to happen.
"Let's not hesitate! Let's go now!" Leo urged. "If we wait any longer, the other Goblins will be back and we'll lose our chance!"
"What do you guys think?"
Larry was just as excited, but he managed to suppress his elation. His gaze swept past Rhein before settling on Lin Mo.
"Kill!"
Rhein's answer was a single word. His hand already gripped his weapon, and he was poised to strike.
'At this point, even if I say no, it probably won't change their minds.'
Lin Mo finally nodded. In the next instant, Rhein had already launched the attack.
The young man moved with a frenzied disregard for his own life, charging straight for the nearest Goblin. Before the creature could react, his rusty blade was already hacking at its skull.
"SQUELCH—!"
With a sickening thud, the Goblin's head was split wide open, spilling a mixture of red and white onto the ground.
"GAAAAH!"
The remaining Goblins reacted instantly. With sharp shrieks, they scrambled to their feet and grabbed the weapons lying beside them.
Rhein didn't stop, immediately lunging for a second Goblin.
Larry and Leo were right behind him, brandishing their weapons as they joined the fray.
Unlike last time, Lin Mo didn't wait for an opening. Hidden in the bushes, he had already entered the "Stealth" state. He struck decisively, darting out and swinging his Sword in a wide arc to cleanly slice a Goblin's head from its shoulders.
"Skill Level +1!"
Less than thirty seconds into the fight, thanks to the advantage of their surprise attack, two Goblins were already dead. Their advantage was now significant.
If nothing unexpected happened, it would only take another three to five minutes to deal with the remaining Goblins. Then they could raid the cave and make a fortune.
However, it is precisely at moments like this that the unexpected always arrives, as if on cue.
Just as Larry and Leo teamed up to keep the other Goblins occupied, and Lin Mo was preparing to strike again and finish off another one—
An angry roar suddenly came from the depths of the cave.
It was followed by the sound of heavy footsteps.
"THUMP... THUMP..."
A muscular, green-skinned monster emerged, accompanied by the sound. It was more than twice the height of an Ordinary Goblin.
Its body was a mass of knotted muscle. Its face held some human-like features, but it also had the characteristic long nose and pointed ears of a Goblin. It carried an iron Wolf Fang Club that looked almost delicate in its grasp, dwarfed by its sheer size.
Seeing the "Giant" emerge from the cave, the other Goblins let out excited, bizarre shrieks.
"Mutated Goblin!"
Larry's face went deathly pale. The sight instantly snapped him out of his greedy reverie, and he broke out in a cold sweat.
"How can there be a Mutated Goblin this far out on the edge of the forest?!"
Beside him, Leo was just as horrified. His previously confident movements turned frantic, and the hand gripping his weapon began to tremble uncontrollably.
Rhein, who had just taken down his second opponent, was also trembling from head to toe.
But it wasn't out of fear. It was out of rage.
Unlike the others, his gaze wasn't fixed on the Mutated Goblin. It was locked on what was behind the creature—on the young girl it had carelessly tossed to the ground as it emerged from the cave.
"Philie..."
A low whisper, like the growl of a cornered beast, escaped his lips.