Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"You were waiting for me?" Ciel clenched his fist.

"Of course, otherwise why would you have been able to get here safely?" The Mind Flayer strolled gracefully, completely ignoring the group of goblins in front of him.

The goblins murmured and babbled, eager to try, with the red-eyed ones even preparing to charge forward.

"Enough with the noise." The Mind Flayer raised a slender, purple finger, like a thin bamboo twig, and said in a deep voice, "Mind Blast."

With a "boom," a visible gust of air swept outwards at high speed, and all the goblins fell backwards, unconscious on the ground.

Charles felt the burning sensation on his fingers. The Mind Flayer's magic was far more powerful than the Smoky-faced Mage he had encountered when killing the Direclaw Bear. The Mind Flayer had stunned all the goblins with a single blow.

"Oh? Interesting, a magical gadget." The Mind Flayer was slightly surprised, but his tone seemed to carry a hint of delight.

"What do you want to do?" Seeing how powerful his opponent was, Ciel was no longer tense.

"I want you to become God's chosen one." The Mind Flayer chuckled, raising his finger. A tadpole flew out of the pool of flesh and blood and landed at Charles's feet.

"You want to turn me into one of those goblin metamorphosis beings?" Sharl looked down at the tadpole wriggling its body, getting closer to his feet.

"No, not that kind of tool. You can have as many of those tools as you want. I invite you to become one of us," the Mind Flayer said.

"A fellow being? You want to turn me into a mind flayer?" Charles said, frowning, as tadpoles crawled onto his feet.

"I noticed you the moment you entered my underground kingdom." The Mind Flayer flipped his wrist, and an image appeared in front of him, like a small screen playing.

Charles watched as he directed his men to probe the Brain Eater in the video, then chased away the Crimson Eyes before leading his men into the next room.

The camera was shooting from a low angle, which made Charles think something was wrong, but he quickly realized: "You've been using those rats to monitor me from the very beginning."

“Yes,” the Mind Flayer pointed at Ciel, “I originally thought you were just a slightly smarter goblin who could attract the attention of the Mind Eater, but it was your killing of the Mind Flayer that made me more interested in you.”

He strolled leisurely with one hand behind his back. "Your rapid analysis, attention to detail, and decisive decision-making have given me a great surprise."

"The Heart-Stealing Giant Worm?" Charles looked at the screen and saw himself leading his men in a rapid escape, with the Heart-Stealing Giant Worm crashing against the stone wall and chasing after them with its claws outstretched. Meanwhile, the tadpole had already climbed up his calf using the slime on its body.

"That was my mistake. There were too few intelligent targets in the forest, and I couldn't hatch them quickly enough, which led to the birth of the Mind Flayer." The Mind Flayer sighed. "Later, I used those Furu as bait and locked it in the stone chamber. I never expected that your intelligence could attract the Mind Flayer."

"In the end, you didn't disappoint me. You actually used Furu to kill the Brain Golem and the Skull Rat horde. Your intelligence even surpasses that of human adventurers." The Mind Flayer withdrew the image and turned to look at Sharl.

"Are you just going to sit here and watch the Brain Demon and the Skull Rat fight each other?" Charles asked, feeling the tadpoles crawl past his knees.

"That's nothing. If you die, you die. You can still transform." The Mind Flayer slowly extended his bamboo-like hands, his tone carrying a hint of temptation. "And you will abandon your weak status and gain powerful abilities."

"Let the tadpoles burrow into your brain through your eyes. When you wake up, you will become a mind flayer, and the goblins you brought with you will become your loyal subordinates, extensions of your will. They will perfectly execute your thoughts, and your will will become the kingdom's sole law."

Charles stared intently at the other, whose tadpoles had already reached his waist. "And what about you?"

"Me?" The Mind Flayer chuckled a few times. "I'm already very weak. Hiding in the forest has taken a lot of my energy. There aren't that many high-intelligence targets here. I can only barely maintain the current ecosystem, using Skull Rats to lure goblins and then using molted goblins to feed the Mind Eater."

He said self-deprecatingly, "Perhaps I will die soon, and then I will transfer my consciousness to the main brain and gain immortality."

"This kind of immortality?" Charles pointed to the huge brain tissue that was flashing red light.

"Yes," the Mind Flayer said. "At that time, you will take over this entire kingdom, and your subordinates will become tools for your expansion. You are smarter than me, and you will definitely do a better job than me."

"How's it going, goblin? Ready?"

Charles exhaled and reached out to grab the tadpole that had crawled onto his shoulder. The tadpole swayed and struggled in his hand, its mouth full of sharp teeth making a "quack" sound.

With a "splat," Xia Er threw the tadpole to the ground and stomped on it until it burst.

"I'm sorry, that was disgusting," he said sincerely.

"You dare refuse this gift?" The Mind Flayer's tone was unfriendly; he hadn't expected the other party to refuse.

"A gift? To become like you, leading those ugly metamorphoses?" Charles said with a laugh.

"That's evolution, perfect evolution, and they will be loyal forever."

"No, that's not loyalty, it's just being a puppet." Charles shrugged. "Compared to you, I may be weak, even weaker than my subordinates, but they are more loyal to me."

"You may see them as foolish and greedy goblins, but they know who feeds them twice a day and who keeps them from freezing in winter. They can even argue about whether a bed should be 1.8 meters long or 3 meters long."

"You are nothing but a pathetic rat, cowering in an underground fortress, trembling with fear," Charles said, pointing at the Mind Flayer.

"What a ridiculous idea. Inferior beings are inherently chaotic, disorderly, and worthless," the mind flayer sneered. "I used to be human too, oppressed by this world, but now..."

"It's the same now. You haven't resisted either," Charles interrupted. "You're just deceiving yourself. The weak only swing their swords at the weaker, while the strong challenge the stronger."

"A laughable struggle." The Mind Flayer was amused by Ciel's retort, and seemed somewhat embarrassed and angry. "In that case, you might as well be a smarter metamorphosis."

When Charles saw him raise his finger again, he quickly took out a grenade fruit from behind his back.

We can't let him use Mind Blast again. If our minions are hit again, who knows how many goblins will die instantly.

He threw the grenade directly, and "bang," an explosion rang out.

The red light flashed rapidly, and a huge amount of brain tissue was damaged, with a lot of white fluid flowing into a pool full of mucus.

A high-pitched buzzing sound rang in the Mind Flayer's mind. He clutched his octopus-like head and said in pain:

"You dare to blow up the mainframe, you damned bug."