Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Chapter 92 Inviting the "Wolf" into the House [4k]

After several screams, the burly man Jacques hurriedly pulled the rope, but only one goblin was pulled back.

The goblin had almost no intact skin; his entire body was a bloody mess. The ropes binding him had long since broken, but he was writhing and howling in pain on the ground, desperately trying to escape the stone gate.

"Is this a trap?" Jacques angrily chopped off the goblin's head with an axe.

"Acid traps? Those are the most troublesome," Martel said, frowning.

Then, he threw a torch into the stone chamber and stood outside the door trying to see what was inside.

"It's too dark, I can't see very well." Jacques risked sticking his head inside.

"Let's send two heavily armored warriors in to take a look," suggested the mage Qigo from behind.

Martel thought for a moment, then selected two warriors wearing iron breastplates and ordered them to carry torches into the stone chamber. "Remember, proceed along the edge, do not go near the center, and test each step before you take it, paying particular attention to your footing."

The two warriors nodded solemnly, took their longswords and torches, and slipped into the stone chamber, each taking one side of the other to begin exploring inside.

They first checked the walls for firing holes, then tapped the floor tiles with their longswords. Once they found nothing wrong, they proceeded deeper into the area.

Martel and Jacques peered over and watched as the two soldiers slowly made their way along the wall, seemingly without encountering any danger.

"This stone chamber is quite large." Martel kept a close eye on his team. "There doesn't seem to be any danger on either side."

"Shall we go in too?" Jacques asked impatiently.

Just as they were talking, a scream rang out. Jacques' eyes widened in disbelief as he saw a soldier being enveloped by several objects falling from the ceiling, with puffs of white smoke rising from him. He turned to run out of the stone chamber, but after only a few steps, he fell to the ground, struggled to crawl a few times, and then lay still.

Hearing his comrade's scream, the soldier on the other side panicked and tried to retreat, but before he could take a few steps, he slipped on a slippery object and fell. He was shocked to see his boots emitting white smoke and making a hissing corrosive sound. He hurriedly took them off, but then two large clumps of translucent gelatinous substance fell from the ceiling and hit him.

"He can't be saved." Martel grabbed Jacques, preventing him from entering the stone chamber.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's full of slimes." Chigo said solemnly, stroking his chin.

"Slime, that piece of junk is completely useless. If this place is full of it, then we've come all this way for nothing!" Jacques said bitterly.

"Not necessarily," Chigo said thoughtfully, looking up at the ceiling of the stone chamber. "This is a challenge set by the owner of the ruins. If we can't solve these slimes, we can't go inside."

"The slimes are covered in strong acid. If too many people go in at once, more might die." Martel regretted his rashness earlier.

"How about we think of another way, and see if there are any other entry points?" Jacques tried to suggest.

"That's an interesting question," Qige said, ignoring the two of them. After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, "No need, the forest is too big. It's faster here."

Then, to Jacques's astonishment, he gave his suggestion.

"Hey." Jacques forcefully threw the goblin's corpse, whose head he had just chopped off, into the center of the stone chamber. The corpse hit the ground, splattering blood everywhere.

Then they threw several torches around the corpse.

"Bring two rangers," Martel said to those behind him.

Emlyn and another human ranger were summoned to the stone gate.

"Shoot an arrow if you see anything approaching the corpse," Qige told the ranger.

Then he leaned against the wall, turned his head to look at the stone chamber, and said, "I've found the solution to the problem you posed. I hope you can come up with some new tricks."

Emlyn stood by the stone door, staring intently at the headless goblin corpse, the one Jacques had kicked into the stone chamber in a fit of rage.

When the anomaly occurred, the team members began to whisper among themselves, discussing the danger level of the ruins.

However, everyone here is a seasoned adventurer who lives a life of constant danger and is already very familiar with these things. On the contrary, many people are excitedly discussing what might be found in the ruins.

With a "whoosh," Emlyn fired an arrow, piercing through the body of a slime. Strong acid flowed directly onto the ground, emitting a corrosive smell and a hissing sound.

"Luckily, we came with the Brotherhood. If our own squad had accidentally discovered this entrance, we would have been wiped out if we had rushed in."

He carefully scanned the area around the torch and muttered under his breath, "It's such a shame that Lila and the other one didn't join. You can't learn this kind of experience just by killing goblins."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Whoosh!" Another arrow struck, hitting a slime which fell from the ceiling and crashed onto the stone bricks, causing strong acid to splatter everywhere.

"This is too dangerous. It's even more dangerous than the acid traps I heard about at the Ear Cleaner's Tavern. After all, slimes are mobile." Emlyn tucked his green hair behind his pointed ears and drew an arrow.

"But this is safe. Using the smell of blood to lure the slime closer is a clever method." He drew his bow again and shot an arrow into the slime on the ground.

After a while, Emlyn shook his aching arms and said, "There are too many. Just how many slimes are in there?"

"Who designed this stone chamber? Is the Mind Flayer really that crazy, raising so many slimes? What is he planning to do with them? Make pickles with strong acid?"

"With so many slimes, even a giant sea monster would have a hard time coming out alive if it went in."

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, and several quivers were empty. You should know that a ranger entering the forest would only carry a maximum of two quivers, and if they kept firing like this, they wouldn't have enough arrows.

"The question you came up with is a bit strange," Qige muttered to himself. "The fact that you're willing to use so many slimes to block the door means there must be a lot of good stuff inside the ruins."

Gradually, the slimes became fewer and fewer, and the two rangers waited with their bows drawn.

"We can go in," Chigo said to Martel behind him, "but we need to be careful to avoid missing any slimes or traps."

"Are there any more traps?" Martel asked.

"Perhaps there is, but I think this entire stone chamber is a trap." Qige sighed softly. "A trap of this scale is truly unheard of."

"Everyone, enter the ruins," Martel shouted, while also informing his teammates of the precautions.

And so, the remaining 38 people all entered the fortress's stone gate.

"They're all inside?" Charles asked, staring at the broken tooth in front of him.

The man with the broken tooth, wearing a twig and grass ring on his head, nodded to indicate that they had indeed gone inside, and he also told the leader everything he had seen through the binoculars.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"I wonder how many of them the slime took away, five? Two?" Sharmo stroked his chin, deep in thought. "But that was only effective against ordinary adventurers; it wouldn't be very effective against an organized Brotherhood like this."

"But the second stone chamber is what I prepared for seasoned adventurers; I hope these guests will like it."

"Follow him immediately, but be careful not to expose yourself." Charles patted Broken Tooth's shoulder. He was grateful to have such a subordinate who could keep track of the other party's movements.

He then summoned Red Eyes and ordered him to lead his men to ambush the Brain Eater's room. "Remember to extinguish the torches, and after they light the torches and enter, shoot the people with the torches with crossbows."

"After firing all five arrows, they all retreated."

Red Eyes nodded and led a few goblins through the gap in the barricade.

"This stone chamber is huge," Jacques exclaimed, holding up his torch and staring at the ceiling.

"It's not small." Qige strolled behind him.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"There must be a lot of good stuff in there!" Jacques shouted excitedly, while swinging his two-handed axe a few times.

Qige quickly slid to the side to avoid being hurt by the "whooshing" axe, and said jokingly, "You said earlier that this trip was a waste of time."

"How could that be? Didn't you say the owner of this ruin was very generous? We'll see how big it is and take everything away." Jacques grinned. "I'm going to learn from those stupid nobles, wave my hand, bow, and say thank you for your gift, and then send him on his way with an axe."

"There seems to be a problem here," a team member shouted from a corner in the distance.

Everyone gathered around, and one of them said, "It seems to have been buried; it should have been a door."

"The Mind Flayers are afraid of us going in," Emlyn said with a smile.

"Dig it up." Martel called two strong men over, and they soon dug up the mound of earth.

"It's very dark in here." Jacques stood at the front, holding a torch; he always stood at the very front.

"The old way," Martel said to Chigo, who didn't say anything but just nodded.

Three goblins were thrown into the stone chamber, and Martel and Jacques remained on guard against any possible changes inside.

But nothing happened in the stone chamber except for the goblins' "gibberish" shouts.

"Empty?" Martel slowly ran his hand along the scars on his face, pondering the situation inside the stone chamber.

"Pull it back and take a look," he said.

The three goblins were pulled back unharmed and were glaring at the Storm Brotherhood, yelling "Wah wah wah".

Jacques slapped each goblin across the face, finally stopping their grumbling.

"Put all the goblins in, and remember to make the ropes long," Chigo suggested. "This might be a trap room, since the previous stone chamber didn't have any traps."

"You're right, it's indeed harder to see those crossbow bolts or trapdoors in complete darkness," Martel nodded.

So the remaining seven goblins were thrown in. They made a racket and ran around the room. Then Jacques and Martel heard many sounds of them hitting the wall.

"Pull them back, or they might bite through the rope," Qige said.

Jacques immediately pulled the rope and dragged the goblin back. Sure enough, three of the ropes were about to be chewed through.

"There might not be any traps inside, we need to proceed carefully," Martel said loudly to his team, staring at the lively goblins.

Everyone burst into laughter as they watched Jacques teach the goblins a lesson.

"It seems there's no danger in the room ahead."

"They thought they could stop us with slimes."

"Things in the forest are just so brainless."

"I wonder what good stuff is inside."

"Alright, prepare to enter." Martel gave a series of orders, drawing his longsword and carrying a torch as he led the way. "Battle formation: warriors in front, healers in the middle, mage apprentices and rangers in the rear on guard, and wanderers, remember to protect the healers."

Several torches illuminated the stone chamber, and the adventurers filed in, quickly forming ranks.

"There are a few wooden frames here," someone said.

"Something seems to have just run past."

"I also saw a few small dark figures."

"There was a rustling sound of footsteps."

"Be on alert! Watch out for enemy attacks!" Martel shouted a warning to his teammates.

But then he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, as if something had hit him. He looked down and saw a crossbow bolt lodged in his breastplate.

"Watch out! There's an ambush! There are crossbow bolts!" he shouted immediately.

Then, a series of "whoosh" sounds rang out around them, and the people shouted loudly, seemingly having been hit by crossbow bolts.

"Get closer, healers be careful." Martel quickly gave the order while scanning the area with his sword. The crossbow bolts hadn't penetrated much and hadn't affected him much.

The team quickly moved into formation to prevent crossbow bolts from bypassing the armored warriors and harming their teammates behind them. At the same time, everyone quickened their pace, wanting to rush forward and find the attackers as soon as possible.

"Huh? What's that?" one of the team members asked, looking at the small red ball on the wooden frame.

"What is that?" His teammate next to him looked in the direction he was pointing and also spotted the red ball, and several more appeared around it.

"It looks like an animal's brain," he muttered to himself, but then his expression changed drastically, as if he had remembered something.

"Spit, spit, spit—" He stared wide-eyed, pointing at the little red balls that kept popping up on the shelf, stammering. Suddenly, a red ball jumped up and flew directly toward his face. He watched as a needle-like mouthpart dripping with mucus emerged from beneath the red ball.

"Brain Eater!" he finally shouted, using his weapon to swat away the flying monster.

But immediately, two more jumped over, one of which grabbed his head and he watched as the needle-like mouthpart pierced his eye socket.

Screams rose and fell as the members of the Storm Brotherhood were shocked to find themselves surrounded by brain-devouring monsters. These red monsters were everywhere. Although one or two brain-devouring monsters were easy to deal with, there were too many of them now, and their formation was too dense. Many teammates had already injured each other. Once hit by a weapon, it was easy to be stunned, and then a brain-devouring monster would climb onto your head.

"Everyone, scatter and throw the torches on the ground," Qige shouted immediately, knowing that this was the only way to control the situation.

"The questions you set this time are a bit too advanced for the curriculum," he said through gritted teeth.

Upon hearing Chigo's voice, Emlyn immediately dispersed with his teammates, drawing his short sword to defend against the brain-eating monster's attacks. He heard screams constantly and saw people falling to the ground.

"How many mind-devouring monsters are there? Is this mind-devourer really that ruthless? I hope it doesn't die here today."

"

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He had thought that joining the Storm Brotherhood would bring him a lot of wealth and promotion opportunities, allowing him to go deeper into the forest, defeat more monsters, and improve his combat abilities. But now, he had only gone this far and had already encountered such a powerful opponent.

For the first time, he regretted his decision.

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