This adventurer is overly righteous.

Having had many past experiences venturing deep into goblin lairs, Kroya was not afraid of the narrowness and darkness of the cave itself. He was used to it, and with the goddess's blessing, he could easily see in the dark without feeling uncomfortable.

"bat..."

Kroya saw bats hanging upside down on both sides of the rock wall. They were very common creatures in the cave, but Kroya couldn't help but stop and examine them closely.

These bats were enormous, about the length of a forearm from head to toe, approaching the size of monsters.

More importantly, their eyes were a murky, bloody color that made one feel uneasy looking directly at them. They stared blankly at their surroundings, never closing their eyes, like lifelike statues. Kroya couldn't make out their features, and not wanting to cause any trouble, he bent down and walked under their heads.

"No feces?"

Halfway there, Kroya paused, somewhat stunned. Living things need to excrete waste. If those bats lived here for a long time, their excrement would definitely remain here. Kroya had seen before how bat excrement covered the entire cave. Perhaps only goblins could tolerate such a dirty environment.

Unless these bats have just arrived and settled in this cave, this could barely be explained.

Regardless, Croya remained cautious and made sure not to expose himself to the bats.

"But bats navigate using sound waves, right...?"

Regardless, Croya felt it was best to be cautious.

Kroya continued forward until he passed through a narrow bend in the passageway, which then widened to allow him to walk easily. He moved along the wall, where a severed head lay like a stone on the same side.

A scar ran across his face. It should have been a dignified face, but the severed head still showed the fear of death. The muscles were twisted together and the eyes were wide open.

"Henry." Croa didn't recognize the face, but the adventurers had told him that the leader of this adventurer's party was a guy named Henry with a scar on his face, so this must be him.

The cut at the neck was clean and neat, making it look as if he had been beheaded by an executioner.

It was clearly not the goblins who killed him. Even if the goblins were lucky enough to obtain weapons from the adventurer's corpse, they would still be too weak to inflict such a wound. There must be some terrible creature hiding in this cave.

Although this guy didn't get along with him and even wanted to kill him, Kroya closed his eyes out of respect for the dead.

Behind Croa, a bat slowly turned around, its red eyes fixed on the head.

Your willingness to forgive and respect the deceased is commendable.

[Strength slightly increased]

Kroya followed the road as it continued to turn, gradually hearing a chaotic yet crisp knocking sound and the roars of goblins, indicating that he was getting closer. Finally, he stopped, and a vast underground space opened up before him, far surpassing any goblin caves he had seen before. It was more like an underground town carved out by goblins.

Goblins of all sizes darted around in front of Kroya, some of them carrying mining tools that belonged to humans. These goblins used these tools to continuously strike the rock wall, digging out rocks of all sizes. These rocks were then collected by other goblins and transported elsewhere.

Several gigantic mutated goblins, each wielding a massive stone pestle, smashed the rocks into white powder, the sound echoing thunderously within the cave.

There was another goblin whose size was no different from that of a regular goblin, but he was guarded by two mutated goblins. The guards wore armor taken from the corpses of adventurers and carried longswords made by humans at their waists.

That was the leader of the goblins. Kroya saw the goblin giving orders and also noticed its extravagant decorations. It wore a crown made of bone and had chains of canine teeth on its wrists and ankles, but what caught Kroya's attention the most was its chest.

It wore a necklace with a straw rope hanging from the center, connecting fifteen nameplates. Fourteen of them were made of brass, and the silver one was in the center. Because of the goblin's small size, these nameplates were almost touching its abdomen.

Without a doubt, these plaques were taken from the adventurers who were killed; none of the fifteen adventurers survived.

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"It's practically a goblin mine."

This was the first thought that arose in Kroya's mind. Then he began to ponder where these goblins got their tools and what kind of crafts they possessed...

Humans may also have been involved.

With just a quick glance, Kroya knew that there were more than three hundred goblins here, and if they came out in full force, they could even take over a human town.

In addition, Kroya also discovered a pure white altar that was not yet fully completed. There were dim lights around the altar, and the white stones reflected a faint light. Kroya approached the altar, with some vague guesses in his mind. He carefully avoided many goblins moving around in the darkness along the way.

"It's Shiraishi."

Having visited the Whitestone Church many times to worship the gods, Kroya was quite familiar with whitestone as a building material, and the altar he saw before him was definitely made of whitestone.

"Could this be a vein of white stone?"

Based on what he had seen before, Croa couldn't help but have this thought.

White stone is a highly valuable building material, and its pure white color is extremely popular. White Stone Town is built on the only known white stone mine in the world.

"Someone discovered a second vein of white stone," Kroya pondered. "So he enslaved these goblins and made them mine for him..."

Goblins couldn't possibly have grown to such a scale on their own. The food source for over three hundred goblins alone would be a huge problem. The goblin nests that Kroa had seen earlier couldn't possibly have contained more than a hundred goblins. Someone must have helped these goblins, and the tools they're using now probably originated from that person.

The profits from selling the white stone would more than be enough to support the other party's actions.

So the damage caused by the goblin overpopulation is partly due to the other side's actions.

"The design of this altar does not conform to church regulations."

If the other party intends to build an altar, Kroya is certain that they do not wish to worship any of the thirteen deities.

That guy is a heretic; he worships a heretical god.