Chapter 6: Surrounded

The goblin trembled in fear throughout the night.

Tied next to the humans who had slaughtered its kin, it could only drool, not knowing why it had been spared.

“Kiiik…”

The dawn light began to break.

Pale light streamed into the misty forest.

The terrified goblin suddenly glanced at the rope binding it.

Ssshhh.

The rope tied to the tree was loose.

No, that wasn’t what mattered.

What mattered was that if it twisted its body just right, it could free itself from the restraints.

“Kik!”

The goblin wriggled, shaking the rope in every direction.

The humans, deep in their sleep, didn’t stir.

The goblin’s movements became more frantic.

Snap!

After several attempts, the goblin successfully untied the rope at the knot.

If the goblin had been a bit more observant, it might have realized that someone had deliberately left the rope loose.

But the goblin, having just barely escaped death, wasn’t perceptive enough to notice.

“Kiaaak!”

With all its strength, the goblin fled.

About five minutes later, Daro, the radar, stirred and got up.

“Let’s begin.”

The explorers drew their weapons.

#

The goblin sprinted through the forest.

Daro watched with a satisfied smile.

Perhaps it was the smile of a criminal, for it was somewhat eerie.

“Somi.”

At Daro’s command, Somi adjusted the Seeker Lantern.

[The Dungeon Seeker tracked the goblin’s traces.]

[Using the Seeker Lantern, the path was found more easily!]

[Success rate: 94%]

[Tracking in progress…]

[Tracking successful!]

[The exact location of the goblin’s nest has been discovered.]

[The goblin nest location has been marked on the map.]

We chased the fleeing goblin for a while.

It was so terrified that it fled mindlessly back to its nest.

Its intention was probably to warn its kin of the external threat, but in the process, it had become our guide.

Had it run to the scouting party, we would have had to endure another tedious battle.

Luckily, things worked out in our favor.

“It’s around here.”

Somi marked the location of the goblin nest on the map using the Seeker Lantern.

Daro looked at it with a sinister expression.

I had thought he was a calm person, but at moments like this, he seemed like a true predator.

Dungeons and monsters.

Threats and rewards.

Gold awaited us.

“We’ve found the right place.”

There was no hesitation.

Daro took the lead as the party leader.

We crossed a small ridge and pushed through the dwarfish bushes.

Then, near a half-rotted tree, the entrance to a cave appeared, sunken like a rabbit hole.

“Hmm.”

Jian showed curiosity.

It seemed the goblin nest was fascinating to her.

As Jian looked around quickly, she appeared quite cute.

“Why?”

“I’m just checking if there’s anything dangerous.”

“The most dangerous thing here is probably us.”

Somi adjusted her glasses and cautiously advanced.

That was true.

The cave, as a goblin home, felt quite cozy in its way.

Daro, who was leading the way, shouted that he had spotted the enemy.

From the darkness, the sound of goblins crying out could be heard.

“It seems there’s no scouting party.”

No scouting party was good news.

The number of goblins that appear during the goblin nest-clearing mission is large.

Even if they aren’t particularly strong, a large number means high item consumption and prolonged battles.

Quick resolution is key.

Once inside the cave, a slight sense of unease crept in.

Perhaps it was because it was too quiet.

“I’ll light it up.”

The Seeker Lantern blazed brightly.

The cave’s chaotic curves were clearly revealed by the blue light from the lantern.

“Follow me.”

Daro, armed with his arming sword, took the lead.

It wasn’t long before we encountered the first goblin group.

“Kiaaaak!”

“Daro!”

“It’s fine. Just goblins.”

Daro said this as he sliced the neck of one goblin.

Just goblins.

These weren’t goblin scouts or goblin guards. Strictly speaking, they were closer to ‘civilian goblins.’

That is, they were untrained, without any special equipment, and were worth little more than moving sacks of meat.

Civilian goblins.

It was almost laughable.

“Kiaaah!”

Countless unarmed goblins popped out from all directions.

“T-There are too many!”

Somi, clinging closely to Jian’s back, cried out pitifully.

Numerous goblins passed by us.

“Kill as many as you can.”

I said as I plunged a serrated blade into the head of a passing goblin.

Most of them were probably the elderly, women, and children.

Why? It’s usually like this. The men handle the dangerous outside work.

The rest stay and guard the nest.

Goblin females and young are seeds of evil.

If they survive, they breed and create more nests.

It’s better to kill them all on sight.

“Hmm.”

Jian didn’t seem particularly motivated, only crushing the heads of the goblins that came within reach.

Yesterday, she single-handedly wiped out an entire scouting party.

Is she the type to get fired up during a real fight?

“I-I just missed one…”

Somi flailed her whip clumsily.

Her killing ability was close to zero.

“Well, if we destroy the nest, most of them will starve to death anyway. All their stored food is here.”

We stood side by side, blocking the passage and slaughtering the goblins as they emerged.

There wasn’t much to say.

It was a massacre.

We killed them in the order they appeared.

Then more goblins came out from behind, and we killed them too.

Thwack. Thwack.

It was just simple repetitive labor.

I knew I shouldn’t let my guard down, but there was no tension to speak of.

It was even boring.

We mechanically killed the goblins.

After slaughtering for a while, the nest began to quiet down.

The deafening goblin screams slowly faded away.

“Phew. Looks like it’s mostly over.”

Goblin corpses were strewn everywhere.

Ripped and crushed, they were grotesque remains.

I wiped the flesh and bones stuck to my serrated blade.

“Shall we search around?”

“Let’s do that.”

We followed Daro deeper into the cave.

The goblin cave is one of the first dungeons tackled by beginner overseers in Dungeon Overseer.

It’s like the textbook dungeon.

To help players get familiar with the game, it’s intentionally designed to be short and easy.

Between the burrows the goblins had made, some rooms seemed to be their storage.

“Hm.”

They were filled with household goods, food, and loot.

Most of it was just junk that would only be a burden to carry.

Goblin-made tools had no market value.

Most goblin food was either rotten or contaminated.

Goblins could eat that kind of stuff just fine, though.

In the end, the only valuable items were the loot stolen from humans.

Among the stolen goods, goblins kept rare or pretty items as decorations.

Wooden cups, cloth tunics, bone toys, and so on.

What humans considered trash was the goblins’ treasure.

“There’s not much worth taking here.”

“You can’t expect much from goblins.”

We took everything that seemed valuable and moved forward.

By the time we reached the third floor underground, we were already in front of the final room.

“Oh my.”

Jian lightly covered her mouth.

Usually, the last room in a goblin dungeon was filled with goblin loot and baby goblins.

They looked like newborns, barely old enough to be weaned.

The young goblins were tangled up with each other, too small even to walk.

Of course, there were no adult goblins in sight.

These were the babies abandoned by their parents.

Goblin females give birth to multiple young, but when danger strikes, they only take the biggest and strongest with them.

One of the goblins we missed earlier probably got lucky and escaped with its young.

“What about these kids…?”

“They’ve been abandoned.”

“They abandon their own children?”

“Well, they can always make more.”

Daro kicked aside the squirming babies as he entered the room.

Since they were still weak, even a single kick was enough to kill them.

I followed Daro and killed the baby goblins.

Do I feel guilty about it?

Not at all. Goblins are enemies of humans.

Every year around this time, we get endless requests to kill as many goblins as possible.

If these ones grow up, they’ll all become adult goblins.

If I felt bad about killing goblins, I wouldn’t have taken the job in the first place.

If I were the overseer, I’d even order people to cut off the baby goblins’ noses.

That’s how we gauge the dungeon’s size, after all.

“Damn.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. My weapon’s all worn out.”

[Rusty Bone Saw (9%)]

Seeing the saw blade wobble already made me sigh.

I’d killed so many goblins that the durability had worn down.

Well, I’ve used it for a long time.

This saw was my first weapon, bought at an auction from a dead necromancer’s belongings.

It made a huge difference in my battles, and I’ve been grateful for it for a long time.

But I think it’s finally time to let it go.

“Sigh.”

I put the saw away and pulled out my tongs.

Now, don’t picture the kind of tongs used at a barbecue. These were much larger and thicker.

The pointed ends made it clear they were designed for serious butchering work.

Every necromancer carries this as an auxiliary weapon.

“Kee-reuk…”

To conserve durability, I killed the baby goblins with the tongs.

“It’s finally over.”

“You’ve worked hard too, Hajun.”

We killed all the remaining baby goblins and collected any usable items.

Somi entered with a face that looked like she was about to cry, inspecting the surroundings.

The rewards were meager compared to the effort.

“This is all we’ve got.”

In the end, all we decided to take were a pouch with a few silver coins, a couple of rusty daggers, and a small sack of iron nails.

“At least no one got hurt.”

Thankfully, there weren’t many armed goblins.

Most of them were unarmed.

Thanks to that, the job was easily completed.

At the now desolate entrance of the nest, Jian clasped her hands together and muttered something.

It was called the Mystic’s consecration ritual.

I wasn’t sure what she was doing because our classes were different.

That was the limit of my game-learned knowledge.

“I’m glad things went well.”

Daro, now covered head-to-toe in goblin blood, sat on a rock and lit his pipe.

“It’s all thanks to you, Daro.”

“You worked hard too, Hajun.”

Daro subtly offered me a cigarette, but I declined.

“If we handle one more like this, it should be over, right?”

“If the other nests are at this level, we could probably take on two more, but… the lack of a shaman worries me.”

That was curious.

We were asked to bring back a shaman’s spine, and we had even found traces of a shaman.

It seemed certain that a shaman was present, but there was no sign of one.

Did it flee?

After sorting and classifying the useful items, Jian finished her consecration ritual.

It was about time to move on and find the next nest.

“Wait a minute.”

That’s when it happened.

Somi’s Seeker Lantern glowed blue.

That meant enemies were approaching…

Although we had detected them early thanks to the Dungeon Seeker, Somi’s expression darkened.

“It’s a scout unit.”

“They must be the ones who returned.”

Daro flicked his cigarette ash to the ground and stood up.

“This is… what do we do?”

“Is there a problem?”

The entire party grew uneasy as the Dungeon Seeker showed signs of concern.

Somi was visibly flustered.

“There are way more of them than I thought.”

“How many?”

At Daro’s question, Somi closed her eyes and hesitated.

“Thirty… no, forty… there’s a huge number. It’s five or more scout units.”

Damn it.

No wonder her face looked like that.

Five goblin scout units?

More than fifty goblins?

I started to panic as well.

We had been looting this goblin nest for quite a while now.

“The goblins know our location. They’ve surrounded us…”

“We’re surrounded, then.”

Daro muttered calmly.

Suddenly, it felt absurd.

This guy—he’s surrounded by fifty goblins, and yet he’s staying so calm?

“Is there any way out?”

The words slipped out before I could stop myself.

Daro pulled a dagger from his pack and checked the blade.

“Is there any way other than fighting?”

I was so taken aback that I couldn’t respond.

What the hell… fighting is the answer?

“Are you serious right now? Do you mean it?”

“If you don’t like my method, then why don’t you suggest an alternative, Hajun? If it’s better than mine, I’ll follow it.”

I had no words.

What sharp solution could I possibly have?

I was worried because it was my first time being surrounded by goblins, not because I had a brilliant plan. Damn.

Somi and I shared similar expressions.

At this point, it felt like we could start digging our graves.

“Let’s give it a try.”

In contrast, Jian seemed to have caught Daro’s crazy idea; she didn’t look anxious at all.

Her face was bright as she seemed pleased that a fight was about to happen.

Daro watched my expression and added,

“Being surrounded is trickier than it seems. They may say there are fifty of them, but they can’t block off the entire forest.

At most, only about twenty will actually fight us; the rest will run away.”

“But… what if we get surrounded while fighting? The noise will attract even more.”

No matter how bad the goblins’ morale was, their initial morale was high.

They would want to devour the explorers who had turned their nest upside down, making them not so easy to scare off.

“Is this idea about surrounding us coming from the shaman?”

Damn… it really feels like we’re in deep trouble.

In this situation, the only solution is to charge head-on.

What a joke.

Daro noticed me cursing and chuckled.

“Do you want to catch the shaman?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Then be satisfied with just killing the goblins.”

That crazy guy.

Does he think I’m someone who’s gone insane from not being able to kill goblins?

“How far away are the goblins?”

“About ten minutes… Yes. They’re ten minutes away from us.”

The goblin scout unit was rapidly approaching from the eastern forest.

Daro gave the order to move west and kill any goblins we came across.

His eyes, while tightening the straps of his buckler, were anything but normal.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of the dried bloodstains or the faint smell of blood and iron, but there was a beastly aura emanating from Daro.

It felt like meeting him at night would definitely lead to trouble.

Damn.

If a guy like him shouted, “Charge!” I’d have no choice but to follow.

Even though it felt like a disaster waiting to happen, there was no backing out now.

My heart was pounding oddly.

Now, we were the ones being hunted.