19. In the Moonlight

“There is something about 300 meters to the right.”

“What do you mean something? What are you talking about?”

The sound of small footsteps, like those of a little kid, softly treading on the grass can be heard.

This place is on the 6th floor, having just landed in the mountainous area, we were infusing magic into the cards to confirm the direction and moving towards the portal.

“Barefoot.. Ah, is this a goblin?”

“Did you say it has one skill? Does it have a detection skill?”

“No. That’s not it. The skill has improved my detection ability, but.. it’s not a dedicated detection skill.”

“You must have gotten quite a good skill.”

“But I have to eat raw things.”

“Ah.”

Reese, who was listening beside me, stuck out her tongue as if the taste was bitter and squinted her eyes. Reese must have tasted Isolde’s breast milk.

I’m so jealous.

“I don’t feel anything. I also have a sensitive hearing skill…”

“Then shall we get a little closer?”

Isolde pouted her lips. To her, who makes a living as a ranger with just one detection skill, it might feel annoying that I have better detection abilities without even having a detection skill.

But since we’re in the same party, we should use it effectively.

“Ah, it’s true. I can feel the goblin’s footsteps.”

“I don’t know how many there are. How does it feel to you, Isolde?”

“Roughly… about 30 of them. Shall we take a slight turn to the left?”

When the number of goblins exceeds 20, there is always at least one elite individual. With a high probability, it will be an individual with enhanced physical abilities like a goblin warrior. With a low probability, an individual that uses magic, like a goblin shaman, will appear.

“Isn’t it okay to fight them at this level?”

“Yuan, have you ever fought a goblin horde before?”

“I haven’t.”

“Surprisingly, goblins are tricky and annoying monsters. I don’t really want to fight them.”

If Reese says so, well, there’s no choice. The best thing is to reach the 8th floor without any battles.

“But… the left path here is a cliff road. If there’s a goblin village up there, it could be much more dangerous.”

Goblins are stupid, but from a hunter’s perspective, they can be quite cunning. They build villages on cliffs and throw stones at explorers passing by, launching one-sided attacks.

And, as usual, goblins are known to do terrible things to women. That’s a truly horrible story.

“Taking risks is not good. It’s not difficult, so let’s clear the right path.”

“There’s no choice.”

Garond took the shield and mace he had been carrying on his back and took the lead. It’s reassuring, but the slow speed is a bit disappointing.

When the distance to the goblins was about 100 meters, they also noticed our presence. This is exactly what Garond meant when he said stealth was difficult. The advantage of a preemptive strike is lost, which is a bit of a regrettable demerit.

But it’s okay. I also wanted to test my abilities anyway.

“Hoo…!”

When I replaced my left eyeball with that of the leader, exotic visual information began to flow in. The faintly glowing magic of the goblins. I can’t cover both arms and legs entirely with the muscles of the leader.

Mobility is a crucial part of combat. With the strength of a regular direwolf in my arms, I can easily take off a goblin’s head.

I replaced both legs with the muscles of the leader and filled both arms with the muscles of regular individuals.

After replacing my lungs and heart, I took a deep breath.

‘The magic in my body shifted.’

Unintentionally, the type of blood flowing within my body had also changed. The blood of the leader, which I’d downed a bowlful of, coursed through my entire system, enveloping me in a magic different from that of humans.

“I’m going.”

“Wait a-”

Before Garonde could finish speaking, I shot forward, crushing the grass under the leader’s powerful muscles.

Thwack ㅡ !!!

100 meters ahead, I could see goblins with dark green skin. Thin, short arms and legs, grotesquely protruding noses and eyeballs. Bulging bellies and heads too large for their bodies.

It was just a fleeting glimpse as I flew past at an incredible speed, but even so, they looked like complete shit. A look that just begs for violence.

“Haaap..!”

With powerful leg strength, and with leather boots reinforced with metal greaves, I launched a kick at the closest one first.

My plan was to send its body flying into the center of the group to break their formation, quickly reducing their overall power…

ㅡSplat.

“No fucking way.”

I’d intended for the corpse I kicked to sweep away other goblins as it flew. But, the goblin I kicked was instantly turned to minced meat, and then,

*FWOOM!!!*

A massive roar echoed, as bone and flesh sprayed into the air. Then, the goblin’s entrails, which had been tumbling across the landscape, rained down from the sky. Finally, its head rolled and fell onto the ground.

“Ke, kehehehehe!!!”

“Keryaaak!!”

All 30 or so goblins that were gathered together just ran away.

“No, that wasn’t the idea.”

Even though goblins’ skin and bones are thinner and less sturdy than humans’, I didn’t expect them to turn into minced meat with just one kick.

Beyond the sight of bloodstains scattered widely across the lawn as if hit by a truck, I saw the backs of those who had abandoned their weapons and were running away in a hurry. The party came running from behind.

“What the… is this?”

“Ugh, it’s completely blown up.”

“I didn’t mean to go this far…”

In the clearing where the goblins had fled, crude stone spears and wooden clubs they had used were scattered around. The one who just died probably didn’t even know what happened to him.

When I lifted the head of the one lying there with its eyes open, thick drops of blood trickled down from its neck.

“Impressive. I think you can definitely reach gold rank.”

“Was that your full power just now? No, right?”

“It’s hard to control my strength. I think I could go even harder if I wanted to.”

“There’s a totem here. It looks like they were about to make a shaman.”

In the center, skulls of animals like horned rabbits, dire wolves, and other creatures that hadn’t received magic were laid out in a messy circle.

In the center, at the end of a long wooden stick, there was a skull presumed to be human. They say that when their ritual is over, this wooden stick and skull merge to become the staff of a goblin shaman.

“Did you see it yourself?”

“No way. The scholars must have figured it all out.”

Isolde said it was something she read in a book. Well, I’m an outsider and haven’t been here long. But there must have been scholars who studied the labyrinth for a long time in this world.

They have most of the information. I just don’t know it.

“Anyway… it means a person died.”

“Well, it’s something you can occasionally see while exploring the labyrinth.”

It’s not a perfect corpse, but it’s a human skull. It’s the first time I’ve seen it in person, and it’s a very shocking sight.

“Phew…”

Calming his startled heart, he returned his body to its original state. Such a large goblin horde would have a cave as their dwelling, and in about 30% of the cave, one could find living female captives.

“Can you tell if there are any caves nearby?”

“I don’t have that ability. What about you, Isolde?”

“The shaman summoning ritual is done not far from their dwelling. We can narrow it down to within a 1km radius around here… There must be a cave in the direction they all fled together.”

This is the first time something like this has happened, so I have no idea what to do. Should we find the cave and rescue the captives that might be there? Or should we just leave?

“Originally… we were planning to go straight on our way. But seeing you, Yuen, I think it might be good to go to the cave once.”

“Me? Why?”

“If there are baby goblins, we can capture and sell them. It’s not easy to attack a goblin cave, though.”

“Isn’t rescuing the captives the first priority?”

“We don’t even know if there are any captives. But there are definitely baby goblins.”

Well, our goal isn’t necessarily the 8th floor. If we can make money, it doesn’t matter if it’s the 6th or 8th floor…

“Yuen. I’ll leave the decision to you. Now that I see it, you’re the strongest force in this party.”

“Why do you say that? Alright, let’s go.”

In the end, we slightly changed our direction to head towards where they fled. It would be good to capture and sell the babies. It would be even better if we could rescue the captives.

Everyone saw the direction they fled, so it was easy to know. It was slightly to the right of the portal direction, but it wasn’t a big problem.

Garond took the skull of the person hanging on the wooden stick, roughly dug a hole in the ground, and buried it there. It was too simple to be called a funeral, but it was the least we could do.

‘Garond prays too.’

Garond knelt on one knee next to the spot where he buried the skull, placed his fist on the ground, closed his eyes, and muttered something.

He didn’t particularly believe in any religion, but he said it was a custom from where he lived.

“Garond, you seem to have a very upright nature.”

“If you don’t want to be consumed by the madness of the labyrinth, you have to be at least this much.”

After finishing the cleanup, I tracked the goblins that had fled. The path was a bit rough because it was a mountainous area, but I could easily find the path the goblins had walked.

A few minutes of walking along the path, my detection caught those goblins again.

‘There’s a cave too.’

This confirmed their dwelling.

“Are we going in right now?”

“The cave is dark anyway. It will soon be night, and it will be the time when the goblins’ movements become sluggish.”

“So, we’re going at night.”

“That’s right.”

That works for me. I get stronger at night. It was already past 6 o’clock, and as the sun was setting, the surroundings were getting darker.

The goblins, who had been making strange, incomprehensible noises in front of the cave, all went inside, leaving only two guards to face the night.

The guards were holding crude torches, guarding the entrance of the cave.

“Liss, you can take care of one of the guards, right?”

“Yes. I just need to kill the one that’s a bit farther away, right?”

“Yes. Yuen, you take care of the other one.”

“Understood.”

Liss drew a short bow and aimed at one of the goblins guarding the entrance.

Thwack!

With the sound of the string snapping, the arrow pierced through one goblin’s temple, and I immediately lunged, thrusting my previously used knife into the neck of the remaining goblin.

In an instant, two goblins were dead. The surroundings were quiet as if nothing had happened, and I spread my arms wide, opening my chest to the sky.

“Hey… what are you doing…?”

Liss whispered to me softly from beside me.

“I’m receiving the moonlight.”

“Are you an idiot? Let’s go quickly…”

“Yes…”

Because I’m a man who gets stronger in the moonlight.

It’s true.