Chapter 80: The bloodstained water

For a moment, all of us froze at the sight before us.

The stream had been dyed red with goblin blood. Which could only mean one thing...

Something terrible had probably happened to the Bright Red Nose Tribe, and I already had a pretty good idea what it might be.

The Dark Giant Spiders...

A chill ran through my bricks.

If those monsters were truly responsible, then it meant their attacks were spreading far faster than I had anticipated. Their expansion was becoming increasingly difficult to contain, like a wildfire raging through a forest, consuming everything in its path.

At this rate, it might only be another week or two before they reached my castle.

Damn it... I’m running out of time.

I needed to accelerate my preparations as quickly as possible. Every day I wasted could mean the difference between surviving their attack and watching my castle fall.

But for now, I had another problem to deal with.

Gopuro slowly approached the stream and stared at its blood-red waters. His massive iron axe remained in his other hand, while his free hand clenched into a tight fist. His entire body was trembling in rage.

Gopuran and Gopushadow weren’t faring much better. Both wore grim expressions, their eyes fixed on the crimson water flowing past their feet. There’s not only blood, but we saw some ripped off body parts as well...

It was horrible....

After a moment of silence, Gopuro finally spoke.

"Big Boss... what do we do? Should we still go to the Bright Red Nose Tribe?"

"Hmmm..."

I considered his question carefully.

It was a perfectly reasonable concern. Continuing onward could mean walking straight into an unknown danger. We had no idea what awaited us, and charging blindly into a potentially dangerous situation would be foolish.

On the other hand, I couldn’t help wanting to find out what had happened.

Was this really the work of the spiders, or had another goblin tribe started a war with the Bright Red Nose Tribe?

In both cases, one thing for certain, there might still be survivors.

If the attack had happened recently, there could be injured goblins waiting for help, or hiding somewhere, similar to my goblins a few days ago.

And not only me, Gopuran was thinking along the same lines.

"We have to continue," she said firmly. "The blood is still fresh. The attack might have happened not long ago, which means there could still be survivors..."

"Right! We have to help them!" Gopushadow immediately agreed, his earlier nervousness giving way to determination.

He then begged me, gripping his twin daggers tightly.

"Big Boss, please! Please let us go in!"

"Hey, calm down," I immediately replied.

"This is looking very dangerous," I continued. "I understand your desire to help, but at the same time, I can’t simply ignore the risks."

These three were my precious citizens, after all, and I had no intention of sending them into a situation they couldn’t handle.

But then, Gopuran added.

"Big boss, we’ll be careful. Besides, from what we know, Dark Giant Spiders only leave the Cursed Land at night. It’s morning now, so we should be relatively safe."

"Wait!" I blurted out after hearing that. "Is that true? How do you know?" I asked, wondering how the heck did I miss this important information.

"Well, we don’t know for sure, but..."

She paused briefly before explaining what she knew.

Apparently, two or three months ago, when all this first started, the spiders hadn’t begun attacking the tribes yet. At first, only a few left the Cursed Land and into the forest. Usually, there were just one or two at a time, and they mostly hunted lone goblins or other animals after dark.

But as time passed, their numbers grew. Eventually, they started organizing larger attacks against entire tribes.

Even so, every attack they had heard about only happened around midnight, including the one attack that annihilated their tribe.

"Yeah... That’s what we suspect." Gopuran said. "If they usually hunt and attack after dark, then daytime should be safer. But we can’t be certain."

I see...

It wasn’t exactly reassuring, but it was better than nothing.

At least, we had a reasonable basis for believing that we wouldn’t immediately run into a swarm of those monsters in broad daylight.

Still, I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that some spiders might be lurking nearby.

"Haiz..." I let out a brief sigh.

These goblins really weren’t making my job easy.

"Alright, then. Are you three absolutely sure you want to continue?" I asked, letting them decide.

"Yes!"

All three answered without the slightest hesitation.

"If we can save more goblins, our Castle Tribe will grow stronger!" Gopuro declared.

"Big Boss, please let us go!" Gopushadow added.

Gopuran simply nodded, her expression resolute.

I couldn’t help feeling a little conflicted.

On one hand, I was worried about their safety. On the other hand, if we wanted to survive the coming danger, we couldn’t afford to remain passive forever.

Every goblin I managed to save would become another valuable warrior in the battles to come.

"Alright," I finally relented. "We’ll continue, but we’re not going in recklessly. Stay alert, and if things get too dangerous, retreat immediately. Understood?"

"Yes, Big Boss!"

The three answered enthusiastically.

Still, there was no way I was going to let them venture into a potentially dangerous area with only the three of them.

If the Dark Giant Spiders really were responsible for this massacre, I wanted as much fighting strength on hand as possible.

And fortunately, I had three more goblins back at the castle.

Thus, using [Ruler’s Voice], I immediately contacted Gopugiga, Gopuflammy, and Gopuberry, ordering them to head toward our current location as quickly as possible. I also instructed them to bring their weapons and prepare for a possible battle.

The three responded at once and set off without delay.

And then, in just about thirty minutes later, the reinforcements finally arrived.

Gopugiga, Gopuflammy, and Gopuberry emerged from the forest, fully armed and ready for battle.

Their expressions were serious as they took in the sight of the blood-stained water.