"Do the final checks!"
In front of the long convoy, Steward Ivan was loudly instructing his subordinates.
Beside him, a junior apprentice held a ledger and checked the supplies line by line.
In truth, this wasn't his first inspection.
But since this was Red Dragon Company's first large-scale extermination operation, no amount of thoroughness before departure was too much.
Once they were out in the wild, anything that seemed easy to get in the city could become a hundred times harder to replace if they ran out.
"Why bring so many people this time?" Alia asked.
"Because it's a large nest—nearly two thousand goblins. If we do it like last time and rely on Echo to haul everything, we'll be done in the year of the monkey. And the location isn't as close as last time, either."
"Better to organize a convoy to follow along—treat it as training for them, too."
Gauss looked over the wagons as he spoke.
After hearing that, the others didn't say much.
But the field team that was about to follow Gauss out clearly wasn't as calm as they were.
Debbie saw her old partner Donovan trembling slightly and patted him on the shoulder.
"Donovan, don't tell me you're scared?"
"D-Don't talk nonsense!" Donovan took a deep breath and rubbed his cheeks hard.
Then he looked around. Once he confirmed no one was watching, he lowered his voice and asked, "Is it that obvious?"
"Heh. Relax." Debbie chuckled softly.
"How could I relax? That's two thousand goblins," Donovan muttered under his breath.
He'd been an adventurer for over ten years, but he'd never encountered enemies on that scale.
The largest group he'd ever fought was just over thirty goblins—and that was with another team helping.
And even that hadn't gone smoothly; afterward, he'd become much more cautious about taking commissions.
But two thousand? That was sixty times more.
Everyone knew that for any monster nest, the danger didn't grow linearly with numbers—it exploded.
One or two goblins, he could kill them by himself.
Four or five at once, and he'd be the one killed.
Twenty-plus goblins could wipe out most low-tier adventurer parties.
A hundred-plus could threaten a village.
Two thousand… was beyond anything his mind could comfortably picture. In his eyes, a poorly defended town could be swallowed whole.
He turned to look at the rest of their convoy.
Dozens of people—mostly logistics staff.
He and the other riders clearly wouldn't be contributing to that level of combat at all.
So… it would be the captain and a handful of core members doing the actual clearing?
Just thinking about it made him shake his head.
Sure, he knew the captain was terrifyingly strong—anyone who could found an adventuring company wasn't ordinary.
But was it really not reckless, to take so few fighters into a massive goblin nest?
Especially since, when he'd been lucky enough to listen in yesterday when the commission was accepted, he'd caught something—
it sounded like this might be Captain Gauss's first time taking on a nest of this scale.
"What are you afraid of? If the sky falls, won't the captain be there to hold it up?" Debbie said breezily.
"I hope so…" Donovan swallowed.
It wasn't that he wanted to doubt their captain's decision.
It was just that, in his mind, the enemy was too strong. One wrong step and they could all end up dead.
He glanced toward the captain's group in the distance, laughing and chatting as if nothing mattered, and prayed silently.
"Captain… please bring us back safe."
He really didn't want to die.
…
Clip-clop—clip-clop.
The thick hooves of the pack beasts thudded against the ground.
The convoy had already left Falrim and was rolling toward the target.
"Gauss, hurry and try it on." Albena thrust a piece of armor into his hands, unable to contain her excitement.
She'd been working on it for a while. The reason it took so long was that she'd also commissioned an alchemist in the city to carve several enchantments into it. She'd only managed to finish it right before they set off.
Gauss sat in the luxurious carriage and accepted it.
As expected of gear forged with mithril.
It felt far lighter than normal armor, yet the protection was on a completely different level.
And aesthetically… it was flawless.
Noon sunlight poured through the carriage window and slid across the mithril plates, making them glow with a holy sheen.
Cool to the touch, but not biting cold.
The plates were thin yet tough; the joints were linked with flexible enchanted leather. When he moved his arms, there was almost no metal-on-metal rasp.
Even the helmet looked custom-made for him—shaped like a dragon's head, with the brow slightly raised into a pair of imposing little horns.
Overall, it was stunning.
"You worked hard, Albena," Gauss said sincerely. "I really like it."
He used the wardrobe-switching spell to bind the mithril light armor. Before long, the binding was complete.
With a thought, the armor appeared on his body.
He rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands—no stiffness at all.
His strength and explosive output seemed to get a small boost.
And because the mithril content was high, it also offered excellent magical resistance and clean mana conduction.
When he fed mana into it, faint violet veins lit up along the dragon-scale bracer on his right arm. The whole set seemed to "wake," giving off a soft living hum.
After a short test, he withdrew his mana.
No doubt about it—this was purple-grade gear.
Compared to the Moonlight Robe, this mithril light armor had stronger defense and was better for close combat.
He could use the wardrobe-switching spell to swap between them mid-fight depending on what he needed.
"Shadow—when we have time, I'll have you a set made with the leftover mithril," Gauss said.
"Okay," Shadow replied. She didn't refuse—she did need armor.
…
Three days of travel passed in a blink.
Along the way, they crossed paths with plenty of other caravans.
But as they pushed farther into the outskirts, the chance of seeing anyone dropped fast.
Their destination lay northeast of Falrim, inside an ancient woodland called White Mist Forest. Legend said it had once been territory of a small wood-elf clan.
The forest was filled with towering, ancient trees.
The convoy stopped at the forest's edge.
"We're finally here."
The team members climbed down and stared at the bleak wilderness around them.
Many still hadn't fully adjusted to life outside the city.
But when they looked at Gauss and the others at the front, they steadied themselves.
Gauss studied the map.
According to the intel, the goblin nest—nearly two thousand strong—was deep inside White Mist Forest.
They'd seized ruined remains and built a den among the giant trees.
"Serandur, Albena—please direct the others and find a good place to set up camp," Gauss said.
"Shadow—come with me to scout."
"Alia—have Echo spread the crow flock and watch the forest edge for dangerous beasts. We can't let anything threaten the camp."
He assigned tasks quickly. Everyone split up.
Then he and Shadow moved into the forest.
Inside, the air carried a thin veil of white mist.
"Caw-caw! Caw!"
Faintly, they could hear strange cries.
Gauss twitched his nose—there was a light, familiar stench in the air.
Goblin waste.
He didn't use Locate Creature; he didn't want to risk any casters in the nest sensing the tracking magic.
He and Shadow flew low through the trees, silent, moving fast.
After a while, the strange noises grew more frequent.
Gauss looked down.
A goblin team was hauling a dead stag onto a flat cart.
Compared to goblins from small nests, these ones were more muscular—almost "trained."
"Caw-caw!"
The goblin squad leader screeched; the others pushed the cart forward toward the deeper woods.
Gauss didn't strike.
He kept going.
A little later, among clusters of colossal trees, he finally saw it.
The goblin nest.
Calling it a "nest" didn't quite fit—this was more like a tree-city.
At the center stood a gigantic dead tree. Its trunk was hollowed out, and platforms jutted from its exterior at different heights. Natural bridges and ropeways connected the dead giant to surrounding trees.
Vertically, it was layered like a labyrinth: hanging baskets and cages, rope nets, wooden platforms, ladders, and climbing routes stacked upon one another.
The goblins lived in the canopy like monkeys.
Below, at the base, was a vast dumping ground—filth, garbage, bones, and waste piled everywhere.
Gauss watched quietly, absorbing a structure unlike any goblin den he'd seen before.
His understanding of goblins' "adaptability" deepened again.
Their habitats were absurdly diverse.
Natural caves, mines, ruins, plains, mountains, islands… and now, giant trees.
They could survive anywhere—and shape their society around it.
Cave goblins tended to be smaller.
Sea goblins often grew webbing between their fingers, almost like water ghouls.
And these ones… their arms were especially developed—built for climbing. Their body shape leaned closer to "ape-like" than the squat goblins he was used to.
"Cave dwarf-goblins… sea wight-goblins… tree-ape goblins…"
From a species perspective, that adaptability was impressive—it gave them endless evolutionary paths.
Unfortunately, goblins were an enemy.
The better they adapted, the more dangerous they became to human settlements.
This time, they'd sent a raiding party to attack a village more than ten kilometers away.
Luckily, a passing adventurer team had been resting there and helped beat the raid back. The villagers evacuated quickly.
But the livestock, tools, and crops that couldn't be carried away… were now feeding this goblin nest.
Goblins didn't understand staying in their lane.
Once a nest reached a certain size, it expanded outward—especially by attacking established human communities.
Violence, plunder, breeding… it was like code burned into their blood, pushing them into war with every other race.
"The intel wasn't wrong."
"It really is close to two thousand."
Gauss's eyes tracked the platforms. He quickly reached a rough count.
This was the largest monster habitat he'd encountered so far.
Two thousand didn't sound huge on paper.
In front of him, it felt enormous.
Wherever he looked, green bodies moved.
They slid along ropeways, bounced across nets, climbed up trunks, dropped down from beams—
trees, platforms, air, ground—goblins everywhere.
"Let's go back first," Gauss said.
After observing for a while, he and Shadow withdrew.
Back at the forest edge, Red Dragon Company had finished setting camp.
The sky was darkening; campfires had been lit.
Gauss shared what he'd seen with his other three core teammates.
"We rest tonight," he concluded. "Tomorrow we start."
…
The next morning.
After final preparations, Gauss's core team gathered at the forest edge.
"Captain, don't we need to go with you?" one of the members asked nervously.
"No," Gauss said, shaking his head. "You stay here and keep the camp secure."
He had no intention of bringing logistics staff into the woods.
Red Dragon Company hadn't yet recruited enough fighters to form second or third combat squads.
Aside from Gauss's core team, everyone else was support—hauling and looting after the fighting.
Two thousand goblins was a lot, but to him—a goblins' natural predator—it wasn't a threat.
His main concern was preventing escapes.
With numbers this high, even he might not be able to catch every last one.
"Move out!"
Gauss's core team entered the forest.
The support members watched their backs vanish into the vast, gloomy trees. They felt relief—and then a creeping tension.
With the "pillars" gone, their confidence wavered.
Instinctively, they looked to the huge silver wolf Gauss had left behind, as if it could reassure them.
The wolf glanced at the people inching closer, then flopped down and—very humanly—let out a sigh.
Why was it always the one left behind?
It wanted to fight too.
…
Inside the forest.
After traveling a stretch, Gauss led them back to the tree-city they'd scouted yesterday.
"Alia, Serandur, Albena—you three team up and attack from the outside."
"Shadow and I will drop in from above and strike the goblin commander."
"I'll open with about three fireballs to break these sections of terrain. Watch for splash damage."
"Then I'll use Ice Storm to reshape the ground and freeze the swamp below."
Gauss repeated the plan to avoid friendly fire.
"Understood," the others replied.
The plan was simple. Everyone split and melted into the woods.
At the heart of the tree-city, a tall goblin stepped out from inside the hollow trunk onto a platform.
It stood nearly three meters tall. Unlike ordinary goblins, it was built like a massive ape, with dense green fur on its back.
Its arms were ridiculously thick—like warhammers. Its long, sharp black claws gleamed under the sun.
For some reason, since morning, it had felt unusually irritable.
Watching the goblins still hopping around on the nets and bridges, it stretched out one long "ape arm," grabbed one by the neck, and slammed it to the floor.
A puddle of green pulp spread across the planks.
"ROAR!"
At its bellow, the surrounding goblins froze.
The goblin commander lifted its head. Its broad ears twitched, straining for any strange sound in the air—anything wrong.
Its instincts screamed that something in the forest had changed.
It looked down at its furred forearms.
Without warning, the hair on them began to bristle, one strand after another.
That sense of danger…
it hadn't felt it in a long time.
Like a natural predator had stepped onto its territory.
~~~
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