Chapter 58: Aftermath

For a moment, Gopuran could only stare.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at the massive bear corpse sprawled across the forest floor. Even now, after everything that had happened, she seemed unable to fully comprehend that the terrifying beast was actually dead.

She and Gopuro had really done it.

The two of them had taken down that monstrous bear.

Honestly, the entire fight had been suicidal from beginning to end. What Gopuro had done near the end still made my nonexistent blood boil. If he had been even a fraction of a second slower, or if Gopuran had failed to intervene in time, both of them could have been killed right there in the mud.

But in the end, only the result mattered.

They were alive.

The bear was dead.

And the four goblins had been saved.

That was enough.

As furious as I still was at their recklessness, I couldn’t deny how proud I felt. They were my first citizens, and when it truly mattered, they had fought bravely and protected one another.

"HELL YEAH! WE DID IT!"

Gopuro suddenly let out a triumphant roar and jumped into the air before rushing over and throwing his arms around Gopuran in a fierce, blood-soaked hug.

Gopuran was already covered in bear blood from head to toe, and after that hug, there was hardly a clean spot left on her. At this point, she looked less like a goblin and more like some demonic creature that had been painted entirely red.

Both of them then giggled like maniacs, thoroughly enjoying the sweet sensation of winning this seemingly unwinnable battle.

But then...

"ACK!"

Gopuran suddenly froze, her face twisted in pain.

Right.

The side effect of [Enraged Lv. 1]. It was finally kicking in.

The brutal backlash had arrived.

"Well... good luck, you two."

The words had barely left my mind when Gopuran’s legs suddenly gave out beneath her.

She collapsed onto the blood-soaked ground with a heavy thud, completely unable to move.

A few seconds later, Gopuro suffered the same fate.

"URGH! FUCK!"

He dropped beside her, cursing as his entire body suddenly locked up. After that, both goblins could do nothing except lie helplessly on the ground, unable to move even a single muscle.

And so...

For the next full hour, they were completely defenseless.

Thankfully, no other beasts wandered into the area during that time. If another predator had happened to discover them while they were paralyzed, they would have been easy prey, and the outcome could have been disastrous.

Fortunately, the deafening noise caused by the bear’s rampage had probably frightened away most of the nearby creatures. The lingering smell of blood was still dangerous, but at least nothing came to investigate while the two goblins were helpless.

*****

About an hour later, the paralysis finally wore off.

The two goblins were able to move again, although the -50% stat penalty from [Enraged] was still weighing them down. Fortunately, they didn’t have to fight another giant bear anytime soon. Apart from feeling considerably more tired than usual, they were still capable of performing basic tasks.

Gopuran immediately set off to search for the four goblins they had saved, while Gopuro stayed behind to deal with the bear’s corpse. I switched my [Vassal’s Eyes] over to him so I could see what he was doing.

As for "processing" the bear, the task was surprisingly straightforward.

Gopuro simply used his iron axe to chop the enormous carcass into more manageable pieces.

At first, I was a little surprised by how easily the axe cut through the bear.

Wait... wasn’t this thing supposed to be ridiculously tough?

I thought about it for a moment and came up with several possible explanations.

The first possibility was the difference between the two states: life and death.

Could it be that a creature’s stats were no longer effective after death? Perhaps once a creature died, its physical body would lose the benefits provided by its Defense stat, making it much easier to damage.

The second possibility was that the bear had some kind of skill.

I couldn’t see its stats, so there was no way for me to confirm this. But if it had a passive or active skill that greatly enhanced the effectiveness of its Defense while it was alive, that could also explain why it had been so difficult to hurt during the battle.

Or...

Could it have something to do with mana interacting with the physical body?

Perhaps a living creature naturally used mana to reinforce its body, making its flesh, muscles, and bones far tougher than they would be after death.

I couldn’t determine which explanation was correct.

For now, I could only make guesses.

Well, whatever the reason, at least I now know that chopping up a dead monster is easier than killing one!

Anyway, the beast was still absurdly huge.

Judging by its size, I estimated that the entire body weighed more than two tons. There was no way Gopuro and Gopuran could carry all of that back to the castle before sunset.

Worse, the longer we stayed here, the greater the chance of attracting another predator.

The thick smell of fresh blood alone would be enough to lure something dangerous from deeper within the forest.

Fuck... is there really no way to bring this thing back?

Just as I was thinking about that problem, Gopuran returned.

And she wasn’t alone.

The four goblins she had gone to find had made it back safely. There were two males and two females among them, including the evolved goblin we had encountered earlier. Standing beside Gopuran, he was a full head shorter than her.

Haha, I see... so this is the normal evolved variant.

Super Forest Goblin really is the superior evolution line here.

The moment the four goblins caught sight of the massive bear corpse sprawled across the forest floor, they all froze.

Their eyes widened, and their mouths fell open in shock.

Clearly, none of them had expected to see the terrifying monster that had nearly killed them lying dead before them.

Then their attention shifted to Gopuro.

Gopuro noticed them as well and turned to look.

For a moment, he simply stared at the four goblins, his eyes widened, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

"Huh...? Brothers?"

His voice trembled with disbelief.

"BROTHER!!!"

One of the goblins suddenly cried out.

The next moment, all four of them rushed toward Gopuro at once, nearly tackling him to the ground as they threw themselves into a chaotic mass of hugs and excited cries.

"Brother!"

"We thought you were dead!"

"You’re alive!"

For a moment, the clearing was filled with laughter and joyful shouting as the goblins crowded around Gopuro like long-lost siblings who had finally been reunited.

Of course, Gopuro was now considerably larger than all of them, so the scene looked less like a group of siblings reuniting and more like a giant green man being swarmed by a group of excited children.

It was strangely wholesome.

Beside them, Gopuran’s eyes began to glisten with tears. She quickly wiped them away before stepping forward to join the reunion.

I decided to let them have their moment.

They had earned it.