Chapter 64: Dark Giant Spiders

Four hours later...

Everyone looked a little tired by now, but they remained focused and continued working with surprising efficiency.

There was still about 20% of the massive bear carcass left to process. And somehow, by constantly passing the knives with [Butchering Lv.1] among themselves, all six of my citizens had now learned the skill. ℯℯ𝘭.

Very good.

I was deeply satisfied with how things were progressing. If they kept using the skill like this, I wondered if someone might even manage to raise their Butchering skill to Level 2 soon.

Aside from that, now that everything was running smoothly like a well-oiled machine, I figured this was a good time for a little chit-chat.

After all, I was still curious about what had happened to these guys.

Were they really from the same tribe as Gopuro and Gopuran? And how had they ended up being chased by such a gigantic and dangerous bear?

So I asked them.

Everyone suddenly paused for a moment at my question.

Then Gopuflammy, the muscular goblin girl with bright red hair, spoke up.

"Yes, we were from same tribe. We were running too after our tribe was attacked by Dark Giant Spiders..."

Her voice was quiet and tinged with sadness, yet her hands never stopped moving. She continued skillfully separating the tough hide from the meat, every motion practiced and efficient.

As she spoke, I gradually learned what had happened to them.

******

It turned out those monsters, the ones that had attacked their tribe, were called Dark Giant Spiders.

They had earned that name for two reasons.

One, their bodies were pitch black, allowing them to blend almost perfectly into the darkness of the forest, and two, they were absolutely enormous.

They attacked in group, sometimes dozens at a time.

The largest among them could grow to over three meters tall, its combat power could potentially rival that giant bear we killed earlier.

Thus, there was no way a group of goblins could hope to fight something like that.

It had been an absolute massacre.

Their tribe had once been quite large, numbering more than 300 goblins. Yet when the Dark Giant Spiders attacked, most of them were slaughtered or captured and dragged away as food.

Only a handful managed to escape.

Gopuro and Gopuran were two of the lucky ones. They had eventually found their way to my castle a few days ago and became my very first citizens.

The other four had a slightly different story.

They had managed to escape by sheer luck and eventually stumbled upon a cave where they could hide. They figured they would be safe there, at least for a few days, while they waited for the spiders to move on.

Unfortunately, there was one small problem.

The cave already had an owner.

It was the den of that giant bear.

Yup.

They had unknowingly picked the worst possible place to hide.

When the bear eventually returned to its den, it probably wasn’t expecting to find several helpless goblins occupying its home. Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly happy about the unexpected guests.

The bear immediately chased them out of the cave and pursued them through the forest.

Their screams eventually caught Gopuran’s attention, and she rushed over to help.

And somehow, after all that chaos...

We ended up killing the giant bear.

*****

"Damn..." I muttered.

Spiders and bears...

These guys had literally escaped death twice in a row.

Well, the Puro-Puran siblings had too, just in a slightly different way. Instead of a bear, they had been chased by wolves.

It seemed that once they left their tribe, the forest had become an incredibly dangerous place for them.

"Yeah, we were extremely lucky. We thought we were going to die in that cave and become bear food, but then you guys came and saved us," Gopuflammy said, turning toward Gopuro and Gopuran.

"Thank you."

She lowered her head slightly, her voice filled with genuine gratitude.

"You don’t have to thank me, haha! We’re brothers and sisters now! We protect and save each other!" Gopuran replied with a smile. Her face was still smeared with bear blood as she continued working on the carcass.

"If there’s anyone you should thank, it’s Big Boss!" Gopuro, who was squatting nearby and working on the carcass, chimed in. "Big Boss gave us power and weapons. If Big Boss wasn’t here, we’d all already be dead!"

"Yeah!"

Gopuflammy looked up.

"Thank you so much, Big Boss!"

The other goblins quickly joined in, expressing their gratitude as well.

"Haha, well..." I said. "All I did was give Gopuro and Gopuran a little boost. They were the ones who actually killed the bear, not me!"

"Hehe." Gopuo smiled proudly, then suddenly his grin disappeared and replaced by a slightly jealousy face. "But my little sister was the one who landed the final blow though... grrrr," he growled.

"Wahahaha!" Gopuran puffed out her chest proudly and thumped it with one fist. "I’m the one who ended its life! Call me the Bear Slayer from now on!"

"Yes! Puran the Bear Slayer!" Gopugiga immediately chimed in.

"Yeah! sister Puran is the strongest!" Gopushadow did too.

The praise made Gopuran grin, but after a moment, her expression gradually became more thoughtful. She lowered her gaze toward her hands and quietly muttered,

"Thinking back... it still feels so surreal. I can’t believe I was actually able to cut its head off like that..."

"But you did! And it was awesome!" Gopuro gave her a thumbs-up.

"Haha..."

Gopuran smiled again.

There was a brief pause.

"Actually..." she continued, her voice softer this time. "I never even imagined I’d be able to evolve like this. Let alone become this strong."

"Yeah..." The other goblins murmured in agreement, exchanging glances.

Gopushadow was the first to speak up again. "I still can’t believe it. Not only did we manage to evolve, but we also became this almighty Super Forest Goblin variant!"

He looked up at me, his eyes filled with admiration.

"Come on, Big Boss! You brought us all these miracles, and you still say you’re not a god?"

"Big Boss must be a powerful god! He just doesn’t want to tell us!" Gopugiga added.

"Big Boss is already a god in my eyes," Gopuran said simply.

"Oh, come on, guys. I’m really not a god!" I protested.

Though, whether I was a god or not... perhaps that wasn’t really for me to decide anymore.

Somehow, I realized that the tone of the conversation had gradually shifted. What had started as a discussion about their tragic past had become much brighter, filled with laughter, pride, and a growing sense of hope.

Still, there was something else I wanted to ask.

"Anyway..." I said, steering the conversation away from the whole god business. "I still have a few more questions."

"Go ahead, Big Boss. If we know the answer, we’ll tell you everything."

"Those spiders. Do you know where they came from?"

I had already learned from the map Gopuro and Gopuran had drawn that the spiders came from the mysterious region marked with a skull symbol, clearly indicating a dangerous area.

But what exactly was that place?

Was it simply the spiders’ territory?

Or was there something more to it?

My question immediately left the goblins exchanging uncertain glances. None of them seemed to know the answer.

Then, after a brief silence, a small voice spoke up.

"It’s the Cursed Land..."

It was Gopuberry.

The cute goblin girl with wavy blue hair had been unusually quiet throughout the conversation. I’d assumed she was simply shy, but apparently, she’d been listening the whole time.

"Huh? A cursed land?"

"Yeah..." She nodded, her brows furrowing slightly as she searched through her memories. "I heard Grandpa say... it’s a cursed, forbidden land. It’s a place no goblin can enter and come out alive."