Chapter 27: Miss Iresha, You Dont Want to Become a Goblins Tool, Do You?
Chapter 27: Miss Iresha, You Don’t Want to Become a Goblin’s Tool, Do You?
“We’re in the depths of the labyrinth!?”
If Iresha’s face had once been painted with desperation, now it was drawn taut with genuine dread.
The wounds that had been slowly knitting together under the healing potion’s power seemed, in that moment, ready to split open anew.
A faint, metallic tang of blood seeped into the air, making the heavy darkness feel all the more suffocating.
“Yeah, well… our escape route was cut off, so hiding from those goblins was all we could do.” Lin Wei shrugged helplessly, his bear-shaped puppet arms spread wide in a gesture of resignation.
“I mean, I didn’t expect you to be so heavy. If you were just a bit lighter, maybe we could’ve slipped past before the goblins caught up.”
“How could I possibly be heavy? I take excellent care of my body, thank you very much!” Iresha shot back, eyes wide with indignation.
But before she could continue, Lin Wei reached out and gently pressed her head down, forcing her to look into the encroaching darkness ahead.
“Now’s not the time to argue about details like that.” “The point is, we’re deep in the labyrinth—and we’ve lost our exit coordinates.”
“So… Miss Magician of the Hero’s Party, do you have any brilliant ideas for getting us out of here?”
Lin Wei made no move to offer his own plan. Instead, he decided to test the mage’s instincts. Fortunately, she didn’t disappoint.
Faced with a situation that could only be called desperate, Iresha frowned in concentration—then, after barely half a minute, let out a defeated sigh.
“I have no idea. Usually, Oshu and Rayne handle dungeon navigation.”
“I just cast my spells during battle. How would I know anything about getting out of here?”
Just as useless as I imagined.
To think the so-called Hero’s Party would have members like this…
Damn it… Why do I suddenly feel responsible for keeping these idiots alive?
“Well, in that case, I might have a solution. Want to hear it?”
The lost and flustered mage was clearly starting to look to him for guidance now.
With his plan working, Lin Wei finally dropped his lazy act and turned serious, fixing her with a steady gaze.
“First, here’s what we know: there’s definitely been a goblin outbreak here—and it’s even worse than we thought. The bottom two levels are basically overrun. That much is clear, right?”
Iresha nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice.
No need to mention it—she’d figured that out long ago.
“So, have you ever thought about this, Iresha? This labyrinth is famous throughout the Lotai region. How could a goblin disaster break out here?”
“What I mean is, there are always adventurers coming and going, and there haven’t been any disappearances in the Lotai area lately. So how did these goblins manage to breed in secret, with no space to grow their numbers?”
“After all, the goblin race is entirely male. Without enough females to mate with, they shouldn’t be able to multiply out of nowhere, right?”
A sudden glint flashed in Iresha’s eyes as realization struck.
That’s right! This labyrinth shouldn’t have any conditions for goblins to reproduce.
To prevent goblin outbreaks, the Adventurers’ Guild actually sends people to inspect the smaller, more remote labyrinths regularly—just to make sure goblins aren’t snatching women and growing their numbers in secret.
But this labyrinth in Lotai… It’s always been one of the most popular dungeons around.
In other words, even if goblins tried to breed here, any attempt would have been discovered by passing adventurers long before they could grow in number.
No space to reproduce, and no women for them to mate with.
“Wait, I just remembered something!”
Suddenly, Iresha’s eyes lit up as a thought struck her.
“I was teleported to this floor by a trap at the entrance. And when I first arrived, the corridor I passed through was thick with dust—like no one had walked it for ages.”
“Plus, with this labyrinth’s random generation mechanism, isn’t it possible that some areas have never actually been opened since the dungeon was created? Maybe those sealed-off places became the goblins’ breeding grounds… and this time, by sheer chance, they’ve finally been unleashed into the rest of the labyrinth?”
Huh. She’s actually pretty sharp when it matters.
“I see. As expected of the Hero’s Party’s mage,” Lin Wei said, his tone half-teasing, half-genuine.
He’d noticed the same thing about those deserted corridors. The fifth floor of the labyrinth was supposed to be challenging, but after all these years, there shouldn’t be any unexplored areas left. A stray corridor or two was one thing—but when whole sections had gone untouched, the answer became obvious.
“So then, how did these goblins manage to reproduce in the first place?” Lin Wei continued, guiding the conversation with a thoughtful look.
“There haven’t been any reports of missing people near Lotai, and the number of adventurers who go missing here is extremely low… With so few women around, there’s no way enough goblins could be bred to cause a disaster like this. Or maybe… there’s something about this labyrinth that we still don’t know?”
“Very possible!” Iresha’s eyes shone with growing reliance, falling ever deeper into Lin Wei’s carefully set snare.
“In that case… how about we take a gamble—and try to track down the source of this goblin outbreak?”
But Lin Wei’s sudden suggestion made Iresha’s eyes widen in alarm once more.
“Just the two of us?”
She pointed at herself, those beautiful crimson eyes now brimming with panic.
Clearly, what had happened not long ago had left her with more than a little trauma where goblins were concerned.
“M-my mana is totally drained—I can’t fight at all. And this whole floor is overrun with goblins. Isn’t it way too reckless for just the two of us to go?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to look for an exit and wait until we’re ready before going any deeper…?”
“Don’t worry about your mana. I brought recovery potions.”
Lin Wei casually produced a freshly made mana potion.
“The source of the goblin outbreak has to be a breeding chamber. Right now, goblins are already spreading to the upper levels. Even if some adventurer realizes what’s happening and reports it, how long do you think it’ll take for reinforcements to fight their way down from the first floor to the fifth?”
“You saw other adventurers on this floor while we were running, didn’t you?”
Of course she had seen those desperate adventurers!
But just thinking about what was happening in that breeding chamber—no matter how much of a prodigy she was—Iresha’s hand began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Female adventurers aren’t killed outright. They’re dragged to the breeding chambers and turned into little more than living incubators. The outbreak’s only just started, so there’s a good chance some of them are still alive.”
“If we can destroy the breeding chamber, we might be able to save them—and form a temporary party. That way, we’d have a real chance to fight our way out or at least protect ourselves.”
“If you’re not comfortable, you can stay here. I’ll come back for you after I take care of things.”
Without waiting for her reply, Lin Wei waved dismissively and strode off toward the end of the corridor, ignoring her panicked protests.
“There are still plenty of goblins prowling around nearby, you know.”
Lin Wei glanced back over his shoulder, a playful yet chilling edge to his voice.
“Miss Iresha… you don’t really want to end up as some kind of tool for those goblins, do you?”