140

The stench of blood was so thick it made my throat burn.

Amid a scene worthy of being called a “sea of blood,” the lone surviving goblin—the goblin king—rubbed his head against the ground as if begging for his life.

Occasionally, sounds like sobbing escaped him, but in the end, their language was nothing more than animal noise.

Crying, bowing his head, begging for mercy, then attacking the moment you turned your back—at this point, it was practically a template opening scene from cheap erotic comics.

Whether that trope existed because something like this had actually happened, unfortunately, I had no idea.

So I swiftly took the saber in my hand and lopped off the goblin king’s head.

In the end, despite trying to stay stealthy, I was exposed by my scent and a brawl broke out.

Before I knew it, I had reached the theater stage, and that was how I ended up beheading the king here.

I’d probably exterminated around five thousand goblins by now… but that was only the surface level.

And the troublesome part was that it was certain I hadn’t eliminated all command individuals yet. The conclusion drawn from that was simple: this massive horde had been in the process of forming a state.

“Can goblins even make a country?” was a natural question, but records showed that such a case had existed in the past.

The fairy tale of the “Greedy Goblin” was exactly that.

To summarize it simply: “A greedy goblin who wanted everything kept stealing from others, eventually leading a massive horde to seize a country. But that unstoppable advance came to an end through the betrayal of his own subordinates.” In other words, a very typical story.

It seemed to be a fairy tale based on historical fact, and some argued that even before attempting to seize a country, the goblins had already taken on the form of a state—making it eerily similar to the current situation.

“Strict rankings within subdivided groups… I’d assume the underground ones are lower, but just how many are left?”

According to Imperial research, this phenomenon occurred when goblins held multiple kings within a single group. I couldn’t remember the term for it, but the result was easy to describe: the formation of a stratified society.

What began as a pack with a single boss at the top transformed into an orderly group with a clearly defined class system.

Setting aside the question of what “goblin order” even meant, just as barbarians had their own laws, once a command structure was established, they gradually began moving like an army.

That much fell within my knowledge.

What kind of outcome it ultimately produced, unfortunately, I didn’t know.

Still, looking at history, it was obvious that nothing good came from brutal creatures like goblins increasing their numbers.

Therefore, extermination would continue.

With the loss of their king, the surviving goblins were scrambling toward the underground, making it almost certain that the remaining command individual was down there.

(The problem is whether this body of mine can even fit underground.)

I’d originally planned to use this place as a base, but with goblins everywhere, making it usable would be a huge undertaking.

On top of that, it was questionable whether I could completely wipe out those fleeing underground. To put it simply, it was like asking, “Who would want to live in a room infested with cockroaches?”

And to add to that, I still had orcs left to deal with.

The theme park was enormous.

It didn’t take long to decide it wasn’t worth the effort, and I gave up on turning this place into a base.

That said, I had no intention of giving up on the supplies left behind.

I wouldn’t know how badly things had been looted until I checked, but given the sheer size of the theme park, hoping for something usable was only natural.

So while searching for underground entrances I could fit into, I began checking the aboveground shops and warehouses.

As expected, almost everything had been ransacked, and I thought nothing intact remained—but some places with shutters pulled down had been spared.

While casually dealing with goblins gathering toward the underground and wandering around in search of intact warehouses, I realized the sun was already setting.

An all-nighter was guaranteed.

My current haul consisted of exactly one item: a pot.

It was larger and sturdier than the one I was using now—a surprisingly good find.

It wasn’t brand-new, but it had been one of the items stored carefully, so it would probably last a long time.

Now then, I’d found an underground entrance by following goblin traces, but… as expected, the height clearance was a bit questionable for this huge body.

The width was more than sufficient, but the doorway was under two meters tall, making bipedal movement inside difficult, to say the least.

Using both hands to move wasn’t new to me, so that wasn’t an issue, but having trouble wielding weapons was a bit of a problem.

Considering I’d prepared myself for even lower ceilings, this wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

Still, it was undeniably true that I wouldn’t be able to fight at full strength down here.

I steeled myself and entered the underground shopping district.

Naturally, there was no electricity, so it was pitch-dark.

Everything reeked of goblins, making scent-based searching hopeless, but with eyes that worked even in darkness and these ears of mine, finding a large command individual should have been easy.

Or so I thought…

True to its reputation of being mocked as a “labyrinth,” the complex underground layout made it hard to reach my destination.

No—let me be honest.

“…I’m lost. Where’s the guide map?”

Seriously, this wasn’t the Imperial Capital’s underground district—couldn’t they have made it a bit simpler?

Grumbling, I crawled along the low-ceilinged corridors.

Seeing my reflection in a mirror mounted on the wall, I muttered one thing.

“If I weren’t carrying gear, this’d be a full-on horror game.”

A monster crawling through a pitch-black underground mall using all four limbs.

If the victims weren’t goblins, it would’ve been perfect.

(This is probably the type where survivors explore to find mechanisms or keys to escape underground. I feel like there was a versus-style game with a similar setup…)

I’d never played it, but I was pretty sure I’d read about it in a game magazine.

Trying to recall where the safety areas were supposed to be, I wandered up and down aimlessly.

Thinking about unnecessary things while moving was a bad idea, but at least I managed to find a guide board this way.

Aside from the badly deteriorated text and maps, there was no issue.

“Okay… so this is my current position? And the large area where the queen might be is…”

Muttering to myself, I pointed at the board and checked each detail.

Store names were listed, but they were mostly meaningless now.

Still, I managed to determine my position and orientation, and I marked a likely spot where the target might be.

Heading there without detours, goblins began attacking me head-on.

Rejoicing at having picked the right path, I exterminated every goblin that came at me.

No matter how many there were, fodder was still fodder.

Breaking through their defenses with ease, I sliced the queen—a lump of flesh enthroned atop the event stage—clean in two.

I thought, “That’s the end,” but goblins that had been hiding suddenly started running en masse in the same direction.

Watching their retreating backs in stunned silence, I muttered weakly.

“Ah… figures there’s still more.”

An all-night extermination was now confirmed.