"Goo-ji, goo."
"Wah!"
"Wah, wah."
"...!"
Deep within the jungle, faint sounds could be heard.
Nolan's eyes flashed, he stopped, and pricked up his ears to listen. The indistinct sounds gradually became clearer.
Something was coming this way, and in large numbers!
Nolan narrowed his eyes, scanned his surroundings, quickly pinpointed a relatively thick tree, and with light steps, walked behind it. He leaned against the trunk, silently waiting.
Time passed bit by bit!
The familiar "wah wah" sounds that occasionally rang out made Nolan's eyes light up.
He had dealt with goblins many times; these were clearly goblin cries!
Indeed.
This place was already close to the ogre's territory!
Nolan remained pressed against the thick tree trunk, his head slightly tilted forward, looking in the direction of the sounds.
Soon!
A goblin squad, numbering thirteen in total, appeared in Nolan's line of sight.
These goblins wore tattered, ill-fitting clothes, some even had a cut-off pant leg on their heads, worn as a hat.
Such an appearance was almost like refugees.
But Nolan's gaze clearly sharpened, because this was the only group of goblins he had seen that were all wearing clothes, even if those clothes were incredibly ragged.
The goblins he had seen before were basically almost naked!
What surprised Nolan the most was that the two goblins at the very front were both holding iron weapons, although they were just two forks.
Following the goblins at the front, he looked towards the back.
Nolan's face showed a clear change for the first time.
The goblins behind were laboriously carrying some bloody, blurry corpses, closely following the goblins in front.
Humans!
Nolan's expression was somber.
There were five corpses in total, and from their appearance and clothing, it could be seen that they were likely three men and two women. The dark, coarse arms dragging on the ground.
Made Nolan realize that these people were probably farmers from a nearby village.
Although he was currently in the Tobu Great Forest, he was still actually on the outermost edge of the forest. To the north was the interior of the forest, and to the south, he could leave the Tobu Great Forest and enter an area similar to the wilderness.
Continuing further south, one could see a dirt road extending from "Yggdrasil."
And in this area, there were many villages.
Compared to Carne Village, which was in the territory of the Forest Sage King, both the villages around the ogre's territory and the villages around the Naga's territory were not very safe.
Therefore, the Adventurers' Guild in "Yggdrasil" constantly had a series of quests to exterminate monsters, goblins, and the like.
"Wah, wah."
The goblin at the front seemed to feel they were walking too slowly, and let out several loud "wah wah" cries towards the back, its fangs filled with a sense of irritability.
The goblins carrying the corpses in the back, hearing this howl, showed expressions of panic on their green faces, and continued to laboriously carry the corpses forward.
Throughout the entire process, this group of goblins did not discover Nolan hidden behind the large tree.
He watched with an expressionless face as this goblin squad passed in front of him.
Nolan gently rotated the hilt of his sword, lifted his foot, and with light steps, followed them, trailing behind the goblin squad.
Although this group of goblins was numerous, they were not much trouble!
The level of ordinary commoner farmers in this other world was approximately 1, and if trained, there was a chance they could reach level 2.
Ordinary goblins were also at this level; after all, they were demi-humans, and there were some racial advantages.
So, dealing with these goblins was not difficult.
However.
Based on the behavior of these goblins, Nolan guessed that they were very likely returning to their tribe.
Realizing this.
Nolan naturally was not in a hurry to deal with these goblins immediately.
As he followed this goblin squad deeper into the Tobu Great Forest, Nolan could clearly feel that the surrounding trees and bushes became increasingly dense.
The atmosphere of the forest began to change; most noticeably, the light suddenly became much dimmer, and an invisible sense of oppression subtly permeated the forest.
Nolan turned his palm, took out his pocket watch from his item box, and saw that the time was only around 3 PM, but the surrounding light made him feel as if it was already evening.
"It shouldn't go too deep."
Nolan looked at the few goblins carrying the corpses at the very back, his eyes flickered, and at the same time, he lightly drew two marks on a large tree beside him with his iron sword as a marker.
In such a vast primeval forest, getting lost was a very troublesome and dangerous thing.
Therefore, Nolan was naturally prepared.
In addition to drawing fixed marks on the trees he passed, his item box also contained a large bag of specially purchased lime powder.
Currently, still in the outer areas of the forest, Nolan could still clearly see the direction, so he did not need to use the lime powder for now.
Next!
Nolan followed this group of goblins for about another ten minutes. He had already determined that they were about to reach the goblin tribe.
Because Nolan had already smelled the pervasive odor of decay in the air, along with an indescribable stench like a mixture of smelly socks and rotten eggs.
Soon.
A clearing, which made one's vision suddenly open up, appeared within the dense jungle, where there were tall and thick trees everywhere.
The area was not large, only about one and a half basketball courts in size. The entire area had clearly been cleared, with no overly tall trees.
As soon as the goblins entered here, they immediately became active, especially the few goblins carrying the corpses in the back, who became much more excited.
Nolan's gaze swept across.
He saw many animal skeletons, among which were also some human leg bones and arms, casually discarded to the side.
On the ground near the center, there were also several thick animal hides, whose origin was unknown.
Among them, on a patch covered with withered yellow weeds, lay some rotten meat, with large swarms of insects gathered there.
The pervasive stench in the air was emanating from that spot.
What caught Nolan's attention the most was a grass hut located in the center of this area, clearly constructed from weeds and branches.
Nolan carefully observed it, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes.
The size of this grass hut was significantly large compared to the short goblins, and most importantly, there was only this one grass hut in the entire area, which seemed a bit out of place.
Additionally.
The number of goblins was also a bit abnormal.
It wasn't that there were many, but too few!
This was clearly a small goblin tribe, and besides the 13 goblins who had just returned to the tribe, Nolan could only see five goblins remaining in the tribe!
He was unsure if there were any remaining goblins inside that grass hut.
But the number of goblins staying behind in the tribe was simply too small. Although Nolan couldn't distinguish the ages of goblins by their appearance, he could tell that the goblins remaining in the tribe were clearly also young adults.
In other words.
This small goblin tribe in front of him actually had no elderly or young.