The Goblin Nest Tutorial

The goblins trembled with fear all night long. Bound beside the humans who had slaughtered their kin, they could only drool helplessly, unaware why they had been spared. “Kiiik...”

Dawn broke. Pale light filtered through the mist-shrouded forest. A goblin, still shaking with terror, glanced at the rope binding it. Swish. The rope tied to the tree had loosened. No, that wasn’t important. What mattered was that a clever twist of the body could undo the restraint.

“Kiik!” The goblin thrashed against its bonds. The humans remained motionless, lost in deep sleep. Its struggles grew more violent. Pop! After several attempts, the goblin succeeded in slipping free of the knot. Had its attention been sharper, it might have realized someone had deliberately left the rope loose. But a creature that had barely escaped death was in no state to notice such details.

“Kiaaak!” The goblin fled with all its strength.

Five minutes later, Raider Daro sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Time to get moving.”

The explorers drew their weapons.

#

The goblin that had bolted into the forest. Daro watched it go and smiled pleasantly. Maybe it was a criminal’s smile—there was something chilling about it.

“Somi.”

At Daro’s command, Somi activated her Seer Lantern.

We followed the fleeing goblin for a while. Panicked and thoughtless, it led us straight back to its own nest. It probably meant to warn its kin of the external threat, but in doing so it had become our guide. If it had run to the scouting party instead, we would have faced another tedious battle. We were lucky.

“This should be about it.”

Somi marked the goblin nest’s location on the map using the Seer Lantern. Daro studied it with a chilling expression. He had seemed so mild-mannered, but moments like this revealed the true Raider beneath.

Dungeons and monsters. Danger and reward. Gold awaited us.

“We’ve found the right place.”

No hesitation. Daro, as party leader, took the front. We crossed a small ridge and pushed through stunted undergrowth. There, beside a half-rotted tree, yawned the cave entrance—like a rabbit hole.

“Hmm.” Jian showed curiosity. The goblin nest seemed to fascinate her. She glanced around, looking rather cute.

“What is it?”

“I’m checking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for any dangers.”

“The most dangerous things here are us.”

Somi adjusted her glasses and advanced cautiously. She was right. The cave was surprisingly cozy for a goblin home. Daro, in the lead, shouted that he had spotted enemies. Goblins cried out from the darkness.

“No scouting party in sight.”

That was good news. The goblin nest mission featured a large number of goblins. Even if individually weak, their numbers meant heavy item consumption and prolonged fights. Speed was essential.

“...”

Once inside the cave, a strange unease crept over me. It was too quiet.

“I’ll light the way.”

The Seer Lantern flared brightly, illuminating every uneven curve of the cave walls in blue light.

“Stay behind me.”

Daro, armed with his arming sword, led the way. Before long, we encountered the first group of goblins.

“Kiaaaaaak!”

“Daro!”

“It’s fine. Just goblins.”

Daro beheaded one as he spoke. Just goblins. Not scouts, not guards—these were essentially civilian goblins. Untrained, unequipped, nothing more than moving slabs of meat. Civilian goblins. The term was almost funny.

“Kyaaah!”

Countless unarmed goblins poured out from every direction.

“There’s way too many!”

Somi clung to Jian’s back, crying out pitifully. The goblins streamed past us.

“Kill as many as you can.”

I drove my saw blade into a passing goblin’s skull. Most of them were the old, the weak, and females. That was how it worked, wasn’t it? The males handled the dangerous outside work while the rest guarded the nest. Female goblins. And the young were seeds of evil. If they survived, they would breed and create new nests. Killing them all was the right call.

“Ugh.”

Jian showed little enthusiasm, only crushing the heads of goblins that came within reach. Yesterday she had wiped out an entire scouting party alone. Was she the type who only burned hot once combat began?

“I-I just missed one...”

Somi flailed her whip clumsily. Her killing power was close to zero.

“Well, once we destroy the nest, most of them will starve anyway. All their stored food is here.”

We stood side by side, blocking the passage and slaughtering every goblin that emerged. There was nothing to say. This was a massacre. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠They came out one after another, and we killed them one after another. Thud. Thud. It was simple, repetitive labor. I knew I shouldn’t relax, but there was no tension to begin with. It was almost boring.

We killed goblins mechanically. After a long stretch of slaughter, the nest gradually fell silent. The ear-splitting screams faded.

“Phew. Looks like that’s about it.”

Goblin corpses lay everywhere—torn, crushed, grotesque. I wiped the flesh and bone fragments from my saw blade.

“Shall we search?”

“Let’s.”

Following Daro, we moved deeper. The goblin cave was the first dungeon novice Overseers tackled in Dungeon Overseer. A textbook dungeon, deliberately designed short and simple to help players get used to the game.

Between the goblin-dug tunnels were rooms that looked like storage. “Hmm.” They held daily necessities, food, and loot. Most of it was worthless trash. Goblin-made tools had no market value. Their food was mostly rotten or contaminated—goblins could eat such things. The only items of value were those stolen from humans. Among the plunder, goblins kept rare or pretty objects as decorations: wooden ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cups, cloth tunics, bone toys. To humans, these were mere trinkets; to goblins, they were treasures.

“Not much worth taking.”

“Can’t expect much from goblins.”

We gathered anything that might fetch a price and pressed on. By the time we reached the third underground level, we stood before the final chamber.

“Oh my.” Jian covered her mouth lightly. The last room of a typical goblin dungeon was filled with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠goblin loot and young. These were barely old enough to have left the breast—goblins too young to walk, tangled together. Naturally, no adult goblins were present. They had been abandoned by the adults. Goblins bore many young, but in crisis they only saved the largest and strongest. Among the goblins we had missed earlier, the lucky ones had probably taken their young and fled.

“Those children...”

“They were abandoned.”

“They really abandon their own offspring.”

“Well, they can always make more.”

Daro kicked the squirming young aside and entered. They were still fragile; a single kick was enough to finish them. I followed Daro’s example and killed the young goblins too. Did I feel guilty? Goblins were humanity’s enemies. Every year around this time, requests poured in begging for goblins to be killed. If these survived, they would become adult goblins. If killing them bothered me, I wouldn’t have accepted the request in the first place. If I were an Overseer, I would have ordered their noses cut off too—so the dungeon’s scale could be measured.

“Damn.”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, my weapon’s worn out.”

Looking at the wobbling saw blade, I sighed. How many goblins had I killed for its durability to drop like this? Still, it had served me well. This saw blade was my first weapon, bought at auction from a dead Necromancer’s belongings. I was grateful for how long it had lasted, but it seemed time to let it go.

“Haa...”

I sheathed the saw blade and drew my bone shears. These weren’t ordinary kitchen tongs. They were much larger and thicker, with pointed tips clearly meant for dismemberment. Every Necromancer carried them as secondary armament.

“Krrk...”

To preserve durability, I used the shears to finish off the young goblins.

“Finally done.”

“You worked hard too, Hajun.”

We killed every last young goblin and gathered anything useful. Somi entered with a face that looked ready to cry and examined the remains. The reward was meager compared to the effort.

“This is everything.”

In the end, we decided to take only a pouch of silver coins, a few rusted daggers, and a small sack of iron nails.

“At least no one got hurt.”

Fortunately, few armed goblins had appeared. Most were unarmed. Thanks to that, the request had been cleared easily.

At the desolate nest entrance, Jian clasped her hands and murmured something. It was a Mystic’s consecration ritual, but I couldn’t tell what it did—my game knowledge had its limits.

“Glad things went smoothly.”

Daro, covered in goblin blood, sat on a rock and lit his pipe.

“Thanks to you, Daro.”

“You worked hard too, Hajun.”

Daro offered me a cigarette, but I declined.

“If we handle one more like this, we’ll be finished, right?”

“If the other nests are at this level, we could clear two more, but... the absence of a shaman bothers me.”

That was curious. We had received a request for a shaman’s spine and found shamanic markings. The shaman’s existence seemed confirmed, yet it never showed itself. Had it fled?

Somi finished sorting through useful items, and Jian completed her consecration. It was time to move on and find the next nest.

“Wait a moment.”

At that instant, Somi’s Seer Lantern glowed blue. That meant enemies were approaching... Though the Dungeon Seeker had allowed us to detect threats early, Somi’s expression was grim.

“It’s a scouting party.”

“The ones that came back.”

Daro flicked ash to the ground and stood.

“What... what do we do?”

“Is there a problem?”

The Dungeon Seeker’s anxiety rippled through the entire party. Somi was visibly flustered.

“There are far more enemies than I thought.”

“How many?”

At Daro’s question, Somi closed her eyes and murmured, “Thirty... no, forty... an enormous number. Five or more scouting parties.”

Insane. Now I understood why her face looked like that. Five goblin scouting parties? Over fifty goblins? I felt a surge of urgency too. We had spent a long time looting the nest.

“The goblins know our location. They’re surrounding...”

“We’re surrounded,” Daro muttered calmly.

I was dumbfounded. This guy was surrounded by fifty goblins, yet he looked completely composed?

“Is there any other way?”

The words slipped out. Daro drew a dagger from his coat and checked its edge.

“Is there any method besides fighting?”

I was speechless. Shibal... Fighting was the answer?

“No, seriously? Are you serious?”

“If you don’t like my way, Hajun, suggest an alternative. If it’s better, I’ll follow it.”

I had nothing to say. What clever plan did I have? I was just terrified because this was my first time being surrounded by goblins. Shibal. Somi and I wore the same expression. We might as well start digging our graves right now.

“Let’s give it a try.”

In contrast, Jian looked as if Daro’s madness had infected her. She showed no fear—only excitement at the chance to fight.

Daro studied my face and added, “Being surrounded is harder than it sounds. Even with fifty enemies, they can’t seal off the entire forest. At most, we’ll only have to fight about twenty before the rest flee on their own.”

“Still... what if we get encircled while fighting? They’ll hear the noise and all the aggro will pull toward us.”

Goblin morale might be trash overall, but their initial morale was high. They would want to tear apart the explorers who had turned their nest into a wasteland. They wouldn’t be easy to escape from.

“This encirclement plan—did the shaman come up with it?”

Shibal... This really felt screwed. The only solution in this situation was a frontal breakthrough. What a dogshit situation.

Daro smirked at my cursing and said, “Want to catch the shaman?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Then be satisfied with just killing goblins.”

That crazy bastard. Did he think I was obsessed with killing goblins?

“How close are the goblins?”

“Ten minutes... yes. They’re ten minutes away.”

The goblin scouting parties were approaching rapidly from the eastern forest. Daro ordered us to move west and kill any goblins we encountered. As he tightened the straps on his buckler, his eyes looked anything but normal. Whether it was from the dried bloodstains or the faint scent of blood and iron, Daro gave off the aura of a wild beast. If you met him at night, you’d be 100% screwed.

Shibal. If that kind of guy shouted “Charge!”, you’d charge with him. I had a feeling that even if we got screwed, it wouldn’t be in any ordinary way—but now there was no turning back. My heart pounded strangely hard.

Now, we were the ones being hunted.