Class 3 and lower Goblins have no names, but advancing past Class 3 marks them as serious pre-stage bosses. Given the strategic importance of this location, each of the three Goblin Centurions has a name.
Seated at the center is Govan; to his left, Gottu; and to his right, Gothry. While all are Centurions, age and battle-hardened experience make each unique. The hierarchy here is simple: Govan is the leader, Gottu the second, and Gothry the third. If anyone forgets their names, “One, Two, Three” suffices—such bosses hardly need remembering.
On major decisions, everyone defers to Govan’s command.
“Big brother, what are those humans after?” Gothry asked in Goblin tongue, bewildered.
“How would I know?!” Govan snapped. This was unprecedented! Not even history told of humans with such devastating power.
“Calm yourself, big brother,” Gottu advised. “We should first assess our numbers. Though humans are weak, we’ve lost almost 40% of our forces; we must prepare.”
At the level of Goblin Centurion, their Intelligence stood at 3, enough to gauge the situation clearly. Govan’s face hardened, and he pointed outside the door, barking at the Goblin Shamans:
“Go! Count our soldiers!”
Dat!!
Goblin Shamans squeaked in fear, scrambling and tumbling out of the room.
…
“Something’s off.”
Standing before the grand map, Dus frowned. Behind him, the Heroes debated tactics.
But Dus, noticing a discrepancy, quickly pulled Anyi from the crowd and led him to the front of the map.
“Carl, this isn’t adding up,” he said, his tone serious.
“How?” Anyi asked, though he had a feeling of what it might be. It seemed others had noticed, too.
“The numbers don’t line up.” Dus pointed at the map, animated. “Based on what the Succubus claimed, there should be just three hundred Hobgoblins and six thousand Goblins in this forest. There’s no way all 24 Heroes can reach level 5!”
“So?” Anyi feigned ignorance.
By now, many Heroes turned to look, drawn by Dus’s intensity.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Look,” Dus explained, pointing at the board. “Killing a level 1 Goblin gives 50 experience. A level 2 Goblin, 25 experience. Level 3 Goblins give only 15 experience. To advance from level 4 to level 5 requires 4,000 experience—by then, Goblins yield only 5 points per kill. So, to make level 4 to 5 feasible, the plan hinges on Hobgoblins.”
He continued, tallying on the board. “To reach level 4, you need to kill 300 Goblins. To go from level 4 to level 5, you’d need to kill 20 Hobgoblins. After that, even Goblins and Hobgoblins yield just 1 point each.”
Seeing the figures, the group began realizing something was awry.
Then, someone shouted in alarm, “Wait! There are 24 of us! For everyone to reach level 5, we’d need 7,200 Goblins and 480 Hobgoblins!!”
“This…! So if the Succubus spoke the truth, we’d have already wiped out all the Goblins in the forest by now!” someone else exclaimed.
The group of Heroes erupted into debate, pondering the truth of the situation. Some argued that the Succubus had misled them, others insisted more Goblins lurked somewhere, while others speculated Kami-sama had given them extra experience.
But to Anyi, this was all rather natural.
After all, this was no game. Goblins could multiply.
According to the original understanding, the Goblin menace around this region stemmed from this dense forest. And since this was reality, if thousands of Goblins were constantly spawning new generations, their numbers would easily reach the tens of thousands here alone.
Indeed, these Goblins had likely already spread beyond the forest’s boundaries.
In truth, the Succubus hadn’t deceived them. She had merely stated the number of Goblins led by each Centurion class. Most Goblins didn’t stay in one place; they foraged across the forest daily. At times, they stripped the jungle bare of resources.
Thus, aside from a few resident Goblins, the deeper into the forest one ventured, the more Goblins infested the monster territories. Unless they took down all three Goblin Centurions, the Goblins would swarm endlessly, much like slimes—killing them all was impossible.
Even if they felled a few thousand today, fresh hordes would spill from the monster territories tomorrow. Only by defeating the Goblin Centurions could they push back the Goblins into other regions.
Seeing the crowd’s unease, Ariana felt a weight in her heart. She whispered to a nearby follower, who nodded and called out:
"Heroes, please do not be anxious or fearful!
Heroes, please calm your hearts!!
Holy Maiden-sama has words for us all!"
With the believer’s loud reassurance, the heroes stilled, though their earlier confidence now lay shaken and uncertain.
Three Goblin Centurions? What if there were more? Five? Ten? Could they truly withstand them all?
None among them wished to die.
Ariana stepped forward from the gathering, her pace steady, stopping before the map, with her back to Anyi and Dus.
"Everyone, I know that learning of these numbers has unsettled you," she spoke softly, her voice wrapping around them like a comforting charm.
The heroes watched her, their earlier anxieties giving way to a calm sense of resolve as they listened.
Ariana continued, “I feel the same unease that you do. I also wonder if there are more enemies in the shadows of this jungle. Perhaps there lurk even stronger foes, or creatures we have never encountered. I am neither as brave nor as strong as you. I feel fear, perhaps more than any of you, and I, too, dread falling to a monster’s hand.
Perhaps…
Perhaps we should turn back. Retreat while we can.”
"Never!" Layton’s fist shot into the air, his voice fierce. “As a man, no matter the odds or the number of foes, I refuse to retreat!"