Tanuki exited the portal on the other side and was taken aback as he looked up.

“What the hell?”

He was at the bottom of a hole the size of ten skyscrapers. Truck-sized roots and plane-sized leaves surrounded him from all directions. Light emanated from above, but so high above, that Tanuki couldn’t imagine how deep he must’ve been.

“Did I get shrunk down to the size of an ant?”

The leaves moved around him. Something was approaching.

Fearing for his life, Tanuki immediately grabbed the Heifer’s Mask and held it to his face.

“Should I put this on?”

Tanuki knew that the mask can trigger the ‘Rage’ skill infinite times and possibly spiral things out of control. Still, it sounded a lot better than dying to whatever was approaching him.

Pros and cons fought in his head with a deafening storm.

“Shit!” Tanuki put aside the mask and clenched his fists, readying for a brawl.

The thing moved rapidly towards him, then stopped before a large leaf. Tanuki raised his hands and readied for the fight.

The mysterious creature pushed the leaf aside with its head.

“Baa!” It was a sheep, barely tall enough to reach Tanuki’s hip.

“Excuse me?”

The sheep walked beside him, then stopped by a large pile of grass. It found Tanuki to be no threat and casually ignored him.

“At least you could pretend to be afraid of me.” Tanuki pouted.

A few more sheep followed their mate and went by Tanuki. They were all very short and fluffy.

Tanuki found their friendliness to be adorable.

“Here-Here!” He patted one’s head, which the sheep happily accepted. “You’re pretty cute, aren’t you?”

“You like Maduka’s girlz?” A female voice asked.

“Of course! They are adorab––“

Tanuki swiftly jumped away and raised the shield attached to his wrist. For a moment, he forgot why he came here, and it almost cost his life.

Or so it would’ve, were it any other monster than this one.

A short goblin woman wearing a pitch-black cape stood next to Tanuki. Her eyes were large and full of curiosity, her nose was small and pointy, and her skin was viridian green.

“Maduka feeds and brushes them all da time! It’z hard work for Maduka, but worth their love!”

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Her accent was unusual. The goblins Tanuki met either couldn’t speak or only said a few words, and sounded nothing like this one.

“Who are you? And who’s this Maduka you’re talking about?” Tanuki didn’t lower his guard.

The goblin looked at him confused. She scraped her head, then, an idea struck her!

Effortlessly moving as if she had no weight, the goblin changed her stance by 180°, got to the ground, raised her legs into the air, and balanced herself on the top of her head. Then, she grinned with satisfaction.

This monster was no threat. Tanuki lowered his shield.

“What are you doing?”

“Maduka is getting all da blood in ‘er head! It helps Maduka think!”

The monster’s head went through all colors of the rainbow as blood rushed to it. Her skin changed from green to yellow, then red, until it turned back to green, as she couldn’t hold herself anymore and fell forward on her stomach.

“Ugeeh!”

But before she could’ve tried to reequip her thinking stance, a shadow appeared above her. It was Tanuki, who offered his hand to the tiny gobbo.

“I think I have an idea of who Maduka is. Now come, let me help you up before you catch a cold.”

The goblin was left speechless by his kindness. The color of her face turned red again, though this time from blushing.

Her silence was awkward.

“Uh, hello?” Tanuki called out to the silent gobbo.

“Is ya’ reaching out to Maduka?”

“I guess so.”

The goblin took his hand, then swiftly hugged the boy, almost pushing him to the ground.

“What are you––“

“YEEES!” The goblin squealed joyfully. “Maduka has a friend!”

“Woah, that’s not what I––“

“Soup was wrong! Maduka can make friendz!”

A shiver ran up Tanuki’s spine, which made the hair on his back stand up. That name, Soup, belonged to the third wave’s and this domain’s boss. She was the one who sent all those goblins to attack the Gaia Core and the one who made Tanuki’s last few days a living nightmare.

But what affiliation did that goblin have with Maduka? Were they friends or foes? Tanuki was unsure, but he knew that even a few wrong words could result in his death. No matter how innocent this goblin looked, she was still a goblin.

Wait, was that racist?

Oh god, it was!

Either way, Tanuki shrugged it off as a necessary evil for now. He still had to meet a goblin whose true intentions were not killing him. Furthermore, he was in enemy domain and he needed to be extra cautious in this land.

Right now, his main goal was to get to Soup, the boss of all goblins. Her kingdom seemed to be large and confusing to pass alone, so Tanuki needed the help of Maduka, this random gobbo, to help him get there.

But this goblin wasn’t aware of who Tanuki was. Did Soup not tell the other goblins about his arrival? Perhaps she needs the boy alive?

Tanuki wasn’t sure, but he needed to make Maduka take him there without him revealing his intentions.

“Hey, uh… Maduka!” Tanuki gently pushed the goblin off of himself. “Do you know where Soup is at the moment? You know, the minotaur daughter! I have uh… I’ve come to congratulate her!”

“Congratulate? What did she do?”

“She… she finally became pregnant!”

“Oh? But how?”

“I really don’t want to be the one to tell you.” Tanuki looked her dead in the eye.

Maduka gazed at him for a while, seemingly troubled. Then, she leaned closer and whispered to Tanuki:

“Maduka was sure she had da babiez! No wonda’ her belly got so huge!”

The goblin put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. Every sheep raised their head and looked at Maduka, ready for orders.

“Alright, girlz! Maduka need to take da four-eyed boy to da leada’!”

“Is she talking about my glasses?” Tanuki adjusted them awkwardly.

“Be good galz and don’t wander ‘round, alright?”

The sheep herd bleated in unison, then returned to munching the grass.

The goblin looked around to find the nearest root she could climb. There was one not far away, that was as steep as those special steps placed before buildings for wheelchaired people.

Maduka began to climb it with a smile on her face. He looked down at Tanuki and waved.

“What’s da matter? Scared of heights? You can hold Maduka’s hand if ya’ want!”

“N-No, thanks! I’m fine.” Tanuki lied.

Looking up made his stomach turn. Tanuki was the kind of person who couldn’t handle the smallest of heights. He was extremely paranoid of falling down, which unsurprisingly was the subject of many of his nightmares.

“I have to get that goblin, Soup. If I don’t make it there, I’ll die tomorrow.”

Tanuki swallowed his fears with a loud gulp. He stepped onto the root with shaky legs and began his ascension.