Slime Leveling [Litrpg, Timeloop]-Chapter 164—Gabu

Boom!

Old Goblin dashed forward with extraordinary speed, clutching the goblin baby.

'Where now?' Slime#47 mused, surrounded by the crimson aura.

Soon, they reached the cave they had departed from.

"Huh? Back here?" he muttered, blinking his eyes.

Elder Goblin stopped in front of Goblin Lord's cave.

The goblin baby glanced around and found a few man-made caves nearby.

'They're too few to host so many goblins?' he wondered, recalling Elder Goblin counting hundreds of weak goblins dying.

If they were alive, they couldn't fit in a few caves.

Old Goblin entered the Goblin Lord's cave and muttered with a frown, "Such a beautiful toy… why did the Lord kill her after only one baby?"

He glanced at the dried blood marks. However, the woman's body had disappeared.

'What the heck is wrong with these goblins…' the goblin baby mused, scowling. 'I want to punch that wrinkled face.'

He glanced at Elder Goblin, eyes narrowed.

'I'm glad Mother's body was taken away… by those adventurers,' he thought with relief, recalling, 'Some perverts wouldn't even let go of dead bodies.'

Elder Goblin moved to the wall near the grass bed, placing the goblin baby on it.

Then he placed his palms on the rock wall.

"Don't tell me…" the goblin baby muttered, as the rock began to slide back under the wrinkled palm's power.

Thud!

The rock fell down, revealing a secret tunnel behind it.

He scooped up the goblin baby and rushed in.

---

"So many goblins…" the goblin baby muttered, glancing at the thousand or so hidden deep in underground tunnels.

The walls had fire torches attached, illuminating a room a few hundred meters wide.

He closed his mouth tightly and held his breath. 'It's stinky… so disgusting.'

The air in the tunnel seemed visibly green from unbathed, sweaty goblins.

'They aren't even properly clothed… only leaves and wooden straps,' he thought with a frown. He wanted to block his nose but couldn't—his hands were out of his control.

Only Elder Goblin was clad in proper clothing, but it was still ragged and old.

'It should be created from a skill…' the goblin baby thought, glancing around, remembering his own Earth Mold skill. 'And it's an intelligent trick to hide underground.'

Due to mana-enhanced mud, rocks, and land, sensory abilities were heavily weakened.

Unless one has an expert sensory-related class or a race, it's tough to sense underground.

"Elder, what's the situation?" a muscular goblin, one and a half meters tall, asked, coming forward. He carried a heavy sword on his back.

"Goblin Lord will return soon," Elder Goblin replied.

His expression turned grim as he continued, "Let's pick up fallen comrade bodies."

A skinny goblin, two meters tall, glanced at the goblin baby with crimson eyes.

'Crap!' the goblin baby roared internally, his body trembling. 'I don't need to sense his murderous intent—his glance explains everything.'

He missed his slime body like never before.

"Gabu…" Old Goblin yelled, his voice rising. "Be mindful."

"What?" Gabu uttered, eyes widening.

He roared, pointing his finger at the goblin baby. "Isn't he a weak-arse goblin… why wasn't he sent to fight the adventurers?"

"Because he is a baby…" Elder Goblin replied flatly.

"Your son was a freeloader, Gabu," a two-meter-tall, thin goblin with a wooden staff said, sighing.

"Gibr…he was sent to die!" Gabu roared, his body flaring with blue energy.

"Yeah…" A few goblins from behind roared. They all pointed at the goblin baby. "Isn't he a weakling?"

"Why wasn't he discarded?" they yelled, supporting Gabu as they stood beside him.

Their energies flared, and the underground shook—ceiling cracking, floor trembling.

Boom!

"Stop this nonsense now," Old Goblin barked.

He patted the ground—bang!

A large crater formed, making everyone feel chilly as he flared with demonic force.

"We don't have time for that," he said flatly, dispersing his energy, "You can make more children in the future… and remember, if they are weak, they'll be discarded—just like now."

Everyone swallowed their saliva, eyes dim. They glanced at Gabu, expecting him to fight Elder Goblin.

To their pity, Gabu dispersed his energy and closed his eyes, as tears flowed.

"Because he was weak," Gibr said plainly, patting Gabu.

"I warned you to train him and stop his petty behavior," Old Goblin said, shaking his head.

"Everyone, let's leave," he continued, waving his hand to follow.

Gabu clenched his hands, still glaring at the goblin baby, musing, 'I'll kill you and avenge my son.'

As they started to leave the tunnel—

'And… where are goblin women…' the goblin baby shouted in his mind. 'Goblins don't have women?'

The goblin baby finally realized why the Goblin Lord was so dangerously freaky toward women.

'They don't have women… so they don't treat them properly,' he sighed, realizing the reason. 'But I cannot let go of my hatred… Goblin Lord has to pay for killing my mother.'

He didn't bond with her, but she was the reason he had a physical body. And he has to repay her.

---

They finally reached the battle area, a few hundred meters away.

Corpses lay dead on the ground.

Scorched, slashed, torn bodies with heavy injuries piled up like trash. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"What a hideous and cruel sight…" the goblin baby muttered, as his body shook involuntarily. "Those adventurers… sure were ruthless."

He sighed after a moment. 'Then again, goblins treat women like that… of course, they'll slaughter like this.'

Even he—who slaughtered humans like paste—frowned at the stench and gruesome sight of goblin organs lying on the ground.

"My son…" Gabu yelled, rushing to a dead body sliced into four pieces.

He glanced at the yawning goblin baby from the corner of his vision. 'Your fault… all your fault,' he thought, eyes crimson, veins popping around his neck.

'I'm getting sleepy,' the goblin baby thought, his body stretching involuntarily. 'But I can't sleep yet.'

He wanted to know whether Goblin Lord finished them—or was finished by them.

Thud!

Goblins picked the bodies up one by one. Their relatives cried, like Gabu, who knelt beside his goblin son.

He placed his goblin son's parts one by one neatly with trembling hands.

The body resembled a kid of almost fifteen years.

Gabu silently patted the dead body's head.

"Ahh… ahh…" goblins' roars echoed through the place.

"Idiots…" Old Goblin muttered. "As if Goblin Lord would be so ruthless."

'He sent the weak to buy time for others to hide,' the goblin baby's eyes narrowed as he realized the Goblin Lord's plan from Elder Goblin's words. 'And he himself rushed to the other side to attract adventurers to save the hidden goblins… but why did he take me?'

Goblin Lord didn't trust anyone, so he took him along.

As the goblin baby understood, it was his plan. However, he attracted the adventurers not just to save other goblins, but also to kill them—or heavily injure them—so they wouldn't return anytime soon.

"What an incredible Goblin Lord…" he muttered quietly. "He is a good lord for his fellow members despite being ruthless."

'However, I don't be like him,' he thought, frowning. "Power is key to everything."

Thud!

Heavy footsteps suddenly echoed.

'Are the adventurers back?' he mused, tension creeping in.

He tried to turn his head, but couldn't.