Chapter 86 The Origin of Goblins

Without any wind-up, Naruto used a Shadow Instant Kill Array to move into the shadows of a hidden corner.

A naked young girl cautiously pushed open the revolving stone wall, poking her head out from the secret chamber. Seeing Goblin corpses everywhere in the castle, she was terrified but also felt a sense of relief.

"You—"

As soon as Naruto spoke, the girl screamed in fright, falling to the ground and flailing her hands wildly.

"I'm human, not a Goblin."

Naruto took off his orange sports jacket, spread his hands, and gently covered the girl's bruised body.

"H-Human…"

The panicked girl gradually calmed down. Her eyes, tightly shut from fear, slowly opened, revealing a face that was still a bit childish, slightly round, but full of sunny handsomeness and immense amiability.

"It's really a human." Naruto tilted his head and smiled slightly, extending a hand, motioning to help the girl up.

The girl tremblingly raised her slender arm, placed her small hand into Naruto's palm, and then her light, slender body was lifted by a force.

Naruto did not pull the girl into his arms.

But the girl, having escaped death, took him as her only reliance, actively throwing herself into Naruto's embrace and bursting into tears.

"Waaahhh—!"

"It's alright, it's alright."

Naruto comforted the girl, and with a thought, decided to test if the Shadow Instant Kill Array could carry a person. So, he activated this core skill of the Shadow Assassin.

"Swish!"

Naruto, holding the girl, successfully teleported into the Priestess's shadow.

The Earth Mother God Priestess was startled to see Naruto appear out of thin air.

"Goblin Slayer-dono—"

"Please take care of her."

Naruto handed the sobbing girl to the Priestess, then, with a solemn expression, called upon the Silver Knight, the Dwarf, and the High Elf Archer to head to the castle dungeon to rescue more people.

In fact, the Shadow Instant Kill Array could be used as an alternative form of perception.

Naruto could determine whether an object was an inanimate object or a living creature based on the size and shape of its shadow.

However, because shadows are affected by light and deform accordingly, the accuracy of this judgment was limited.

When he used the Shadow Instant Kill Array just now, Naruto clearly sensed that many living creatures were imprisoned in the castle dungeon.

Their shadows were trembling.

Following the spiral staircase down, they arrived at the dim, damp dungeon, filled with an inexplicable stench. Torches stuck on the walls flickered, illuminating the human females in the cages in fits and starts.

They huddled together in the depths of the cages like frightened lambs, trembling all over.

Their numbers were so great that at a glance, there were no less than a hundred people.

Most of them were villagers from the foot of the Great Snow Mountain!

There were old people, young people, women, and children.

However, no able-bodied men were seen. It was likely by the Goblin King's command, fearing that imprisoning able-bodied men would cause trouble, so they were all killed.

The remaining old people, women, and children were either used as breeding stock or as food storage.

"These green-skinned brats!!"

"They really deserve to die!" The Silver Knight cursed angrily, grabbing his spear and piercing the chains of a cage, pulling the cell door open with force.

"Don't be afraid, we are adventurers from the Water Capital, entrusted by Viscount-sama to rescue you."

The Silver Knight was responsible for communication and reassurance.

The Dwarf and the High Elf Archer, meanwhile, were breaking down cell doors one by one.

Naruto left the trivial matter of rescuing the dungeon villagers to them and "teleported" to the hidden secret chamber from which the girl had escaped.

In the middle of the secret chamber was a strange altar.

It had intricate and profound grooves.

As well as dried, blackened bloodstains.

Around it were also white bones, skulls, eyeballs, flags imprinted with the god of awareness symbol, and so on.

Even the Goblin corpses that had committed suicide on the ground were dressed differently from ordinary Goblins.

They were neither like ordinary Goblins nor Goblin Shamans,

They had the feel of an evil cult.

"This must be the evil cult that worships the god of awareness, mentioned in the hidden quest [Green Moon Mystery], right?"

"To be precise, the birth of the Goblin King and the Goblin Paladin are both related to the god of awareness. They have wisdom runes bestowed by the god of awareness on them, so all the Goblins in this castle fortress should be worshipping the god of awareness. It's just that these few Goblins are more like priests in the cult, presiding over sacrifices, prayers, and other related affairs."

Naruto stepped forward, examining the blood-stained altar in the middle of the secret chamber.

The altar was stained with so much blood that it had turned dark red, emitting an unshakeable stench.

"Is this the Green Moon Altar?"

Naruto furrowed his brows slightly.

It didn't look like a gold-tier item at all.

"I used the equipment effect of [Goblin's crown] to make all Goblins within a hundred kilometers commit suicide. Logically, this evil cult should have been completely destroyed."

"But the system didn't prompt that [Green Moon Mystery] was completed."

"This means the quest isn't over yet."

Naruto had a thought, opened the [Quest] menu, and checked the contents of [Green Moon Mystery] again.

"Unraveling the mystery of the Goblins' origin?"

"How can I find out the Goblins' origin?"

Naruto recalled his previous conversation with the Sword Saintess and the Witch after defeating the Troll.

They had mentioned an interesting legend:

There are two moons in the Goblin Slayer World, one large and one small. The large moon is blood-red, while the small moon is green and is called the Green Moon.

And the evil race of Goblins came from the Green Moon.

"Do I have to go to the Green Moon?"

Naruto frowned deeply.

Although he could now destroy a mountain with his full power, flying to the moon was still a bit difficult.

Besides, who knew if the Green Moon in the Goblin Slayer World was even a satellite?

"It seems the key is still to start with the interrupted ritual."

Naruto pondered for a moment, closed the stone door, and temporarily left the secret chamber to rejoin his adventure party.

He also tried to ask the girl about the ritual, but predictably, the girl's only response was terrified screams.

More and more villagers gathered in the inner city plaza. They were dressed in rags, emaciated, and looked as if they could be blown away by a gust of wind.

"Goblin Slayer-dono, why don't we send them back?"

"In their current state and strength, they might be killed by monsters encountered along the way before even returning to the Village."

Although the Goblins of the Great Snow Mountain had been cleared out, other monsters still survived.

For example, the Frost Giant Wolf tamed by the Goblins.

There must also be wild Frost Giant Wolves.

"And from our inquiries, we learned that most of them came from one Village."

"That Village is also the most prosperous Village in the Great Snow Mountain, and it's a relatively famous hot spring Village in the Kingdom, with snow scenery and hot springs."

"From the same Village, and a hot spring Village at that?"

Naruto's eyes lit up, and he nodded, saying, "Great! We'll send them back to Snow Village, and we can also enjoy a hot spring to relieve our fatigue."

After the battle at the Great Snow Mountain castle, even though Naruto won easily, he was actually at his limit.

Not only was his long-accumulated Chakra depleted, but his mental exhaustion was immense, and fatigue had also accumulated to a peak.

It was just that Naruto appeared calm and smiling on the surface, so it wasn't obvious. The adventurer party rested briefly in the inner city.

Although the snow had been dispersed, the temperature in the Great Snow Mountain was still very cold. Everyone lit a bonfire, while the Silver Knight, carrying all of his teammates' antidotes, went to the Wyvern outside the city.

He uncorked the bottles and continuously poured antidotes into the Wyvern.

Bottle after bottle.

After the antidotes, it was vitality potions, healing potions, and so on.

Even a cheap bottle cost twenty silver coins.

The expensive ones were a gold coin per bottle.

"What a loss, what a huge loss."

"This time, I didn't earn a single copper coin, and I'll have to pay a lot out of pocket."

The Silver Knight's heart ached.

As for the 50 gold coins from the Viscount's commission, he and the others dared not ask for a single one.

Are you kidding? Their own lives were saved by Naruto, did they still have the face to split the reward with Naruto?

The Wyvern, having recovered, woke up and voluntarily reverted from its dragonized state, its body shrinking continuously, transforming back into the Lizard Monk.

"Partner—"

"Is this hell?"

The Lizard Monk asked weakly.

The Silver Knight helped the Lizard Monk up and replied with a wry smile, "Don't worry, you're not dead yet. Thanks to Goblin Slayer-dono for saving us."

Immediately, the Silver Knight recounted their encounter, how Naruto single-handedly formed an army and annihilated the Goblin army, and how he blew up a snow mountain.

The Lizard Monk was still somewhat disbelieving when he heard Naruto blew up a snow mountain.

When he turned his head and saw the distant snow mountain with a massive crater, he was dumbfounded, his mouth wide enough to fit a goose egg.

After a sufficient rest, Naruto led the large group, leaving the castle fortress and heading to the hot spring Village at the foot of the Great Snow Mountain.

Along the way.

They did indeed encounter a Frost Giant Wolf.

Naruto used a little trick, subdued the wolf by force, and took it as a temporary mount, riding it back to the hot spring Village.

It had been some time since the last Goblin raid and plunder, and the hot spring Village had been mostly rebuilt, even regaining its former prosperity.

The number of residents in the Village didn't seem to have decreased much; it was likely that villagers from surrounding disaster-stricken areas had fled here and settled down.

In addition, there was even a small Adventurers' Guild in the Village.

However, the scale of this Guild was far inferior to the Guild in the Border Town, let alone the Adventurers' Guild in the Water Capital.

Naruto's return with the Silver Knight and numerous survivors naturally caused a huge sensation in the hot spring Village.

Upon learning that Naruto had annihilated all the Goblins in the Great Snow Mountain castle, the villagers cheered even more, like a harvest festival, both excited and thrilled, all regarding Naruto as a hero.

The Village chief led the entire Village in thanking Naruto.

The hot spring Village was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, set up like a dragon-slaying celebration.

"Whoosh—Boom—!"

Fireworks bloomed splendidly in the night sky of the hot spring Village.

Naruto, wearing a wreath woven from the Great Snow Mountain's unique white snow flowers around his neck, was embraced and lifted by a group of villagers, tossed into the air, while they continuously cheered and applauded.

In the Goblin Slayer World, a hero is a hero and receives the treatment a hero deserves.

Plenty of good food, good wine, and delicacies were all present.

Naruto was even kissed several times by many young girls in love.

The lively festivities continued until midnight before the banquet gradually dispersed.

Naruto checked into the most famous hot spring inn in Snow Village, enjoying an open-air hot spring by himself.

He leaned against the gray rocks at the edge of the hot spring, his arms resting on them, a folded towel on his forehead, his lean body fully immersed in the hot spring, looking up at the deep starry sky.

"Hoo…"

"So comfortable!"

Naruto exhaled a long breath, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"If only the Sword Saintess were here, soaking in the hot spring with her, she could even help me wash my hair and scrub my back."

Just then, Naruto suddenly looked up, grabbed the towel from his forehead with one hand, and looked towards the entrance of the open-air hot spring.

"Who!?"