The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

[Name: Fulu]

[Race: Alien Monster]

[Danger Level: 2, Not Bad]

[Personality: Cute and Timid]

"So these are the little goofballs from the books about the Relic?" Shire chuckled.

He realized the creatures floating before him were the very same ones specially noted in the natural history records—the Fulu, one of the few organisms in underground Relics that were friendly to Adventurers.

These creatures were named for the "fufu" sound their bottom jets made. Though unable to speak, they communicated via Telepathy. They were also intelligent, erudite beings, fond of religion, philosophy, mathematics, and other strange and obscure knowledge.

They were highly sensitive to the emotional changes of the creatures around them. Most interestingly, their tentacles reflected their thoughts through color changes: light pink for joy, dark blue for sadness, green for curiosity, and crimson for anger.

At that moment, the Fulu at the crevice were all bunched up. Those inside were trying to get out, while those outside were trying to get back in. The large, disc-shaped creatures were piled on top of each other, creating a noisy mess.

"Run, he’s not a good person!"

"What? Isn’t he the hero who saved us?"

"It’s dangerous, go back."

"Let me see, make some room for me."

"Don’t push, I just hit the wall."

Several voices echoed and overlapped in Shire’s mind, making his head buzz.

"Quiet!" he shouted.

All the Fulu stopped. Their eyestalks turned toward Shire, blinked a few times, and then they went right back to their clamor.

"Keep making noise, and I’ll toss in a Brain-Eating Monster," Shire said calmly this time.

That sentence immediately silenced the Fulu’s squabbling. They froze mid-air, then retreated into the crevice like mad.

"Hey! Don’t run! Come out, let’s talk," Shire reacted at once, trying to coax the Fulu out, but to no avail.

After a moment’s thought, he sighed and said, "Since you don’t want to talk, I’ll just have to seal a few Brain-Eating Monsters in here with you."

"Men, prepare to seal..." Shire began to order his subordinates.

"We can talk, Hero! We can talk!" Several voices pleaded in his mind.

A moment later, a dozen or so large, round discs floated out of the crevice and came before Shire.

"So you’ve all been trapped in here for a long time?" Shire asked.

The Fulu in front of him didn’t speak, but their eyestalks moved up and down in unison, as if nodding.

"I want to know what the situation is here," Shire asked, thinking these little goofballs might know something.

The Fulu’s eyestalks swiveled, looking at each other. Even more interestingly, their eyestalks could look in different directions—one to the left, the other to the right.

"There’s a Heart Stealer here," a voice sounded in Shire’s mind.

"A powerful one."

"A super powerful one."

"I think it’s only so-so."

"Shut up, it’s not like you can beat it."

"Stop." Seeing they were about to start arguing again, Shire immediately cut them off. He pointed at one Fulu and said, "You. You tell me."

"There’s a powerful Heart Stealer living here. Our congregation couldn’t defeat it," said that Fulu.

"You have a congregation?" Shire asked, surprised. "What’s your congregation’s name?"

"We’re called... what were we called again?" The Fulu thought for a moment before turning its eyestalks to ask its companions.

"How about this, have your president come speak to me," Shire said.

"The president is in your hands." The Fulu’s tentacles turned dark blue.

"Huh?" Shire froze, looking down at the grayish-white, bone-like "Conical Hat" in his hand. He had picked it up earlier and hadn’t thrown it away.

"Oh, sorry about that. Didn’t mean to." Shire sheepishly put down the president’s remains and even helped wipe off the dust. "Anything else?"

"That Heart Stealer creates Goblin Transmuters to serve it. The incubation pool is just ahead, guarded by a Brain Golem. That’s where the Heart-devouring Giant Worm chased us from."

"Brain Golem?" Shire subconsciously repeated the word. He had already seen a Goblin Transmuter—the "Waiter" was one. Such small monsters weren’t a concern, but a Brain Golem sounded tough to deal with. "Is the Brain Golem stronger than the Heart-devouring Giant Worm?"

"That thing beat the Heart-devouring Giant Worm and drove it all the way here," a Fulu said.

"So, will Brain-Eating Monsters eat a Brain Golem?" Shire’s expression grew grim.

"No. The Heart-devouring Giant Worm is a severe mutation that occurs during the reproduction of Heart Stealer tadpoles. They grow by slaughtering and devouring other tadpoles. The Heart Stealers detest this, which is why Brain-Eating Monsters attack Heart-devouring Giant Worms. But a Brain Golem isn’t one of them."

"This is getting a little tricky." Shire frowned. He had no intention of sharing a Fortress with a Heart Stealer.

He considered several ways to deal with the Brain Golem, but none seemed viable.

’Bomb it with Hand Grenade Fruit? No, the Brain Golem would just charge into the goblins. The Brain-Eating Monsters wouldn’t attack it, and it seems Slimes would be useless too.’

Just as Shire was racking his brain to no avail, he suddenly noticed the tentacles of the Fulu before him had all turned light pink.

’They’re enjoying this?’ Shire thought, surprised. ’Actually, they seem a little smug.’

"You can deal with the Brain Golem, can’t you," he stated calmly, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

"No, Hero, we can’t," the Fulu’s voices overlapped, each proclaiming their weakness. But Shire noticed their tentacles turning an even deeper shade of pink.

"Red Eyes, come here," Shire called to his subordinate. "Go flip that one over."

Red Eyes quickly dashed over, grabbed a Fulu, and, amidst its shriek of surprise, flipped it completely upside down on the ground.

The Fulu’s tentacles feebly propped it up on the ground, but its bottom jet, now pointing upward, sputtered "FUFU" into the air, making it impossible to right itself. Its two eyestalks, pressed against the floor, grew misty as if it were about to cry.

Shire ignored the cursing Fulu and smiled at the others, whose tentacles had now turned crimson. "Care to talk?"

"Bandit!" the Fulu shrieked, but they were completely powerless against Shire. A few seconds later, they gave in, their tentacles turning dark blue.

"We can deal with the Brain Golem. It’s easy to handle."

"Explain." Shire had Red Eyes flip the Fulu on the ground back over.

"The Brain Golem has no communication abilities of its own. It only reacts to the Heart Stealer’s Telepathy. And we can also influence it with our Telepathy."

"In that case, please consider this the fee for your rescue," Shire said with a smile.

...

BANG! With a loud thud, the Brain Golem punched itself heavily.

The blow was so heavy it made the golem stagger, nearly losing its balance.

"A punch like that would flatten a goblin," Shire remarked, the corner of his mouth twitching.

He watched the two-meter-tall humanoid Construct. It had powerful limbs, and its torso consisted of several brain-like tissues wrapped in a translucent membrane. Where its head should be, there was a fleshy growth half the size of a human head.

The Fulu surrounded the Brain Golem, floating, dancing, and spinning around it as if performing a dance. Their tentacles had all turned a pale pink, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Shire glanced at the nearly dry saline incubation pool and the several defeated Goblin Transmuters, then ordered his men, "Let’s go."

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK. A multitude of cries echoed from the distance. Shire stared ahead into the dark passageway, where countless green eyes began to light up the Darkness.