Free Web NovelChapter 13: Predator
On the opposite side of the island, Liz stood frozen.
Before her knelt a gigantic goblin, its head not just severed, but completely obliterated from the neck up.
Beyond the corpse stood a slightly ajar behemoth door. From the crack in the stone, sounds one might only hear at the peak of a mountain during a thunderstorm seeped through—sounds of battle.
At the sight of all this, Liz’s heart rate only increased further, thumping fiercely against her chest.
It wasn’t entirely out of fear, but from the fact that throughout her journey in search of Arc that had led her here, she had come across so many strange things that seeing the gigantic headless goblin now wasn’t too surprising and didn’t have as much impact as it should have—disregarding the fact that this might be a goblin on par in strength with the Boss, if not the Boss itself.
But what truly scared her was the fact that whatever—or whoever—was behind those doors was likely responsible for every strange event she had come across on her way here, and might have been on the island for as long as they had.
After she left the party to find Arc, Liz discovered upon reaching the spot that Arc had never used the bathroom. She had gone out of her way to check if he might still be crouched behind the tree, only to find that not only was he not there, but from the looks of it, no one had ever taken ’number 2’ there.
She decided to expand her search and explore the surrounding areas, telling herself that if she still couldn’t find him loitering around, she would have to return to the party. But all that changed when she found herself standing at the edge of a glade in the forest.
It looked like the perfect spot to camp—spacious enough for building plans—except it was littered with fresh bones and skulls of animals she couldn’t recognize. It was a graveyard. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
It was there and then that her instincts screamed at her to run back to the party without looking back. But instead of doing that, Liz focused on the bones and discovered they were fresh, their flesh likely ripped off not long ago by some predator.
From the looks of it, whatever that predator was had been meticulous in carving up the beasts, doing a neat job. This made her rule out the possibility of it being a fellow beast, further supported by the fact that Jack had ensured the party that the island was devoid of any more beasts.
This pointed to one possibility: either the predator was an intelligent, high-level beast capable of evading Jack’s detection—which was a C-rank Talent—or this had been done by a human.
[You have learnt a new skill ’Appraisal’]
Liz was momentarily stunned, and after reading the description of the sudden new skill, she decided to test it on the bones.
[Silver Wolf bones]
Just as she suspected, they were indeed Silver Wolf bones and were likely killed around the same time as the party had slain theirs.
As much as she was scared to continue moving on her own, her curiosity got the better of her, and she began venturing deeper, leaving the Silver Wolf graveyard behind. She tried to convince herself she was only searching for Arc—which wasn’t entirely wrong. Because deep down, she knew her priority was finding this predator. Not out of sheer curiosity or stupidity, but because she had a hunch of what—or who—this predator might be.
It wasn’t long before she came across the first body of the monsters laying siege on the island. It was dead, its head cleanly severed and rolled to the side. She used her [Appraisal] on it and learned its name was Crimson Goblin.
Seeing it on the path she had taken reassured her that she was on the right track, even as the urge to run back to the party returned.
As much as she was scared by the brutal scene, her hope was renewed, and she pressed deeper. With every step she took, more bodies appeared—slain effortlessly—forcing her to step over them or take detours when there were too many to cross.
At some point, she began hearing the sounds of battle from a distance and quickened her pace, only to stop a few meters from where the forest ended. Beyond it was a plain field, and the abrupt edge of the floating island now wedged against another floating island—the point of impact.
This was the moment of truth, and just beyond the tree line lay the answers she was looking for. Liz’s hands trembled as she tightened her grip around her Grimoire.
She was certain the party couldn’t have reached this point before her, and they likely weren’t the ones battling the Crimson Goblins. Whoever had slaughtered the ones she’d encountered was likely the same entity fighting them now.
Liz took a deep breath to calm her rattled nerves. After a moment of deliberation—and a final internal debate to turn back—she concentrated her flames at her feet and propelled herself up the nearest tall tree, leaping from branch to branch until she reached its peak. Holding her breath, she looked ahead at the raging battlefield.
It wasn’t long before she spotted the combatants, and she was momentarily stunned by what she saw below. What she witnessed wasn’t what she expected—not even close.
The battle was between the Crimson Goblins, as she had expected... against Crimson Goblins.
It wasn’t a clash between two factions. It was one against all—every goblin for itself.
There was no sense of coordination, no sense of camaraderie. The Crimson Goblins tore at each other with weapons and claws, those who had lost their weapons resorting to tearing flesh, driven by a ferocity that made it seem as though something far worse would happen if they didn’t kill each other first.
Liz stared blankly for a moment before lifting her gaze deeper into the island of the Crimson Goblins. There, she could see a trail of bodies leading further inward.
She leapt off the tree, catching herself before she could plummet to the ground with her flames and landing safely at a cautious distance from the battle. She was about to leap again—this time across the battlefield and into the Crimson Goblins’ territory—when she realized the goblins had barely registered her presence.
She stood there for a moment longer before taking a cautious step forward. No matter how close she got, the goblins didn’t acknowledge her and continued slaughtering each other. She walked around the battle and followed the trail of bodies until she reached the boss room, where she encountered the decapitated gigantic goblin. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Up to this point, Liz was certain that whatever lay behind the Silver Wolf graveyard, the Crimson Goblin massacre, and even the frenzied self-slaughter was the work of the same person—the same predator. Whoever was behind that door was him.
Every piece of evidence she had gathered pointed to a single figure—one that kept resurfacing in her mind, growing more twisted with each discovery.
She didn’t know how to react if it truly turned out to be him, but she summoned the courage to walk around the gigantic goblin and toward the behemoth doors—the last obstacle between her and the truth.
And so, she stepped through them, disappearing into the room beyond.
