24 Chapter 24: Wolf

"I wonder what could be approaching." The child pondered. "These footsteps do not sound familiar. That means it is a creature I have never seen or been in contact with within the past five days. Why is it coming here, though? Was it the sound of battle that called it over?"

After all, in the past few days, he has seen all kinds of animals. And in the goblin's hunt within the forest, such an occurrence was quite common. For normal animals, a battle must be done quickly, and the loot must be hidden or eaten immediately, or else a third party, otherwise known as the original behind, will reap all the benefits.

But goblins weren't normal creatures, although they themselves don't know. What they are looking for is not food for survival but bodies for their progenitors. So whenever a third party approaches, the child gets happier. Once the third party attacks, reinforcements will appear immediately. It was through this method that the child has acquired quite a few bodies these past five days.

"Could this be another third party? But since it has the audacity to approach a battle so readily, it should have something it is counting on."

As such, the child decided to play it a little carefully. He ordered the goblins to hide. Be on top of trees or behind a few bushes. Whatever was coming should not be seen, at least not immediately.

The child and the goblins didn't have to wait too long for the newcomer, though. Less than a minute later, the third party showed itself.

The creature was somewhat humanoid and stood at a height of 1.5 meters. It's fur was black, and its back was slightly hunched. The creature had broad shoulders and long arms. arms, which were only a few centimeters away from the ground. It had short legs with an even shorter tail behind it. Although the creature looked a bit peculiar, its body was not what caught his attention.

"A wolf's head. Interesting. Does this mean this is a kobold? Although Kobolds are normally told to have dog heads instead of wolves', it should be close, right?"

The kobold, as the child called it, walked slowly from the misty bushes. Although it was walking with its legs, the child could tell that those long arms could be helpful when running.

"Hmm? There is another."

Tailing behind the first, a second kobold appeared. The two kobolds looked very similar; only the second was much shorter than the first. Clearly, the second was a juvenile.

It did not take long for the two kobolds to find the rabbit in the hole. At that point, the rabbit was long dead, and its blood was even starting to clot. To most humans in the child's past life, a sight like this was terrifying and would invoke repulsion. But to the forest creatures, this was lunch, dinner, or breakfast. And if they were that desperate, it could be a whole month's worth of food.

And although these Kobolds looked humanoid, it seems that it was not much different for them. As the young kobold drew closer to the hole, clearly with intentions to take the rabbit out, But before it could, it was pulled back by the bigger kobold.

The older kobold raised its snout and sniffed around.

While Kobold was sniffing and seemingly investigating the scene, the child was pondering his next move.

"What should I do? Should I tell my goblins to retreat or attack?"

Over these five days, the child has seen most of the surrounding areas of his portal. And within these days, he has noticed that the 'wolves' he had heard that night did not live by his side. That means they lived in another part of the forest.

"Assuming that the wolf howls that night were from kobolds, there should be many kobolds. Maybe even a pack. So why were these two all alone? Exiles? Or maybe that night, all those howls were from different groups. They could have just sounded like they were in the same place due to synchronized howling."

But although the child sounded like he was still weighing whether he should attack or retreat, it seemed like he had already made his decision. From somewhere in the misty forest, a creature appeared.

It was green-skinned and had bulky muscles. It wore light armor on its body with a helmet that covered nearly its whole head. Only it's pointy ears had stuck out.

It was, of course, a hobgoblin.

In its hand was an axe. The axe, though, was not the usual double-blade axe commonly found in fantasy novels. It was instead an axe with one bladed side. The other side of the axe was a spike. The axe was something the child had decided on after a long while of watching the goblins battle.

He found out that instead of a sword, a spear would be a better fit to fight in the kind of world he was in. Some creatures may have either fur or scales to protect them against blunt and slicing attacks. What would truly shine were piercing attacks. And since the hob-goblin was a strength-type fighter, a weapon with weight was the way to go. That was why the child ultimately went with that kind of axe.

"It doesn't matter. If things get out of hand, I will just lose a few goblins."

After all, a few weeks ago, right before he created the gremlins, he had already gotten a few female goblins impregnated. Within the next two weeks, he would get another batch of goblins. And if he does succeed, he will get the body of a new creature. Even if he does not succeed, he will get new information on a new enemy. So the hobgoblin had to fight.

But that was, of course, right after it threw away the backpack it was wearing. Which was something the child made for the hobgoblin. Inside the backpack were a few darts, bear traps, and other trinkets the gremlins might need on their hunting trips.

Yes, the child has been using the hobgoblin as a porter. As the forest doesn't have many strong animals, the hobgoblin's muscles were rendered almost completely unnecessary.

And it seems like for once, these muscles were going to do what they were meant to.

...

AN: For those who are wondering what the kobold looks like. Well, it kind of looks like that werewolf from Hotel Transylvania. It was really not my intention when I thought to make the species, but it seems to really look like it. Well, only it was naked instead of wearing a tie with... Anyway, someone comment on its picture if you have it.