the truth lurking in the shadows

Looking from his position at the highest ring, near the roof, Alex could see a winding path leading to the nearest stalactite. Following the way, after throwing a last look at the gathered goblins on the ground, Alex's suspicions were answered.

Those stalactites were more than simple rock structure, but nest, that belonged to the variant, from the still lingering odour. The interior was hollow, leaving a surprisingly spacious room of ten square metres.

Illuminated by dissimulated cracks in the surface facing the glowing rock, the room was lits in an eerily sensual ambience.

The grunting sound coming from a small platform brought him back. Darting his eyes over the bones lingering the ground, he discovers a huffing and grunting form exuding a strong odour. Carefully approaching, he realises that it was a goblin with bugling stomach.

The female was evidently in labour, seeing her sweating form and spasms. The origin of her pain was evident, as her belly was awfully large, threatening to burst at any moment.

-Variant doesn't seem made to breed with normal goblins; I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they would die shortly after giving birth. Not only bearing it must be draining, but birthing it should sap any remaining strength.- Analysed CS.

Alex couldn't help but share and agree with his observation.

Female goblins were surely the smallest among the race. Were a goblin stood at around a meter and thirty-some centimetres, the female was barely taller than a meter. With variant being a metre and half, it wasn't surprising that their offspring were too much for the female goblin.

'The only way I could see a hob-goblin birth would be between either human females or variant ones.' Added Alex, briefly imagining a typical goblin female burst from carrying a hob-goblin before its term.

~~~

Due to his lack of knowledge as of the goblins, Alex didn't kill her but stay and observe. Any experience would be worth something, and while he doubts the guild was unaware, this knowledge may allow him some earning from them.

The labour was disturbingly short. Shortly after Alex arrival, the female pelvic bones started to crack, before snapping. The influx of pain seems to be a trigger, who made her yell in pain and contract all muscles in her body, ejecting the thing that was literally killing her.

Its exit wasn't smooth either, a lot of bleeding and bruised flesh were involved, without speaking of the highly disturbing gapping, distended orifice left behind.

Alex didn't appreciate the crash-course of female goblin genital anatomy, from what he caught out of the bleeding mess anyway.

For the better or worst, the gruesome scene wasn't finished. As expected, the female died shortly, from a mix of exhaustion and profuse bleeding. He didn't anticipate the cannibalistic nature of the goblin, or at least variant, offsprings.

Goblin babies didn't yell at his birth. They seem to be blind, though, and already possess fangs, from the look of it.

Due to those features, Alex looked at the disturbing scene, where the baby crawled back from where it came, and start to munch on the tenderised fleshes his exit creates. Having seen all he needed and more, Alex didn't waste more time and killed the creature.

~~~

Extracting the cores, he was surprised to found an already formed one in the child, leading to nearly be taken off-guard when he heard the sound of footstep rapidly approaching. Hiding in the shadows, Alex' blades quickly plunge in the throat of the incoming female goblin. Dragging it inside, he muffled her cries with his hand. Rapidly gutting her after smashing her ribcage with a crafted short stone mace, he extracted it core too.

The high created by the sudden situation gives Alex an unexpected result. His sense detected something in the wall, something magical in nature. When he heard nothing that silences in the surrounding, he breathes in relief, smoothing his heartbeat, before bringing his attention on the thing he felt.

Pushing his hand on the wall, where he felt the pulse of wild magic, he slowly dug the surface layer of rock, turning it in simple dust.

As the surrounding rocks cleared out, falling on the ground, a gem appears. Digging it out completely, he briefly felt a connection snap between it and a larger reserve of magic. Looking at it in the dim light, Alex discovered the gem to be light purple in nature, the same shade that the original core of monsters in Danmachi, but much 'purer'. The gem in itself was of a good four centimetres in length for two in wide. Thick of half a centimetre, it had a smooth, perfect oval shape.

Suspicious of it nature, Alex continued to dig in the direction of the strand he felt. As the wall was relatively thin, he didn't need long to arrive on the other side. Feeling a strand of magic resorbing fast, Alex looks around. Just below the place where he found the gem, Alex discovers a small pit, barely two by two metres wide. The pit was bare of anything, if not for an ankle-deep poisonous yellowish liquid.

The moment he pierced through, the small room lighten, through the ray invading the formed hole.

'As expected.'Said him, looking alternately between the gem and the shinning rock.

-What do you think those are?- Asked CS, equally intricate at the origin of the stones.

'I don't know. From the thing of it, it must be the shining rock, and the one in my hand. Both may are the unknown rewards. The hole seems to be the pit Josh spoke of, but its size is wrong, it too small.'

Throwing the gem in his storage, Alex was again surprised by the popping window.

{[Monster gem detected, would you like to integrate the Moster gem with the Pocket space? Y/N]}

Both were thrown off-guard at the message, none expecting that such an item could exist or affect the small storage.

Thinking on it for a moment, Alex declinate, keeping the gem for later.

'Maybe if I found other, but for the moment, let's keep it.' thought it, unwilling to burn through the only one he had.

~~~

Following the path seemingly running around the cavern, Alex visited each opening he knew as variant's dwelling. He found a female in each room, along with a gem in its wall. By the time Alex was at the opening in the wall leading to the corridor he had followed, Alex had gathered thirteen Monster gems and thirty cores. The additional four cores were from other goblins; he wasn't always present before they give birth.

He was suspecting that each goblin had impregnated a female before leaving for the raid.

-That would make sense. If the pack were annihilated, the goblins would leave behind the next generation, ready to form another pack, launch another raid or grow their number. However, I don't think that each would have impregnated a female. Variant I can understand, being the apex, they would have stronger privileges, but goblins? I don't think so. I would say between half and a forth or something. I don't believe the lair had as much as the pack in number from its sounds.-

'Yes, it more plausible, I suppose. That would make what? A female every four or five goblins?'

-That seems a good reason not to let them participate in the raid. With a too low number, the goblins would risk destruction without hope of survival. The goblin may are monsters, but they had instincts. One of the basic instinct of every creature is assuring its race thrive.-

'So we can expect around fifty to seventy goblins?'

-I would say around the pack or more.-

'Why, didn't you say... Yes, I see what you mean. While there mustn't be as much female than male, Josh did say that goblin only needs a month to mature, after ten days of gestation. THat barely twenty days after being born, it short. If the pack didn't bring unmatured goblins, it didn't mean they aren't any here.'

Added that they may have impregnated all females before departing; you may face a larger number than the pack. Thankfully for you, it means no variants and no full growth goblins. There is another fact. You are in their lair, that means they may want to protect the females.-

~~~

Thinking of what Cs said, Alex stealthily made his way from the highest ring to the one bellow. After the previous situation was another female immediatly came after its kins' yells, Alex knows that the ring wasn't empty.

Rapidly running through the exposed path linking the two levels, he immediatly started to run from nest to 'nest. As expected, the ring was more heavily populated, but nothing to the point of him coming in contact with other goblins.

What he discovers, though, was the fact that each female here were pregnant. While none from the variant, all had a bulging belly, sign that they neared labour. Starting his gruesome work, he swiftly slit throats and belly, killing the mother before the child.

Like the other nests above, he found a Monster gem in nests, but unlike the previous, only those with pregnant goblins had one. He could not know if it was linked, as the last ring had all it nest inhabited, but he suspected a correlation. For the empty one, he discovers a common trait; all had lacks pits. Once again, he didn't know if the lack of pit made a lack of pregnant goblin or the inverse, but each pit had been linked to the Monster gem. Before descending to the lower ring, Alex had thrown a rapid glance back in the first room. What he discovers had surprised him. The corpse Alex put in the pit had vanished and the hole he dug filled back. Another thing was that he felt a tenuous link between the pit and the place where the hole had been. OPening the wall again, he barely caught sight of a forming Monster gem, before it burst into ashes once exposed to light and air.

-They are made of goblin corpse!- Shot CS excitedly.

'And?' Alex asked, not seeing why he seems to eager as if he discovered some vast secret.

-Think! Josh say the pit swallow goblin corpse. He also says that the ashes were magical. Rather than losing their propriety, the dungeon, using that large pool of concentrate magic, gather the magic extract from the corpse left after. Using them, it seems to nurture goblins or help the dungeon spawns more. That means that to get rid of the lair; you need to take out the large pool and the gem, otherwise, goblins will pop back, with time! Now think of Orario. The dungeon had been spawning goblins for centuries. How can it do it, without external help? It uses the corpse of the dead goblin as fuel. Another thing, we didn't see a single 'old' goblin, each time they seem relatively young.-

'Are you trying to say that lairs are built on an older generation that, what, sacrifice themselves?'

-That, or goblins had short expectancy. By stacking the corpse in a single point, the magic must create a pit. The pit them swallow any thrown corpse in, turn them in fuel and use the produced Monster gem to spawn more.-

~~~

CS words made Alex frozen; if he were right, just throwing the corpse would already help the Dungeon prosper. If he wanted to clear them, he would need to retrieve any gem. This would be an impossible task if he didn't know that the gems form near the pits, and the lair and Dungeon had two powering cores.

Thinking further, Alex understood that clearing Orario Dungeon would be next to impossible; the DUngeon was too old.

-I think the guild is aware of this. Rather than trying to clear it, they would try to stems its propagation as much as possible. The drawback is the adventurers dying inside. With powerful adventurer as fuel, the Dungeon would spawn a large amount of powerful monster.-

'Then, they must be some sort of power scale between Monster gems; I can't believe goblin would give anything than a goblin.'

Considering the size created by a single corpse and a whole core, CS voiced his thoughs.-From the size I would say around a hundred of goblins were used to create this gem. As it hadn't burst when you collected them, they must be relatively new. That alone would make more than a thousand for the higher ring if made from goblins and not variants.-

'We don't have enough info, but this is a frightening idea.' SHudder Alex at the though of the number needed just for one lair, knowing they were four other after.

Alex frowned, before taking two different Monster gems, one found in the variant ring, and the other from the last killed female. When put side to side, it clicked. The difference was nearly imperceptible, but the variant was a shade darker than the goblin' one.

'Energy... A variant is stronger than a goblin. It those gems are the crystalised magic extract from them, then it logical to think a Monster gem from a variant hideout would have more magic. That would also confirm my thought; there must exit higher form of gems, perhaps even based on level.

-But how variant appears?-

'Might be a mutation in the magic or anything else really.' Shrugged Alex, not really concerned about how they form, but what they mean.

~~~

Both had just discovered a frightening truth only shared by the gods. The only reasons they were able to come to this conclusion came from their higher intelligence and lair exploration. As Eina and Misha didn't possess the clearance of the information and the party send immediatly, the guild higher-up could not properly take care of the lair. It wasn't much that they tried to hide the truth, but instead keeping the information.

It also now that he understands why he received the mission. Without them acting, the place would become an endless spawning point for goblins, until the guild sends someone to clear the area entirely.

Another fact was, unlike Orario, the goblin was near to the outside world. Any large horde forming would alert the guild. It was only a matter of time until this dungeon was snuffed out, but it was better taking care of it now rather than waiting.