Making Progress

Over the past week, killing monsters hasn't been the only thing that Raze has been doing. 

He had also been extensively searching for the goblin settlement so that he could finally clear this floor and move on.

It had already been too long since he entered this floor. 

Everyone is probably ahead of him by now. 

But he still didn't regret his choice to stay on the second floor longer than he needed to. 

After all, it had helped him start developing a battle style of his own while also getting close to saturating his circle. 

"Ah, it should be that time now," he exclaimed, almost like remembering something, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. 

Raze moved through the forest stealthily, making sure to not make any noise or get caught. 

Until he could finally see it with [Farsight].

A giant settlement comprising many small primitive wooden huts of all shapes and sizes, watch towers, and palisaide walls. 

The whole settlement was bustling with life. 

Goblin life, to be exact. 

That's right, hundreds, if not thousands, of goblins could be seen roaming the settlement, going about their day doing whatever they needed to do. 

Multiple intimidating armed goblins were standing guard on the walls, on the lookout for any possible intruder. 

Raze had already seen this sight before, and yet his view of it hadn't changed in the slightest. 

"This doesn't make sense."

No matter how one tried to spin it, there was no way for goblins to suddenly get smart enough to design such an elaborate settlement. 

With proper structure, order, architect, etc. 

Even if one tried to argue that this is the tower and it doesn't need to make sense, they would be wrong. 

Raze had seen goblins on this floor, and they were by no means smart enough to design and develop even half of what he was seeing. 

So the question still remained.

'How had such an intricate and elaborate civilisation of goblins formed on this floor?'

Raze had spent the last few days pondering the issue and was left clueless. 

Thankfully, things had changed now, as he now had an answer to his question. 

Heading a few kilometres northeast from the goblin settlement, another settlement was located. 

And to Raze's complete shock, this was actually a human settlement. 

That's right, there were other humans on this floor aside from him. 

But they weren't climbers like him, but rather residents of this floor. 

While it may have been shocking at first, after thinking about it, everything starts making sense. 

If humans were, for some reason, working with goblins, that would explain why their civilisation is so advanced. 

While he wasn't really sure why it was happening, he at least had a lead. 

Also, something quite curious that he had learned was that he could somehow understand the language of the local humans. 

He wasn't sure how it was even possible other than just pinning it to the tower. 

A few days ago, while spying on a few lone humans, he learned about some sort of exchange that was supposed to take place today. 

Which was also the reason why he had stopped hunting today just to eavesdrop. 

If he wanted to clear this floor, he needed information to make a plan. 

He wasn't strong enough to charge into the goblin settlement and kill the child of their ruler or had the necessary skill set to sneak inside. 

Just from his very little surface-level scouting, he could tell that both the human and goblin settlements were more advanced and well coordinated than he initially gave them credit for. 

Not to mention the sheer absurd number of Boh settlements. 

Unless he was careful and smart about his plan, he would just be quickly overwhelmed and killed. 

His plan so far was simple; he just wanted to observe the whole exchange today before making a move. 

Speaking of which, a group of five male guards, 12 innocent-looking children, and one elegantly dressed woman came into view. 

The male had dark skin and short hair, with various white and red tattoos covering their body. 

They also all held spears and had toned muscular bodies, most of which were exposed aside from their nether reigons, which were covered by some sort of breechcloth.

The kids seemed quite short and young, and just like the guards weren't wearing much, looking closely, one could see their bones, signifying that maybe they weren't being fed properly. 

But despite this, they had a big, bright, infectious smile on their faces as they cluelessly followed their fellow tribemen. 

The women with them were a stark contrast to the men, whom he assumed to be her guards. 

She had fair, white, clean skin with long, cascading black hair reaching all the way to her back. 

Her entire body, which wasn't that tall in the first place, was covered in an elegant leaf dress without even a single inch of skin exposed. 

Her dress had intricate red patterns on it, similar to the tattoos on her male companion's body. 

The male guards seem to be dragging a large wagon with them. 

Raze couldn't quite see what was inside the wagon due to it being covered. 

However, he wasn't worried, as he knew his curiosity would be answered soon enough. 

Assuming the humans didn't get killed by the goblins first. 

The goblins raised their weapons and took a defensive stance, seeing them approach. 

The male humans responded to their action in kind with their own weapon.

Seeing this, Raze was pretty excited, as he anticipated a fight.

But to his complete surprise, the fight he was expecting never happened. 

As the human woman raised her hand,. 

Her simple action demanded the attention of everyone present as she spoke. 

"We mean no harm." Her voice was sweet and pleasant, instantly calming the hearts of anyone who heard it.

It almost even worked on Raze, who was almost an entire kilometre away. 

Until he snapped himself out of it. 

'Wait, did I just hear her?'

He suddenly realised this as confusion overtook him.

But he had no chance to ponder the mystery, as his attention was caught by the scene he was observing. 

Raze had expected the goblins to not understand her words and attack the humans. 

And just like before, he was met with another surprise. 

The goblins nodded at the humans almost as if they understood the girl, and they welcomed them inside the settlement with hospitality. 

"What?"

In the end, Raze was left all alone, with his confusion and questions unanswered.