The goblin crept through the woods, this time without screaming. Right now, it didn’t have any grand goals or motives. It’d not even properly accepted the situation it was in right now.

But its stomach was screaming in pain.

 

Ugh! What do goblin’s eat anyway?

 

His memory of the novel was still fresh, as he’d read it just recently. But even in the novel, not much was said about goblins.

The one thing he remembered was,

Dragon ate goblins ==> Dragon got bigger ==>Dragon ate more goblins ==>Dragon got more bigger ==> Dragon ate even more gobli….

 

How pleasing to know that I’m no more than a food supply for the protagonist.

Damn it. Why do I not know anything else more helpful?

 

The goblin groaned. So did its stomach. It picked up some leaves from the ground and the bushes.

 

Disgusting!

 

The goblin scowled.

 

[You have consumed Canis Fern]

[You have been poisoned]

 

Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.

 

He was going to respawn anyway after death. So he didn’t care for the poisoning. Besides, this way, he could tell what kind of plants were venomous and what kind was not.

This one is also disgusting. This too. This too. And this too.

 

[You have been poisoned][You have been poisoned]

 

The goblin went through various plants. Most were poisoned, but the poison didn’t seem to be that powerful. His body started to feel dizzy, but he kept on experimenting.

On some of the leaves, he found some white caterpillars.

 

Now that, delicious.

 

He ate the bug without much hesitation. It wasn’t because he was now a monster that he didn’t feel any disgust. Eating bugs alive wasn’t something new for him. His father was a terrible man who abused his mother. But his mother. Well, she, too, was no sane person.

She collected bugs. Different types of bugs. And she fed those bugs to Zelrium and told him to write down how they tasted like.

His stomach still grumbled even after eating all those bugs. For a moment, he looked down at his little belly.

 

How can such a little thing not be satisfied even after eating all that?

 

[You have gained a new skill. {Poison Resistance Level(1/5)}]

 

According to the novel, all monsters could gain skills this way. But, he was not really trying to gain a skill when eating those leaves and bugs. He was just hungry.

Grrrr!

 

Now, where have I heard that howl before?

 

The goblin immediately crouched. Luckily, the howls were not aimed at him. The goblin peeked from behind a tree and saw the three wolves feasting on a bunch of human flesh.

Seeing such a sight, the first thought that came to his mind as—well, time to run.

Sniff! Sniff!

He noticed one of the wolves suddenly turn in his direction while sniffing.

 

Wait a minute…

 

The goblin took short breaths and smelled itself.

 

Eww…

 

His body gave off an incredibly pungent smell. The wolves all started to chase him.

 

How come I never noticed such a foul smell before?

 

The goblin ran. Poison was one thing; getting killed by the wolves was another. Another thing he noticed while getting killed the previous times was, he couldn’t die till his HP reached 0. Hence it didn’t matter if the wolves crunched his skull or ripped out his heart. He would remain alive till his HP reached 0. And feel the pain vividly.

 

Those wolves bite barely did one damage per bite. I had to endure getting eaten alive for nearly a min! Never again!

 

The goblin rushed. Luckily his HP was already low from all the poison he consumed, which added with the exhaustion damage, caused his HP to reach 0.

☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲

As always, he found himself respawned in front of a tree.

 

That was close!

 

He wiped his forehead.

 

But….hehe

 

The goblin smiled for the first time. He’d thought of a strategy—a way to feed himself.

☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲

The forest he was in, at first glance, looked liked a typical forest. But in truth was not. It was filled with strange beasts and carnivorous plants. Many were distinct in colour.

The goblin sniffed around various plants. Often he got caught by some of the carnivorous plants and died slowly from their corrosive fluids.

 

Found it!

 

After a tedious amount of search, he found what he was looking for. He picked up the viridescent leaves from the ground. The leaves seemed to have fallen off from the tree in front of him.

He spat on one leaf and placed it on his arm. The leaf didn’t fall off even when he shook it. His spit was fairly adhesive.

Thus, he took a bunch of leaves and attached them to his entire body, except in front of his eyes.

The goblin smirked from inside the leaves.

 

Strategy: Walking Bush Commenced

 

After another tedious amount of search, he found the wolves chewing on a bunch of human flesh.

The goblin gulped in fear.

He sniffed just to make sure. This time, his body didn’t emit any foul smell. The leaves he picked up effused a strong natural scent, which shrouded his body’s foul odour.

Once the wolves left after eating their fill, the goblin finally emerged out from behind the tree.

He looked around once more, just to make sure that they were truly gone.

 

Ahh! What a sight!

 

The goblin’s eyes shone when he saw all the armours, swords, and ripped clothes lying around.

 

1, 2, 3…8?

 

In total, there were eight corpses. Most of the bodies seemed dismembered, and their faces were beyond recognizing.

The wolves had consumed quite a bit of their flesh. But not all of them.

 

This one seems edible.

 

He walked near one of the corpses. The corpse had only one arm, no head, no heart. Its guts were spilling out, but still plenty of flesh remained around its chest and legs.

The goblin crouched and took a bite with no hesitation.

 

Delicious!

 

He exclaimed. This was not the first time he ate human flesh. This mother didn’t just feed him insects. She was a twisted woman who abducted little kids and killed them. But that was not all. She dissected those kids and fed them to him. And every time she asked him to write down how it tasted like.

His father punched his mother with no intent to stop because he found out about her twisted nature.

 

So sweet!

 

He bit them ravenously.

After the death of his parents, he never committed any sickly activity, like eating the flesh of one’s own kind, but maybe because he was now a goblin, that he felt no hesitation.

 

[You have consumed human flesh]

[You have gained the ability to level up]

 

He ignored the screens, and moved on to other corpses, and kept eating.

 

[You have consumed the flesh of large quantity]

[You have gained a new skill. {Flesh Devourer(1/5)}]

 

He tried to eat the bones, but his teeth were not powerful enough to break the bones.

Right now, he’d a simple plan. His fists were tiny; he was barely 4 feet tall. Meanwhile, the wolves all stood over 6 feet tall. And even the other monsters he encountered in this forest were big and strong.

He was weak and fragile. So, the best way he could think of to ensure his sustenance was to become a parasite and leech off of others.

The goblin felt no shame living this way. After all, even during his human life, he’d been a parasite for a long time before he’d become successful.