Noon, forest.
Cicadas were buzzing loudly. A breeze swept through the woods, rustling the leaves.
"Looks like they're all hiding in the cave, taking a nap."
"Watch out for goblin scouts," Gauss added.
It had been a while since they'd run into any goblins, but he hadn't forgotten his first mission. Their tracks had been exposed because of the goblin hiding outside.
His gaze swept over the area.
At last, it settled on a cave in the distance that didn't look very tall.
After taking on so many missions, Gauss had gained a basic understanding of lesser monsters and their habits. He was no longer as clueless as when he'd first arrived in this world.
Generally speaking, unless goblins occupied a natural cave, the caves they dug themselves weren't very tall.
That was because a cave's height depended on the stature of most of its inhabitants.
Why would a bunch of short creatures dig a tall cave? To make it easier for humans to come in and hunt them?
Obviously not.
So most goblin lairs were barely over a meter tall at the low end, and no more than 1.6 meters at the high end.
Only when the group had a special leader or a Mutated Individual would the lair be taller.
So, in fact, the size and scale of a goblin lair could give a rough indication of the group's strength.
Of course, that wasn't always the case. Some powerful goblins were just as unremarkable in stature.
The goblin lair in the distance wasn't very tall.
To be cautious, the group didn't approach the cave.
Instead, they waited patiently for Meva to return.
Meva had snuck near the lair to scout it out. Her main task was to check whether any goblin scouts were lying in wait nearby.
A