The passageway was about five meters deep. Shire led his subordinates down, carrying torches.

At the end of the passage, a stone door covered in moss, thin vines, and tree roots came into view.

Shire felt around, knocked, and pushed, but the stone door didn’t budge.

"Red Eyes, come give this a push," Shire ordered, simultaneously granting him the Blessing of the Evil God.

Red Eyes stepped forward. Gritting his teeth, he let out a low roar and put all his strength into it. Finally, the stone door shuddered with a loud CREAK.

Several goblins stepped forward and pushed the stone door open together.

Shire looked at the stone door before him. It was a pivot door with a central axis. The entire door had only been pushed open about 30 centimeters.

He poked his head through to take a look. It was pitch-black behind the door; he couldn’t see a thing.

Although goblins had night vision, they lacked the ability to see in absolute darkness. If there was no light at all, even a goblin couldn’t make out its surroundings.

After a moment’s thought, Shire had his underlings push the door open a little wider, then told them to prepare a few more torches.

From the doorway, he hurled a torch inside. By its flickering light, he saw something glinting in the distance.

’Is that something metal?’ Shire wondered, peering inside. ’Considering the state of this door, any metal should have rusted to dust by now.’

"Red Eyes, get over here," he began, but immediately remembered how they’d nearly blown themselves to bits in the Bang Bang Forest yesterday. "Actually, never mind. Stay where you are."

Shire took a torch and peered into the stone chamber himself. He saw nothing but moss-covered walls.

"Leader, let me go in and take a look," Nine-finger said, stepping forward.

Shire tossed another torch inside before handing the one in his hand to Nine-finger. "Be careful. Don’t go in too deep."

Nine-finger nodded, took the torch, and stepped inside.

As he entered, the moving torchlight allowed Shire to see the chamber more clearly. It was an empty room with four central pillars. The floor was littered with fallen stones, and the far wall appeared to have collapsed.

Then, Shire noticed the glinting objects seemed to be moving. "Nine-finger, get a little closer."

Nine-finger took a few steps toward the nearest wall, and Shire finally got a clear look.

The walls and ceiling were covered in writhing, transparent objects.

These transparent, jelly-like objects had a semi-translucent core. A tough, transparent membrane formed their outer layer, and their bodies were filled with highly corrosive acid.

They were called Slimes.

By now, Nine-finger’s presence had disturbed a great number of the Slimes. They began to squirm toward him, and some were even about to drop from the ceiling.

"Get out of there! They’re full of strong acid—you’re dead if they touch you!" Shire yelled.

Hearing the shout, Nine-finger immediately scrambled away, turning and running for the doorway. The torch flame wavered violently as he ran.

Shire’s gaze was caught by a glint from an object at the far end of the chamber. It wasn’t the reflection from a Slime, but he couldn’t be sure what it was. He was too far away to summon his panel.

SPLAT! A Slime dropped from the ceiling, bursting on impact. Acid splashed everywhere. The surrounding stone floor hissed and billowed with acrid smoke as it corroded.

Nine-finger scrambled out of the chamber. Shire grabbed two Bang-Bang Fruits from a subordinate’s pack and hurled them inside. Two massive "BOOM! BOOM!"s were followed by a chorus of sizzling corrosion from within the chamber.

"Close the door," he commanded.

Red Eyes and several other goblins worked together to swing the stone door shut.

"We can’t go in there right now," Shire said, taking the torch from Nine-finger. "At the very least, we’ll need a ton of Bang-Bang Fruits to blast them to smithereens."

Shire’s intuition told him that the glinting object was probably something valuable. Anything that could survive undamaged in the Slimes’ highly acidic environment was worth a return trip.

"Leader, should we go back to gathering fruit now?" Nine-finger asked.

"Not right now. Let’s head back first. I need to build something that will make it easier," Shire said. He already had an idea for how to harvest the Bang-Bang Fruits. "When it’s ready, you’ll lead a team to collect them. Get as many as you possibly can."

’I’m really starting to like Nine-finger.’ He’s loyal, brave, and takes initiative. ’Of my goblins, only Buck Teeth is truly competent. Broken Tooth’s timid nature makes him suitable only for sentry duty. Red Eyes is too reckless—a good brawler, but useless for anything else.’

Shire decided to groom Nine-finger for a leadership role. He could put him in charge of a group to gather as many Bang-Bang Fruits as possible before the onset of winter.

This would divide his forces into four teams. Buck Teeth would lead a few goblins to care for the Red Bull. Bai Mao would lead the female goblins in making jerky and cooking. Nine-finger would lead the team gathering Bang-Bang Fruits. He himself would lead the rest of the goblins on hunting, exploration, and gathering expeditions.

Winter was just over half a month away. As long as all four teams worked in tandem, Shire was confident they could weather the coming trials.

’Finally, I have a decent core team,’ Shire thought with satisfaction.

"Let’s head up," he ordered his underlings.

The troop of goblins scrambled out of the passageway. Nine-finger strode at the very front. Seeing no one else around, he turned to look back at the goblins still gathered at the entrance.

He was grinning from ear to ear. The leader was entrusting him with a real job; he finally felt useful.

’A leader who can give his followers two full meals a day is the best kind of leader.’

"Alright everyone, hold on a sec—" Shire began, about to give out their next orders.

COO COO COO COO COO... A birdcall echoed from the canopy above.

"Everyone, into the trees, now!" he roared upon hearing the warning cry.

But it was too late. A loud RUSTLING erupted from the tall grass as a massive creature charged out. It burst from the brush, sank its teeth into Nine-finger’s arm, and with a violent shake of its head, flung him through the air.

"Fearsome Claw Bear," Shire breathed, his eyes wide. But he immediately recalled its Ability and spun around.

"Urrggh..." A groan sounded out. Shire glanced at Red Eyes beside him and saw his eyes were vacant. He had clearly fallen for the Eye of Confusion.

Shire snatched the pack from Red Eyes’ back and grabbed a Bang-Bang Fruit.

The Fearsome Claw Bear, noticing that one goblin hadn’t been affected, let out a low growl and began to slowly advance.

This was the first time Shire had faced a Magical Beast this close. He could even see the caked blood on its long, thick, and razor-sharp claws.

’This cunning beast was hiding in the grass behind that tree, trying its best to stay hidden. It was waiting to ambush me.’

His palms grew slick with sweat, but Shire forced himself to remain calm. He raised the Bang-Bang Fruit, eyes locked on the behemoth before him. The air grew thick and suffocating, as if frozen in time.

Seeing this puny creature show not a hint of fear, the Fearsome Claw Bear grew even more enraged and charged straight at Shire.

Its massive body thundered forward like a chariot, a foul stench washing over him.

Shire threw the Bang-Bang Fruit reflexively.

BOOM! The force of the point-blank explosion sent him staggering back a few steps, but it also halted the Fearsome Claw Bear’s charge.

The Fearsome Claw Bear reared up on its hind legs, bellowing in fury. Its massive frame, over two meters tall, seemed to blot out the sky, and an overwhelming sense of pressure bore down on Shire.

’Lashing out in shame and anger, are we?’ Shire thought, tightening his grip on another Bang-Bang Fruit. At that moment, something behind the bear caught his eye.

A mangled green arm.

Shire’s gaze snapped over to find Nine-finger lying motionless in a pool of his own blood.

"You son of a bitch," Shire growled through gritted teeth. "You tracked my scent all this way just to kill me, didn’t you."

ROAR! The Fearsome Claw Bear bellowed, as if declaring its status as the sovereign of the forest.

BOOM! A Bang-Bang Fruit exploded right in the Fearsome Claw Bear’s face. It dropped back to all fours, stumbling back a few steps.

The sudden blast startled it. The damage was minimal, but a beast’s primal fear of loud noises made it hesitate.

"You dare kill my men!"

He threw another Bang-Bang Fruit. BOOM.

The Fearsome Claw Bear roared in frustration and turned to flee.

"Get back here!" Shire yelled, grabbing the pack and breaking into a run after it.

"So you’re the fucking Fearsome Claw Bear, huh?!"

BOOM.

"Think you’re special with that Eye of Confusion?!"

BOOM.

"And you’re the big bad field boss!"

BOOM.

The constant explosions threw the Fearsome Claw Bear into a panic. It howled in terror, scrambling to get away even faster.

Shire sprinted with all his might, relentlessly lobbing Bang-Bang Fruits after the fleeing beast. He couldn’t hit it anymore, but he didn’t care. He just needed to throw them, to vent his fury.

After a long chase, the Fearsome Claw Bear had completely vanished from sight.

Gasping for breath, Shire clutched the last Bang-Bang Fruit in his hand. He knew he’d only scared it off. He hadn’t done any real damage.

He spat on the ground in disgust and roared into the forest:

"Sooner or later, I’m gonna kill you!"