The moment it was printed, the explosive tag attached to the kunai immediately activated. The dragon-like, snake-like, chain-shaped incantations seemed to light up, and the paint black character for "Explosion" in the center instantly spewed out a tongue of fire.
"Boom—!!"
Blinding light instantly filled the entire empty cave.
A mere piece of paper possessed such astonishing power, transforming into an orange-yellow, scorching fireball that exploded at the back of the Goblin Hero's neck.
The violent force directly blew off the Goblin Hero's ferocious head, leaving only a charred skull that was sent flying, hitting the wall with a "thud."
The explosion's shockwave, carrying heat, swept in all directions, knocking the Goblins off their feet and rendering them unconscious.
Flames were scorching, and thick smoke billowed.
A dull thud of a heavy object falling to the ground could be heard from within the smoke and dust.
Naruto, amidst a slight ringing in his ears, glimpsed the three to four-meter-tall body, falling straight to the ground, its armor severely deformed with signs of molten gold and red behind it.
A smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils.
The BOSS of the current Underground City instance—the Goblin Hero—was dead!
"Just… just this?"
"All it took was one explosive tag."
"Eliminated a Goblin Hero, experience +100 points."
"Main quest 'Goblin's Breeding Season' completed."
"New instance 'goblin's crown' unlocked, obtained Profession Awakening Scroll (Purple), obtained 500 exchange tickets, obtained 800 experience points."
"Level Up!"
"Obtained 2 free attribute points."
Window after window popped up in front of Naruto.
He was still in the Goblin nest and didn't have time to examine them closely, so he consolidated all the pop-ups into the "Messages" section.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
The Sword Saintess and the Witch entered the stone chamber, choking and coughing from the pungent smell of burnt flesh.
The battle ended too quickly; they had no chance to intervene. By the time the two women arrived at the stone chamber, Naruto and his Shadow Clone were systematically finishing off the Goblins.
"Naruto, are you hurt?"
The Sword Saintess immediately came to Naruto's side, poised to cast Sacred Healing.
"I'm fine."
"Sacred Healing can only be cast twice a day, you should save it," Naruto said, shaking his head.
"Dead? It's over?"
The Witch looked at the charred body on the ground, her face full of surprise as she gazed at Naruto.
She had naturally heard the huge explosion from the stone chamber.
The surging, dazzling flames filled the opening where the stone chamber met the passage.
The Witch concluded that a fierce battle had taken place inside, and someone had cast a mid-to-high-level fire magic.
She had initially thought the caster was the Goblin God Priest.
Now, it seemed the answer lay with Naruto.
"You, can, use, magic?"
The Witch tilted her head, her gaze scrutinizing Naruto, asking word by word.
If Naruto could use magic, wouldn't she, as a magician, seem a bit redundant?
Naruto replied, "Not yet. That was an item similar to a magic scroll."
"Na… Naruto… you… come quickly and see!"
The Sword Saintess, who didn't need to cast a healing miracle, began to clean up the battlefield, searching the stone chamber for valuable items. Suddenly, she cried out in surprise, seemingly having found something.
Behind the mound of corpses, there was another natural small stone cave. Its entrance was covered and concealed by a rough, dark gray curtain, making it quite hidden.
As the curtain was pulled aside, a putrid, decaying… a mixture of strange and disgusting odors assailed them.
The Sword Saintess suppressed the urge to vomit and gently waved her balance sword staff, moving the holy light floating above her head forward.
With the help of the holy light, the scene inside could be seen—
A whole nest of green-skinned little Goblins!
At least dozens of them.
They shivered, huddling together in groups of three to five.
When these little Goblins were discovered, they feigned pitiful looks, their eyes teary, appearing weak and helpless.
Naruto stood beside the Sword Saintess, and upon seeing this, his brows furrowed deeply.
"Goblin young."
"What should we do?"
The Sword Saintess asked with some hesitation.
"What do you think we should do?"
Naruto pointed to the dark corner of the stone cave.
There… several naked women were huddled, some human, some elf, some Lizardman, some dwarf—different races, but all sharing the same gender.
They were already dead, their bodies beginning to decompose, and their emaciated limbs showed signs of being gnawed on.
"They were either ordinary villagers or adventurers, captured by the Goblins to be tools for their urges, beds for breeding, then machines for nursing, and finally, they still couldn't escape death, being treated as stored food."
"Goblins… spare no one, young or old!"
"They may be small now, seemingly harmless, but in a few months, they will still burn, kill, and plunder, harming villages and committing all sorts of evil deeds."
"Goblins must die!"
Naruto, who was usually sunny and cheerful, had cold, piercing eyes. His azure eyes were like ice, flowing with killing intent.
The Sword Saintess understood the reasoning, took a deep breath, gripped her staff tightly, and nodded heavily.
"Let me do it. One fireball, burn them all!"
The Witch waved her wooden staff, preparing to chant a spell.
"No need to waste uses of magic."
Naruto's ears twitched slightly, and he turned his head to look at the other entrances to the stone chamber. Noisy, chaotic footsteps echoed from the darkness.
Clearly, other Goblins had heard the commotion at the main camp and were rushing over for support.
"This cave is a labyrinth with many hidden passages, a naturally good nest. Even if we kill the Goblins currently occupying it, given time, it will become a new Goblin nest."
"We must completely destroy this place!"
A sharp glint flashed in Naruto's eyes.
"Before I leave, I have to give them a big present."
Naruto suddenly smiled.
He formed hand signs, and pure Chakra was released, causing white mists to bloom. "Puff, puff, puff" he summoned dozens of Shadow Clones.
"At least one for each of you, keep them safe."
Naruto took out all the explosive tags from his item bar, a thick stack, like banknotes, and let the Shadow Clones distribute them among themselves.
Explosive tags are expensive, and Ninja usually don't use them on a large scale. It's unknown where Konan got 600 billion explosive tags; she truly is the richest woman among the Hokage.
However, these explosive tags were obtained for free, so he didn't feel bad about them.
"Go!"
After the preparations were done, the rest was left to the Shadow Clones. Naruto quickly left through the main passage with the Witch and the Sword Saintess.
Not long after the three left, a large number of Goblins poured out from the other entrances of the stone chamber.
They came aggressively, but seeing the numerous Naruto's Shadow Clones in the stone chamber, they became confused.
Why did all these humans look exactly alike?
Where was their "leader," the Goblin Hero?
At that moment, a Goblin young crawled out of the nest, trembling as it stood up, pointing at the Shadow Clones, muttering incessantly, seemingly accusing them of something.
But before it could finish speaking, a kunai shot out with a "whoosh," embedding itself firmly in its forehead, and its body fell straight backward to the ground.
"Do you need to talk so much?"
The Shadow Clone who threw the kunai said coldly.