I’m not Goblin Slayer Chapter 047

After confirming the continuation of the commission, everyone had a simple meal at the tavern and rested for a while.

They waited until the sun wasn’t as intense before heading to the riverbank to look for clues.

The afternoon sun shone on the river, making the rippling surface shimmer with a warm yellow glow. A gentle breeze blew across the bank, and colorful water plants swayed.

The group, who had just arrived at the riverbank, looked at the breathtaking scenery, speechless for a long time, almost forgetting the purpose of their trip.

“This must be where the tavern owner said the fight happened?”

Gauss bent down, noticing a few dried, dark brown bloodstains on the river stones, and waved to everyone.

According to Harvey, the big fat tavern owner, those sailors fought the Water Ghouls here.

“It should be here.” Levin and the others came closer.

“There’s the smell of human blood and a very disgusting fishy smell.” Meva sniffed closely, her eye twitching briefly before returning to her usual expressionless state.

However, her momentary change in expression was still caught by Gauss, who couldn’t help but smile inwardly.

He had recently learned that Meva, the Rogue apprentice, had mastered the skill of [Perception].

The skill allowed her to discover hidden enemies, clues, traps, and other traces through sight, hearing, or other senses.

Especially with her certain elven bloodline, her five senses were already more excellent, making the effect of activating Perception better than other Rogue apprentices.

If there was anyone in the team, besides Gauss, who had the highest probability and fastest speed of advancing their profession, it was likely Meva.

Of course, while Perception could help the team find clues, it also amplified the sensory stimuli received, which was why Meva subconsciously frowned.

The fishy smell obviously came from their target, the Water Ghoul.

Gauss recalled the information about Water Ghouls in his mind.

Water Ghouls were also a common monster in this world. Their overall appearance was a gaunt, humanoid form with sunken eye sockets, long, slender limbs, protruding joints, and they often moved with a hunched back. Their skin was grayish-green, covered with a layer of viscous, decaying mucus.

Due to their human-like appearance, there were also folk rumors that they were the drowned human dead.

They were mainly distributed around rivers, lakes, swamps, and other water bodies, relying on the aquatic environment for hunting. They were not picky about food, essentially eating whatever they could find: animal carcasses, carrion, human waste, mud, rotten leaves, fruit pulp, and so on.

Sometimes they would also attack humans who approached the water, such as fishermen, laundresses, and anglers.

By imitating human voices, they would attract targets, and once the target came to the shore, they would drag the victim into the water to drown them, then disembowel and eat them.

Water Ghouls rarely acted alone but also did not gather into overly large groups, often moving in groups of 10- 15. This time, a number exceeding 20 was already considered a relatively large Water Ghoul tribe.

“I wonder where they’re hiding?” A somewhat impatient Doyle picked up a stone and threw it heavily into the water.

The stone caused a large splash but was quickly swallowed by the flowing current.

Although ordinary Water Ghouls were skilled swimmers, they could not live entirely underwater and needed to surface periodically to breathe.

Moreover, rather than hiding in the water, unless necessary, Water Ghouls usually preferred to inhabit shallow waters like shoals, swamps, or riverbank mud.

But now, where exactly were the Water Ghouls hiding?

“If all else fails, we’ll have to wait until sunset. Water Ghouls are more active then.”

Since the team accepted the Water Ghoul mission, they were prepared for such a situation.

If Water Ghouls were determined to swim into the river, with their underwater mobility, most low-level adventurers would be powerless against them.

Fortunately, their intelligence wasn’t particularly high, so they could often be lured out of their hiding places by other means.

“It’s a good thing we brought these.” Levin took out two putrid, foul-smelling gray rabbit carcasses. “We’ll set up the bait later.”

Having found no other clues for the time being, and fearing to alert the enemy, everyone decided to leave first.

In a flash, several hours passed.

The group returned, set up the traps, and cautiously hid.

They had set up bait traps and other preparations on another section of the riverbank.

The two maggot-infested gray rabbit carcasses, which had been sealed for a long time, now emitted an extremely strong stench after the scent catalyst was added.

This strong, putrid smell was exactly what Water Ghouls loved most.

With everything ready, the few people could only hide and wait silently.

The sun set in the west, eventually sinking completely below the horizon.

The night gradually deepened, but fortunately, the riverbank was quite open, and the moonlight cast down was still enough to illuminate the river beach.

Just as everyone had waited for a long time, thinking they wouldn’t have any success today and were about to pack up and go back to rest for the night.

A splashing sound of water being disturbed came from far to near.

Under the bright moonlight, dark gray figures were pushing aside reeds from the shallow riverbank, their dark toes stepping on stones as they crawled towards the riverbank.

A dozen or so dark, slimy figures silently crawled out of the water, giving off an unsettling and chilling sensation.

The Water Ghouls in front cautiously looked around, and only after confirming there were no other creatures did they lead the other Water Ghouls behind them out of the water, but they didn’t rush to move too far from the water’s surface.

“They’re this cautious?” Levin frowned.

The reaction of this group of Water Ghouls didn’t feel like what Harvey, the tavern owner, had described, nor did it quite match his impression of Water Ghouls.

They seemed more like they were wary of a predator hidden somewhere, in a state of extreme apprehension.

However, the trap had been set, and the target Water Ghouls had appeared as expected. Levin could only temporarily suppress his doubts and focus on the upcoming battle.

“Thump-thump-thump!”

After a long period of hesitation, a group of Water Ghouls let out soft growls and continuous hoarse sounds, finally unable to resist, they walked towards the decoy trap the team had set up earlier.

The specially treated, enhanced version of the foul-smelling decaying corpses was like a delicious delicacy suddenly presented after one or two days of hunger for these Water Ghouls, possessing an irresistible allure.

Everyone watched as the Water Ghouls approached little by little, but still did not act.

Gauss silently counted the number.

Seeing that he was just 10 away from triggering the next stage reward, he was naturally most concerned about the quantity.

17 Water Ghouls.

It seemed less than expected?

The mission intel stated there were over twenty Water Ghouls. Even if two were killed by the sailors, shouldn’t there still be at least twenty or so?

Where did the missing ones go?

Were they hiding elsewhere and didn’t come out with the main group? Or did some other accident occur?

Just as humans face unknown risks in the wilderness, monsters also encounter various threats.

This could come from uncontrollable accidental factors, such as falling to their death, being swept away by a swift undercurrent or whirlpool, or a small chance of being struck by lightning, etc., or it could be from attacks by other large beasts or monsters.