Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 39 Stolen Treasures

"Did they meet peacefully? Or did they engage in a heated exchange as soon as they met?"

"I can't tell, but judging from the fact that we couldn't find their footprints later, I'm afraid the meeting wouldn't be peaceful." Ivy carefully observed the ground again, "Maybe they were swallowed by the giant frog."

"You see - oh you can't see - there are some very large footprints on the ground. They sank much deeper when leaving than when they came. Apparently they 'gained weight' here."

"Shh!" Sera suddenly raised her hand, signaling Ivy to stop talking for the time being, "Did you hear that? There's some noise in the distance!"

"Just the croaking of frogs, right?" Ron listened carefully, but heard nothing.

"Chief, you need to practice your hearing," Sera shook her head, "There are people shouting in there, but it's too far away here, I can't hear it clearly."

"Let's go over there."

As Ron and the others got closer, the light in front of them gradually brightened.

The Madwugs do not have dark vision, so there are a lot of simple and crude torches in their settlements.

In the light of the fire, Ron and his companions saw a group of crazy frogs wearing animal skin armor, holding spears and shields, standing in a row, fighting with a group of humans. Amid the frog calls that sounded like drums and horns, the crazy frogs rushed towards the robbers with their spears. They skillfully used their shields for defense, and quickly swung their spears to pierce every human who dared to stand out.

The outfits of these humans were similar to those of the robbers who appeared outside the town of Fromm, except that they were more sophisticated. When faced with the slimy monsters with frog heads and human bodies, these people showed no fear at all. They attacked frantically, and the sound of various weapons falling was endless. From time to time, a crazy frogman was beaten to the ground.

Among those humans, there was one in a long robe who was particularly eye-catching. He was a spellcaster. Although the crazy frogs had been trying to rush to him, when the flames in his hands became blazing, the crazy frogs with their skin dried by the burnt were forced to retreat.

For a moment, the situation on the battlefield was evenly matched and both sides were in a stalemate.

"An opponent of equal strength..."

Ivy muttered something, and when she was about to ask Ron what to do next, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a human suddenly breaking away from the battle formation and stumbling towards them.

But this was not the most fatal thing. Behind him, two crazy frogmen were driving a giant frog, holding torches, and chasing towards this side!

"This bastard!" Sera cursed, but there was no way to avoid it now. The light of the torch had illuminated their hiding place!
Faced with the sudden appearance of a small team, both the bandits who might have come from the west and the Madfrogs here tacitly stopped their actions temporarily, and countless eyes gathered here.

"What the hell is this?" Ron didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The situation that the enemy was in the open and we were in the dark was finally exposed.

What a stupid person! Why did he have to run towards him?

"Hey! Who are you?" At this time, the humans spoke first. The spellcaster shouted at them, "Did the elves send you to save us?" "You!" Among the other side of the Madwugs, a Madwug who spoke the Common Language quite reluctantly also shouted, "Don't help them, I am the steward of His Majesty the King! As long as you help us, you will gain the friendship and courtesy of our entire kingdom!"

"You're talking nonsense!" The bandits were furious. "Don't listen to them. That dirty, damp cave is worthy of being called a kingdom?! Even a tavern in the Gobi Desert is better than that!"

"And courtesy? These beasts swallowed us and brought us here, and then started to hunt us down without saying anything, insisting that we stole the treasures of their gods!"

"Give me some thought, is this what you call 'courtesy'?"

"That's because you did steal, you thieves!" screamed the Bullywug who called himself the Steward. "Our god once stood in the center of a thunderstorm and was unscathed! But after you arrived, within a day, it was electrocuted in its own lair!"

“You guys did it!”

The two groups immediately started quarreling again, and the escaped robber took the opportunity to hide beside Ron and his companions. The two crazy frogmen who were chasing them did not dare to offend Ron and his companions, so they could only stand there and stare.

"Stop! I said stop!" Ron was so annoyed that he had to yell to interrupt the quarrel. "Can you let me know the details first? Then I'll know who to help!"

Hearing this, both sides stopped. The current situation was that they were evenly matched. The appearance of Ron and others would change the balance of power no matter who they helped.

They were all very confident that Ron would help them.

"Let's start with you," Ron and his companions approached the Madwug's side, "You claimed that the treasure of your god was stolen, and it even led to the death of your god?"

"Yes!" The butler nodded repeatedly, "We took great pains to invite the god to the kingdom! We provided it with food and even sacrificed the lives of several of our tribesmen before the god was so pleased that he agreed to stay here!"

Swampmaw. Ron recalled the books he had read in his previous life and remembered this creature.

The Swampmaw is an elephant-sized amphibious predator that lives in swamps and has four tentacles, thick gelatinous skin, a fang-filled mouth with a grasping tongue, and an extendable fleshy stalk with three eyeballs that can move in different directions.

If a tribe of Bullywugs encounters a Bogmaw, the Bullywugs will treat it like a deity, doing whatever they can to coax the monster into their lair. A Bogmaw can be barely tamed by offering it food, and the Bullywugs can establish rudimentary communication with it. The Bullywugs gather food as tribute to it, provide it with a comfortable lair, zealously protect it from harm, and work to ensure that any young Bogmaws grow to maturity.

But the problem is that this monster is very sensitive to electric shocks. Although it is very powerful, it will become weakened when struck by lightning. It will definitely not be safe and sound in the center of the thunderstorm as the butler said - on the contrary, what they said later, about being electrocuted after losing the treasure, does make sense.

Could it be that these robbers were really instructed by Mindatis to steal some treasure worn by the Swampmaw that could make it immune to electric shocks?

(End of this chapter)