Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 129 Blood Sacrifice
Deep in the misty forest.

The chirping of insects mixed with the rustling sound of the breeze blowing through the forest echoed quietly in the air.

The dense tree canopy blocked the scorching sun above, and the light was dim, with sporadic spots of light scattered on the soft ground covered with fallen leaves.

silence.

Except for the obviously thicker fog among the branches and leaves, it seems to be no different from the outer areas.

Even quieter, as if it were just an ordinary, common dense forest.

But if you stay in it for a while, or go deeper.

The huge shadows that occasionally passed through the darkness of the trees, the dark giant scales embedded in the tree trunks, the cold gazes from unknown places in the blind spots, and the half pale skeleton protruding from the meadow by the roadside...

I will tell you why adventurers who always put money above life are unwilling to walk two days forward to earn hundreds or thousands of times more gold coins here, even if they have to travel back and forth between the dirty and barren goblin nests every day.

"Crench."

The heavy and hard iron boots stepped down lightly and steadily.

The tender sprouts that absorbed nutrients from the soil and finally squeezed out from the gaps between the fallen leaves were crushed ruthlessly.

A deep footprint was left on the dark and wet ground.

The man wearing heavy armor and holding a reddish-brown sword walked silently at the front of the team.

The face was hidden under the streamlined iron helmet and could not be seen clearly.

Only a pair of serious and determined eyes reflected the dark and deep road ahead from the hollow space of the iron face.

Behind him were two figures, one strong and one thin.

His skin was green, and the muscles beneath his totemic breastplate were swollen and solid as rock.

A tall and strong orc.

Two figures to his right, the one who is obviously thinner is the wizard wearing an indigo ramie robe and has an elegant face.

The tall, blond elf was at the end of the team, his right hand resting on the hilt of the rapier at his waist as he walked. His eyes, which were unique to his race, moved left and right from time to time, alert to possible dangers around him.

This team of high-level professionals in the Adventurer's Association, who had once met Xia Nan, has now completely penetrated the Misty Forest and is heading towards its core area.

very professional.

Even with the depth they have gone at this moment, there is a high probability that there are no monsters around that can pose a threat to them.

The entire team still showed caution and meticulousness far beyond that of ordinary adventurers.

The human warrior, wearing heavy armor, was silent and determined, standing alone at the front of the team, keeping a slight distance from the others behind him.

The male elf in charge of the rear guard walked lightly, seemingly without making any unnecessary movements, but in fact, his body was surrounded by faint breezes and fallen leaves as he moved.

Even the half-orc barbarian named "Volga", who was always dominated by emotions and was considered a reckless man by the world, was patient and walked in the team without saying a word after he used goblins to vent his anger two days ago.

The elegant man who was in the middle of the team and was secretly surrounded and protected by everyone had a wooden staff in his hand that emitted a soft and faint white light.

With it as the center, one can see that the entire team is shrouded in an almost invisible layer of transparent light, whose general outline is revealed only when it moves and blends with the sunlight seeping through the treetops above.

hum-

The corners of the reticle suddenly became blurry and distorted.

The elegant man looked away for a moment, but the next second, his brows relaxed again.

"Sha..."

The grass shook violently.

A hare covered with grass seeds and broken leaves suddenly jumped out.

Two black eyeballs like buttons looked at the tall figures in front of him.

Under the dim light, this agile little creature living in the dangerous forest seemed to have lost the ability to sense danger.

There was a sudden pause before he reacted suddenly.

But, it's too late.

Just as it turned around, a large green hand grasped its neck tightly like an iron clamp and lifted it up easily.

"Hey, long ears, rabbit, delicious, how do you make it?"

The strong arms did not move at all despite the hare's struggling legs. The half-orc Volga, holding the poor little animal, asked the blond elf behind him.

"you ask me?"

The elf showed some helplessness on his face, but seemed to have gotten used to the other party's straightforward temper.

He held his right hand in the air, turned his forearm twice, made a barbecue gesture in front of his chest, and said perfunctorily:

"It's delicious. It tastes good when grilled."

In the middle of the team, Cornell tapped the ground lightly with the staff in his hand, and the light shield that was faintly fluctuating due to the intrusion of the hare also recovered.

There was still a faint smile on his face.

Look back.

[Waverly's Warning Light Field]

An improved version of the first-level "Alarm Spell", a fine little spell from Huancai City.

It also requires concentration, but the mental energy consumed is greatly reduced. While being able to maintain long-term operation, it also has good flexibility and scalability.

When adventuring, you only need to use your staff as the magic hub to cast spells, and the "Alert Light Field" will be able to continue to work without interference as the caster moves.

Even before casting a spell, you can decide which creatures should not trigger alerts, and add special display effects for dangerous monsters that require special attention.

All I can say is, it's very useful.

To this day, Cornell is still grateful that on that afternoon two years ago, he did not choose to go to the tavern with his teammates to celebrate the successful completion of the mission, but instead went to a bookstore in the city alone to browse.

Otherwise, he might never encounter this kind of practical magic with ingenious conception and exquisite structure in his life.

By the way, after he returned to the academy, he also searched for "Waverly", the founder of magic, in the library.

It’s a pity that I searched through all the relevant books but couldn’t find any useful information.

It was expected.

The continent of Efara has a long history. Even those powerful gods who sit high above the sky in the kingdom of God and have lost the concept of "lifespan" have all perished.

How could countless "ordinary people" like them easily leave their names in history?

Not to mention ordinary spells like the current "Alarm", even for the sixth-ring "Sun Beam" and the ninth-ring "Meteor Explosion", how many people can remember the names of their creators?

If we extend the time span and count from ancient times, even those "legends" on earth who have already stood at the top of the earthly pyramid will not be much less in number than the stars in the sky.

In this case, combined with the long time and countless brilliant people in the past, the "mages" are a group of people with the most outstanding creative abilities in the world.

Almost every spell, even tricks like "Mage's Hand" and "Dancing Lights", has a huge number of variants and derivatives.

However, most of them, after being created by their bored inventors, were buried under parchment, hidden in corners covered with cobwebs, and disappeared in the long river of time.

Only a small number of improved spells that have some practical value and are more fortunate have been passed down.

If I must say, the magic traps Cornell set up during the past two days of camping were also of the improved type.

The alert range is wider, and it has a certain ability to distinguish between friend and foe (provided that spell marks are engraved), and even the cost is much cheaper.

It only costs a few dozen gold coins to set up a whole set of processes, and it can be reused.

Simple, reliable and saves money.

A few days ago, we drove away a few passing jackals without any losses.

If the orc Volga hadn't destroyed a lot of it when he came back for dinner that night, I'm afraid it could have been used until the end of the mission.

"Forget it. I'll just deduct it from his food allowance later." Cornell shook his head slightly and glanced at the orc beside him who was carrying a hare with saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. He seemed to be considering whether to eat the rabbit leg or the rabbit head first.

He had already made up his mind to blame the losses from the trap on the other party.

"This so-called 'hunting day' actually just means there are more goblins?"

The tall blond male elf frowned and controlled the invisible breeze around him to blow away the spider webs hanging on the branches in front of him.

"With such a big fanfare every year, I heard that even the bounty on the goblins has been increased by half."

"These thousands or tens of thousands of them combined, the gold coins from the subsidies are almost enough to hire large adventure groups led by extraordinary people."

"Why is the Association still so stingy, forcing those little adventurers who haven't even reached a professional level to risk their lives?"

"It would be great to just get it over with once and for all."

The orcs might not even understand all the words spoken, so they couldn't possibly answer; the fully armed human warriors were always taciturn and rarely communicated with others.

In the entire team, Cornell is probably the only one who would respond to the other party at this time.

But the strange thing is that in the face of the elf's complaints and doubts, the wizard's expression did not seem surprised.

Apparently he knows something about the inside story between "Hunting Day" and "The Association".

But he seemed to be worried about something.

He opened his mouth but said nothing.

After a long while, he held the wooden staff in his hand, knocked on the ground, and replied:

"It's quite troublesome."

"Let's talk about it after the mission is over."

……

……

at the same time.

Deep in the misty forest, in a goblin's lair.

Quiet.

Extraordinarily quiet.

Unlike the adventurers' impression, the Goblin Cave is filled with feces and mud, and is filled with bones and broken waste.

The cave appears unusually clean and tidy.

There were neither hordes of green-skinned goblins crowding and shouting, nor was there any stench of rotting carcasses.

Torches placed regularly between the stone walls illuminate the entire cave.

The densely distributed corridors and tunnels, and the open interior area like a square, seem to combine the characteristics of the "earth goblins" and "bear goblins" nests together.

It's like a huge...ant nest!
The cave was empty except for two figures standing quietly in the middle.

Shriveled like a corpse, with disgusting wrinkled fingers sticking out of loose sleeves, and a hunched body like a worm in the shadows;

He was wrapped in a pitch-black robe, with a body much taller than that of an average goblin, and a furry face occasionally showing from under the hood of the robe.

Revealing his identity as a bugbear.

"Just a little bit more... (Goblin)"

I don’t know how long he has lived, it seems that even his voice has been eroded by time, and an old voice emerges faintly from under the black robe.

It took two slow steps forward. On the altar in front of it, which was made of an unknown pale stone, was engraved an extremely complicated and strange array of symbols that would make ordinary people feel dizzy at the first glance.

The talisman itself has no color, it is just carved on the surface of the stone.

But as the black-robed bear goblin gradually approached, a streak of bright red, flowing like blood, emerged from the void and spread along the array pattern.

It seemed that in the next second, this blood-red color would fill the entire talisman formation.

Above the formation, a faint elliptical shadow with a metallic luster and an extremely smooth surface appeared.

But just before the blood was about to flow into the core of the talisman formation and solidify the elliptical shadow.

But it suddenly stopped as if it had no strength left.

Just a little bit.

"Ding."

The black nails tapped lightly on the stone surface, and the crisp sound echoed in the cave like a cold wind.

Behind him, a figure much stronger than the average bugbear half-knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head, with a hint of fear and panic in his rough voice:

"This year, the number of adventurers is much smaller than before, and they..."

The sound became smaller and smaller, until it was almost invisible.

Obviously it knows that these are just excuses for not completing the task.

The air fell into dead silence again.

The black-robed goblin did not look back.

The turbid eyes, shrouded by the shadow cast by the hood, stared at the altar covered in blood in front of him, staring at the elliptical shadow that was almost solid, yet slightly off.

"The seeding period is about to end, and the Lord's gift must not be profaned."

"Death and Life..."

"To please, or to punish."

As soon as the word "punishment" came out of his mouth, the extremely sturdy bear goblin, who was half-kneeling behind him, trembled violently twice as if in response to stress.

Obviously he has experienced the taste of it.

"I will go out, beyond the forest."

It assured in a hasty and urgent tone.

"Same as last time."

"If there aren't enough adventurers... we can use the blood of their kind to make up for the shortfall in sacrifices."

No reply.

The hunchbacked goblin in a black robe just turned his back to it and stared quietly at the altar in front of him.

The bear goblin still kept his head down, not daring to look up.

"Failure...you know what the consequences will be."

The old voice echoed faintly among the stone walls.

The bugbear was visibly relieved.

He slowly stood up, turned around, and walked towards the exit of the nest.

The heavy and slow footsteps sounded like some kind of horn.

On both sides of the stone wall, in the deep corridor shrouded in darkness, suddenly out emerged a group of green-skinned goblins who also remained quiet but looked excited and crazy.

Crowded behind him.

It was not until this time, as the bear goblin turned and left, that its back, covered with thick fat and fur, was clearly revealed in the air under the light of the torches on the stone wall.

The pale bone stick with holes on its surface was exposed, and it made a sharp sound like a baby crying when it moved.

And the extremely conspicuous tuft of brown-red mane on the back.

(End of this chapter)