Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 292 Evil Demon
This was Abby's first time entering the Misty Forest alone.

Although I've been an "adventurer" for a while now, I've completed quite a few guild commissions.

Previously, he had been following the experienced members of the team, wandering around the outskirts of the forest, dealing with small goblin tribes.

Never before has it gone this deep.

I felt a vague sense of unease.

"Don't worry, with me here, even the most sensitive dog noses won't be able to smell your scent."

"Besides, we've already been in the forest for two days. See, we haven't encountered any danger."

A husky, magnetic male voice echoed gently within the skull in a comforting tone.

Over the course of a few days, the subtle mental control caused Abby's tense body to relax slightly under the influence of the devil's words.

"You're right, I... I'm just a little nervous."

"Lord Saloyan, how much longer will it take us to reach our destination?"

"Don't worry." The man's voice echoed softly, as if it possessed some kind of magic, calming the young man's turbulent heart. "We'll be there soon, very soon."

Their target, naturally, was the goblin lair located deep within the Misty Forest, which, according to Saloyan's intelligence, had already been wiped out by a group of high-level adventurers.

According to the original plan, he should have sent Abby deeper, down the main passage near the core of the Misty Forest where the lair is located.

However, given their low strength and slow pace, even with their own cover, they were bound to encounter unexpected events on such a long journey.

So Saloyan changed his destination, targeting another goblin lair branch located at the border between the outer and deep parts of the Misty Forest.

Then, using the underground passage left behind by the previous super-large goblin settlement, we went to its core.

Feeling the young man gripping the iron sword tightly, his left hand clutching the iron-inlaid wooden shield, cautiously moving forward step by step, his posture pitiful and laughable.

Saloyan had intended to urge the other party to speed up their pace.

Then, considering that the pressure was too much for this young man who had little experience, and that adding more pressure might force him to do something unwise and affect the plans ahead, he stopped pressuring him and just pretended to care about him and offered some gentle comfort.

In reality, under normal circumstances, any ordinary person with even a modicum of thinking ability and remaining rational would never agree to such a dangerous request to venture alone into the misty forest.

Not to mention the adventurers who live in the river valley town and deal with monsters in the forest all year round.

Abby may not be very experienced, but he's not stupid.

If Saroyan had stated his demands to him from the beginning, he would never have agreed.

But being a demon from hell skilled at bewitching people, Saloyan knew perfectly well:

The jump from 1 to 10 is too large for most people to accept.

However, if one progresses step by step from 1 to 3, then from 3 to 7, and finally from 7 to 10, in accordance with the nature of intelligent beings, one can achieve the final result one desires.

Using gold coins as bait, and through victories at the card table, they gradually establish an image and authority of "harmlessness" and "consideration for others" in the minds of young people.

By using a little magical power to blur their perception and weaken their psychological defenses, they gradually shift from "as long as you believe the points he reports, you can win gold coins" to "as long as you obey, you can get benefits."

Establish a causal link between "obeying orders" and "benefits".

In this way, with a little persuasive rhetoric and "pie in the sky" to create a beautiful expectation for the future, people will be encouraged to do so.

Abi then lost his ability to judge and became a puppet under the devil's control.

With just a little encouragement, he resolutely stepped alone into this dangerous place that did not belong to humans.

This made it possible for the self, which was not actually present but merely a temporary thought, to overcome spatial barriers and reach the goblin's lair.

Magical particles carrying a very faint sulfurous scent floated up and down in the air, obscuring Abby's presence.

While driving away those dangerous little creatures that act purely on instinct, he also kept him out of the perception of most powerful monsters.

A profound and exquisite technique for using magic.

That is why Abi did not encounter any attacks during the past two days, even when he was camping and resting at night. It was an unprecedentedly smooth experience.

However, compared to his relatively healthy and energetic body, his increasingly exhausted and confused mind was due to the constant anxiety and intense concentration he had maintained throughout the journey.

This suited Saloyan perfectly.

……

They did not deceive Abby; after two days of travel, they were not far from their destination.

After walking for another two hours, Abbi stopped at Saloyan's reminder.

"Is that the place, Lord Saloyan?"

Slightly out of breath, the young man carrying an iron sword stared nervously at the cave in the woods ahead, asking cautiously in as low a voice as possible.

"This is the right place, but..."

Saloyan paused, as if he had realized something.

Originating from the Ninth Hell of Barto, the spiritual will of the demon nobles silently spread downwards.

Immediately, a huge, bloated figure appeared within its perception.

"This is... a petrified lizard?"

Saloyan couldn't help but feel troubled.

The intelligence report did not mention that this branch goblin lair, which gradually fell into ruin after the annihilation of the goblin main camp, has been occupied by other monsters.

He had already made up his mind that once he returned, he would send the spies in charge of the intelligence network in the river valley town of Panyun Province to fight as cannon fodder.

In fact, even if it were some other monsters, such as the Owl Bear, which might be more powerful in combat, it wouldn't make any difference to him. He could easily use his own abilities to take Abby into the tunnels deep inside the cave.

But it is precisely the "petrified lizard" that relies on its special abilities to maintain the challenge level.

It was merely a consciousness temporarily supported by a special tool; it couldn't help Abby resist the "Petrifying Gaze" attack.

Given the opponent's physical attributes, as long as they are within the range of the ability's effect, being looked at will almost certainly trigger the petrification effect, leaving them with no ability to resist.

"This is trouble."

The devil from hell began to devise a plan.

"Lord Saloyan, is there a problem?"

The sudden silence from the male voice in her head made Abby, whose mind had been gradually influenced and controlled by it, panic. She asked in a tense tone.

"Hehe, it's nothing serious, it's just that we might have to find another one..."

Saloyan tried to comfort the other person as usual, but he only got halfway through his sentence before he seemed to have discovered something.

His tone carried a hint of surprise, causing Abby to look in his northwest direction.

The magical particles concealed his presence, causing the young man, who was crouching in the bushes, to turn his gaze toward the grass to his side.

What came into view were three fully armed figures.

An adventurer party!
Almost instantly, Abby recognized the familiar figure in the middle of the group. "Boss Adeline!? What's she doing here?"

"Oh?" The devil's voice echoed once more in my skull. "You know them?"

Upon hearing this, Abby subconsciously pursed her dry, bloodless lips, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly spoke:

"I don't remember the other two, but the short-haired woman in the middle was a senior who brought me into the industry. Her name is Adeline, and I recently heard that she has obtained a professional level."

"Hmm, the three of them don't seem to know each other very well; they're probably not close teammates." Without needing to interact or ask, the devil deduced the relationships between Adeline and the others simply from the details of their conversation. "So... is this a temporary team-up for a promotion mission?"

"We found it at just the right time, which saves us from going any further into the forest."

Hearing Saloyan's voice in his mind, he realized that he might be about to do something.

Abby hesitated visibly, stammering for a while before cautiously saying, with a hint of pleading:
"Sir, could you please spare that woman? She used to be very kind to me, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Saloyan, who had noticed his loss of control, and asked in an unusually stern tone:
"Being good to you?"

"If they're really that good to you, why don't you continue with them instead of finding other people to team up with?"

Over the course of a few days, under the devil's verbal control, Abby even told the other party the name of his childhood neighbor, and naturally learned about his previous departure from the Green Blood Squad.

"me……"

Abby's mouth was open, but he couldn't speak.

"It's because those seniors take advantage of the fact that they've been in the industry for a few more years than you, and just because of their seniority, they occupy the highest income, leaving you to do all the dirty and hard work."

“We’re both adventurers, she can’t possibly not know how much pressure you’re under. Going to the casino for a couple of rounds, having a few drinks with friends, does that bother her? Why should she care so much?”

"I'm afraid they're worried that if you have too much contact with others, you'll get out of their control and become disobedient, which is why they're interfering in all this."

"If you think about it that way, does this Adeline... still seem so good to you?"

The subtly quickened pace of his speech and the stern, warning tone made Abby instinctively afraid to question him.

At first, he felt that there seemed to be some problems with what the other party said, but then, when the contradictions that had been buried in his heart that had led him to leave the team were dug up by the devil's words, his emotions were also quietly stirred up, and anger surged up.

"Yeah! I worked so hard to earn this money, why can't I enjoy it?"

"Even if I throw it all onto the card table and exchange it all for drinks, it's still money I earned myself, and it has nothing to do with that old-fashioned and stubborn woman!"

"Now that I've finally encountered some opportunities and have Lord Saloyan's guidance, what is she doing here again?"

"It wouldn't be that you want to..."

The young man's ever-changing, increasingly gloomy expression made the devil from hell laugh silently.

However, instead of following the other party's line of thought, he deliberately changed his attitude and advised in a gentle tone:
"Don't think about it too much. It's all in the past. You've already left the Green Blood Squad, haven't you?"

"Don't worry, you don't need to do anything, just leave everything to me."

"Stay here quietly and just follow my instructions."

Upon hearing this, Abby's face immediately showed gratitude, and he nodded vigorously.

He didn't mention the previous events again, but simply lay quietly deep in the bushes, waiting for the devil's next command.

Saloyan then began his operation.

First, extending his thoughts to their maximum extent, he drew a very simple magic circle on the ground of the passageway behind the cave entrance, beyond the field of vision of Abby and even the adventurers to the side in front of him.

Infuse with magic.

hum-

The magical radiance was fleeting, and space distorted in an instant.

A hideous creature, resembling a mass of minced meat, lay sprawled on the ground, accompanied by the quickly dissipating stench of sulfur.

The limbs were replaced by a mass of molten flesh, wriggling forward, and two arms of different lengths extended from the ribs, whose chest and abdomen could be vaguely discerned, twitching incessantly.
The face was even more grotesque and bizarre. The facial features were still there, but the way they were arranged was like a jigsaw puzzle in a child's hands, with the nose next to the ears and the eyes below the mouth, all in a chaotic and uncertain way.

Exiled, twisted souls; deformed flesh and blood under the curse of the Nine Hells.

This is a—

Imp!

The already fragile consciousness was deliberately shattered by the summoner the moment it was transported to the material world, turning into a stiff and broken fleshy shell.

Saroyan remotely controlled the lesser demon's body, which crept silently deeper into the lair.

His distorted, flesh-like movements actually reduced the noise he made when he moved.

With a few minor tricks, the petrified lizard, which was deep in slumber, remained completely unaware.

Just as planned, the lesser demon quietly bypassed the petrified lizard's massive body and came up behind it.

Immediately, three oval-shaped bluish-gray lizard eggs, which Saloyan had already sensed earlier, appeared in the lesser demon's line of sight.

He went too far, gradually getting out of control, and his connection with the lesser demon was rapidly weakening.

Without the slightest hesitation, Saloyan manipulated the demon's body, deliberately emitting a sulfurous aura, and pounced towards the three lizard eggs.

"Kara."

The crisp sound echoed softly in the cave.

hold head high--

A furious roar suddenly rang out from behind, and the connection with the lesser demon was instantly severed.

I could feel the subtle vibrations coming rapidly upwards from deep underground.

A strange smile appeared on Saloyan's unseen face.

He controlled the magical particles and gently gathered them around the three unfortunate adventurers.

A faint sulfurous scent, beyond the perception of ordinary humans but within the olfactory range of monsters, then appeared on their bodies.

This doesn't even qualify as the most basic magic trick; it's just the simplest use of magical particles.

In less than five minutes, these faint scents dissipate.

But at this moment, it is enough to become the target of that raging monster's violence.

hold head high--

The massive, bluish-gray figure charged wildly, disappearing into the depths of a ravaged forest at an exaggerated speed.

Sensing the tension and fear in the young man below, Saloyan softened his tone and said softly:

"It's alright, get up."

"Go into the cave."

(End of this chapter)