Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Charles looked at the route map in his hand and then checked it against the compass. "This direction is correct. Let's keep going."

After saying that, he waved his hand and told his men to continue heading north.

The expedition team consisted of twenty goblins, three worker ants, and...

A unicorn.

Charles encountered the unicorn on the road. He simply waved to it, but the unicorn followed him and stayed for quite a distance.

"You're not going to follow us forever, are you?" Charles looked at the white elf beside the group, a little confused about what it was thinking. "Never mind, maybe we'll go back after a while."

The runeword material storage was some distance from the fortress, and since they were traveling in unfamiliar territory, the goblins were not moving very fast. Apart from the goblins "driving" worker ants, the rest were all on foot, in order to prepare for any possible sudden attacks.

"Chief," Broken Tooth ran back from the front, "a horse, a mane horse."

"Huh?" Charles paused, taken aback. "Horses again?"

He turned to look at the unicorn. "So you're here for a date, just tagging along with our group."

"Let's go take a look." He ignored the creature beside him that was flicking its mane and pawing the ground with its hooves, and headed straight north.

However, upon seeing the creature lying on the ground, Ciel immediately kicked Broken Tooth.

He pointed at the female centaur lying in a pool of blood on the ground and said irritably, "This is the horse you're talking about? Her hair is long, but she's not a horse."

Natural history books often describe these interesting creatures, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Charles had only seen illustrations before, and this was the first time he had ever seen a centaur.

He guessed this was the first time he'd ever seen a broken tooth.

"Wounded like this, she's not dead, is she?" Charles leaned closer, surveyed the centaur's injuries, and checked her breath. "She's not dead yet, she can be saved."

"The books say that centaurs are kind creatures and sometimes help lost travelers. How did this female centaur get so badly injured?" He hurriedly took out a healing potion from his pouch, wanting to pour it into the lying centaur, but seeing that she was unconscious, he felt that the effect might be very limited.

"I should have agreed to Shan Xiao back then." When they came out, Shan Xiao wanted to follow again, but this time Xia Er went directly to the chief of the little fairies. Not long after, he smiled and said goodbye to the little fairies hanging under the wooden house.

"With this amount of bleeding, he's probably going to die if he doesn't get treatment soon." Charles frowned, thinking of a solution, and soon he got up and walked towards the unicorn hiding around the worker ants.

"Don't cower, come help." He tried to grab the unicorn's mane and shoo it over. "Use your healing abilities to save this centaur."

The unicorn walked to the female centaur and touched her a few times with its ivory-gleaming horn. Soon, Charles noticed that the centaur was emitting a faint white light, the wounds on her skin began to heal slowly, her breathing became stronger, and her eyelashes began to tremble. Then, the centaur opened her eyes.

…………

When Evita broke through the encirclement last night, she encountered a two-headed cannibal magician. The magic explosion spells he cast continuously injured her severely. She finally managed to shake off the cannibal's pursuit, but the hounds' chase put her in a fierce battle.

Fortunately, she still had the strength to fight. She killed the three hounds with her dagger, and then, dragging her wounded body, she struggled southward, hoping to escape the ogre's pursuit as soon as possible and find the unicorn's trail.

She continued until she was exhausted, collapsed on the ground, and lost consciousness.

"Am I dead?" Evita felt excruciating pain all over her body. She tried to lift her hooves, but she had no strength at all. "Father, I failed. I still didn't find the unicorn, and I foolishly lost my life."

She felt that the surroundings weren't so cold, which was different from the legendary Underworld Sea. "So this is what death feels like. It seems there's nothing worse than death."

Evita struggled to open her eyes. The dazzling sunlight pierced her pupils, making her dizzy. After blinking a few times, she gradually adjusted to the light, and then…

She was shocked to find herself surrounded by a group of goblins.

"I'd rather be dead."

Evita cautiously reached out and touched her surroundings. She quickly found her short blade, grabbed it, and pointed it directly at the goblins around her. "Don't come any closer, none of you come any closer."

She cried out helplessly, but the goblins in front of her showed no fear. They all wore "ferocious" smiles, as if they would pounce on her at any moment and kill and devour her.

"Father, I was wrong. I shouldn't have come out looking for unicorns. Forgive me, Father." She pressed the short blade against her neck, preparing to slash it down.

"We saved your life, you don't have to kill yourself." The leader of the goblins stepped forward, trying to persuade her to stop what she was doing.

"Shut up, you evil goblins! Don't even think about seeing my fear! I'd rather die!" Evita shouted in grief and indignation. "You filthy creatures, I will not yield!"

She looked at the goblin in front of her with disdain, then prepared to swing her short blade immediately, but then she froze on the spot, staring wide-eyed in astonishment at what was behind the goblin.

A white, glowing unicorn, its golden mane shimmering like brocade, stood behind the goblin. As the unicorn paced back and forth, Evita slowly swayed her head, her gaze fixed on the unicorn.

Finally, the unicorn walked up to the goblin, and the "evil" green-skinned dwarf even reached out and stroked its neck a few times.

Evita fell silent, frozen in place, the dagger still embedded in her neck.

A few seconds later, she finally uttered a sentence.

"Unicorn, you have fallen."

…………

"That's how it is. The unicorn saved you." Charles shrugged, spreading his hands. "I knew you'd react, but I didn't expect such a strong reaction."

"Hmph, don't try to fool me," Evita said, struggling against a tree trunk, holding a short blade. She had lost too much blood in the previous battle, and although her wounds had healed, she still felt sore and weak all over. "You must have done something to the unicorn, you evil goblins."

"What can we do to this guy?" Charles gently patted the unicorn's neck. "This guy could easily kill me with a single lunge."

"You..." Evita was speechless for a moment. She realized that it seemed to be true, as the goblin had said. This unicorn showed no signs of being coerced, and the unicorn was immune to most magic. Ordinary illusions or mind control spells had no effect on it.

"Speechless now, aren't you?" Charles smiled and slightly raised his hands to indicate that he meant no harm.

"Then why is the unicorn with you? It's a forest spirit, a kind guardian, and it wouldn't associate with evil," Evita still said loudly. She really couldn't understand why the unicorn would go south to find a group of goblins.

"Perhaps," Charles scratched his cheek with his finger, "the grass where we live is fresher."

"Hmph," Evita sneered, "You're kidding me."

"Swish, swish," came the sound of grass and trees rustling from the woods to the north. The goblins around them warily drew their weapons, and Sharl also drew his weapon. He had noticed earlier that the unicorn was acting strangely, and he had thought it was caused by the centaur's blood. Now it seemed that something was chasing the centaur.

"You can't escape here." A two-headed ogre emerged from behind a tree, its left head twitching as it sniffed, the smell of blood on the ground making it look like it was enjoying it.

"Prepare for battle!" Charles shouted, and then with a "whoosh," the centaur had already fired an arrow.

"Uh," the two-headed ogre staggered back a step after being hit by the arrow, but his thick skin meant the attack did him little harm.

"A bunch of goblins, great! Capture them all and send them to General Evilthroat, he'll love them." The two-headed ogre laughed, raising his staff. "Arcane Explosion."

With a "boom," a green light exploded, and the shockwave spread outwards, knocking four or five goblins to the ground. Two of them were already bleeding from the blast.

"Throw the stinking balls!" Charles shouted. Judging from the damage inflicted by the arrows, he determined that the grenade fruit had limited effectiveness against enemies, so he directly ordered his men to throw out the spore balls.

"Pfft!" Three foul-smelling balls exploded around the two-headed ogre, and the stench immediately filled the air.

"What is this? What did these goblins throw out?" The ogre covered his mouth and nose with both hands. "It stinks so badly, I almost threw up the goblins I ate yesterday."

"Shut up, you idiot Dagu, run!" Damo yelled, and then they turned to flee.

"Leave him here," Charles shouted, covering his mouth and nose, while glancing at the centaur, who had already passed out from the stench.

After running a few steps, the two-headed ogre suddenly felt a pain in his lower back. He reached back and grabbed a goblin, then threw it away violently. This sneak attack successfully slowed him down.

Immediately afterwards, he felt a chill on his left knee, followed by excruciating pain as his entire lower leg was severed.

"Red Eyes, cut off his head!" Charles roared, looking around for the unicorn that had been driven away by the stench.

Soon, the goblins killed the ogre that had fallen to the ground, and Shire finally found the unicorn that had been hiding far away. He carried the wounded over and let the unicorn treat them one by one.

"You run pretty fast, huh?" Charles said, staring at the forest elf with an ominous tone.

Fortunately, the enemy followed, otherwise there might have been casualties in this battle.

"Ugh!" Evita lay on the ground, vomiting uncontrollably. Although she was already far away from the stinking ball, the smell still lingered around her.

She wiped away her tears, then wiped her mouth, and glared angrily at the goblin beside her.

"You really are evil goblins after all."