Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"Captain, how many goblins have we killed today?" Shas asked casually, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth.

"Not many, about 10." Gal took out a waterproof bag and pulled out a string of goblin left ears.

"All these ears combined aren't worth a single mid-level beast core, hiccup." The dwarf Gulemang staggered and hiccuped.

"Get away from me," the mage Baron said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Maybe we'll run into a Deinonychus around the next corner, and then we can advance to Dark Iron. To be honest, I've had enough of these dirty, noisy dwarves." Gar adjusted his backpack and stretched his shoulders.

"How about we knock all the goblins unconscious, cut off their ears and calves, but don't kill them?" Shas suggested excitedly. "Won't the other adventurers go crazy if they find them later?"

"Your suggestion is very constructive," the dwarf laughed.

"Alright, everyone be careful, we might actually run into a deinonychus later," Garr reminded the team.

After rounding a large tree, Shas suddenly sensed something was amiss. His keen intuition as a ranger alerted him. "Captain..."

"What's wrong, Shas?" Garr asked, turning around.

"Are you looking for a place to take care of something?" Gulemange laughed heartily.

"Brother, goblins, so many goblins!" Shas quickly drew his arrow.

Gar turned his head and scanned the area, suddenly noticing at least 20 goblins standing up from the trees and bushes. He had never faced so many goblins at once, and his initial contempt lessened. "Be careful," he thought.

"Haha, so many ears again." The dwarf stuffed his wine sack into his pocket and took out his double-edged axe.

But what greeted Gal and his companions were a dozen or so black, spherical objects.

"Is it a rock?" Gal exclaimed. He was about to warn his teammates when a sudden change occurred.

"Boom boom," a series of explosions engulfed the four people. When Gal came to his senses, he found that all four of them were covered in bloodstains, with Shas's arm being particularly badly injured.

"Guremang, stop them from throwing that thing out again!" he yelled, just as he noticed a goblin charging towards him with a longsword in hand.

"You little brat, I'll chop you to pieces!" Guremang yelled as he charged at the goblin, like a jar rolling down a hill.

But he was immediately tripped by two double-ball grappling hooks thrown by the goblin, becoming a veritable earthen jar.

"How are you?" Gar asked, fending off the attack from the red-eyed goblin in front of him.

Although this goblin's swordsmanship was terrible, it was very strong and agile. Every time it blocked a sweeping attack, it would immediately swing its sword again. Gar was shaken so badly that his hands went numb, but he still tried his best to defend.

Shas pulled out a healing potion, drank it down, and then tried to draw the bow again. "I'm fine. These goblins are weird."

"Fire elemental spirits, I beg you, attack them!" Baron chanted rapidly, his staff glowing red as a fireball shot into the goblin horde.

"Bang!" The rocket spell exploded, knocking down a goblin.

Baron continued chanting, but then his eyes widened as more than a dozen black balls were thrown at him.

Guleman struggled to break free of the grappling hook and was about to continue his charge when the black balls forced him to dodge, causing him to roll backward and become a jar again.

"Bang bang," the explosions rang out again. Gal was already injured in many places, and the red-eyed goblin in front of him was also covered in wounds, with a huge wound on his waist.

But he immediately noticed something was wrong. The goblin's wounds were rapidly closing and healing, and the wound on its waist almost disappeared in an instant.

"What's going on?" Gar was shocked. He had never fought a goblin like this before. Facing this guy who kept yelling, he suddenly had a thought: What on earth is this guy talking about?

Shas struggled to draw the bow. His leather armor was tattered and he was covered in blood. The healing potion he had just received had temporarily stabilized his condition, but then a sharp pain shot through his shoulder as a crossbow bolt lodged in his left shoulder.

"No, we have to retreat. These goblins are strange." Garr smashed through the goblins in front of him with all his might. "Baron, Wall of Fire!"

Upon hearing the captain's shout, the dwarf scrambled to his feet, straightened his crooked helmet, and ran backwards, holding his double-edged axe upside down.

Once Gar and Shas had run away, Baron had finished chanting, and a wall of flames several meters wide shot into the air, blocking the goblins' pursuit.

"Run!" Gar shouted to Baron, but the man immediately collapsed to the ground with a scream.

Garr turned around and saw a goblin that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, wielding a pair of short blades that pierced Baron's lower back.

"Save them first..." Before Garr could finish speaking, he saw several black balls fly over the wall of fire and toward his surroundings, so he had no choice but to turn and run.

The three disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the mage Baron wailing on the ground.

…………

Despite successfully repelling the adventurer party, Sharl wasn't particularly happy.

This encounter revealed many problems.

First, there's the issue of reconnaissance. He didn't send out scouts in advance, which resulted in the enemy only being discovered when they were almost upon them. Next time, Broken Tooth needs to be sent ahead of the column to conduct reconnaissance.

Secondly, there was the issue of daily training. Although this was the first time that the grenade fruit had been used in a concentrated manner, the throwing results were too scattered and the landing points were not concentrated, which reduced the lethality. Moreover, 30 grenade fruits were used in this battle, and at this rate, the stockpile was not enough.

Finally, the equipment was too poor. Just now, I was given basic strength, basic stamina, the blessing of the evil god, and the regenerating red eyes, and I barely managed to fight the opponent's swordsman to a draw. If I had some protection, I might have been able to go further.

"It's still no use. Encountering ordinary adventurer teams is already this troublesome, let alone those veteran adventurers who are searching for the Terrorclaw Bear."

The opponent's strength led Sharl to conclude that they were at most ordinary adventurers. He sighed and decided to return and explore the fortress before putting the training plan on the agenda.

The wall of fire vanished quickly, and Sharl saw the mage crawling on the ground.

He led his men to the other party's side and asked, "Who are you people?"

"Get away from me, you filthy burrow bugs, don't touch me," Baron said with disgust.

Charles frowned, then went up and kicked him in the face.

Baron felt his face being smeared, his facial muscles twitched, and he gritted his teeth as he shouted, "You dare to smear me, Elemental Spirit, I..."

"Smack!" Charles grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it into the other person's mouth.

"Pah! I'm going to kill you!" Baron spat out the mud in his mouth and shouted like a madman.

"Ordinary adventurers are so rude." Charles curled his lip, and before the other party could even show his data panel, he had Red Eye finish him off.

"Pack your things and leave immediately," Charles ordered.