adventurers in the sewers

"The magical energy in the cave is quite strong, so be careful."

Nora stood in front of the cave entrance, took out her handbone staff, waved it, and said.

Louis nodded. He had nine points of perception and could vaguely sense something.

However, based on his own senses, there was nothing in the cave that could threaten his life, but it was never wrong to be cautious.

If nothing unexpected happens, the women who were kidnapped from Billy Village are all in the cave.

Otherwise, Nora could have simply thrown in a few grenades and blown the entire cave up.

"Jimmy, just stay behind us and don't wander off."

Louis said.

He paused for a moment and then said:

"No matter what you see next, I hope you stay calm and don't do anything foolish."

Considering his past life experiences, Louis is now a mature adult who understands that some dark things are unavoidable.

Jimmy nodded heavily.

As a teenager, the fact that he didn't break down after his childhood friend was kidnapped by a notorious monster shows that his willpower surpasses that of many people.

Taking a deep breath, Louis was the first to enter the cave.

To his surprise, the cave was not completely dark; there was a flickering firelight at the far end.

I hadn't noticed it before; it was just obscured by the blazing sun.

They encountered no obstacles along the way and soon arrived at the depths of the cave.

In the light of the flames, Louis saw that the cave floor was littered with garbage.

Scattered on the ground were the bones of cattle, sheep, and unidentified animals that had been eaten. Some animal hides that smelled foul were hanging up, seemingly being tanned, and there were also various rough stone tools.

There was no excrement, though. Goblins are, after all, semi-intelligent beings, and they understand the principle of defecating and urinating only when they leave their nests.

Of all the household waste, what bothered Louis the most were pieces of torn fabric, clearly human clothing.

He continued walking and finally saw the source of the fire.

It was a bonfire that had been piled up very high, and next to the bonfire was an open space.

Several goblins, significantly larger than the minions outside, stood in a circle around the open space, gazing reverently ahead.

In the open space, a gray-white, very old goblin was holding a bone scepter and dancing some kind of wild dance, as if performing a ritual.

At the feet of the goblin priest lay several women, bound tightly.

Most of the women were dressed in tattered clothes and had dull eyes. Only one farm girl with freckles on her face had relatively intact clothes and was still alive. She was sobbing softly with tears streaming down her face.

"It's Annie!"

Seeing that his beloved childhood sweetheart was unharmed, Jimmy's eyes lit up and he let out a soft gasp.

But after seeing the miserable state of the other village women, his excitement immediately subsided.

They were all from the same village, so Jimmy knew them of course. How could he bear to see the aunties, grandmas, and even older sisters he saw every day turn out like this?

However, for Louis and his two companions, this is already the best possible situation.

At least the person is still alive, without missing any limbs, and hasn't been eaten by goblins.

Just as everyone arrived, the goblin priest finished his dance and waved his scepter.

The goblin leaders who were surrounding them immediately drew their knives and moved towards the women.

Clearly, they were sacrifices.

Upon seeing this, Nora fired without hesitation.

The shot wasn't aimed at the goblin leaders, but instead pierced straight through the goblin priest's head.

The old goblin, who seemed to possess some magical abilities, had its head explode cleanly and fell to the ground, utterly dead.

Louis and Dina attacked simultaneously, hacking and slashing at the goblin leaders, and soon wiped them all out.

Strangely, until the very end, the goblin leaders only wanted to pounce on the women and try to kill them, without turning around to fight back.

As a result, they neither managed to kill anyone nor had time to fight back.

"Annie, are you alright?"

Seeing that everything had settled down, Jimmy excitedly rushed over and hugged his childhood sweetheart tightly.

Seeing that it was an acquaintance, a hint of joy appeared in Annie's still-shaken eyes, and she shook her head while crying:

"I'm fine. Those goblins didn't even do anything to me; they just tied me up and brought me here... But Jimmy, I was captured by the goblins, and my reputation is ruined..."

As she spoke, the young farm girl broke down in tears.

Jimmy hugged the girl tightly and said without hesitation:

"It's okay! I'm not afraid of gossip. We'll get married when we get back."

Hey kid, don't suddenly make a bold prediction! It's kind of scary!

Louis glanced at Jimmy speechlessly, but said nothing, and quickly stepped forward to pat the goblin priest.

[You have collected the corpse of the 'Goblin Priest' and gained the skill "Sacrificial Dance".]

[Sacrificial Dance (Special): Through sacrifice and a special dance, there is a certain probability of gaining access to the Demon Realm.]

[Note: Only when the gates to the Demon Realm are about to open will a very small number of intelligent and experienced demons receive enlightenment and spontaneously offer sacrifices to the Demon Realm.]

Louis glanced at the skill description and understood immediately.

It seems these goblins are performing a ritual ingrained in their instincts.

This is a rare phenomenon, but it's not exactly unusual.

After all, since the emergence of the hero, all nations of humanity have long been on guard against possible invasions by foreign enemies, with the legendary demon race being a key target of surveillance.

There are rumors that the birth of all monsters in the world is related to the legendary demon race.

Perhaps this rumor is true, which is why monsters and the demon world have a special connection.

Louis, being a human and even a near-hero, would never do something like performing a shamanic ritual to appease the demon realm, so this skill is of little use to him. It's just a pity that he can't simply forget it.

Fortunately, they arrived quickly enough to prevent the goblin sacrifice from succeeding.

Otherwise, if these demons were to get lucky and connect to the demon realm, unexpected changes might occur.

"Everyone, come and help me collect the loot."

At that moment, Nora spoke.

She said to her two teammates:

"The most valuable parts of goblin corpses are their noses and their reproductive organs."

"I don't need the latter. Although it can be made into a decent prop, it's too disgusting. So just cut off the goblin's nose and give it to me."

Louis and Dina exchanged a glance and both secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Upon hearing the first part of Nora's words, they almost turned and ran away.

Cutting off a nose is fine.

The three men first untied the bound woman, then went around cutting off the goblin's big nose.

After packing all the materials into a small burlap sack and tying it up, they led the rescued woman toward Billy Village.

But after walking for a short while, Louis suddenly heard a loud thud behind him as something heavy fell to the ground.

Turning my head, I saw a woman in her early thirties lying on the ground.

Fresh blood gushed from her chest, staining the mud around her red.

Louis was startled and quickly turned the woman over, only to find a sharp spearhead of a stone spear she had picked up from somewhere stuck in her chest.

At this moment, the spearhead had penetrated deep into her heart; her eyes were unfocused, and her breathing slowly ceased.

She committed suicide.