Chapter 158: Chapter 158

The adventurers coordinated their attacks, and the goblin guards were quickly routed, with only a few lucky ones managing to escape, leaving behind a field of corpses.

"Let's deal with these corpses on our way back."

Torren stopped the adventurers who were habitually preparing to harvest loot: "Don't forget our purpose here is rescue. Several goblins escaped just now and will surely bring back news. We need to pursue quickly and not give the goblins too much time to recover."

Landon also nodded: "Although there might be more dangers ahead, this is indeed the time to press the attack with full momentum."

Since both leaders had spoken, the others naturally had no objections.

As for the other level 4 professional, Lute, contrary to his cheerful personality in daily life, he rarely spoke during serious matters, mostly focusing intently on combat.

The group continued forward, the path ahead growing wider, revealing what appeared to be a small underground goblin village!

They had piled mud and rubble into crude bunkers within this massive underground cavern. In fact, this was a medium-to-large goblin settlement!

Who knew how many goblins lived here, and they all started at near-professional level!

Probably because of the few who escaped earlier, these goblins were already fully armed, holding weapons and watching them warily.

Some also hid behind walls, similarly armed with weapons and fierce gazes.

Compared to outside, the variety of goblins here was clearly greater, not limited to just "Type II Goblins," but also including mutated goblins, with occasional quasi-bronze goblins visible as well.

Here, the surrounding walls were hung with numerous torches and oil lamps, and occasionally one could see damaged, aged mana lamps flickering with weak light due to insufficient energy.

Continuing forward, they could vaguely see many such lights, but couldn't discern how deep this underground cavern went, nor how many more goblins lay ahead.

Pessimistically speaking, the ones they had just killed were likely just the gate guards, while those before them now were merely ordinary "citizens."

Their true challenge on this mission was probably still ahead!

"Anyway, let's deal with these creatures first!"

Torren made a decisive move, immediately striking and decapitating a goblin with one slash.

No matter how many goblins were in this place, killing one meant one less—that was never wrong.

The adventurers also sprang into action, grouping in twos and threes to kill every goblin they encountered along the way.

Lin Mo likewise moved into action, and since he was alone, he moved even faster.

Within the crude "houses" made of piled rubble—though these hardly qualified as houses, being merely spaces enclosed by stones.

In this place the goblins called home, Lin Mo discovered some human skeletal remains. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

Not piled in a corner as trash, but displayed like decorations in the most prominent locations.

They even seemed to have undergone some rough polishing.

There was even a completely dried human face skin hung on the front wall, visible at first glance to anyone entering.

Clearly, for the goblins, this was like a form of glory, a symbol of status and position.

The "home's" owner was a goblin guard, evidently of higher status than its neighbors, even wearing decent clothing and what appeared to be cut-out leather armor tied on with ropes.

The goblin made a threatening hissing sound from its mouth. Lin Mo's expression turned icy cold as he dashed forward in a flash, delivering a [Rushing Punch] squarely to its face.

Under the powerful force, the goblin's nose was crushed inward, its face covered in blood, yet it still cursed and flailed its weapon wildly.

After a few strikes, it suddenly stiffened completely and slowly collapsed to the ground.

[Rushing Punch] proficiency +10!

It had to be said, Lin Mo truly despised goblins as a species.

Unlike the disgust evoked by slimes, this was genuine loathing and hatred.

Greedy, vile, filthy—almost any negative adjective you could think of wouldn't seem out of place when applied to these monsters.

Countless innocent humans were brutally killed by these green-skinned monsters every year. Lin Mo might not have the power to change the situation or manage everything, but he always believed that killing every goblin he saw was absolutely the right thing to do.

Now, he was experiencing this conviction deeply once again.

They advanced while slaughtering along the way.

Just as these monsters had once done to innocent villagers, the adventurers killed every goblin they saw along the path.

This was necessary work, but it clearly consumed some of their stamina, since their opponents weren't weak and seemed to grow stronger as they progressed.

Similarly, as the group pushed forward, the items found in the goblin "homes" finally became increasingly "advanced."

From broken bone fragments, to entire limbs, to complete skeletons...

Finally, living people appeared.

Alive, but no different from being dead.

The young woman before Lin Mo was at most eighteen or nineteen years old. Her body was covered in mud and goblin claw marks, her neck chained with iron, many wounds already festering and even maggot-infested, with vague signs of insects crawling...

A relatively fresh scar was visible on the girl's abdomen, her lower belly still somewhat swollen, suggesting she might have recently been forced to bear goblin offspring.

Her right arm was missing, her eyes had been gouged out, and these severe wounds showed signs of having been treated, likely to keep her from dying too quickly.

She lay motionless in the corner, with only faint chest movements indicating any signs of life.

Before her, a quasi-bronze goblin held a curved knife, looking at him with an irritated expression, shouting something.

Lin Mo's expression was as cold as ice.

He took a slow, deep breath, his figure vanishing in that instant, reappearing behind the goblin the next moment.

[Vanish] proficiency +15

[Shadow Strike] proficiency +15

Although this felt too merciful for the creature, there were many more equally evil beings ahead waiting for Lin Mo to deal with, so he could only let it lose its head .

Lin Mo glanced at the girl on the ground; her remaining left arm seemed to twitch slightly, then she completely stopped breathing.

With a somewhat heavy heart, Lin Mo quickened his pace and left this place, continuing forward.

Similar scenes occurred occasionally with other adventurers.

Some were quasi-bronze goblins, others were stronger goblin guards, and in their "homes," dying girls were frequently found.

Most of these girls were beyond saving, but occasionally when they found someone who still had a chance of survival and brought them to Finnie, it immediately brought tears to the kind-hearted girl's eyes.

Although this was something they could have predicted before coming, when truly facing it, no one could remain calm.

Landon clenched his fists tightly; he wished he were a warrior now, punching goblins in the face would be much more satisfying than using magic.

But he still calmed himself and reminded everyone: "Everyone be careful, these goblins are getting stronger..."

Goblins who kept human girls in their homes had threat levels of at least around level 2, some even reaching level 2.5 or higher.

Such opponents weren't so easy to deal with.

Often, several adventurers needed to work together to handle them.

Landon looked toward the distance ahead.

Their real opponents hadn't even appeared yet!

"Damn bastard creatures, die!"

A somewhat famous, quite capable adventurer had just finished a fierce battle with several companions' help, cutting off a quasi-bronze goblin's head. As he prepared to stomp on it a few times to vent his anger, he was suddenly hit by an arrow and cried out in pain.

His companions looked toward the direction the arrow came from and saw a bluish-gray figure holding an elegant wooden bow, already nocking a second arrow.

The next moment, the arrow flew toward them with terrifying speed. Even though they all saw it clearly, they still couldn't dodge in time.

With the whistling sound of the arrow cutting through air, another adventurer was hit, the arrow piercing straight through his heart, pinning him to the wall behind.

The injured adventurer broke out in cold sweat: "This goblin's threat level might have reached level 4!"

Meanwhile, Torren, who was wreaking havoc on the front lines, also encountered a worthy opponent—a massively built goblin appeared before him.

Different from ordinary mutated goblins, this one had noticeably darker skin, held a huge curved knife, and had fangs over ten centimeters long, looking fierce and terrifying.

Torren immediately recognized his opponent's identity, instantly becoming serious and going all out.

The opponent's strength was probably not inferior to his own!

Just as Landon prepared to help, he suddenly looked up toward the side.

The next moment, a massive fireball came flying toward him.

Landon immediately raised his staff and released a wind blade to counter.

The wind blade and fireball collided, briefly locked in stalemate, until the wind blade barely managed to cut through the fireball before dissipating itself.

The clash of magic had ended in a draw—

The opponent was also a level 4 spellcaster!

Lute, hiding within the group, used his sharp eyes to look into the distance. In the faint firelight, he could vaguely see numerous figures quickly approaching.

The real battle was about to begin!