Migrating Monsters

In the dense forest northeast of Pine Wood Town, sunlight filtered through layers of leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground covered in fallen leaves.

"Snap!"

Amidst the crisp sound of breaking twigs, a troop of Goblins, wielding rusty weapons, pushed aside the obstructing bushes.

They chattered amongst themselves, their hoarse, grating voices filled with unconcealed excitement.

Were it not for their ferocious faces and the still-wet blood on their weapons, their cheerful demeanor would have made them seem like a group of travelers on an outing.

The Goblin leading the group was gesticulating wildly, when suddenly, a cold glint flashed from the bushes behind it.

"Swish!"

The Goblin's ugly smile froze on its face, and a thin line of blood quietly appeared on its grey-green neck.

The next second, its head thudded to the ground, blood spraying like a fountain onto the surrounding fallen leaves.

"Gaga goo!"

Before the other Goblins could react, several more silver lights flashed.

Their terrified screams had not yet escaped their throats before they turned into blood foam gushing from their mouths.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

As several bodies fell one after another, Roland flicked the blood droplets from his longsword and slowly frowned.

"Did they just say... 'moving'?"

Unlike the silent and frenzied Goblins he encountered while hunting in the forest with Darko, these Goblins showed no strange red markings and their behavior seemed much more normal.

Therefore, while lurking in the shadows, Roland used the Animal Companion trait to carefully listen to their conversation.

Unfortunately, the Goblins' intelligence was truly limited.

Their conversations were not only disjointed but also frequently interrupted.

Roland had to put in a great deal of effort to barely catch the keyword "moving" from their fragmented speech.

This reminded him of the Red Squirrel named Qiao in the forest.

Ever since he transferred to the Hunter class and awakened the Animal Companion trait, that was the most intelligent non-human creature he had ever encountered.

Shaking his head slightly, Roland temporarily set aside this memory, which was unrelated to his current mission. He then efficiently dragged the small, green-skinned monsters into the nearby bushes.

After confirming they had nothing of value on them, he drew the dagger from his waist, cut off their ears one by one, and placed them into the pouch at his waist.

"This is the fifth patrol team already."

Roland cautiously scanned his surroundings. After confirming it was safe, he let out a sigh of relief and took out the slightly crumpled commission letter from his bosom.

Dappled sunlight fell through the gaps in the leaves onto the hurried handwriting on the parchment.

"Exterminate the Goblin Camp"

Roland's brow furrowed deeper.

"Such frequent patrols, such tight defenses... is it really just a camp?"

After rechecking the coordinates on the parchment and confirming he was indeed at the location specified in the commission, Roland refolded and put away the parchment.

Then, he lowered his stance and continued to move cautiously through the dense forest.

Even though with his current strength, he could easily handle dozens of Goblins at once, a lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit.

He would not be careless just because the difference in strength was too great.

As he ventured deeper, he encountered two more Goblin patrol teams.

Thanks to the buffs from Adaptive Training, Roland's Agility attribute had increased to seven points, almost matching his Strength attribute.

This allowed him to move through the dense jungle like a phantom, each strike precise and deadly.

A cold glint flashed, and the Goblins in both patrol teams died on the spot before they could even raise an alarm.

"Twenty-nine."

Roland counted in his mind.

Based on the Goblin patrol formation of three to five per group, he had already eliminated seven small teams along the way.

The quest progress required to kill one hundred hostile creatures to transfer to the Warrior class had also quickly advanced from zero to twenty-nine.

With the enhancement from the Theory and Practice trait, the experience points for Lionheart Swordsmanship had also increased by nearly seventy points.

Compared to the progress he made during his usual training with the Preparation trait, this rate of improvement was astonishing.

As he continued to move forward, Roland suddenly detected a noisy sound coming from ahead.

He immediately crouched down and moved forward stealthily, his footsteps light.

The soles of his boots landed on the soft, fallen leaves without making a sound.

Finally, he stopped before a cluster of dense bushes.

His slender fingers gently pushed aside the leaves, and he looked up.

This was a clearing that had been roughly cultivated.

Seventeen or eighteen crude huts, plastered together with branches and mud, were crammed together haphazardly.

At the edges lay several corpses, gnawed beyond recognition. Judging by their tattered clothing, they must have been merchants, mercenaries, or adventurers who had come to hunt these creatures.

Dozens of goblins were scurrying back and forth across the camp like ants moving house.

Some were roughly stuffing stolen utensils into their baskets, the sound of shattering pottery echoing continuously.

Others were fighting over a piece of moldy dried meat, tearing at each other until their mouths were bloody.

Viewed from above, the entire camp exuded a morbid vitality, like maggots writhing within rotten wood.

And in the very center of the camp, a goblin wearing a bone necklace was shrieking orders.

It was similar in size to the others, but its murky yellow eyes glinted with cunning.

Whenever a goblin moved too slowly while carrying something, it would jump up and fiercely beat the offender's head with its bone staff.

So they really are moving. But where are these goblins trying to go? The Black Fir Forest?

Roland mused silently, narrowing his eyes as he carefully counted their numbers.

"One, two, three... thirty-one goblins..."

He murmured softly, his mind quickly calculating.

Judging by this scale, if the number of monsters in the Kobold den is similar to this goblin camp, then after completing these two commissions, the kill count required to change jobs to Warrior should be enough.

Thinking this, Roland licked his lips excitedly, his right hand reaching for the shortbow at his waist.

This bow had been crafted under Hawk's guidance before he set out, perfectly suited to his usage.

The dark brown wood of the bow was meticulously polished, with no superfluous decorations. Only the grip was wrapped with a few turns of leather cord.

Though its appearance was simple and unadorned, compared to the shortbows he had borrowed from John and Darko before, this weapon felt incredibly natural in his hands.

The only thing Roland regretted was that perhaps due to insufficient practice time, he had never managed to awaken any woodcraft-related skills.

Roland calmly drew the bowstring, pulling it back like a full moon.

Twang!

With the muffled sound of the bowstring snapping back, the arrow shot through the air like lightning.

With the boost from his max-level [Basic Archery], shooting a stationary target was as easy as pie.

The next instant, the goblin leader with the bone necklace around its neck suddenly let out a piercing wail and staggered backward, falling.

The sharp arrow had precisely pierced its eye socket, sinking deep into its skull. Blood immediately gushed out.

This goblin leader, which had been chattering orders just moments before, twitched a few times before falling completely silent.

Before the remaining goblins could react to the shock, a continuous series of whistling sounds filled the air.

Arrow after arrow flew out with barely any pause.

Accompanied by cries of pain, the goblins' expressions rapidly shifted from bewilderment to terror, and finally, they completely broke down, scattering in all directions.

Seeing that this group of green-skinned little monsters could no longer mount any effective resistance, Roland no longer hid.

He swiftly drew the iron sword from his waist, and his agile figure leaped out from the bushes. Like a fierce tiger, he charged into the fleeing goblin horde, his iron sword drawing a cold arc in the sunlight.

In just a few minutes, all thirty-one goblins lay dead in pools of blood.

Roland flicked the blood off his sword and surveyed the corpses scattered on the ground. After confirming there were no stragglers, he slowly sheathed his sword.

Easier than I expected.

Roland squatted down and casually rummaged through the spoils scattered on the ground.

Crude wooden clubs with sharp stones tied to them, a few rusty short knives, and several spears fashioned from animal bones.

These crudely made weapons were not even worth a single copper coin, causing him to frown.

As expected, I can't rely on these poor monsters.

He muttered under his breath and was about to get up and leave when his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a dilapidated wooden box next to the goblin leader's corpse.

The box was half-buried in the dirt, its surface covered in scratches, looking as if it had been dragged roughly.

Roland used the tip of his sword to pry open the lid. A few copper coins immediately rolled out from the gap with a clinking sound.

His eyes lit up, and he bent down to examine it. Inside, several silver coins, a small handful of copper pieces, and... were piled haphazardly.

These guys.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The box was stuffed with all sorts of shiny but worthless trinkets.

Several polished seashells, a few colorful glass beads, and even half of a broken mirror.

These "treasures" were carefully wrapped in rags and mixed with the coins.

At the very bottom were even a few packets of iron nails, so rusty they were almost corroded.

"Just as expected from a goblin's taste."

Roland shook his head, tucking the silver and copper coins into his coin pouch.

"Three silver and seventy-two copper, plus the reward for collecting goblin ears – that's quite a substantial income."

"No wonder those mercenaries and adventurers flock here despite the danger."

After confirming there was nothing else to hold valuables, Roland skillfully cut off the left ear of each goblin, placing them into a dedicated leather pouch.

He then retrieved all the arrows he had fired, wiped them clean, and put them back into his quiver.

After carefully inspecting the battlefield to ensure nothing was missed, he immediately retraced his steps and returned quickly.

Slapping the bulging loot bag onto the horse's back, Roland nimbly mounted it. He took out a yellowed parchment map from his bosom, examining it closely in the fading sunlight.

Once he confirmed the exact location of the kobold den, he gently spurred his horse, galloping towards his destination.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Unlike the goblin camp, Roland encountered no kobold patrols while traveling through this dense forest.

The unexpectedly smooth journey allowed him to reach the quest's marked location quickly.

As he cautiously pushed aside the thick bushes before him and looked into the deep cave, he couldn't help but freeze.

The clearing in front of the cave was a mess, littered with various daily necessities and abandoned items.

Inside the cave, apart from messy footprints, there was no one. Only the bonfire in the center still emitted wisps of smoke, proving that creatures had lived here not long ago.

Roland bent down, holding his hand above the bonfire to test the temperature.

The trait of [Heart of the Furnace] made him extremely sensitive to the temperature of flames.

"Still warm. It seems they left not long ago."

This discovery prompted him to immediately exit the cave and scout the surrounding area.

After a thorough search, he finally found a series of messy kobold footprints on the muddy ground to the southeast, leading deeper into the forest.

Roland slowly stood up, his brow furrowing unconsciously.

If he remembered correctly, this direction...

Seemed to completely align with the area of monster activity mentioned in the Adventurer's Guild's latest commission.