Gnawrock Tribe

"What is that?"

Garos stepped closer and took a careful look.

It was a square stone with simple runes carved into its center. It was not reflecting light; rather, the central runes were emitting a faint glow.

It was a Communication Stone.

Garos recognized it.

It was one of the most common and widely used alchemical items on Bernardo Planet. As its name implied, it could transmit messages.

The runes on the Communication Stone's surface were glowing, then gradually dimmed and went out.

Clearly, it had just been used.

"This Goblin used a Communication Stone before dying. It must have sent some kind of message to the tribe behind it."

"It must be related to me, to Iron Fir Territory."

Garos's draconic brows furrowed slightly.

Goblins were highly vengeful. According to Samantha's description, this Goblin Tribe possessed quite a few alchemical items. However, aside from those items, their individual Life Levels were not high, and their numbers were neither too great nor too small.

"Once the Goblin Tribe receives the message, it definitely won't let this go."

"Since they dared to hunt Samantha, that means they aren't afraid of Hatchling Dragons. They may even see them as prey."

Garos paced in place, deep in thought.

Do I have to abandon the Iron Fir Hills? The resources here are ordinary, but they are barely enough for me to live here for now. The Wilderness is dangerous, and finding another suitable territory won't be easy. A wandering life isn't good for my growth, either.

But if he did not abandon the territory—

Being ambushed and surrounded by a prepared Goblin Tribe could be very dangerous.

I don't want to give up this territory, and I don't want to die in an ambush or siege.

I'll investigate first and determine the Goblin Tribe's situation.

If they're very weak, I can simply ignore them. If they're too strong, I'll have no choice but to abandon the Iron Fir Hills.

But if they're somewhere in between—if they can't pose much of a threat head-on, yet could endanger me through ambushes—then I'll solve them all first, just in case!

Under the sun, the Red Iron Dragonet narrowed his eyes slightly, a trace of murderous intent flashing through them.

Whenever his life was involved and he sensed danger, Garos became extremely vigilant, guarded, cautious, and brimming with killing intent.

When facing a potential threat—

Garos's style was to snuff it out while it was still in the bud whenever possible.

Just as he had done when attacking the Goblin Wolf Cavalry earlier.

The moment he decided to attack, Garos had prepared himself not to let a single Goblin escape, so as to prevent any information from leaking out. Unfortunately, the Communication Stone had still transmitted a message, which might bring danger upon him.

Turning to look at Samantha, Garos asked, "How strong is the Goblin Tribe that hunted you, overall? Tell me everything you know in as much detail as possible. Don't leave anything out."

Samantha was somewhat stunned, unsure what Garos intended to do.

She thought back and told Garos everything she knew, one detail at a time.

After listening to Samantha's account, Garos fell into thought.

"In terms of Life Level, the strongest Goblin is only Level 6."

"However, they have quite a few alchemical items in their tribe, as well as an Alchemy Golem that made Samantha feel greatly threatened."

Alchemy Golems were a rather successful product that had emerged during the development of alchemical items.

They were recorded in the Dragon Inheritance, which paid them particular attention.

For example—

Holy Flame Arbiter Ignis.

It was one of the Human Empire of Holden's top Golems, jointly created by countless Alchemists and the Church of Dawn. It had been forged from the skeleton of an Ancient Red Dragon along with numerous rare and expensive metals, its interior and exterior covered in sacred runes from the Church of Dawn, possessing many different attributes at once.

Because Holy Flame Arbiter Ignis had used the remains of an Ancient Red Dragon as material—

The Dragon Race regarded it as an unforgivable insult.

Even Metal Dragons, who were hostile to Evil Dragons, could not tolerate it.

Once, a group of legendary Metal Dragons came knocking, demanding the destruction of Holy Flame Arbiter Ignis, only to be refused by the Holden Empire and the Church of Dawn.

Metal Dragons were orderly creatures, after all. They had their concerns and were unwilling to start a war over the remains of an Evil Dragon.

Moreover, the Holden Empire wisely offered many alchemical items to soothe the Metal Dragons' anger. After prolonged negotiations, the matter was ultimately dropped.

As for Evil Dragons, solitary and independent as they were, even Primordial Dragons could not contend with an Empire.

Holy Flame Arbiter Ignis was now used to guard an Abyssal Rift within the Holden Empire. It had slain countless Demons and was tremendously famous and powerful on Bernardo Planet.

And there was more than one top-tier Alchemy Golem like Holy Flame Arbiter Ignis that could slay a Primordial Dragon.

Back to the matter at hand.

The Alchemy Golem in the Goblin Tribe could not possibly be of a high grade. It was most likely mass-produced, perhaps even an Alchemy Golem meant for mining or transport rather than combat. Such Alchemy Golems could be bought directly through many channels.

I don't need to be too nervous.

Come to think of it, if this Goblin Tribe were truly powerful, Samantha wouldn't have been able to escape their capture in the first place.

Garos relaxed considerably, and the fierceness in his eyes gradually faded.

"I really want to eat. I haven't had meat in a long time."

Samantha was staring at the Wild Bull, her eyes fixed wide without blinking, unable to look away.

If not for the fact that her awe of Garos had now reached its peak, she would have pounced on it long ago.

Grrr...

Her stomach suddenly rumbled like muffled thunder, drawing Garos's glance.

Samantha was instantly mortified. Her dragon face burned, and her tail swept from side to side. Yet she simply could not endure the torment of hunger any longer, so she pleaded with Garos, "My dear brother, can I have some beef? Just a little, only a little."

Wouldn't it have been better to say so earlier?

Garos tore off an entire hind leg of the bull with his claws and tossed it to Samantha.

Samantha caught the hind leg and began wolfing it down with great relish. She even chewed up and swallowed all the bones, wasting nothing.

"Mobel, drive these gray wolves into the hills. Keep them penned as reserve food."

Garos began eating as well while giving the order.

"Got it!"

The Earth Violent Bear nodded heavily, strode forward, and began driving away the surviving gray wolves.

Time slowly passed.

The sun slanted westward and vanished, while night descended without a sound.

The Gnawrock Tribe—the Goblin Tribe that had hunted Samantha.

Its settlement lay at the foot of a low, reddish-brown hill heavily eroded by wind. The surface of the hill was covered in honeycomb-like natural caves, as though it were rotten wood bored hollow by insects.

The Goblins nailed planks, beast bones, and broken clay jars over the cave entrances with rusted iron nails, cobbling them together into crooked walls.

Rather than defensive fortifications, they looked more like warning signs made from piles of garbage.

Around the outside stood a fence woven from inverted flint spikes and Man-Eater Vines.

Dried lizard skulls hung from the vines. In Goblin culture, they believed that hanging the skulls of prey would bring good fortune to the tribe.

Though small in scale, it had everything it needed.

In the iron pits, Goblins used sulfur-blackened claws to sort iron ore before sending it to the smelting workshop, where it was forged into barbed arrowheads, swords, and other weapons and equipment. The tribe's Alchemists then further enhanced and reinforced them.

The Ser Wilderness was rich in all kinds of ores.

Ordinary iron ore could be found almost everywhere. Even the smallest tribes did not lack it. As for magical precious-metal ores, those were beyond their reach.