A Beating for Friendly Forces

Yang Yu, entrusted with an important mission, set off under everyone's watchful gaze.

Before he left, Andeno specifically gave him a small tool resembling a compass. As long as he carried it, Yang Yu would be able to reunite with them easily.

Andeno also gave Yang Yu a spare map of the forest so he would not get lost in its complex terrain.

Bai Jin and He Meng accompanied Yang Yu as well.

Although Bai Jin possessed the Frailty trait, which could cause her to lose levels and attributes, her Intelligence was still nearly two hundred. She was among the best of the D-Rank Adventurers and unquestionably their main source of damage.

He Meng, who was somewhat tsundere, often slacked off and watched from the sidelines, but Yang Yu firmly believed that if he ever faced danger, He Meng would never abandon him. Having gained plenty of experience following Yang Yu and reached level 13, he could be called Yang Yu's secret weapon.

Opening the map, Yang Yu ordered Bai Jin to use Scan to carefully investigate the nearby watchers. Bai Jin had also sensed that strange magic before. For a mage, even if they could not detect a certain type of mana previously, once they had become familiar with it, no matter how faint or well-hidden it became, they could easily locate it through the Magic Detection Network.

After a careful search, they found that there were actually far fewer such watchers in this forest than they had imagined.

After all, placing such watchers throughout every part of the forest would require not only vast manpower and resources, but also an enormous amount of mana.

Yang Yu estimated that if the mastermind had enough mana to fill the forest with watchers, why would he need any conspiracies? Would it not be better to simply create a massive fireball and burn everything to ashes?

Based on that, Yang Yu guessed that their previous actions had probably been anticipated by the mastermind long ago. Perhaps even his leaving the group to search for a Goblin stronghold and gather information had been within the mastermind's control. He had to be especially careful.

Avoiding the watchers one by one, Yang Yu continued deeper into the forest.

"Yang Yu, there's an area ahead with a lot of densely packed watch points."

Following Bai Jin's hand, Yang Yu looked over. Other than a cave, there was nothing particularly unusual in that area. Yang Yu narrowed his eyes. "Let's carefully go around it. We'll head toward the outer edge of the forest first, bypass this place, then continue deeper in."

"Could this be another route the mastermind expected us to take? That cave looks so gloomy and frightening. Who knows what might be inside? Maybe as soon as we go this way, the monsters hiding deep in the cave will swarm out and eat us all."

Halfway through speaking, Bai Jin hurriedly shut her mouth and turned her face away. Her gradually eerie expression returned to normal.

"Who knows? That's possible, which is why we'll take a slight detour."

A meaningful smile appeared on Yang Yu's face. He turned and left the depths of the forest. Only after avoiding every watch point did he continue toward the dense woods again.

However, before long, Yang Yu noticed traces left by people in the forest. He crouched down to inspect them and found that they were still fresh. Judging from the footprints and disturbed soil, someone had been fleeing in panic.

Following the trail, they found many signs of battle among the trees. Continuing onward, they saw fresh marks on the ground left by stone axes and long spears.

Unlike the Goblins in games that swung spiked clubs wildly on the ground, the Goblins here preferred to move like monkeys through the treetops, leaping between branches and throwing weapons.

Judging by the number of weapons, there had to be at least thirty Goblins. Fighting them recklessly would be foolish; running away had been the correct choice.

Yang Yu immediately sped up and gave chase.

"These are probably traces left by people who escaped from the Goblin camp while fighting the Goblins. If we find them, we should be able to obtain the information we need. Bai Jin, be ready for battle at any moment."

"Understood!"

Leading Bai Jin along the trail, Yang Yu quickly found the fleeing people. They were the four-person group he had met once before: the Silverwind Squad led by Seka Mens.

They were currently confronting the Goblins.

Qi Li, the assassin, held two blades and panted heavily. His ordinary clothes were stained with dirt and blood, leaving him in a sorry state. Iron Wall's armor was damaged in many places, and his massive iron hammer was covered in scratches. Seka Mens's once neatly groomed, flowing hair was now completely disheveled, though his silver spear and armor still gleamed, worthy of their rare, nearly epic quality. The only one who looked slightly better was Luo Keke, the priest being protected. Her face was pale, and her continuous healing had nearly exhausted all her stamina.

As expected, there were more than thirty Goblins surrounding them. Most were between levels 16 and 19, while two were around level 22.

Seka Mens's group still had healthy HP, but their MP and stamina had already run dry. In contrast, although most of the Goblins surrounding them were somewhat injured, they remained full of energy. It was difficult to tell who would win.

If Yang Yu took Seka Mens's place, he would only have a fifty percent chance of eliminating the enemies before him and leading the group away. Of course, if the goal was merely to escape with the group, that was another matter.

"Use it directly. Don't worry, they can hold on. Then listen for my command. Seize the right moment and use your control spell."

Bai Jin hesitated slightly, but she still began chanting as Yang Yu instructed. The sky was instantly covered in gloom. With a booming crash, thunder and lightning erupted, and streaks of black lightning engulfed the entire Goblin encirclement.

The leading Elite Goblin was instantly dumbfounded. They had been just a little short of catching those fleeing humans, yet they had somehow been struck by divine punishment.

No.

Electric currents coursed through the Elite Goblin's body, filling him with pain and numbness, but his hearing and vision remained unharmed. As he endured the baptism of lightning, he could clearly see a figure emerge from the small woods behind him.

The Silverwind Squad within the encirclement was also bathed in lightning, their entire bodies going numb. As they wondered who had attacked them without discrimination, they saw Yang Yu swagger out.

"Yo, does ganging up on the weak feel good? Does electrotherapy feel good? If it doesn't, that's fine. There's something even better waiting for you next. If you've got guts, come at me!" His eyes were full of provocation and mockery as he crooked a finger at the Goblins.

The violent black lightning stopped. The Elite Goblin supported himself with the sword in his hand and glared viciously at Yang Yu. After being taunted like that, how could an elite like him tolerate it? He let out an angry roar, and every Goblin turned toward Yang Yu and charged.

The rats injured by the black lightning could no longer cause any trouble. Today, he would show these arrogant humans what Goblins were made of.

"This idiot! Even I'm helpless against so many pursuers. Shouting like that is practically the same as courting death."

Seka Mens gritted his teeth inwardly. In his eyes, they had merely happened to run into Yang Yu, and Yang Yu, that smooth-talking fellow, had stepped forward because he believed he could handle these Goblins.

"Run! Those cheap tricks of yours can't deal with these Goblins at all!"

"Not necessarily!" Yang Yu raised his sword, pointed it at the Goblins charging toward him, and smiled faintly.