The Goblin Scepter

The old shaman's body shuddered, and not another drop of blood flowed from his wounds. He was the only Goblin to have drained every last drop of his own blood while still alive.

Then a pale green light shot skyward and plunged into the Soul Stone in an instant. At that moment, the giant stopped struggling.

"His soul! That's the old shaman's soul! He grafted his own soul onto the giant's body!" Dean cried out involuntarily.

Goblins were green through and through, even their souls. But forcibly transferring his soul into the giant's body would cost the old shaman some soul power, even though he was a third-level Mage.

Gagaga!!! Roar!!!

The giant suddenly spoke, but the voice that came out belonged to the Goblin Shaman. That was proof enough that the old shaman had replaced the giant and become the body's true master!

"Dean, you can use a Giant Spirit Summoning Array like that? If there are a few more tribes like this one, wouldn't Blue Town be in terrible danger?" Kana asked, her eyes wide.

"You think this comes without a price? Sigh, no Mage would make a choice that left them no way back unless they were at the end of their rope. At least, no sane Mage would!" Dean pointed at the old shaman's body, which had already collapsed to the ground.

"Huh? Why isn't the old shaman taking care of his original body? What will he do when the magic array's effect ends..." Kana shut her mouth before she finished. She already knew why!

"Judging by the magic array, the magical materials, and the state of the giant spirit's body, the Giant Spirit Summoning Array's effect will disappear completely in ten hours at most!" Fortunately, Dean had some good news!

Dean's gaze fell beside the large pot that had been used to boil magical materials. Piles of spent ingredients lay there, and he identified them one by one as the Infinite Eye kept transmitting information about each material into his mind.

Ga, gagaga! Gaga!

The old shaman's voice rang out again, but this time it was deep and powerful, loud enough for every Goblin to hear. It seemed he had largely mastered this enormous body.

The Goblins, who had been delighted by the old shaman's seizure of the giant's body, all fell silent when they heard his voice. Only the little Goblin slowly rose and retrieved a wooden staff from a den.

Set into the wooden staff was a silver sphere the size of a fist. Its surface was extremely rough, however, and even its shape was irregular, closer to an oval.

The little Goblin raised the wooden staff above his head, and in an instant, it erupted with dazzling light!

Gagaga!!! Gagaga!!! Gagaga!!!

"That's... that's a Low-Level Magic Artifact!" Dean's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. A Magic Artifact! This was a Magic Artifact, a Mage's most supreme treasure! He had never imagined that a tiny Goblin Tribe would possess one.

Even if one counted both Blue Town's Magic Library and Bru Magic Academy, their combined Magic Artifacts probably numbered no more than the fingers on one hand!

This wooden staff had probably been passed down through hundreds of generations in the Goblin Tribe. Over that time, this ordinary magical scepter had actually developed a rudimentary consciousness and become a Magic Artifact.

"That little Goblin is the shaman's successor, the Goblin Tribe's new shaman. So that's it! That's why he kept following the old shaman around!" Dean was beside himself with excitement. What Mage could remain unmoved with a Magic Artifact staff right before their eyes?

Tears streaming down his face, the little Goblin clutched the wooden staff tightly and began walking deeper into the canyon. A small temple stood there. It was fairly clean, but the dust accumulated in its corners spoke volumes.

Someone cleaned the place, but only carelessly. It had been uninhabited for so long that there was not a trace of life within.

The little Goblin sat down inside, and in that instant, Kana and the other three sensed a peculiar atmosphere: security! As long as the tribe had a new Shaman Heir, every Goblin in it could live in peace. This determined whether the tribe was strong or weak, whether it would remain safe or perish!

Roar!!

This time, the old shaman lingered no longer. With a mighty roar, he strode out of the canyon. In the limited time he had left, he would bring Blue Town boundless destruction and boundless terror!

Gagaga!!! Gagaga!!! Gagaga!!!

A vast throng of Goblins took up all manner of weapons and followed on either side of the giant, as though clearing the way or escorting him, heading straight toward Blue Town!

Along the way, the giant's enormous body carved a broad path through the forest. But this was the Magic Beast Forest. In a day or two at most, nature would erase that path and every trace of it.

Before long, the mighty Goblin force followed the giant out of the canyon, leaving only the old, the weak, the women, and the children behind to await the army's victorious return.

Eighty or ninety percent of the Goblin Tribe had departed. Kana's Squad no longer feared the fighting strength of those who remained.

If they could not win, they could always run! Even if the remaining Goblins outnumbered them, surely the four of them could outrun a crowd of old folks, weaklings, women, and children?

After the main Goblin force left, the four waited another ten minutes before sneaking down. Still, close to a hundred Goblins remained in the canyon. Although blood loss had left them somewhat weak, the four could hardly swagger straight through the tribe!

Fortunately, the old, the weak, the women, and the children gradually returned to their dens. Only a few little Goblins remained in the clearing, chatting away. About what? Naturally, the moments when the giant appeared and the shaman seized his body had excited them most.

Dean cast a presence-concealing spell on all four of them, masking their human presence. Then, using the dense low bushes as cover, they inched their way toward the small temple.

It was only thanks to the current situation, with so few Goblins around and none on alert, that Dean's concealment spell proved so effective.

Under ordinary circumstances, Dean's half-baked concealment magic could only fool dim-witted little animals. As for whether the Demon Horn had strengthened the spell, he had no idea.

None of that mattered. Right now, Dean had eyes only for the wooden staff in the little Goblin's hands. Well, no—the little Goblin had already enshrined it in the hands of a Goblin Statue at the temple's upper end!

(End of chapter)