Terrifying Adventurers

Another defective item, but he had gotten something out of it. Xiao Yu nodded in satisfaction. At least he hadn't come away empty-handed.

Just as he was feeling pleased, a goblin scout suddenly rushed in from outside. "Chieftain, bad news! Lots of adventurers have come charging in from outside! The boys can't hold them off much longer!"

"What?! This is outrageous! They killed my people, and now they dare attack our camp!" The goblin chieftain was furious. "Order all the goblins to gather in the center of the camp and prepare for battle. Eric, come with me. We'll fight together."

"Yes, Chieftain! I'll fight bravely for the tribe!" Xiao Yu said, but inwardly he thought, Fight my ass! A level 47 high-level player has come to slaughter the village. Wouldn't I just be throwing my life away? Nope, better get out of here.

As soon as he left the tent, he began looking around. The camp had only one exit, the main gate, and not a single decent building-just the chieftain's tent and a few low shacks. Where was he supposed to hide? His gaze suddenly fell on the mud hole. That ought to be a good place. Female players generally liked to keep clean, so she probably wouldn't be interested in a dark, damp cave like that.

He had also realized by now that the female night elf rogue must have had a reason for letting him go. She had most likely followed him and found the camp. Destroying a monster camp could also earn a fair amount of reputation, so things probably didn't look good for the goblin camp today.

With that thought, he waited until the goblin chieftain wasn't looking, then turned and jogged straight into the mud hole to hide.

The mud hole was just as before, damp and muddy, with frogs hopping all over the ground. Xiao Yu ignored the little creatures and walked straight to the end of the hole, only to stop short at the sight of two figures.

A goblin scout and a goblin warrior were sitting there playing poker, each holding a hand of cards.

Xiao Yu almost spat out a mouthful of blood. The scene was too ****** bizarre. He had a vague feeling the two looked familiar, as though he had spoken to them in the camp.

"Huh? Why did you come running over here too?" one of the goblins, whose skin was slightly yellow, asked in surprise. "Don't tell me you're a player?"

"Yeah. Are you two players too?"

Xiao Yu asked in surprise. He had thought he was the only player in the goblin camp, but it turned out there were quite a few others like him.

Both goblins nodded. "A few adventurers showed up outside the camp just now. We went out to take a look, and damn, they had a level 47 high-level player leading them! We could only chicken out. You're just in time. The three of us can play Fight the Landlord."

Xiao Yu sighed. "All right, looks like none of us are stupid. Sure, what are we playing for?" As he spoke, he sat down too.

Leaving aside Xiao Yu, the culprit, hiding in the hole and playing Fight the Landlord with the two goblins, the battle outside was raging. Well, perhaps "slaughter" would have been a more accurate description.

Facing a level 47 night elf rogue clad in black dragon leather armor, the single-digit-level goblins displayed a fearless spirit, undaunted by hardship or sacrifice. Then they were all sacrificed.

"Hmph, they were no match for me. I killed them all so quickly, and I only got 12 reputation points. How stingy can you get?" Moonmark ? Shadow Stalker muttered to herself as she wiped her daggers clean on the goblin chieftain's tattered robe.

In fact, though, she had expected as much. Given the difference in their levels, she was lucky they hadn't deducted reputation points instead.

She searched the corpse out of habit, and a staff appeared in her hand.

Goblin Chieftain's Scepter (green - fine): Attack 5-9. Spell power +4, spirit +2, intelligence +2. Caster classes only.

Use: Summons a little goblin to fight for you for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

There was also a line of small yellow text below.

Item description: A staff commonly used by goblin chieftains. Said to be a symbol of authority among the goblins.

An unexpected find.

"Here, equipment for you," she said, casually tossing it to the mage.

Then she searched Shrek's (goblin warrior's) corpse and pulled out a large cleaver this time.

Warrior's Blade (green - fine): Attack 8-10, strength +1.

"Useless junk. If none of you want it, I'll throw it away."

"Haha, this staff has good stats! Didn't expect to get something like this," the mage said excitedly. Then she sighed. "Ah, too bad I didn't get it myself." She casually tossed it onto the ground.

"Why did you throw it away?"

"I've told you, a game is only fun if you play it yourself. It's no fun using equipment I didn't get myself. If I wanted to spend money, what good equipment couldn't I buy? It's not like I need one measly piece of green gear."

Moonmark ? Shadow Stalker looked at the mage, both exasperated and amused. She genuinely couldn't understand the logic of these RPG enthusiasts. Why be so particular about playing a game? "If that's how you feel, why did you hire me as your bodyguard?"

Water Falls Without a Trace shook her head. "There are so many unscrupulous players around these days. We hired you mainly to stop them from affecting our normal gameplay experience. That's a completely different matter. All right, we've gotten our revenge, so let's go."

With that, the three elves headed out of the camp.

Regional announcement: In Firmament Era year 1375, while protecting her employer, the elite mercenary Moonmark ? Shadow Stalker wiped out the goblin camp in the Night Whisper Forest region and killed the goblin chieftain Kerrigan Big Stick. This deed has been recorded in the Chronicles of the Firmament.

System notification: The camp leader has died. The camp is currently without an owner. If no new leader emerges within 24 hours, this camp will be erased.

Ah, this camp is going to disappear. Xiao Yu felt a little helpless when he heard the message. He knew how the game worked: every wild monster faction needed a leader to exist. As long as the leader was alive, new goblins would keep spawning. Conversely, if the leader died, the monster faction would automatically be considered routed, and a new leader had to emerge within 24 hours. Otherwise, once the 24 hours were up, the system would erase it. The camp itself wouldn't disappear, of course; it would become another monster faction's territory. It might become a bandit camp, a kobold camp, or a gnoll camp. In any case, it would no longer be a goblin camp.

"Let's go. The fighting outside is probably over. We should find a way to leave too. If there's no other choice, we'll have to join another goblin camp. I remember there's a large goblin tribe in the Western Wilds south of Night Whisper Forest. Maybe we can go join them."

The three goblins talked among themselves as they headed outside.

When they emerged from the mud hole, the three goblins looked around the camp and felt a wave of fear. It was horrible, inhuman even. Every last goblin had been killed; not even the level 1 little goblins had been spared. Goblin corpses lay everywhere.