Chương 68: Kill One Person First

The Hero Party headed east all the way, their marching speed several times faster than the most skilled Goblin hunting squads. When Young Master Lance led his people to the place of exile, half of them died, but the Hero Party talked and laughed, as relaxed as if they were on a picnic. At nightfall, the Hero Party camped by the big river. The big-shield tough guy carried a huge bundle on his back; once opened, tents, cooking utensils, and everything else were revealed.

The Elf began to set up the tents, and the big-shield tough guy gathered firewood, holding a pot and shouting to the big-chested "Roasted Chicken" Mage.

"Hey~ Julie, give me a hand." Julie pressed her head against the Hero's shoulder and didn't even turn her head; with a wave of her hand, it was an instant-cast Fireball. The woodpile caught fire, and the big-shield tough guy began cooking while whistling. The Hero and the female mage looked at the big river. At this time, the full moon hung high, and the boundless surface of the river set off the reflection of the moon; the scenery was extremely beautiful.

"Ah~~~ Lord Leon~~~" Julie began to get "heated up," rubbing against the Hero.

"Let's get married, Lord Leon, and have 100 babies!!" Julie looked at the Hero's handsome face, and her drool was almost falling. Hero Leon smiled gently.

"Sorry, Julie, I only have the Goddess in my heart!" Julie gnashed her teeth.

"Kuh... so frustrating! But Lord Leon is so handsome; even if the competitor is a Goddess, I won't give up!!" Hero Leon smiled. Rather than becoming lovers or something, they were already the most important partners, and that was enough. Suddenly, the Hero saw a behemoth on the river surface in the distance and gave a cry of surprise.

"Look, it's the Lord of the Holy River!!" The few people who were busy all looked toward the riverbank and then exclaimed in admiration. It was a behemoth whose body alone, exposed above the water, was over a hundred meters long. If it weren't for Hero Leon's super strength, they would have thought it was an island.

"Hmph, looks like a big loach." The female Elf came to the riverbank, her arms crossed, her tone arrogant. Hero Leon quickly made a "shush" gesture.

"Undine! You mustn't be rude! The Lord of the Holy River is a legendary creature. Many people who live by the river pray to it; seeing it will bring good luck!" The Elf named Undine snorted again but didn't speak further. After everyone watched the big fish for a while, the big-shield man reminded them: "Alright everyone, time to eat!" Everyone gathered around the pot to eat. Leon took a sip of soup and felt instantly healed.

"Maxi, no matter how many times I drink the soup you make, it always tastes delicious~" The big-shield tough guy named Maxi gave a simple and honest smile and served a bowl of soup to everyone. Over the next few days, the Hero Party traveled by day and ate and rested by night. In just 10 days, they had covered almost the entire distance that Young Master Lance and the others had taken over a month to travel. Along the way, the Hero Party discovered many things: human corpses, abandoned tools, and horse carcasses.

The Hero Party would stop from time to time to collect the bodies of the dead. Hero Leon's expression was solemn. Before him was a grave mound where five people who had died on the path of exile were buried. The Elf Undine stepped forward and placed a flower before the grave, her face showing neither sadness nor joy.

"Don't worry about them; at least they didn't have much pain before they died. You should pray for those captured by the Goblins; they are the ones whose lives are worse than death." Some unbearable images flooded into Hero Leon's mind, and his hand clenched tightly.

"I will drive out all filth and impurity! No matter what those enslaved by the Goblins have become, I will bring them home!!" The Elf Undine thought to herself that they were traitors and he couldn't bring them home, but she didn't say it aloud. The squad continued forward. Around 12: 00 in the morning, they reached a special forest area and found many traces of upright creatures' activities. After careful identification, Undine confirmed they were Goblin traces, and also Kobolds.

"Kobolds?" Leon asked in confusion. Undine nodded.

"It's Kobolds, indeed. They seem to be acting with the Goblins. Looking at the traces, they should be hunting together." Leon's face darkened. Goblins are an extremely xenophobic race. There are only two situations where Kobolds join a Goblin tribe: being eaten, or birthing Goblin cubs. The traces before them indicated that the Goblins were utilizing the Kobolds' keen sense of smell for hunting. The signal released by this organic combination between magic creatures was very dangerous.

Before the squad had advanced much further, they made another discovery. A white concrete stone tablet was stuck in the ground, with the part exposed above ground written in the Human Common Language: WARNING! You are entering the territory of the Alliance of Intelligent Beings. Armed personnel carrying armor, swords, bows, crossbows, and staves are prohibited from entering; otherwise, it will be regarded as a provocation, and the Alliance of Intelligent Beings will hold the respective forces accountable.

Above this paragraph was a circular icon with four stars inside the circle. This thing was the prototype of the "national flag" designed by Li Qinwu; the four stars respectively represented Goblins, Ogres, Kobolds, and Humans, all of whom were members recognized by the political entity of the Alliance of Intelligent Beings. The Alliance of Intelligent Beings was the banner Li Qinwu put out to the outside world; it was also a large plate into which anything could be fitted.

If any intelligent race were recognized by Li Qinwu and joined in the future, he just had to add a star to the circle.

"Is this... a declaration of nation-building by magic creatures?" Julie studied the stone tablet carefully and then laughed loudly.

"Interesting! Hahahaha!" She jumped behind the stone tablet, then jumped out, then jumped back in, then jumped out again.

"Hey, I jumped back in again, I jumped back out again, hit me, you idiot! Look, look, look, I'm holding a staff that isn't allowed to be brought in! Behind me is the Mages' Guild! How are you Goblins going to hold the Mages' Guild accountable!" While she was jumping back and forth like this, a sudden change occurred. A crossbow bolt shot toward her from the forest.

"Careful!!" The big-shield tough guy rushed in front of Julie. The crossbow bolt hit his breastplate, not even leaving a mark. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The four immediately entered a combat state and took out their weapons. The big-shield tough guy raised his large shield, and the others hid behind him. Looking at the location of the attack, they saw over 30 crossbow Goblins and one Kobold staring at them fiercely.

A Goblin at the head shouted: "This is the territory of the Alliance of Intelligent Beings! That big-chested female! You brought a contraband staff into our territory; it's a crime. Surrender immediately, blah blah blah..." He was speaking the Goblin language. The four members of the Hero Party couldn't understand it, mainly because they didn't expect the Goblins would communicate with them, so they hadn't activated translation magic in advance.

By the time they were curious about what the Goblins were saying and activated translation magic, the Goblin had finished speaking.

"Dammit! How dare you sneak-attack me! Die!!" Julie's temper was very explosive. Seeing Goblins, she didn't bother to talk at all. Raising her staff, she cast a Fireball. Her Fireball was much more powerful than Miss Hana's. A Fireball landed among the Goblin hunting squad and exploded; its power was like a 75 mm mountain gun shell, blowing the Goblins into flying flesh and blood with continuous tragic cries. That wasn't all! Three more Fireballs followed the first one.

A series of explosions and flames erupted among the Goblin hunting squad, directly reducing the 30 Goblins by more than half. The surviving Goblins were scared out of their wits, dropped the crossbows in their hands, and ran.

"Wah-ya-ya! Chase them, kill, kill, kill!!" Julie shouted noisily and gave chase directly, and the others followed. Leon glanced back at the stone tablet and followed as well. How could Goblins outrun the Hero Party? Even in the forest, they were chased and slaughtered by the Hero Party. Fireballs and arrows flew everywhere, and in the blink of an eye, the Goblin hunting squad was down to single digits.

Before the last Goblin died, he took a ceramic cylinder from his chest, lit the fuse at the end, and pointed the head toward the sky. Chiu! Pop!! A small firework flew into the sky and exploded. Leon also cut off the last Goblin's head with one sword stroke. Leon looked up; there was still white smoke left by the exploding firework in the sky. He didn't know what that thing was or what it was for. Was it magic or something? But there was no magic fluctuation here.

He was just about to consult Julie, but immediately after, the sound of fireworks exploding rang out from the distant sky—one, two, three, continuously. Leon looked at the fireworks in the distance and murmured: "They know we're here..." In front of Gob-Fort, the musketeer Goblins who were training to raise their guns all looked up together, watching the fireworks in the distant forest. Li Qinwu's expression froze, and he roared loudly at the soldiers.

"Enemy attack!! Enter combat positions according to training!! Officers of all units, restrain your troops. Anyone who dares to leave their combat position will be executed immediately!!" He put a whistle in his mouth and blew chiu-chiu-chiu. The Goblin musketeers deactivated their training state, picked up their weapons, and ran quickly to line up in front of Gob-Fort. The musketeer Goblins were very fast. With 50 men in a row, they filled the space in front of Gob-Fort.

Row after row of the formation was as straight as if measured with a ruler; they had rehearsed too many times and had no redundant movements. New paper-cartridge fixed gunpowder was taken out by the Company Commanders from wooden boxes painted with moisture-proof lacquer. This ammunition, which fixed the gunpowder and bullet together, was very convenient for loading. The soldiers only had to bite open the cartridge and stuff the black powder, paper, and bullet into the gun together.

The only bad thing was that the paper-making workshop Li Qinwu set up couldn't make greaseproof paper; the paper-cartridge ammunition was not moisture-proof. The bullets taken out and distributed to the soldiers had to be fired within two days, or the probability of ignition would be greatly reduced. While the musketeer Goblins were preparing in full swing, the Hero Party arrived.

A dozen or so Goblins from the hunting squad ran out of the forest in a panic, ran onto the farmland, and then ran toward Gob-Fort like crazy. Before they could run a few steps, a dozen arrows were fired, accurately piercing the backs of their heads, followed by a few Fireballs that turned the corpses into dust. The four members of the Hero Party rushed out of the forest. The vast area of farmland made them a bit dazed.

They thought they would see a settlement devastated into ruins by Goblins, but before them, pieces of farmland were divided into squares by water channels, and the green crops were growing well, more orderly than the manors of some lords.

"Look there!" Undine pointed below Gob-Fort. The musketeer Goblins were lined up in neat formations, their eyes staring fixedly at the few of them. The group felt shocked again. With so many Goblins gathered together, how strong must their leader be? A Goblin tribe of such scale hadn't appeared in nearly a hundred years. Maxi walked to the very front holding his shield.

"I haven't seen the weapons in their hands. Everyone, get behind the shield. Lord Leon, what next? Just charge over and eliminate them?"

"Oh oh oh! My Fireball is already hungry and thirsty!" Julie waved her staff, preparing to have a big fight. These Goblins were standing in lines; one of her Fireballs could kill over a dozen! Leon also wanted his partners to charge over in one go and eliminate the enemy, but there was movement on the Goblin side. Li Qinwu sent out a recruited Sin-Soldier, making him carry no weapons and just hold a circular star flag of the Alliance of Intelligent Beings toward the Hero.

As he drew near, Undine raised her bow wanting to shoot an arrow, but she was pressed down by the Hero.

"Listen to what he says." All four people present knew spells, just with different focuses. They all activated translation magic, wanting to hear what this Goblin, suspected to be an envoy, had to say. The Sin-Soldier stopped about 30 meters in front of the Hero, recalled what Li Qinwu had said to him, and shouted loudly: "Listen, armed personnel ahead! You have entered the national territory of the Alliance of Intelligent Life and cruelly murdered our citizens.

Now, we are issuing an ultimatum to you: lay down your weapons immediately and accept sanctions; otherwise, we will take forceful measures!" The expressions of the four were all very strange. Dammit, having traveled the continent for so long and wiped out no fewer than eight hundred or a thousand Goblin nests, this was the first time they were issued an "ultimatum" by Goblins. The group couldn't help but laugh, but Hero Leon didn't laugh; his mindset underwent a slight change.

Why did he feel that a simple task of subjugating Goblins had taken on the guilt of invading another country? Julie had the most explosive temper. After laughing loudly, she raised her staff and cast an instant Fireball, blowing the Goblin envoy in front of her into a pile of mangled flesh.

"So interesting! These Goblins are so interesting! A group of Goblins playing a kingdom-lord game, they even know how to deploy troops. I can't wait to catch their 'King,' hahahahaha!" After laughing, she strode into the farmland and charged toward Gob-Fort. She needed to get close enough for the Fireball to exert sufficiently powerful strength! The others also followed her footsteps; they couldn't let their partner be left alone.

But Julie ran too fast, and she didn't have much weight on her; Maxi, the big-shield tough guy, couldn't run to the front to provide cover for a moment. Li Qinwu on the wall saw the opponent launch an attack, and the running speed was unusually fast, with the mage—whose threat was second only to the Hero—running at the very front. He was overjoyed! He ordered Gobu-Spear beside him: "Prepare a volley!" Gobu-Spear had a whistle in his mouth and blew chiu-chiu-chiu according to a certain rhythm.

The soldiers in the trenches immediately sharpened their spirits, slightly adjusted their match-cords, and aimed their muzzles at the human female running at the very front. Li Qinwu coldly watched the two approaching "big-chests," silently calculating the distance in his heart: 500 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 150 meters. At about 150 meters, the "big-chests" stopped and began to cast spells on the spot. Li Qinwu thought to himself, "Good opportunity," and shouted: "FIRE!!"

Gobu-Spear raised his pistol and fired a shot toward the sky. All the musketeer Goblins in the trenches triggered their muskets at the same time, and nearly a thousand bullets shot toward Julie. Hero Leon, who was running, saw his pupils shrink; he felt a great terror ahead and shouted anxiously: "Julie! Get down quickly!!" Unfortunately, it was already too late.

In the Hero Party, only the Hero had the protection of the Goddess of Life and possessed a super-strong sixth sense; the others were just stronger mortals and couldn't detect the threat in advance at all. At the moment the guns boomed, Julie's continuous Fireball had just finished being cast, and a series of fireballs shot out from the top of the staff. The triumphant Julie was just about to appreciate the destruction she created, but what met her were hundreds of bullets.

Steel bullets covered her beautiful body, and the massive kinetic energy blew her into a mixture of bone and flesh. Bursts of blood mist slowly drifted in the air.