Chapter 222: Hobgoblin

Xia Duo had never seen a Goblin drink water, but he shouldn't have such thoughts either.

Of course Goblins need to drink water, especially when there is a ready-made river nearby; Xia Duo temporarily focused his target on the Goblins, though he did not rule out other creatures.

Xia Duo hacked his way along; this Adamantine Sword of Jibu's had fallen into his hands, and before it could even taste blood, it had been reduced to a wood-chopping knife!

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the jungle ahead. Xia Duo immediately stopped all movement and listened carefully to distinguish it.

The sound grew closer; it was the sound of something pushing aside bushes and rubbing against them. Listening further, footsteps also arrived.

Judging by the sound of Xia Duo's own movement here, the thing coming was clearly much lighter than him; if nothing went wrong, it should be a Goblin.

As the sound drew nearer, Xia Duo gradually built a rough image in his mind based on the increasingly three-dimensional sound—

A humanoid creature, not tall, with lazy and casual movements, and not much strength.

In this Green Pearl Forest, the creature most likely to have such characteristics was probably a Goblin; a Gnome was also possible, but Xia Duo had heard that the Gnomes in Savile Territory were all in the lord's mines and were usually hard to see.

Not to mention here.

Xia Duo could almost be certain that this was a Goblin.

In a flash of thought, Xia Duo diverted part of his energy to set up a Silent Barrier around him; this 0-Ring Spell he had stolen from Jianaer was quite practical.

After Xia Duo's modification, he could maintain it around his body while keeping his focus, rather than leaving it in place once cast.

Carrying the Silent Barrier, Xia Duo's movements became much freer; with the sharpness of the Adamantine weapon, hacking through these bushes no thicker than three fingers was extremely easy.

At the same time, his pace quickened significantly; there were no stone paths like in Savile Town in the forest, only primitive paths of accumulated humus that were like mud.

Xia Duo did not follow the winding path trodden by the Goblins, but instead blazed his own trail, yet his speed was not slow. By the time that Goblin saw him, Xia Duo had already thrown the Adamantine Sword in his hand.

It struck the little Goblin's head squarely.

This unlucky Goblin didn't even let out a wail before it kicked the bucket.

……

"This is—"

Pulling the Adamantine Sword from the Goblin's head and using the sword to flip the Goblin over, Xia Duo's gaze rested on the two water bags that had been pressed beneath the Goblin.

There was more than one Goblin, and it was very likely they had already formed an organization; this unlucky fellow had been sent out to fetch water.

Xia Duo immediately made a judgment. From some materials in the Tower of Time Library, it was known that Goblins only had obvious organizational forms when they had formed a settlement.

Otherwise, a bunch of Goblins would be like a bunch of headless flies; even if one were the leader today, they might be secretly killed by someone at night.

Goblins were naturally lazy; if they hadn't formed an organization, they wouldn't be willing to submit to the strong, and even if they surrendered on the spot, they might turn around and renege.

The best way to deal with these little things that were prone to infestation was to kill them all.

The soldiers and Adventurers of Savile Territory had a mission that was largely to clear out the Goblins in the forest; small groups were cleared by Adventurers, and large groups by the territory's soldiers.

It was just that their clearing couldn't possibly reach 20 miles deep into the Green Pearl Forest to here.

In other words, the daily routine of Daxia Territory from now on would very likely be fighting Goblins.

……

At this point, Xia Duo did not continue forward but turned back. However, he did not return along the original path, but based on a vague judgment, veered a bit to the north to head to the landing point.

On the way back, Xia Duo still used the Adamantine Sword to clear the path.

Until he emerged from the woods near the landing point, a shout suddenly rang out from the ship: "Lord!"

"It's the Lord!"

"The Lord is back!"

These people had really not moved at all when told to stay put. Xia Duo was actually a bit dissatisfied in his heart, but this order had been given by himself.

Sigh—

Those in power on one hand demanded that their subordinates obey them resolutely, and on the other hand, wanted their subordinates to have subjective initiative to share their worries, rather than just being tools.

It really was a headache!

Thinking this way, Xia Duo laughed in spite of himself. It really was hard to fathom the intentions of those above. He thought of his workplace before he transmigrated; no wonder the boss was always picking on the employees—it was the subordinates' fault either way.

……

Xia Duo did not board the ship, but stood by the gangplank extending to the shore and shouted: "Captain Jibu, have the crew move the supplies down. The Second Team will stand guard, and you bring the First Team with me."

"Yes! Lord."

Jibu quickly relayed the order. Soon, the soldiers of the First and Second Teams all disembarked to await Xia Duo's orders, and the crew members also came off the ship with axes and machetes.

They had to first clear away the surrounding weeds and brush and lay down wooden boards before they could stack the supplies.

"Second Team, stay and stand guard. Ximeng, I now appoint you as the temporary Captain. The rest of the Second Team will take your orders. I hope you won't let me down."

The pioneering hadn't even begun, yet someone had already taken a half-step ahead. The members of the Second Team looked enviously at Ximeng, the person who had joined Daxia Territory at the same time as them.

Even Jibu and the others of the First Team were lost in thought. If the members of the Second Team were confirmed members of Daxia Territory who could receive promotions and rewards, then their own status was a bit awkward.

And Ximeng was overjoyed at this moment, slamming his right hand heavily against his left chest and saying firmly: "I swear to complete your order with my life."

"Mm." Xia Duo nodded faintly and turned to Jibu, "Follow me!"

After saying this, Xia Duo left a Magic Alert nearby and then followed the "path" he had previously cleared toward the direction of the Goblin settlement.

Behind him, Jibu felt complicated. The Xia Duo of the past was someone he could look at levelly or even look down upon, but as Xia Duo became increasingly brilliant, until he became a Pioneer—

He had completely become someone he had to look up to.

Not knowing what he was thinking of, Jibu's eyes suddenly became incomparably firm. He gripped the empty scabbard that no longer held a sword and followed closely behind Xia Duo.

……

Three or four hundred meters east of Xia Duo's landing point, the terrain here was no longer flat, but had undulations about half a person's height.

It formed the appearance of a small hill. The west side of the hill had been dug open by some creature, revealing a stony interior that was slightly concave, but it didn't form a cave.

Instead, it looked like a natural stone throne.

Just as Xia Duo and the others were clearing the path, a muscular humanoid creature suddenly stood up from this stone throne.

Seemingly frightened by its height of over two meters, the group of little Goblins less than a meter tall around it immediately became agitated and surged backward one after another.

But those in the back were pushing forward, so the actions of those little Goblins in the front were destined to be in vain.

That tall creature walked down from the "throne," grabbed a little Goblin at random, and without caring about the little Goblin's flailing limbs, prepared to stuff it into its mouth.

Sharp fangs pierced the little Goblin's neck in an instant, and it began to suck incessantly until the little Goblin in its hand stopped moving.

It then casually tore off an arm and stuffed it into its mouth, chewing with a crunching sound, scaring the surrounding crowd of little Goblins so much that they dared not even move.

After eating one arm, this tall creature felt bored, took two water skins from the stone throne, threw them in front of the Goblins, pointed at a little Goblin at random, and roared:

"You, go to the river, fetch water!"