Chapter 31: Clan Annihilation, Experience Reaped

The goblin hatchery was ingeniously designed and extraordinarily complex, filled with dry hides and straw branches to maintain sufficient heat.

When Fang Shi arrived, he saw not a single goblin egg—only empty insulation boxes.

He glanced around and understood: the earlier goblin wanderer’s roar must have alerted the ones inside.

They hastily carried the goblin eggs and hatchlings through small tunnels and fled.

And because he had to advance carefully to inspect traps, he fell behind a step.

By the time he reached here, he saw only the chaotic traces of the goblins’ panicked escape.

Fang Shi didn’t bother to pursue. The goblins were short-statured, their tunnels too narrow for him to stand upright; crawling after them would only mean death, so why bother?

All he needed were the flammable materials here, to set a great fire.

…

The ritual was unusually long; by the time Fang Shi dragged a pile of dry hay to the entrance of the hall, the goblins inside had not yet finished.

He marveled: truly, they were descendants of dragon blood.

According to *The Book of Dragons*, dragon reproduction took a full day and night, and some had even witnessed white dragons enduring the process for a full month.

Thus, dragon whips remained highly valuable, exceeding the price of some magical items.

Of course, duration wasn’t a bad thing—Fang Shi hoped it would last even longer; he felt he wasn’t ready yet.

Unfortunately, all flammable materials in the hatchery had been cleared out, and he didn’t want to smash open the goblins’ huts for more, lest he miss his chance.

He could only observe the situation and craft some simple tools to use later.

Yet Fang Shi had overestimated the goblins’ sense of decency.

After finishing their ritual, they didn’t disperse—they collectively lay down to sleep on the floor.

Even the goblin shaman on the altar was no exception; his embrace with the goblin knight captain was so intimate that Fang Shi dared not look longer.

But it didn’t matter—it merely required minor adjustments to his plan.

Fang Shi carefully surveyed again, confirming no living creature remained awake.

Then he strode boldly into the hall, arrogant in posture, yet moving soundlessly and at great speed.

The four fire-lizards, too, had long since fallen into deep sleep from the alcohol.

Fang Shi had smeared himself with odor-eliminating potion beforehand, further reducing the chance of detection.

“Are these goblins really that careless? I’ve come all this way—except for that wanderer, not a single proper resistance.”

“And do goblins really need to move the temple slab to leave? Do ordinary goblins even have the strength to push it?”

“Surely not every time it’s the goblin knight captain who does it? The goblin knight captain is a big shot in any goblin tribe.”

“Besides, they’re clearly skilled at digging—they must have other tunnels connecting to the outside.”

Despite his many doubts, Fang Shi showed no mercy when the moment came.

He first targeted the goblin shaman and the goblin knight captain—the leaders, and the greatest threats to him.

“Heh, paranoid goblins—there are traps even on the altar.”

The tiny traps posed no challenge to Fang Shi; with two swift sword thrusts, the two level-five goblins died instantly.

“Target dead.”

“Extracting target’s soul energy. You gain 210 experience points, 21 survival points.”

…

“Target dead.”

“Extracting target’s soul energy. You gain 210 experience points, 21 survival points.”

Data streamed past—experience secured. With these two goblins dead, even if anything else happened, the demoralized goblins would let him retreat calmly.

Suddenly, Fang Shi thought of something and, with a mischievous impulse, poked the knight captain’s corpse with his sword.

“Male. Fuck…”

Fang Shi regretted it, angrily killed another goblin.

As time passed, the stench of blood spread; the fire-lizards were the first to awaken, growling and rousing more goblins.

But these goblins had exhausted their strength during the ritual—they were weak, trembling, utterly incapable of resistance.

Added to that, Fang Shi had precisely eliminated the goblin tribe’s ruling class—no one remained to oppose him.

Many goblins, sensing the danger, began fleeing the hall.

Fang Shi drew the shortbow he’d taken from the goblin wanderer and fired at the hall’s entrance.

Several burning carts burst from the corridor, crushing the fastest fleeing goblins to death.

They also blocked the entire passage, leaving only a narrow gap—just wide enough for one to escape.

As the flames on the carts roared skyward, the flickering light blinded the goblins, turning them into headless flies flailing in chaos.

Having lived long in the dark underground, goblins developed darkvision and low-light vision—but also heightened sensitivity to light.

They were no longer adapted to surface life; even a modest flame caused them discomfort.

Especially this light, nearly illuminating the entire hall.

Such chaos favored Fang Shi’s slaughter.

All his prior preparations were meant for this moment.

He was alone; if so many goblins fled, his gains would plummet.

So he devised this method to block the exit—and used fire to create a battlefield advantageous to him.

Of course, to avoid pushing the goblins into desperate, last-stand resistance,

Fang Shi, in his kindness, left them one escape route—though it was choked with flames, scorching and unbearable, still, if they endured it, they could escape.

Indeed, as Fang Shi looked up, he saw one goblin, engulfed in flames, vanish through the corridor’s mouth.

This act spurred more goblins to follow.

Compared to the demon slaughtering them in the hall, the goblins—naturally cowardly and cruel—preferred to flee for their own lives.

But so many goblins rushed at once that they jammed the exit.

Several unfortunate goblins were crushed against the side carts and screamed as flames consumed them.

Fang Shi watched the experience points roll in and shook his head.

This wouldn’t do—there should be order, a queue. More could escape that way.

But no goblin was willing. They understood the logic—but Fang Shi was right behind them, killing.

If they fell behind, they might never escape—who’d willingly be the last to enter the passage?

Chaos continued. Somehow, one of the goblins released the four fire-lizards.

The fire-lizards glanced at Fang Shi slaughtering in the hall; their low intelligence instinctively avoided danger—they dared not approach.

Instead, the fierce flames at the hall’s entrance offered them rare warmth.

One by one, they charged recklessly, knocking goblins aside, and completely blocked the only escape route.

This only made the goblins wail louder.

Some tried to force through and were instantly burned alive.

Others tried to communicate with the fire-lizards—but since all goblin knights were dead, the dim-witted fire-lizards didn’t recognize them, and also burned them alive.

The remaining goblins, witnessing the fire-lizards’ divine power, dropped to their knees and bowed in worship.

Some even began speaking in Draconic, begging the fire-lizards to devour them.

Unexpectedly, a few goblins banded together and launched an attack on Fang Shi.

But their strength was pitiful—even at level one, their stats were abysmally low.

Added to their mere ten-kilogram weight, a single horizontal sweep from Fang Shi sent a whole group flying—they couldn’t form any effective encirclement.

As for ranged attacks, Fang Shi had already killed the combat specialists precisely to prevent this.

Especially the greatest threat—the goblin shaman, who never even got to cast a spell before dying under his blade.

And he’d even died alongside the goblin knight captain, a pair of doomed lovers.

After that, no further surprises occurred. The goblins, utterly defenseless, were nothing but lambs awaiting slaughter.

Half an hour later, Fang Shi looked at the pile of goblin corpses and rubbed his aching arms.

Three years in the apocalypse had long since hardened him; even though goblins were sentient beings, he killed them without hesitation, his soul untouched by the slightest tremor.

And though goblins seemed like helpless chicks under his blade—pitiful and defenseless—

in truth, they were not kind. They were evil creatures.

They sneaked into human villages at night to steal.

They even ambushed travelers and sold them as slaves.

When their tribes grew large enough, they attacked villages, enslaving every sentient being they saw to mine and smelt for them.

“Experience: 4002”

Fang Shi glanced at his gains—he had killed 242 goblins, earning 3522 experience points total.

On Blue Star, that would require killing at least 59 firewing birds.

But the strength of 59 firewing birds was nothing compared to this goblin tribe.

The challenge levels weren’t even in the same league.

Fang Shi estimated he could handle at most five firewing birds at once—any more, and he’d have to flee.

Given current firewing bird densities, facing five was the bare minimum.

To level up, Fang Shi could only design traps and lure them out one by one—success wasn’t guaranteed.

He might kill five or six a day at best, translating to just over three hundred experience.

Here in the secret realm, he effortlessly gained over three thousand.

This is the advantage of the secret realm—worthy of its title as a place of opportunity.

Oh, right, there are still four Flamefire Lizard Dragons left to deal with.

Fang Shi stepped through the stream of blood, slowly approaching the Flamefire Lizard Dragons.

But he never expected that, upon seeing Fang Shi’s movement, the Flamefire Lizard Dragons turned and smashed through the cart, darting down the tunnel like a flash.

So fast that even Fang Shi’s sprinting speed could not catch them.

Seeing this, Fang Shi sighed helplessly—what a waste of 240 experience points.

Now then, he finally had time to properly study the dragon species here.