Chapter 19: The Rock-Biting Tribe

"What is that?"

Garos stepped closer and fixed his gaze.

It was a square stone with simple runes carved in the center; it did not reflect light, but the runes in the middle were emitting a faint glow.

This is a message stone.

Garos recognized it.

—This is one of the most common and universal alchemical artifacts on the Bernardo Planet; as its name implies, its effect is to transmit messages.

The runes on the surface of the message stone were glowing, gradually dimming and extinguishing.

Clearly, it had just been used.

"This goblin used the message stone before dying; it must have transmitted some kind of message to its tribe behind it."

"It must be related to me, related to the Ironwood Territory."

Garos's dragon eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Goblins have a very strong sense of revenge, and according to Samantha's description, this goblin tribe possesses quite a few alchemical artifacts; however, aside from the alchemical artifacts, their individual life levels are not high, and their scale is neither large nor small.

"Once the goblin tribe receives the message, they certainly will not let this go."

"Since they dared to hunt down Samantha, it means they are definitely not afraid of young dragons, even regarding young dragons as prey."

Garos paced in place, pondering in his heart.

"Do I have to give up the Ironwood Hills? Although the resources here are average, they barely suffice for my current shelter and survival; the wilderness is dangerous, and finding another suitable territory is not easy; a wandering life is also unsuitable for my growth and development."

But if I do not give up the territory.

Being ambushed and surrounded by a prepared goblin tribe might be very dangerous.

"I do not want to give up the territory, and I do not want to die in an ambush or encirclement."

"First, go and scout to determine the situation of the goblin tribe."

"If they are extremely weak, simply ignoring them will suffice; if they are too powerful, I can only give up the Ironwood Hills."

"If they are neither weak nor strong, posing no great threat to me on the front lines but capable of causing danger through secret ambushes, I will eliminate them all beforehand just to be safe!"

Under the sun, the red iron young dragon narrowed his gaze slightly, a trace of ferocity flashing through.

Once his own life is involved and he senses danger, Garos becomes extremely vigilant, guarded, cautious, and full of killing intent.

Facing a potential threat.

Garos's style is to try to crush it in the bud beforehand.

For example, during the attack on the goblin wolf riders just now.

To prevent any information from leaking, the moment he decided to act, Garos made up his mind to spare not a single goblin; unfortunately, some information was still transmitted via the message stone, which might bring danger to himself.

He turned his head to look at Samantha.

Garos asked, "What is the comprehensive level of this goblin tribe that hunted you? Describe to me in as much detail as possible everything you know, leaving out nothing."

Samantha was somewhat stunned, not knowing what Garos intended to do.

She recalled and recounted everything she knew to Garos, item by item.

Slowly, after listening to Samantha's account, Garos fell into thought.

"In terms of life level, the strongest goblin is merely level 6."

"But their tribe possesses quite a few alchemical artifacts, including an alchemical golem that made Samantha feel a huge threat."

Alchemical golems are a quite successful product born during the development of alchemical artifacts.

The Dragon Legacy records them and pays special attention to them.

For example.

The Holy Flame Arbiter Ignis.

It is one of the top-tier golems of the human empire 【Holden】, crafted through the cooperation of countless alchemists and the Dawn Church; formed by combining the skeleton of an ancient red dragon with numerous rare and precious metals, its interior and exterior are carved with the sacred runes of the Dawn Church, simultaneously possessing numerous attributes.

Because the Holy Flame Arbiter used the remains of an ancient red dragon as material.

This was regarded by the dragon race as a great sacrilege.

Even the metallic dragons, who are enemies of evil dragons, could not tolerate it.

Once, a group of legendary metallic dragons came to their door demanding the destruction of the Holy Flame Arbiter, but they were refused by the Holden Empire in alliance with the Dawn Church.

Metallic dragons are after all lawful beings; they had reservations in their hearts and were unwilling to start a war over the remains of an evil dragon.

Moreover, the Holden Empire was sensible enough to offer many alchemical artifacts to appease the metallic dragons' anger; after a long period of negotiation, the matter was finally dropped.

As for evil dragons, acting alone and solitary, even an ancient dragon cannot contend with an empire.

The Holy Flame Arbiter is now used to guard a deep abyss rift within the Holden Empire, having slain countless demons; it is extremely powerful and renowned throughout the Bernardo Planet.

And top-tier alchemical golems like the Holy Flame Arbiter, capable of slaying ancient dragons.

There is more than one such existence.

Back to the matter at hand.

The alchemical golem within the goblin tribe must not be of a high level; it is likely a mass-produced model, or even one used for mining or transport rather than combat; such alchemical golems can be purchased directly through many channels.

"I do not need to be too nervous."

"Thinking it through carefully, if this goblin tribe were strong enough, Samantha would not have been able to escape their capture in the first place."

Garos's spirit relaxed considerably, and the ferocity in his eyes gradually dispersed.

"I really want to eat; I haven't had meat in a long time."

At this moment, Samantha was staring at the wild ox, her eyes fixed and unblinking, unable to look away.

If not for the fact that her reverence for Garos had now reached its peak, she would certainly have launched herself forward in a single leap.

Gulu gulu!

Her stomach suddenly emitted a muffled thunder-like sound, causing Garos to glance sideways.

Samantha was instantly embarrassed, her dragon face burning hot, her tail swaying left and right, yet she could truly not endure the torment of hunger any longer. She pleaded with Garos, "My dear brother, may I eat a little beef? Just a little bit, just a tiny bit."

Why not have done this sooner?

Garos tore off an entire chunk of the cow's hind leg with his claws and tossed it toward Samantha.

Samantha caught the cow's hind leg and devoured it ravenously, eating heartily; she even chewed up the bones and ate everything, wasting not a single bit.

"Mober, drive these gray wolves to the hills and raise them as a reserve food supply."

Garos began to eat himself while giving the order.

"Got it!"

The Earth-Raging Bear nodded heavily, strode forward with long steps, and drove the surviving gray wolves.

Time passed slowly.

The sun tilted west and vanished; night fell silently.

The Rock-Gnawing Tribe—that was the goblin tribe that had hunted Samantha.

Its base lay at the foot of a low, reddish-brown mountain severely eroded by wind; the mountain's surface was covered with honeycomb-like natural caves, like rotting wood hollowed out by borers.

The goblins nailed wooden planks, beast bones, and broken pottery jars into the cave mouths with rusted iron nails, piecing together crooked walls.

Rather than a defensive structure, it looked more like a warning sign made of piled-up garbage.

On the perimeter was a fence woven from inverted flint spikes and man-eating vines.

Dried lizard skulls hung from the vines; in goblin culture, they believed that hanging up the skulls of prey could bring good fortune to the tribe.

Though its scale was small, it was a case of a sparrow being small yet having all five internal organs complete.

In the iron ore pit, goblins with sulfur-blackened claws selected iron ore, then sent it to the smelting workshop to forge weapons and equipment such as barbed arrowheads and blades, which were then further amplified and strengthened by the tribe's alchemists.

The Caeler Wilderness abounds in various ores.

Common iron ore is found almost everywhere; even the smallest tribes do not lack iron ore. As for magical precious metal ores, those are beyond their reach.

(End of this chapter)