Chapter 12 The Goblin Tribe in Reality

In the wild monster zone, Grey Wolf Hollow.

Twelve hours had passed since his last visit here.

This time, the hollow was once again swarming with Grey Wolves, including the elite boss, the Grey Wolf King, which had respawned.

Compared to the last time he came here to slay Grey Wolves, Zi Liyuan was much more composed.

Three Mutated Vulture Skeletons flew low to scout for monsters and lure them together.

Five Mutated Skeleton Behemoths charged forward, clearing the way.

Fifteen Mutated Skeleton Knights followed the Behemoths in a charge.

Twenty Crossbow Skeletons surrounded Zi Liyuan, ready to focus fire on the target at any moment.

Against ordinary Level 18 Grey Wolves, a volley from the twenty Crossbow Skeletons could instantly kill them, with damage to spare.

The front line, comprised of Skeleton Behemoths and Skeleton Knights, was much sturdier than Shield Combat Skeletons, even capable of dealing some damage, unlike Shield Combat Skeletons who relied solely on the "Taunt" skill to draw aggro with their impregnable defense.

In the hollow, it took only five minutes for the Skeleton Army to sweep through all 75 Grey Wolves, including the elite boss Grey Wolf King.

Regrettably, each ordinary Level 18 Grey Wolf only provided 35 experience points, and the Grey Wolf King gave 800. In total, they only added 3390 points to his experience pool.

In comparison to the 100,000 experience points required for reaching Level 19, the gap was enormous.

But now, Zi Liyuan's monster-slaying speed had increased by several levels compared to his first visit.

Especially since he was no longer restricted to hunting near the hollow, he could now venture deeper into the mountains to look for trouble with Level 20-25 monsters.

However, as he delved deeper into the mountain forest, he encountered fewer solitary creatures but stumbled upon entire groups of them.

Using the Vulture Skeletons to scout, they found a Goblin camp sprawled across the mid-slope of a large mountain, teeming with numerous Goblins.

At a conservative estimate, there were at least a thousand, with over a dozen elite bosses among them and a rare boss presiding over them.

A Mutated Vulture Skeleton attempting to gather more detailed information in low flight was annihilated by a great fireball from this rare boss.

Considering a Mutated Vulture Skeleton's health was as high as 200 points with its Level 4 status, and even without Magic Resistance, being killed by a single great fireball indicated that the rare boss' Magic Damage was extremely high and its fireball skill explosively powerful.

Rashly provoking such a group would be greatly dangerous.

Yet, Zi Liyuan didn't shrink back in the slightest. It was rare to encounter such a large group of monsters in the wild, especially near White Crane City—a perfect sanctuary for grinding experience.

As the capital of Jiangnan Province, White Crane City would naturally be cleared regularly. The existence of such a large Goblin Tribe could only mean it was left intentionally by White Crane City.

With a strategy for a tactical retreat prepared, Zi Liyuan led the Skeleton Army boldly toward the mountain occupied by the Goblin Tribe.

At the foot of the mountain, there were also many Goblin creatures, but their levels were between 15 and 20, a tier below those on the mid-slope.

After all, those Level 20 and below belonged to the novice apprenticeship range; they had not even fully awakened their professional skill trees, and their fighting power was very limited.

Like slicing through vegetables, the Skeleton Army cleared a group of Goblins gathered at the foot of the mountain before slowly ascending under Zi Liyuan's command.

Goblins, as a monster species, were typically bullies who feared the strong and seldom operated alone, preferring to band together for warmth and hunting.

Wild monsters, compared with those in dungeons, display a considerable deviation in the number of individuals that move together.

Goblin squads in dungeons generally comprise 3 to 5 goblins, while real-world goblin squads have at least 7 to 8 members, often ranging from 10 to 15, and in some cases, even more than twenty march together.

Fortunately, goblins overall are not very powerful, especially the common ones, with their low attack, low defense, and meager health. The only advantage they possess is their speed when fleeing.

It is probably because they are cannon fodder at the bottom of the food chain, and most of the time have to escape from other hunters, which has led to their increased speed in running away.

Zi Liyuan's Skeleton Army, however, has no habit of letting its prey escape. Now, with a changed team composition, the mobility of the Skeleton Behemoths and Skeleton Knights is much faster than that of the goblins.

After the Skeleton Army at the foot of the mountain killed several dozen goblins, some commotion finally came from mid-mountain. A large squad of over a hundred goblins charged down the hill, led by three elite boss goblins.

Zi Liyuan did not engage in direct combat, instead directing the Skeleton Army to make a strategic retreat into the forest below the mountain, deliberately leaving traces to lure the Goblin Army to pursue.

When the Goblin Army was close to catching up, the Skeleton Behemoths and Skeleton Knights immediately launched a charge, while the Crossbow Skeletons began to focus fire.

In the chase, over twenty goblins were shot and killed. Correspondingly, the Skeleton Behemoths and Skeleton Knights that were deliberately sent in to intercept were surrounded and shattered by the enemy.

However, with Level 4 "Summon Skeleton," Zi Liyuan could summon eight skeletons for combat at a time, so the Skeleton Army was always at full strength.

Once he led the group of goblins away from Goblin Mountain, Zi Liyuan found a terrain advantage and stopped retreating, arranging the Skeleton Army in battle formation with himself at the center.

The same old strategy was employed: the innermost circle consisted of 23 Crossbow Skeletons, while the outer layer had 20 Skeleton Behemoths serving as a wall.

The goblins that emerged from the mountainside ranged from Level 21 to 28. Aside from the three elite bosses, all the rest were common monsters.

A salvo from the Crossbow Skeletons could kill a common goblin.

Conversely, the goblins would need to attack several rounds to take down an outer-layer Skeleton Behemoth.

With focused fire for quick kills and pulling the monsters, as the number of goblins decreased, the defense pattern gradually shifted into offensive mode, trapping the remaining goblins in the midst of the Skeleton Army.

Common goblins were easy to kill, posing little challenge, but fighting elite boss goblins required grinding them down bit by bit.

[Elite Boss Goblin]

[Level]: Level 28

[Attributes]: Magic Damage 50, Physical Defense 20, Health 4000.

[Skills]: Double Slash, Heavy Hit, Cleave

[Combat Power]: 75

This creature, being of a higher level, had high damage, defense, and health. Even with the Level 4 Crossbow Skeleton's damage stacking three layers of Sunder Armor, it could only deal 4 points of damage.

Surrounded by the Skeleton Army, hunting it down was just a matter of time.

After eradicating the group of goblins, Zi Liyuan repeated the tactic, slaughtering goblins at the foot of Goblin Mountain and then drawing out the goblin squad from mid-mountain before continuing to strategically retreat and lure.

After five consecutive lures, the goblin squad on the mountainside no longer charged down the mountain in pursuit.

With no more goblins taking the bait, Zi Liyuan could only begin leading the Skeleton Army up the mountain.

All visible monsters were eradicated as the Skeleton Army advanced towards the goblin camp at mid-mountain—over five hundred goblins were waiting in full battle array.