Chapter 27: Eliminating the Goblin Threat

The scales at the giant wolf's throat immediately emitted a massive burst of steam. Shortly after, heat surged like a floodgate opening, distorting the space around it. The scorching temperature thundered into the goblin camp, causing the surrounding corrupted plants to wither and desiccate instantly.

The goblins fared even worse; caught in the flames, they twisted in agony. The rest of the goblins scattered in chaos. Field remembered scenes from his childhood, pouring hot water on ants.

The pillar of fire swept back and forth through the camp, igniting goblins who screamed in pain. Many were directly hit and burned to blackened ash, while others, refusing to give in, retaliated with spears and stones.

"Ah ah ah!"

The goblin chieftain, accompanied by seven or eight loyal followers, charged towards Field with raised spears.

"Swoosh~"

The foremost goblin barely had time to react before collapsing without warning. Intestines and ragged organs spilled out from a massive wound in its abdomen. The arrow that killed it was lodged in a boulder behind, its tail still quivering slightly. Asheena, too lazy to command the giant wolf, drew an arrow and swiftly fired at the goblins.

The charging goblins didn't even have time to consider fleeing before they were all shot down by streaks of silver light.

Soon, all the goblins in the camp were killed, leaving the earth cracked and filled with pale ashes.

"These goblins have armor, definitely not made by themselves. There must be something worth exploring nearby," Field remained focused. Unfortunately, the minimap didn't mark any resources. He picked up a rusted, shapeless piece of iron. "This seems to be of royal origin, but it's decayed beyond recognition. Even scrap iron like this has no takers."

The intricate and ornate camellia patterns on it faintly indicated it was shoulder armor of royal make, worn as a helmet by the goblins.

Field flicked off rust from it with his fingers, causing it to fall to the ground.

"Oh well, what was I expecting? This armor is rusted beyond salvage, worthless," he disdainfully discarded the junk and continued searching the goblin camp.

"In this era, there's no such thing as antiques."

"My lord, I suspect their nest is nearby. There are no offspring in the territory, which is strange," Asheena remarked.

"Search carefully to see if there are any treasures, but eliminating this group of goblins is our priority," Field's expression turned serious. He didn't want to leave behind a group of creatures bearing hatred towards him.

Cutting grass without removing the roots, it springs up again in the spring breeze.

Asheena tilted his head, sensing Field's heightened vigilance towards the goblins, despite them being weak creatures. Nevertheless, the lord had given orders, so Asheena diligently searched the surroundings. As they predicted, after a thorough search, they discovered goblin hatchlings hidden in a nearby den within the territory.

Pulling aside the thorns covering the entrance, Field bent down and entered.

The entrance was small, but upon entering, they found the space surprisingly spacious, filled with clutter, especially piles of armor and weapons that were rotten and unsightly. The space was permeated with the stench of rust and excrement, but Field could ignore it now; the stench of corruption wasn't much better.

"Wow wow wow~"

A pile of goblins the size of yellow mongooses huddled together, covering the ground. There were at least a hundred or so; if they hadn't found them, they could have regained their strength in a month. Around the goblins were two deformed does imprisoned, unsurprisingly the goblins' mothers.

Goblins had no females and had to find other creatures to reproduce, and their reproduction was especially fast.

"Huh? Are these species immune to the death fog?" Field's eyes gleamed as he examined the does. But upon seeing the mouths and eyes on their backs, he felt disappointed. "It turns out they're corrupted creatures, just not aggressive types."

"These unique goblins are quite rare; immunity to the death fog isn't something that happens easily," Asheena chuckled, covering his mouth.

That's true; otherwise, the empire would have long recaptured its vast northern provinces.

"Something's wrong. These goblins can already reproduce with corrupted creatures?" Field suddenly realized, inhaling sharply. Corruption was everywhere, and if the goblins captured a large number of corrupted does, it would pose a significant threat to Nightfall Domain.

"That's a problem. We'll have to be vigilant about goblins in the future," Asheena drew his long knife from his waist. The dragon-wolf species was too large to squeeze into the den; they had to take action themselves.

"Let's act together, and quickly," Field picked up a heavily rusted nail hammer from the ground, smashing all the little goblins into "two dimensions" and then sending the two corrupted does to hell with a blow each.

After tallying the spoils in the cave, Field harvested a bunch of tattered armor from the cave. Transporting them was time-consuming and laborious, and they were useless, so he left them behind. However, there was an eye-catching ironwood box locked up.

"Do you see a key?" Field searched around.

Asheena mischievously blinked. "Of course, my lord."

Extending his slender hand, he casually pulled off the iron lock from the box, along with the corrupted moss attached to it.

"Alright, you're amazing!" Field took a deep breath, cautiously and slowly opening the box. In his heart, he prayed it wasn't a trigger-type bomb or a mimic chest.

Fortunately, his boring fantasies didn't come true. The first things that caught his eye were two flags, one an old and faded griffin banner, and the other, unfamiliar to Field, bore a strange pattern composed of eyes and a hexagram, resembling the family banner of some noble. It was like the banner of the Ross family, which was an abstract symbol and lines forming a rose, a banner that Field didn't want to use as it looked like it was gay.