Chapter 128: Fight Against The Goblins 4

He had also just grasped another aspect of their organization.

Males were extremely rare.

And apparently...

The most powerful individuals reserved access for themselves.

Adam had no intention of staying to observe any further.

He checked behind him.

No one.

Then he entered.

A bastard sword appeared in his hands.

The High Goblin turned around too late.

A single precise attack immediately ended the fight.

The male goblins present tried to react.

But their level was extremely low compared to his.

Adam quickly neutralized them.

Then he left the house.

First room.

Completed.

He looked back at his path.

"More than... far too much."

He sighed.

Then he set off again.

The second room unfolded almost exactly the same way.

Patrols.

Distractions.

Silent attacks.

Dwellings.

Guards.

High Goblin.

Then the third.

And the fourth.

Adam was beginning to develop a real method.

If a patrol consisted of one or two goblins...

He approached them directly.

Three or four...

He used noise to separate them.

A group that was too tightly packed...

He waited.

Sometimes for several minutes.

Until an opening appeared.

Daggers gradually became his primary weapons.

But he also used the bow on occasion.

A small crossbow.

Throwing knives.

And even a short blowgun, salvaged from the Guild’s arsenal, whose purpose he was finally discovering.

Each weapon served a specific purpose.

Weapon Mastery absorbed everything.

Trajectories.

Distances.

Weights.

Different handling.

Adam could even feel the skill subtly activate when he improvised a different use.

All this time...

Lyriana followed.

Invisible.

Silent.

She had barely had to do anything yet.

Almost.

In the sixth area, a goblin spotted Adam at the wrong moment.

She understood.

Turned around.

And ran toward the central gallery.

Adam had just engaged three more guards.

He couldn’t pursue her immediately.

He threw a knife.

Too far.

The goblin darted around a corner.

Adam cursed inwardly.

But a few meters further on...

The fugitive stopped abruptly.

A shadow passed.

Then it vanished silently.

Adam arrived a few seconds later.

No one.

He looked down at the empty gallery.

Then frowned.

"Where did she go?"

He searched.

Nothing.

"...Strange."

In the shadow above him, Lyriana was perfectly still.

"You’ll thank me later."

Adam finally concluded that the goblin had probably taken a side gallery.

He didn’t like it.

But no alarm sounded.

He continued.

As he moved through the chambers...

Another pattern became clear.

Ordinary goblins were working.

Patroling.

They slept.

They transported materials.

They crafted rudimentary weapons.

They dug.

They guarded the tunnels.

The High Goblins, on the other hand...

Live much better.

Larger houses.

Better food.

More equipment.

And almost always, the few male goblins were grouped near them or high-ranking individuals.

Adam understood quickly.

"So power also grants access to reproduction."

An extremely simple structure.

And brutal.

The strong dominated.

The weak obeyed.

The Queen stood at the very top.

This likely explained, in part, why a Goblin Queen could unite several tribes.

She didn’t just control the warriors.

She also controlled the very growth of the colony.

Adam didn’t need to know more to understand the danger.

He continued.

One room.

Then another.

Then yet another.

His extraordinary endurance was truly beginning to show its worth.

Even after hours of infiltration...

He remained perfectly functional.

A little mental fatigue.

Almost no physical fatigue.

Several times, he checked his mana compression.

Still active.

Adam pictured Vespera.

"Yes, yes. I know. Maintain it constantly."

He continued.

Finally...

Adam returned to the last major intersection.

He looked at the mind map.

Left.

Completed.

Right.

Completed.

The outlying rooms...

Completed.

Only two passages remained.

The two central galleries.

Both led to the same place.

Adam remained silent.

At the end...

The Goblin Queen.

About five hundred goblins.

Two Shamans.

Four High Goblins.

And probably the most powerful units in the entire colony.

Adam sheathed his daggers.

Then he leaned against the wall for a few seconds.

He inhaled.

He exhaled.

"Good."

So far...

The infiltration had worked.

But five hundred enemies gathered in a single room...

It was impossible to eliminate them house by house.

This time...

It would probably require a real fight.

In the darkness, a few meters behind him, Lyriana watched him.

She, too, had stopped smiling.

The real danger began now.

Adam looked back and forth between the two entrances.

Then he took out the map Lyriana had drawn again.

"Two entrances to the same room..."

He thought for a moment.

A minute.

Then a slow smile appeared.

"Maybe I don’t need to go through the main door."

Behind him...

Lyriana inclined her head slightly.

Adam seemed to have an idea.

And knowing how she thought by now...

She was very eager to see what it was.

Adam remained for a few more seconds in front of the two central galleries.

Right.

Left.

Two different passages.

One destination.

And at the end...

Nearly five hundred goblins.

Two Shamans.

Four High Gobelines.

A Queen of unknown level.

Adam slowly folded the map.

"Since I can’t enter normally..."

A smile appeared.

"Might as well make them come to me." »

In the shadows, Lyriana frowned slightly.

She already knew Adam well enough to know that when he had that kind of smile...

Something strange was going to follow.

He turned around.

Not towards the central room.

Towards the rooms he had just cleaned.

Lyriana hesitated for a second.

Then followed him.

Adam went back through the first area.

He quickly observed the rudimentary constructions.

Dry wood.

Old boards.

Fabrics.

Ropes.

Coarse furniture.

Debris abandoned since the time when the place was still used as a mine.

Everything that could serve his idea gradually disappeared from his inventory.

A room.

Then another.

Adam methodically collected the materials without wasting time.

"What is he planning...?" »

Lyriana continued to observe him without intervening.

Once enough materials were gathered, Adam returned to the two central passages.

He then began to place them on a large part of the galleries, nevertheless retaining a narrow passage allowing him to retreat.

He was careful not to walk directly into the main room.

He had no desire to be spotted before the start.

When he was finished...

He backed away.

Looked at the whole thing.

Then activated Eyes of the World.

The walls.

Air circulation.

Both accesses.

The large room at the end.

He wanted to be sure of one thing.

"No other important exit..."

He observed again.

Then smiled.

" Perfect. »

Lyriana finally understood the general idea.

His eyes widened slightly.

It still won’t...

Adam raised his right hand.

A magic circle was formed.

The spell looked like a classic Fireball.

But he had slightly modified the structure of the circle.

Not to make the projectile more powerful.

On the contrary.

He wanted to be able to repeat it quickly.

A first sphere of fire appeared.

Then a second.

Then a third.

Adam started from the right gallery.

He threw his first projectile far enough to ignite the prepared materials.

The fire caught.

Not an explosion.

Not a massive attack.

Controlled propagation.

Adam immediately backed away.

Then joined the left gallery.

This time...

He looked directly towards the opening of the great hall.

" Wake up. »

A new circle appeared.

Fireball.

Then another.

And again.

The projectiles hit several rudimentary constructions visible in the background.

Not to kill directly.

Simply to trigger several fire outbreaks.

The screaming began almost immediately.

Adam cast a few more spells.

Then also lit the materials he had placed in the left passage.

"And now..."

He turned around.

"We run. »

He left.

Behind him, smoke was already beginning to fill the galleries.

In the Goblin Queen’s room...

Panic spread almost instantly.

At first, the closest creatures tried to put out the flames.

But there were too many different points.

And above all...

The main problem was soon no longer the fire.

It was the smoke.

A dark smoke began to descend into the great hall.

The goblins ran in all directions.

Some searched for exits.

Others shouted.

The shamans tried to understand where the attack was coming from.

In the center...

The Goblin Queen stood up abruptly.

Much larger than an ordinary goblin.

Heavy armor covered part of her body.

A great sword lay beside her.

She roared.

The effect was immediate.

Several goblins stopped.

The High Goblins began shouting orders.

The shamans tried to reform their ranks.

But the smoke continued to thicken.

And this time...

Even the most disciplined monsters began to cough.

They may have had mana, but...

They still needed to breathe.

The Queen roared again.

Then she finally understood.

Both main exits were blocked.

An outside attack.

A trap.

She pointed to one of the galleries.

The strongest among her immediately began to advance.

Adam, meanwhile, continued climbing.

Then he paused for a fraction of a second.

"One more thing."

He turned around.

A different magic circle appeared before his hand.

Wind.

He directed the spell into one of the galleries.

A powerful gust of air was unleashed.

The smoke was forced deeper inside before beginning to swirl in the great hall.

Adam didn’t linger to observe the result.

"Now, really... we’re getting out."

He resumed his run.

Lyriana passed by him a few seconds later.

Adam saw her appear briefly.

"Wait—"

She was already gone.

"Of course."

A few minutes later, Adam finally saw the light from outside.

He left the mine.

He took a deep breath.

Then he stopped.