Chapter 12 – The Vanguard & The Road to Central Qirwood Forest
"Fifty-one people, the vanguard…"
Through a goblin scout's vision, Altair saw who was coming and frowned in thought. The invaders' objective was crystal clear.
Without weapons of equal quality, a fully armed human guard's combat power was equivalent to four strong goblin soldiers wielding crude arms and wooden shields, two goblin knights riding incompletely equipped mounts, and one-third of a white goblin giant. A fifty-one-man team was enough to take on all the goblins here in a direct fight—and they were only the vanguard.
It was impossible to truly repel a human invasion. Even if they succeeded now, there would be a next time. Compared with the humans outside, they were far too weak at present. The key was to retreat to the central area of the Qirwood Forest before the enemy advanced this far.
"Have those goblins still not come out from the central area?"
Altair asked the old Violet Goblin, who lowered his head and muttered indistinct words. The answer was evident.
The human team had appeared sooner than he expected. Based on the route distance described by Lyra, his initial calculation was that the enemy's punitive team would arrive in at least a day. However, the enemy's follow-up forces were unlikely to appear today.
"I'll leave this to you."
Altair stood and headed toward the central Qirwood Forest with four goblin knights and ten goblin soldiers. Making use of traps and terrain defenses, the old Violet Goblins were more than capable of stalling the human advance. Once the human troops sensed something was off, they would immediately choose to withdraw. Before their reinforcements arrived, they would not opt to die together with the goblins here.
Since the first and second human teams had shown up, Altair had already begun arranging one matter—focusing on the women among them. They needed a female corpse to make it seem as though Lyra had been killed.
It was already a foregone conclusion that the outer goblin area here would be purged, but if Lyra's status wasn't confirmed, Count Rivenhart likely wouldn't give up and might even send people to continue probing and searching deep into the central Qirwood Forest. Once a goblin habitat in the central area was discovered, greater chaos would surely follow. The next human teams would likely multiply in strength, possibly including high-level adventurers and forces from the duchy.
He had been reborn into this world for a little less than ten days; it would be unwise to create enemies that were too powerful.
And now, when the human assault team broke through layers of traps and encirclement and entered the abandoned goblin cave, they would find a charred female corpse. The fire would then spread rapidly, preventing them from extracting the body, causing the cave to collapse and further obscuring the truth. This was Altair's original setup.
The enraged humans would choose to withdraw from here, then attempt to block the escape routes on both sides, wait for the next extermination force, and finally carry out a large-scale cleansing of the goblins here. As for goblins fleeing from the central Qirwood area, humans did not care, because in their understanding—even if there were Violet Goblin Shamans and goblin giant warriors—they would all be quickly killed by the powerful beasts in the central area. Therefore, as long as they could hide in the middle ring of the Qirwood Forest and link up with the goblins within, they would usher in a turning point.
Upon reaching the dire-wolf barrier, Altair halted. By his sense of smell, he could clearly determine the approximate boundary of the wolf pack's territory. Even before he stepped in, he could already see shapes moving within the woods.
The wolf barrier wasn't very large, but a pack resided here, split into two groups from the western pack. This area had originally been the passage the goblins used to enter the central zone. Later, the goblins erased the territorial markers dividing this area. Over time, wolves from the Dire Wolves came here, blocking the goblins from the central and outer Qirwood Forest.
Altair strongly suspected that the route goblins in the middle area used to reach the outer area was via a hidden underground passage. Many goblins were small and had strong digging ability, so it wasn't impossible for them to dig a direct tunnel.
Altair led the goblins into Dire Wolf territory and began advancing toward the central area. After they had gone a fair distance, the wolves appeared.
Entity Name: Dire Wolves (Low-Level Entity)
Age: 8 years
Attack Damage: 8 (+24)
Vitality: 43 (+86)
Magic: 2 (+1)
Intelligence: 6 (+11)
Impact Resistance: 6 (+10)
Magic Resistance: 1 (+1)
Attribute: None
Beast Talent: Enhanced Sense of Smell
Sensing an incursion, several Dire Wolves quickly converged, emerging from all directions toward the goblins with bared fangs. The goblins huddled together nervously, back-to-back, weapons pointed at the wolves.
Dire Wolves differed from the wolf packs of Altair's previous life. They were larger, with longer fangs, and their terrifying forelegs and hind claws were like iron and steel, glinting coldly. The combat effectiveness of a single one might even exceed that of a fully armed human. The notion of having goblin knights mount these wolves as cavalry felt somewhat far-fetched.
However, these Dire Wolves did not act rashly. To them, the goblins were weak prey, but among them was an elf they could not ignore. They could not grasp the difference between elves and the Goblin King, but they clearly felt that the individual surrounded by goblins was extremely dangerous.
Altair dared to set foot here not because he lacked a trump card. His stats had surged in recent days, surpassing those of all goblins.
Individual Name: Altair (Golden Emperor Goblin)
Age: Unlimited
Attack: 33 (+233)
Vitality: 33 (+233)
Mana: 33 (+233)
Intelligence: 33 (+233)
Impact Resistance: 33 (+233)
Magic Resistance: 33 (+233)
Attribute: Fire
Occupation: Goblin Shaman
Genetic Talent: None
With sufficient food, he would reach the peak of his individual growth within fourteen days, and any further improvements would require medicine and training. He would continue growing over the next two days. Without a doubt, he had no opponent here now, but what he needed to consider was refraining from action.
Even if he reached his perfected form, he would still be vulnerable before the powerful tribes of this world. This was evident from the fact that a low-level wolf's base vitality was higher than his.
If Altair wanted true strength, the only way was to use genetic talents that could, with high probability, raise certain offspring's stats—cultivate descendants stronger than himself—and then copy their numbers and abilities.
Cultivate Violet Goblins whose magic power was nearly limitless; cultivate white goblins with top-tier attack, vitality, and defense; and cultivate Crimson Goblins, Black Violent Goblins, and Silver King Goblins. This was Altair's power as the Goblin Emperor.
He needed no trials. He only had to live madly and desperately, mimic other goblins' genetic talents, and develop advanced goblin individuals that had reached the pinnacle in certain aspects. Therefore, how to maximize Altair's safety while letting him breed more special goblins was the only way for the goblin clan to rise.
From ancient times to now, goblins differed from other species. High-level goblins rarely hunted; they waited for offerings from lower goblins—also to avoid the deaths of high-level goblins. Reproduction was their top priority, and all racial actions served this goal.
Altair copied the old Violet Goblin's profession and fire attribute, unleashed a dazzling fireball before him, and led the goblins back to their own territory before the Dire Wolf leader and more wolves appeared.
You can break through!
That was Altair's decision after leaving Dire Wolf territory. He led a group of goblins across wolf lands and into the central area to join the other goblins.
Now that his abilities had grown to the requisite level, even if there were no central goblins after entering the central area, the goblins could still carve out a small domain there with him as the core in order to survive. Having confirmed this, Altair led the goblins away.
What they needed to do now was prepare to relocate daily necessities and execute the deception against the humans well enough to avoid their attacks for the time being.
After Altair returned to the goblin cave, he went to organize the goblins to make preparations. Lyra held her swollen belly and, with a touch of postpartum depression, called Altair's name, wanting him to take her for a walk. The goblins agreed, but Altair said they were only allowed to walk outside the cave. Even so, Lyra felt a little relieved.
"What will they do?"