Large golden eyes bore into Lan’s mind as the Ornithall that stood a head taller than him looked into his eyes. Fixated with whatever it was looking for, the bird, Lan guessed was the leader of the Ornithalls, was close enough that he could feel the heat and smell the honey-like odour coming from the body of the bird as it drew ever closer until its beak was practically touching his face.

But doing so served to help Lan focus on just that one, which he did, meeting the bird’s stare with one of his own. He was not trying to stand his ground or anything of the sort; he was just trying to understand what the creature was looking for. The moment he looked into its eyes, the Ornithall’s irises grew wide, and Lan felt a wave of pressure fill his mind like fingers clawing his mind.

The feeling wasn’t anywhere near as clear as the impressions the Wisps sent him. Instead, it felt like his mind was trying to process the probing thoughts of the bird.

[Notice: Ornithall are magic beasts with the ability to brush the minds of others]

Even as the Voice spoke, the Ornithall blinked out of surprise, raised its head and stepped back. After a moment longer, it dipped its head to Lan and walked past. The other Ornithalls passed one by one, each examining him before moving on.

Lan, for his part, just stood there. It wasn’t like he could or wanted to do anything. Although some part of him wished that one of them would have dropped a feather or two. Even if it wasn’t one of the tail feathers, it would still sell for a lot. However, if one of them had dropped a tail feather, he would most likely have passed out from the excitement.

Ornithall tail feathers were not only teeming with magic but were one of the best crafting materials, so much so that integrating it into an item would give it innate magic power even without enchantment. In the hands of a real crafter, it would almost guarantee a masterwork item in the end.

Lan had always wanted to see what his father could make with one. But it wasn’t like he was going to try plucking one of the feathers, especially with them acting the way they were. Even as he thought as much, he watched the leader walk a short way before stopping to wait for the others to pass. Then it took one more look at Lan before walking off.

Seeing they weren’t heading toward the goblins, Lan left them to their devices as the Wisp extinguished the light plunging him back into the dark.

For what felt like hours, Lan followed the Wisp. Even with the level up, he had been awake for hours now, fatigue was setting in, and he was getting hungry. More worrying than that were the sounds all around him.

As he walked, Lan heard the sounds of animals staying far enough away from him and moving in the direction that he was coming from. At one point, Lan believed that his luck had run out when he came face to face with a Stonebreaker. The giant bear covered in stone blades and walking with three cubs looked up just as Lan saw before it dropped its head and moved on without glancing at him.

Lan watched it go, surprised that he still could after seeing a mother Stonebear and her cubs and was still alive to think about what was going on.

The stone blades on their backs were a prized material for sculpting. Not only was it beautiful when shaped, catching the light like a gemstone would. What made them so prized was that the older the bear, the harder and more durable it would become, and this would continue even after they were removed from the bear.

This made it so the best stones were those from young Stonebears. Either as a result of this or just instinct, Stonebreaker cubs were never seen outside of their dens until nearly grown. The three following the large bear looked no larger than scouting dogs and appeared to be having a hard time just walking, stumbling over their paws as they ran after their mother.

Lan looked the way they had come. First goblins so close to the city, the Ornithalls, and now the Stonebraker not acting their nature… Lan looked at the Wisp. What the hells is it leading me to? Lan thought as the Wisp sent the feeling again. He didn’t know what, but Lan was sure that the two were connected now, and although it crossed his mind for a moment, he had the feeling that the Wisp wasn’t trying to lure him into a trap. The very idea was tantamount to heresy.

What was a more worrying thought was what, by the light, he was expected to do about it. Whatever was able to drive those magic beasts to leave their territories was no doubt beyond him. As if not caring about his concern, the Wisp sent the feeling again.

‘Yeah, Yeah. I got it,’ Lan sighed and started after the Wisp. Although not an answer to his question, he glimpsed a large group of shadows moving deep in the night as he got closer. Suddenly, the pin dropped in his mind, and Lan realised they were goblins. Unlike everything else he had seen, they were not coming from where he was heading but from right to left across his path.

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As Lan hid behind a tree, he wondered if they were his goblins, but when they didn’t even seem to notice the smell of smoke on him as they passed, Lan realised that he could smell smoke, not what was coming off his clothes but in the air.

He watched the goblins go, barking and chittering as they walked passed. Once they had gone down aways. Lan stepped out and looked where they were going. Only to be greeted by… the rising sun? It was in the wrong place, and there was no way that it could be rising already, but the light shining in the distance could have fooled him.

Keeping a safe distance away from the goblins, Lan found himself following them to the protests of the Wisp. He would only be deviating a short way, and nothing he could think of explained a light of that size that could be a good thing. Despite himself, he needed to see what it was.

The closer he got, the more groups of goblins he saw walking around and with the small Voice in the back of his head screaming at him what he was trying to deny. The sounds from beyond the trees made him believe long before he was forced to face it.

When Lan reached the edge of the trees and looked into the clearing that lay beyond at what made the small sun, he saw campfires. All over the clearing, which was twice the size of the one with the battle against the Razerwolves, was a circle of hundreds of small campfires with at least ten goblins around each of them.

Within that circle was a smaller one with even larger fires, around which were shapes far too large to be normal goblins. At the heart of all this was a sizeable human-style tent. But the shadows cast against the canvas walls looked nothing like a human.

This was a Goblin Swarm.

Lan still didn’t want to believe it, but nothing else explained what he was looking at other than the story his mother told him on one rainy night.

Whenever there was a significant change in the world, there was a chance that a goblin would be born with the power to control a vast army of green terrors. Worst yet was that while a part of the Goblin King’s army, the goblins would begin to change into more powerful forms. The more time that passed, the more the goblins would change until they were an unstoppable army that would wash over the land until nothing was left but barren earth.

Even in the clearing itself, all signs of green had been eaten away as if repelled by the presence of the goblins leaving only cracked, damaged soil.

This was why…

Lan didn’t know what the change could be that birthed a Goblin King, but this explained what he had been seeing. First, the fact they weren’t afraid to travel close to the city and the odd way that all other beings in the forest were acting.

An army this size would need a lot of food, and with the numbers to hunt even beasts that would otherwise not pay them a second thought, there was nothing safe. Looking at the large cook fire, it looked like they would be on the hunt soon enough.

The Wisp sent the feeling again, this time much more urgent, but Lan was lost in his thoughts. Even if it wasn’t what the Wisp was leading him to, there was no way that they weren’t connected, and there was no way that he could just leave this. He had to get back. He had to get word to someone, anyone.

The guild master… the man didn’t like Lan, but he would listen if it was an emergency of this magnitude, wouldn’t he? Already there were what looked to be hundreds of knights and other evolved goblins, and as more goblins joined, the number of Greater Goblins would increase. The two guards? They had reached the War Master’s ear eventually, but how would he get them to believe… this when he didn’t want to himself. Not to mention he didn’t know how to reach this place again.

But that was something he could change. The clearing offered something other than just existential dread, a clear sky. With it, Lan managed to find the guardian, the large blue star that pointed north.

Despite the constant pestering of the Wisp, Lan started back the way he had come. He still wanted to help the Wisp, and even after returning to the city, Lan would if he could, but there was no way that he could just ignore what he had seen or the number of lives that would be lost if the swarm was able to grow stronger.

Slowly heading back the way he had come to not draw the attention of more wandering groups of goblins, Lan tried to ignore the Wisp, who was now sending a never-ending barrage at his mind. Until it stopped, and Lan felt the pin drop in his mind a moment before the feeling that someone had been watching him returned and was immediately replaced with pain.

[Hp 90 > 80]

Jumping away, Lan turned and drew his sword, activating his shield as he was greeted by the slender goblin from the hollow; Lan was sure it was the same goblin as it smelled the air before gracing him with a long toothy grin.

All at once, Lan realised it wasn’t a coincidence. It had been following him from the moment it appeared in the clearing. Either toying with him or just waiting for the right time, it was clear now that it had been watching him this whole time.

With the information he had and so close to the goblin camp, Lan didn’t even consider fighting the odd new goblin, but before he could turn to run, the goblin was on him. Vanishing and reappearing in front of him in a heartbeat, the goblin opened up with a flurry of slashes that began to cut Lan to ribbons as if he wasn’t even trying to put up a defence.

[Hp 80 > 70 > 60]

With everything he had, Lan pushed back, trying to buy any space he could so the shackle could reconfigure his stats. But the goblin effortlessly kept up with him, not even breaking in its attacks for a moment as it followed him.

[Hp 50 > 40 > 30]

[First configuration…]

was all the Voice managed before Lan’s back slammed into a tree? Lan turned, finding a goblin that made Cawl look small instead of a tree that began moving. Raising a green fist the size of Lan’s head, the goblin brought the hulking mass down on Lan’s chest.

Lan hit the ground, his mind flashing back to the impact of falling out of the tree as a boy before watching his health drain.

[Hp 30 > 20 > 10 > 0]

The moment it did, every wound he had sustained up until then reopened all at once, and his mind was taken by a white blinding pain.