Chapter 31: Murder in the Night

"Woo!"

The team had just set off when a long horn sound suddenly came from behind.

The sound was very faint, almost inaudible if one didn’t listen carefully.

But all the goblins walking through the forest stopped in unison.

They turned and looked toward the direction of the tribe, their expressions uncertain.

"Boss, it’s the tribe’s horn sound!"

The sound of the horn made Gobuqiang’s face light up with excitement.

He knew the boss planned to attack the lizardmen in the swamp.

At the same time, in the Goblin Tribe of the Riverside Forest.

The war horn on the watchtower sounded once again.

Li Meng stood at the doorway of a wooden hut, squinting his eyes as he gazed at the distant watchtower.

After more than three months, it was time to address the threat of the swamp lizardmen.

He glanced slightly sideways at Benben, who was snoring loudly while lying outside the wooden hut.

Benben’s massive body was now clad in a set of iron-gray armor.

The armor covered 90% of his body.

Chest plate, back plate, gauntlets, arm guards, and leg guards—26 pieces of armor in total covered his entire body.

Apart from the joints, crotch, and underarms, all other areas were tightly protected.

Even his large head was encased in a massive full-cover helmet.

It seemed that Benben was quite fond of the helmet.

After all, an ogre’s only weakness was its eyes.

The helmet’s visor was grid-shaped.

Although it impaired visibility, it offered excellent protection for his eyes.

Weapons like arrows would find it very difficult to strike Benben’s eyes.

The helmet also gave Benben a sense of security while he slept.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Wearing this set of armor, Benben looked like a giant iron man.

Although it fell slightly short of a fully-armored knight from Earth’s medieval times, it was close enough.

Benben’s weapon was a massive spiked club.

The club was entirely forged from low-carbon steel.

Its length was nearly five meters, matching Benben’s height.

The shaft of the club was covered in sharp spikes.

If he swung it down, anything hit would be smashed into pulp.

The combined weight of the armor and club reached a terrifying 1.3 tons.

For a human, this would be an unbearable weight.

But for a creature like Benben, 1 ton was equivalent to about 10 kilograms for a human.

Time passed by bit by bit. The sounding of the war horn prompted the hunting teams outside to return one after another.

By the afternoon of the third day, in the tribe’s forest.

In front of the largest wooden hut, it was bustling with activity.

More than a thousand goblins made the nearby forest crowded.

A single glance revealed a sea of goblins with green skin of various sizes.

Some goblins held long spears, while others carried crossbows on their backs.

"War, lizardmen, kill!"

Li Meng stood at the doorway of the wooden hut and said just one sentence.

Upon hearing this, the goblins’ faces showed excitement.

"Kill! Kill!"

The goblins raised their weapons and shouted loudly.

The unified shouting echoed through the forest, startling the birds into flight.

"Set out!"

Li Meng waved his hand and gave the order to march.

More than 1,300 goblins turned and surged into the western forest.

This movement resembled a green wave sweeping through the forest.

The rumbling sound of footsteps echoed through the woods.

Based on the future predicted by Sims, Li Meng began his crusade against the swamp.

Before long, the commotion in the western forest gradually faded away.

The next morning, in the Riverside Forest.

A large group of goblins was marching through the dim forest.

Countless green figures filled every corner of the woods.

Under their overwhelming numbers, even the strongest magical beasts retreated.

Among the green crowd was an even larger figure.

Wherever it passed, low-hanging branches and leaves were pushed aside.

Occasionally, branches would break with a "crack" sound.

"Where’s the turning point?"

At the forefront of the group, Li Meng was walking quickly through the forest.

As he walked, he was deep in thought.

Would this crusade against the swamp bring a turning point? Li Meng didn’t know.

If he couldn’t find a turning point in the swamp, his future would be bleak.

Although the worst outcome wouldn’t be death,

At most, he’d have to lead his goblin followers and flee the northern forest.

As long as they left the northern forest, they wouldn’t clash with the pigmen.

Without a conflict with the pigmen, the lizardmen wouldn’t ally with the pigmen to attack him.

Although this plan seemed cowardly, it would ensure survival.

And as long as he was alive, there would always be hope.

------

That night, the swamp was eerily silent.

Under the moonlight, the White Scale Tribe was utterly still.

The entire tribe was quiet, except for some lizardmen guards on the wooden wall perimeter.

"What’s happening in the eastern forest?"

"Who knows? We’ve already sent out several scouting teams, but none have returned."

"I heard goblins appeared in the eastern forest."

"Goblins? Those little creatures can just be killed."

Late at night, the lizardmen guards on the wooden wall were chatting idly.

For the past few months, the atmosphere in the tribe had been off.

Once, Elder Adao led the tribe’s warriors out, but only half of them returned.

Even Elder Adao was severely injured.

"Goblins in groups are the most troublesome," one said.

"Just goblins. I can handle ten by myself," another boasted.

"Yeah, right. If even Elder Adao got hurt, you think you’re better?"

"Come on. I’ve killed at least twenty goblins!"

While the guards chatted to pass the time,

In the largest straw hut within the tribe,

"We’ve sent five scouting teams, and none have returned. Something’s wrong!"

"Of course. When I returned today, there was commotion in the eastern forest."

Five lizardmen sat cross-legged on straw mats.

At the head was a white-scaled lizardman.

Adao’s expression was grim as he surveyed the elders.

"This time, the goblins we’re dealing with are different from the ones we’ve known. They have standardized weapons, made of iron. We cannot afford to underestimate them."

"Just goblins. Is there any need to be so tense?"

"So what if their weapons are iron? It doesn’t change the fact that goblins are weak."

Some elders still looked down on the goblins.

They couldn’t understand why Elder Adao was so cautious about these supposedly weak creatures.

"Let’s finish off those ugly green creatures quickly, like we always have."

"Could the commotion in the eastern forest be goblins?"

"Impossible. If it were goblins, then the scouting teams we sent—"

Before Elder Aqi could finish, he fell silent.

The elders’ expressions darkened, their hearts sinking.

The eastern forest was stirring, and the lizardmen scouting teams were missing.

Connecting these two facts led to a terrifying conclusion.

All the elders looked toward the high priest at the head.

Under the moonlight, the high priest was enveloped in a layer of white radiance.

She looked stunningly beautiful and sacred.