Harry and Lucas's mother moved alongside him and Belinda for the initial approach. There was no need to split up just yet, as the concentration of monsters in the area right below the cliff wasn't to the point that moving as one group increased the likelihood of being spotted.
They followed a meandering path around the nearby tents and bonfires, never truly stepping into their revealing light, but still couldn't entirely avoid drawing close to a few of them. At one point, Lucas crossed directly through one dozing goblin's line of sight, and he could've sworn their eyes met. But his concern proved unnecessary when the creature never once roused, and his group moved on without incident.
As they moved, Lucas took in all he could around the camp at a glance, at once watching out for any dangerously alert goblins and searching for any exploitable weakness. If it came to battle, his side would be dangerously outnumbered and perhaps outmatched by the monsters. Any weakness--anything at all--that they could exploit would be a boon.
Nothing immediately stood out to Lucas as he followed behind his mother and listened to the instinct granted by [Vigilance]. The instinct had started thrumming with a low-level indication of danger the moment he started descending from the cliff, but there were no urgent spikes that would indicate true risks. Their small group moved through the camp entirely unnoticed, at least for now.
The goblins obviously weren't expecting anyone to invade quite so boldly as they were doing, and that gave Lucas a chance to observe the monsters entirely without their knowing. He half expected to see a people--one different from his own, but in essence, still a race of rational creatures. Everyone called them monsters, but it was only now, when he got to see them in the heart of their own safety where they'd have reason to rest and relax, that Lucas really internalized it.
The goblins were savage almost to the point that he questioned whether they were really living at all. At one fire, Lucas watched a goblin gnaw on the rocky ground like an animal, and at another he witnessed one so entranced by the flickering flames that it had stepped into them. That goblin was completely silent as it burned alive, and the illusion Lucas had nearly fallen to that, based on their similar shape, these creatures might be similar in mind to him as well completely shattered.
There was a difference between animal and monster, and for the first time, Lucas truly came to understand that. As he'd been told before, by numerous people including his mom back in the village, animals were creatures of flesh and blood and monsters were creatures spawned from mana. The exact details behind that were unknown to him, but this was what it meant. Lucas crouched, partially frozen in horror as he watch the goblin self-immolate. He only came back to himself when Belinda tapped on his back from behind to get him moving once again.
Lucas shook his head and did his best to banish that sight from his mind, then started moving.
In a straight line, there was only around a hundred paces between the base of the cliff and the outermost edge of the camp's central cluster. Lucas could have comfortably walked the distance in much less than a minute, barring all obstacles. In reality, it took him and his companions an uncomfortably long time to make their way to the nearest wooden structure unseen. Every minute that passed was another minute that Eugene and the rest spent in danger, and so it grinned at him, but gettin caught would have done them no good, so Lucas swallowed his irritation. He nearly sighed in relief, as irrational as that action would have been, when they finally made it and he pressed close to the back of the structure.
The four of them arrayed out in a line, with Lucas and his mother in the middle, and Harry and Belinda on the sides. There wasn't much they could do at this point, but he grasped his mom's hand and gave it a squeeze as they shared silent looks of encouragement. This was the point they had to split up, but he couldn't simply part with her without the slightest farewell.
But only a moment later, they both let go and Mary gestured at him and Belinda, then herself and Harry, and then moved her hands in either direction--directing them toward either side of the camp. Finally, she pointed at the monumental stone altar to remind them all to keep watch, and looked down at Lucas. He saw several things pass through her expression and knew it was time for him to start moving, or else she might have tried to call it all off.
He gave her a nod, then turned around and started stalking around the side of the structure. Behind him, he heard a few muffled sounds, but he didn't look back. A moment later, the faint sound of Belinda's footsteps following after him made its way to his ears, and she gave him another tap on the back in warning as she drew up to his side.
The structures were a cross somewhere between ramshackle huts and log cabins, and due to their level of construction, they were rather easy to get a look inside of. Numerous gaps could be found in their wooden exteriors, and it was thanks to one of these that Lucas already knew that first structure was empty of anything they were looking for, so he felt confident in moving on to the next.
Due to those gaps in the buildings' exteriors, however, they also ran the risk of being seen by something from the inside. Lucas and Belinda crept slowly along, because of this, so that their movement might be less noticeable. However, there was nothing they could do to entirely eliminate that risk.
They got to the second little hut and Lucas knew they would not find their people inside. Animalistic growls and snivels could be heard from several paces away, but still they remained thorough and slowly crept close to pair a sight with that sound. Lucas was not at all surprised to find a kennel within the building.
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A score of the large black dogs were locked up in wooden cages, sometimes several confined to each one, and were currently at rest. That was all Lucas needed to write that building off, and he began carefully, slowly, backing up. Belinda remained for a moment longer, so he took the pause to glance back in the direction his mom and Harry went, then up at the stone altar around the building to make sure there had been no developments on their end.
No commotion rose up and nothing hit the altar before Belinda rejoined him, so he looked to her and nodded his head toward the next building, then set off.
...And immediately stopped as a group of goblins came running past, toward the center, screeching. [Vigilance] had warned him just in time to halt within the nearest shadow, which was good because, at the speed the monsters were moving and with how focussed Lucas had been on the next building, his other senses nearly missed them.
Once they all passed by, Lucas peeked around the corner after them, but they quickly disappeared down the various bends and turns that way as well.
What had them in such a hurry?
Belinda tapped his arm and took the lead, moving ahead of him, so Lucas abandoned that thought and started following behind. Having learned his lesson, he left her to guide them forward while he paid closer attention to their surroundings and also kept an eye on the peak of the altar over the surrounding structures.
He saw several more goblins--sometimes in groups, sometimes on their own--and even some of their larger variants. There was very little difference between the look of the corrupted goblins and the nilbogs, so he made sure to [Identify] each one as he saw them.
[Nilbog]
...
[Corrupted Goblin]
[*ding [Identify] has reached level 42-44!]
Lucas counted a handful of the larger variants as Belinda led him around, and only the last one showed up as corrupted--and the moment he used his Skill on it, its head twisted in their direction. Lucas froze, catching Belinda's attention and causing her to as well, as they both watched the monster walk in their direction.
Shit! How did it sense my Skill?
The goblins that had attacked the village, and the corrupted among them, had been entirely vicious and feral, but this one did not act the same. As it came close, searching for them, it moved slowly, purposefully, and with clear intelligence. Once aggravated, it might have become more like the others--but it had yet to reach that state.
It...it hasn't seen us yet!
Lucas quickly tapped Belinda's side and started slowly--not even half as fast as they had been moving before--moving out of the monster's way. The [Cook] started following him a moment later, realizing for herself that they still had a shot at retaining [Stealth].
The corrupted goblin got uncomfortably, dangerously close to the shadow they were hiding in before Lucas and Belinda made it around the wooden structure's corner. They didn't stop moving, but neither did they speed up just yet as they weren't quite far enough away. He and Belinda kept crawling off toward the next structure, fleeing down the charted path.
The monster didn't follow after, though. It must have not sensed much originally and quickly lost interest, or something, because Lucas didn't see it again once they crossed that corner. It was a lucky break, and he determined not to repeat his mistake of using [Identify] again until they were out of the mountain pass, safe. Those three levels were nice, but even maxing out the Skill would not be worth being detected.
Following that event, he and Belinda quickly passed by three more structures. He remained on lookout while she checked each one's interior, this time relying entirely on [Vigilance] and his awareness of the ambient mana to detect any nearby corrupted. With the level of focus he had to devote to that task in order to get a proper understanding of the surrounding currents, he wasn't able to inspect the buildings for himself, but he was able to detect the occasional sharp twist that demarcated the corruption from far enough away that he could guide their movements to avoid it.
They stopped more often for passing groups of regular goblins than nilbogs or corrupted, but still Lucas grew more and more concerned as his senses picked out one source of corruption after another. They knew going in, both Lucas and Belinda, as well as his mother and Harry, that the only way the guards could have been captured was if they were subdued by the corrupted--so there had to be plenty of the twisted monsters within the camp. But that didn't stop his worry from progressively rising.
Belinda had just guided the both of them to their ninth building when a commotion began to rise up in the distance, near the altar. Lucas had been keeping an eye out for his mother's signal, and nothing had impacted the peak of the altar, so he had no idea what was happening. He and Belinda shared a look of concern and started moving in that direction a moment later under the unspoken agreement that they had to know what was going on.
What if mom and Harry got caught?
The thought crossed through his mind unbidden, and he immediately did his best to banish it. More likely, a fight had sprung up amongst the monsters. There was no reason to panic.
They covered the intervening distance much more quickly than they had been moving before and came across a large clearing amongst the structures at the foot of the monumental altar, nearly packed to the brim with goblins of all kinds. There were so many that he and Belinda couldn't get a good look beyond the outermost line so, thinking quickly, he tapped on the woman's side and gestured for her to follow.
Lucas led her around the nearest corner and behind one of the wooden structures, then immediately began to scale the patchwork surface, one improvised handhold at a time. Belinda followed suit a moment later, and together they ascended to the structure's roof where they could get a clear, mostly unobstructed view.
To his relief, Lucas did not see the other pair anywhere with the clearing. More or less all the goblins were facing in one direction, toward a stone arch in the cliffside, so he directed his gaze there. He was just in time to see a large goblin, somewhat diminished in size by a hunched back and walking with a wooden staff exit the arch. And just in time to see those that trailed behind.