Pale Emblem

Chapter 80 The "Mystery" of the Goblin Kingdom

Vertok walked into the Black Forest alone with a bow and twenty arrows.The dark night covered his figure, and the campfire raised by the orcs pointed the direction of his investigation.

If the night owls living in the woods hadn't fled their homes, they would have been eaten as snacks by the hungry orcs.That's good news, at least when Vertok sneaked into the forest, there wasn't a single noisy silly bird above his head cooing at him.

The oppressive silence enveloped this black forest, and the sound of Vertok's rustling footsteps was particularly abrupt.

Dire gnolls are far more sentient than half-elf professionals, possessing keen senses of smell, sight, and hearing.The noise in the forest was hard to hide from the gnoll's ears.

Vertoc was not worried that he would startle the gnoll. The "Gnoll Killer" title provides him with a kind of psychic invisibility, only for gnolls.

Vertoc needs to watch out for goblins and goatsheads.The perception of these two kinds of orcs is mediocre, and they do not have the talent for night vision. The goathead monster that eats grass even has the defect of amblyopia at night, and must be illuminated by fire.However, once they discover the sneaking Weltok, they can wake up the vicious gnoll and automatically remove the negative effects of the "Gnoll Killer" title.

Through the light of the campfire and the noise of the goblins, Vertoc had pinpointed the exact location of the Bone Collector's camp.He deliberately took a few circles outside, but unexpectedly did not find the sentinels arranged by the Bone Collector gang.

Hobgoblins are very smart, they can remember the surrounding terrain, like a three-dimensional map in their minds.When camping, the Hobgoblins usually set up open and dark sentries on the periphery of the camp to alternately monitor the surrounding movement.Both the bright and dark sentries are decoys, they are not far apart, they monitor each other, and as long as the goblin on the sentry is killed by the enemy, the other sentinels will issue a warning.

This is how goblins with ordinary sentience respond to predators' sneak attacks.

However, Vertoc did not encounter either the sentinels of the dire gnolls, nor the bright and dark sentries of the goblins.

The dire gnolls of the Bone Gatherer's gang should get together, because Veltok had hunted a dire gnoll not long ago, and the rest of the gnolls dared not spread out alone.Because of this, the Hobgoblin leader should set up guard sentries around the camp.

The Hobgoblin leader has no sentinels on guard tonight.This is not normal.

He directly exerted his talent for fashion, silently jumped up a big tree, stepped on the branches, his back was close to the trunk, and he used the shadow to hide his figure, and looked down at the orc camp from above.

The bonfire provided him with good light, and even if the distance was more than 400 meters, he had a panoramic view of the situation in the camp.

The two green-skinned gnomes were dancing and screaming in front of the fire.A group of claw goblins, bear goblins, gnolls and goatsheads are all watching the lame "show" of the Hobgoblin leader.They were very fascinated. As the hobgoblins moved and shouted more and more fiercely, the claw goblins and the bear goblins first responded, then the unresponsive goat head, and finally the cunning and selfish gnoll also followed. stand up.

"Roar, Roar, Roar... Roar, Roar, Roar..."

A large group of grotesque orcs are imitating the leader of the hobgoblin, each twisting their limbs and making a cry.Gradually, their movements and sounds became tidy, and the dark shadows pulled by the bonfire were connected, as if there was an invisible force pulling the creatures in the camp into a whole.

The forest shrouded in darkness is absurd and terrifying because of the bewildering behavior of these bone-gatherer orcs.

Few know how the Hobgoblins enslave other intelligent races.Vertok has a deeper understanding of this.

Hobgoblin Vowo's memories show that food distribution rights, the deterrence of goblin bears, and the game of balance of power are all necessary means for him to control his servants.

In addition, Wowo will hold parties from time to time.

Hobgoblin party events include beautiful singing?Wonderful dance?Or, a passionate speech?

I'm afraid the Dissa half-elves won't admit that ugly goblins also know how to appreciate these things, but the truth is the same, like the connection of hearts.

The mind of a creature is not limited by time and space, and if it remains open, it will affect others and be affected by others.And the entanglement of minds constitutes the ocean of pan-consciousness.The power of a single mind is weak, but if the mind gathers group consciousness, its appeal and influence will be unimaginably improved.

Whether it is singing, dancing, or speaking, outsiders will inevitably have the impression that "the performers on the stage are lunatics, and the audience off the stage are fools".Immersive people often resonate in the heart because of the atmosphere of the scene, shouting excitedly, applauding and cheering, booing and scolding, pious tears and so on.

The truth is very simple, the magic is that the "performance" objects of the hobgoblins are interracial.They channel the psychic powers of ordinary goblins before twisting the mental bodies of beasts or sapients.

Dissa half-elf would never admit that hobgoblins stomped their feet, and wiggling their buttocks was worthy of a "show".The Goblin King Wowo called this a "goblin party."Vertoc believes that the word "ritual" should be used more accurately to describe the bewitching behavior of hobgoblins.

Hobgoblin's ritual... a "secret" unique to the goblin kingdom?
The night wind brought the smoke from the burning bonfire, and Vertoc could discern the smell of the eggplant from it.That's an herb with hallucinogenic effects.

There is no doubt that the Hobgoblin leader of the Bone Collector Gang is holding a secret ritual!
So why do they hold secret ceremonies in the wild and ignore vital warnings?
Even the ferocious gnolls seemed to be in a trance in this secret ceremony. Vertoc was fully confident that he could sneak another 150 meters. With his talent for popularity, he used bows and arrows to kill two hobgoblin leaders with distorted faces and red eyes.

The Bone Collector Orcs were unprepared at this time, and Vertok's success rate in completing the hunt for the Bone Collector leader greatly increased.But instead of rushing into action, he continued to observe in the canopy.

Over time, the skin of some claw goblins darkens.Before that, there were at least 67 claw goblins whose earthy red complexion was pale, with a tendency to turn green.Compared to other species, they are like two different goblin races.It was the hobgoblin's secret ritual that brought these clawed goblins back to their earth-red complexion.

Weltok probably understood how the Talon Goblin came to be.

The goblin nobles of the orc kingdom have a special set of secrets that can transform ordinary greenskin goblins into crazy-minded, extremely aggressive claw goblins.However, claw goblins can return to normal.Hobgoblin leaders need to perform mysteries to maintain their form.

Considering the large number of orcs in this group, there are more than 200 claw goblins.Wiltok speculates that they actually come from two gangs of bonecollectors, one of which may have had its hobgoblin leader dead.So another gang of hobgoblins recruited some Talon goblins.The mental and physical state of these claw goblins is unstable, and there is a tendency to return to normal.

Therefore, the two hobgoblin leaders had to hold a secret ceremony tonight to prevent the claw goblins from breaking away from their enslavement.

This may have something to do with Vertok.His "Goblin Slayer" title terrified the Claw Goblin twice, and the ability of Mind Touch acted directly on the Claw Goblin's mental body, which then led to an out-of-control situation.

Whether it's enslavement or charm, the influence of the psychic power of the hobgoblins channeling ordinary goblins is mutual.How can the Hobgoblin try to appease the Talon Goblin without a price?

The two hobgoblins had hideous expressions, and their gnashing of teeth was full of hatred and pain.

Vertok felt that they were going crazy.

The title "Goblin Slayer" scares the claw goblins first, then provokes hatred.The hobgoblin leader's secret rituals on the claw goblins are equivalent to indirectly fighting the masters of the mind. It is strange that they are not crazy.

However, what shocked Vertok even more was that in addition to the orcs, there were also two half-elf women.

Their clothes were ragged, their eyes were dull, their bodies and faces were covered in mud, and they were crawling at the feet of the hobgoblins, doing the same movements as other orcs.Vertoc still recognized from their facial features and body proportions that the two half-elves were the bow warrior Anne and the animal trainer Katie of the Whistle Adventure Group.

He didn't expect to see Annie and Katie again in this situation.They have apparently suffered a lot, and are now enslaved by the leader of the Bone Collectors.

Hobgoblin enslavement of beasts and orcs is common, but half-elf professionals in enslaved civilizations are unprecedented, at least Vertoc has never heard of it.

Primitive Orc Bone Collector and Disa Half-Elves are like fire and water.Why didn't they just eat Annie and Katie?
What happened to the other male members of Whistle Adventures?

What is the purpose of this bone gatherer gang to enslave female adventurers?
In any case, it is very rare for hobgoblins to enslave half-elf female professionals.Vertok himself couldn't explain the reason, he just wanted to collect more and more comprehensive information.

With strong curiosity, Vertoc decided to give up the plan to kill the hobgoblin leader, and secretly observed the development of the situation.

(End of this chapter)