Chapter 66 - The wise Lord Blackstone
In an overgrown ruin full of vines and weeds.
Several goblins were gathered around a campfire, roasting a plump mountain hare.
Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over them ... And before the goblins could turn their heads, a large, thick hand picked up a goblin as if he were a chick.
When the other goblins finally turned their heads around, they were so frightened that they immediately turned their bodies in that direction and bowed to the ground on their knees, shivering.
In front of them was a small band of fierce half-orcs, and at the head of the group was none other than Blackstone, who was at the peak of upper Iron.
Blackstone looked at the goblin he'd picked up, who was trembling in fear, and a glint of disgust flashed in his eyes.
He casually threw the goblin to the ground.
"Where is your leader?"
Despite having been tossed to the ground, the goblin was not angry.
Instead, it scrambled to its feet and smiled subserviently at Blackstone while pointing in the direction of the meat.
"Aaaahhhh." It gestured.
Looking at its comical expression, Blackstone grunted coldly. He smoothly removed the mountain rabbit meat from the campfire and took a bite.
Soon, however, he frowned and spat out the rabbit meat, seemingly dissatisfied with the goblin's cooking.
The goblin, who was watching Blackstone's movements, was terrified. It bowed his head and whimpered as it did so.
Blackstone kicked the goblin.
"Lead the way."
His voice brooked no refusal.
Led by a few goblins, the half-orcs came to a collapsed building among the ruins.
A few goblins took a few steps forward and lifted a patch of straw, revealing a large hole in the side of the building.
They then crawled in with practised agility.
The half-orcs bent down and followed the goblins into the building.
The building was littered with the debris of collapsed ruins and discarded rubbish that exuded an unharmonious smell. In the middle of it all, there was a winding path.
Guided by the goblins, the half-orcs continued to venture deeper.
And as they went deeper and deeper, the view before Blackstone and the others gradually opened up, and eventually they entered an open cave that led into several directions.
It was the hidden stronghold of the Cave tribe in the Elven Forest, a place that also acted as a staging post for hunting elves.
There was a campfire in the centre of the cave where three half-orcs were lazily lying around, snoring.
Beside them were a few goblins who held huge leaves and used them to constantly fan the half-orcs.
Nearby, in a deeper part of the cave, there was an artificially made stone prison.
Through the iron bars, a few pairs of eyes full of fear and despair could vaguely be seen.
Blackstone first glanced at the stone prison, looking surprised, before turning his attention to the three half-orcs.
The sight of the half-orcs sleeping leisurely made his already vicious face look even more ugly.
With a cold snort, he walked straight over and gave each of the three a kick.
"Which one of you bastards was it that disturbed your grandpa half-orc's beautiful dream!"
As the three half-orcs were awakened with a kick and yelled, they drew out their weapons in anger.
But when they saw the other party's appearance clearly, their complexion suddenly changed. They immediately shrank and cowered.
"Uh ... Lord Blackstone, what brings you ... to the stronghold?"
They smiled with fake and fawning expressions as they hurriedly hid their wolf's-teeth clubs and large knives behind their backs.
"Hmph, you three walking bags of waste that don't have a hint of vigilance in your bones!"
Blackstone first cussed them out, and then said in a deep voice:
"Chief priest Mountain sent me to investigate the situation here. I want to ask you something."
The three half-orcs looked at each other, their expressions gradually becoming serious.
"Are you here to investigate the disappearance of the orcish hunting party?"
Black Stone glanced at them and nodded.
"That's also why I'm here, but before that, has there been any kind of disturbance in the Elven Forest recently? Especially… near the ruins of Florence."
The three half-orcs were taken aback. They looked at each other and then shook their heads.
"There's ... nothing to report in particular."
Blackstone's expression sank slightly.
"You'd better think again ... don't tell me you've just been sleeping in the cave all this time."
As he said this, the pressure of his upper Iron-level body gradually radiated out, pressing the three lower Iron half-orcs so hard that they did not dare to breathe.
Under the pressure of a higher being, the three fell to their knees almost simultaneously. Their expressions changed dramatically into that of fear as beads of sweat continued to fall.
Suddenly, one of the half-orcs raised his head, trembling as he shouted.
"Lord Blackstone, I ... I've noticed something, I've noticed something! I remember a recent disturbance!"
Hearing his words, Blackstone gradually withdrew his intimidating aura.
"Speak."
The kneeling half-orc sighed in relief, then said cautiously:
"Recently... recently, there seem to be more low-level monsters nearby, and many of them are monsters that used to be active only in the vicinity of Florence. They seem to be migrating collectively..."
"Huh? Immigrating low-level monsters?"
There was a sharp gleam in Blackstone's eyes.
The magical beasts in the Elven Forest were quite territorial. In normal circumstances, they would never migrate.
There were generally two situations for when immigrations did occur.
One reason was that they had found a better place to live and were moving on their own initiative.
The other reason was that they felt a certain threat and were forced to migrate…As the Elven Forest was rich in resources and a veritable paradise for magical beasts, the first type of situation almost never happened.
Besides, the area around the stronghold where the Cave tribe was located was inherently barren ... So the first reason could safely be ruled out.
That only left one other, obvious conclusion.
"They are running from something ... Something has caused a sense of crisis and they have been forced to migrate en masse.
And the source of that disturbance… is probably located in Florence!"
Blackstone's eyes flashed.
If he was right, he feared that this might be the key puzzle in the investigation ordered by the chief priest Mountain.
After pondering for a while, he asked another question.
"Are there any powerful monsters nearby?"
The half-orc shook his head.
"No ... all of them are very weak magical beasts, the highest of them only reach up to lower Iron, so we haven't really paid attention to them before."
Only weak ones? Blackstone's eyes flashed again.
This meant that the threat of the disturbance was not very high, since high-level magical beasts did not feel the need to migrate to here ... Blackstone was reminded of the strange elves in the oracle mentioned by chief priest Mountain before the trip.
"Elves killing goblins ..." He was lost in thought.
Could it be...that the disturbance were those weird elves mentioned by Mountain? And the Death God's followers that had also been mentioned by the chief priest...
"Right! I remember! I remember two more things!"
As Blackstone contemplated, one of the other half-orcs also raised his hand.
Blackstone looked at him.
"Speak."
The half-orc took a deep breath and said:
"About a month ago ... a few dozen fleeing goblins rushed into the stronghold. But most of them seemed to have been frightened in some kind of way and they were mentally very unstable ...
And the destination of the orcish hunting party under Lord Rock was the core area of the Elven Forest, where Florence is located ..."
Blackstone's face sank.
"Why didn't you tell me these things earlier!"
The half-orcs trembled slightly. One of them said carefully:
"Ehm… goblins have always been timid, and we didn't understand what they were yelling about so we didn't care… As for Lord Rock… Lord Rock… I was too nervous just now to think about it…"
"Humph, you trash!" Blackstone cursed.
He did not spare another glance at the three half-orcs but combined the information he had received in his mind.
Vaguely, he already had a certain suspicion.
"A group of low-level elves have returned to the Elven Forest, and they seem to be favoured by the God of Death. They banished the goblins from Florence as well as the nearby magical beasts, and are probably planning something there...
It is likely that the Death God's followers are involved in this. The disappearance of the orcish hunting party led by Rock may well have been because they discovered this secret ...
The Death God's followers are probably very strong ... Otherwise Lord Rock and the others wouldn't have met such an untimely end. Even with the holy relics handed to me by the chief priest, I may not necessarily be able to win against them.
It would be very dangerous to just frontally storm Florence...
Oh ho, it seems that those long ears aren't as loyal as the legends said they are, to get themselves involved with the God of Death ..."
Blackstone's expressions revealed a hint of mockery.
With a flash in his eyes, he asked another question.
"Is there still a steady stream of beasts fleeing from that direction?"
"Y-Yes…That's correct…" The half-orc who answered said, trembling.
Blackstone fell into thought again.
The fact that the beasts were still fleeing from there meant that the elves should still be around Florence.
In other words … He should have the chance to grab and interrogate a tongue around Florence! This was the safer way!
With this in mind, Blackstone issued an order.
"Go and gather a group of goblins and follow me to investigate the situation around Florence."
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