After deciding what they had to do, now came the hard part of actually deciding how to sneak into the camp.
There were patrols that were placed all over the camp, so it was without a doubt hard to sneak in. But they had the advantage of having a small group, which did make it a bit easier.
Then there was the second advantage of night coming. At the very least, there would be less light that would make it easier for them to sneak into the camp.
As for whether they would be able to see, every cultivator was able to channel spiritual energy into their eyes which allowed them to see even in low light, so that wasn't a problem. As long as they had spiritual energy, they would be able to see everything as clear as day.
And finally, the advantage that came as the biggest surprise was how disorganized the patrols of the goblin camp became once night came.
The patrols had been reduced by half and even in some places, there weren't any patrols at all. As for the places that did have patrols, there were even goblins on guard that were falling asleep at their posts.
But when one thought about it, it did seem understandable.
The goblins lived in this forest where they were the dominant race, so they never had to worry about anything. Even if they did create guard patrols just to ensure their safety, these guard patrols weren't taken seriously because they knew that nothing would dare attack them.
So it was quite easy for Lin Fan's group to find a blind spot in the patrols to sneak into the village
Even when they were in the village, there were many spots that weren't even lit up, so it was very easy for them to sneak through the village.
As they made their way through, the other mercenaries couldn't help making some comments about the living conditions of the goblins.
To summarize it, the living conditions of the goblins were just too terrible.
"They're living in huts made of sticks and leaves, don't they know how to properly build shelters at all?"
"Look over there, there's a bunch of rotting food just lying there on the ground! There's even…ugh, I really want to throw up!"
"Watch out, there's something on the ground!"
"Ah! I almost stepped in poop! Don't they know how to clean up after themselves? How are they still able to live in this mess?"
For people who came from a civilized society, it was like falling into a village of neanderthals.
It was so bad that they almost exposed themselves with the noises that they were making. But Lin Fan raised his hand to cut them off and then with a single glare, he was able to make them fall into line behind him.
As they made their way through the goblin village, they made sure to keep an eye out for the different variants of goblins.
These goblins were clearly much stronger than the normal goblins and it was unknown what kind of special abilities they had. It was even possible for them to have some kind of tracking skill, so it was better to avoid them lest they were caught by these variants.
But in the end, they had no choice since as they came closer to the stairs, they found that all of the variants had gathered around it.
Well, they weren't around the stairs itself, but they were gathered in the goblin king's tent.
It seemed that even among the goblins, their resources weren't divided equally.
Those that were strong like the goblin king and the variants seized the resources of the weaker normal goblins. Along the way, they had seen the terrible living conditions of the normal goblins, with some of them looking like they were starving to death.
But in the area around the goblin king's tent, there were all kinds of bonfires with whole animals being roasted. As well as different female goblins being played with by the variants and being forced to serve them.
It seemed that even in goblin society, they lived according to their greed and the law of the jungle.
But the fact that there was this large party also made it much easier for Lin Fan's group to sneak past.
The goblin king's tent and the surrounding party only took up one side of the clearing around the stairs. As for the other side, it was open space since everyone had moved to the side with the party.
So it was very easy for them to sneak around to the other side of the stairs with all the noise from the party and soon they were right by the stairs. They were so close that they could even see the minor details of the carvings on the stairs.
But as they had expected, there were a few goblins that were stationed by the stairs that were guarding it.
However, that also wasn't a problem since these goblins were hammered. It was unknown where or how these goblins obtained it, but they were actually drinking wine at this party.
The goblins that had been guarding the stairs had snuck out some of the wine and had gotten completely hammered. There were even half of them that had passed out on the ground.
This without a doubt made things easier for Lin Fan's group.
So after deliberating for a bit, they all split out and prepared to take out the goblin guards.
Since they were still outnumbered, each one of them had to take out two or more goblin guards.
As for Lin Fan, there was a group of five that were sitting there around a fire, so they were left to him.
Once they had all moved into position, they all raised their weapons and prepared to attack, but they didn't attack just yet. They all turned to look at Lin Fan, as if they were waiting for a signal from him.
When Lin Fan saw that they were prepared, after taking one last look to ensure that there was no one coming from the goblin king's tent, he gave a nod to everyone and slashed down with Gramr.
The goblins that had perfectly lined up in front of him didn't even feel any pain as Gramr slit right through their necks. Then the next thing they saw was the world spinning in front of them before their heads landed on the ground, seeing their own bodies standing in front of them.
The only difference was that those bodies were now missing heads.
When they saw this, the goblins finally put together what had happened, but they couldn't say a thing.
Lin Fan had made sure to cut their heads off right underneath their chin, making sure that their vocal chords had also been cut, so they couldn't make a sound.
All around them, the other mercenaries had taken care of their own goblins and they had all done it without making a single sound.
In just a few short seconds, all the goblin guards that had been around the stairs had all been killed. The lucky ones were the ones that were asleep that didn't feel any pain at all as they were killed.
But right then, the first bit of bad luck today struck them.
There was a goblin that had been passing by as it looked for a place to pee and it had walked right into the scene of Lin Fan's group killing all the goblin guards. It wasn't able to react right away as it was still a bit drunk, but as soon as it smelled the scent of blood in the air and saw the piercing red blood around it, it immediately sobered up.
Then after taking a few seconds to realize what had happened, the goblin immediately shouted, "Intruders! There are intruders here!"
Lin Fan's group immediately turned in the direction of this voice and saw that another goblin had made their way over, catching them in the act. While they didn't understand what the goblin was saying, it wasn't hard to figure out based on the context.
As soon as they noticed this, Tian Tian who was the second closest to this goblin rushed out with her weapon raised. However, before she could take more than two steps, Lin Fan, who was the closest, raised his hand to stop her.
He shook his head and pointed at the stairs before dragging her over.
The others all saw the gestures that Lin Fan gave and followed him over to the stairs right away.
Without any hesitation, they started running down the stairs, heading to the third floor.
As for the goblins, they were slow to react to the scream of the goblin that had caught Lin Fan's group since most of them were drunk, but they still reacted in the end.
The goblin king personally wielded his weapon, a giant sword that was bigger than a normal goblin and led all the goblin variants to the stairs. When they saw the corpses and blood that were spread all over the ground, the goblin king glared at the goblin that had shouted and asked in a roaring angry voice, "What happened here?!"
The goblin that was being shouted at was stunned by this booming voice, but then he quickly fell to his knees and said, "There were intruders here and then they ran down the Sacred Stairs."
The goblin king knitted his brows when he heard this and he walked over to the stairs leading down. However, he didn't take a single step onto the stairs and stood at the threshold of the stairs, just looking down into the darkness.
In the end, the goblin king turned back to the goblins and said, "We need to report this to the Sacred One! Everyone to the temple!"
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