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"Wait a minute, don't talk." The captain suddenly raised his hand, and all the team members fell silent, "Do you smell it? It's fishy."
"The ogre's lair is just ahead, so it's normal to have a fishy smell."
"No, something is wrong," the captain said. "Hide yourselves and approach slowly."
"Understood." The men did not speak but gestured silently. They then slowed their pace and moved forward quietly.
The ogre's lair was an open space against the mountain, with a small cave. The adventurers hid behind the surrounding trees and observed silently.
"What's going on?"
He had spoken aloud without thinking, but his teammates did not blame him, as they were all shocked by the scene before them.
The creature was about 250 to 300 cm tall, with a protruding chin, looking almost demented.
His arms were as muscular as tree trunks, and he was hunched over, with his hands almost touching the ground. He held a stick for chopping tree trunks, and his waist was wrapped in untanned animal skin. His body stank so badly that it seemed to reach them from a distance.
The skin was covered in numerous warts and was a burnt brown color. His chest and abdominal muscles were large and looked powerful. From his appearance, it was clear he was immensely strong, resembling a twisted gorilla after shaving.
This ugly creature was a sub-human monster known as an ogre, the target of their gold-level adventurer team.
The ogre's lair was located in an open space on the outskirts of the forest, where it was estimated that four or five of them resided. Their mission was to eliminate the ogres before their group grew larger.
But now, all the ogres here were dead.
The entire open space was covered in blood, with three or four incomplete ogre corpses lying randomly. Among them, one was obviously much larger than the others.
It was a [Demon Titan], a powerful species that could only be defeated by gold-level adventurers. Lying on the ground was the corpse of this mighty Demon Titan.
The Demon Titan had the ability to enslave ogres, and another one was present here, which had not been mentioned in the Adventurer's Guild's information.
"Hey, look there," the scout with the sharpest eyes in the team pointed in one direction.
Following his finger, the adventurers noticed a short figure leaning against the sturdy corpse of the Demon Titan.
If it stood up, it would be slightly taller than a human child, about 1.5 meters tall, but it looked even shorter sitting down. Its skin was a bright brown, and its hair was short and pale.
It wore a short animal-skin coat completely stained with blood. Beneath the coat were surprisingly strong muscles, though not overly swollen.
It sat there with its head down, panting, yet trying to straighten its back. In its hand was a long straight-blade knife, its blade covered in blood and with several obvious notches.
"That's a..." the scout said. Based on the figure's shape and characteristics, he judged its identity, but it was so different from the usual impression that he wasn't entirely sure.
The captain took over the conversation.
"That's a goblin."
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'Did I succeed?'
His vision blurred for a moment, and he tried to use the blade to support his body, but he still couldn't stand up.
Fighting the Demon Titan had been incredibly difficult for a mere goblin. Its body was so huge, its arms were so strong, and even its skin was so tough that it was nearly impossible to cut with a blade.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Thinking about it, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Yes! I killed the super-strong giant monster! I pierced its eyeballs and slit its throat. I won. However, I couldn't lift my left arm at all, probably because it was broken. The knife given to me by the general was also about to break. I was so sleepy I wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep."
"General, I have tried my best and completed the trial you gave me," he raised his head slightly, revealing a face that was completely different from the usual goblin's. Although still ugly and deformed, it looked somewhat resolute. He spoke in a weak voice.
"But I can't go back."
Behind the bushes not far away, humans began to slowly approach.
What a bunch of idiots! If they had acted earlier instead of waiting there for so long, they could have chopped off the head of the goblin who was too tired to move.
Those people hesitated and observed for so long that it gave him a chance to recover some strength.
But in the end, it didn't matter. Even at full strength, he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat them. More importantly, that powerful Demon Titan was definitely no match for these humans.
If you make an enemy of them, there is no chance of returning alive.
But fortunately, he didn't care about that at all.
Finally, the humans showed up—five of them in total. Three warriors with weapons, a magician, and a thief with a dagger.
The goblin had no idea what level of adventurers they were, nor did he care.
He took a leaf from his pocket and put it into his mouth without hesitation.
The life energy of the Creator God Tree was far superior to that of ordinary creatures, to the point that it was virtually impossible to absorb. Even if swallowed, it had no effect.
On the other hand, the leaves of the Emerald Spirit Tree, which was one level lower than the Creator God Tree, could be absorbed if properly diluted with clean water.
Eating it directly, however, was almost suicidal for goblins, except in a few rare cases. The pure life energy was extremely toxic to beings at their level.
The general had been very clear about this.
He'd already experienced it once.
That was the choice the general had given them:
"You can choose to escape, or you can eat this leaf. Ninety percent of the time, the outcome will be death, but you might also have a chance to be reborn!"
At that time, he had chosen to eat the leaf. After enduring endless pain, he survived and transformed from a weak goblin into a strong warrior.
If he ate another leaf now, he would gain immense energy in a short time, but he would ultimately die.
But he didn't regret it.
"Great Mistress, please allow me to dedicate my humble life to you, and let my ignorant soul return to my homeland."