Lord Of Puppets-Chapter 172 – Goblin Threat? – Part 2.

Realizing that the current situation regarding missing adventurers may be related to not only a hidden goblin settlement, but also very likely a high-ranking goblin was born.

If both of those theories are correct, then there is a chance that a monster stampede will occur, which could bright fought a devastating damage to the territory of Mevon... Which for some reasons always end up being destroyed.

Still, if the goblin monster stampede were to occurred, a neighboring territories would obviously not escape unscratched.

And to make things worse, the goblins would speed up the growth after the successful stampede, resulting in even more goblins being born.

And this problem would only repeat over ang over, until the problem with the goblins is completely dealt with.

However, if it not dealt with. The goblin stampede could turn into a proper disaster.

With that in mind, the guild master Amelia Smith has decided to organize an extermination party in order to deal with the goblin threat.

For few passing days, a large number of the adventurers have gathered up, which led up to the formation of large enough army of adventurers that should be more than enough to take down even 500 goblins with ease.

Upon finishing up their final preparations, the adventurers led by the guild master of the Giriaw city, Amelia Smith, had instantly went off to the Maw city, before then quickly arriving at their main destination. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

A forest which is suspected to be a place where a hidden goblin settlement is located.

However, before invasion has started, the adventurers quickly went to the small hill near the forest in order to set up their camp.

"It is peaceful." – said the guild master, Amelia Smith, as she gazed from the top of the small hill at the massive forest in front of her.

(However, as much as it pains me to admit it, this forest is the prime suspect behind each of the disappearing party cases.) – thought the woman, not letting her guard down one bit.

[Skill: Farsight]

"..."

(I don’t see anything.) – thought the woman while using a combination of her skill and also using a spy glass in order to extend her vision as much as possible, allowing her to clearly see the edge of the forest from the safe distance.

*Sigh*

"They are making sure not to be seen.... But probably by now they must had spotted before we even set up a camp here."

"..."

(Still, what that guards said is bit concerning.) – thought the woman as she then starts remembers her past conversation with the guard captain of the Maw city.

"So... You are saying, that there were still no incidents?" – asked the guild master.

"No ma’am. There was none." – replied the guard captain.

"Then what about the main road? This forest is located right next to it." – asked the guild master.

"Nothing was reported as well." – replied the guard captain.

"The only reports about missing people were the adventurers that we had talked about before."

"So far, they were the only ever victims to pop up."

(These goblins are really focused on keeping themselves hidden that they are even passing by on the easy preys?) – thought the worried guild master as she walked through the camp.

(....I mean.... Shit....)

"..."

*Sigh*

"Okay. Before we start off the raid, we need to talk about our course of action." – said the guild master as she arrived in the middle of the camp, where several party leaders gathered up for a meeting.

"For now, there doesn’t seems to be any form of movement or anything coming from the forests edges."

"Meaning that the attack we suspected to possible happened once we got here, did not happened."

"However! That means instead we are dealing with a trap."

"They are very likely expecting us to come to them."

"So, what do we do?"

"Should we try to do a frontal assault from the get go?"

"Or shall we attempt sneaking into the forest once again?"

"But didn’t this already failed more than one time?" – spoke up instantly a female human adventurer with short blond hair.

"True... But we can’t really go into the forest IF they have set up ambush for us." – said dog beastman.

"Ha! Are you really scared of goblins?!" – asked wolf beastman, mocking the dog beastman.

"You shouldn’t look too much on those buggers, mate." – said angry dog beastman.

"The moment you let your guard down; they will fucking stab your throat and that will be it for you."

"I’ve seen idiots like you die way too many times to these so called ’weaklings’."

"..."

"Bastard... Are you picking up the fight?!" – said pissed off wolf beastman as he started reaching for his sword, which prompted the dog beastman to try and reach for his own axe.

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!" – shouted the male dwarf with a beard.

"Look. You both can bicker as much as you want, but the fact remains that we know shit about current situation."

"Hell! I’ve seen goblins sometimes working with different species."

"Sometimes they tamed monsters, like wolves, or sometimes they worked together with pigmen or even ogres."

"I’m fully against entering the forest without knowing what is inside of it."

"I’m willing to do the frontal assault."

"BUT! I’M ALREADY SAYING THIS!"

"We will have some losses from get go."

"There is also the question about the dungeon." – spoke up the guild master.

"The dungeon may had been destroyed, but if the structure did not collapsed, the monsters could had used it as the foundation of their nest."

"I’ve requested to documents regarding the dungeon to be handed over and they should arrive sooner or later... But obviously it would still take days."

"However, the fact remains that our approach may drastically changed depending on whenever or not the nest is on the surface OR underground."

"So we need to be extra carefully about actions."

"..."

"Then let us do it." – said voice behind the dwarf.

A group of 5 people stepped forward, wearing an exactly same set of equipped, being a light metal armor with leather, a mask helmet that covered their entire faces as well as grayish dark cloak covering their bodies.

"Silver Talons." – said the guild master.

(A new party of adventurers that was gaining popularity quiet quickly upon their formation.)

(They originally came from my kingdom before it became an empire.)

(When I still worked at the central guild in the capital city, I’ve spotted them few times in the lobby.)

(They are known and feared party of adventurers.)

(A B-rank party, which consists of only 5 B-rank adventurers.)

"Our main specialty is information gathering." – said the man in the middle of the group, who possess a different looking design, hinting that the man was the leader of the group.

"We will head into the forest alone before anybody else and try to obtain as much information as possible."

"Hm.... Well, if you say so." – said the dwarf.

"Still, I wasn’t expecting YOU all to take the quest."

(Yea! I wasn’t expecting it either!) – thought the guild master.

(They suddenly showed up one day! I mean! I was trying to recruit B-rank adventurers, but I wasn’t expecting to recruit Silver Talons of all the people!)

(This is the biggest stroke of luck!)

"Does anybody have any complains about having Silver Talons take the job?" – asked the guild master.... But nobody really had any form of complain.

"Well then, you are free to act however you wish."

"But are you sure you want to go alone? We can sent some people with you or give you-"

"No." – replied the leader of the Silver Talons.

"If the monsters inside of the forest truly have some form of high security, then they would expect people sneaking in."

"It is better if we alone only go in."

"And we are more than enough equipped to handle any situation, meaning that there is no need to worry"

"..."

"I understand." – said guild master.

"Then good luck and please return safely."

"Whatever is inside of that forest is definitely not something we can just look down upon."

"Don’t worry. We will return alive." – said the leader of the group before moments later quickly leaving the center of the camp alongside his party, and then starting to ran straight towards the forest.... But as they ran, they suddenly disappeared out of adventurers’ sight, vanishing right as they were about to enter the forest.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"It doesn’t seems to be any ambush here." – said one of the party members A, as he walked out of the shadows.

"I don’t see any traps or anything here. It seems that the edge of the forest is safe." – said the party member B, as she was checking things around the ground and trees.

"Don’t let your guard down. Move." – said the leader as the entire party once again disappeared into the shadows, before then heading deeper into the forest.

"..."

"..."

(Too quiet.) – thought alarmed leader.

(We have already traversed some distance and we should be already away from the forest’s edge.)

(Yet.... Why are we not hearing anything?)

(Why is the forest so d-)

"!"

However, once the group started finally picking up a speed, the leader of the group suddenly raised their hand and made a hand gesture, which instantly made all of the party members hide within the shadows

"..."

"Zed." – whispered the hiding leader.

"Did you saw that?"

"...Yes... There was something there." – said the party member C, who sat on top of the tree branch.

[Skill: Farsight]

"..."

"There is movement in the distance... But they don’t seem to be getting closer... If anything, whatever is moving amongst the trees is moving further in."

"Can’t get a clear view because of those trees."

"...Proceed with caution." – said the leader.

"The enemy seems to be already aware of camp."

"From now on, we will be entering the enemy’s trap."

"..."

(And we will find out, whenever or not we are dealing with are truly goblins or not.)