The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 990: Rock Goblins

A few minutes and countless dead monsters later, Karl coated [Rend] in [Void Blast] and cleaved through dozens of Rock Goblins in a single swing, then realized that targeted attacks were a waste of time against a horde of Royal Ranked creatures.

A dagger wielding Goblin leapt at him, and Karl backhanded it in the chest, sending the creature flying twenty metres before it splattered against the nearby cliff face.

As he was two full Ranks above them, this fight wasnʼt even a challenge. The Rock Goblins were durable, and plentiful. But they were still Goblins, and would never be known as one of the most physically powerful Monster Species.

The only thing that brought them up to the Royal Rank standard was their defensive magic, and their ability to make Earth Magic weapons.

Even Thorʼs [Lightning Zone] was stunning entire swathes of them to death, nearly as fast as the others could attack them.

Everyone had come out to play, and Remi was carefully stripping the corpse of one of the Rock Goblins of its accessories before swallowing it whole.

[Not bad. Rich and soft, like a sweet potato.]

Hawk swooped down to test one, and then nodded happily to himself as he found that Rock Goblins were not nearly as disgusting as normal Goblins.

They werenʼt mice, but they were alright.

He would save some for Remi.

”The cave entrance.” Nachtia called, drawing everyoneʼs attention to the cliff face.

There were no more enemies coming out, but ten metres into the cave, where one would normally expect it to be pitch black, the distinctive shimmer of an anomaly was visible.

The Rock Goblins had come from right here.

An Overlord Ranked Goblin Shaman appeared from a cave further up the cliff face, and cast a spell that increased the speed of the warriors.

That should be their leader, Hawk decided. A stream of flame roasted the creature, and Hawk saw the anomaly change as he circled back for another attack. Had that one attack been enough to defeat the Shaman?

From the cave, Goblins swarmed out, ten wide, in an unending stream. The death of their leader had alerted all the others that something was seriously wrong, and they had all left the safety of the anomaly to come and seek revenge.

The air on Karlʼs left shimmered, and he prepared to attack, until he saw the old man with jet black hair and eyes step through the shimmering air.

He was wearing the cleric robes of the Dragon Church, and he nodded politely to Karl before folding his hands in front of him.

”Let the children fight. They need the exercise. You and I will wait here for them to finish.” The black dragon insisted.

Karl shrugged. It wasnʼt like anyone in his group would be injured by the Rock Goblins, even without his interference.

”To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from the Church?” Karl asked.

The cleric smiled and nodded towards Nachtia. ”The Death God favours that one today. It caught our attention. But that naturally brought you into our sight, which raised some questions.

Questions like what Supreme Lady Matildaʼs Guild is doing in the middle of nowhere hunting Goblins.”

Karl laughed. ”Different branch of the Darklight Host. But we are here because the Black Dragon said that these particular Goblins needed to die. In my experience, when the Dragon Gods offer a suggestion, itʼs best to go with it. Itʼs never backfired on me before.”

With brutal efficiency, the group hacked their way through the Rock Goblins, and the swarm parted to try to surround the small group.

Unfortunately for the monsters, the amount of damage that the beasts and the ladies could do was far beyond what the Goblins could survive, and none ever managed to make it to the back of the group, where Remi was repeatedly tossing Lotus in the air, so the Nature Cleric could see what was going on for once.

The Naga Queen didnʼt need her hands to cast spells, and tossing Lotus only took two out of four anyhow.

The anomaly shimmered as the last of the Goblins exited, and then vanished as they died, leaving the tunnels into the mountain dark and silent once more.

”Very well executed. Now, I should return to my duties. Send my best wishes to the Black Priestess.” The old man whispered, then simply vanished.

That was an interesting skill. An illusionary clone, perhaps? No, that should be the [Recall] ability, taking him home to his temple.

Dana waved to Karl. ”Care to explain whatʼs going on over there? I know weʼre good, but itʼs a bit rude to just sit out a battle.”

Karl jogged over and wrapped a hand around her waist before kissing her on the forehead.

”A representative of the Black Dragons came to see what we were up to, as Nachtia had gained favour from their patron, and that brought our group to their attention. Iʼm not trying to make life hard for you.” Karl promised.

”Well, the anomaly collapsed, so that should be all of the Rock Goblins defeated. Thatʼs four quests done in the first hour of the day. Where to next?” Dana asked, turning her attention to the black dragon.

Nachtia shrugged. ”I made note of three other good quests nearby, but none of them were of particular importance to the Death God. I wonder why this one was? The battle was so simple that it hardly counted as a fight. One good stream of dragon breath into the anomaly would have wiped out their reinforcements before they even came outside.”

She had a point. If it interested the Gods, it was normally something big or spectacular.

And that was when the explosions started.

”Head count.” Tessa called.

”Where is Cara?” Lotus asked, after quickly mentally calculating who was not here.

The whole stone pillar shook, and the familiar magical signature of [Void Blast] caught Karlʼs attention.

”Sheʼs in the tunnels.”

Everyone froze for a split second. Fighting in a tunnel was a nightmare, especially ones that looked like they were about to come down at any moment.

”Everyone wait out here. I will go assist Cara. Just keep back, so if the pillar falls, you donʼt get crushed.”

Karl ran into the tunnels. What was the Void Badger up to? She was shielding her thoughts, and not answering his messages.