Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

Elsewhere, Flogga was in her quarters, carefully brewing potions with the help of her assistant, Maya, when a massive explosion suddenly echoed in the distance, rattling the walls and causing several bottles on the shelves to clink against one another.

Her assistant was the first to react.

She quickly turned toward the entrance, and when she saw several goblins running past their quarters in a panic, her expression changed.

”Granny. I think the clan is under attack.”

Flogga immediately rose to her feet, gripping the wooden staff she had made for herself as she slowly made her way toward the entrance. Her old legs weren’t as reliable as they used to be, but the urgency in the voices outside was enough to push the pain from her mind.

The moment she stepped outside, she saw several goblins scampering through the settlement, desperately trying to get away from something they couldn’t even see.

Their faces were filled with panic.

Then one of the goblins stumbled.

He caught his foot against the uneven ground and fell heavily onto his hands and knees.

Flogga immediately raised her voice.

”You there! Over here!”

The goblin spotted Granny Flogga and hurried back to his feet, scrambling toward the workshop as quickly as his trembling legs would carry him.

He barely made it through the entrance before he stumbled again, practically throwing himself inside. He hit the ground hard, caught himself with his hands, and immediately began crawling backward, his eyes fixed on the entrance as though he expected something to come charging through it at any moment.

Flogga and Maya moved toward him.

”What happened? What are you running away from?”

The goblin didn’t answer.

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to catch his breath, while fear remained plainly visible in his eyes. Every few seconds, his gaze flickered toward the entrance, as though whatever he had seen outside was still close enough to find him.

Flogga stared at him for a moment.

He didn’t look familiar.

Perhaps he wasn’t one of the clan’s residents. With all the new goblins who had recently joined them, she couldn’t possibly remember every face.

She leaned closer, studying him carefully.

”What’s your name?”

”L... Lo... Locke.”

”Do you understand what I’m saying, Locke?”

Locke nodded, still struggling to catch his breath.

”Can you tell me what happened?”

The goblin swallowed hard before forcing the words out between heavy breaths.

”We’re... to head to the shelter. Enemies. Strong. Orcs.”

”Orcs?” Flogga repeated, her brows drawing together in confusion as she wondered if she had heard him correctly.

But Locke nodded again.

”Orcs.”

Flogga’s expression immediately hardened.

”How did they manage to get here?”

Before Locke could answer, a deafening explosion shook the workshop.

The shelves rattled from the impact, and several bottles clinked against one another as the sound of the explosion rolled through the settlement.

Looking outside with Maya, Flogga saw that something massive had struck the wall of a nearby building, leaving a deep impact in the stone.

A large weapon was embedded in the damaged structure, its blade buried deep enough that it had cracked the surrounding wall.

Then she saw it.

A tall, bulky figure with crimson skin and protruding tusks stood in the middle of the settlement.

An orc.

It approached the damaged building with heavy footsteps, letting out an irritated grunt as it examined the destruction around it. Judging by the way it moved, the attack it had just made was clearly meant for someone else, and whatever target it had been aiming at had managed to avoid the blow.

The orc reached the wall and grabbed its weapon with both hands before wrenching it free with a powerful pull. Bits of stone broke loose as the weapon came free, and the orc looked ready to simply move on and continue its search.

Then it noticed them.

Its head slowly turned toward the workshop entrance, and its eyes settled on Flogga and Maya.

”It saw us.”

Locke’s voice came from behind them.

The frightened goblin immediately began crawling farther away, desperately searching for somewhere he could hide.

The orc’s expression changed.

A predatory smile slowly spread across its face as it tightened its grip on its weapon.

Without any hesitation, the orc began walking toward the workshop, each heavy step causing the ground beneath it to tremble slightly.

The sight of the approaching brute made Maya instinctively step backward, her heart pounding as she watched the massive creature close the distance. Flogga, however, remained exactly where she was, standing calmly at the entrance with both hands resting on her staff as though the approaching orc posed no immediate threat.

The orc eventually stopped directly before the workshop.

Before Granny Flogga.

For a moment, the two simply stared at each other.

Flogga didn’t move.

The orc raised its axe, its muscles tensing as it prepared to bring the weapon down with enough force to crush both the old goblin and everything behind her.

Then it struck.

The axe came crashing downward, aimed directly at Flogga.

But...

A shimmering barrier of light suddenly appeared around the entire workshop, forming a protective dome just as the axe made contact.

The impact produced a heavy tremor, but instead of cutting through the barrier, the force of the blow spread across its surface in a ripple of light.

The orc’s eyes widened.

Before it could react, the barrier repulsed the attack.

The stored force was released in the opposite direction, launching the massive orc backward and sending it crashing several meters across the ground.

Flogga stared at the spot where the orc had landed before finally letting out the breath she had been holding.

Earlier, while the clan was still being developed, Eli had proposed installing a garnet on the workshop so that Flogga would be protected in case the settlement ever came under attack. She had refused at the time, arguing that the garnet shouldn’t be wasted on her when there were far more important places and people that needed protection.

But Eli had insisted.

He told her he wasn’t doing it for her. His concern was the potions she brewed, many of which were extremely valuable to the clan, and protecting the workshop meant protecting the supplies and knowledge stored inside it.

That, and only that, had finally forced Flogga to accept.

Now, as she watched the orc recover from its own attack, she was more grateful than ever that the youngling hadn’t listened to her refusal.

If he had, she might have died right there.

The orc..