Chapter 445: Infiltrating the Enemy Camp |
Gauss had entered the outer reaches of the Emerald Forest many times.
The most memorable occasion was probably when he was still a Level 1 professional, fighting alongside Grayrock Town's Winter Hunt force against a Level 8 Ogre Mage tribe.
The suffocating oppression of this forest had left a deep impression on him back then, but as time passed and his strength gradually increased, that sense of danger lurking everywhere in the wilderness had slowly faded.
No matter how much he tried to psychologically coach himself not to be complacent, it was still difficult to fully revert to that constant state of heightened alertness from when he was weaker.
And now, even though his strength was already incredibly powerful compared to ordinary adventurers, the moment Gauss stepped into this familiar yet unfamiliar forest, his vigilance shot up to maximum.
The "atmosphere" of this forest had completely changed.
A scent of bloodlust hung in the air.
It felt as if an invisible, immense pressure was enveloping the entire expanse of the forest.
Gauss took a few deep breaths and quickly lowered his head.
A kind of domineering, majestic, unrestrained power that seemed intent on subduing all living things in the world.
Gauss could naturally guess the source of the pressure. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be the master of the forest.
Only that adult green dragon could release its biological aura so recklessly.
Gauss swallowed hard, then stepped forward to continue walking.
That pressure was just frightening to perceive, but its actual effect wasn't that terrifying. It was too diffuse, so it could only serve as a warning and a declaration.
Next, following the instructions in the handbook, Gauss tried his best to avoid several large beast paths.
These beast paths were often the main thoroughfares for monsters to travel, and along both sides, monster scouts would occasionally patrol.
Although Gauss had confidence in his goblin disguise, there was no need to shove it in their faces and increase the risk of exposure.
His travel speed was also never particularly fast.
There were too many monsters in the forest.
Forget the most common monsters like goblins, goblin-like creatures, gnolls, lizardmen, and trolls.
Gauss even spotted several Commander-level monsters from time to time, along with special species he had never seen before.
A group of several hundred monsters banding together was only considered a small detachment.
When encountering the main force, it was just a pitch-black, endless sea stretching as far as the eye could see.
It made his hands itch just looking at it.
If he could go on a killing spree here, he could easily take down over five-digit monsters.
But unfortunately, he couldn't. Gauss was very clear-headed about that.
If he could avoid fighting, he should try his best not to.
If he were truly exposed here, even if the Green Dragon Queen didn't act, other Transcendent monsters would swarm in and could kill him.
This was the enemy's home base after all.
Gauss continued walking south, remaining extremely vigilant the entire time, constantly alert to every rustle and movement.
To that end, even the Slime King Eden had been given a silence command—no matter what happened, do not make a sound and disturb him.
Fortunately, the number of monsters in the forest was truly overwhelming. Besides the Green Dragon Army directly under the Green Dragon Queen, many "independent operators" from the forest had also been swept up.
These monsters were all temporarily conscripted by the Green Dragon Queen, so their organization was noticeably worse.
Therefore, a lone wolf "goblin" like Gauss walking through the forest wasn't too conspicuous.
Gauss also casually picked up an unwanted wooden shield from the roadside, imitated the goblin's outward-splayed walking posture, and stepped onto the wet soil.
On a wooden watchtower in the distance, three gnolls stood atop it, their sharp gazes sweeping across the surrounding forest.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
One of the gnolls' gaze lingered for a moment on a goblin in the distance.
After its companion asked, it just shook its head.
"Nothing. Saw another lost fool."
Its companion followed its gaze and also spotted the green figure looking around through the gaps in the tree shadows, as if searching for companions.
"These overpopulated green whelps are truly stupid. If you ask me, Her Majesty shouldn't have recruited these little brats. They're not even worthy of being cannon fodder."
The gnoll shook its head, a hint of undisguised contempt and mockery showing at the corner of its furry mouth.
There was a pecking order of contempt even among monster species.
The lower races mostly looked down on each other.
Although gnolls weren't exactly an elite race, compared to the overpopulated goblins, the quality of gnolls was significantly higher.
Among goblins, maybe not even one in a hundred could produce an individual with elite monster potential, but among gnolls, one could emerge from just a few dozen, or even a dozen or so.
Therefore, gnolls naturally considered their "bloodline" to be nobler than that of lowly goblins.
But this kind of talk could only be said at the top of this watchtower, where there were only the three of them.
Because the existence of goblins was also an indispensable force for the Green Dragon Army.
Their numbers were too great, like weeds by the roadside. The Green Dragon Queen only needed to circle overhead to conscript a batch of monster soldiers who brought their own supplies.
Moreover, due to the large base of goblins, even if the proportion of strong individuals was low, there were still occasional appearances of elite, Commander, and even Transcendent level individuals.
They would only dare to act like that towards a lost low-level goblin like the one not far away. If they were facing a goblin high-ranking officer with strength greater than theirs, they would have to restrain their thoughts and put on flattering smiles.
Savagery and vulgarity were just stereotypes of monsters. In reality, the monster society also had its intricate interpersonal politics.
If they dared to mock a powerful foreign officer, they might be dragged out as spies and beheaded the next day just for stepping into the tent with their left foot first.
After Gauss's figure disappeared from the clearing, his speed increased again.
He had felt several gazes fixed on him just now. Fortunately, his acting seemed to have fooled them and didn't attract further inspection.
The deeper he went, the more monster tribes he saw.
Gauss skirted around several main encampments of the Green Dragon Army, only traveling through the gaps between the smaller tribes.
Sometimes, when encountering patrolling guards on the road, he would even hide in advance into those goblin tribes.
The discipline of wild goblin tribes wasn't enough to detect an outsider like him who had slipped in temporarily.
Or rather, these goblin tribes were originally just motley temporary troupes cobbled together. They weren't familiar with each other to begin with, and had only been conscripted by the Green Dragon Queen's call, which they instinctively couldn't refuse.
And indeed, when he saw a wyvern landing not far away, Gauss immediately turned off the path into a large goblin camp.
He found a quiet corner and sat down silently to wait.
A few meters away, an elderly goblin, perhaps thinking this guy holding only a wooden shield without a decent weapon looked too pitiful, pulled him to a tent stacked with weapons and handed him a slightly rusty short sword.
Gauss took it while using his peripheral vision to watch the patrol outside the camp. Seeing that they were still welcoming the landing wyvern, he forced a grateful smile at the "companion" before him.
This guy was one of the rare "good Samaritans" among goblins.
From his appearance, he seemed to be an old goblin.
His skin was wrinkled, and his stature had noticeably shrunk.
Maybe twenty or thirty years old? Or even older?
Human research didn't seem to have a definite number for the lifespan limit of ordinary goblins.
Because for 99.9% of goblins, they didn't need to consider the luxury of lifespan limits.
Those with enough potential could break through to become stronger individuals, naturally extending their lifespan.
As for ordinary goblins lacking potential, they probably wouldn't live to see their final days anyway.
The monster world was thousands of times crueler than the human world.
When a lone goblin's bodily functions declined and it couldn't gather enough food, it would naturally starve to death, or be targeted by other beasts and monsters in the forest, becoming their meal.
And even as a member of a tribe, it was difficult for them to die of old age.
In goblin tribes, old fellows who consumed food but couldn't provide enough value would be exiled before they even reached old age.
Therefore, even though Gauss had killed so many goblins, he hadn't actually seen many "old men."
The age distribution of goblins was probably an extreme spindle shape: an ultra-short development period and an extremely short old age, leaving only the young and strong active.
From this perspective, goblins were indeed an excellent source of soldiers.
Through the spell "Tongue of Languages," Gauss had actually long learned the goblins' "dialect," and could even speak some simple expressions.
Compared to the human common language, the goblin language was very simple, even crude.
So even with his mediocre skill, it was enough to get by.
With a goblin's intelligence, many couldn't even express themselves as fluently as he could.
"A newcomer, kid?"
"Mm, thanks for the weapon."
"Don't thank me. It's weapons distributed by the Queen. Every goblin can get one." The old goblin shook his head and casually patted the dagger at his waist.
Perhaps having lived too long, his ability to express himself was noticeably clearer than most ordinary goblins, and even many elite or Commander-level goblins couldn't match him.
The old goblin raised his head slightly, looking at this young and strong fellow with a dazed expression who had even forgotten to pick up a weapon, a hint of pity appearing on his face.
Perhaps sensing he didn't have many days left, he decided to do a good deed.
Thinking that such a naive fellow would soon have to enter that meat grinder battlefield, he couldn't help but feel sympathy.
Looking around and seeing no other monsters or tribesmen watching this way, he lowered his voice and said.
"Kid, remember this. When the battle starts in a few days, don't be stupid and charge to the front."
"Run slower."
"When other monsters fall, you fall down too near a rock, then find a chance to run back."
"Okay." Gauss continued to play the fool, looking dumb.
But inside, he couldn't help but marvel. He didn't expect there to be "smart guys" like this who knew how to slack off among the low-level goblins.
No wonder this guy had managed to survive until now with such weak strength.
This kind of playing dead trick probably wasn't his first time.
After the war between humans and monsters broke out, the low-level goblin cannon fodder was definitely the race that died the most and the fastest.
Not all goblins thought about survival techniques like this old goblin.
Perhaps seeing that Gauss wasn't as savage as other goblins, the elderly goblin also pulled him along to share some advanced techniques.
Gauss was also waiting for the wyvern in the distance to leave.
It seemed that a high-ranking monster officer of sufficient importance had ridden it to land nearby.
So Gauss didn't rush to continue traveling either, just silently staying with the old goblin.
Before setting out, he had mentally prepared himself thoroughly.
Even if it meant slowing down his travel speed, he had to minimize risks as much as possible.
Especially here on the frontline of the monster army, caution was even more necessary.
"We should be moving again soon."
By this point, Gauss could also see the old goblin's mindset.
Rather than saying he was instructing a newcomer,
It was more like he was too terrified of the impending war, and just happened to find this low-intelligence companion to talk to, to ease the unease deep in his heart.
Wisdom was the source of his pain.
Unlike the other muddled goblins, he fully understood how terrifying the upcoming war would be, but unfortunately, he was too weak to make any change.
He could only pin his hopes of survival on the slim chance of luck.
"Did you see that wyvern just now?"
"Those are probably the Green Dragon Queen's messengers, here to deliver marching orders."
"On the battlefield, stay far away from those guys too. The commotion from their fighting could rattle your small body to pieces."
The elderly goblin sighed.
Continuing to march meant that war was drawing closer step by step.
He raised his cloudy eyes and looked around in confusion. Many goblin companions were even fighting in the clearing, baring their teeth and roaring at each other, completely unaware that their lives only had a few days left.
As a rare wise one, yet without magical talent, he always felt out of place among the goblin race.
Towards his own race, he felt sorrow, pity, and hatred.
Whenever he saw these foolish green-skinned tribesmen beating each other up over food or other things, or venting their desires on other creatures, he felt a revulsion rising from the depths of his heart.
Such a dirty, stupid, hopeless race.
But when he looked down and saw the skin on his own body that was no different from these beasts, that nauseating feeling would instantly turn into a deep despair.
Because he, too, was one of these beasts.
His skin, his flesh, his blood—all pointed to this fact.
Gauss glanced from the corner of his eye at the elderly goblin beside him who had inexplicably become dejected.
Outside the camp, the wyvern had already taken off again. The Queen's messenger the old goblin had mentioned was probably flying to other tribes to proclaim the Queen's decree.
Taking advantage of the old goblin's moment of depression, Gauss stood up again and continued walking towards the direction outside the camp.
Once he passed this army's stationing zone and entered the depths of the forest, the probability of encountering monsters would actually start to decrease.
At that time, he would be able to head formally towards the Dragon Lair.
After Gauss left, the elderly goblin belatedly looked towards where he had been sitting. When he didn't see that silent young goblin, he sighed imperceptibly again.
Gone?
That little fellow, even though they had only met once, had left a good impression on him, unlike other goblins.
Maybe he was actually like him, one of those rare smart ones?
Thinking this, he pushed himself up from the ground and decided to look for him again.
"Woo—woo—woo!"
But just as he was about to act, the horn for assembly sounded in the distance.
He could only stop in his tracks, sighing to himself inwardly.
Next time they meet, it might only be underground, if the afterlife really existed.