Starting with the goblin extermination

"Oh shit......"

Logan rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

What kind of mess is this?

However, he quickly put this trivial emotion behind him.

let it go.

Rather than getting entangled in emotional conflicts with teammates, the most important things right now are how to kill more monsters and how to master combat skills as quickly as possible.

"Uncle Thorin, Brother Logan! Come and see this!"

Papa's shouts interrupted Logan's thoughts.

Papa and Baron were standing on an oak tree, each holding a leaf they had just torn from the tree.

He handed the leaves to everyone.

As expected, the leaves were scattered with ash-like marks. After all, this was the Ash Forest, and these volcanic ash-like marks were a unique phenomenon of forests, which is why it was called the Ash Forest.

However, in the outer areas, such traces would not extend beyond half the leaf, and the place where Logan and his team were located was still a long distance from the boundary between the inner and outer regions.

Logically, the mark should only occupy a small corner of the leaf.

Now, the area covered by ash marks on the leaf in Papa's hand has exceeded a quarter of the entire leaf.

"No, there are many more gray spots."

Thorin rubbed the gray residue off the leaf, then took out a map from his bag.

He gestured over it, and his expression instantly turned serious.

"In the Ash Forest, the closer you get to the center, the more gray spots will appear on the leaves, and the darker the color will be. When the gray spots cover more than half a leaf, it means that you have entered the deeper areas."

"There will be level 1 monsters there, I know, I know, I'm sick of hearing it."

The old dwarf rolled his eyes at Papa and continued, "And in the very heart of the forest, all the plants are pure gray. There's a huge circle of eerie gray giant trees surrounding a massive sinkhole that has collapsed from the ground."

"A maze," Baron added softly from the side, his tone tinged with longing.

Yes, a maze.

The continent of Babylon is a vast, unique place with its own independent ecosystem and terrifying magical power.

Some mazes are bottomless dungeons, while others are entire mountain ranges shrouded in mist.

The enormous crater in the center of the Ash Forest is a massive labyrinth. Countless ancient towers rise from the bottom of the crater, their spires standing like thorns on its surface.

Therefore, it is also known as the "Tallinn Ruins".

Danger level: 4.

This means that the challenge level of the strongest monster inside is level 4.

That's not a place Logan can go right now.

Looking at the obviously unusual leaf in front of him, Logan instantly recalled the dire wolves he had encountered on the outskirts a few days ago.

Those two monsters were originally supposed to be level 1 challenge monsters deep in the forest.

"The dividing line between inside and outside is shifting," Logan reported the information about the Dire Wolves.

"That makes sense. The goblins' activity has been unusual lately, and quite a few medium-sized, and even large, camps have appeared..."

Thorin put away the map and took out his great axe.

"The good news is that, judging from the extent of the gray patches, we are at least still on the outskirts. From now on, we can't rely solely on the boundaries marked on the map when going on missions; we also need to pay attention to the markings on the leaves."

He patted Baron on the shoulder heavily. "Come on, go twist those goblin heads off."

Led by Thorin, the team continued their advance. About half an hour later, they lay down on a slope.

Below is a huge natural cave.

Goblins really do love caves.

Logan liked it too, after all, caves are a great place to spend the night in the wild.

Using the sunlight piercing through the forest, Logan lay prone in the grass and saw the scene deep inside the cave.

More than one.

One, two, ... and perhaps more. Several tall, dark red figures could be vaguely seen.

They appeared to be sitting cross-legged in the cave, gnawing on the thigh of some unknown creature. Surrounding them were dozens of small, ordinary goblins.

Big Goblin.

Elite individuals within the goblin race.

We met again, and there were quite a few of us.

As for the view outside the cave, Logan raised an eyebrow.

Compared to the goblin camp I encountered the first time, the guards outside the cave this time were much more serious.

Three goblins, each wielding a short sword and a wooden shield, were patrolling the perimeter of the cave entrance. Behind them, on a rough shelf, were two more goblins holding bows.

They didn't doze off; they just idly and restlessly strummed the bowstrings, their cloudy eyes fixed on the open space ahead.

For goblins, who are naturally unruly, bloodthirsty, and restless, suppressing their nature and standing guard like soldiers is definitely more painful than killing them.

From this perspective, the goblins in the cave have indeed begun to establish discipline.

What should we do now? The usual way?

Logan turned his head and looked at Thorin.

Thorin drew a few circles on the ground with his stubby fingers, not paying much attention to the upcoming battle.

He simply pointed to Logan and Baron, then to the two goblins with shields on the left and in the middle.

What about the other three?

Papa, standing to the side, confidently patted her impressive chest and mouthed, "Leave it to me."

The old dwarf Thorin rolled his eyes, said nothing, simply opened his mouth and palm, then clenched his fist.

The battle begins.

Swish!

Wolf Attack

Logan leaped up suddenly, and before the goblin on the far left could even hear the wind, the tip of Logan's sword had already slid insidiously along the edge of the shield.

[Thrust]

The blade pierced its throat, and with a flick of his wrist, Logan ripped apart its trachea, silencing its screams.

On the other side, Baron raised his shield and rammed it into the goblin in the middle.

Before it could raise its shield, the goblin was knocked to the ground, and then a short sword pierced its chest.

The shield-wielding goblin on the right and the two archers on the shelf reacted, but it was too late.

"Watch closely!"

Papa had already emerged from the treetops, instantly drawing his longbow to its full extent, and three arrows were simultaneously nocked onto the bowstring.

A green glow illuminated the arrowheads.

Three arrows flew from the bowstring and disappeared into the air in an instant, then miraculously changed direction mid-air.

As if they had eyes, they pierced the eye sockets of the three goblins from three different trajectories.

puff!puff!puff!

Three muffled thuds sounded simultaneously. The three corpses instantly collapsed to the ground.

The outer sentries were wiped out in an instant.

Papa leaped down from the tree, proudly raising her chin. Her figure, honed by years of drawing a bow, stood out beautifully in the leather armor. She raised an eyebrow at Logan and waved.

"How about that? Pretty impressive, huh!"

Logan recalled the professional who could curve like an arrow and gave him a thumbs up with lingering fear.

Snapped!

A large slap landed squarely on the back of Papa's head without any hesitation.

"What are you showing off for! The bigger one is still inside!"

The old dwarf Thorin crouched low and darted out, giving the goblins in the cave no time to react. He pulled out a milky-white sphere, swung his arm in a wide arc, and slammed the sphere into the cave, which was more than two meters deep.

boom--!!

A muffled thud exploded inside the cave, followed by a thick cloud of white smoke billowing out.

From the depths of the cave, a furious roar from the goblin suddenly echoed.