The story of the black silk female knight

Valensa immediately wanted to abandon the mission, but Fran stopped her:

"Wait... what are you afraid of?"

"Of course I'm scared. That's a Star-level mage, and I'm just a weakling."

Valensa was perfectly justified:

"If we don't retreat now, it might be too late to retreat later."

"Idiot! When did I say that the Star-level mage was also there?"

The little bat flew up and flapped its wings against Valensa's head:

"It's more accurate to say that it was precisely because that Star-level mage abandoned this place that the barrier he left behind gradually lost its effectiveness, which led to the conflict between the goblins who originally lived within the barrier and the villagers."

I just entered the barrier and took a quick look. There is indeed a goblin nest there, which should all be being raised by that Star-level mage.

Now that this place is abandoned, the goblins are all starving...that's why they attacked the villagers to steal food after running out of the barrier.

"Fran, you mean... a Star-level mage secretly raised a nest of goblins here using a magical barrier?"

Valensa looked strange.

She simply couldn't understand what value there was in keeping goblins as pets.

"You find it strange, right? I find it strange too."

The little bat flew around Valensa's head twice more, then patted her head:

"So, let's hurry up and go take a look... Come on, I'll show you the way."

The woman and the bat entered the woods again. Valensa still found nothing, but the little bat kept flying around in circles, following a strange path, and finally stopped at a patch of low bushes that looked like nothing at all.

"This is it."

The little bat flew over the bushes:

"If you burn this place down with holy flames, this magical barrier should become completely useless."

"okay."

Valensa did as she was told.

As the bushes were burned away by the holy flames, the once warm forest suddenly became much colder.

Valensa immediately felt many eyes staring at her, their gazes incredibly hungry, like someone who hadn't eaten for days seeing a barbecue buffet.

Whoosh whoosh!

Soon, several pairs of eyes couldn't resist any longer and pounced on Valensa from all directions in the shady woods, drooling and mouths agape, trying to bite her black-stockinged legs.

They're all goblins.

Valensa narrowed her eyes, and the alloy longsword in her hand flashed with cold light as she easily killed several goblins on their way to her legs, leaving one alive and pinning it down with her boot.

The goblin was clearly starving and had lost its mind. Even though its bones were broken, there was no fear in its eyes. It was still baring its teeth and claws, trying to bite Valensa's black-stockinged legs.

"...Hmm, these goblins are indeed a bit strange."

Valensa, like a scientist poking experimental subjects with tweezers, repeatedly poked the goblin's body at her feet with her alloy longsword to observe it:

"They are all living beings, yet they are infused with a faint necromancy curse... and their souls give me a very strange feeling."

"Yes, I can also sense the faint necromancy curse within them. It seems that a rather sophisticated sealing magic was used."

The little bat also flew around the goblin twice:

"But their souls... um, I didn't sense anything."

"I just feel a little bit that's not right, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is."

brush!

Valensa killed the now worthless goblin at her feet with a single sword strike:

"Come on, you should know where their nest is, right? Let's go inside and take a look."

"Ok."

The little bat started leading the way again and soon found the goblin's nest, a location Valensa had passed by several times before, but had failed to discover due to the concealment of the magical barrier.

The goblins soon spotted Valenza and watched helplessly as their kin fell one by one to her sword, yet they showed no fear and continued to charge forward relentlessly.

Chapter 212 Another Testing Ground

As more and more goblins rushed toward her, eager to nibble on her black-stockinged legs, Valensa was not alarmed but rather delighted.

Wasn't this the very moment she had spent a month painstakingly developing her new divine spell?

Divine Art: Light Flame Impact Kick!

Snapped!

As Valensa leaped high into the air and slammed her foot on the ground, a shockwave, a mixture of holy light and holy flame, swept outwards.

The goblins, drooling and with their eyes fixed on the black-stockinged legs, were instantly blasted away in droves. The kinetic energy shattered their bones, the holy flames scorched their bodies, and the holy light purified the undead curse within them.

A strange phenomenon occurred again, and Valencia's joyful smile, which had been on her face due to the successful practical test of the new divine spell, froze on her face.

The goblins hit by the blast of light should have died in agony from shattered bones and the burning of the holy flames, but the outcome was far beyond Valensa and Fran's expectations.

It seemed that because the holy light had purified the undead curse within the goblins, many of the goblins who had lost their minds due to hunger had regained their clarity of vision.

Afterwards, instead of wailing in the scorching holy flames, they all showed strange expressions as if they had finally been relieved.

It felt very strange... as if these goblins weren't goblins, but humans.

"...Tsk."

Valensa clutched her chest.

She no longer felt any joy at the successful practical application of the new divine spell; instead, she felt an indescribable awkwardness and a very uncomfortable premonition.

"...let's go."

After resting for a while to make sure she was mentally prepared, Valensa continued toward the goblin's lair, but gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.

Fran's little bat seemed to sense something as well, and stopped making a sound, simply flapping its wings and following Valensa silently.

Along the way, many hungry goblins jumped out and attacked Valensa.

Valensa's alloy longsword flashed incessantly, slaying all the attacking goblins and killing them with a single, painless blow whenever possible.

They encountered several dangerous magical traps along the way, but fortunately, Fran's little bats warned them, and since the place was abandoned, Valensa was not injured.

The only time she took full damage from the electric shock trap she encountered was the first time; her black-stockinged legs still twitch occasionally, but it doesn't have a significant impact.

Valensa quickly slashed through the goblin lair with her sword, and unsurprisingly, found a large number of tools used for magical experiments in the deepest part.

The original owner of this place seems to have left in a great hurry; many of the experimental tools looked quite expensive, but they were all abandoned here.

However, Valensa only glanced at the experimental equipment before losing interest... her attention was completely drawn to a strange goblin.

This is probably the last living goblin in the cave. It looks no different from an ordinary goblin, but it is soaking in a blue liquid... much like the nutrient solution used for biological research in the science fiction movies of Valensa's previous life.

More importantly, this goblin completely lacked the expression a goblin should have.

When it saw Valensa, its eyes, which were already numb, showed no fear, but rather a feeling of finally being saved.

"...Tsk, so that's how it was supposed to be."

Valensa gasped for breath a few times and stomped her foot in annoyance.

Valensa had a strange feeling from the first time she encountered the goblins here.

The souls and bodies of these goblins don't seem to match; the souls inside those goblin bodies are very much like human souls.

Valensa could see these things not because she had any powerful soul-related talents, but purely because of an intuition from her evil god bloodline—an intuition for food.

Human souls are a delicious treat for evil gods, and even if stuffed into a goblin's body, it would be difficult to hide from Valensa, whose instincts were gradually awakening.

Just like how even if you wrap meat in vegetable leaves, you can't hide it from carnivores.

However, the human souls inside those goblins seemed incomplete, like luncheon meat mixed with a lot of starch, and the taste and texture were very different from real meat... So Valensa only suspected but could not be sure.

However, this goblin, now immersed in blue liquid and with eyes that perfectly mirror human emotions, has completely confirmed Valensa's suspicions.

A very bad guess.

"……damn it!"

Valensa stomped her foot again before walking toward the last goblin.

Instead of attacking or harming it, she carefully lifted the goblin out, trying to save its life.

But it didn't work.

From the moment Valensa first saw it, she sensed that this goblin's life had already reached its limit, both in its soul and body; it wouldn't live much longer no matter what.

"...Do you have any other wishes? Do you know who ruined you like this?"

“A woman, who seemed very kind and gentle.”

The goblin answered in very clear human language, with the last of its strength:

“I…I want to go home…I miss my mom…My home is…in…the east…uh.”

In the end, the goblin was unable to utter its last words before it could no longer make a sound.

The already broken soul shattered completely, and the body, as if suffering a severe genetic collapse, turned into thick liquid within seconds.

"..."

Valensa remained in a half-squatting position in silence for a while before standing up again.

"Don't be sad, I've already told Rika."

The little bat seized the opportunity to land on Valensa's shoulder and gently nuzzled her face.

"The fact that you were here in his final moments at least allows him to rest in peace, doesn't it?"

"……Um."

Valensa rubbed her hands together and exhaled a breath:

"Although I knew that some madmen were extremely cruel, seeing it with my own eyes still... What kind of person would do such a thing! To cut a human soul piece by piece and then seal it into a goblin's body? Is there any point in doing this?"

"Well... we'll have to wait until the research team finishes their investigation to find out."

Fran paused for a moment and then continued:

"And Valencia, you probably noticed it too, right? We saw a lot of the experimental equipment here in that abandoned mine last time."

"Hmm, I recognize this place. This must be that bastard's testing ground as well."

Valensa nodded:

"The timing makes perfect sense... The goblins that escaped from here started attacking the villagers shortly after Sister Rika discovered her trail and began her pursuit."

It must have been that time that made her realize the danger and abandon this place.

Chapter 213 The Cultivation and Mass Production of Souls

The matter involves a Star-level necromancer who has been on the run, and the Church of the Sun takes it very seriously.

Not long after Valensa reported the incident through Fran's little bat, Rika personally led the research team from the Divine Continent to the scene.

Considering that Suzuran was also a necromancer and had successfully cast a dark spell involving soul transfer, Valensa called her over and recommended her to the research team to reverse engineer the experimental devices left in the goblin cave.

While the researchers were working in the goblin cave, Rika called Valencia aside and asked her for more details.

"and many more."

When Valencia recounted the last words of the goblin, Rika frowned:

"A woman who looks very gentle and kind? Are you sure you didn't mishear?"

"Absolutely not. Fran's magical clone was there at the time. You can ask her."

Valensa expressed her approval, but also some curiosity:

"Is there something wrong with this last message, Lika?"

"Have."