Chapter 453: Invasion [19]
Thok was about to step beyond the barrier when...
Dribb tried to chase after Raghul, but he barely made it a few steps before two of Raghul’s goblins moved into his path, blocking him from pursuing their chief.
"Get out of my way!"
Dribb swung his axe at the nearest one, forcing the goblin to quickly raise its weapon to defend itself. The second immediately moved in to support its companion, preventing Dribb from simply pushing past them.
Dribb gritted his teeth as he realized they were not trying to defeat him outright. They were simply buying enough time for their chief to escape, and that alone was enough to frustrate him.
He tried shifting to the side, hoping to slip between them, but the two goblins adjusted their positions immediately, keeping themselves between him and Raghul.
By the time Dribb realized what was happening, Raghul had already left the area.
The sounds of battle continued to echo behind him as the undead and his goblins clashed with the clan’s warriors, but Raghul paid little attention to the chaos.
He simply continued walking.
There was no urgency in his movements, despite the battle raging behind him. To Raghul, the fighting had already become nothing more than background noise, something that could be dealt with later if necessary.
After putting enough distance between himself and the battlefield, Raghul raised a finger to the side of his head, establishing a telepathic connection with Vale.
"Any luck finding the graveyard?" he asked.
There was a brief silence from the other end.
Vale seemed hesitant to answer.
Raghul immediately noticed the hesitation. Vale was usually quick to report his findings, so the silence itself told Raghul that he’d made no progress.
It was understandable.
The graveyard was like the heart of the clan.
There’s no way an outsider would and should be able to find it easily.
Raghul sighed.
Then he closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he remained completely still, as though concentrating on something beyond what anyone nearby could perceive.
Finally, he spoke.
"It’s up the mountain to the west. Be quick with it."
Vale froze for a second upon hearing the answer.
Then his voice came through the connection.
"Yes, Chief. Thank you, Chief. I’ll get on with it."
Since Raghul was a shaman himself, he was familiar with the kind of aura a graveyard gave off, making him particularly sensitive to its presence. Not only that, but his mana sense was exceptionally refined, allowing him to detect even faint traces of mana from a considerable distance. With only a few moments of concentration and some careful probing, he was able to narrow down the graveyard’s location despite being significantly far away from it.
He could also sense the mana signatures of everyone within the clan.
That was when one particular discovery caught his attention.
The chief of the Emerald Midgets wasn’t in the clan.
Raghul’s expression remained calm as the realization settled in.
That must be the work of Krazg, the goblin he had chosen to ally himself with.
Raghul had informed Krazg about the power Eli possessed, knowing full well how much the goblin craved strength and the opportunities that came with it. That information had been enough to convince Krazg to join hands with him and help take Eli out.
And now, the plan was working exactly as intended.
While Krazg kept the chief occupied, Raghul and his goblins, together with the orc reinforcements, could tear through the clan without having to worry about Eli interfering.
Raghul’s main goal was to defeat Eli, but he also had a personal vendetta against Caius and wanted the goblin dead.
But...
Although he already knew where Caius was, Raghul didn’t head there first. Something else had caught his attention, and the moment he sensed it, he changed direction without hesitation.
In a flash, he crossed the distance, moving so quickly that the scenery around him blurred as he passed through the settlement.
It didn’t take long before he reached his destination.
Raghul’s eyes immediately settled on a particular building surrounded by a dense dome of energy. The barrier was clearly different from the ordinary defenses scattered throughout the settlement, and as he focused his mana sense on it, he could detect numerous goblin mana signatures gathered inside.
’A shelter?’
He narrowed his eyes.
’No.’
He had already sensed the clan’s main shelter elsewhere.
So what was this place?
The question lingered in his mind as he studied the structure from a distance.
More importantly, why had they used a garnet to power its barrier?
Raghul stared at the energy dome for a moment longer, his curiosity slowly turning into interest as he considered what could possibly be important enough for the clan to protect with such a powerful defense.
He looked more closely and noticed an old goblin standing in front of the entrance, throwing what appeared to be bombs at an approaching orc.
The first acid bomb struck the ground near the orc and exploded, splashing the creature with a corrosive substance that immediately began eating through its flesh. The orc roared in pain and tried to push forward, but another bomb soon followed, then another, each explosion coating its body with more of the corrosive acid.
Battered by so many of the bombs and already suffering from the effects of the acid, the orc stood no chance of reaching the barrier.
It collapsed and died before it could even get close to the garnet.
The goblins inside immediately began celebrating, relieved that another attacker had been stopped.
Raghul watched the scene for a moment before jumping down from the building he had been standing on. He landed softly on the ground, barely making a sound, before calmly beginning to walk toward the workshop.
His approach didn’t go unnoticed.
The goblins inside quickly spotted him, and the moment Flogga realized that another goblin was approaching, the atmosphere inside the workshop changed.
"A goblin is approaching!" Locke yelled.
"A goblin?"
Thok stepped forward, tightening his grip on his weapon as he moved toward the entrance.
"I can handle him. No need to waste the explosives."