Chapter 204 - 176: Reflection in the Water
In a forest clearing, a group of centaurs were clearing and leveling the ground. The many trap pits left from the previous battle now needed to be refilled.
The pits, two and a half meters deep, were rather troublesome to fill back in. Fortunately, a few goblin Ant Farmers were helping them by directing Worker Ants.
Not far away, another batch of goblins was brought to the Fortress entrance. They were Evil Throat Army Slave Soldiers, captured by the patrol team led by Red Eyes. After continuous, wide-area searches by these patrols, most of the Slave Soldiers had been rounded up. Shire had now assigned all of them to various work teams.
"Chieftain, you were looking for me." Cyan Hide hurried to Shire’s side and took a few gasping breaths. Although the Unicorn had healed him after the last battle, his original injuries had been too severe, and he still needed time to recover.
"Yes," Shire said, standing his ground. He watched Red Eyes and the others "unload" the new goblins from the wagons. He couldn’t leave yet; they would have to perform the ankle-touching ritual in a moment. "Are you familiar with the area around the former Evil Throat Army encampment?"
"I am," Cyan Hide said with a nod.
"Good. In a few days, I’ll be taking some men to secure that area. I’ll need you to be our guide," Shire said with a smile. The ropes binding the new Slave Soldiers had been cut, and they were ready to accept their new fate.
"Of course, Chieftain." Cyan Hide nodded and patted his chest, but his expression immediately tightened. He bent over, clutching the spot. His chieftain had given him a set of warm clothes, and they sometimes made him forget about the huge, hideous scar beneath them.
"Go on, but don’t push yourself too hard." Shire looked at his new subordinate, shook his head slightly, and sent him back to the Tree-man Domain to work under Buck Teeth. That way, the Mother Tree’s healing Ability could speed up his recovery.
"I am your new chieftain." Seeing the goblins standing blankly before him, Shire stepped forward. He had gone through this routine many times over the past few days and was now quite proficient. He no longer even had the energy to bother correcting his underlings when they chanted, "Green Egg! Green Egg!"
Just as the centaurs turned their heads, chuckling as they watched the goblins bow, a massive blue python’s head poked out from the distant woods. Beside the python, a female Mage emerged from behind a tree.
"They’ve built something of this scale here," Elma said, gripping a tree trunk and narrowing her eyes.
Although she had a rough map drawn by Ricardo, she was unfamiliar with the Nightmare Forest and had spent a long time searching blindly. After many days, she finally found the "tall trees" marked on the map. Crossing through the Bang Bang Forest, she was completely taken aback by the vast, open clearing that followed.
The centaurs and goblins at work constantly challenged her understanding of the world. ’Those centaurs are actually building log cabins? And those goblins can command ants that big?’
Raising the telescope to her eye, she slowly scanned the scene, something she could never have imagined, not even in her wildest dreams. ’Centaurs working with goblins... And the goblins are wearing decent clothes and even have mounts? This is unbelievable.’
Her intuition told her that this community, which completely defied everything written in the bestiaries, was very likely what she was looking for. But it wasn’t until the short, bald goblin came into the telescope’s view that she gritted her teeth, her suspicion hardening into certainty.
"So this is where you’ve been hiding after all this time." Elma slammed her fist against the tree trunk. "And it looks like you’ve gathered some impressive followers."
After killing Scarface, Elma’s loathing for the goblin Race had only deepened. She would never trust another goblin again. During her days searching the forest, she had personally killed several more. Their "WAAAH WAAAH" wails were irritating, yet they also gave her a sense of vengeance.
She had started fantasizing about what she would do when she found them—how she would kill them, and how she would ultimately torture the goblin who dared slay a Fearsome Claw Bear. She had even researched various methods of torment recorded in ancient texts.
Unfortunately, now that she had found her target, she realized he possessed considerable strength of his own.
’In that case, I’ll need to come up with a plan.’ Elma frowned. She pulled out the crude map and made a few annotations so she could find her way back directly next time. ’My time in the forest is almost up. I have to head back to Yangjiao Town first.’
If she didn’t leave the Nightmare Forest soon, her mind would be affected. She would start seeing illusions, eventually becoming trapped and dying within its depths.
Her mind made up, Elma gently patted her Star Realm Python, then turned and vanished into the Bang Bang Forest. She failed to notice, however, that in a nearby puddle, her reflection did not leave with her.
"This irritating scent... it’s so familiar," the reflection in the puddle said, taking a deep breath. "There’s no mistaking it. It’s that fool, Anger."
"Interesting. Why is the scent of Anger here?" The reflection’s lips curled into a smirk. Its eyes then transformed—one became a black void, while the other flickered with red and blue light. "Could it be that someone has found its horn?"
The reflection smiled faintly, then flashed toward the large, open clearing.
The reflection was gone from the puddle, leaving only the image of the Bang-Bang Trees.
......
"Are these ancient cities?" Agatha asked, holding up a torch to look at the massive mural on the wall.
"I think so," Shire nodded. He had already examined the murals closely and was now looking back at One-Eyed, who was directing the new goblins in sorting through some materials.
He found it amusing, in a way. ’When these goblins were with the Evil Throat Army, they couldn’t even breach the Centaur Village. Now, under my command, they can come and go from this abandoned village as they please.’
Evita had also relayed the Centaur Race’s decision to him. They were unwilling to return here. For one, the village had been utterly destroyed and the Unicorns no longer resided there. For another, returning would only bring back painful memories of their old lives and lost loved ones for too many of them.
"Which cities are these?" Agatha asked, her head still turned toward the mural as she reached out to touch it.
"Elton said this one is the City of Ten Thousand Races, located in the forest," Shire said, pointing to one of the carved cities. "Most of the Skeleton Warriors live there."
"And that one, floating in the sky, is what they call the Pure White City, also known as the ’City of Many Heaven-Reaching Towers.’"
"The City of the Heaven-Reaching Tower?" Agatha turned her head to stare at Shire.