Chapter 123: Goblin Extermination!

Damian gave everyone barely enough time to settle before explaining the plan.

"The Dark Goblins split because they expect the Guild to waste days following dozens of trails through increasingly dangerous territory. So I’m not going to follow the trails normally," Damian explained while pointing northward.

"I’ll sweep the forest from the air, locate each group individually and deal with the warriors before they can disappear. You lot head toward Blackroot Den and wait for me there. I’ll rendezvous with you sometime this afternoon."

Kellan tightened his grip around Garrick’s spear. "You’re going alone?"

"Yes."

Paulina immediately frowned. "Be careful."

Julia folded her arms. "And don’t do anything stupid simply because you can fly now."

Damian looked offended. "I have never done anything stupid in my life."

Janet burst out laughing so hard she nearly folded in half, but Damian ignored her while clenching his teeth.

Eunice sighed before adding more gently, "Just return safely, Damian. You’ve done enough reckless things for one operation."

Paulina nodded firmly while Julia gave him another warning look.

Janet eventually recovered enough to tell him that getting eaten by something immediately after forcing her into a relationship would be extremely inconsiderate.

Aww, they cared!

Behind everyone, Stella and Ronan exchanged considerably less sentimental looks.

Again!

They were being left behind again!!

Stella had joined the Baines Noble Family as a combat retainer and bodyguard, while Ronan had effectively been recruited as the strongest immediate blade available to protect their rapidly growing Lord.

Yet when exactly had either of them protected Damian?

He disappeared whenever he wished, went adventuring without them, fought Masters without them, and even killed a fucking Legend without them!

Now, when an opportunity finally appeared for the household’s combat retainers to perform their literal job description, Damian was flying off alone while they escorted his women and a Level 7 teenager toward an abandoned Goblin settlement!

Ronan scratched his beard.

"At some point, My Lord, I would enjoy actually bodyguarding you."

Stella nodded stiffly. "As would I."

Damian paused and looked at the pair.

Then he looked toward Longtian, then back at them.

"...I’ll try to schedule something when we get back this time."

Ronan’s eye twitched whereas Stella inhaled slowly through her nose.

Damian smiled before stepping onto Longtian.

The sword floated horizontally beneath his boots as naturally as a surfboard, humming with faint draconic energy while Object Control and its Flying Sword properties settled into perfect cooperation.

"See you this afternoon!"

Paulina waved, Julia tried not to, while Janet waved enough for both of them!

Then... BOOM!

Longtian shot into the sky, and within seconds, the gathering point disappeared beneath the forest canopy.

Damian angled northward and accelerated, going one hundred kilometers per hour, two hundred... then three hundred!

The air screamed around his Supreme Adept equipment as Longtian continued gaining speed.

Five hundred kilometers per hour!!

The sword showed no concern whatsoever.

Damian’s Divine Sense expanded around him simultaneously, maintaining its full two-hundred-and-fifty-two-meter radius as a seamless three-dimensional field.

From trees to birds, monsters, and even movement beneath the canopy, nothing within that sphere that depended upon ordinary eyesight at this height could escape his grasp.

Damian didn’t need to physically look downward while traveling.

He simply swept across Moonveil Forest at absurd speed while continuously scanning everything within 252 meters around himself.

Naturally, that did not mean finding dozens of tiny Goblins scattered across a massive forest was trivial.

But compared with Rangers tracking footprints through mud?

Heh, this was cheating!

Several minutes later, Damian’s eyes sharpened.

"Found you."

Longtian immediately curved in an explosive arc.

Far below, a procession moved hurriedly through dense woodland.

Damian counted them instantly.

Seventeen armed Dark Goblin warriors, nearly thirty adult females, and...

His expression changed slightly.

More than seventy infants and younglings!

Good heavens!!

They had practically transported an entire generation with them!

Damian slowed overhead and studied the formation.

The warriors surrounded their families in rotating groups, some watching the rear while others cleared the path ahead.

Several females carried baskets or hide bundles holding multiple infants at once, while older younglings moved between adults wherever the terrain allowed.

Seeing the arrangement only increased Damian’s appreciation for Varkas’s strategy.

The bastard was clever, extremely clever!

A single large retreat would have been easy to detect, easy to pursue and catastrophic if surrounded.

Instead, he split the population across numerous escape groups, gave every group enough warriors to protect itself, and sent them in different directions.

If three groups died but one survived with thirty females and seventy children?

That was more than enough, as Dark Goblins reproduced quickly.

Within several years, survivors could establish another settlement.

A decade later, perhaps they possessed another generation of warriors.

From the perspective of preserving his race, Varkas had chosen almost perfectly.

Unfortunately for all that careful planning, they had met him!

Damian looked down with a cold glance, but shook his head.

Longtian turned vertically, then dropped like a falcon diving.

The wind roared around Damian as the forest rushed upward with horrifying speed.

Several Goblins heard something and looked toward the sky, but it was too late.

BOOOOOOM!

Damian struck the earth several meters ahead of the caravan like a meteor.

Dust exploded outward, leaves tore from branches, and several younglings screamed while warriors staggered backward beneath the shockwave.

When the cloud cleared, a single Human stood within the shallow impact crater.

His arms were folded and his expression was calm.

Longtian slowly circled him in the air, the broad Dragon Scale blade moving with the lazy patience of a predator deciding which throat to bite first.

The Dark Goblins froze.

It was a human mage who had a... flying weapon?

And more importantly...

He had arrived from the sky!

Their hearts sank to the bottom, several warriors visibly wanting to run.

Then cries came from behind them, from their wives, their daughters, and their children.

Whatever fear existed inside those seventeen Goblins was swallowed by something stronger.

The Level 5 leader raised his weapon.

"RAAAAH! Warriors, at arms! Defend our families with honor! The Goblin race will never die!"

Weapons rose as the Goblins formed a desperate wall.

Damian raised one eyebrow, but he was not impressed.

Heroic words became considerably less inspiring when spoken by people who had recently butchered other families.

When these same warriors had descended upon Boar Village, Bison Village and Otter Village, Human men had done exactly what they were doing now.

They stood between monsters and their wives.

They grabbed old swords, wood axes, spears, and farming tools.

They fought despite knowing they would probably die, yet the Dark Goblins slaughtered them anyway.

According to Kellan, Varkas’s strangely stubborn moral code was the only reason the atrocities hadn’t gone even further.

The Chieftain had forbidden rape and corpse defilement personally.

Without Varkas there, Damian had absolutely no faith that every warrior currently standing heroically before their families would have maintained similar restraint around Human women.

So no, he was not going to suddenly develop moral confusion because the situation had reversed.

Being a good person did not mean refusing to harm anyone unpleasant.

It meant Damian wouldn’t deliberately hurt innocents, wouldn’t enslave random people, and wouldn’t exploit someone simply because they lacked the strength to stop him.

But pitying the wicked merely because consequences had finally arrived?

That was madness!

It was the same reason Ning Ruomei and her companions received no mercy after choosing to become his enemies, the same reason Ravelhorn’s tragic history did not erase three destroyed villages, and the same reason Mirelle’s love for her brother had not magically absolved her participation.

It was also the same reason Damian had no intention of sparing Varkas when he finally found him.

Actions had consequences.

Kellan lived with those consequences every morning, and so did the seven children under his protection.

Marissa had lost both elderly parents, while hundreds of families around Rosewood Town had lost someone.

Damian lifted one finger and Longtian vanished.

SHING!

The first head separated before the Goblin leader finished inhaling, then the sword accelerated.

There was not a real battle per se, as the entire happening did not surpass even one second.

Longtian became a dark metallic-blue blur that crossed the Goblin formation faster than Novice-tier eyes could follow.

Seventeen sword lights appeared as Longtian zipped around faster than the eye could follow before coming to a stop beside Damian.

Blood slid from its Dragon Scale Edge without sticking, leaving the weapon almost insultingly clean.

For a heartbeat, the warriors remained standing.

Then, seventeen bodies collapsed almost simultaneously.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The female Goblins screamed and their younglings began crying as the smell of blood spread through the trees.

Damian exhaled, then the screens appeared.

[Combat Evaluation Complete.]

[Opponent threat differential determined to be overwhelming.]

[Repeated elimination of substantially weaker hostile combatants provides no meaningful Class growth.]

[EXP Awarded: 0.]

[Experience Points: 93/132.]

Damian nodded, feeling this was expected.

The Skill Upgrade System was considerably more generous.

[Valid Monster Souls detected.]

[Dark Goblin Warriors Slain: 17.]

[Level Distribution:

Level 2 ×6.

Level 3 ×6.

Level 4 ×4.

Level 5 ×1.]

[Skill Points Acquired: 51.]

[Current Skill Points: 348 → 399.]

Nice!

Then came <Battle God>.

[Battle God — Qualifying Kill Contribution Increased.]

[Uninterrupted Victories: 7 → 8.]

[Future Kill Experience Increase: 81.7% → 86.8%.]

The accumulated Battle Aura inside Damian deepened slightly.

Finally, <Demonic Plundering Dao Body> stirred.

[Eligible slain remnants detected.]

[Compatible Remnants: 17.]

[Current Plundering Ratio: 19.5%.]

[Attribute Plunder Complete.]

[Aggregate Attribute Gains:

STR: +3.5.

DEX: +2.7.

AGI: +2.2.

CON: +3.4.

WIS: +0.4.

PER: +0.6.

CHA: +0.3.]

[Current Attributes:

STR: 28.5.

DEX: 37.1.

AGI: 30.4.

CON: 34.7.

INT: 15.5.

WIS: 17.2.

SPI: 19.5.

PER: 8.1.

CHA: 20.5.

LCK: 4.2.]

Damian blinked.

"...Good harvest."

He really was becoming a walking crime against balanced progression.

The screams behind the bodies reminded him that his work wasn’t finished.

Damian looked toward the female Goblins, and they immediately shrank backward.

Some covered their children while others trembled violently.

Damian frowned.

Obviously, he wasn’t going to personally execute them.

Whether they were genuinely innocent was another question.

Perhaps some had participated in raids, perhaps others hadn’t.

Maybe they had supported the warriors knowingly, and maybe some had opposed everything and simply possessed no authority to stop Varkas.

Damian didn’t know.

And more importantly, it wasn’t his decision to make.

He moved around them, marked a containment boundary and invoked the assigned Level 3 prayer.

"Ira Et Dolor!"

<Glyph of Warding>!

Divine light spread across the earth and sealed the group inside.

Damian immediately opened his Guild Card and transmitted the location.

"Seventeen hostile Dark Goblin warriors eliminated. Approximately thirty adult females and seventy-plus younglings secured alive. Send retrieval personnel for transport and investigation."

Good.

The adults could face proper judgment.

If they were innocent, that mattered.

If they weren’t, that mattered too.

Damian was neither judge nor investigator.

He turned away, then stopped.

"...Tsk."

Moonveil Forest contained plenty of things considerably less interested in due process.

Damian looked back at the terrified Goblin families before sighing.

Fine. He raised one hand.

"Ex Textura!"

<Guardian of Faith>!

Divine light gathered inside the warded area before forming into an imposing guardian whose silent presence immediately warned every predator nearby that the easiest meal in the forest had suddenly acquired divine security.

"There."

Damian nodded in satisfaction.

Now came intelligence gathering.

He selected one of the intact warrior corpses and invoked <Speak With Dead>.

Residual identity returned as the dead Goblin’s eyes opened, its jaw twitching.

If this were an actual tabletop game, some form of Wisdom or Spirit resistance probably should have occurred.

Unfortunately for the corpse, it was a Level 3 Dark Goblin being interrogated by Grandmaster <Speak With Dead> backed by Damian’s current soul.

Whatever imaginary dice it possessed had apparently rolled directly off the table.

"Which directions did the other escape groups take?" Damian asked.

The corpse answered immediately.

One went east, one went southeast, two groups northwest, one toward the old Moon Pools, and another through territory belonging to several dangerous monster species.

Damian used the remaining questions to clarify approximate numbers, routes and known leaders.

The dead Goblin told him everything it knew.

When the spell ended, Damian collected all seventeen warrior corpses into the Exchange Storage, then Longtian returned beneath his feet.

BOOM!

He launched east!

............

Less than fifteen minutes later, Damian found the second group.

This one possessed fewer noncombatants and fifteen warriors led by another Level 5 Dark Goblin.

The result was practically identical.

Damian descended, the warriors rallied, Longtian moved, and fifteen bodies hit the ground.

The System screens appeared immediately.

[Combat Evaluation Complete.]

[Threat differential overwhelming.]

[No new meaningful Class accomplishment detected.]

[EXP Awarded: 0.]

[Experience Points: 93/132.]

Then came the profitable screens.

[Valid Monster Souls processed.]

[Dark Goblin Warriors Slain: 15.]

[Level Distribution:

Level 2 ×6.

Level 3 ×5.

Level 4 ×3.

Level 5 ×1.]

[Skill Points Acquired: 44.]

[Current Skill Points: 399 → 443.]

[Battle God — Qualifying Kill Contribution Increased.]

[Uninterrupted Victories: 8 → 9.]

[Future Kill Experience Increase: 86.8% → 91.2%.]

Then another notification appeared.

Damian’s eyebrows rose.

[Battle Aura Milestone Reached.]

[Qualifying Hostile Elimination Threshold: 100 — Surpassed.]

[Battle Aura Tier Increased.]

[New Battle Aura Effects Acquired.]

[Hostile targets capable of experiencing fear may now suffer Minor Intimidation from the Host’s Battle Aura.]

[Sufficiently weaker hostile targets may experience fear or temporary paralysis under concentrated pressure.]

[Targets who recognize the Host as an ally may instead experience mild spiritual invigoration and awe.]

[Neutral targets may experience instinctive wariness and increased respect.]

Damian became silent.

"So... red names get scared, blue names get inspired and grey names become polite?"

Cough... essentially.

Still, he quite liked it!

The final harvest followed.

[Demonic Plundering Dao Body activated.]

[Compatible Remnants: 15.]

[Attribute Plunder Complete.]

[Aggregate Attribute Gains:

STR: +3.2.

DEX: +2.4.

AGI: +2.0.

CON: +2.9.

WIS: +0.3.

PER: +0.5.

CHA: +0.2.]

[Current Attributes:

STR: 31.7.

DEX: 39.5.

AGI: 32.4.

CON: 37.6.

INT: 15.5.

WIS: 17.5.

SPI: 19.5.

PER: 8.6.

CHA: 20.7.

LCK: 4.2.]

Damian stared at the numbers.

"...Yeah, this Feat is fucking disgusting."

He was not complaining, just expressing his awe.

He secured the surviving Goblins and prepared to repeat his earlier method, then stopped.

His <Glyph of Warding> slot had already been used.

Right, Divine Spell Slots were assigned prayers.

He still possessed other Level 3 prayers, but the specific slot dedicated to <Glyph of Warding> was empty.

The same applied to the <Guardian of Faith> he’d used to protect the previous group.

Damian smiled.

Oh well, it was about time he did this anyway.

He clasped his hands together politely.

"My lovely and beautiful Goddess Lyla, could you please refresh my used Divine Spell Slots? Thanks."

For barely a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then warm divine power flooded through his soul.

[Prayer answered.]

[Divine Spell Slots restored.]

[<Glyph of Warding> restored.]

[<Guardian of Faith> restored.]

Damian’s smile widened.

"Thank you very much. Truly excellent customer service."

Somewhere beyond mortal perception, a certain Goddess of Life almost certainly heard that.

Damian immediately spent the refreshed prayers.

"Ira Et Dolor!"

<Glyph of Warding>!

The containment boundary formed.

"Ex Textura!"

<Guardian of Faith>!

Another divine protector manifested over the captured Goblins.

Damian sent the second Guild Card alert, stored the warrior corpses and stepped onto Longtian once more.

Two groups down, but many more remained.

The sword rose beneath his feet as Damian looked eastward, then smiled.

"Next."

BOOM!