Temur set a fast punishing pace with the goblin at the front while Dile put a short rope around its neck like a walking dog. After witnessing the way they killed the whole tribe without issue, the goblin made no fuss and led them obediently.
"Aren't we there yet?" Litha demanded again for the twelfth time that day, she wiped sweat and blood from her face and grimaced. "I don't like this. What if the main goblin tribe is closer to the castle?"
Jael nodded along with her. She has a point. For the last three days, they have been walking in the zone, they knew they were getting closer to the center. That itself wasn't a bad thing, but it meant the monsters they were encountering were getting more and more powerful and dangerous.
Temur grunted as he tore the exoskeleton of an insect monster that looked like a cross between a cricket and a dog, he fished in and brought out a dull brown monster core. "Then we finish off the goblin and head towards the castle."
"We'll be too tired. Already we are hurrying towards the castle as fast as we can. Also fighting monsters and hardly sleeping. Now we're about to take on a tribe of goblins and then the castle? Where we will fight other Awakeners?!" Cele shook her head.
Litha, Temur, and Jael shared a look. 'Apparently, Thayer's team hasn't heard about grinding'
Temur pointed at the goblin. "We move!"
And so they did, following behind the green goblin and trying their best to stay alive as more and more monsters got in their way. It's not like most of the monsters are particularly strong but they come in large numbers.
The day blurred into fighting monsters and running in the zone; even their night was the same as they tried to make up for any lost time by moving in the night. They used a lot of stamina potions this way, but it couldn't make up for the lack of sleep.
So, by the fourth day, everyone was cranky and irritated. Even the goblin was walking like a dead thing. Jael felt as if he had been dragged through a rough ground; his mouth was dry, and his eyes itchy.
The sun was just starting to warm the air when the goblin suddenly jerked to a stop. He raised a trembling hand and pointed and they followed it with their eyes.
What they saw were massive trees that grew close to each other and formed a natural wall. Temur loomed over the goblin. "This is it?"
With Dile in the lead, they began to walk towards the gate; everyone was ready for their role in case of trouble. But nothing happened even as they reached the gate. "Do you notice that there are no enemy bodies? Just the goblins." Jael pointed out.
"You're right and they haven't been dead for more than a day," Dile crouched by one of the bodies and sniffed the blood. "And it's only goblins I can smell too."
They all exchange weary looks. If there are only goblins, then how did they die? Who or what killed them? They turned towards the gate and began to walk.
They picked their way over the broken gate and entered into the castle. Whatever they were expecting, it wasn't pitch darkness but Cele's fireball quickly illuminated the place.
Her light flared and showed the courtyard. Jael marveled at what he saw. The inside of the mountain has been hallowed out, and then they built a kind of village.
"I don't know the goblins are this good," Jael said, almost in accusation.
Everyone agreed with him.
But Litha was frowning. "So all the goblins here are dead? Look around, there's no life stirring in this place. There should be light and stuff, but this place is dead. Look at all the bodies on the ground just lying there... ?"
Jael waved and pointed to the biggest building, it was made of the same stones as the mountain. Atop the balcony are five goblins who are looking at them intently.
It was too far away to notice much, but the goblins were red and bigger than the others.
"That must be the war-chief's building. Whatever happened here, I'm sure we are going to find there." Jael said. "Or from those goblins."