Chapter 61: Count

Dawn reorganized his goblins before marching towards the second village.

Wos and Yamu with their original comrades of 180. Their numbers lessened because of their battle with Dawn's village.

Mos, who was now the leader of the village they Dawn recently conquered, with almost 220 goblins.

Mos' goblins retained their numbers. After all, only the village chief, Vadu, and some goblins died with their confrontation with Dawn.

Looking over these goblins, Dawn nodded his head with satisfaction.

More or less, he was able to complete his goal.

"Wos. You take the lead. I'll walk alongside your group."

"You won't take the lead, king?"

"That's right. I have to do something."

Wos just bowed his head before walking his way.

Dawn also made his way to the center.

He waited for a short time when finally, Wos' order to move was given out.

Dawn walked too while closing his eyes. Leaving his body to his instincts, Dawn shut off his mind to himself.

---Finally.

Finally, Dawn had some time that he could freely use.

Ever since he saw Vadu, he became interested in how he could do that.

A living being, once dead, will never be able to come back to life.

That was an absolute fact, and Dawn knows that too.

However, there were two incidents that proved this wrong.

One was when Dawn saw the monster bones or, rather, skeletons. They moved without having a life. It was a mysterious existence.

And now, the second is when Dawn saw Vadu.

---How?

How could Vadu come back to life with that kind of state?

Dawn could understand the skeletons if they were just that type of existence. However, goblins are not that kind of monster.

Goblins are goblins. They live, eat, fight, and eventually die.

They don't live even after dying, so what Vadu did was something interesting for Dawn.

---Is it Aura?

Aura was an incredible power for goblins that could amplify their attack, pressure their opponents, stop objects, stimulate wounds to heal, and many more.

It wouldn't be weird for it to be able to revive someone from the brink of death.

However...

Dawn expected the answer to be Aura, but no matter how much he tried analyzing his Aura, nothing notable came up.

---What is it? I bet it has something to do with the reason why I haven't evolved yet.

When considering Dawn's achievements on the battlefield lately, Dawn could definitely evolve now.

He killed three goblins who were on par with him, but even so, he couldn't.

The Blessings of the Battlefield seems to be even ignoring him.

---Is it another power?

If Aura isn't the answer, there must be another power in goblins.

The Cave of Regalia was one, but Dawn doesn't have that. His mark of a black sun doesn't come from that.

Incidentally, Dawn couldn't even control the black sun. Unlike Didi, who knows how to use his, Dawn's mark was a decoration for him.

---I can't sense something like that...

Dawn scanned his body using his Aura, but he couldn't find anything.

He couldn't even find where his Aura was originating from.

---What the hell...

As Dawn continued to search for something inside his body, the more he became confused and perplexed.

After all...

---There's nothing...?

...Dawn couldn't find anything.

And that was weird. In his confrontation earlier with the goblin Gago, Dawn could find something in him.

After all, they were clashing Aura with Aura. Dawn could instinctively feel that Gago was a goblin who was 'full.'

And that was why it was weird. Dawn could find something in other goblins, yet he couldn't find anything in himself?

No matter how much Dawn thought about it, it was something that should never happen.

---Fuck.

As Dawn was lost in his thoughts, a curse naturally came out.

He dug deeper and deeper in himself, only to be lost. What's more, he couldn't even feel that it was 'ending' soon.

It was then.

Dawn could feel something.

It was small and short, but Dawn could definitely feel something vibrate within him.

And when he searched for the source, his hopeful face became blank and dazed.

After all...

"King! King!"

It was just the voice of Wos who came to tell him something.

****

Dawn opened his eyes when he realized it was Wos. He didn't plan to get angry with him just because Wos disturbed him.

He didn't even tell Wos not to bother him.

"King! Are you alright?"

When Wos saw Dawn open his eyes, he immediately jumped forward to look straight at Dawn's eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Dawn then pushed Wos away as he asked.

"Whew. I thought you died."

"What?"

Dawn's voice was sharp because of the word 'died.' He thought it was a clue.

"N-no! It's just...you kept bumping on obstacles along the way, and you didn't even avoid anything in the forest. You even brought a tree with you."

Wos thought that Dawn got angry and began explaining. He pointed his finger behind Dawn as he spoke once more.

"And no matter how much we warn you, you wouldn't respond. You wouldn't even take a look at us."

Dawn took a look at the tree that he brought. Its vines were entangled on his ankles.

Shushu.

He then took off the vines and spoke to Wos.

"I see. Then? Why did you wake me up?"

"It's because we are here!"

Wos pointed towards his back, which was facing the second village. Goblins of familiar forms and shapes were looking at them from afar, and some even noticed that the king was near.

Of course, as Dawn was a high-ranking goblin, Dawn could see them clearly.

"Good. I will take the lead."

It was finally time to end this long night.

****

In the forest where the night has taken over, goblins with a skin color of black were running from something.

In the middle of the group of goblins, there were some goblins with a skin color of grey.

They were members of the Five Great Clans in the deepest part of the south.

But, now they were running towards the north where the humans came attacking.

Of course, they didn't know that the humans who attacked were now missing from the forest and retreated.

As the goblins kept running, they soon noticed that their pursuers were now gone.

After all, their senses were much more advanced than the Stray.

The goblin who was leading them was the Clan Leader of the Tabak Clan, Vorg.

He then spoke to the goblins.

"How far are we to that town?"

"We will reach it soon, Vorg. However, I don't think they'll let us escape."

A goblin of gray skin replied to him. It wasn't Morg the Clan Leader, but instead, her adjutant, Moris.

Vorg looked over that goblin with a sad look on his face.

He remembered how he couldn't protect Morg, the Clan Leader of this goblin.

But...

'I mustn't let them down...'

...He shook his head. He was only able to escape thanks to his comrades, who paved the way for him.

How could he, the one who escaped, become sad?

When he has a mission to do, Vorg doesn't have time to immerse in his emotions.

Even now, his comrades and allies must have been killed one by one because they helped Vorg.

He couldn't waste time just because he was sad.

"Alright. From now on, we are no longer of the Five Great Clans! We will take over that town and control all forces here up to the Four Big Villages on the border!"

"Yes!"

Vorg ran off with an insane speed. He didn't even leave any afterimages as he left them behind.

Of course, the other goblins could keep up with him. At least, when it comes to running.

They ran without rest; they didn't even eat any food even though their stomachs told them to.

In fact, every time they felt hungry, they increased their speed even more.

Why? It was because of the pressure coming from where they came from.

Even if it is no longer chasing them, it was something deadly that they could only think about how they will die if it catches up.

'Just a bit more...' Vorg thought as he can see something from far away with his eyes.

His sadness from before couldn't be seen as he replaced it with a will to fight.

'I will gather strong-willed goblins to face you!'

Vorg clenched his teeth, and the grating of bones could be heard as he pierced through his skin on his palm.

"You who have tarnished our wish that has existed for thousands...millions of years, I will fucking kill you..."

He murmured as his black eyes turned bloodshot from his rage.

Smoke could be seen rising from his body, yet his allies didn't pay any attention to it.

In fact, all of them had the same emotions right now. It was just a matter of intensity.

And Vorg, who used to be the Clan Leader of the Tabak, had his anger and hatred at its peak.

Unable to contain it any longer, Vorg shouted out loud and made the forest tremble!

"Dusk! I will fucking kill you!!!"

It was a declaration of vengeance.