Sivis wanted the adventurers to chase the Goblins, running quickly to accelerate the spread of the poison in their bodies.
Then, he would have the monsters engage in a direct confrontation with them.
He followed the rest of the party at their pace.
About a few minutes later, the three Goblins were forced back into their group.
Johnny and the others saw more than thirty Goblins, led by a larger, more powerful leader, hiding in a sparse patch of forest with almost no cover. They all grinned widely.
"Just as I thought—low-level Goblins. This mission is going to be a breeze!"
"Alright, once we kill these Goblins, we'll head back to town. The conditions near Hanseter are terrible, it's hard even to find a pretty woman!"
"Johnny, Sivis was right! We were way too paranoid before. With these Goblins, I could kill every single one of them myself!" "Let's just go in and hack them to death!" The adventurers' eyes sparkled with ease.
Their earlier caution had come from their training and professional discipline.
But facing a group of weak Goblins, there was no need to remain on guard or probe slowly—it was foolish to do so!
The three attendants saw the scene unfold, their expressions unchanged, only feeling a sense of relief.
They had long since stopped expecting much reward from the adventurers. After enduring beatings, insults, and even being forced to eat rotten meat last night, they had only just regained enough strength thanks to the priestess's healing to avoid falling behind today.
The attendants knew that with the adventurers' brutality, it would be a miracle if the three of them made it home alive.
Seeing how weak the Goblins were, all they wanted now was for it to be over quickly…
At that moment, the adventurers charged forward with overwhelming momentum.
Sivis watched coldly from the side, a faint smile even curling at his lips.
He wasn't worried at all!
But in the distance, in a patch of forest, someone else was anxious on his behalf.
A group of villagers, armed with hoes and rusty sickles, had anxious and panicked looks in their eyes.
"What should we do? These adventurers look so strong! Lord Goblin can't possibly match them, should we help?"
A few young men murmured, their voices filled with concern.
"No! John, are you crazy? We agreed from the start, if Lord Goblin faces too much pressure from the enemies, we'll step in."
"But right now, with how useless we are, we'd just be sending ourselves to die," a middle-aged man chided, stopping them.
"But… do we just watch Lord Goblin and the others die?"
At that moment, if anyone from the church or any noble had arrived, they would have immediately sentenced these villagers to death.
They were trying to help the monsters kill adventurers and even referred to the Goblins as "Lord."
How rebellious! How disrespectful to the gods!
People would surely scream in terror, declaring that these villagers had been brainwashed by demons!
The truth was, these villagers, watching the Goblins about to be slaughtered by the adventurers, were filled with anxiety and panic.
If the Goblins were all killed, this place would likely fall under the kingdom's rule again.
Where could they find another place like this—free from harsh taxes, noble oppression, and where they were taught how to raise wild boars and cultivate the land?
This territory was a paradise in the villagers' eyes!
But the middle-aged man was right. The powerful aura of the adventurers, even from a distance, made the villagers' bodies tremble.
They had defied the Goblins' "threats" and returned, ready to give their lives, but who would willingly throw their life away?
However…
At that moment, just as the adventurers were charging forward to kill, Johnny suddenly shouted, "Wait! Something's wrong!" He rushed forward at full speed.
It was too late!
The adventurers had already walked into the trap.
With the sound of intense crashes, some of the soil and rocks in the forest suddenly solidified into more than ten Lava Stone Demons, tightly surrounding them.
Many of the Stone Demons exuded a sixth-tier bronze aura, stronger than the adventurers.
Even though their equipment could make up for some of the power gap, the Stone Demons had the advantage in numbers.
The situation shifted instantly!
The Goblins, no longer showing the timid appearance from before, under Sivis's command, didn't charge forward to fight the adventurers. Instead, they raised some wooden bows and arrows to shoot, while others threw prepared stones at the adventurers.
The Stone Demons roared in fury, swinging their giant arms to strike.
Two of the warrior-type adventurers in the front quickly drew their swords to defend, but with the sound of "clang, clang, clang."
They were knocked back repeatedly, spitting blood, and found themselves in a hopeless position.
In an instant, the adventurers were in a state of shock.
"How is this possible?"
"Sivis, what kind of scouting did you do? There are Stone Demons here! Didn't you notice them?"
"Sivis, you've led us into disaster!"
For a moment, the adventurers' faces turned grim, panic rising among them.
Faced with the siege of monsters stronger than themselves.
The adventurers couldn't help but wonder...
Could this be the end?
Am I going to die here?
Their formation immediately broke down.
The two warriors, who should have been guarding the front, turned tail and fled.
Before facing any real danger, they could maintain some discipline.
But now, it was as though they were terrified beyond belief, disregarding all previous training, just trying to run away as fast as possible.
In doing so, they exposed the mages, priestess, and assassin directly to the Stone Demons' attack range!
In the distance, the villagers who had been silently watching the scene exchanged looks of glee.
"We're going to win! Lord Goblin has help now!"
"This is great! We don't have to keep running anymore. Well done!"
"Let's kill all these adventurers!"
Malice gleamed in their eyes.
It wasn't hard to understand why the villagers hated the adventurers so much. Every villager had grown up listening to their parents' warnings and threats, knowing that these noble-born adventurers would be extremely arrogant and unreasonable. The moment they came into their lives, they would seize their lives for the smallest inconvenience.
In their minds, there were no "good" adventurers.
After a moment of cheering, the villagers' expressions shifted back to worry.
"Wait a minute, the Stone Demons are allies of Lord Goblin, but they won't bully us, right?" The joyful expressions lasted only for an instant.
Soon, the villagers' worry returned.
Lord Goblins were good, but the other monsters weren't necessarily the same...
This was the helplessness of the lower class—any unexpected event could shatter the fragile, hard-won peace in their lives.
Just then, one of the villagers spoke out vehemently, "That's impossible! Anyone who helps Lord Goblin must be good-hearted!"
His voice was firm, though there was a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
He couldn't accept that their barely hopeful life would be destroyed so soon…
The villagers nodded in agreement, but within seconds, their expressions changed again.
The situation on the battlefield had suddenly turned!
As the adventurers scrambled to flee, Johnny stepped forward and actively met the Stone Demons head-on.
"Get out of my way!" he roared, his body bursting with an extremely terrifying fighting aura.
Sivis couldn't help but show a trace of caution in his eyes.
"Johnny's strength has been hidden all along. He's at least Bronze Rank 8, probably a high-level Bronze!"
"Good thing... I poisoned them in advance!"
He thought to himself.
On the other side, Johnny swung his sword, unleashing a crimson sword wave. The Lava Stone Demon in front of him was split cleanly in half, its body severed at the waist.
If it weren't for the unique nature of the Stone Demons—requiring their cores to be destroyed in order to be killed—Sivis's strongest group of monsters might have lost one of its members to this single blow.
The Crystal Stone Demon, which had been hiding, also appeared, stepping forward to intercept Johnny, who had been preparing to attack.
Johnny simply sneered. "Another variant? This isn't enough!"
He was impressed by this new monster territory.
He hadn't expected that…
The monsters here were quite powerful, and that such hidden units like the Stone Demons would be born here.
No wonder Sivis's scouting was ineffective.
"Still, it doesn't matter. My strength is more than enough to turn the tide," Johnny said confidently, flashing a smile.
He had always been worried about whether any unexpected surprises might arise in the monster territory.
But now the surprise had already been confirmed—just Bronze Rank 6 monsters? What was there to fear?
Victory was assured!
Johnny swung his crimson blade again, easily forcing the Crystal Stone Demon to retreat in defeat.
The Crystal Stone Demon also conjured its innate magic, "Crystal Blade," forming an extremely tough blade to resist the formidable enemy. However, Johnny, with his high-quality equipment and noble training, was more than capable of countering the attack!
He slightly turned his body and once again unleashed a brilliant light blade—a highly refined technique within the Bronze rank!
With this, Johnny relentlessly forced the Crystal Stone Demon back, shattering its crystalline body with each strike.