The room instantly fell silent. The goblin elders who had been fiercely opposing moments ago were rendered speechless.
Goblins were not some low-level lifeforms, their intelligence even surpassed that of ordinary humans.
Not a single goblin was a fool. Every one of them clearly understood just how severe the situation they now faced truly was.
Once Risel City was breached, they would definitely become meat on the chopping block for the beastmen, left to be slaughtered.
And their original ally, the one who was supposed to ensure their safety, Risel City, was facing a situation even more dangerous than their own.
So, they had already lost their way out.
That Yor had managed to find a being above the Transcendent level to shelter them… might not actually be a bad choice.
But the biggest problem was… the other party was a vampire.
An actual, bona fide vampire!!
Even knowing that this opportunity might only come once, who dared stake the fate of the entire tribe on a vampire?
Just as the goblin elders were recovering from the shock and preparing to launch into the next round of arguments…
Suddenly, a tremendous explosion shook the city, rumble rumble rumble~
The city wall had collapsed.
"Th-the city wall has collapsed!! Elders! Risel City's wall has fallen!!"
A goblin burst into the room in a panic, wearing a single-lens alchemical scope that resembled a helmet.
"It's the front wall! The beastmen used alchemical bombs to blast it apart!"
Like a stone dropped into a pond, this single revelation stirred up a tidal wave of panic. The room instantly exploded into chaos.
Terror gripped the hearts of every goblin, and despair spread rapidly.
"How is that possible? Didn't only Risel City possess alchemical bombs?!"
"Hmph, those greedy humans! They must've sold our alchemical bombs outside!"
"What do we do? The city wall has fallen! What should we do?!"
Buzz, buzz, buzz, everyone was shouting. Yor also descended into a flurry of panic. He wanted desperately to convince the goblin elders, but in the end, his voice became just one of many.
The three players, Hun Yuan, Thunderhands, and Cheng Kun, were dumbfounded too. They hadn't even started their quest, and already things had taken a drastic turn??
Just as the scene reached peak chaos, a soft cough echoed through the room.
All the goblins immediately fell silent and turned in unison toward an inconspicuous corner.
An old goblin stood there, an old goblin with a terrifyingly contorted face.
His face looked as though it had been scorched by fire, covered in the grotesque scars of severe burns.
He leaned on a long, emerald-green staff, slightly hunched, and one of his eyes had lost focus, clearly blind.
The remaining eye was cloudy and aged.
Wearing a gray linen robe, the old goblin slowly rose to his feet, his movements as sluggish as a crawling snail.
Once upright, he began to slowly pace to the center of the room.
He looked at Yor with a faintly pleased expression.
"Child, the reason the Graymount Tribe has survived to this day without perishing… is because of outstanding young ones like you."
Then he turned his head, casting a slightly disappointed gaze upon the gathered goblin elders.
"We no longer have a choice. When the beastmen invaded, the fate of the Graymount Tribe was already sealed.
You… have greatly disappointed me."
"Patriarch Mohr…" Yor looked at the old goblin before him with deep emotion and reverence in his eyes.
In Mohr Graymount's one remaining cloudy eye, a cold light flickered. "We are now seeking a sliver of life within certain death. The decision of fate has already begun.
Three days ago, I secretly sent one hundred tribe members away through other channels.
They are our spark. The Graymount Tribe will not perish because of your foolishness."
Without waiting for the elders, who were now overcome with emotion, to respond, he issued orders directly.
"From now on, the Graymount Tribe will split into three groups and evacuate.
For the first group, 500 tribe members will leave Risel City under my and Yor's leadership, following Majestic Iro.
For the second group, Half the elders will lead the other half of the tribe to flee with Risel City's rulers. Believe me, humans will not fight to the end.
The final group will escape with the refugees, under the management of the remaining half of the elders."
Hearing this, the three players, Hun Yuan, Thunderhands, and Cheng Kun, couldn't help but feel deep respect for the goblin patriarch.
Betting on all sides, this NPC was seriously seasoned and cunning. As long as any group managed to escape, the tribe would not be annihilated.
That level of intelligence… it was honestly astonishing.
But at the same time, the players once again felt the raw reality and cruelty of this world from the patriarch's commands, weaklings had no right to choose.
They could only go with the flow, like duckweed drifting on the waves.
Anyone could alter their fate.
"…Is this really just a game?"
Hun Yuan stared at the aged sorrow in Mohr Graymount's eye, his expression complex.
"Yes, Patriarch."
None of the goblins dared utter another word, even though the old goblin before them was so aged that walking alone might exhaust him.
But the authority of this old patriarch was as great as a dragon's. In the Graymount Tribe, no one dared question him.
Because this patriarch had once led the tribe in a desperate escape from a black dragon's assault, and even held off the dragon's breath to protect the teleportation array in the end.
He was the one who had kept the Graymount Tribe alive. He was the eternal hero of the goblins.
The goblins immediately began discussing the logistics of their escape. Just as everything had been swiftly assigned and the tribe was preparing to evacuate.
A voice interrupted their actions.
"No, you don't need to make such complicated arrangements. The Graymount Tribe only needs to follow in my footsteps."
Beneath the moonlight, a semicircular relief-archway swung open. A figure clad in black mage robes, exceptionally handsome, appeared before all the goblins.
At the same time, under the moonlight behind him, his shadow spread into the room, like the abyss itself, devouring every soul within.
Tap, tap~
Tap, tap~
The crisp sound of leather shoes echoed as the figure stepped into the room.