Chapter 71 Maze (1)

“Let’s talk over there,” Lynn glanced up at the mountain, where wizard apprentices had already begun their ascent.

Once they were away from the crowd, the elderly goblin prostrated on the ground, with forehead touching the earth.

“My name is Bu, and I am honored to be chosen by the emissary of the gods,” the old goblin said.

“Emissary of the gods?”

“Yes, indeed. These are the commands bestowed upon us by the great gods,” the old goblin explained. “We are to comply with all the orders of the emissary of the gods, for that is the price we must pay for the gods to resurrect us.”

“Resurrected? So, you’ve experienced death?” Lynn inquired.

“Yes, but the great gods saved me,” Bu said, eyes filled with awe.

Reviving from death was impressive. Perhaps there was a divine occupation related to death or life.

“Have you seen the gods?”

“I haven’t. The great gods are beyond my sight. However, I worship Lord God Byger, the God of the Goblin Territory and Peace, every day.”

The God of the Goblin Territory and Peace? It sounded like an impressive title.

However, did this god have the divine occupation of resurrection?

Lynn pondered in his mind. 

Moreover, this shouldn’t be a powerful god. From the prefix, it seemed to be a god of racial belief, with the divine occupation focused on territory and peace. The larger the territory of the goblin race under its guidance, the more internal conflicts there were within the goblin clan, and the more prosperous the development, the stronger the god’s divine power.

But given that goblins themselves were not a powerful race, based on what Lynn knew, the goblin race was currently in a declining environment.

Of course, even the weakest god was still a true god.

A god of this stature collaborating with these wizards in the trial of a wizard apprentice seemed peculiar in every way.

Lynn felt that Bu’s talk of resurrection might not necessarily be true, the old goblin might not have truly experienced death but perhaps only encountered an illusion.

Lynn quickly considered the strength of the goblin clan. He shook his head—a trade seemed unlikely, and coercion might indeed be more likely.

“When you faced death, what did you see?” Lynn inquired.

“I was plunged into darkness. I could see everything around me, but I couldn’t control my body. Then, I saw the emissary of death taking my soul. However, the great Lord Byger sent down a divine light, driving away the emissary of death, and my soul returned to my body,” Bu recounted.

“Hmm,” Lynn nodded, deep in thought.

Several people had already started climbing the mountain.

“Are you the oldest among these goblins?” Lynn asked.

“Among the living goblins, I am likely the oldest. I have lived for sixty-three years, and those selected goblins are all my fellow clan members,” Bu said.

“They all had their souls taken by the emissary of death, and then coincidentally, they were all saved by your god? Were you trained after being selected and brought here?” Lynn reiterated.

Bu fell silent, and once again, bowed while kneeling on the ground. “It seems that our clan accidentally provoked a monster, and it was the great god who saved us.”

Sixty-three years were considered old among goblins, given their slightly shorter lifespan compared to humans.

“Get up. You don’t need to kneel anymore. Can you give me a brief introduction to your clan?” Lynn was worried that the old goblin would faint from kneeling for too long due to poor blood circulation.

Bu stole a glance at Lynn and cautiously said, “We are a small clan of the goblin race, and we worship the great Lord Byger, the God of Goblin Territory and Peace. We use this worship to resist the monthly blood tide. Our clan was once prosperous, boasting professions like goblin zealots, goblin knights, and goblin engineers. However, many of these inheritances were lost, and we could only survive by hiding in the underground tunnels of the mines.”

Blood tide? Did such a thing exist in the wizarding world?

“In other words, there are no extraordinary professions among the other goblins?” Lynn asked.

“No,” Bu’s head shook.

Lynn nodded. If there were no extraordinary professions, it didn’t matter which goblin he chose. After all, these goblins wouldn’t be able to break through the maze, and he planned to use them as cannon fodder bait.

From what Lynn knew, the goblin race was an intelligent and cunning species.

They belonged to a diminutive humanoid species, with pointed ears and skin usually of yellow or yellow-green hue, their appearance far from the aesthetic norms of humans.

Their reproductive abilities were excellent, they were naturally adept at engineering and alchemy. Some powerful goblin civilizations even formed empires.

However, it was said that the goblin race had once faced a major catastrophe, after which they never fully recovered.

But thanks to their intelligence and racial talents, goblins became servants to wizards, achieving a rather unconventional achievement of “proliferation.”

Not far off, several wizard apprentices were sporadically entering the maze’s entrance.

“Let’s go. We’ll enter the maze too,” Lynn said.

Lynn didn’t continue questioning Bu, he realized that no matter how much he asked, he wouldn’t get much useful information. Sometimes, knowing too much wasn’t meaningful either.

Stepping into the maze, they found three paths at the entrance.

To the left and right were two corners, while the middle led up a steep slope. The ground was ordinary soil, with stubborn weeds and scattered footprints.

Lynn observed his surroundings using his mental strength but found that the stone walls had a certain absorption effect on mental energy, preventing him from penetrating them.

After some observation, Lynn chose the middle path with the fewest footprints.

Most likely, many wizard apprentices had gone to explore the left and right paths, and few had ventured directly upward.

After walking for a while, the surroundings remained tall stone walls, but the farther they went, the more repetitive the walls became. After several turns, they found themselves surrounded by stone walls when they turned back.

Lynn took out a blank notebook and a pen from his spatial ring and sketched the route he had taken.

As long as the maze didn’t change, he wouldn’t get lost.

“Hmm?” Lynn noticed something.

There was a hole under the left wall, about the size of a standard door.

It was pitch-black inside, making it impossible to see the scene beyond. However, there were several footprints leading into it.

It seemed someone had already entered ahead of them.

“We’ll go inside and take a look. You follow me.” Lynn’s eyes flickered as he walked into the doorway. It was a narrow and lengthy passage, with burning candles placed at intervals along the walls on either side.

After walking for about a hundred meters, the passage suddenly opened up into a spacious hall.

The air was thick with the scent of blood.

In the center of the hall, a group of monsters clad in crude armor and wielding weapons were casually tearing apart two barely recognizable corpses, splattering viscera and blood everywhere.

“Bug… Bugbears,” Bu behind Lynn exclaimed in horror as they watched the monsters patrolling the hall.

——