"Run...run...you are...free..."
Shan Yu, who had been unconscious in the bushes, struggled to his feet. His body was extremely shrunken, and he no longer possessed the demeanor of the goblin hero he once was.
Every time he closes his eyes, he can recall the scene from that night: the dead come back to life, and the condensed ghostly figures suck away his life force.
However, a certain force awakened him—the sacrificial power from the north. He not only came back to life but also fully recovered from his injuries.
It's a pity that his strength couldn't be preserved.
"Go north, to the last kingdom, and the final resting place..."
"The path of heroes should continue..."
A voice from the depths of his being echoed in his ears, and that force was guiding him northward. He seemed to see a city in the north, guarded by... goblins!
"I need to go there... I must... return to my race..." Shan Yu's eyes were empty, as if he only had this one obsession left.
He dragged himself forward through the darkness, the moonlight seemingly giving him the energy to move, and he didn't know how many days and nights this had been going on.
He was constantly haunted by that nightmare...
"bite--"
A wooden stick was pressed against his breastplate.
Looking up, I was surprised to see a human priest!
"A filthy corpse?" the human priest scoffed. "And a goblin at that. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to share your fate!"
Moka was somewhat annoyed. He had already obtained a clue about Elsie, but he had missed it. The natural disaster had even traumatized him.
Fortunately, the Demon Eye was not damaged, and this body can still be used. It's a pity for the Ghostfire Bear, which died even with the blessing of the Mother Tree!
"What a piece of trash!"
He pressed the wooden stick against Shan Yu's head, and a yellow magic circle flashed from the stick across his forehead.
"Ha, the North! A city built by goblins. It seems they deliberately collected goblin corpses. Do they have a way to resurrect you?"
“This is a desecration of the iron law of life! It seems this news can make up for my failure this time…” Moka looked very happy.
“You’re very lucky, little goblin!” His eyes were already crinkled with laughter.
"Would you like to join the Council of Life? The Mother Tree will accept all living beings, even evil ones!"
"If you win this era, you will surely become a powerful ally, receive blessings, ignite the divine fire, and become a demigod... Wait? You don't want to join?"
Moka realized what Shan Yu was thinking.
"You don't even care about demigods? What about gold? Or some really cool gear?"
"Wait... do you want... Naoko?"
"?"
"Damn it! I was just reminding you, I didn't promise! I hereby declare you forcibly drafted!"
Moka immediately planted a enslavement contract in Shanyu.
Now there's another plan. Killing Elsie is of course the main objective, but the goblin city in the north seems to be more attractive to the Mother Tree.
Moreover, the north seems easier to navigate than the heavily fortified southern continent.
"It's decided, let's go north first!" Moka wasn't in a hurry to kill Elsie; in his mind, Elsie was just a child.
What abilities can a child have?!
...
"Achoo—" Elsie sneezed in Firi's arms.
I feel like someone is talking badly about me...
It couldn't be me!
"That's practically admitting it without being asked!!!"
Elsie suddenly perked up her ears as the sound of horses' hooves behind her caught her attention. Fortunately, it was Connor leading his knights to arrive.
What a scare!
Recently, someone dug Green and Angel Yunxi out of the ruins. Although they were severely injured, they were still a little short of death.
Elsie was afraid they would suddenly wake up and take her away.
Xinglan had already secretly told her some things beforehand, and naturally she didn't want to return to the family so soon. What a joke! When has she ever listened to anyone?
Besides, she hasn't had enough fun yet!
We can go back to our family anytime; there's no rush!
“Miss Philie, we’ll escort you from here on out!” Connor said to Philie, taking Elsie from her arms.
Firi waved goodbye to Elsie and the others. She could finally have a few days of peace and quiet. It was such a shame the interesting church had been destroyed in the natural disaster.
Wait! You didn't deliberately destroy that place with a natural disaster, did you!?
"Hey!"
With nothing to do, Ferry returned to the hotel. Aize and Worson, on the other hand, had been given an early holiday; it was unclear whether they had gone off to hang out with some mercenary group.
Or perhaps they went directly to Orvik?
Elsie also wants to have an exciting adventure!!!
Instead of worrying about that, think about what Bergkamp is going to say later...
Indeed, what exactly will the final test be about? It's not going to be another knight-versus-knight competition, is it? That would be so boring!
...
Time flies, and soon Elsie arrived at the elite class's exclusive training ground.
The vast battlefield was filled with knights, fully armed, awaiting a new test.
[Until Bergp took to the podium and admitted his mistake...]
“I didn’t expect so much to happen in just a few days. I would like to apologize to Dean Xinglan and the city lord... I’m sorry for taking the city defense troops away.” Bogpu stood on the platform and nodded and smiled at Dean Xinglan beside him.
"But I can explain that this is in preparation for the second assessment, and the benefits will definitely outweigh the losses to Mirror Lake City..."
His voice echoed across the wilderness, and a group of assassins lying prone in the surrounding buildings silently sheathed their swords.
They glanced at each other, then disappeared into the darkness.
“Let’s put this sad topic aside for now.” Bergp sighed and looked at the sun in his mouth.
"It's time, everyone follow me to the North Gate."
Following Bergp's footsteps, everyone headed towards the North Gate. No one knew what this assessment was about, or why they had to go to the North Gate… Was the area too small?
Indeed, since the last reward distribution, many trainees have enough knights to form legions, and the cramped training grounds are no longer sufficient to support the assessments.
[It's worth noting that Dean Xinglan did not bring the priests and mentors this time, which means that the casualties in this assessment are real, and some knights may have died in the process.]
Elsie, held in Trisna's arms, watched the energetic solo performance by the narrator and became interested in the assessment.
Come to think of it, even if there is danger, my team wouldn't be so easily wiped out, right? After all, I carefully selected them!
[They were indeed carefully selected, a mischievous knightly order? I really didn't realize they were so powerful!]
"Cough cough cough..." It seemed that he had walked too much and kept coughing, which attracted the attention of the other knights.
The other knights seemed to have begun to look down on Elsie's Knights, their eyes already seeing them as losers.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com