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“Ah-ah-ahhh—!”

Within the Red Goblin Mountains’ cursed region, a Mid Rank 2 Aura Master’s interrupted cry resounded briefly before becoming abruptly silent.

When other mercenaries in the area were drawn over to the source of the cry, they found an entire team of six Mid Rank 2 Aura Masters lying on the ground, skewered to death by poisoned arrows and darts. Their skin also quickly turned green and purple.

The mercenaries felt chilled and alarmed, causing them to quickly search the surroundings with sharp vigilant gazes.

Nothing could be found until a High Rank 2 Aura Master heard some scraping tree branches, leading the person to catch a glimpse of movement up in the trees roughly fifty yards away.

Upon seeing more than two dozen goblin archers and dart shooters camouflaged in the trees while loading up their next arrows and darts and aiming at them, the High Rank 2 Aura Master’s expression abruptly changed.

“Goblin archers in the trees up ahead! Take cover behind trees!” the High Rank 2 Aura Master quickly warned the others.

Swish!

A volley of arrows and darts were shot, missing almost everyone. The Rank 2 Aura Masters easily dodged, while a few Senior Witches conjured mana shields to block.

However, the antimagic spores eroded their shields of mana, causing gaps to appear in them, allowing some arrows and darts to pass through._.

A Senior Witch was struck on the neck with a poisoned dart before her entire body froze and fell to the ground, paralyzed.

“My Lady!” a Mid Rank 2 Aura Master quickly rushed over to pick up the Early-stage Senior Witch and carried her behind cover.

“Dammit, we need to get rid of those archers and dart-shooters!” another Rank 2 Aura Master rushed forward with several others.

At the same time, the other Senior Witches also fired their offensive magic at the goblin archers and dart-shooters in the distance.

[Fire Arrow]

[Wind Cutter]

[Rock Bullets]

However, some magic circles collapsed mid-activation, while others severely lost power before activation and only traveled a few yards before they dispersed into the air or fell to the ground.

“Kree-kikiki.”

The goblin archers laughed at the Senior Witches’ useless move before hopping from tree branches to tree branches, drawing distance from the Aura Masters chasing after them.

“Don’t let them get away!”

“Don’t chase them!”

Several Aura Masters chased furiously while others argued against them.

However, only a few managed to stop, while the remaining three Early Rank 2 Aura Masters continued to give chase. Seeing as they were about to catch up to the goblin archers and dart-shooters, they couldn’t simply stop.

Alas, what awaited them were more traps.

Click!

One of the Early Rank 2 Aura Master’s feet got caught in a low-tied roped, activating a spiked log to come swinging from the left.

However, such a low-level trap failed to slow the Early Rank 2 Aura Master, causing the spiked log to miss him. Another spiked log came from the right, which also missed him.

Unfortunately, the Early Rank 2 Aura Master ended up stepping onto a patch of fake ground. He fell into a spiked pit and got himself impaled to death.

Even the spikes were laced with poison.

When the other two hot-headed Early Rank 2 Aura Master saw what happened to the person ahead, they came to a grinding stop, and their heads quickly cooled with fear.

Swish! Swish!

Several Rock Bullets shot past them and struck down a few goblin archers in the distance before a Senior Witch exclaimed with surprise.

“Use your Specialized Magic! Specialized Magic isn’t affected by the Curse of the Purple Umbala!”

“It’s true! Specialized Magic works perfectly fine!”

Senior Witches in the area quickly tested their Specialized Magic and confirmed the truth of the matter.

…

Meanwhile, similar ambushes and traps simultaneously occurred in other parts of the cursed region, causing no minor casualties among the mercenaries.

Although few died, at least two dozen people were incapacitated by the goblin poison, whether it was an impaled wound or even a slight graze.

The goblin poison worked wonders, making it especially terrifying.

Nevertheless, after the initial surprise from the goblin’s ambushes, several mercenary groups halted their advances and retreated to recuperate the injured and report their discoveries to the camp.

…

“What the hell is wrong with these goblins? Are they really Rank 1 Green Goblins!? Since when did they become so intelligent and organized?! Damned vermin, I can’t believe I got injured by such weak creatures,” a Mid Rank 2 Aura Master cursed while getting treated.

“If you have the energy to curse, then focus it on your recovery instead,” a water-attribute Senior Witch said with a frown as she extracted the remnant goblin poison from the person’s leg.

“Such a vicious poison…”

Ember and Helia furrowed their brows as they made a tour through the camp of injured mercenaries. They had received multiple reports from different groups beforehand.

“Goblins never resorted to such tactics before… As expected, someone is commanding them and teaching them new tactics. These dirty tactics are in line with the Assembly of Silent Night’s nature of work. However, I feel like these tactics and traps weren’t taught by those doggies,” Ember muttered with a frown.

“What makes you say that, Marquis Ember?” Helia asked with a suspicious look, wondering if the Grand Inquisitor had the same doubts as her.

“No matter what, the goblins are monsters of lesser intelligence. They shouldn’t have been able to pick up such tactics so quickly, even if those wolf-men are skilled in teaching. I’m more inclined to believe they had been trained by someone else for a much longer period or…”

“The goblins the mercenaries encountered in the cursed region were all part of an evolved group,” Helia finished.

“It looks like Lord Helia also had the same thought,” Ember nodded before she said, “It looks like this punitive expedition won’t be smooth sailing. I’m starting to get an ominous feeling from the Red Goblin Mountains.”

“Likewise, Marquis Ember,” Helia replied with knitted brows.

As the two toured through the injured camp and listened to more reports from the wounded mercenaries and their affiliate groups, Ember’s frown deepened.

“Unexpectedly, no one knows the reason behind the disturbance that caused hundreds of black crows to fly away from the Red Goblin Mountains…”