"Gone? What do you mean?" Kang Jiayi's brows crumpled as he glanced at his son.
"Yeah, I could not find a single person there. They should have gone inside the portal, everyone!" Kang Zian recalled the scene of the empty road. It was nothing but two empty cars and two busses that filled with supplies and cold weapons.
He narrated everything to his father about what he discovered at their temporary camp.
"What about your sister!?" The old man raised his voice. He was more concerned about his daughter.
Kang Zian shook his head, indicating he did not find his sister as well.
"Hah!!" The old man rubbed his temple at the thought of his daughter going to the dangerous place, "Should not let him bring her!" After saying that, he looked toward his son, "Prepare the scout team, we will send the scout team to the portal!"
*** ***
Inside the portal
Kang Xue's light armor was covered by blood. Since she entered the cave, about an hour ago until now, she had been fighting against the goblin nonstop. Of course, the other girls were helping as well as it was impossible for her alone to defeat over a hundred Goblins.
At this time, she fell on the butt to the ground, watching a single woman facing three big Hobgoblins. She glanced at the idle man next to her, "Are you sure to leave those three big guys to Sister Mengyao? Shouldn't you help her?"
The man next to her had been idle, letting her and the other girls fight. If someone looked at the group, it appeared like the man was being protected by the eight girls. Of course, she knew the reason why he did not join the fight, he did that for them. Most of the goblins were low-level ones, a little stronger than the stage-1 zombie but much weaker compared to the others she had encountered so far. So he let them kill the goblins so they could gain the level, mostly the goblins were for her since she was the one with the lowest level.
However, the last three were different, they were not just a goblin but a hobgoblin. Three Hobgoblins faced a single woman, Zhang Mengyao.
She had her set of Fallen ready, the shield in her left hand, and the lance in her right hand.
"Didn't you hear her? She wants to face the three by herself, has confidence in her," Tang Shaoyang was messing up with her hair as the girl responded with, "Don't mess with my hair," she then focused her eyes on Zhang Mengyao.
From her perspective, the Hobgoblin was strong. If she encountered such a monster, she would avoid fighting against it no matter what. But Zhang Mengyao indeed told them that she wanted to fight against the three, alone. Kang Xue was curious, her mind filled with wonders how a single woman could take against three Hobgoblins.
"Everything is possible if you have a high level and are courageous enough to face the monsters!" It was as if the man could read her mind as he spoke those words.
The three Hobgoblin rushed toward the girl together while raising their clubs, a big metal club. Kang Xue found that despite the size of their bodies, the Hobgoblins were quite fast. But what was more bizarre was that Zhang Mengyao had moved to the side before the Hobgoblins started to attack.
Kang Xue was a little confused as to why Zhang Mengyao moved but soon the Hobgoblins answered her. The three Hobgoblins smashed the metal club toward where Zhang Mengyao wss standing just now.
"It was as if she could read their movement, right?" Once again, Tang Shaoyang read her thoughts, "You are not wrong, she could read their movement. That's her Talent perk, have you got your talent yet?"
"Talent?" Kang Xue shook her head in confusion, "No wonder you are so weak, you don't have your talent yet," he neglected about this, "It must be because the Medical Division,"
Meanwhile, the Hobgoblins realized they missed their target. They glanced toward the side. Zhang Mengyao was in a position already.
"Reaction is quite slow for stage-3…" she muttered under her breath, "But they have good strength," her pupils glanced at the small pit created by the metal club.
Zhang Mengyao was gathering information about the Hobgoblins. The closest Hobgoblins made a sudden turn and slammed the metal cub. This time she did not run but put her black shield forward to meet with the metal club.
Clank!
Zhang Mengyao stood on her ground without much trouble. The Hobgoblin did not have enough force even to push her even an inch.
She frowned a little bit, "Weird, this big guy is so weak…" she muttered while looking at the Hobgoblin who seemed to be confused as well. Then the girl noticed the other two Hobgoblins were coming. She pushed the metal club over and thrust the lance to the Hobgoblin's chest.
The lance easily pierced the chest through to the monster's back. She immediately pulled back as soon as the lance pierced the monster's chest. The Hobgoblin was growling painfully as it tried to cover the hole in the chest.
Zhang Mengyao took five steps backward, she was locking her gaze at the two incoming Hobgoblins. Both monsters swung the big metal clubs at her simultaneously. The girl knight took a breath and put her shield forward, she planned to receive the two metal clubs head-on.
Clank! Clank!
Her hand shook slightly from the impact, but that was it. Even two of them came to her at once, and they still could not even push her back.
Zhang Mengyao then looked toward her shield. The shield must have some effect to negate the force from the metal club. "I have enough information, time to finish you two off!" After that, she pushed the metal clubs away as she pulled the lance back.
[Unbending Strike]
She activated her skill and her figure flashed forward. With the lance aimed at the Hobgoblin on the right side of her, the lance tore the Hobgoblin's neck. Blood sprayed to her armor as Hobgoblin's head dangling toward the right.
Using the dead Hobgoblin as footing, she pushed her body to the next Hobgoblin. Zhang Mengyao slammed the shield hard to Hobgoblin's face, pushing the big guy down to the ground.
While in the air, she threw the lance to the back of the monster's head, finishing off the last Hobgoblin. Then she landed on the ground perfectly. The moment her feet touched the ground, she did not retrieve the lance. She stored the shield in the inventory and pulled the glove in her right hand with her teeth. Afterward, she took out a book note and a pen from her inventory as she wrote something on it.
"What is Sister Mengyao doing?" Stood up, Kang Xue asked the man who was heading toward the deepest room.
"Why don't you ask her?" Tang Shaoyang waved his hand to the back as he entered the steel door.
Kang Xue truly approached Zhang Mengyao. The latter seemed to be focused on the note as she did not notice her when she arrived. Kang Xue peeked at the note and found out what was on the note. It was the data about the Hobgoblin, she was writing the information she collected during the fight.
"Girls, we have our reward inside, you decide how are you going to share the loot!" The group heard Tang Shaoyang yelling from the deepest part of the cave.
Hearing that, the group went inside and they saw three Treasure Chests at the end of the cave. Next to the treasure chest, they also found a portal.
"I don't participate in the fight so you guys can take the loot!" Tang Shaoyang did not take the treasure chest for himself even though he had the chance. He then pulled Kang Xue to the side, "You are the one most benefited from the goblin cave, so you should not have taken the treasure chest too!"
"I know," Kang Xue nodded her head as she walked to his side. Zhang Mengyao stood in front of the Treasure Chests. Her team consisted of seven girls including her, and since she was the leader, she should be the one who distributed the treasure chest to her team.
"I will not take part too since I just got one recently," Li Na smartly stepped out of the group.
"Me too!" Fu Dandan and Dai Wenqian stepped out as well. Fu Dandan, Dai Wenqian, and Li Na were part of the first expedition team so they were okay to not take the chest. With this, only three people were left, Liang Suyin, Shi Niu, and Zeng Dongmei.
Zhang Mengyao subconsciously smiled at this, "Then you three can take the treasure chest,"
"C-can we?" Zeng Dongmei was hesitating. The three thought the reward would be monopolized by the Boss. 'Are they testing us?' The three had the same thoughts.
"No, the Treasure Chests are for you three, unless you don't want the chest?" Zhang Mengyao nodded her head seriously. Finding out their leader was serious, the three bowed their heads toward Zhang Mengyao and Tang Shaoyang, "Thank you, Boss~,"
He nodded his head as he truly did not mind even though the people that closer to him did not take the chest. His train of thoughts was simple. Since the three were part of his empire, his empire would grow strong with his people getting stronger.
Since the girl did not have inventory, they had to open the chest directly. Liang Suyin got a silver spear, Shi Niu got a sword, and Zeng Dongmei got silver plate armor. They were satisfied with the reward. After that, the group entered the portal.
"Huh!?" Tang Shaoyang found the surrounding was familiar. He then turned around and found out they were sent to the entrance of the goblin cave.
To his surprise, the cave slowly blurred then it disappeared after a few seconds, "So that's now the cave work," he muttered in a low voice.
"Should we follow the path or go down?" Zhang Mengyao looked at the path that led them upward.
"We follow the path, since there's a path there must a destination behind it, right?" Tang Shaoyang instantly decided. Since they still had a lot of time, they could afford to check what was on the top of the mountain.
After an hour of following the path, the group encountered yet another cave. The cave had the same structure as the beforehand cave, and the group finished the cave in half an hour. This time, Zhang Mengyao gave the three treasure chests to Li Na, Fu Dandan, and Dai Wenqian. They refused at first but Mengyao insisted.
They continued to follow the path afterward, after an hour of climbing the mountain, they finally reached the peak. The peak of the mountain was a flat field, quite big at that.
In the center, a group of Hobgoblins was standing, surrounding one Hobgoblin with weird attire and staff in its right hand.
[Basic Detection]
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[Monster - Hobgoblin]
Affiliation: -
Class: Shaman
Evolution: Stage 4
Level: 55
Skill:???
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