Sometime later, the six goblin patrols finished wiping out the chimera insects that had seemingly escaped, spilling their corrosive green blood over the ground.
Several black, red, and purple Gehenna plants quickly withered into nothing under the terrible corrosiveness of the chimera insects’ blood.
Nevertheless, the six goblin patrols didn’t bother with the clean-up process; they showed no care for the environment.
They were prepared to continue their patrol of the area for more chimera insects when the leading goblin in black iron armor suddenly paused its steps.
Its nose twitched like a Porcean.
Porcean was a race of humanoid pig monsters often depicted as orcs in some stories. In the seven witch kingdoms, the folks commonly referred to them as P’orcs.
Sensing the black armored goblin turning in his direction, Vaan understood his presence had been exposed again.
Nevertheless, he patiently waited for the goblin patrols to approach his hidden location.
The moment they entered his range, he immediately shot out and took them by surprise, making quick work of them before they could resist or draw attention.
Six goblin heads fell to the ground within several breaths.
Shortly after Vaan cleaned up all their traces in the area, he sprinkled more scent-erasing powder on himself.
‘This quality of scent-erasing powder doesn’t seem very effective for some reason,’ Vaan furrowed his brows in thought.
Despite using the scent-erasing powder, the goblins were still able to detect his smell.
‘It seems like these black armored goblins can smell other things on my body. They do look different from the other five goblins,’ Vaan mused.
As he recalled the black armored goblin’s facial features, its nose did resemble a P’orc’s to a certain degree.
Thus, there was a chance that the black armored goblin had been enhanced with some P’orc abilities through body transmutation.
However, it wasn’t just any normal P’orc either; it was a special type of Winter P’orc.
‘Winter P’orcs can smell other edible beings, or in other words, food. Regardless if I have a scent or not, Winter P’orcs would be able to smell me,’ Vaan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Because Winter P’orcs’ noses were hypersensitive to temperature, allowing them to smell the heat in a person, not just the person’s scent.
Nevertheless, since Vaan figured out the problem, he just had to resolve it.
Kinetic Energy Manipulation!
Vaan reduced his heartbeat, blood flow, and overall body temperature, making him feel rather cold.
He had no problem enduring the heat, but he was evidently weak against the cold, which was contradictory to his season preference.
In the past, he preferred cold seasons over hot ones.
However, his body was attuned to the earth after he achieved the Earth Spirit Body. As such, his strength and weakness became clear, just like how metal could be purified and refined into a stronger metal through heat but becomes brittle when exposed to coldness.
That said, he only lowered his body temperature by a few degrees.
After encountering another group of goblin patrols, the black iron armored goblin failed to detect him despite entering within a similar range as the past two goblin patrol groups.
Nevertheless, Vaan still chose to eliminate the goblin patrol group.
After swiftly slaying the six goblin patrols, he collected their equipment and eliminated their traces from the area.
The goblins did not know who or what killed them, even as they died from decapitation.
‘From the positioning of these last three goblin patrol groups, their base should be located somewhere northwest of here,’ Vaan thought before adjusting his direction of travel.
The present terrain was like a multi-layered maze, filled with low and high grounds with various rock formations.
It was difficult to see far unless he had the high ground or flew overhead.
However, doing so would expose him to unnecessary risks that he wasn’t willing to take, especially when he didn’t know who and what he could be dealing with.
After all, it was an evil witch’s lair.
Attracting all of the enemy’s attention wouldn’t do him any good. A massive improvement in power was by no means a reason for him to become arrogant and complacent.
People who flaunt their strength and backgrounds were the type of people to get themselves killed.
Boom… Boom…
As Vaan made his way northwest through a canyon of rock pillars, he suddenly felt the ground steadily tremble from the footsteps of a rather big or heavy being.
When he got closer to the source, he found out the footsteps belonged to a fifteen-foot goblin filled with scars and bulging large muscles.
‘A Rank 3 Goblin Champion that had been enhanced…’ Vaan’s eyes flickered, noticing the goblin champion’s peculiarities.
It wasn’t just big and packed with muscle power; it was also red-skinned and had one arm incomparably larger than the other. It was extremely lop-sided.
‘No wonder the Fallen Witch didn’t send any of these goblins outside. Anyone would have been able to tell they had undergone body transmutation. This one has the right arm of a Cyclops and the nose of a Winter P’orc… There are also dragon scales and the ears of a Nightmare Bat… Wait, ears of a Nightmare Bat?’
Roar!
The enhanced Rank 3 Goblin Champion suddenly made a mighty roar before raising a giant stone club with its big arm.
In the next moment, it swung down in Vaan’s direction.
Boom!
The ground split apart like an earthquake, and dozens of rock pillars in the area collapsed, exposing Vaan’s location over a hundred yards away behind one of the collapsed rock pillars.
Its power was unreal, almost at the level of a Rank 4 being.
However, the Rank 3 Goblin Champion did not get the chance to see him as it fell forward under the weight and force of its giant right arm during the swing.
In the same instance, Vaan immediately charged toward it as he withdrew his Rank 4 Purple Sword and underwent Lycan Transformation.
=====
«Lycan State»
[Total Defense: 357 → 485 (↑128) (Mid-level Rank 3 → High-level Rank 3)]
[Total Strength: 301 → 401 (↑100) (Low-level Rank 3 → Mid-level Rank 3)]
[Total Speed: 285 → 377 (↑92) (Low-level Rank 3 → Mid-level Rank 3)]
=====
“Ro—!”