Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”My soul is growing weaker. It won’t be long before I lose my mind completely, just like that madman in the cave.”

”When that happens, this ’reverse’ side of me will probably disappear. I’ll try to kill myself before I can’t hold on any longer, but to be honest, I don’t want to die yet.” Spike’s eyes were losing focus, but he pushed himself to finish speaking.

”Of course, if you really don’t want to get involved, that’s fine—I know this is probably a difficult request—but in that case, please just put me out of my misery. It feels like there’s a fire burning inside my body right now, and it’s unbearable.”

”Looks like you’ll have to bear it a little longer, then,” Ron said, standing up. ”I think we should go in and take a look.”

”Are you sure?” Victoria hesitated. ”That sounds a little dangerous, don’t you think?”

”It is dangerous. If we just go in like this, we’ll likely follow in Wilson’s footsteps,” Ron agreed with a nod. ”That’s why we need to be more cautious.”

”Whatever is in there might separate flesh from soul. So, why don’t we find someone who can’t be separated and send them in first to check things out?”

The two Spikes were tied securely to a nearby tree. Ron and his group set up a temporary camp while Delaford was sent into the depths of Delusional Land. They needed to ask a certain ”person” for help.

「A few days later.」

”So this is the place?” You floated above the waterfall. ”You need me to go in and find those people, right?”

”Dead or alive is fine. But when you come out, please tell us what trapped them, or what killed them.”

”Got it,” the banshee nodded. ”Could one of you cast some Magic on me? I’m... a little scared.”

”Besides, if something happens to me, you’ll be able to sense it when your Magic fails, right?”

Everyone thought You had a point. So, after a quick bit of Casting, You, now shielded by a Triple Protection Spell, slowly sank beneath the waterfall.

A small mouse, directed by Delaford, leaped into the waterfall and found a stable platform on the other side. This served as a fourth layer of insurance and as You’s mouthpiece, relaying what she saw inside to Ron and the others.

”There’s a tripwire at the entrance, but it’s already been dismantled,” Delaford said, sitting among the group with his eyes closed, relaying the banshee’s words. ”There are some other traps she doesn’t recognize, but they’ve also been mostly disabled. It seems Wilson’s party had a skilled Wanderer.”

”Wilson himself started out as a common street thief,” said the shorter Spike, who was tied to the tree. ”That’s not surprising.”

The taller one was completely ”offline.” Although he still looked like a living person, according to Silvia’s expert examination, the individual was no different from a corpse.

In her words: even his blood had started to rot.

”There are some opened treasure chests along the path, and scattered Gold Coins,” Delaford spoke again. ”A Personification Monster disguised as a chest was also killed in the cave. It still has an arm in its mouth.”

”That was the Warrior from our team,” Spike sighed. ”I gave a warning, but it was too late.”

As You ventured deeper, she saw more and more monster corpses, including three Ghost Fires. They had been completely destroyed, leaving behind nothing but three empty skulls.

And further inside...

”A Warrior, missing an arm.” As Delaford said this, Ron and the others saw a look of surprise on Spike’s face for the first time.

”How did he die? Can you give me the details?”

”Sorry, but no. Delaford can’t hear you right now.” Ron shrugged. ”The goblin’s sight and hearing are with the mouse. It’s useless to say anything to him here.”

”Uh, she says she’s found them. At least three... no, four of them,” Delaford spoke again.

”They’re trapped inside a Water Prison and are very weak. Two of them are Spirit Bodies, and the other two are real people.”

”Oh, she says she sees Spike’s soul. It’s short and thin—looks like the one we have here is the real deal.”

”She says something is guarding them, but it’s ignoring her. She’s not sure if it’s because she’s one of the Undead Creatures, but she can’t see the creatures’ faces. Above their necks is just a cloud of black smoke.”

”Every so often, they extract Wilson and the others’ souls and throw them into a large furnace. After about ten minutes, a new creature walks out of it.”

”I don’t think I quite understand what she’s saying. I’ll try to steer the mouse closer, see if—AAH!”

Delaford fell to the ground with a thud as if he’d been suddenly startled awake. His Beast Perception was instantly severed.

”What happened?” Sera, who was close by, quickly helped him up. ”Were you discovered?”

”I don’t know,” Delaford said, stunned. It took him half a minute to recover. ”I don’t know if I was discovered.”

”I saw the madman Spike mentioned, Sera. Do you remember that bandit you scared off when we destroyed the Carolina Trading Station?”

”It was him?”

”It was definitely him!” Delaford said with certainty. ”He hasn’t even changed his clothes. He just looks older and crazier.”

”My mouse was about to sneak past him, but he suddenly glanced at me, and then a jet of flame torched it!”

”How strange,” You said, flying out from behind the waterfall just then. ”Did you lose the connection? Everyone inside has their face shrouded in black smoke. I couldn’t see a thing!”

”Was the madman like that too?”

”Madman? What madman?” You paused, then immediately denied it. ”I didn’t see any madman, but I did see a humanoid Fireball! It shot right through my body with a WHOOSH and ran past, burning Delaford’s mouse to a crisp.”

”I couldn’t see any other details. I guess you’ll have to find out for yourselves.” You floated regretfully over to Ron’s side.

”Oh, right. You’d better be careful. The Protection from Evil barrier on me was flashing the whole time, but the other spells didn’t react at all.”

Even though You herself might not need it, this advice could be a lifesaver for Ron and his group. Without further hesitation, Ron took out three Protection from Evil Scrolls he had written and handed them out.

For the past two days, the only thing he had been doing was making Scrolls with the inkless pen from the Green Dragon’s Nest. Now, they were finally coming in handy.