Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

SWOOSH!

Before the words had even left Ron’s mouth, a bizarre, four-legged creature burst out from a burial mound a few meters to their side, which had been concealed by rotting vegetation. It used brute force to throw off the coffin lid and decaying matter above it, then immediately opened its great maw, filled with sharp, woody structures, and lunged viciously at the leg of Silvia, who stood at the edge of the group!

The creature, roughly the size of a large dog, was covered from head to toe in mature spore clusters. Its mouth was even worse, looking like a full-blown fungal convention—the sheer density of it would be enough to make someone with trypophobia die on the spot!

It didn’t need any external contact; the Thorny Beast’s movements alone were enough to make the spore clusters burst and infect any living creature nearby.

Unfortunately for the Thorny Beast, it seemed to have picked the wrong target. While a Vampire Descendant could technically be considered a living being, it was only *technically* one.

”Withering Magic!” Silvia, long prepared to deal with plant-like creatures, showed no hesitation. She immediately thrust her Walking Stick, coursing with Necromantic energy, into a crevice in the Thorny Beast’s body.

The moisture and vitality of this living plant were almost instantly drained dry by Silvia. Though its structure and lineage were closer to that of fungi, the Thorny Beast still couldn’t help but convulse in agony. Its maw expanded to its widest once more as it tried again to tear at the Vampire Mage’s leather boots and trousers.

It seemed to want to expend its last ounce of strength to ensure its species could continue on Silvia’s body. But in the end, it was merely the final, instinct-driven delusion of a plant with the intelligence of a baboon. As the Thorny Beast lost its last shred of vitality and collapsed, a peal of thunder rolled across the desolate graveyard. The spores on the Vampire Descendant rustled off her, mixing with the dirt and mud like common sand.

”Of all the living people here, you just had to attack me?” the Vampire Descendant said, clearly displeased as she brushed the particles from her clothes. Victoria, meanwhile, lit up a light source, bathing her companion in light like a torch and giving the Red Mould no chance of survival.

In an encounter that couldn’t even be called a battle, no one else had intervened. Only Ron, at the end, extended a hand toward Jilannis and Anastina, rubbing his thumb against his index and middle fingers.

”Tch! You money-grubber!” The Mercenary rolled her eyes at Ron, took two Silver Coins from her purse, and tossed them to him. ”It’s on me, sister. I started this one, so you don’t have to pay.”

Anastina was clearly trying to make things difficult. She was at least ten paces away from Ron, and though she tossed both Silver Coins at nearly the same time, they flew off in completely different directions.

’Now this young Lord will have to scrabble around on the graveyard floor for the Silver Coins,’ she thought. ’—or maybe he’ll order his subordinates—’

Before Anastina could even finish the thought, her eyes widened. She saw that Ron had barely even moved. A Ghost Hand had shot out from behind him and caught the Silver Coin that flew farther away.

As for the closer coin, it was caught neatly by a tower shield floating in mid-air! The Silver Coin landed perfectly on the shield’s curved top, not even wobbling in the slightest!

”So sorry, ’Auntie’ Anna.” A faceplate automatically lifted, revealing the Half-Elf’s innocent smile. ”I just suddenly wanted to test my level of control.”

The experienced swordswoman rolled her eyes, her expression clearly saying, ’You think I believe that?’

She held no real malice toward Ron, however—he was her employer, after all. After her failed attempt at teasing him, Anastina obediently dropped it and refocused the majority of her Energy on scouting the surroundings.

After all, if a Thorny Beast had appeared here, then neither the Spore People nor the Red Mould’s Fungal Mat could be far behind.

Sure enough, just over an hour later, as Anastina raised a hand to signal for the group to halt, the Goblin Hunter watching their flank let out a bird-like whistle. Big White, the creature on his shoulder, quickly scurried into his clothes, while the goblin himself raised his bow and took aim.

Ron and the others now stood at the outskirts of a ruined village. Silvia had told them its story before; back then, the place had been deathly still, with only a few Undead wandering about.

Now, the village seemed to have more life, but the relatively peaceful and even friendly atmosphere of before was gone, never to return.

Ron stood in the middle of their formation, tilting his head to peer past Sera’s sturdy back muscles and observe the village now occupied by the Spore People. Many of the dilapidated houses that had once been barely standing were now almost completely collapsed. However, using crude tools and materials scavenged from the ruins, the Spore People had crudely rebuilt them into a cluster of twisted new structures.

As Ron’s group drew near, the spores clinging to the buildings shot out like sharks that had scented blood. As if they truly had heads, their stalks all turned in unison toward the newcomers. Alerted by this signal, the Spore People, who hadn’t noticed the group before, were instantly on guard. Some snatched up tools, while others raised claws far more ferocious than any tool, waving them threateningly at the intruders!

The Spore People seemed to have their own language system, but when they began to vocalize, the sounds that reached Ron’s party were many times more grating than the roars of wild beasts.

”They’ve got their eyes on our flesh and blood,” Anastina snorted contemptuously. ”They want us alive so they can plant Red Mould on us and wait for little baby Spore People to pop out!”

”This is the first I’m hearing that Spore People have a juvenile stage, though it’s true they grow stronger with age,” Jilannis said, glancing at the Mercenary. ”You can understand what they’re saying?”

Spore People could force air through their mouths to produce hisses and other noises, but they could not speak in a conventional way. In their daily lives, they communicated through hisses, gestures, and rhythmic tapping on their bodies. It was a complex and primitive language that no sane person would bother to study. Jilannis was surprised that the former resistance fighter would have had the leisurely inclination to study the language of such creatures.

”I can’t understand them,” Anastina said with a grin, raising her beloved sword. ”But it doesn’t matter. Can’t you guys read their body language?”

”They’ve raised their weapons, and they’re closing in—they’re about to attack!”