Chapter 9: Sneaking Heroes
Five heroes actually descended in a very remote goblin village.
This basically proves that Heroes are very numerous.
They're at least several times, perhaps even more than ten times that of Demon Kings.
The one leading these five goblin Heroes is called Chen Hu.
The goblin body that Chen Hu descended into was the hunting captain and head warrior. He was the strongest goblin in the village.
After he descended as a Hero, he grew very strong within just a few short days.
The other players naturally all followed his lead.
"Everyone's assembled!"
Chen Hu was in high spirits.
He had not just gathered four companions, but also about 30 healthy adult goblins in the name of a hunting party.
At that moment, a goblin Hero spoke hesitantly, "The safe period just ended though, isn't it a bit too fast for us to go try killing Demon Kings right now?"
Chen Hu gave a cold smirk in reply, "What are you so afraid of? It's exactly because the safe period just ended. Right now, Demon Kings haven't had a chance to really develop yet, so this kind of time is our best chance!"
Another Hero immediately agreed, "Boss is right. Right now, we can only really use goblins, but goblins are just too weak. If we don't use them now, then there won't be any point to having them in the future."
The other Heroes all nodded along.
Hero players aren't like Demon Kings.
After a Hero descends, they'll each have pre existing identities, along with connections that come from that.
Since these five players all became goblins, they'll naturally want to figure out ways to make the goblins of the village work for them or even become their stepping stones as cannon fodder.
Compared to the Heroes of Destiny, these normal goblins have terrible growth potential.
The five of them will be leaving the village to further develop themselves sooner or later, so the villagers are merely early game consumables to be used up.
They likely only have a bit of value at this point. In the future, as Demon Kings develop and grow stronger, goblins won't even have any value as cannon fodder. Thus, if they don't use them now, then when?
"There's a few Demon Kings nearby!"
"Which one should we go for?"
Different player factions have different functionalities available to them.
Demon Kings have chat and trade menus.
Heroes don't have either of those. However, they do have a map function that Demon Kings don't get.
Any Demon King nests that are within a range of a hundred kilometers will automatically show up on the Hero's map.
Right now, there are about 8 or 9 Demon King markers within that short range of 100 km, so they were temporarily unsure of which one to choose.
"Let's go to the Darkness Valley!"
Chen Hu directly made his decision.
"This nest is the closest. Even if we don't challenge it now, it will certainly expand in the future and become a threat to us."
"In that case then, it's better to attack preemptively."
Chen Hu was a vicious thug unafraid of fighting and killing even back in reality. He had specialized in various kinds of semi-illegal business back then.
He has both guts and ambition.
This age was practically made for him!
Chen Hu fully believed that he could definitely rise up, crush all others beneath his feet, and become a king above all.
Heroes can level up by killing monsters.
They can also train to become stronger.
However, all that is far too slow!
For a goblin that starts out fairly weak, who knows how long it would take for him to become someone really powerful if he just trained and fought monsters normally.
If he wanted to break through the limits imposed on him by his race, then the only way is to kill Demon Kings.
The reward from a single Demon King is equivalent to years of harsh training!
The Demon King that lies in the Darkness Valley will become the starting point for his rise to greatness. It will become the first sacrifice and stepping stone for he who shall become one of the strongest!
Around night, five Heroes plus 30 normal adult goblins snuck into the valley.
Heroes can detect Demon King nests.
Demon Kings can't detect nearby Heroes though.
Thus, Demon Kings are relatively more vulnerable to sneak attacks.
However, Heroes can only get a general idea of the Demon King's territory. They have no way of accurately pinpointing the Demon King's Altar that acts as the core for the Demon King's nest.
Thus, there is something of a process where each side attempts to win a battle of scouting.
Demon Kings need to be ready at all times to deal with Heroes who might try to sneak in.
After a Hero enters a Demon King's nest, they also need to be careful of any traps and minions that the Demon King has.
"Boss!"
"Found it!"
"What's up ahead is definitely the Demon King's nest!"
A small ruin within the valley is up ahead.
It was as dead as a grave. About 20 to 30 skeletons were active within the ruins. They were all acting in groups, making it obvious that they weren't normal wild monsters.
Chen Hu was immediately overjoyed.
He's confident of his victory now!
"It looks like it's a skeleton Demon King!"
"They managed to get so many skeleton soldiers in just these few short days?"
"Yeah, they got dozens of skeleton soldiers in less than a week. If we gave him something like half a year, then we wouldn't have stood a chance!"
Chen Hu showed a vicious grin, "Hehe. The stronger the Demon King's forces, the better the rewards after we kill them. This is all going to end up becoming ours!"
He waved his hand.
"Let's go!"
"Don't let him escape!"
Over 30 goblins charged out as one and started attacking the skeleton soldiers that were currently recharging their energy.
The skeleton soldiers had no thoughts or feelings. When they detected the invaders, they all instinctively brought out their weapons to start fighting back. Both sides immediately began fighting.
Normal goblins are very weak in combat.
In a one on one duel, they're even weaker than these skeleton soldiers.
However, goblins are intelligent life forms. They can make up for their lack of strength with teamwork and tactics. With a prior plan, they are very much capable of dealing with a similar number of skeleton soldiers.
This isn't even mentioning the five goblin Heroes.
Their power far outstrips that of normal goblins.
This was especially true for the body belonging to Chen Hu. He started out with an elite's level of power. After he was strengthened by his conversion into a Hero, he's gotten even stronger.
The skeleton soldiers easily ended up being pushed back.
The goblins shattered one skeleton after another.
"Hahaha!"
"That's all they're capable of."
"We're definitely going to win!"
At this moment, the five Heroes were all in high morale and filled with battlelust. They believed that they were certain to become the first group of Heroes to successfully kill a Demon King.
At the same time.
Up on the Demon King's Altar some distance away.
Zhang Nu's eyes suddenly snapped open.
A cold gleam flashed across his eyes.
[Warning!]
[Your territory is under attack!]
[Your skeleton soldier has been slain!]
[Your skeleton soldier has been slain!]
[...]
He had received an alert.
The House of Bones is currently under attack!