Island God: Going From Level 1 To World Ruler-Chapter 53: New Base

Midas and Gool had quite easily escaped Sergalas’s Cavern due to Gool’s navigational skills.

They regrouped with the rest of the goblins before returning home.

"The amount of ore in that cavern isn’t something to scoff at," Midas said, in slight awe.

"You’re right... It’s probably because of the great density of power that lay there for so long. Mainly, that power came from Sergalas himself." Yemo replied.

"Oh?" Midas retorted with slight intrigue, "What do you mean by that? Do ores grow near power?" He asked.

"Not directly. I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems that all the valuable things in this world revolve around power. As if there’s some sort of invisible yet tangible force that draws growth and prosperity within the vicinity of power." Yemo said.

"Hmm..." Midas paused, "When we subdue Sergalas in the future, I think that cavern will be a perfect place for us to gather valuable materials." He said.

On hearing this, the goblins lit up slightly with excitement.

"Mining expeditions within Vineral!?"

"That mountain hasn’t been touched in ages."

"We will be rich!"

Days later, the group arrived back at basecamp. What met their eyes horrified them, causing the entire group to freeze and stare forward with devastation and confusion.

Midas stood at the forefront of his group.

His face was expressionless. He stared at a massive crater where his base once was. Orc footprints covered the outskirts of the area.

"The orcs... found it?" Midas muttered under his breath in slight disbelief. He clenched his fists, anger boiling within him.

"I think so, my lord. However, the destruction we see here was not done by them." Yemo said, taking a step forward. "No orc, or even an orc army, could lay havoc to an area in such a manner. This was not the work of ordinary white orcs."

Midas furrowed his eyebrows with confusion as his eyes scanned for any signs of what could have caused this.

"Chances are," Gool began to say, "They found our decoy base, but decided to come here after finding this one a few hours later. Most likely, the decoy base is destroyed as well."

Midas exhaled, loosening his fists. There was nothing he could do in this moment of little information.

"So what happened?" Midas asked, as if frustrated, "Why is there a damn crater here? What sort of power did those bastards harness?" At that moment, he walked over a peculiar-looking object on the ground.

It was the hand of an orc, chopped off and thrown to the side.

Midas’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion. The other goblins quickly ran up to survey it as well.

"It wasn’t the will of the orcs..." Midas said, "Something else did this. Something that also didn’t care about killing the orcs."

Then, he looked up at the tree that cloaked the arm on the floor. On one of the branches, a few pieces of clothing caught his eye.

Gool quickly climbed up the branches and retrieved the clothing before handing it to Midas. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Upon closer review, Midas could tell that this clothing was familiar.

"It’s Dorians... the same clothing he had left in my hut." He said, not knowing what to make of this.

’Did Dorian do this? Did he mean to protect my area in some sort of way? No... most likely, he just got angry at the orcs and obliterated them, if it was him who did this in the first place. But where is he now? If he’s returned, does he remain here?’

Many questions riddled Midas’s head.

However, this finding also meant that the orcs might have been wiped out here.

"If they found this base after the decoy one, they must have come here first, since it’s the real one." Midas said, turning, "And if that’s the case, that means that the decoy base might not have gotten trampled on--seeing as all the orcs might have been wiped out here anyway."

Hearing these words, slight hope and rejuvenation flickered in the pupils of the goblins.

With specs of faith still held tightly to their chests, Midas and the goblin company ventured slightly farther north toward the decoy base.

Upon arrival, smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.

"The base!"

"It’s still standing!"

"Our hard work lives on!"

The goblins ran forward and entered the spiked walls of the decoy base.

Midas stood back with a smile on his face. "Well... this was meant to be a decoy base that got destroyed. But it seems our hard work will continue to pay off for a little while longer." He was glad.

Now that the orc issue was gone, they could use this better, more robust base as their homestead.

This didn’t come without its harsher risks. Now, the orcs were sure to know of Midas’s base area.

However, Midas wasn’t planning on running for much longer. He had other things in mind...

Several weeks passed.

Midas currently stood in the center of his company of goblins. A large area was cleared in the center, where Midas was drawing what looked to be a map on the ground with a stick.

Where they currently stood was the south of the island. He circled their base location, calling it "Midas’s Domain."

To the left of the island was another circled area titled "Mosquito Mountain." To the north was the Karak-O mountains ruled by the orcs, and Sergalas’s Cavern within the Vineral mountains to the east.

"The mosquitoes." Midas lodged his stick into the Mosquito Mountain. "They will be our ticket." He said, glancing at Gool. "You said that they are the greatest overall force within the western side of the island, right?"

Gool nodded, "Well... yes. Over there, they hold almost complete dominion. Nothing dares challenge their authority."

Midas smirked, "Good..." He turned, his eyes peering over the heads of the goblins and straight at what looked to be a massive outdoor farm.

The farm lay on the outskirts of Midas’s base location, which was now almost double the size it was a few weeks ago.

The farm consisted of only one plant. The bog plant. Indeed, it was the same plant that Midas had used to escape the mosquitoes in the past.

"That plant will be our key to defeating the mosquitoes in an all-out war," Midas said with pride and a smile on his face.

"W-what!?" Gool exclaimed with confusion, his eyes darting left and right as if he was having a realization.

"Wait a minute... so that’s the plan? That’s what you have been secretly making us work toward all this time? Why didn’t you just reveal it to us earlier!?" Gool exclaimed with shock.

Midas chuckled, "Don’t worry about it... I didn’t want fear to be a factor while working. Regardless, we are prepared now, so there is no need for fear."

Gool sighed, "I guess you’re right about that. We are indeed quite prepared." He said.

All the goblins turned and faced the bog plants. Large, reddish purple flowers that could explode into clouds of green bog, which repelled mosquitoes like bees to smoke.

"Master!" Yemo shouted from the side, "I have prepared all the war weapons you have tasked me with creating. What exactly did we need them for again? You have yet to tell me."

The goblin rode in atop a large catapult for his size. Compared to a normal catapult, it was still smaller.

Beside him were what looked to be multiple other catapults made with the finest of goblin technology.