The Golden Lord has a perverted SSS-rank summoning system!-Chapter 37: Killing goblins (02)

When Ethan and Evelyn took down more than a quarter of the goblins in the blink of an eye, chaos reigned among the creatures.

One of them, wielding a clearly handmade wooden spear, tried to attack Ethan from behind, but the sharp tip struck nothing but the steel plate protecting his vital organs.

Twisting his body, he slashed. The blade missed the creature’s neck but still found its hand.

A scream filled with despair echoed, and the goblin fell to the ground, rivers of blood gushing from the stump.

Ethan plunged his sword into the creature’s heart and moved on to the next one. He didn’t even need to use Burning Blood for that.

Evelyn was also relaxed.

For a second-stage warrior, only hobgoblins would be a problem, and fortunately, only the goblin camp leaders, perhaps two or three, were at that level.

In the end, it took the two of them less than two minutes to finish off all twenty.

With that, Ethan’s XP bar rose to 89%.

Just one step away from reaching level 24 and then 25, where he could prepare for his ascension to the second stage.

"Ugh... these things stink..." Evelyn complained, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping away some goblin blood that had spilled onto her breasts during the slaughter.

Soon after, she began cleaning her weapon.

Ethan did the same.

Goblin blood was quite corrosive, leaving it on the blade for more than a few hours was enough to start damaging the metal.

The same went for leather, so he cleaned the armor as well.

"We have to move fast. They’ll discover this place soon," Evelyn whispered, glancing toward the noisy camp.

They were about a kilometer away and the forest was dense, but she could already hear the goblins’ shouts, probably dueling, or something like that.

If they took too long, the goblins might come to check the area or pick up their scent.

Ambushing twenty goblins and killing them in two minutes was easy.

Dealing with over a hundred, along with a few hobgoblins, all attacking at the same time, that was another story, even if the entire Goldenveil guard were present.

"I know, let’s move." Ethan stood up, keeping his voice low as they circled around the goblin camp.

Upon reaching the mountainside, they climbed a hill to a cliff that offered a view of the entire camp.

It was simple.

In the center stood the chieftain’s hut, a structure slightly larger than the lord’s mansion in Goldenveil.

That was where all the female goblins were kept for breeding.

Since only one in ten goblins was born female, only the leaders could reproduce, all of them destined for nothing but bearing children until they died.

This, in fact, was one of the reasons why goblins were so weak despite their absurd reproduction rate.

In a place where every female was destined for breeding and only one of two males could reproduce, incest was inevitable, and within a few generations, goblin tribes were reduced to incestuous genetic aberrations.

Surrounding the chief’s hut were dozens of other haphazardly arranged huts, most made from a mixture of straw and mud.

"That must be their prison..." Ethan whispered.

Right next to the main hut stood another structure, surrounded by wooden bars. The interior was dark, but he could still clearly see a child clinging to the bars, eyes cold and empty.

"No. It’s a food storage shed for the winter." Evelyn clenched her teeth, and Ethan did the same.

Neither of them doubted that those prisoners were citizens of Goldenveil—kidnapped during the last goblin attack, months ago.

"At least they won’t eat them yet... I dealt with many goblin camps when I was a mercenary. They always live off hunting during the summer and only use the storerooms in the winter."

"I see..." Those words brought a little calm to Ethan, but it was still hard to contain his anger.

It wasn’t easy to see his own people treated like cattle to be slaughtered in the winter.

"Do you want to go back now?" Evelyn asked, seriously.

She could see the anger on Ethan’s face and didn’t want him to do something stupid.

"No... let’s keep patrolling and kill as many goblins as possible. I need to reach level twenty-five soon." Ethan stood up, letting out a sigh.

Taking one last look at the camp, he memorized the layout before setting off alongside Evelyn.

They didn’t do much besides carefully scouting the area, killing lone goblins, and even finding an abandoned mine, something Ethan carefully marked on his mental map.

It was about twenty kilometers from Goldenveil, heading north from the goblin camp they’d left behind.

He already had tools and a book on mining and metallurgy techniques.

Even if he couldn’t explore it now, without knowing the dangers that lurked inside, it would still be valuable for the future, assuming the mine hadn’t been abandoned because it was empty, of course.

After leaving the site, they continued exploring the forest. A few minutes before dawn, they stopped to rest.

Ethan’s blade rested in a goblin’s chest, and a victorious smile spread across his face.

[You killed: 1x Insignificant Goblin, +3% XP]

[You leveled up: 24 -> 25. You received 1x free attribute point.]

[You have reached the maximum level of the first stage. You can only continue to level up after advancing to the second stage. Do you wish to accept the evolution quest now?]

Finally. It was done.

It wasn’t much, his father was a third-stage warrior, just one step away from reaching the fourth, where he would be among the most powerful in the entire kingdom.

A being capable of killing hundreds with a single move.

In light of such an achievement, reaching the second stage was small potatoes.

Even if the second stage were only the first step, and only those above the third stage were experts, Ethan was still happy, especially because advancing a stage wasn’t just about power.