玉蒲团之云雨山庄

After walking for about an hour, they have already met three big groups of goblins along the way. There are several traps laid by the goblins along the way just like what the guild\'s scouts\' information told them. There are traps like hidden pits, rope swing traps, and alarm-types traps that could give a lot of noise if they got triggered. With the abilities of the scouts that the elite team has, they managed to pass through without triggering any of the traps. Finally, they arrived in front of the targeted goblin lair. Another cavern is similar to the one Lyan conquered together with the Madam and the others.

"Halt!" the leader of the elite mercenaries in the middle signaled to stop when he saw the scout raising his arm.

"We\'ve arrived," Whispered him.

Everyone immediately took their position. For Lyan, he decided to stay low-key and let the others take the initiative. Considering how fast the goblin groups they\'ve met along the way got dealt with by them, he\'s not worried as long as they didn\'t suddenly get surrounded by goblins with a number of more than 500.

Along the way, Lyan observed the level of the skills amongst the elite team. Lyan shifted his gaze towards the magician with red color as the base of their equipment.

(The Crimson Talon has two magicians, most of them have Platinum-ranked level skills, while the five others are weaker than the Madam and Mr. Abraham. Only the leader has the skills that are Mythril-ranked worthy that might compare with the Madam and Mr. Abraham) (Lyan)

Then Lyan shifted his gaze towards the other mercenary parties.

(The Golden Thrill and The Brave Rings are almost the same. None of them have magicians inside their party since magicians are rare, but the number of elites that has Mythril-ranked worthy abilities is only seven people each. But their strength couldn\'t be compared with the madam and Mr. Abraham) (Lyan)

Then the last is the mercenary party consisting of three girls just like the flowers of the House of Roses.

(The last is the Valkyries. No wonder they are feared, their fighting abilities are on the same level as the Madam and Mr. Abraham. Not to mention that all of them are all-rounders. They are equipped with close-range and long-range weapons. They felt like elite soldiers trained by an organization or a country) (Lyan)

Then finally he shifted his gaze towards the cloaked guy that talked to him before and his comrades.

(The only mystery left is these cloaked people like me... They got engaged with battle as minimum as they could, so I couldn\'t evaluate their abilities accurately yet) (Lyan)

"There are some goblins entering it! That must really be their lair!"

"Wait! One of them is holding a woman!"

Everyone\'s attention immediately shifted to the hobgoblin that is carrying a human woman on its shoulders. Everyone immediately readied their weapons, ready to go and kill the hobgoblin and secure the young woman.

(That\'s definitely a trap, huh... Hm?) (Lyan)

But unlike what Lyan expected, none of the Mythril-ranked mercenaries rushed toward the hobgoblin recklessly.

(Hou... So they also realized that it\'s a trap, huh. I guess they\'re Mythril-ranked not for nothing) (Lyan)

Since they have been advancing as flashy as they could, it is not strange for the smart goblins to prepare a trap to greet them near their lair.

The hobgoblin holding the woman on his shoulders is definitely a bait intentionally prepared to make them rush and attack the hobgoblin to save the woman as soon as possible.

(The woman the hobgoblin is holding is bruised and naked, she must have gotten violated as well. Considering Xena\'s position before, it seems that goblins only violate the woman they captured after they put them inside their breeding room. So there is no reason for the hobgoblin to hold a woman on his arm in front of the lair if it\'s not to become a bait for us) (Lyan)

Lyan is slightly bothered about the breeding room where he saved Alina and Xena since they are the only ones inside, he had thought about several possibilities about it, but since he didn\'t have any proof, he didn\'t want to make a conclusion without having a piece of strong evidence. So he decided to observe the lair they are going to raid today to make sure his thoughts.

(Now, what the leader will do) (Lyan)

"Split! Two teams!" The leader of the Brave Rings gave the order, motioning with his hands to circle the perimeter and check the surroundings.

Without needing any other instructions, the group split into two quickly and went to check the perimeter. The scouts went ahead to get a bigger picture of their surroundings. Lyan joined the group that went to the right, and just like what he expected, there is a big group of goblins waiting near the lair not far from them. They must have been waiting for the signal to ambush the elite team.

"Heh! Looks like we\'re right. Kill them!"

The group of goblins consisted of about 50 of them, but they got wiped out rather quickly by the elite group. The mercenaries smile in front of their correct guess and start to collect the goblins\' ears as proof of elimination for them to exchange it for money to the guild.

"Keep on coming, golds. I doubt there will be another event like this where killing goblins could make you rich," one of the mercenaries uttered in satisfaction.

But as they collect the ears, Lyan didn\'t follow them and is observing the surrounding trees, feeling something is off.

(Our scouts? Where are they?) (Lyan)

Lyan searched for the scouts that were supposed to join them in battle after their encounter with the goblins, but none of them could be seen.

"Hm? Surena the leader of the Valkyries noticed Lyan\'s strange behavior.

(All of the scouts climbed the tree to get a view of the perimeter, they usually report their sightings immediately, they are taking too long... Hm?) (Lyan)

(Master, there is a shadow passing on that tree for a moment!) (Lilith)

"Yeah, I saw that too," Lyan took a knife of a dead goblin near him and threw it to above of a certain tree with his mana imbued on it.

"KKiieekk!" A goblin shriek sounded together with a hobgoblin dressed in black attire just like an assassin fell from the tree. Looking at the hobgoblin, Lyan remembered the information that the guild\'s scouts told them.

There are goblin assassins.

!?!?!?

Everyone got surprised by the sudden shriek of the goblin and stopped harvesting the goblins\' ears for a moment, but at that moment, Lyan immediately draw his sword.

The members of the Valkyries saw his actions and readied their weapons as well.

"Prepare for combat!!!" Surena shouted, startling the other mercenaries. Hearing the voice of Surena, they immediately ready their swords.

But even after waiting for a while, nothing happened.

"Oi, Surena. What with that false alarm? Did you perhaps get too paranoid? We\'re just facing goblins here," The Crimson Talon\'s leader, Jean, asked Surena with a frivolous smile on his face.

"....Alice, what do you think?" Surena asked her party member.

Alicia Alvis. Mercenary name: The Small General.

Just like the other members of the Valkyries, she is proficient in sword and bow, but the greatest ability of hers is her brain. Her brain is said to be as capable as the greatest general of the generation. Her excellence in military tactics and war tactics made the Valkyries famous to the kingdoms that are in the middle of a war.

"Our scouts, Rena. Did you see any of them?" Alice points out the same thing that Lyan is worrying about.

"None," (Surena)

Alice stared at the trees surrounding them.

"It is not possible for just one hobgoblin assassin to kill all of them. The scouts that went to the right together with us are 5 people, they\'re quite capable so there must be other hobgoblin assassins near us, hiding. Or it is also possible that the scouting takes longer time because they are battling the hobgoblin assassins in the same time as well, it doesn\'t mean that they are dead yet," (Alice)

"And our enemies are only goblins-" (Alice)

"Alice. I\'m asking you if perhaps. Perhaps our enemies are using human-leveled tactics, what are your thoughts...?" (Surena)

Alice then took a peek towards Lyan, looking at him with his sword ready while staring in a certain direction with a serious expression.

Thinking that their opponents are only goblins, the arrogant little general didn\'t really put much thought into their situation. Not to mention that along the way, they killed the goblins very quickly that almost no difficulty could be felt on the quest.

But since her best friend told her to try thinking about a \'perhaps\' situation, she reluctantly used her head to dig deeper into the situation.

"Considering they knew we\'re coming, they laid the ambush at the west and east of the lair\'s entrance in a slight distance, waiting for the signal to ambush. But indeed... The number of the goblins is strange, it\'s too little even if they managed to ambush us successfully-" Alice realized something.

"It\'s a decoy. These goblins are just a decoy. Then the shriek of that hobgoblin assassin just now was..." (Alice)

"""An alarm!"""

____________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Gold-ranked Mercenary

Money: 49,722,600 Elnes

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak, One-handed Sword

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, Shadow Hobgoblin, Papilio Slime, Galewing Butterfly, Rock Golem