His feet anchored at the center of the mountain path. He was too curious to see a goblin alive. He always wanted to hear how exactly they speak, how they move.
"Ji Sung! Ji Sung, get down here!" Yuki's low voice came from behind the rock. Ji Sung stood still, waiting for the goblin to appear.
Yuki pulled him and brought him to hide behind the rock as many goblins walked through the stone path they had used before. They were far, but not that far. Their chatter started to be heard.
"Here, put chipper on your ears, so you can understand little what Goblin or Ork said." Yuki gave Ji Sung small blue earrings. "That translator device, Feilin technologies."
"Where is your weapon?" Yuki's lips move slowly and create a low voice. Again, he repeated his sentence and made a pitch on the last word. "Your weapon, where."
"Oh, crab, I forgot." Ji Sung rubbed his ring carefully as the others were already on their weapon; Rin, with her white sword, hid in the bush, ready to strike, while Yuki hugged a fully loaded crossbow.
Those goblins come closer. They gnawed. Ji Sung was buried in sweat as his katana didn't appear. God knows what would happen if he were unarmed while those greenies came.
"Stop rubbing, push it," said Yuki, his eyes radarred goblins on the path and ready to fire his crossbow.
"What? Oh, right."
Ji Sung forgot how to use the ring. He pushed his ring and lightning katana shaped on his waist. It relieves his tension. Just before the first goblin came closer, Ji Sung Grap's katana tilted, and he tried not to create any noise.
Ji Sung remembered being on military duty for 20 months at age 18. He had training like this, hiding behind an object, with his back laid on and eyes scanning for enemy movement, ready to strike. Yet he never felt his adrenaline heated like now.
It was not his first time seeing goblins, he had seen many dead before on ormit, and that time was… what remained of them anyway. But now, he saw many of them alive, and they chatted with strange words. It was so fascinating for a first-timer like him.
Four goblins each carried one box. One big goblin had a primitive club on his shoulder and ordered them.
They looked like a green-leaf human with two hands and legs but were smaller than the average youth. Their faces were like pig faces, with bat ears and snoring noses. One of them had a monstrous body, sized like a baby elephant. They all wore rugged tunics, dirty ones, tored, and smelled like pups. Even from afar, Ji Sung snuggled his nose.
One of them dropped the box. As it hit the ground, five goblins ran in panic, hiding behind the rock. Then, slowly they took a peek before emerging from their hid palace and gathered on the spot. They talk with strange words that no one can understand.
The big goblin hits his friend's head with a primitive club. "Be careful, moron! Do you want us to go kaboom?!"
The small goblin covered his head with fear. "Auh, sorry, boss. I didn't mean to do that. But this human box is super duper heavy!"
"What heavy? Look, look at me! Moron!" The boss carried the box with one hand. The box seems light, like a feather. He even makes it bounce on his hand. "See, this is not heavy! You were a weakling bastard! Go, move your lazy ass! Bring this stupid box to that cave! Be careful, don't drop it, or it goes kaboom!"
After dropping the box, the boss goblin pointed to the cave, and they entered in line there.
"Good, they're gone." Rinoa, who hid in a bush, crossed the path to join Ji Sung and Yuki. Just as she landed there, she whispered to Yuki. "Screened that cave and found out how many goblins there were."
"Screened? What do you mean?" Ji Sung was confused about what order she gave Yuki but not the man himself.
"He has an Explorer system," Rinoa explained while keeping her eyes on the surrounding cave. "He had a skill called [Radar eyes]. He could detect any life form at a distance of 500 meters from his proximity for sixty seconds."
Yuki peeked into the cave, then studied every inch he could using [Radar Eyes].
His eyes glowed white like a balm. "There are many activities in the cave. It looks like they are onto something. They placed many boxes there and carried them deeper into the cave. They even had a camp."
"How many are they?" Ji Sung asked.
"For what I can see, ten, but, no… twelve, sixteen. Nineteen. No, no, there are more, but I can't reach them."
"What they want with that exploding create. Yuki, do you see that emblem on the box?"
"Yeah, Yuktobanian emblem." Yuki had passed his skill limit and needed to rest for ten minutes before activating that skill again. "But that doesn't mean Yuktobanian sent that box, right? Those goblins could have raided a Yuktobanian warehouse or something. Ji Sung, what is on your mind?"
"Took a picture with them and showed it on social media." Ji Sung put his phone back on his jacket as he realized Rinoa was flatly gazing at him while Yuki giggled. "What, I'm just saying. If we had proof, then everything would be easy."
"What is social media?" Rin asked curiously. "A game that Ha Un always plays on her laptop?"
"Maybe," Yuki answered before coughing. "Ji Sung, spill what's on your mind about this situation. You hear what I said early, do you?"
Ji Sung nodded, and his face became serious. There was barbed wire around the cave, guarded by four goblins, and two other goblins kept on the watchtower. They even have two goblins patrolling nearby. "Those goblins. Have they always been organized?"
"Of course not," Rinoa answered. "Wait a minute. That's strange. It seems they are well organized."
Yuki rubbed his chin, his quirk when he was thinking about something. "Hmm, it could be someone behind all of this that gives a specific order to them. Now, it may just be my wild guess. But why have the past few months those goblins raided Konstantin's mine? They are supposed to raid farms or trade caravans, not a mine."
Ji Sung hushed Yuki's hand from his chin as his eyes locked on Rinoa. "You better focus on how to clear Kar cave from goblins. And it is unwise for us to charge directly."
"Yeah, you're right."
Suddenly, a shrub behind them swayed violently.
Ji Sung pulled his katana, ready to slash anything that came, while Rinoa prepared her sword. As a ranger weapon user, Yuki took his position far from the other, pointing a loaded crossbow at a strange shrub.
"Get out, or I will shoot you."