As Zhang Ying expected, two people had been eyeing him for a while. Li Wei and Liu Tan were the people who would become the founding members of the plunderers, and right now, they had found their target.
They had seen Zhang Ying feeding most of the arcana to a monster. Hence, they were quick to deduce he was weak. Since they had five members in their gang, as long as they kept the goblin busy, taking Zhang Ying down would be easy.
"You three, go keep the goblin busy," Li Wei instructed the rest. "We'll steal the arcana from that man."
The three people were uneasy. They had seen Gobrina tearing through her targets and didn't want to become one with the fallen goblins. But they didn't have a choice.
Li Wei and Liu Tan were the strongest among them. If they didn't obey the crazy duo, they'd kill them for their arcana.
"M-Maybe we should let him be?" one of them suggested. "Look at him walking around unafraid. He might have something that gave him that confidence."
"I see..." Li Wei sighed, rubbing his hand through his dyed-blonde hair. "You have a point."
Just then, Liu Tan placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "But did you think about it?"
"W-What do you mean—?"
Before the man could say his words, Li Wei kicked his knee, forcing him to kneel as Liu Tan's hand crushed his collarbone. The man couldn't even scream as Li Wei snapped his jaw out of place before kicking him toward the goblins.
They saw the injured man and immediately jumped him. The man died in seconds.
"He's nonchalant because he has something great," Li Wei smiled, staring at the rest. "So, we should take it off him. Don't you agree?"
"O-On it!" the men said, hurrying away.
"Grab any arcana you find on the way, for us, of course!" Liu Tan taunted them as they ran.
"Greedy bald dog," Li Wei shook his head.
"You're one to talk," Liu Tan scoffed. "How do we deal with him?"
"Like the ones before. Corner and strike."
***
Come on, at least try to hide yourselves.
Zhang Ying couldn't help but sigh. The plunderers he knew were a menace. But right now, they were nothing more than inexperienced fools.
They have stolen a bunch of arcanas and thought they were some big shots. But Zhang Ying, who practically had a second set of eyes, knew about their every move.
Gobrina was hunting goblins only in name. Her attention was entirely on her master. Whenever she sensed something, she turned towards Zhang Ying. The subtle changes in her expression let Zhang Ying know if someone was around him.
That's how Zhang Ying knew the plunderers had taken the bait.
I need another beast before they get to me.
As inexperienced as the plunderers might be, they were still strong. Gobrina could take them down by surprise, but not in a head-on fight. Besides, she had her own share of problems.
Those two are headed her way.
Divide and conquer. The plunderers were aware of Gobrina instead of fighting them together; they were separating the threat from the reward. Once Gobrina was busy, they'd kill Zhang Ying.
Gobrina noticed them as well and looked at Zhang Ying for instruction. She was ready to kill, but Zhang Ying shook his head.
The plunderers weren't universally hated at the moment. Besides, if Gobrina killed any human, the rest wouldn't hesitate to target her. After all, the only thing that separated her from her kind was the fact that she was hunting other goblins and not the humans.
The moment Gobrina turned her dagger towards the humans, she'd be seen as a wild goblin, not a tamed one. Zhang Ying wanted to avoid that. Goblin or not, she was his first pet, and he didn't want to lose out on his investment.
I have to deal with them myself.
But before that, he needed another goblin. Thankfully, there was no shortage of goblins to tame.
"Gotcha!"
***
Li Wei and Liu Tan, who were observing Zhang Ying, were surprised when he ran towards the goblins.
"He noticed us!?" Li Wei exclaimed, rushing behind Zhang Ying.
"...he isn't a complete idiot like we thought," Liu Tan shrugged.
The two of them ran, but since they had used most arcana to increase their strength, Zhang Ying eventually disappeared from their sight.
"He disappeared."
Liu Tan turned and saw the rest were keeping Gobrina busy. They still had time.
"Did he jump into the horde?" Li Wei mumbled.
"No. He wants us to believe he did," Liu Tan quickly dismissed the thought. "So we'd blindly follow him get chopped into pieces."
"He's cunning. He noticed us and planned the whole thing out in minutes." Li Wei nodded. "Maybe we should get him on the team."
"Too late for that. Who would want to team up with people who wanted to kill them? It's best to kill—Argh!"
Liu Tan screamed as something sharp stabbed him in the back. Li Wei quickly turned and saw a goblin hanging onto Liu Tan's back with its dagger plunged into his back.
"You damned insect!"
Li Wei lunged at the goblin. But the beast was a step ahead. Using Liu Tan's back as a platform, the goblin jumped towards Li Wei's face. He tried backhanding the goblin, but it flipped mid-air, landing on his shoulder.
Before he could do anything, the goblin stabbed him in the neck. Still, it wasn't enough to end him. But then Zhang Ying appeared from the corner and kicked Li Wei on the back of his knees.
Zhang Ying might be weak, but the laws of physics didn't care about that. Li Wei's leg buckled, and he fell, giving the goblin ample time to perform an open heart surgery.
[Greedy Human slain!]
[You gained 30 EXP.]
[Gobrina gained 15 EXP.]
[Gozan gained 15 EXP.]
"No!"
Liu Tan, who had fallen to the ground from the goblin's backstab, yelled as he looked around. But there was no one nearby to notice. That's when he finally understood Zhang Ying's plan.
Zhang Ying hadn't wanted to lead them toward the goblins—he wanted to get them away from where people could see.
"You dog shit bastard—!" Liu Tan yelled, but Zhang Ying stepped on his head.
"Woah... what did I ever do to deserve such words?"
Zhang Ying laughed, but as he did, he lost his balance and slipped off Liu Tan's bald head. Seeing his chance, Liu Tan stood up, kicked the goblin aside, and ran toward the crowd.
It didn't matter if they wanted to harm Zhang Ying. No one else knew about it. As long as Liu Tan twisted the story in his favor, Zhang Ying and his minions were dead.
"...fuck! Go after him!" Zhang Ying yelled at the goblin.
The goblin got up and chased after Liu Tan, but he was out of reach.
"You'll never catch me—!"
Those words left his mouth as he collapsed on the ground. As he fell and turned over, Zhang Ying saw a familiar notification pop up before him.
[Greedy Human slain!]
[You gained 30 EXP.]
[Gobrina gained 15 EXP.]
[Gozan gained 15 EXP.]
Gobrina stepped over Liu Tan's corpse and pulled out her dagger from between his eyes. All the while, she kept looking at Zhang Ying as if saying, What will you do without me?
"I love you!" Zhang Ying announced, opening his arms.
[Gobrina doesn't feel the same.]
"...even goblins reject me."