Wood Elves flooded the forest moments after Eldrin made his report, over ten different squads of at least three Elves each immediately began roaming the forest in the nearby area.

  Not only where the looking for that thought to be humans in the area, but they were also looking for the result of whatever the rise in mana caused.

  With all of these Wood Elves in the surroundings, it was only a matter of time before they found what they were looking for.

  Elves were creatures that were extremely attuned to different parts of nature, and asking Wood Elves to find something out of place in the forest they grew up in was almost like asking someone to find the sky.

  And it barely took a few hours to run into something they deemed out of place.

  What else but a Goblin.

  A Tier Five one at that.

  It was one thing to find a Goblin, as they were commonly seen all over the continent, but one at Tier Five? That was practically unheard of. And it was something that wouldn’t be treated with hospitality.

  The squad that found the Goblin immediately sent a report back to the Warden.

  “A Higher Tiered Goblin has been spotted! It is likely to be Tier Four or Higher! I repeat a Higher Tiered Goblin has been spotted! Drothil! Drothil!”

  While Sarith meant an unconfirmed threat was potentially spotted, Drothil meant not only was their a real and confirmed threat, but the threat was also deemed a serious one.

  One that required significant attention.

  Although the Goblin couldn’t speak the Elven tongue, it was smart enough to understand that not only had it been found, but the Elves also who found it had raised some kind of an alarm.

  Which left it with a very important decision to make.

  The squad who came across it consisted of Four Tier Three Elves. Now although more advanced communities like Elves and Humans would possess tools that would allow them to fight with more power than they were capable of, the gap between Tiers wasn’t so easily surmounted.

  The Goblin knew that it would likely be able to either kill or incapacitate the squad before it, but what then? There would be more to come. And eventually Elves who matched or surpassed his strength would arrive.

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  Then came the Future King.

  What should he do.

  Should he continue to try and run towards the south in an effort to find the King? Or should he stay and fight despite knowing it was a futile effort just to try and take pressure off of the Future King.

  There was even the idea of running away from them in a completely different direction to lead them away.

  It took about 30 seconds for the Goblin to process all of these thoughts before making a decision.

  The Goblin turned and continued moving south.

  It was not an easy decision to make by any means but it felt it was the right one.

  He did not know the situation of the Future King at the moment, how strong he was, how weak he was, or even how much support he currently had with him.

  All that was known and confirmed was that he was here in this forest. A forest that was currently likely teeming with Elves and probably now focused on finding Goblins.

  Even if he stayed and fought or ran away in another direction, who’s to say that a completely different squad of Elves wouldn’t come across the Future King? What would his effort count for then?

  So he decided it was best to first reach the Future King, then go form there.

  Of course, some might disagree in his decision making, there was no need to worry about a choice he made in this case. The safety of the Future King was paramount and he would always do his best to act in a way that sought to always accomplish that.

  And so, a grand chase erupted in the forest ruled by Wood Elves, and although a good number of Elves had began moving towards the location of the First Goblin that was discovered, it didn’t mean all of them had.

  And since they kept up the search it didn’t take much longer for signs of the other two Goblins to be found and not long after that for the Goblins in question to be found as well.

  Which meant they also had to make similar decisions.

  Now it likely would’ve surprised a third party in the fact all that three Goblins made similar decisions, but to the Goblins of the Clans it would be easily understood.

  These were Tier Five Goblins, some of the oldest who lived in the Dark Lands of Mir. They had been fighting or at least training to fight ever since they were old enough to hold a weapon, which for a Goblin was only a few weeks to a month form the time of their birth.

  And although they were 14 total Clans in the Dark Lands of Mir, at the end of the day they were all Goblins and they were plenty of times in which they had to fight off enemies not as separate Clans, but purely as Goblins.

  They were vastly experienced and it was that experience and the importance of the Future King that led all three of them to make the same decision.

  Get to the Future King.

  Of course, they all knew that General Rogu should have been sent ahead of them, and it was at least confirmed many months ago that he had made contact with the Future King, and maybe a more optimistic Goblin would assume the Future King was traveling with Rogu and his party and he would be protected, but it wouldn’t be the first time that a few assumptions had gotten Goblins killed.

  They knew better.

  And thus they ran.

  They ran until the Elves chasing them had reached their level of power and before long attacks that had the genuine potential to harm them significantly had begun firing towards them.

  Attacks that Rick could hear from his current position.

  ONE MORE DAY UNTIL LAUNCH (STUB)

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