The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

Chapter 240: Chapter 213: A Bit Tricky

"Caocao, again." Shire handed over a stone shaped like a football, then watched as the Giant hurled it into the sky.

A straw man was floating in the sky, held aloft by a strange blue orb.

"Keep it steady," Shire said, turning to Lame Leg behind him. He was having his subordinate maintain control of the Secret Servant to make it easier for Caocao to throw.

The scarecrow was now at about the height Broken Tooth had described. With a dozen or so more throws, Shire believed the Giant would gradually get the hang of it. Meanwhile, Evita was leading the centaurs of their clan in practicing shooting at aerial targets.

After finishing his discussion with the Naga Prince yesterday, the prince had gone straight to sleep in the underground river. Shire still had some alliance matters to discuss, but even after chatting a bit more this morning, it was difficult to make any real headway. After all, Pazani was only a Prince. The Naga Race was currently managed by several elders, and he could only wield the power of the King of the Naga after successfully completing his trial.

So, Shire laid out his terms, which included jointly defending against the Feathered Serpent Kingdom, establishing trade, and mutually finding and sharing Magic Materials. Pazani had already taken this message and returned to the Darren River. Shire was confident he would bring back the Naga Race’s answer in a few days—after all, Pazani still needed to fight alongside him to complete his trial of adulthood.

"Nice, just missed!" Shire said loudly, pumping his fist. The stone Caocao had just thrown had barely missed the dummy in the air. "Great job, Caocao."

The Giant grinned broadly. Yesterday, the Chief had found him and told him that people were coming to destroy the Fortress and shatter their clan’s comfortable life.

"Caocao won’t allow it," the Giant immediately declared, shaking his head. His swinging fist sent the small nuts he was holding scattering everywhere.

Shire chuckled and helped him pick up the nuts from the ground, explaining to the Giant that they would start special training tomorrow. The clan would need his immense strength.

’Looking at it now, saving Caocao back then was a truly wise choice,’ Shire thought as he bent down and picked up another stone. ’Those flying goblins don’t seem like much of a threat anymore.’

’I wonder how many goblins are coming this time,’ he mused, planning his response. ’There aren’t many that can fly, so the real trouble will be those Petrifying Lizards. Broken Tooth didn’t bring back detailed numbers. If there are a lot of them, a direct charge will be incredibly difficult to handle.’

Shire really wished he could give the Goblin Race a proper education. He’d be happy if they just learned basic reading and writing, plus addition and subtraction up to a hundred.

Take Broken Tooth, for example. A scout who walked in the shadows, yet he couldn’t even do addition or subtraction over ten. When asked too many questions, he’d just sit on the ground, take off his shoes, and start counting his toes. The thought that he had several hundred more subordinates like that in his clan gave Shire a headache.

’Easy does it, no need to rush,’ he told himself, taking a few deep breaths. ’After all, this is a Race that just escaped the brink of extinction. They’ve only been eating their fill for a little over two months. I can’t demand too much.’

Broken Tooth had run off to the north again early this morning, presumably to scout. ’At least these subordinates are willing to work,’ Shire thought. ’It’s not like before, when they’d find a scrap of food and then just lie down in a hay pile or a burrow to sleep.’

’Petrifying Lizard, Petrifying Gaze.’ Shire squatted, thinking of countermeasures. Seeing that his chief wasn’t handing him any more stones, the Giant beside him sat down too. He pulled a few small dried fish from a pouch hanging on his chest, began chewing on them with great relish, and even offered one to Lame Leg.

’Anti-petrification potions?’ Shire picked up a small branch and began scratching numbers in the dirt. ’I’ll need to prepare some, but they probably won’t be very effective. Those lizards are quite large. Once they charge, if you get petrified, you’ll easily be shattered by the ones coming up right behind.’

’A Protective Magic Barrier?’ he scratched in the dirt again. ’I barely have any left. They were all used up in the last few battles. To get more now, I’d have to send someone to Black Lion City to buy them from a Magic Merchant at a high price. But Little John isn’t back yet, and Mary can’t just leave Yangjiao Town.’

’This is tricky.’

Shire tapped the small branch against his palm, making a soft PITTER-PATTER sound. He knew there was another way to deal with the lizards: he could have a group of his men drink the Anger Potion. A large enough Charge would certainly inflict casualties on the Petrifying Lizards, but that was a choice he would never make.

Yesterday, he had even looked through his books and found records on Petrifying Lizards. These creatures generally lived in subterranean caverns and sometimes roamed the forests, but most Adventurers encountered them in underground Relics, like haunted mines.

The creatures could also be tamed. There were records of them being raised from a young age in cages. Their trainers would teach the Petrifying Lizards to obey simple commands and to avoid eye contact with other living things. A mature, Tamed Beast was a fearsome guardian. Shire had heard that in Plantagenet City, Petrifying Lizard trainers were highly sought after by the Great Nobles, who would compete to hire them on long-term contracts.

"They’re a lot like the elephant trainers from my past life," Shire said, tapping his little branch. This was also why Petrifying Lizard eggs were so valuable.

The book also noted that the lizards didn’t like to move much. In their subterranean caves, they preferred to wait for prey to come to them. Once prey was in front of them, it rarely escaped. This meant the Petrifying Lizards didn’t have to hunt strenuously; they would use their miraculous gaze to rapidly turn their prey into brittle stone, then use their powerful jaws to crush it. The stone would then revert to its original form in the lizard’s stomach to be digested.

Alchemists would specifically extract secretions from a Petrifying Lizard’s stomach fluids to create potions that could reverse petrification. However, if the body was damaged while petrified, the potion could only restore the undamaged parts, not lost life or limbs.

’But these things are Tamed Beasts, domesticated by the Feathered Serpent Kingdom,’ Shire thought, tossing the stick aside. ’If only they were mine. Paired with Rune Language: Mind, I could control them much more easily. Too bad they’re the enemy.’

He rubbed his cheeks. This opponent was going to be a real handful. ’Whether we’re defending or charging, we’ll have to face the gazes of a whole pack of lizards... unless I can somehow root them to the spot.’

’But how could that be possible?’

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