CHAPTER 47: GOLEMS

Evening approached, and a solemn atmosphere hung over a small part of the vast forest as two young men stared at the grave of their loved one.

Noah’s face was soaked in tears, he snorted as he wept for Milan’s death. Ragnar, on the other hand, stared coldly at the grave, wallowing in self-hate and blaming himself for failing to protect him.

In fact, they both felt the same: if only they had been stronger and more vigilant, Milan would still be alive, they thought. Even after carrying out their revenge on the goblins, they still felt empty and blamed themselves.

An eerie silence hung around both of them for a long time. Except for the trees dancing and insects chirping, no other sound broke the stillness.

As Ragnar continued staring at the grave, the pang in his heart gradually transformed from grief into thirst for revenge. After some time, that thirst grew stronger and finalized.

Ragnar turned to his friend with a cold expression on his face. "We have to take care of the goblin hideout tonight."

Noah wiped his tears and turned to Ragnar. Sure, he was ready to tear down the goblins who caused him this grief. But at the same time, he doubted they could clear the hideout with their current strength. He had already concluded that the goblins they slayed were probably the weakest in the hideout.

He shared his concern with Ragnar.

Ragnar listened to Noah’s explanation calmly before responding. He assured Noah that they would be able to slay the goblins with their current strength.

Ragnar personally believed that — the strongest goblins in the group they had just slain were the spell casters who were level 5, with high spirit attribute and low physique attribute. Unless there were goblins above level 10 in the hideout, their mission should succeed.

Noah was easily assured by Ragnar and quickly changed his mind. "Those goblins must pay for their evil deed!" he declared, clenching his fist. His eyes glimmered in the darkness.

Ragnar agreed.

But before they proceeded with their mission, he decided to offer sacrifices.

"Join me. Gather all the goblin corpses in this spot," he said to Noah.

"Goblin corpses are not edible, they are monsters after all." Noah looked at Ragnar with a confused expression. He thought Ragnar was going to bring the corpses back to the hamlet.

Ragnar shook his head. "I am not taking them back. We’re going to offer them to the ancestors."

"They accept monster corpses?" Noah was even more confused.

"They accept everything," Ragnar replied. "As long as it belongs to us, it doesn’t matter if it is harvested from the farms, loots from war, or the corpses of monsters we slayed."

Noah was shocked to hear his explanation, but he did not question further. He obliged Ragnar’s instruction and began gathering the goblin corpses at the designated spot.

It took about two minutes to gather the goblin corpses in one spot. While gathering them, they found monster cores similar to the ones they got from the Slinkweed.

However, considering they were going to sacrifice the corpses, Ragnar decided to leave the monster cores, as they would increase the quality of the corpses and thus the quality of the sacrifice.

At the moment, the two of them stared at the heap of goblin corpses with conflicting emotions.

Ragnar heaved a long sigh and began his usual act, lifting his hands to the dark evening sky.

"Onyx, analyze them." he spoke to Onyx telepathically.

|| Running analysis... ||

Item: 32 goblin corpses with monster cores intact.

Grade: 3-star (Mid-tier)

"Nice." Ragnar commented inwardly.

Then he proceeded with the sacrifice.

The usual prompts appeared and in the next seconds, the goblin corpses glowed and disappeared. Noah observed the scene calmly, having already seen it before.

|| Sacrifice accepted ||

|| Calculating rewards... 0%..2% ||

|| Calculating rewards... Complete, revealing rewards... ||

REWARDS:

X3 Stone golems

X2 low-grade healing potion

X2 low-grade strength boosting potion

X1 Uncommon-grade skill scroll

|| Rewards have been allocated to [🎒 Inventory] ||

"Wow." Ragnar could not help but exclaim loudly as the rewards appeared in the holographic window floating in front of him.

Noah turned to Ragnar. "What happened?"

Ragnar smiled. "You have to see them for yourself."

Saying that, he instructed Onyx to release all the items he received, except the skill scroll.

Out of thin air, three large humanoid figures appeared, accompanied by several glass vials.

Noah took several cautious steps in fright when he first spotted the three tall golems. He drew his sword instinctively and pointed it at them with furrowed eyes. What are those, his mind screamed.

On the other hand, Ragnar remained calm with a smile. He strolled closer to the golem that had just appeared and observed its features.

The golems were made of fine dark stone. Their surface was polished but cracked in places, faint blue veins pulsed along the tiny fissures.

The three golems stood immobile at about seven feet tall. Their upper bodies were more developed than their lower bodies, giving them a strange appearance. Their heads were twice the size of an average human’s. Two lifeless, empty holes marked their eyes.

As Ragnar studied their physical appearance, a description appeared.

====

Stone Golem (common-grade): A humanoid construct of dark stone. Consumes 5 MP to activate and 2 MP/5 minutes to keep active. Consumption increases to 1 MP/minute during active combat.

Durability: 10/10

Attack Power: 5.

Skills: Smash, Charge, Defend

====

Ragnar studied the details of the stone golem while checking its features.

’This is great. Exactly what we needed to take down those ugly goblins.’ Ragnar rejoiced inwardly.

"What is that?"

Noah, still holding his sword in a defensive stance, asked. He was shocked to see Ragnar touching the intimidating stone golem as though it were nothing.

"They are the newest addition to our squad," Ragnar replied with a faint smile.

"Huh?"

"They are stone golems," Ragnar said, assuring him that the golems were on their side.

Only after hearing Ragnar’s explanation did Noah lower his sword and stroll closer to inspect the golems.

While observing them, his eyes fell on the small vials of liquid lying on the ground. He picked them up and showed them to Ragnar.

"They are potions," Ragnar explained. "The two on your right can increase your recovery speed, and the other one can boost your strength by twenty percent for one hour."

"Really?"

"Yes.."

Noah’s expression suddenly dampened. "Could these have helped big brother Milan?"

"Sadly, no." Ragnar shook his head.

Noah heaved a long sigh and turned his gaze to the ghastly injury on his left shoulder, the one pierced by the goblins’ arrows.

Ragnar had given him a painkiller to hold back the pain a few hours earlier. Nevertheless, the effect was beginning to wear off gradually, and the pain was returning.

He turned to look at Ragnar.

Understanding his look, Ragnar nodded.

Noah immediately took one of the healing potions and consumed it. Afterward, a tingling sensation spread through his injured shoulder as the healing began.

While the potion’s effect kicked in gradually, Ragnar turned his attention back to the stone golems.

He opened his inventory.

Unfortunately, the ten slots in his inventory were already filled with different items.

Seeing this, Ragnar took out the skill scroll, which occupied a whole slot, and stored the golem there.

He tore the skill scroll open.