Chapter 469 - 469: Invasion [35]

Even more confusing was the fact that the mountain was located just outside the barrier surrounding the entire clan. That part made sense, since the barrier obviously couldn't cover the entire mountain, but if the graveyard was supposed to be somewhere within the mountain, then shouldn't at least the section containing it be protected by the clan's barrier?

Vale couldn't understand why such an important place would be left outside the clan's protection.

The graveyard was arguably one of the most valuable locations in the entire settlement. If destroying it could prevent the dead from returning, then leaving it exposed seemed like an obvious weakness.

Or was it?

Vale frowned.

Perhaps there was something he was missing.

The more he thought about it, the less the situation made sense.

Could the graveyard itself be different from the rest of the mountain?

He shook his head slightly.

There was no point guessing without more information.

Vale turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and spotted Drel coming toward him, with the strange fox walking alongside him.

His eyes immediately settled on the creature.

The numerous tails swayed behind it as it approached, and Vale's curiosity grew.

He had seen the fox around the clan before, but he'd never really paid attention to it. Until now, he had simply assumed it was some unusual beast that belonged to the chief.

But after seeing it moving alongside Drel and remembering the strange things he'd heard about it, Vale began to wonder what exactly the creature was.

He focused his gaze on it, activating [Analyze]

The System began processing the creature before displaying its information.

"An Ember Fox?" Vale muttered.

He had never heard of such a creature before.

The name alone told him very little, and the System's identification didn't exactly make the fox any less suspicious. If anything, it only raised more questions about what kind of creature the chief had somehow managed to bring into the clan.

Drel and the fox suddenly came to a halt.

They appeared to be having a conversation, although Vale couldn't hear what they were saying from his distance. He watched their movements carefully, and judging by Drel's gestures, it seemed like he was warning the fox about something.

Most likely telling it that I could be watching them.

Vale clicked his teeth.

Perhaps he could capture the beast and torture the information out of it.

The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly reconsidered.

His gaze moved over the fox's numerous tails before settling on the strange aura surrounding its body. There was something unusual about the creature, something that made Vale hesitate.

Attacking something he knew absolutely nothing about would be foolish.

Especially when he had no idea what abilities it possessed.

He continued watching.

Then he saw it. At the corner of his eye.

A goblin suddenly stepped out from the tall bushes near the base of the mountain, emerging from within the clan's barrier.

Vale's eyes narrowed.

"Eei? What...who is that?"

Vale stared at the goblin in confusion.

"How? What the hell just happened?"

The goblin had just appeared out of the bushes.

He narrowed his eyes and began looking more closely at the area around the goblin. The creature hadn't simply appeared out of nowhere. There had been no visible portal, and Vale hadn't sensed any movement through the surrounding space.

Could the entrance to the graveyard be in those bushes?

The possibility immediately caught his attention.

Drel and the fox noticed the goblin as well, and their expressions changed almost instantly to shock.

As Vale had suspected, Drel had just warned Ariel that the enemy could be watching them. Ariel knew where the graveyard was, and rather than lead them directly toward its entrance, she had decided it would be safer to linger in the area and observe from a distance.

Unfortunately, neither of them had expected a goblin to suddenly emerge from the shrubbery.

The goblin stumbled out of the bushes, looking disoriented as though he had only just regained consciousness.

Drel's eyes widened slightly.

He understood what had happened.

The goblin must have been one of the first to die during the invasion. The graveyard had brought him back, and after resurrecting, he had somehow made his way out of the graveyard before eventually emerging from the bushes.

Drel's expression hardened.

The goblin couldn't have picked a worse time to appear.

Because the enemy could be watching.

Meanwhile Vale...

Vale had just figured out where the entrance was.

His eyes remained fixed on the shrubbery as another goblin suddenly appeared from within it--far from the first one--stumbling forward as though he had just emerged from the ground.

That was all the confirmation Vale needed.

He acted immediately.

Mana gathered around him as he created a portal leading directly to the spot where the goblin had appeared. A dark, swirling opening formed beside Vale, its edges distorting the air around it.

Without hesitation, he stepped through.

Another portal opened in front of the newly resurrected goblin.

The goblin stumbled backward in surprise, but he was far too slow.

Vale's blade flashed.

SHIK!

The sword passed cleanly across the goblin's throat, cutting through flesh before the creature could even raise a hand in defense.

Blood sprayed across the nearby vegetation.

The goblin collapsed. Dead once again.

For the second time in a single day, the poor goblin had died.

Vale didn't spare the body a second glance, his attention shifting to the ground.

An elated grin slowly appeared on his face.

He had found it.

He raised one leg, mana gathering around it as magical energy began to glow along his muscles. Then he brought his foot down with enough force to make the ground tremble.

BOOM!

Vale focused the force into the ground, targeting the hidden enchantment he had sensed beneath the surface.

A crack suddenly spread across the ground.

The concealment enchantment flickered.

But it didn't break completely.

Vale's grin widened.

"So that's how you want to play it?"

He raised his leg again and stomped again.

BOOM!

This time, the enchantment couldn't withstand the concentrated force.

The illusion covering the entrance shattered like glass, the magical distortion collapsing and revealing a concealed opening leading underground up ahead.

Vale's eyes widened slightly.

The entrance wasn't directly beneath the spot where the resurrected goblin had appeared. It was actually some distance ahead of him.

He immediately created a portal. Knowing Drek had the fox's attention would be drawn to the noise he had just made.

The dark opening appeared directly before the entrance, and Vale stepped through without hesitation.

His suspicions had been correct.

The graveyard was exactly where Raghul had pointed him.

It wasn't simply somewhere high on the mountain, as Vale had initially assumed. It was much closer to the base, hidden beneath a powerful concealment enchantment that made the entrance almost impossible to notice unless someone already knew what they were looking for.

Even worse was that the entrance moved regularly, which was why the goblin had spawned out of nowhere.

Vale had to admit that he probably never would have discovered it on his own, as the enchantment used was quite high-level.

If that resurrected goblin hadn't accidentally appeared in front of him, he might have searched the entire mountain without finding anything.

Good thing I saw him.

Vale hurried deeper into the underground passage.

He needed to reach the graves before anyone could stop him.

A few seconds later, Drel and Ariel appeared at the entrance.

They immediately noticed the shattered concealment and realized what had happened.

"He's already inside," Drel said.

Ariel's expression hardened.

"We have to catch him."

The two didn't waste another second.

They rushed into the underground passage at full speed, desperately trying to close the distance before Vale could reach the graves.