"All... all of them?"
Bird One's eyes went wide, disbelief written all over her face.
Bird Two also found it hard to believe, "Lord, if I remember correctly, there were nearly five or six hundred goblins in that defense hall, right? Even with the four of us and Lady Daji, if the goblins lined up and let us kill them without fighting back, it would still be hard to kill that many."
"It's true."
Bird Three was the only one who had watched Ethan set up the trap.
Later, when she noticed that the Lord still hadn't returned, she became worried and secretly came back to help him.
What she saw was a terrifying sight.
There was a mountain of goblin corpses.
Every single one of them had died in the area where Ethan had repeatedly told them to fly high above.
Almost instantly, Bird Three understood, the reason he had kept telling them to fly higher when they left was because of those terrifying traps below.
"I saw a mountain of goblin corpses over there," Bird Three said to the other two, "The area where the Lord told us to fly high above was filled with some kind of terrifying trap. You can't see it with your eyes, but it can kill people."
"But even so, there should've been some survivors, right?", Bird Two said in surprise, "There were hundreds of goblins. There's no way every single one of them got killed, right?"
"Come with me."
Ethan waved his hand and led the birdfolk group toward the defense hall.
When they followed him to the back part of the cave near the exit, they were stunned by what they saw.
The ground was covered in blood.
Those strong Yellow-Cap Goblins had all been cut in half by some unknown sharp weapon.
They were completely dead.
Yet in this bloody scene, they couldn't find any weapon at all.
There were no signs of fighting either.
'Is this the Lord's hidden trump card?'
'Can he kill people from a distance?'
'And from this far away?'
'The Lord is far too powerful!'
The three birdfolk immediately looked at Ethan with admiration.
———
[At the Cave Entrance]
Because Bird One and Bird Two had thrown bombs into the defense hall, the entrance leading into it had been filled with rocks.
Some were fragments that had fallen from the cave walls.
Others were stones brought over by the goblin army.
Half the entrance was almost completely blocked.
The birdfolk spread their wings and were about to fly through the exposed half of the entrance when Ethan raised a hand to stop them.
"There are definitely still goblins guarding the defense hall inside, and they most likely think we're already dead."
"So don't rush in. I want to take advantage of this chance while they're off guard and kill as many as possible."
"Wait here. Unless you hear my whistle, don't come in!"
"Understood?"
Ethan gave another instruction.
The three birdfolk nodded.
"Understood, Lord!"
"Mm."
After responding, Ethan quickly jumped into the cave.
Watching his back, Bird One asked with some confusion, "Do you think the Lord can really avoid all the goblin lookouts inside the defense hall?"
"I have complete confidence in the Lord. I believe he can!"
Bird Three nodded firmly.
Bird Two frowned, "Bird Three, you didn't go inside the goblin defense hall earlier, so you don't know how heavily guarded it is."
"The entire defense hall has been carved into two levels. On the second level, there are goblins stationed every ten meters or so, watching from above."
"I originally thought the next battle would be a hard fight."
"I never expected the Lord to charge in by himself."
"Oh no!"
After hearing that, Bird One suddenly became worried.
"Then won't the Lord be in danger? Shouldn't we go help him?"
"No. I think we should listen to the Lord."
Bird Three had seen with her own eyes how the Lord had set up his plan and wiped out five hundred goblins, so she now had complete confidence in everything Ethan did.
"I believe the Lord can do it. And listen..."
"Listen to what?"
Bird One and Bird Two asked at the same time.
There was no sound coming from the other side of the cave.
Not even screams.
Not even the sound of weapons clashing.
Both of them looked even more confused.
They couldn't understand what Bird Three wanted them to listen to.
Had she gained some special ability that let her hear things they couldn't?
However...
Bird Three replied confidently, "Listen to the fact that there's no sound!"
"Huh?"
Bird One and Bird Two became even more puzzled.
"If there's no sound, then what are we supposed to listen to?"
"Didn't you just say the defense hall is heavily guarded?", Bird Three asked, "Then imagine this. If a stranger suddenly appeared inside the defense hall, how would those goblins react?"
"Oh! I get it now!"
Bird Two finally understood what Bird Three meant.
"You mean the Lord has entered the defense hall, but the goblins haven't discovered him."
"And that means either all the goblins already died in the cave battle earlier, or those goblins simply can't detect our Lord at all."
"Bingo! Smart!"
Bird Three nodded hard.
At that moment, she was almost certain that the Lord had succeeded again.
———
[Meanwhile, Inside the Defense Hall]
Wrapped in his invisibility cloak, Ethan lightly jumped onto the second level of the defense hall.
Quite a few goblin guards stood on this level.
Each of them watched the entire defense hall from above.
That meant if Ethan didn't deal with the goblins on the second level first, then the moment he made a move, no matter how well he hid himself, he would be discovered.
After all, looking down from above was like a teacher standing at the podium watching all the students below.
Nothing escaped their view.
Even if only one or two goblins acted strangely, the goblins above would definitely notice something was wrong.
At that point, launching a sneak attack would become much more difficult.
So he had to get rid of the goblins on the second level first.
However...
Ethan looked around at all the goblins on the second level.
There were twelve Orange-Cap Goblins in total.
And he had to take down all twelve Orange-Cap Goblins at the same time without making any sound.
Otherwise, if even one of them noticed something was wrong, it would definitely alert the remaining Blue-Cap Goblins gathered together in the hall, drinking and XXOO-ing female goblins.
Whether it was their appearance, their huge size, or the heavy defensive armor placed beside them, none of them looked easy to deal with.