Following his usual route, there was not much movement from ordinary wild beasts in the forest, apart from the normal chirping of birds.
"It's a bit quiet."
Nolan took off his water skin, re-hung it on his waist, and listened to the sounds around him.
His expression unchanged, he continued forward.
Since he had determined that he was being watched, he naturally needed to be more vigilant about changes in his surroundings.
"Hm?"
Nolan's ears suddenly twitched; there was movement!
"Is that direction northwest?"
Nolan was thoughtful, but his steps didn't stop. He turned and approached the direction from which the sound came.
As he got closer, the sound began to become clearer. It was the roar of wild beasts, mixed with the shouts of goblins.
Soon!
A large number of goblins appeared in Nolan's field of vision.
A quick glance.
The number of goblins reached over 20!
And at this moment, these two dozen goblins were besieging a large black bear.
"Roar!"
The black bear opened its blood-red maw, roaring as it bit a goblin.
The bloody scene, instead of scaring away the numerous goblins, seemed to ignite their ferocity.
They shrieked and constantly threw crude weapons and even stones at the black bear.
After suffering nearly half their numbers in casualties, the black bear, covered in blood, finally collapsed to the ground!
The remaining goblins cheered excitedly as they lifted the black bear and headed deeper into the jungle.
The goblin corpses left on the ground were casually dragged away by other goblins, following them back.
The goblins who had just been hunting the black bear together were now merely food in the eyes of the surviving goblins.
Nolan stood behind a large tree, arms crossed, watching the group of goblins gradually disappear, a cold sneer suddenly appearing at the corner of his mouth.
The direction the goblins were heading clearly indicated the presence of a goblin settlement.
"So this is the trap they've been preparing for several days."
"It's still the same kind of trap?" Nolan's eye twitched.
How could he not understand now that the previous ambush by six ogres was clearly a situation that arose because he had inadvertently been led into a trap.
And now they were using the same method again.
Nolan felt he might have overestimated the intelligence of that mutated goblin individual.
However!
The special goblin individual capable of influencing ogres greatly interested Nolan.
"He's been so cautious, I haven't found any clues."
"If I don't make him completely let his guard down, I'm afraid he won't reveal any weaknesses." Nolan slightly raised his head and followed the group of goblins.
As he ventured deeper.
Indeed, a somewhat dilapidated goblin settlement appeared ahead.
However, Nolan's focus was not on this goblin settlement, but on the terrain of this area.
The terrain on both sides was noticeably higher, which also caused the trees on the left and right sides to be noticeably taller than those in other areas.
The two protruding hillocks created a narrow path, like a sunken gourd, for the goblins' route, with the goblin settlement located inside.
"He chose a good location."
"If these goblins lead me into such terrain, once surrounded, it will be difficult to escape as easily as last time."
"No... that's not entirely right."
Nolan pretended to be unaware, continuing forward expressionlessly, "With the intelligence of ordinary goblins, they clearly can't cooperate in such complex 'acting'."
"Are they planning to sacrifice this goblin settlement? How ruthless."
Nolan's gaze turned cold, and he let out a low, cold laugh.
"Speaking of which, I still haven't fully adapted to this world. It's not just humans who possess intelligence."
"The intelligence of some demi-humans is no less than that of humans. Treating them as creatures with little intelligence, it's inevitable to suffer losses."
"I need to shift my mindset. I'm still subconsciously overlooking that humans are considered a vulnerable group in this world."
Nolan shook his head slightly, muttering to himself.
Ever since entering the Tobu Great Forest, his route had actually been consistently eastward.
After figuring out his general direction of travel, it would be easy to set up arrangements along the path behind him, something he hadn't considered at first.
Of course, a larger reason was that the jungle environment was too complex, and it was best to fix the direction of travel to avoid getting lost.
Behind him!
The figure that had been trailing Nolan from a distance cautiously poked its head out from the bushes.
Watching Nolan enter the narrow jungle path, a nervous and somewhat timid green face slowly exhaled in relief.
That human was too strong.
A powerful ogre was actually split in half by his blade; he had never seen such strength.
It had seen humans fight ogres before, but usually, several humans had to team up to kill a powerful ogre.
"Damn human!"
"You killed so many children, daring to enter the Great Forest alone, you will... you will definitely pay for it."
The green figure squatted on the ground, its voice slightly sharp, filled with anger and resentment, as it clenched its fists and muttered softly.
If Nolan had heard this goblin speak at that moment, he would have been incredibly surprised.
Under the goblin's gaze, Nolan had completely entered the narrow jungle path, and in its small, black pupils, an excited and bloodthirsty glint immediately appeared.
The timid emotions receded.
The goblin completely relaxed, got up from the ground, and followed.
It had to watch this human die at the hands of many ogres.
His flesh must be very fragrant.
The goblin thought of the uniquely sweet-smelling food the human ate every morning and couldn't help but lick the saliva from the corner of its mouth.
On the other side.
Nolan advanced at an unhurried pace, and when he reached about halfway through the narrow jungle path, he suddenly stopped.
Since it had been secretly following him, now that he had entered the prepared trap, the other party must have already relaxed its guard.
Then—
Without the slightest hesitation!
Nolan suddenly turned around and moved his legs.
This time, he didn't care about making a lot of noise, but instead sprinted backward with all his might, his gaze fixed on the jungle behind him.
At the same time!
"I see you!" Nolan suddenly roared.
"Buzz—"
'Discovered First-Tier Magic "Camouflage", requires caster level 1-7, current conditions met.'
"Do you wish to spend 1 skill point to learn?"
"Found you!"
Nolan saw the refreshed information on the attribute panel and grinned.