Dominion of the Goblin Lord

Chapter 272: Goblin Variant

Chapter 272: Goblin Variant

"Hey, they're fine; they're all in this room!"

Li Meng called out loudly to the traveler, pointing toward the adjacent room.

Earlier, when the door was opened, a few disheveled sailors had rushed out of the room across the hall.

On the bed inside lay two women—the priestess and the archer seen earlier at the dock.

Fortunately, the heroes arrived just in time. The two women had only had their clothes torn off.

If not for the timely arrival, the two women might have suffered even worse fates.

For individuals of king-level strength to nearly be assaulted by ordinary people—this is why magicians never travel alone.

Magicians may be powerful, but their survival skills are almost nonexistent.

Defensive spells do exist, but they all require casting time.

While archers have slightly stronger constitutions than magicians, in this world, archers lean more towards magic than physical combat.

Thus, they lack the robust physique of swordsmen.

However, archers excel in various enhancement skills, giving them significantly better survival capabilities than magicians.

"You courted death!"

Several sailors charged aggressively at Li Meng.

Li Meng wasn't their primary target. Their focus was on the women in the room.

If they could take the women hostage, the man would be forced to hold back.

"Hmph, dream on!"

Kain's expression turned cold as he took a step forward. His figure blurred, turning into an afterimage before vanishing.

A flash of sword light streaked through the corridor.

Kain reappeared behind the sailors.

"Slash!"

The bodies of all the sailors were cleanly sliced in half.

A violent surge of air swept through the corridor, scattering body parts and debris everywhere.

"Was that... Dimensional Slash?"

The traveler’s body hadn’t disappeared; it simply moved so fast it became imperceptible to the naked eye.

As Kain’s weapon cut through the sailors’ bodies, the sword blade never touched flesh—it was the spatial rift that severed them.

Kain stood holding his sword in the corridor.

Without glancing back at the bloodied scene behind him, he strode toward Li Meng.

"Thank you!"

After expressing gratitude to Li Meng, Kain hurried into the room.

Seeing the two women inside unharmed, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Daring to commit such acts within the Irisis Principality, none of you will escape!"

At this moment, a sharp voice came from the staircase leading to the lower levels, followed by waves of agonized screams.

It must be said that the crew of this black ship was incredibly unfortunate.

By sheer bad luck, they encountered the hero squad.

Hearing the commotion on the upper deck, Li Meng turned back into his room.

With the hero squad present, the sailors wouldn’t be able to cause much trouble.

Anyone who would commit such acts was unlikely to possess significant strength.

After all, king-level professionals were highly sought after by various nations.

They could easily affiliate themselves with a country and live in wealth or make a fortune as adventurers.

As Li Meng expected, the situation unfolded predictably.

In less than half an hour, the floating passenger ship fell silent.

In a storage room on the lower deck, more than ten surviving sailors, including the captain seen steering the ship earlier, were herded together.

"Let us go! The goods on this ship are all yours. Let’s pretend this never happened. We’ll find a place to disembark and leave. You can even take this floating passenger ship for yourselves."

Just as Kain was about to close the storage room door, the captain rushed forward, grabbing onto it.

Bowing and wearing a flattering expression, he pleaded desperately.

"Dream on! You can explain yourselves to the Holy See Knights when we reach the Holy See Nation!"

Kain delivered a kick, sending the captain sprawling to the ground before slamming the door shut.

After locking it with an iron chain, he finally felt at ease.

"Kain, are you sure the storage room doesn’t have a secret passage?"

Kain’s swordsman companion asked with some concern.

"No, I checked—the lower deck has no secret passages!"

Meanwhile, on the VIP deck, Enzos stood in front of Room 07.

He raised his hand, intending to knock, but hesitated and lowered it again.

"Should be fine, right?"

A trace of worry flashed in Enzos’ eyes.

Oriana was a magician and had no resistance to mind-altering incense.

But the man inside was not a magician; the incense shouldn’t affect him.

Still, without seeing for himself, Enzos couldn’t be at ease.

"She’s fine, just asleep!"

At that moment, a familiar voice rang out from the room.

Hearing it, Enzos’ expression changed, and he quickly lowered his head, turning to leave in a hurry.

Inside the room, Li Meng held Oriana as she slept.

Listening to the fading footsteps outside, Li Meng stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Xiao Bai, on the Augus Continent, many magical creatures are created by dragons. Does that mean you have the ability to create life?"

The inherent weakness of goblins had always troubled Li Meng.

In this world, magic was overwhelmingly powerful.

While magical cannons significantly enhanced goblin combat capabilities, their effectiveness was limited against true powerhouses.

If a floating battleship and a saint-level grand mage engaged in combat, the mage would undoubtedly emerge victorious.

Even a slightly weaker king-level mage would pose a challenge for a floating battleship.

Magical cannons excel at mass destruction but struggle to deal with powerful individuals.

"Not creating, but guiding the direction of biological evolution!"

Although Li Meng didn’t fully understand the difference between the two, he didn’t dwell on incomprehensible knowledge.

"Xiao Bai, is there a way to strengthen my offspring?"

"There is. I can manipulate the embryo within the mother’s body, using magic to enhance its genes and redirect its evolutionary path, making it more refined. However, this would come at a cost to the mother."

"Explain further!"

Li Meng’s interest was piqued.

If he could indeed cultivate powerful goblin variants, any price would be worth it—whether it was his or the mother’s sacrifice.

He could be benevolent, but he could also commit evil for the sake of benefits.

"Master, the strength of a species is closely tied to its life essence. Strong creatures inherently possess abundant life essence, enabling them to absorb the world’s power naturally. Even without training, they can grow stronger over time. Many magical beasts are born powerful, a strength derived from the sacrifices of the mother during reproduction."

"The stronger a creature is, the lower its reproductive capacity. This is a protective mechanism for females. The stronger the offspring, the more life essence the mother expends to nurture the new life, imposing a significant burden on her."

"Thus, to create powerful goblin variants, you would need to seize the mother’s life essence."