God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World! Chapter 646: The Real Transaction Is About to Begin

Gabriel sat on the thick tree branch several hundred meters away from the crack in the rock wall. He did not move any closer, nor did he show the slightest impatience from waiting.

Crimson Judgement rested horizontally beside him, while his gaze occasionally swept across the two goblins guarding the entrance, his senses simultaneously covering every nearby location where movement might occur.

Since he had already decided to wait for the transaction to begin, the last thing he needed now was to alert the people inside because of some unnecessary movement.

As for Erin, she had already been gone for nearly forty minutes.

With an elf’s movement speed inside a forest, as long as there were other underground exits nearby that could be used normally, that amount of time should have been more than enough for her to complete the first round of searching.

Just as Gabriel was thinking this.

Rustle.

An extremely faint sound of leaves rubbing together came from behind him.

Gabriel did not turn around. He already knew who it was. "Found them?"

Erin, who had just landed on the branch, paused slightly.

"How did you know it was me?"

"If it were an enemy, you’d already be falling."

"..."

Erin discovered that the longer she stayed around this man, the easier it became for her to develop the urge to draw an arrow and shoot him.

She did not dwell on the matter and instead moved directly beside Gabriel, lowering her voice.

"I circled this entire rocky area once. So far, I’ve confirmed three entrances connected to the underground passages. Aside from the one in front of us, there’s a relatively large cave entrance to the southeast, but goblins have been constantly entering and leaving through it. It should be a passage they normally use to transport supplies."

"The third?"

"West." Erin pointed in a direction.

"It’s very small. Only two or three people can pass through at the same time, and there aren’t any guards nearby. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary cave, but there’s a very obvious goblin scent inside, and the ground has marks left from long term foot traffic, so it should also connect to the underground area."

"Three exits, huh?" Gabriel appeared thoughtful.

"Not necessarily." Erin shook her head. "The fact that I could find three within an hour only means there are more underground passages in this area than we previously knew about. If we expand the search range, there will definitely be more exits."

This time, Gabriel did not disagree.

The goblins had lived here for so many years. If their underground nest had truly developed into a massive settlement, then naturally, there could not be only a few exits.

In other words, if they wanted to attack directly tomorrow, they really could not simply block one entrance and slaughter their way downward.

Otherwise, once the goblins inside realized something was wrong, they could easily retreat through other exits.

But that was tomorrow’s problem.

For tonight, they only needed to keep their eyes on those eleven children.

"Did you notify Edgar?"

"I already left a message."

Erin said, "As long as the patrols nearby discover the natural marker, they’ll send the information back. But I didn’t tell them this place’s exact location. I only told them to notify Edgar and have him come personally."

If they directly mobilized a large number of elves to approach this place, it would only make it easier for them to be discovered.

Some time later, the two stopped talking, and the forest fell silent once more.

The sun gradually descended in the distance.

The light that had previously been able to penetrate the gaps between the tree crowns and illuminate the forest slowly disappeared. By the time the final traces of twilight were completely swallowed by darkness, the entire southwestern forest was soon left with only the plants emitting faint light and the occasional dim yellow glow leaking from inside the crack in the rock wall.

After another two hours passed, a figure silently appeared behind them.

Erin almost immediately gripped her longbow. It was only after seeing who had arrived that she relaxed.

"Elder Edgar."

Edgar raised a hand, signaling for her to remain quiet, before landing beside the two of them.

"You two certainly found yourselves a good spot."

Gabriel glanced at him. "Where are the others?"

"Didn’t bring them." Edgar sat down directly. "Since you specifically had Erin notify only me, you obviously weren’t planning to have a group of people rush over here right now. Besides, Aelira still needs to remain at the third defensive line. That group of goblins retreated today, but no one can guarantee they won’t send another force."

"Sophie?"

"At the settlement," Edgar replied. "Her current condition is somewhat special. Aelira arranged for someone to stay with her, and..."

At this point, he suddenly glanced at Gabriel.

"You should know better than I do that she’s not suited to participate in this kind of operation right now."

"Yes, I know." He nodded. "As long as Sophie is not in danger, I’m cool with it."

Edgar didn’t continue talking about her either. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the crack in the rock wall.

"That’s the place?"

"Yeah."

Erin quietly explained the other two exits she had discovered.

After hearing everything, Edgar frowned slightly.

"Three..."

"Is there something wrong with that?" Erin frowned.

"The last time our patrols surveyed this area, we confirmed only one underground entrance, and it wasn’t even located here."

Edgar stared into the distance.

"That was before the fighting intensified two months ago. If you’ve already found three entrances our patrols never knew about, then either their underground passages have expanded considerably, or we’ve underestimated the size of their network all along."

Gabriel suddenly asked, "Among the things Veylor’s Chain gave them, were there any alchemical tools meant for excavation?"

Edgar paused, his expression gradually changing.

"You suspect they didn’t dig these passages themselves?"

"I don’t know," Gabriel said in a calm tone. "It just seems too coincidental."

Two months ago, the war had begun. During that time, Veylor’s Chain supplied large quantities of human equipment, increasing the strength of the goblin army rapidly.

And now, they had discovered several underground passages in an area the elves had already surveyed before.

Of course, it was entirely possible that those passages had existed for a long time and simply escaped the elves’ notice.

But if some of them had truly appeared during the past two months, then the timing was a little too coincidental.

Gabriel was more inclined to believe that someone was helping them.

Edgar had reached the same conclusion. "We’ll ask after we capture someone from Veylor’s Chain tonight."

"If anyone is still alive," Erin said subconsciously.

The moment the words left her mouth, she suddenly looked toward Gabriel.

Gabriel happened to be looking at her as well.

Erin remained silent for two seconds.

"Leave at least one alive."

"Depends on the situation."

"..."

Edgar could not help laughing.

"You’d better not expect him to remember to leave you a prisoner once he gets carried away killing."

"I can hear you."

"I said it specifically because I wanted you to hear it."

Gabriel could not be bothered with him.

At that moment, his gaze suddenly shifted forward.

"They’re here."