"Uh... I'll try."
Continuous crackling came from the Charlie Brand Radio. Its crystal light flashed several times before a red beam finally appeared, pointing southwest.
Seeing this, Ethan nodded in satisfaction and quickly led everyone toward the Goblin Labyrinth's central plaza.
Splash~ Splash~
However... they had barely run a few steps, the muddy floodwater had already reached Ethan's ankles.
Because... Ethan realized... the water was no longer just pouring down from the cliff. Large sections of the labyrinth's ceiling had also begun leaking.
When he looked up, it was as if the Amazon river had fallen from the sky.
Everywhere he looked were waterfalls.
Everywhere he looked was water.
"Ahhhh!"
"Run!"
"The flood's here! It's over, it's over! The divine prophecy has come true!"
After Ethan led everyone forward for a while, they finally encountered other goblins from the Goblin Kingdom. These goblins had probably run fast enough, or perhaps they lived farther from the royal palace, so they hadn't been covered by the spores.
Most of them were Green Hat Goblins, along with a large number of Blue Hat Goblins.
But now, they were all desperately running deeper into the labyrinth.
They had even abandoned the stalls they'd set up in the plaza, along with cart after cart of food.
There were also goblin leather clothing, goblin earrings, goblin hats, shoes, and all sorts of other goods, everything imaginable.
It looked no different from an ordinary human marketplace.
Splash!
The underground world was flooding even faster than Ethan had expected.
In less than half an hour, the water had already reached his knees. Since they were much taller than the goblins, they could still barely keep their footing.
But the smaller goblins were already being swept off their feet by the current.
"Help!"
"Waaah..."
"Mommy! Waaah! Someone save me!"
The entire plaza was filled with screams.
But at a time like this... who had the ability to help anyone else?
"Lord, the temple is over there!"
By now, Bird One and the others had already transformed into birds and were flying overhead, flapping their wings.
Daji hated water, so Bird Two and Bird Three had carried her into the air as well. Ethan, on the other hand, didn't care. He simply ran through the water.
The main reason was that he was too heavy.
If Bird One and the others tried to carry him, everyone would end up being dragged down.
"Got it!"
Ethan looked in the direction Bird One was pointing with her wing.
Sure enough, in the center of the temple stood a gigantic statue.
The statue was shaped like a goblin. It was extremely muscular, wore an ordinary goblin hat and a leather jacket, and held a huge spiked club. It looked just like an ordinary Blue Hat Goblin.
At the base of the goblin statue, there was a small door.
It seemed, that in the goblins' world, strength was still the greatest honor.
Even though the Goblin King's Time Stop ability was unmatched, to the goblins, it probably wasn't as valuable as a powerful body.
Then again, that might also be because a powerful body could be passed on.
For example, by breeding with Blue Hat Goblins, their strength could be inherited.
But someone as powerful as the Goblin King, his strength belonged to him alone, not to the entire race.
Whoosh!
Ethan didn't waste any time.
He immediately expanded his Lord's Domain and used Blink, crossing nearly a hundred meters in an instant before entering the Magic Bean Temple.
Then, when Ethan entered the temple and found the small room completely empty, he was dumbfounded.
Where were the promised magic beans?
"Charlie, make another prediction."
The water had already reached his waist.
With water rising this fast, even Ethan couldn't help wondering.
'Whoever is behind this, did they somehow move the entire underground labyrinth to the bottom of the sea?'
'Isn't this flooding way too fast?'
Even the Titanic hadn't flooded this quickly after hitting the iceberg!
Bzz~ Bzz~
Charlie answered, "Yes, Lord!"
However, right after Charlie said that, the crystal light on the radio flickered a few times... and went out.
Even the radio's crackling static disappeared.
"Charlie?"
"Charlie!"
Ethan called several times, but there was no response.
'Could this Magic Bean Temple automatically block the radio's signal?'
Just as Ethan was about to head outside, he suddenly heard Charlie's intermittent voice coming from the radio.
"My... Lord... power's out... energy... hurry..."
Bzz!
Then, the Charlie Brand Radio went completely dark.
Ethan was speechless.
He had clearly designed it as a solar-powered radio, so why did it still need energy?
'Forget it.'
He took out a spirit stone and opened the cassette compartment of the Charlie Brand Radio.
Ethan dropped the spirit stone inside.
Bzz~ Bzz~
The Charlie Brand Radio lit up once again.
Then the cassette compartment automatically popped open and spat out an ordinary stone that had been drained of all its energy.
Bzz~
"Lord, look up!", Charlie hurriedly reminded him after regaining power, "The magic bean seeds are inside the statue!"