Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

"What ever happened here?"

"What else could it be?" Hoffman glanced at Ron slowly and said, "It's a disaster. After the natural disaster comes the man-made disaster, and after the man-made disaster comes the natural disaster. This is a curse that all those who settle in the Land of Delusion will experience. Your elders should have passed away, right? That's a good thing..."

It seems that the former residents here did not know about liches, just like the Kingdom of Falama and Old Greenswamp Town in nearly the same period.

Ron asked some more questions and was able to roughly determine the era when these people were "living normally". They knew about the Kingdom of Falama, but were deterred by the generations-old contracts there and did not dare to have more contact with it.

"After the entire kingdom collapsed, some people tried to contact the 'neighbors' who served the demons to ask for help, and we tried our best to prevent this from happening." As the number of words he uttered increased, Hoffman seemed to be completely awake, but this was obviously not a good thing for him. Everyone could clearly see the loneliness and pain in his eyes. "That was the second split after the establishment of the shelter. Compared with the wanderers who left to find a new home before, they were more... radical. We thought that hiding here would keep us away from unknown disasters and curses, but in the end it was just wishful thinking."

Ron and his companions exchanged glances: the dragon lich had no habit of eating "leftovers", and even wanted to take the mountain village that had been protected by the devil for a long time into its stomach. These survivors obviously did not even have such a backing.

"They left a large number of murals and texts on the walls, trying to spread blasphemous knowledge to other tribesmen, and we were responsible for clearing their influence. After a long time, a conflict finally broke out. No one was a winner. Their existence was completely erased, and we lost the possibility of leaving forever."

"The entrance was destroyed, and it was only Heisen who held on. Maldette reinforced him so that he could hold on for a long time even after death... But since you were able to come in, it should mean that Heisen has been freed."

Sera whistled and turned away, pretending it had nothing to do with her.

"Those spiritual servants—"

"Oh, did you see them? They are also Maldet's creations. He is a powerful wizard, very powerful..." Hoffman pointed to a withered skeleton next to him, "Ah, he is here today and has not been repaired. You can ask him if you have any questions."

Ron looked at Victoria, and the priest spread his hands helplessly - the skeleton no longer had any organs that could speak. And even if it did, no one knew whether this "Maldert" would surprise or frighten Hoffman when he spoke again.

"Do you have any more questions? Ask them all at once," Hoffman said, rubbing his hands when he saw that Ron and the others did not move. "The area where we grow food collapsed during the last iteration, and we haven't had a proper meal for a long time..."

Victoria sighed and waved her hand to create a feast, which included a variety of fine foods and drinks. These foods themselves had certain healing and benefit effects that could help the last survivors in the shelter recover.

But no one can tell whether it is a good thing or not.

When Hoffman was feasting, Ron and the others seemed to see not a human but a wild beast. He jumped directly onto the table and devoted himself to the feast, enjoying the long-awaited feast. Even when people approached him unintentionally, he would growl as if protecting his food, although such barbaric behavior would soon be overwhelmed by reason.

There was nothing anyone could do but stay as far away from the poor man as possible and start checking the surroundings to see if there was anything valuable there.

Gracia might set a trap for them, but she would not do something aimless. Since she said that what Ron wanted was here, it must be there.

"Mr. Hoffman," Ron asked the man whose belly was already bulging, even though he didn't have much hope, "Have you woken up often recently? Have you encountered any special situations?" "Special... I don't know. We are just prisoners in the shelter. It's hard... hiccups, it's hard for anything to be called special."

Hoffman burped and replied, "But if you want to know, I can pull up the recent 'hibernation' cycle records for you to see. Let me see, how is that thing supposed to work?"

A crystal screen with large cracks on it was brought up under Hoffman's control, with rows of spellcasting records displayed on it - a variant of the mental retardation spell that bound Hoffman. Ron noticed that he deliberately avoided the interface that provided an overview of all records and only brought up his own wakefulness cycle.

"Ah, I found it," Hoffman called Ron over, "I woke up four times in the last few months. This time it was once, and the last time was within a day. It should be because I heard the news that the drifter returned. Then a few months ago, some evil existence activated the alarm system here, but when I got to the alarm, I only found a golden gem."

"Golden gem? Can you take us to see it?" Ron's heart moved. Could it be Gillianis's gem? The moon elf herself once said that the shining gem should be the most powerful among the seven. If they could gather all of them, at least with her help, they could improve their strength to a higher level.

"Complete" is a conceptual description in the field of arcane or divine magic, so there are terms such as "set". A complete set of magic items, even if only a small part is missing, will have a huge difference in power compared to its complete state.

Of course, Ron didn't expect that the complete amethyst slab would be more powerful than its creator, but now every bit of strength is helpful. Now that he has discovered it, there is no reason not to fight for it.

"Of course, of course." Hoffman looked at the remaining banquet (that was enough for twelve people) with reluctance, grabbed another glass of wine and drank it all. "I'll take you there right away."

"But I no longer have the spell to travel through the shelter, so the speed may be a little slower."

"Wait a minute, aren't there four records here?" Sylvia stopped Hoffman, who was about to stand up, and pointed to the universal language record on the crystal. "Two days before we arrived, you woke up once. What happened?"

"Is there...?" Hoffman frowned and looked at the place where Sylvia pointed, pretending to be thinking hard, "Yes... No, I don't think so. I, I don't remember. I don't remember being sober that time. I don't remember... Wait!"

Hoffman's eyes suddenly widened, and he clapped his hands fiercely: "I remember now! There were two other people who came in here before you--!"

Ivy rushed to protect Hoffman immediately, but she was still a step too late. The sneak attack on him was not launched physically, but from the spiritual level. As long as this person recalled a certain memory in any way, the preset killing intent would immediately take place and take his life.

Such a spell is not very effective against a spellcaster who can teleport, but the premise is that the spellcaster's brain has not been damaged multiple times by the mental retardation spell. The extremely fragile mind that has been tossed around cannot withstand such an attack.

Half of Ron's body was quickly covered by armor plates, and his companions also prepared for battle. In just a dozen seconds, the stone door was blasted into pieces by a powerful spell, and two figures walked in from outside through the smoke and dust.

There is no grass growing on their heads, but each of them has a tattoo of a black dragon. (End of this chapter)