Chapter 103

It was the height of summer, and the biting cold wind that suddenly surged in from outside the house made the drinkers in the inn shiver involuntarily.

And when they looked with surprised eyes at the burly figure at the tavern entrance,

they subconsciously averted their gaze because of the cold aura he exuded, not daring to look him in the eye.

The noisy, boiling atmosphere that still retained the warmth of Midsummer Festival suddenly cooled.

Only the whispered, feigned calm of the adventurers remained.

In the center of the tavern hall, the few people who had just been shoving each other suddenly froze, as if congealed by the cold wind.

All the foul language also came to an abrupt end.

As if they had already communicated in secret, there were no extra movements, nor did they leave any unwilling harsh words.

Even though the red-bearded dwarf's most cherished braided beard had been cut short at some point during the fight, and the leading Calishite had a purple-blue fist mark on his eye socket,

they just tacitly separated their entangled limbs and silently walked back to their own wine tables.

"Bang."

The slow, powerful sound of footsteps came from in front of the tavern door, gradually becoming clear.

Chaputun looked at the Barbarian wearing a wolf-fur cloak in front of him, his face wearing a stiff, business-like smile.

"Guest, what would you like to eat?"

"Two pieces of raw meat."

The thick Northern accent made his voice sound as if it were coming from a snowstorm, blurred and unclear.

His ice-blue pupils glanced at the black-haired youth not far away, and he replied.

"Very well, guest, please wait a moment."

Chaputun's footsteps were hurried as he trotted toward the back kitchen.

Clatter—

It was the sound of tables and chairs being moved.

Backlit, the shadow cast by his sturdy body covered the surface of the table.

Xia Nan looked at Fugang on the other side of the wine table, and the anxiety that had been lingering in his heart for the past few days dissipated into nothingness along with the temperature that dropped suddenly around his body.

On his muscular, marble-like bronze skin, there were no obvious scars; the pair of eyes under his brow ridge, deep as cold lakes, were also still calm and condensed with spirit in their depths.

Except for the little finger of his left hand being severed, with a layer of transparent ice crystals covering the bare wound,

there seemed to be no other injuries.

Around his neck was still that thin iron necklace adorned with bone tooth pendants.

But the very center of the iron chain was still empty.

Pondering in his heart, the Barbarian had caused such a big commotion in the neighboring town and could still return to Hegu Town as openly as he was now.

His relationship with the Adventurer Association should not be one of hostility.

Xia Nan opened his mouth, just wanting to say something, when he heard the Barbarian in front of him suddenly speak:

"Learned it?"

He paused for a second before reacting.

Fugang had actually only glanced at him and realized that he had already mastered 【Tooth Hunt】.

Doubting in his heart how the other party could tell, Xia Nan nodded and replied:

"Happened to encounter a difficult magic beast on the way back."

The air around him turned cold in an instant, just like a beast smelling blood on an ice field, and faintly shimmering ice points suddenly condensed in the air.

As if conscious, they drifted and swayed, circling the decapitation longsword behind Xia Nan twice.

Then they returned to the space above the table, condensing into a palm-sized, fierce magic beast pattern with a broken single wing.

It was fleeting.

"That Spined Devil?" The Barbarian's sturdy arms rested on the wine table, the silver-white fluff of his fur cloak swaying slightly. "You have quite good luck."

Amazed that the other party had used frost to reconstruct the opponent he had fought two days ago just by relying on the slight aura remaining on his body.

Hearing Fugang say this, Xia Nan also felt lucky in his heart.

He didn't know if the Fate Coin he kept close to his chest had taken effect, or if he had gained the attention of the Goddess of Luck, 【Tymora】, in the dark.

Just one step away from completely mastering the combat technique, his training schedule was interrupted by the sudden appearance of mycelium.

He thought he would have to drag it out for a while, but he happened to encounter a severely wounded Spined Devil on the road while escaping.

Perhaps because he had been driven away by the Barbarian's aura once on the way back to the city, the cold air poured into him for the purpose of training combat techniques had attracted the other party's attention;

or perhaps it was those dark purple spores that had deeply eroded it, affecting its sanity.

Facing the aftermath of the extraordinary battle behind it, the Spined Devil not only didn't run away, but instead held onto him tightly, dragging him into the battle.

Furthermore, because it had been severely wounded, even though its challenge rating was as high as "2" in its normal state, it had lost its most important flight ability, and its physical strength seemed to be declining rapidly under the erosion of the spores.

Its combat ability was only a notch higher than his own at the time.

A perfect combat target for improving combat technique proficiency.

"Guest, your raw meat."

Without any requirements for cooking, not long after the Barbarian sat down, the tavern owner Chaputun personally brought the tray to the two of them.

"Ding."

The metal tray bottom landed on the wooden table, making a crisp sound.

The two pieces of raw meat cut into regular square shapes on the tray trembled, and one could faintly see pale blood water sliding down from the sides.

He couldn't help but feel puzzled in his heart.

Although he was a Barbarian from the Northern ice fields, Xia Nan hadn't seen the other party eat anything raw in the forest for so many days.

Before he could speak, the smell of blood in the air seemed to attract the attention of a little guy.

"Woo—"

A youthful whimper suddenly came from across the dining table.

He saw the furry cloak on the Barbarian's chest suddenly squirm twice.

A small, furry head struggled to poke out.

It was a Winter Wolf cub that had just been born not long ago, and even the fur on its body hadn't grown smooth yet.

As if it had just woken up, it squinted its eyes, and its jet-black beast nose, like a pearl, twitched slightly.

As if it had sensed the fragrance of food, it suddenly opened its eyes.

It jumped out of the Barbarian's arms and landed lightly on the table.

Perhaps not accustomed to the outside temperature, its small body shrank a few times before it shook its tail hard and pounced on the meat in front of it.

Clearly, this suddenly appearing cub was also one of the changes brought about by the battle.

For some reason, looking at the Winter Wolf cub in front of him, Xia Nan vaguely felt that it was somewhat similar to the translucent Wolf Spirit that had searched the Goblin Lair with him in the Mist Forest a few days ago.

He even wanted to touch the other party's head.

It was just that, seeing the cub baring its fangs as if guarding its food, he was worried about being bitten, so he withdrew his outstretched palm.

His gaze glanced toward the empty iron chain in the middle of the Barbarian's chest.

With the speculation about Fugang's purpose flashing through his mind these days, Xia Nan lowered his voice and asked:

"How... did the matter go?"

The Barbarian just shook his head.

"Almost."

His eyes were still cold, but there was no look of regret or annoyance on his face.

He reached into his waist pocket and took out something.

He placed it on the table and pushed it in front of Xia Nan.

—A bone-white wolf tooth.

Picking it up from the wooden table, feeling the cold touch of the wolf tooth in his palm, he looked at the other party in confusion.

"Owe you a favor."

The hunting effect of the 【Frostbound Oathkeeper】 had no distance limit, but because of the professional nature of the Swamp Druid "Bartholomew" himself, it could never be precisely located.

If he hadn't accepted the commission and taken Xia Nan into the Mist Forest to train combat techniques, he would likely have had to spend many more days before he could discover the traces left by the Druid in the Goblin Cave.

And even if he had discovered the traces, the direction he searched would only have been deep into the Mist Forest, exactly opposite to where the target was.

It would have been impossible to truly discover the Druid's real hiding place on the way to sending Xia Nan to the nearest town as he was now.

Catching the other party off guard.

Therefore, even though Xia Nan did not actively participate in his hunt during this series of processes,

he still provided him with considerable help.

Regarding this, although Xia Nan was not very clear about what exactly happened and what role he played in it,

since Fugang had said so, he naturally had no reason to refuse.

Just as he wanted to stuff the wolf tooth into his backpack, he suddenly remembered that he had already mastered two combat techniques and was only one step away from obtaining a professional level.

His eyes lit up.

He put the wolf tooth back on the table.

"Can this favor... be used now?"

Deep in the Mist Forest.

A complex and massive Goblin Lair.

"Hiss-gah!!!"

The sharp screech echoed and reverberated between the stone walls like a tide.

This was a Goblin tribe with a Hobgoblin leader and a population reaching three digits.

Naturally excellent military talent made the Goblins under the Hobgoblin commander like a miniature army.

They gathered in groups, using all kinds of weapons looted from who knows where, screeching as they wandered through the dense forest.

When they encountered beasts they could handle, they would surround and hunt them, bringing them back to the lair;

when they encountered powerful magic beasts, they would not rush to their deaths as they used to, but would leave behind a few physically disabled, old green-skins as bait and retreat directly.

Strong reproductive ability, combined with the Hobgoblin's intelligence far exceeding ordinary magic beasts, allowed them to barely survive even in the depths of the Mist Forest, which was full of dangerous magic beasts.

They even opened up a large area of habitat underground, filled with all kinds of trap tunnels.

"Crackle!"

The giant bonfire piled up from countless branches burned violently, and the scorching flame light it emitted almost illuminated the entire hollow.

Above the bonfire, several sturdy yaks were being roasted.

The thick, dense fur gradually charred and cracked under the scorching tongues of fire, revealing the tough-textured and juicy fresh meat underneath.

This added a bit of food aroma to the cave, which was filled with the dirty stench of excrement and the thick smell of blood.

The high-pitched, frenzied screeching became more and more intense. Under the reflection of the firelight, the rough, pustule-covered green skin refracted a disgusting, nauseating color.

If it were any other group, they wouldn't have waited for the prey to be thoroughly roasted before being snatched, torn, and swallowed into the bellies of the greedy and undisciplined green-skins.

But right now, those hundred or so Goblins.

Actually showed a kind of order unique to intelligent creatures, suppressing their physical instincts.

They sat in a circle around the bonfire.

Even though the saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths had soaked the rags wrapped around their waists; their thin, skin-only bellies were squirming and spasming from hunger.

Not a single green-skin was driven by desire to pounce forward.

In the deepest part of the lair, a Hobgoblin wearing a full set of armor with a two-handed axe at its feet.

Looking at the scene before it, a human-like satisfied expression appeared on its face.

It threw the bone it had gnawed until only a few shreds of meat remained onto the ground.

It slowly stood up from the stone seat lined with silk and soft cushions, and walked forward two steps.

Its foul-smelling mouth opened, and airflow surged up the throat along the chest cavity.

The vocal cords also vibrated faintly.

In the next second, it was about to issue the command for the Goblins to eat.

And at this very moment.

Extremely abruptly, the whole world seemed to have been pressed with a pause button.

Those fanatical and chaotic sharp screeches of the Goblins that filled the cave came to an abrupt end.

The Hobgoblin stood motionless on the spot, maintaining the posture it had just before making a sound.

On the surface of the two yellowish-brown fangs protruding from its lower lip, the blood from the half-cooked meat chunks slowly dripped, splashing blood stains on the metal armor on its chest.

Deep in its mouth, which was covered with cavities, dark purple fine tentacles flashed by.

"Squeak."

Like a tender sprout breaking through the soil, a moth struggling out of a silk cocoon, some kind of extremely subtle sound suddenly rang out in the incomparably silent lair.

Bang—

The Hobgoblin's strong body suddenly fell, and the metal armor collided with the ground, making a harsh sound.

"Hoo..."

Its head tilted up violently, and its mouth opened.

A dark purple mycelium, just like some kind of parasite breeding in the body, fine tentacles clinging to the throat and mouth, squirming and growing.

The tentacles entangled and combined with each other, surging out from the Hobgoblin's mouth.

Faster and faster.

In just a few seconds, it spread from the initial tiny tentacles to devour the whole body.

And the Hobgoblin's body, which was originally much stronger than an ordinary person's, also shriveled and collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a deflated balloon.

Far from enough.

The dark purple mycelium took the Hobgoblin as the center and spread rapidly along the ground like a fungal mat.

All kinds of liquid-bonded combinations of feces and soil, metal and rock, leftover bones and flesh residue, and the hundred or so green-skins that had also lost consciousness and lay on the ground...

"Crunch... crunch..."

The bonfire that had been emitting heat and light had long since gone out, and even the embers remaining on the surface of the firewood had dimmed.

In the incomparably pitch-black cave, only some kind of strange sound that made one's hair stand on end echoed.

It was like a stomach, squirming and digesting the flesh and blood within.

Don't know how long it had been.

"Sizzle-pop."

Amidst the sticky and sluggish footsteps, a blurry humanoid creature formed by the entanglement of dark purple mycelium moved its body out of the cave.

Like a crude mud doll in a child's hand, it had no facial features, and its limbs were of different lengths, twisted and deformed.

Only in the positions where the eyes and mouth were originally located, three deep and eerie holes were left.

Ang—

In the distance of the forest, the screeching of an unknown wolf-type magic beast startled a few birds and beasts, which flapped their wings and flew away from the treetops.

Granules squirmed, and the humanoid creature barely composed of mycelium turned its head.

It looked from afar for a while before it finally turned its head back with difficulty.

It squirmed away toward the outskirts of the forest, on the other side away from Hegu Town.

In the air, only a dense sound that seemed to be pieced together from countless tiny sounds remained, making one's teeth ache:

"Mad... dog..."

(End of chapter)