Chapter 111: Adeline

"Boss, just let him go like that?"

On Abi's somewhat youthful face, a few traces of confusion appeared.

The wooden shield with iron edges, held before him, was slowly lowered, while his right hand still gripped the single-handed sword he had bought not long ago.

Just a few minutes ago, facing that black-haired Adventurer with sharp features and a chilling aura.

The scene had fallen into a stalemate.

Even the thin mist drifting in the air seemed to have solidified, making him dare not even take a deep breath.

And just as Abi felt he was about to welcome the first "real" battle of his short Adventurer career.

The woman he called "Boss," who was also the squad leader, "Adeline," had instead taken the initiative to lead them backward a few steps.

At the same time, she reversed her grip on the single-handed hammer in her hand and swung it gently toward the opponent twice, like a pendulum.

Signaling that they held no hostility on their side, while handing the initiative over to the other side.

No reply came.

Adeline, with a muscular build and short hair, stood at the very front of the formation, motionless.

Her dark brown, yellow-tinged eyes stared tightly in the direction where Xia Nan's figure had disappeared.

It seemed she was on guard against him pretending to leave, only to circle around and launch a surprise attack on them.

"What else?" Abi only heard a voice behind him carrying a tone of mockery.

"If you don't let him go, what else do you want to do?"

The speaker was the last member of the three-person squad.

The archer "Old Berg," carrying a longbow on his back, located at the very rear of the formation.

Although the title contained the word "Old," his age was actually only around thirty or forty.

But his Adventurer experience was quite rich.

Allowing Abi, who had only recently entered this line of work, to learn many useful things.

"Wasn't that what you told me before?" Abi scratched his head, but his voice gradually grew quieter under the other's rather forceful eye gesture, "When encountering other Adventurers in the wild, you have to..."

"Ahem! Ahem!"

Old Berg coughed twice on purpose, intending to interrupt the words the other was about to say.

They were still heard.

Seeing Adeline turn her head and glare fiercely at him.

Old Berg smiled awkwardly and explained to Abi:

"This... you have to look at the specific situation."

"Who told you to be so rigid? You have to know how to be flexible!"

"What's wrong? Was there something special about that person just now?" Abi had been standing behind Captain Adeline the whole time, his view blocked by the mist, unable to see the specific situation on the field clearly.

The most profound impression he had of Xia Nan was only his two long swords, one long and one short.

"Don't you see what kind of place this is?"

Seeming to notice the dismissiveness in Abi's tone, Berg raised an eyebrow and gestured with his chin toward the dense, towering oaks around the group.

"In a place like the Wuwu Forest, any 'Lone Wolf' daring to enter alone would have died long ago if they didn't have something to show for it."

"What if? I see his age is about the same as mine; maybe he just heard somewhere that Adventurers make money, got hot-headed, and rushed in blindly."

In front of acquaintances, the stubbornness peculiar to youths made Abi speak stubbornly.

"Do you think everyone is like you?" Berg shook his head, and the expression on his face suddenly showed a few traces of seriousness.

"That set of Chain Mail is finely crafted; the detailing at the joints is flawless; it's clearly a premium product sold by 'Rock Hammer,' worth at least 50 gold!"

"I haven't seen that gray sword before, but it certainly isn't cheap either."

"Having expensive equipment doesn't mean much; those Noble lords in River Valley Town..."

"Think about it more carefully." Berg interrupted the new recruit's stubbornness, "The blood on the surface of that armor isn't his own."

"The most critical thing is that kind of aura."

"After a battle, a person's eyes are different from their usual state."

"Someone like you, who looks like a new recruit who can't even hold a sword steady, hasn't seen much blood."

"And that kind of him... tsk tsk."

"Normally, if you met him on the street in River Valley Town, you might not feel it."

"But truly placed in such a wild where no people are seen... if you had just had the chance to lock eyes with him just now, you would understand everything."

"Really?" Seeing the veteran in the squad say so, even though Abi felt very unconvinced in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a trace of hesitation, "Is it that miraculous?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

Berg rolled his eyes at the other person and stopped paying attention.

"But..."

Just as Abi wanted to ask further, Adeline, who was in front of the two, after confirming Xia Nan had completely left, finally withdrew her gaze and turned back to say:

"Stop."

Abi immediately fell silent.

The expression on his face was not fear or cowardice, but deep respect mixed with admiration.

The group did not leave directly.

Instead, under Adeline's lead, they arrived at the entrance of the nest that Xia Nan had just cleared.

— This was the target of their mission.

It was also a coincidence that the Goblin Cave, hidden deep within the dense forest, whose location should have been barely determined through the approximate coordinates provided by the Guild, was actually encountered by Xia Nan on his way back to the city, and he casually cleaned it out.

Precisely because of this, the three-person squad that had accepted the mission and obtained the nest location information happened to run into him right at the cave entrance.

Old Berg stepped forward two paces, carefully surveying the surroundings of the cave.

He crouched down, without the slightest hint of disgust, pinched up a clump of damp earth that gave off a foul stench, kneaded it forcefully between his fingertips, and even held it beneath his nose to sniff it carefully.

Only then did he turn around and report to Adeline:

"It should be a medium-sized Goblin nest, with numbers between twenty and thirty, and no elite individuals like Bugbears or Hobgoblins."

Having finished speaking, he seemed to recall something.

Without waiting for a reply, Berg took another two steps into the cave.

He casually brushed aside the moss beside him, pressed his cheek close, laid his ear against the wall, closed his eyes, and concentrated fully.

After roughly three or four minutes, he opened his eyes again.

"No movement."

Adeline nodded.

Ever since she had seen Xia Nan standing outside the cave drenched in fresh blood, she had already anticipated the current situation.

"The usual method?" Berg suggested at the right moment, simultaneously drawing two flints from the pouch at his waist.

"No need, let's just go straight in." Adeline stood at the cave entrance, her gaze seeming to pierce through the deep darkness before her, seeing into the depths within. "They're all dead."

*Tap... tap... *

The damp, chilling air clung to his skin, and the acrid stench heralding danger surged into his nostrils with each breath.

In the corridor leading deeper into the nest, Abi moved his feet nervously.

His back was already soaked with sweat, and the hand tightly gripping the sword hilt had gone slightly pale from excessive force.

Even though, from the conversation between the captain and Old Berg, he knew this nest had most likely already been cleared, that no enemies remained, and that there would be no fighting.

The pressure brought on by the deathly still, cramped surroundings still made his body tremble uncontrollably.

Fortunately, Adeline walking at the very front of the party with her twin hammers in hand gave him a certain boost of courage.

If he were left here alone, his performance would probably be even more pathetic.

*Gulp—*

The sound of swallowing echoed through the empty stone walls, exceptionally clear.

As if to ease the tension within, Abi licked his dry lips and spoke up:

"This should be our last mission of the month, right?"

He hadn't quite controlled his volume, or perhaps the overly quiet environment made him extra sensitive.

The few words he spoke bounced off the bare stone walls as echoes back into his ears, nearly startling himself.

"Mm, Hunting Day is almost here. Once we get back from this trip, we'll need to hurry and make some preparations."

The experienced Old Berg spoke no differently than usual, his tone steady.

"Finally get to rest for a few days." The other's unruffled tone also eased Abi's pressure to some extent. The moment his words fell, he immediately replied, "Staying here for ten days to half a month—it's nothing but trees or Goblins, a person would go stupid."

"These past few days, I haven't seen you, kid, cut down many green-skins either, and you're already tired?"

Perhaps sensing the nervousness in the other's words, and with no real danger present, Berg teased with a smile.

"Wh-what do you mean no!?"

Very effective.

The words, carrying a hint of provocation, instantly made this green young man, who had only just formally entered the Adventurer ranks not long ago, straighten his neck, his voice noticeably louder than before:

"Last time, four Goblins—I circled around a tree stump and took them out one by one. Did you forget?"

"Just four green-skins without even weapons—any farmer pulled from the village with a pitchfork could have poked them all to death, and you're proud of that?"

"I handled four by myself! And that's still not enough?" Though young, and although he caught the joking tone in the other's words, Abi couldn't help but dig in his heels.

He also recalled the advice the other had given before entering the cave.

He couldn't help but purse his lips and said stubbornly:

"That guy with the twin swords just now, he just had better gear. If it were him, maybe..."

*Squelch—*

Distracted by his stubborn retort, he failed to watch his footing for a moment.

One step down, and it was as though he had stepped into a small puddle.

Droplets splashed onto his cheek, and he instinctively reached up to wipe them away with his sleeve.

An extremely thick smell of blood abruptly rushed into his nostrils.

Beneath his feet came a strange sensation—soft yet with something hard within.

"What is it?"

Abi instinctively looked down.

He saw half of a Goblin's severed arm, as if poking out from the muddy ground, dangling by his leg.

In an instant, he felt a chill shoot from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head. His whole body shuddered, and he violently kicked the severed limb away.

And it was only then.

Illuminated by the faint glow from the moss in the crevices of the stone walls and the still-not-fully-extinguished light of the campfire.

Abi finally saw, at the deepest part of the nest.

Countless scattered, fragmented corpses, soaked in pus and blood.

The acrid stench of blood so thick it seemed one could see its crimson hue in the air; pale bone splinters poking out from flesh; soft, steaming entrails; skulls with still-cloudy eyes tumbling about like roadside rubble...

His face instantly paled to a deathly white.

Abi felt an inexplicable urge to vomit surge from his stomach up to his throat.

His Adam's apple bobbed twice.

"Ugh..."

……

……

"Ugh…"

A patron, his face pale from drinking, propped himself against the table with trembling hands.

His body jolted as if struck by electricity, and tears and snot fell together with the foul vomit that gushed from his mouth.

The nauseating smell, originally sealed within his belly, rapidly spread through the air.

"Sorry, sorry."

Two Adventurers who were slightly more sober, looking like his companions, left a few silver-and-copper coins on the table, then flanked the drunk man on either side and walked him out the tavern's front door.

Xia Nan furrowed his brow and looked away.

On the wooden table before him sat a few empty bowls, with nothing left but scraps of food.

As one of the hottest taverns in town, "Baishanque" saw Adventurers drunk past their senses nearly every night.

He had already grown used to it.

Fortunately, he had already finished his dinner ahead of time; otherwise his appetite would surely have been ruined.

By now, two more days had passed since he returned from Wuwu Forest.

The encounter with those three Adventurers by chance before the Goblin Lair was merely a small interlude during the mission.

No fight had broken out, nor had there even been any basic communication.

They had simply exchanged glances in accordance with the Adventurers' unspoken rules, then parted ways.

Nothing worth remembering.

By comparison, what Xia Nan now cared about more was something else entirely.

Since transmigrating to this day, this was the first time he had failed to find a suitable mission on the mission board.

Those green-skinned rats, breeding and spreading like cockroaches, ubiquitous everywhere, had actually dwindled sharply in number over the past few months.

As a result, even the Reward missions the Association issued related to them had become hot commodities.

Often, the moment a mission was posted on the mission board, the Adventurers who had been lurking and waiting would already be crowding toward the front desk the next second, scrambling for it.

And that was precisely the reason Xia Nan, after an unbroken stretch of nonstop work, had at long last enjoyed a leisurely rest day.

"Surely I couldn't have wiped them all out, right?"

He joked to himself.

Of course, the probability of such a thing happening—at least given his current strength—was practically zero.

These strange creatures that hadn't been wiped out even under the gods' encirclement—how could a bottom-tier Adventurer like him, who hadn't even obtained a Professional Level yet, possibly exterminate them?

There must be some other reason he was unaware of.

He sat at the tavern table, leaning back against the chair.

He was just about to find Chaputun, the well-informed tavern owner, to ask around for relevant information.

Yet from the neighboring table, the chatter of a few Adventurers suddenly drifted over.

"Damn it, I think the owners of these general stores in town have gone money-mad. A five-foot-long hemp rope and they dare charge me a good few copper coins."

"Other supplies like sleeping bags—the prices have doubled compared to when I bought them before."

"What's that supposed to mean? They think we earn money easily, so they just fleece us, huh? F*ck!"

Hearing them bring it up, Xia Nan was quite sympathetic.

Over the past two months, taking on missions at high intensity, he had purchased supplies at an extremely high frequency.

He had to visit the general store almost every few days.

Precisely because of that, he could clearly feel the prices soaring as time went on.

But he had assumed it was just a normal phenomenon in River Valley Town with the year-end approaching, so he hadn't thought much of it.

Looking at it now, there seemed to be… something off about it?

Seeing the Adventurers at the neighboring table gradually get into the topic, he quietly pricked up his ears.

"Hehe, you just arrived in River Valley Town this year, so you probably don't know yet—there is a reason behind the sudden across-the-board price hike on supplies…"

"Spill the details!"

(End of this chapter)