Chapter 138: Swarm

Xia Nan couldn't just watch his teammate fall into crisis.

Especially when squad leader Adeline had suffered heavy injuries and lost her combat ability, and the only one left who could cooperate with him was Berg in front of him.

Without the slightest hesitation, his feet exerted force suddenly.

Accompanied by the high-pitched whistling sound that rang out and the wolf-head phantom wrapping his whole body, his whole person rushed out instantly.

The charging combat technique, derived from the Northern Yak hunting stance, allowed Xia Nan to display an explosive speed in those brief moments that actually surpassed that of the Red-maned Hobgoblin.

In a breath, the distance of dozens of meters was easily leveled, catching up to the Bugbear rushing toward Berg.

Moving at high speed, Xia Nan could even see the bright red mane on the other party's spine shaking violently with the air currents, soaked by rain and blood, as well as the muscle contours wriggling under the thick fur of its arms.

It seemed that it didn't expect that this little bug possessed such speed, and a touch of human-like surprise appeared in Hong Zong's fierce, turbid beast eyes.

Then, its sturdy arms slapped toward its side while moving.

"Boom shh!"

Xia Nan only felt the biting, stinging gale suddenly erupting in front of him, and a yellowish-brown shadow flashed in his line of sight.

Before he had time to think much, his left arm shield subconsciously lifted and blocked in front of his chest.

"Bang!!"

The wolf howl stopped abruptly, and the illusory wolf shadow turned into splashing raindrops and flying grass clippings, disappearing into the air.

Xia Nan's originally forward-rushing body paused, and then flew backward in the opposite direction.

It was precisely because the agility attribute point granted to him when 【Tooth Hunt】 leveled up had greatly enhanced Xia Nan's balance and reaction ability.

Only then did he barely react, and enduring the sharp pain, adjusted his body center of gravity in the air.

With a posture that couldn't be considered wretched, he barely landed.

Shh—

The leather boots covered with dust and blood retreated, deeply embedded in the muddy meadow, dragging two long marks on the ground.

Xia Nan panted heavily, his black broken hair already soaked by sweat and raindrops.

The arm shield still maintained the posture of defending in front of his chest, but his left hand couldn't stop trembling slightly.

"Such great strength!?"

Recalling the exaggerated strength displayed by the Bugbear's casual slap just now.

He couldn't help but feel lingering fear in his heart.

If he hadn't reacted in time to defend himself, he would probably be like Adeline right now, directly severely injured and fallen to the ground.

And even though he defended successfully, the residual force, which was strong enough to twist steel, was weakened by at least seventy percent by the snake-scale arm shield.

The residual force transmitted from his arm still made half of his body feel faintly numb.

He realized even more the gap in strength between the two.

... and felt even more that he couldn't let the Green Blood Squad lose more members. 【138-3

If even the only remaining combat force on the field, Berg, were to be heavily injured and forced to retreat.

If only he were left alone.

Xia Nan didn't even know how he would win.

He gritted his teeth, driving his thigh muscles, which were aching faintly.

【Tooth Hunt】!

At the same time, his gaze swept forward.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Although he had appeared to be repelled by the Hong Zong in a single blow just now, forcing the opponent to divert their attention and strength to strike while moving at high speed had already succeeded in slowing it down.

It had given Berg sufficient reaction time.

Right now, he had already unleashed his acceleration combat technique once more, dragging a phantom image behind his feet as his body retreated rapidly.

His speed was far inferior to Xia Nan, who was unleashing 【Tooth Hunt】, and the Hobgoblin with its exaggerated muscular explosive power.

But after all, there was already a distance between them; while being rapidly closed in on, he had not yet been caught by the Hong Zong.

"Still in time!"

His brain spun rapidly, analyzing the situation on the field.

In just a few seconds, Xia Nan had caught up once again.

Having learned his lesson from before, he did not get too close to the Hobgoblin.

Instead, after catching up, he continued to maintain his displacement.

Only after passing the opponent by two body lengths did he suddenly stop and turn around.

Hum—

A sharp, iron-grey cold light burst forth suddenly.

The longsword had already been unsheathed.

It split the raindrops and slashed through the cold air.

The perfect arc of sword light, amidst the sound of wolf howls and carrying a bone-chilling cold, swung toward the Hobgoblin.

【Spinning Slash】!

Xia Nan intended to use the powerful impact inertia provided by 【Tooth Hunt】 to unleash the strongest lethal combat technique he currently possessed, forcing the Hong Zong to stop in its tracks completely.

After all, it was a body of flesh and blood; no matter how thick its fur or how hard its muscles, it still remained within the scope of what an ordinary person could understand.

The Hong Zong might be able to withstand the blunt weapon damage of some low-level adventurers without injury, or endure those old, rusted sharp iron weapons and only suffer minor light wounds.

But at this moment, facing that iron-grey, bone-chilling arc of light, even it felt a hint of danger.

"Bang!"

Its forward-charging body suddenly decelerated as its legs exerted force, kicking up countless mud and dust, while its thick, incomparably sturdy hands crossed to protect its chest.

Sshh—

The mane on its arms was shredded into fragments by the sword light, its thick, tough skin was sliced open, and several spurts of blood exploded out, revealing the scarlet flesh beneath.

Ignoring the pain coming from the surface of its skin, in the next second, the Hong Zong had already blasted out a massive punch capable of smashing a tree trunk toward the direction from which the sword light had come.

"Boom!"

The airflow stirred up countless grass roots and debris, but there was only emptiness left above its knuckles, without the slightest tactile sensation of hitting an object.

In its ears, what sounded once again was the familiar wolf howl rapidly moving away.

"Damn little bug, I'm going to crush every single bone in your body!"

The Hong Zong roared wildly, causing the curtain of rain shrouding its surroundings to distort faintly.

Xia Nan's figure retreated rapidly, his heart pounding non-stop.

Without a doubt, his dangerous move, which was like walking on the edge of a blade, had achieved the intended effect.

While causing slight damage to the Hobgoblin, it had also forcibly stopped its body from charging toward Berg.

This returned the positioning of the few people on the field to the formation familiar to the Green Blood Squad.

As the enemy, the Red-maned Hobgoblin was surrounded and caught in the middle; as Xia Nan approached slightly while maintaining a certain distance, he had enough room whether to retreat and kite, or to move forward and harass.

And Berg, who used the longbow as his primary method of output, was located further behind the Hobgoblin; as long as he attracted the enemy's attention, Berg would be able to aim and shoot calmly.

Waiting,

Xia Nan stared fixedly at the Hobgoblin in front, constantly monitoring every subtle movement of its body.

Right now, the Hobgoblin was falling into a frenzy because of his obstruction; this was the best moment for an attack.

And if the Hong Zong wanted to deal with Berg first, it would inevitably expose its back to him without reservation.

It was just that the arrow that should have hit the bullseye long ago in his imagination was slow to arrive.

Feeling puzzled, he couldn't help but divert a portion of his attention, glancing with the corner of his eye toward the position behind the Hobgoblin where Berg was.

His expression faltered involuntarily.

"No, what are you doing!?"

He saw Berg, who should have been using the precious time Xia Nan had struggled to win to nock an arrow and launch an attack on the Hobgoblin.

At this moment, he was actually still maintaining that same retreating posture from just now, stepping on phantom images, his face pale as he retreated rapidly.

If it weren't for the influence of the Hobgoblin's "Taunt," he would likely have turned around and fled without looking back.

Having already left the dangerous Mist Forest and being about to return to River Valley Town.

The sudden arrival of a powerful enemy had caused this middle-aged adventurer, who had rich combat experience but had stayed in the Green Blood Squad and made a living by exterminating Goblins because he feared death,

to fall once again into that state of anxiety and mental instability he had experienced before.

And the heavy injury and retreat of the squad leader, Adeline, had become the final straw that broke the camel's back.

It seemed to have caused his psychological defenses to collapse completely.

He had lost his keen combat intuition of the past and no longer possessed that unceasing fighting spirit he had when facing Goblins.

He was merely dodging and retreating blindly under the influence of his survival instinct.

"Berg, do it!"

At this moment, Xia Nan couldn't care whether the Hobgoblin in front could understand the Common language he was speaking.

He shouted loudly toward Berg in the distance.

However, when facing a powerful enemy of this level, excellent offensive opportunities often only appear in a few fleeting, brief moments.

Having failed to seize it...

Then the roles of attacker and defender would be reversed.

When Xia Nan's voice traveled through the air into Berg's ears and prompted him to forcibly suppress his instinct to flee, raise his longbow, draw the string, aim, and shoot the arrow.

The Hobgoblin had already reacted.

Dark red energy flames appeared on the surface of its body once again; by just tilting its body slightly, it dodged the wooden arrow that had already been shot off-target.

Then, there was the ear-piercing wail of air bursting.

Hum—

This was the "Deflection Field" passively triggered by the 【Dead Line】 ring.

The translucent energy shield blocked that lethal attack for Xia Nan.

But the twenty-four-hour cooldown of the equipment also meant that he had completely lost a trump card in this battle.

His body was thrown high into the air by the force of the immense power, tumbling as it fell.

The shield covering his whole body flickered twice like a short circuit, then dissipated into the air as chaotic energy currents.

Enduring the intense pain coming from all over his body, Xia Nan rose suddenly the moment he landed, his Snake Scale Arm Shield protecting his chest, preparing to block the enemy's next attack.

But the massive, hulking shadow he had expected did not appear on the ground in front of him.

He looked up subconsciously, his gaze fixed on the battlefield ahead.

His expression sank accordingly.

The light was dim.

Heavy leaden clouds gathered in the firmament.

The rain grew increasingly fierce, and the silvery-white curtain of rain covered almost every inch of the air.

Blood flowed, mingling with the crystalline raindrops, crossing the dense, long fur that was already soaked, bypassing the scarlet wounds cut by sharp blades, and slowly falling to the ground along the muscle contours beneath the skin of the arm.

Claws embedded with black filth pierced the scalp, and a thick, enormous palm covered the top of the skull.

An arm thicker than an ordinary person's waist was stretched straight and raised high.

Dark red flames sprayed and swirled from its nostrils with its breathing.

The Hong Zong looked at the human adventurer before it, whose head it had grabbed with just one hand and lifted as easily as a toy; its turbid beast eyes were filled with cruelty and violence.

Berg struggled with all his might, his legs kicking wildly off the ground, just like a fish out of water.

His hands reached upward, attempting to pry open that palm which was embedded into his scalp like iron pincers, but it was all in vain.

More and more fresh blood flowed down, his complexion went from flushed red to purple-blue, his eyes were filled with blood, bulging as if they were about to burst from their sockets.

"Crack."

It was the crisp sound of a skull collapsing.

The corpse convulsed and fell to the ground, with his broken longbow lying beside it.

Viscous red and white liquid dripped from the tips of the claws.

The Hobgoblin turned slowly, its gaze fixed on the last remaining adventurer on the field.

"Fuck."

"Sshh!"

A shimmering, reddish-brown longsword, carrying immense force capable of snapping steel, streaked through phantom images amidst the howling wind.

Dozens of Goblins, whose skin surfaces were covered in a ghostly green glow and whose size was twice that of ordinary Goblins, had their fragmented limbs splattered like rain.

The human warrior clad in heavy armor swung the blade in his hand silently.

Under the influence of his physical constitution, the exaggerated gravity capable of flattening metal plates seemed to have no effect on his movements at all.

He simply swung his sword.

Turning all the green-skinned Goblins who dared to step forward into shattered corpses.

The tall, blonde Elf was wrapped in a rich green light; under the blowing breeze, a rapier stirred up waves of blood within the green tide.

Both being high-level professionals close to "Transcendence," just the two of them cleared an open area with a radius of twenty feet within the lair.

Standing in the very center of the clearing, Cornell held his wooden staff tightly.

His lips moved, as if he were chanting something rapidly.

There wasn't a single trace of blood on the surface of his indigo ramie robe, but faint sweat stains could be seen at the collar.

Hum-rumble—

A dazzling emerald light suddenly emerged from the tip of his staff; a stream of light composed of countless tiny phantom images like mist roared toward the Goblins in front.

Circling and turning, the phantom images solidified in an instant under the control of the caster's mental power, and high-frequency noises of carapace friction and thin wing vibration rang out in the cave.

—5th Circle, Conjuration, 【Plague Swarm】.

The brownish-green locusts danced to form a funnel-shaped vortex; their hard, barbed wings and sharp, ferocious mouthparts were like countless sharp blades, spinning and cutting, stirring the surrounding Goblin corpses into blood foam.

Even if they just got close and were grazed by the locusts' carapace wings, the smoking wounds would rapidly fester under the effect of the attached toxins, spreading throughout the body.

In just a few breaths, the Goblins that had originally surrounded the entire squad like a tide were stirred into a large gap out of thin air.

But... that was all.

Those frenzied green-skinned Goblins, who seemed not to care about their own lives at all, rushed forward one after another, constantly charging into the meat grinder constructed by the swarm.

Even if it was just using the wooden clubs in their hands to knock down one or two locusts, or opening their mouths to forcibly swallow them into their bellies, letting the insects bite their internal organs to pieces.

There wasn't even a minute, and the raging swarm of insects was rapidly diluted and dissolved in the blood of the Goblins.

The holes blasted out by the 【Plague Swarm】 in the dense mass of Goblins on the field were filled up again at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Cornell panted; casting high-circle spells multiple times in a short period made his head feel a faint, throbbing pain.

Watching the last locust in front being pulled down from the air by nearby Goblins, who fought to tear it apart and chew it.

His complexion appeared incomparably gloomy.

Compared to the swarm of insects summoned by spells that turned flesh into white bone and left no grass growing wherever they passed.

At this moment, he actually felt that these Goblins, which were shrieking and twisting in excitement, were even more ferocious.

(End of chapter)