Chapter 191: Mint, Healing and Spellcaster

Mist Forest, outskirts.

"Bang!"

Broken leaves mixed with grass seeds flew and drifted down, and the unique fragrance of plant sap in the air was masked by a foul, rotting stench.

The shrubs and thorns, which were as tough and difficult to deal with as steel wire and made it impossible to move, were easily crushed and shattered, leaving only a mess.

Ang—

A roar of wild rage filled with bestial nature burst in the forest, and the terrifying sound waves it rippled even made the dense canopy above, which looked like a dome, tremble and shake.

This was a giant wild boar nearly nine feet long, with shoulders almost reaching the shoulders of an adult!

It was covered in coarse, hard brown bristles, and parts of its body were wrapped in a layer of solidified silt like armor; it spat hot breath from its nostrils, and two tusks curved upward from its snout, the sharp light at the tips making no one doubt its destructive power.

Dense bristles congealed with mud, thick and tough skin, sharp tusks, and knotted, sturdy muscles...

Plus the strong aggression unique to wild boars.

Even those top predators in normal forests would rarely provoke such a crazy and furious creature unless they were starving to the extreme.

Under normal circumstances, a wild boar of this size would basically never encounter any danger that could threaten its life again unless there were special circumstances.

But now, the state of this wild boar looked a bit bad.

The fur on its spine had been sliced off in a large chunk, revealing the pink, wriggling muscles beneath; two deep "x"-shaped wounds overlapped on its flank, and as its four limbs moved, accompanied by spurting blood, one could vaguely see the outline of its internal organs.

As for the source of these terrifying wounds... it wasn't those cruel magic beasts with exaggerated strength in the Mist Forest.

But the grey-black figure it was chasing at the moment.

"Ta!"

The tough leather boots landed firmly on the ground, and a faint sound of metal collision came from above.

The weight of the body plus the heaviness of the equipment almost instantly stepped a small pit into the soft and moist forest floor.

But those two legs, which were not particularly thick compared to the wild boar's short limbs, seemed to contain a kind of explosive power far exceeding ordinary people.

Just by storing power slightly, the whole person disappeared from the spot.

"Boom!!!"

Just like a matador in the arena, the target lost its trace in the line of sight, and the wild boar's small tank-like body couldn't stop when charging, hitting a towering and thick oak tree straight on under the effect of body inertia.

The two sharp tusks almost instantly sank into the tree bark, and it struggled and twisted its body, finding it difficult to break free.

And just at this moment, several tender green thorns with barbs broke through the soil beneath it, winding and controlling it as they coiled upward around its four feet.

The wild boar's huge body also seemed to be suddenly subjected to some kind of invisible pressure, sinking, its movements sluggish.

The iron-grey sword body reflected the emerald green and blood red in front, and the palm felt the cold touch of the sword handle.

The opportunity was only a short moment; Xia Nan didn't hesitate at all.

His body hadn't even had time to unload the force after moving, and the whole person had already jumped high toward the wild boar.

The balance bonus under the effect of 【Tide Shaping】 and "Bone-Binding Iron Shins" made the leather boots landing on the wild boar's uneven spine as firm as stepping on a flat brick surface.

His pitch-black, calm eyes aimed at the vital point, and he held the longsword upside down with both hands.

Suddenly stabbed down!

Chirp—

Bristles and fat were instantly pierced by the sharp sword blade that was maintained daily, and the sword tip passed through the spine along the gap he had already aimed at, stabbing into the back of the neck.

Just stirred lightly.

"Bang!"

The ear-piercing beast howl that had been screaming since the start of the battle stopped instantly, and the huge body collapsed with a crash during the twitching, crushing countless thorn shrubs.

The blood-stained sword blade was pulled out with force.

The grass clippings and blood droplets that were vaguely rotating around the sword tip in the air due to the invisible force dissipated and fell quietly, returning to normal.

His chest rose and fell slightly, and not even a drop of sweat could be seen on his cheeks.

Xia Nan casually performed a sword flower, shaking off the blood stains on the sword blade surface.

A flash of thought passed through his eyes.

At the moment, it had been three days since he joined the "Sea Spine" squad as a temporary member, left River Valley Town, and entered the Mist Forest.

He had also experienced several battles.

And it was precisely because of this that he felt the clearer changes brought about by those 3 perception attributes.

Among them, the most obvious, and also the one Xia Nan hadn't anticipated before, was—

【Gravity Control】

A few days passed, and the proficiency of this combat technique didn't change at all, still (5/100), quite far from leveling up.

But in the recent battles, he discovered.

His precision, range, and even force when manipulating gravity had all shown clear improvements.

Clearly, as the main attribute of the 【Meteor Blade Hunting】 class, the improvement of "perception" could also bring bonus effects to 【Gravity Control】, which was the core skill of the class.

And it could be foreseen that when he improved the combat technique level to lv2, lv3... and even further in the future, he would also obtain improvements in the perception attribute.

The two complemented each other.

"Roar!"

From the forest not far beside him, a beast roar filled with pain came, and then, another equally heavy landing sound followed.

Knowing that his teammate had also solved the enemy.

Xia Nan withdrew his gaze, bent down, and picked up a pig leg.

Nodding to a figure standing slightly further away.

He dragged the wild boar's huge body and walked back to the camp.

Perhaps because the battle site was closer.

When Xia Nan returned to the camp, Kashi was already squatting on the ground, disassembling the prey's corpse.

Looking at the yellow fur with brown spots that had been neatly peeled from the body and temporarily spread flat on the meadow.

He guessed in his heart that the other party's prey was probably some unlucky jungle leopard.

And at the same time, Kashi, who saw Xia Nan and the wild boar corpse behind him, couldn't help but reveal a bit of joy on his face.

"Great, originally thought we could only gnaw on dry rations tonight, didn't expect an unexpected harvest!"

"I've eaten wild boar meat a few times before, that taste..."

Hearing the other party say this, Xia Nan couldn't help but feel a bit confused.

Glancing at the blood-stained leopard corpse under the other party, he asked:

"Why, leopard meat doesn't taste good?"

"That definitely isn't as fragrant as wild boar meat! Firm and rich in flavor; if handled well, you can even taste the fragrance of nuts and pine wood."

Seemingly thinking of a beautiful experience in the past, Kashi's rough face, which had been weathered by the wind and sun on the sea, couldn't help but reveal an aftertaste expression.

"I remember when I was adventuring in the Fakaor region before, I caught one and specifically asked nearby residents to cook it using their local methods." "Slow-cooked in an iron pot with bay leaves and rosemary, then poured in half a bottle of red wine left over from the tavern; that taste... tsk tsk."

"Unfortunately, there's no preparation today, otherwise I'd definitely make it for you to taste."

Saying this, Kashi patted the leopard corpse on the ground, his words carrying a bit of regret.

"Actually, the meat quality of this forest leopard is also quite good, full of toughness, and eating it once in a while won't make you tired of it."

"It's just that..."

His gaze looked at a tiny wound the length of a finger on the side of the corpse's neck.

One could clearly see a rich and dangerous purple color that had already seeped and spread into the flesh around the wound.

Along with the saliva dripping from the leopard's teeth, it was covered in a layer of faint purple.

"So much time has passed, I'm afraid even the tail is stained with toxins; if you really eat it, you can only lie here with it."

Hearing this, Xia Nan understood.

In a few days, he had a general understanding of the combat style, professional level, etc., of several people in the team.

Kashi, who looked like he was from a sailor background, Xia Nan originally thought he was a long-range positioning attacker mainly using throwing spears.

But after observing for these days, he found that the other party clearly preferred close-quarters combat.

Utilizing the advantage of the long spear to control distance and perform stabbing attacks.

Only once.

He saw with his own eyes Kashi throwing the long spear in his hand at a moving horned deer like a fisherman on a sea ship.

Then the whole person burst out with a speed far exceeding ordinary people, almost as if he were attracted by the spear like a magnet, and took advantage of the inertia to end the prey's life with the dagger in his hand.

It should be some kind of displacement combat technique developed with the help of a long spear.

As for the other teammate in the team, the Drow half-elf "Weiruisi".

Her combat style was just as Xia Nan had speculated.

A nimble assassin who preferred using daggers in combat.

But it was worth mentioning that, perhaps it was the nature of the "Drow" underground race, even with only partial bloodline, Weiruisi was still good at using various poisons.

And she never avoided it.

Every night when keeping watch, Xia Nan could see the other party applying purple-green poison to her daggers in front of everyone.

If there was a possibility of being an enemy in the future, he must pay attention.

"This can't blame me." Hearing Kashi's complaining voice mixed with regret, the Drow half-elf Weiruisi, who was sitting on the other side of the camp, showed some indignation, and her voice was sharp and sarcastic:

"If it weren't for someone stepping on air and almost sending their neck under the leopard's teeth, would I still need to take action?"

"It's so dark in the forest, my ancestors for three generations were pure humans; it's normal not to see clearly. You used to live in those holes every day, of course..."

In most cases, activities in the Mist Forest at night are items strictly prohibited by adventurers.

Many dangerous predatory animals are accustomed to hunting at night, and under the cover of thick fog without sunlight, visibility at night is extremely low.

Adventurers with slightly worse perception might not even notice a venomous snake lying at their feet.

Extremely dangerous!

But the goal of the Sea Spine squad this time is a group of "Temple Night-Walking Wolves" that only go out to hunt at night.

They basically hide in the depths of the lair during the day.

Unless you possess some kind of relevant detection ability, it is basically difficult to capture the other party's figure.

Therefore, the few people had already formulated a detailed plan before setting off and made sufficient preparations.

Traveling in the morning, making slight adjustments in the afternoon, then using the relatively safe first half of the night to find the target, and returning to camp to rest in the second half of the night.

They are all professionals, and they are still on the outskirts of the Mist Forest.

Night activities, danger certainly exists, but compared to bottom-tier adventurers, they still have a certain combat power.

At the moment, there is still some time before the operation begins.

Weiruisi took Mint to check the warning traps around the camp.

Xia Nan followed Kashi and disassembled the wild boar corpse he dragged back together.

"Zhi la."

The stagnant sound of the sharp blade cutting through flesh sounded faintly in the air filled with insect chirps and the sound of branches shaking.

The small dagger specially used for cutting loot from the Rock Hammer blacksmith shop finally tasted fresh goods after cutting countless goblin ears.

Zhi—

The thick and hard bristles trembled slightly, and the sharp cold light was like a shark fin on the sea surface, sliding smoothly through the flesh along the muscle texture.

Xia Nan was focused, grabbed the wild boar hoof with his left hand and pulled it hard, and a complete right front leg was cut off by him.

Beside him, Kashi revealed some surprise on his face.

"Looking at your age, it's not too big, how are you so skilled?"

"Is there a butcher in the family?"

Xia Nan shook his head and didn't say much, just replied calmly:

"Practice makes perfect."

It wasn't a lie either.

Although he hadn't been an adventurer for even a year, the number of various creatures that had died under his sword was not small.

Especially those goblins, he had chopped them lair by lair.

With this as a premise.

The wild boar's body structure certainly had a huge difference from goblins.

But in some subtle places, such as the connection method of bones and muscles, the arrangement law of tendons and fascia, there were similarities.

Just touch it a little, take a dagger and draw a few times inside, and he already understood seven or eight points.

To a certain extent, wild boars—just big-nosed goblins.

Disassembly and segmentation, easy and relaxed.

"Strength is good, and you have a bit of fame in town; why not form a team yourself?"

Half chatting, half probing.

Kashi asked casually.

"Forming a team earns too little." Xia Nan was focused on cutting the flesh. "A mission takes half a month, and when I come back, I can't even afford to change my armor; it's better to work alone."

"Uh..."

Xia Nan's answer made Kashi choke suddenly.

The words that were already prepared to be spoken were blocked in his throat.

He glanced at the exquisite plate-chain composite armor with strong defensive performance on his body with a strange expression.

He didn't think much, just assumed the other party didn't want to discuss this topic.

Kashi paused before sighing deliberately.

"Sigh..."