Chapter 215: Battlefield Harvest and [Tidal Lure Rod]

Condensed to the extreme, the ochre-red light looked like flowing, changing runes, covering the surface of his knuckles.

"Bang!"

It was the muffled sound of bone colliding violently with bone through flesh.

Without the slightest obstruction, the fist condensed with brilliant light slammed straight into the back of the beast-kin's head.

His physical fitness, far exceeding that of ordinary people, made this powerful punch, driven by gravity, nearly make the beast-kin, who had been standing firmly in place, stagger.

At the moment of the collision between bone and flesh, Xia Nan could not see the beast-kin's expression, and naturally, he did not know whether she had regained some humanity at the intersection of life and death.

But through his peripheral vision, the suddenly tensed muscles of her neck and the slight trembling on both sides of her cheeks, he could judge that she should have sensed the lethal aura filled in his strike.

The next second.

Hum-boom—

The ochre-red force energy suddenly erupted from the fist that had landed on the back of the beast-kin's head.

Pure, stable, and highly penetrating force damage would have no mercy when facing the flesh and blood before it.

The dense, swaying mane was stirred into fragments in an instant, and the skin, tougher than tree bark, was squeezed and splashed to both sides of the fist like blood-red mud.

"Crunch."

This was the terrifying sound of the skull cracking, which made one's blood run cold upon hearing it.

The fist that had originally landed on the back of the Bearman's head suddenly sank a few inches.

Immediately, some viscous yellow-white matter appeared in the blood splashing from the edges of the fist.

Xia Nan could clearly feel that as the tactile sensation on the surface of his knuckles changed from hard at the beginning to wet and soft at the end, the hulking body beneath him suddenly twitched.

The massive force originally accumulated in the beast-kin's muscles, having lost the guidance of consciousness, ran wild in her body like uncontrolled electric currents.

The lithe and tall body suddenly became stiff.

Like a walking corpse, driven by the residual instinct before death, she took two more steps forward before falling face down.

Exposing the back of her head, which had been swallowed by more than half by the force energy.

At the same time, the thorn vines that had been surging toward Xia Nan like a green plant tide on the field also seemed to lose their life in an instant.

They froze in place like sculptures, lacking the spirituality they had before.

Further away, the beast eyes of the violent and cruel beasts surrounding Xia Nan suddenly regained their former ignorance, and the manic beastly nature quietly faded away.

Some, intimidated by the momentum on the field, tucked their tails and fled in panic, while others, influenced by the thick smell of blood in the air and the hunger in their bellies, began to tear and fight each other.

His feet landed lightly on the ground.

Looking at the beast-kin's corpse ahead, which had completely lost its life and was returning to human form, Xia Nan felt a sense of relief in his heart.

Immediately, the fatigue after the high-intensity battle, accompanied by the intense pain coming from all parts of his body, surged from his heart and rushed straight to his skull.

The precise use of 【Gravity Control】 and the 【Heart-Looking Vision】 opened at the critical moment made him consume too much mental power.

Standing on the ground now, his vision couldn't stop going black, and his head was dizzy.

He felt that something was wrong; although the main enemy had been defeated by him, the battle was not over yet, and he still needed to complete the final cleanup.

In his current state, he couldn't guarantee that he could easily repel the hungry beasts as he could in his prime.

Having finally survived to the end, he didn't want to capsize in the gutter with these animals.

As thoughts raced, his left hand wiped his waist, and a bottle of healing potion appeared in his hand.

He quickly poured half a bottle into his mouth.

25 gold.

The sweet and refreshing taste remained on the tip of his tongue, and the cold liquid flowing into his body along his throat seemed to be infected by the pumping heart beside it when it flowed to his chest, turning into strands of warmth flowing through his whole body with his blood.

The original fatigue and pain gradually eased, and there were even waves of numbness coming from the injured parts of his arms and chest.

Xia Nan suddenly took a deep breath, and his hot body temperature condensed into a straight, obvious white smoke in the cold air.

Before it could fully dissipate, it was rolled up amidst the wolf howls, dissolving into the thick fog, turning into the mane of the illusory wolf head hunting, roaring toward the place where the longsword had fallen.

Having recovered some stamina through the healing potion, Xia Nan quickly traversed the battlefield with the high mobility of 【Tooth Hunt】 and recovered the two longswords that had fallen during the fight with Bo He.

Then he forcibly pulled himself together and drove away the remaining beasts on the field.

With the beast-kin who caused them to go mad already dead, this was not too difficult.

Only by slightly revealing his strength and aggression, and killing a few unlucky beasts as a deterrent, these cautious predators, who had regained their sanity and survived in the dangerous forest, all retreated and disappeared into the depths of the night.

"Huff... huff..."

For a time, on the open and silent field, only heavy panting sounds remained.

Xia Nan leaned against a tree trunk with one hand, his body leaning forward slightly, sweat dripping continuously from his chin, soaking the mud at the tree roots.

From the time he followed Kashi and the others to this clearing to the end of the battle, it had actually been less than half an hour.

But the physical and mental energy he consumed was far more than sweeping dozens of Goblin lairs.

First was the siege by Kashi and Weiruisi, then Bo He who went mad after beast-transformation and turned into a Bearman, and at the same time, he had to face those annoying thorns and beast herds.

Having killed all three teammates, the battle intensity and pressure were almost maxed out for him.

Even with his constitution and endurance as high as "8" points under the effect of the dew, he was a bit unable to hold on.

Fortunately, that half bottle of healing potion had a good effect, restoring a lot of his energy, so that his combat ability would not drop too much.

Speaking of which, for Kashi and Weiruisi, perhaps it was because he had hidden too well before, using 【Gravity Control】 to catch the two off guard, coupled with the mental shock effect of 【Staring into the Abyss】.

Xia Nan fought with the two for less than two rounds in total, wiping them out, and he didn't know if they had time to use their full strength.

On the contrary, Bo He after beast-transformation had strength far beyond his expectations, far exceeding many newly promoted professionals.

It was unclear whether it was a professional combat technique or the racial talent of a beast-kin; the opponent's ability to manipulate thorns, incite beasts, and even use a dummy to withstand attacks, combined with her exaggerated physical fitness, was particularly difficult to deal with.

And it was in the forest, the opponent's home field.

This made Xia Nan feel quite strenuous during the battle.

Except for the 【Fate Coin】, almost all other trump cards were exhausted, and in the end, with a flash of inspiration, he barely won.

It was because his on-the-spot reaction was fast, abandoning the weapon in his hand and using his armor to withstand the opponent's claw, which earned him the opportunity to win.

But thinking about it now, there were still omissions in the battle.

Xia Nan raised his left hand and looked at the jet-black, smooth arm shield on his forearm, as well as its sharp edges.

At the last moment, when both weapons were out of his hands, he chose to use his fist to attach 【Gravity Etching】 to deliver the finishing blow.

This was a new way of using the technique he had never tried or even imagined before, thanks to the combat inspiration that burst out when his attention was highly concentrated.

Although the result was good, in fact, using the snake-scale arm shield instead of his fist to release that last 【Gravity Etching】 seemed to be more secure.

But at that time, given his posture, could he really have the conditions to adjust his body position out of thin air and use the arm shield to attack?

Xia Nan reviewed it in his heart. But his brain had just started to run, and before his thoughts could go deep, he stopped himself temporarily.

Shaking his head, he shook off the distracting thoughts.

Although the battle had ended, now was not the time for review and summary.

Being in the Mist Forest at night, the smell of blood on the field could easily attract dangerous monsters.

He had to hurry up, finish the final cleanup work, and then leave quickly to find a safe place to spend the night.

Wait until dawn tomorrow to find a way out.

Exerting force from his waist and abdomen, Xia Nan stood up straight, and while being vigilant of the surrounding dense forest, he quickly checked his physical injuries and the damage to his equipment.

After drinking that half bottle of healing potion, the pain in his chest eased slightly, and although there was still a slight stinging pain when moving, it was completely within the tolerable range.

After returning to town to recuperate for a few days, it should be fully healed.

The three deep wounds on his right arm scratched by Bo He had stopped bleeding, and he could feel the waves of pain coming from them.

In terms of injuries, it was actually fine; the battle was over, and with his physical fitness, he would recover after sleeping for a few nights, and not even a scar would be left.

What was troublesome was the "beast-transformation curse" that might have invaded his body with the wound.

If he didn't want to suddenly grow a furry tail or drool at raw meat.

He needed to rush back to River Valley Town as soon as possible to see if he could exchange points for a magic scroll containing the "Remove Curse" spell, or spend a huge sum of money to invite a spellcaster who had mastered similar spells to treat himself.

—He had already looked for purification potions for related diseases in the alchemist's shop in the association before, but found none.

It was likely to be a considerable expense.

If he was unlucky, it could empty his family fortune at once.

Hmm... the plate-chain composite armor on his body was also blown up, and the iron plate on his chest was almost torn open by Bo He's claw.

Fortunately, other parts were still intact, so maybe he didn't need to replace it with a new one; spending a little money to send it to the blacksmith shop for a major repair might still be usable.

He suddenly felt that his savings of more than four hundred gold coins were a bit stretched.

Xia Nan's gaze swept over the few corpses on the field.

He hoped that the gains from this mission could make up for his losses.

First was Weiruisi, who was mentally countered by 【Staring into the Abyss】, fell into a stunned state, and was beheaded before she could even make a move.

This tall and slender Drow half-breed did not have any obvious armor equipment on her; the professional characteristics of a Rogue and the exotic aesthetics from the underground made her wear only a light, tight-fitting, hollowed-out leather outfit.

Although the two short daggers were not magical equipment, they looked good and were well-preserved, so they should be able to sell for a price at the blacksmith shop.

In her waist bag, besides some worthless trivial items, Xia Nan also found 6 gold, 1 silver, and 3 copper, as well as some small medicine jars without marked uses.

Regarding the former, having only this much money was actually normal; after all, including himself, few adventurers would carry all their wealth with them, at most bringing a little for emergencies during the mission.

As for the latter, Xia Nan had seen the opponent apply a sticky substance that looked like oil or paste from the medicine jar onto the dagger, which should be some kind of poison.

He didn't know the specific effect and was not very daring to use it.

But maybe Ms. Edwinna of "Green Grass Crucible" would buy it; if not, selling it to a grocery store at a low price was also an option.

It was a pity that the oval eye-shaped prop in Weiruisi's hand seemed to have lost its effect after releasing the dark purple beam that triggered the 【Staring into the Abyss】 effect, lying stiffly on the ground.

He didn't know if it could still be used.

Xia Nan picked it up casually, wrapped it in several layers of gauze, and stuffed it into the depths of his backpack.

At any rate, she was a proper professional, and there wasn't even a big item on her that could be sold for three-digit gold coins at a glance, which made him feel a bit dissatisfied.

Considering that in his impression, such assassins often kept some important things on their bodies, and he was worried that a poison expert like a Drow elf would leave some disgusting tricks on her body.

Xia Nan concentrated and remained vigilant.

From a distance, with his left arm shield protecting his front and his right hand gripping the sword hilt, he used the sword tip to pick open the leather outfit on the opponent's body and checked it carefully.

Nothing was found.

As for whether there was any other different psychology during the inspection...

It could only be said that although his pressure was a bit high when adventuring, he had developed a few indescribable hobbies.

But he wasn't perverted enough to have thoughts about the headless corpse in front of him that was still spraying blood from the wound.

Then, there was Kashi, who was also beheaded and turned into a corpse.

Through 【Gravity Control】 and 【Heart-Looking Vision】, Xia Nan made the opponent lose control during high-speed movement, thus crashing straight into his sword blade.

The head flew high and landed on the ground, while the body flew directly into the depths of the forest due to inertia.

Xia Nan followed the traces for a long time before finding Kashi's corpse beside a thick oak tree with cracks on its bark.

The fine scale armor that he expected to sell for a good price was twisted out of shape under the effect of the terrifying impact, like a metal can that had been violently opened, completely unrecognizable as armor.

It had already become a pile of scrap iron.

And Kashi in the "can" was naturally just a pool of rotten meat that looked particularly horrifying and abstract.

Fortunately, the waist bag was still tied to his body.

Xia Nan found 9 gold, 8 silver, and 2 copper from it.

Better than nothing.

But unexpectedly, Kashi's weapon, that blue-grey stone spear with an unremarkable appearance, smooth body, and ocean-like patterns carved on the surface.

Under Xia Nan's gaze, revealed its attribute panel with far more words than ordinary weapons.

【Tidal Lure Rod】

Type: Spear

Grade: Common (White)

Effect:

When the stone spear is inserted vertically into calm seawater, it will release a type of infrasonic vibration that can attract all small plankton within a 1-mile radius, with the effect lasting for 6 hours.

Trigger Condition:

Use the spear tip to stab a living, healthy cetacean creature at a frequency of 60 times per minute for 10 minutes, and it cannot be interrupted midway.

Introduction:

Compared to a weapon used for killing, it seems more suitable for those patient anglers.

Remark:

"You know, sometimes if you want to catch a big fish... you really need some little tricks."

—Champion of the Black Reef Archipelago Fishing Tournament · Beast-kin (Whale-kin) · Bilpome

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 216 =====