Chapter 414

Xia Nan's professional level was seriously inconsistent with his actual combat power.

Under normal circumstances, a steady, solid Level 3 Warrior should be the backbone of a veteran adventurer squad, holding a position neither too high nor too low, occasionally performing beyond expectations in suitable situations, but most of the time fighting around the team's back-row damage dealers.

Take the current Sahuagin cave as an example.

Facing a group of enemies led by a Sahuagin Priest with a Challenge Rating of "2," composed of nearly twenty Sahuagin with a Challenge Rating of "0.5."

A four-person adventurer squad with an average professional level of "3," a reasonable lineup, and sufficient preparation, really might not be able to end the battle while ensuring they remain unscathed.

After all, there were too many enemies, and there were even spellcaster types present, while a Level 3 rank was just the beginning of a professional path; the feats, combat techniques, and even the physical attributes they possessed were all lacking, and they had not yet reached the qualitative change of being able to "ignore numbers."

Unless a full plan including terrain, battlefield style, surprise decapitation, and clearing out the fodder had been formulated in advance, and it was guaranteed that no accidents would occur during execution, with everything going exactly as expected, it would only then be possible to win without injury.

Otherwise, sustaining some injuries in battle was inevitable.

But if one were to stuff a similarly Level 3 Xia Nan into the adventurer squad, the situation would be completely different.

The exaggerated mobility granted by 【Tooth Hunt】 allowed him to break through the obstruction of enemy fodder in a very short time and attempt to cut into the back row;

And the stacking of combat techniques—【Spinning Slash】 + 【Gravity Etching】 + 【Heavy Tide】—made his instantaneous explosive power far exceed what his professional level should possess; let alone those archers and mages wearing light leather armor or robes, even a proper heavy-armored warrior, if struck head-on by a sword, might not be able to withstand it.

He was almost the perfect executor of "decapitation tactics."

Coupled with the group deterrence effect granted by the feat 【Night Mother's Gaze】, it made him a great killer in low-level group battles.

Often, once the wolf howl sounded, a small half of the enemies would lose their will to fight like cockroaches under a trash can and flee in panic.

Just like it was now.

"Galu!!!"

The Sahuagin's unique, terrified shrieks, mixed with the roars of the few individuals who passed their checks, echoed and reverberated in the spacious rock cave.

The headless corpse of the Sahuagin Priest, cut into three pieces, lay quietly on the altar, blue blood gushing out, and one could vaguely see the muscles at the severed wound twitching and spasming.

But the nearly twenty Sahuagin who had originally been kneeling under the altar were now in a state of total chaos.

Some were fleeing in panic under the influence of fear, while others were angrily picking up their weapons, attempting to launch an attack on the enemy who had already disappeared from where they stood.

Xia Nan naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to stay on the altar waiting for the Sahuagin to surround him.

Knowing that his mobility far exceeded that of enemies of the same level, almost the very next second after he delivered the finishing blow to cut the Sahuagin Priest into pieces, he had already driven the wolf spirit phantom again, left the scene, and galloped to the other end of the cave.

Although the two members of the "Silver Claw Osprey" squad were much worse in terms of strength, they were, after all, veteran adventurers with a certain amount of experience.

Seeing Xia Nan directly charge in and decapitate the enemy's core just as he had done when facing the pirate attack, which further plunged many enemies into fear.

Without the slightest hesitation, they also launched an attack on the Sahuagin at the same time.

The efficiency was quite good.

The squad leader, who was leading, held two short swords and danced like the wind; from time to time, one could hear rapid, short roars amidst the whistling of the blades, accompanied by "X"-shaped intersecting sword lights that left hideous wounds on the bodies of the Sahuagin in front of him;

The Half-Elf Lali had cyan-green gusts of wind swirling between her feet, her movements were swift, and the specially made wooden arrows tipped with tail feathers seemed to carry some kind of tracking function, precisely picking off the fleeing Sahuagin one by one; her killing efficiency was even higher than Nick's;

Compared to the two, Alton gave people the illusion that he was just muddling through; he first hid behind the team, took out his lute and slowly played a little tune to apply a morale-boosting effect to the few people on the field, and only then did he take out his two small, delicate curved blades and kill his way into the fish swarm; his stature was short and his steps were light, and often in a single round trip, several Sahuagin would lose their lower legs and tails, lying on the ground wailing in pain.

To a certain extent, the outcome of this battle was already destined the moment Xia Nan, before anyone else could react, cut off the head of their priest in front of the many Sahuagin.

Everything that happened afterward was merely a matter of how long the cleanup would take.

Adding it all up, it probably took ten minutes or so in total.

A battle that should have been incomparably difficult for ordinary adventurers thus ended in a sloppy manner.

And the total price paid by Xia Nan and his party was nothing more than a few extra flecks of meat paste on the surface of his armor, which was already dirty and hadn't had time to be cleaned, and two slight scratches on Nick's shoulder.

"Hoo..."

Nick was panting heavily, the hot air exhaled from his mouth condensing into water mist in the air.

A faint pain came from his left arm, and one could see the wound beneath his torn shirt.

This was left by a Sahuagin that had attacked from the side during the battle just now.

Before, his blood had been pumping and his pain sensation had been dulled, so he hadn't noticed it much, but now that the battle was over, the pain was becoming increasingly intense.

After moving his arm slightly to feel it, he judged that it was only a minor injury that wouldn't affect his physical movement, and that he could just bandage it simply in a while; he couldn't help but feel relieved in his heart.

Standing on the spot, the ground all around him was full of Sahuagin corpses.

On the face of this middle-aged man, there was a rare trace of bewilderment.

Whether it was with other adventurers, pirates, or the many monsters of the Nanfang Qundao, he had experienced many pure battles.

But this was the first time he had encountered one that was so clean and confusing, both in its beginning and its end.

Even though they had formulated a corresponding battle plan before entering the cave, everything fell into chaos the moment that Sahuagin Priest, who was clearly a spellcaster, had its head sliced off by a single sword strike from that black-haired adventurer in the team.

Even now, Nick didn't even have any real sense of it.

Even though he had contributed his part in the battle and killed quite a few Sahuagin, he felt no sense of satisfaction or achievement in winning.

The whole process seemed a bit too simple, to the point that it made him feel somewhat empty.

"Tsk."

A fair, white hand gripped the arrow shaft and pulled it out from the corpse.

The Half-Elf Lali walked past from the side and patted her captain on the shoulder.

Nick came back to his senses instantly, as if remembering something, his gaze suddenly shifted to the altar, and he rushed toward the direction of Gagu's corpse.

There was no such thing as "feigned death."

Their Half-Orc teammate, who had had a small half of his body bitten off, was completely dead.

And this meant that until they replenished their team with trustworthy and sufficiently capable teammates, the "Silver Claw Osprey" squad had completely lost its competitiveness in the Nanfang Qundao.

With only two people, they couldn't even piece together the basic structure of an adventurer squad.

It was less of a "squad" and more like some simple, temporary combination.

They couldn't even accept missions in the association under the name of an adventurer squad anymore, and could only make a living by relying on some ordinary commissions with lower difficulty and relatively meager rewards.

Without a doubt, the death of a teammate who had years of shared combat experience, was perfectly in sync, and possessed a certain amount of combat power, was a huge blow to the entire "Silver Claw Osprey" squad.

If their luck was bad, they might not be able to catch their breath for years.

For a moment, Nick's eyes turned slightly red.

Perhaps one-fifth of it was due to the death of his former teammate, while the remaining four-fifths came from anxiety and worry about his future life.

Looking at Gagu's corpse on the altar, Nick suddenly turned his head and looked at Xia Nan on the other side.