Chapter 89: Overwhelming Force

Xia Nan stared at the Gobulin Chaoxue not far ahead, his expression strange.

The better part of a day's journey along the way, coupled with the topic that had cut off abruptly the night before.

No matter how silent the Barbarian remained, not uttering a single word.

He could still roughly guess the purpose of bringing him here:

Choosing a combat technique was no easy matter; Fugang must want to use a real fight to test and observe his actual combat strength and fighting style.

He had no way of knowing how the other party had precisely locked onto this Gobulin Chaoxue hidden deep within the dense forest.

But he had to admit, the opponents the Barbarian had picked for Xia Nan happened to fall right within his ability to handle.

So long as no elite specimens like Bugbears existed.

The Goblins' inherently feeble combat strength meant the fight itself wouldn't be too difficult; yet the numerical advantage of an entire lair added plenty of challenge.

Without words, the Barbarian used actions to convey his thoughts.

As his presence grew ever fainter, the originally swift pace of his steps gradually slowed.

By the time they neared the Gobulin Chaoxue, he had, without Xia Nan noticing, already taken a position behind him.

Instinctively, Xia Nan turned his head and glanced toward where the other stood.

Unlike the Wood he had encountered before—who, drawing on the superb skills of the Rogue class, layered together shadows and all manner of clever little tricks to diminish his presence—

the Barbarian Fugang at this moment, despite making no attempt to conceal himself within Xia Nan's line of sight, simply stood in place in silence.

That burly, muscular frame seemed to merge as one with the surrounding tree trunks and shrubs.

It gave him the feeling of a Winter Wolf lying in ambush deep within the snow, patiently awaiting its prey.

It was a kind of wild, primal Hunting instinct.

Comparing the two, the former was led by Agility and experience, using "technique" to veil "existence" itself;

while the latter fully unleashed perception and instinct, letting "nature" and "existence" merge into one.

Xia Nan had no intention of comparing the two, but the fact was—even though he clearly and explicitly knew the Barbarian's exact location, his brain and body kept sending all sorts of signals, instinctively urging him to ignore the other's presence.

As if what had appeared behind him were nothing more than a perfectly ordinary tree, a perfectly ordinary clump of grass.

He shook his head sharply.

Paying no more attention to the Barbarian Fugang, whose form had faded from view.

Xia Nan drew the Zhan Shou Chang Jian, holding it diagonally across his body.

With cautious, careful bearing, he stepped quietly into the cave.

His first reaction was "narrow."

Jagged, tooth-like rocks crowded in from both sides; the blade, under the sunlight at the cave mouth, reflected an iron-grey sheen.

Poorly thought out.

The constraints of the narrow terrain made it hard for the Two-Handed Longsword to unleash its original power; even an ordinary swing felt cramped and restrictive, impossible to fight freely.

He should have switched to the single-handed-sword-style 【Green Pine】.

Considering that where he stood now was merely the corridor leading deeper into the cave, and he hadn't truly entered the core area where the monsters dwelled—

"There's still room for error."

Xia Nan turned his body slightly, and the Zhan Shou Chang Jian slid silently back into its sheath.

The light Wooden Sword gripped firmly in hand, he still maintained a guarding, wary posture.

Inwardly, unexpectedly tense.

Unusual.

Actually, by all reason, the Goblins that had died on his blade were already no small number; his equipment was even more refined, and he had magical ornaments for protection—nothing to warrant this degree of tension.

But now, as Xia Nan pressed deeper, the environment gradually grew dim and cramped, with occasional scattered bone fragments underfoot, and his heartbeat quickened along with it.

It was absolutely no claustrophobia—after all, in the cave with the giant serpent's corpse before, he had never felt such oppressive weight.

Xia Nan himself found it strange.

Maintaining a high vigilance toward his surroundings, he split off part of his mind, delving deep within to dissect the root of it.

And what immediately surfaced before his eyes was the wretched experience, two months ago, when he had just transmigrated to this world—together with the Hunter Maji and the Orc Gagu—inside the Gobulin Chaoxue.

Blood-soaked mangled corpses, an iron cauldron bubbling with rolling fat, scrawny Goblins drooling at the corners of their mouths, and that Bugbear that had nearly taken his life…

For a modern person from civilized society, those shockingly brutal images—though long past—still lingered like a heart-demon deep within him.

"Huu…"

A deep breath, trying as before to settle his emotions and let the pounding heartbeat ease.

But the sticky, acrid stench that rushed into his nostrils with the breath could not help but make him frown, his stomach turning even more.

At last, from the end of the dim, lengthy corridor, a faint glimmer of light appeared.

He could faintly hear the "crackle" of flames burning firewood, and the excited, piercing shrieks of Goblins.

His heart hammered violently; the tension from his hyper-focused state let him even hear the surging rush of blood within his body.

With strong purpose, as if to confirm something—

his gaze first went to the cave's sole source of light—that campfire.

No nausea-inducing red-hot iron cauldron, nor any limbs resembling those of an intelligent being.

Above the orange-red flames, a small deer-like beast was being roasted.

He let out a breath of relief at once.

His gaze swept over the environment deep within the cave.

Moist moss, spreading from the cracks in the rock walls, was tinted a sickly thick green in the firelight; the air was thick with the cloying, sweet smell of rotting, fermenting flesh mingled with a heavy stench of blood.

"Squeak!"

The Goblins' shrill, piercing cries echoed between the stone walls.

Covered in pustules, jagged ribs beneath rough green skin, a withered body where one could almost see the organs squirming within, filthy rags reeking of stench, half-raw meat being chewed, rotted teeth gnashing amid blood and scraps…

Gathered around the bonfire were a full fifteen adult green-skinned mongrels!

It's hard to put Xia Nan's feelings at this moment into words.

Like a sufferer of an extremely severe case of procrastination.

Before entering the cave and seeing these Goblins with his own eyes, the disgusting encounters from the start of his transmigration had made him instinctively resist every step he took inward.

But the moment the "deadline" descended, when external pressures left no room for further delay.

Facing these fifteen gaunt magical creatures before him.

In an instant, all the inner resistance from before transformed into a fierce disgust for creatures like Goblins, and…

Killing intent.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

The first to notice Xia Nan's figure was a green-skinned one sitting in a corner.

It leaped up abruptly, its shrill, excited voice echoing through the cave in an instant.

Turning their heads in unison, fifteen pairs of murky, vicious crimson eyes reflected the fully armed figure at the entrance.

Stemming from the body's instinct, catalyzed and driven by the foreign Soul.

The combat talent that had been suppressed for years by scorching sun-baked ridges and pale screens now revealed itself.

The Wooden Sword 【Green Pine】 had been sheathed at some unknown point; the Zhan Shou Chang Jian, radiating an iron-grey cold light, was gripped tightly in his palm.

—The cave space beyond the passage was open, enough to bring out the power of a two-handed sword, and the battlefield situation of one against many also made him subconsciously choose a longer weapon with a wider attack range, capable of harvesting large numbers of enemy lives in a single sweep.

Without the slightest retreat.

Facing the green-skinned rats that seemed to view him as a delivered lunch, waving wooden clubs and swarming forward with shrill laughter like a tide.

Not a single trace of timidity flickered in Xia Nan's pitch-black eyes.

All the negative emotions in his heart had already transformed into boiling, surging battle intent.

His legs strode forward in quick succession, charging straight to meet them.

Against these fierce-looking but cowardly green-skinned rabble, one cannot show even a shred of fear.

Cut off their heads before their kin, stomp out their eyeballs, let their organs carpet the ground.

Then these beasts will know your might, and won't be able to laugh anymore.

Forward stride!

Sturdy Leather Boots crushed the moss, sticky sap splattering.

Gather strength!

Muscles beneath the armor's lining swelled with blood, powerful force gathering and condensing from the ground up.

【Whirl Slash】!

Whoosh—

Trailing an iron-grey cold light, flesh and bone alike, the Zhan Shou Chang Jian carved a perfect arc through the air.

The five Goblins jammed together at the very front of the "tide" vanished in an instant.

Amid spurting blood came the pattering of organs falling and the dull thud of corpses hitting the ground.

Like the golden wheat stalks beneath autumn scythes in his past life's memories, crushed by the sword-light, leaving only fragments.

The once-crowded battlefield instantly emptied.

If this were an ordinary encounter, Xia Nan's single sword strike alone would have been enough to send these cowardly low-level magical creatures shrieking and fleeing.

But after all, he was alone here, still within the lair familiar to the green-skinned rats.

Their combat power was therefore preserved.

"Gah!"

A slightly larger Goblin screeched sharply right behind, its withered arm raised high, the dark-brown wooden club revealing its filthy hue in the firelight.

The next second, the sound cut off abruptly.

The sword tip, flashing with sharp cold light, pierced straight through its throat, spraying acrid, foul-smelling blood.

His arm exerted force, the blade slicing through the thick, damp air, cutting through the pustules atop the green skin.

Just like that, skewering the corpse, he cleaved through another Goblin that ran past alongside it.

"Seven."

Xia Nan counted silently in his mind.

At his ears rose the sound of hurried, chaotic footsteps.

Some sneaky, filthy mongrel had taken advantage of his inattention to quietly circle to his flank and rear.

Hunched low, its rough wooden club angled upward, it swung toward his soft ribs and belly.

"Thud!"

The wooden club landed heavily on the smooth surface of the arm shield, as if all its force had been swallowed like a black hole by the snake scales.

It didn't even leave the faintest white mark.

A fantasy creation from another world, far tougher than ordinary metal and stone—how could such junk trash, which couldn't even be called a proper weapon, possibly break through its defense?

Leveraging his size advantage, Xia Nan pressed his left-hand shield down hard against the Goblin at his side, pinning it beneath the shield face.

Then he cut hard.

Hiss—

The sharp shield edge sliced through flesh and blood; a sticky, resistant sensation traveled up his arm.

Half the Goblin's neck hung empty, fresh blood spraying from its windpipe.

"Eighth."

The many days of recuperation in River Valley Town were not wasted—Xia Nan had trained day and night.

His outstanding talent, combined with the fact that an arm shield, compared to other shield-type equipment, relies more on in-the-moment reflexes.

Allowed him to gradually master the usage techniques of this type of equipment.

And in battle against Goblins, he completed his first real-combat test.

"Hula!"

A number as high as fifteen—even though more than half were already gone, they were still hard to deal with.

Rain-falling-like pattering footsteps, mixed with the scraping noise of wooden clubs against the ground.

He had just ended another one's life, and the remaining green-skinned rabble had already taken the chance to close in and surround him.

The physical conditioning enhanced by attribute points gave Xia Nan extremely quick reactions.

He turned his body sideways, nimbly dodging two club strikes.

Then, taking his torso as an axis, he spun his body's center of gravity like a top, and the Zhan Shou Chang Jian scattered waning-moon-like grey gleams around him.

Severed throats and tongues, mixed with pale bone fragments, were carried by fresh blood as they splashed upward.

Another two Goblins became corpses.

"Ten."

Not many left—Xia Nan thought to finish them all in one go.

The moss on the ground resembled a toad's skin, and as his feet shifted, it was stained with slime.

His foot slipped without warning, his center of gravity swayed, and his body tilted backward.

The flash of combat insight in his mind vanished in an instant.

"Bam!"

The Umbral Arm Shield slammed violently against the rock wall, scattering countless bits of crushed stone, and at the same time, his left arm pushed off with the reactive force—suddenly bracing!

His already unstable center of gravity instantly collapsed.

The body that had originally been sliding backward now flew tumbling toward the rear-side instead.

Thud—

The three wooden clubs that should have landed on him at the same time, since he had no ability to dodge while sliding backward.

Under Xia Nan's maneuver, only one of them scraped against the plate armor on his chest, ringing sharply.

A foul-smelling breath blew past the back of his neck, and a cold, damp touch from the cave floor reached his back.

Before he could fully rise, a nearby Goblin was already closing in rapidly on its short little legs.

Xia Nan only managed to sit up and hurl the Zhan Shou Chang Jian in his hand like a javelin at the enemy.

"Chirp!"

The iron-grey blade instantly pierced the Goblin's hunched, emaciated body and, carried by inertia, flew off with it.

His palm pushed him up, and at the same time the light Wooden Sword was drawn.

Step forward, gather strength!

【Whirl Slash】!

Already maxed in level—even though it was his off-hand and slightly lacking in force, it still contained destructive power capable of easily tearing apart an enemy's body.

A thin, short sword-howl suddenly burst forth; black, sharp light tore through the cloying damp air, and the two charging green-skinned rats were sliced clean through the waist into four pieces.

"Thirteen."

At this point, only a dozen or so seconds had passed since the battle began.

Only two low-intelligence, bottom-tier magical beasts remained on the field—their sharp cackling hadn't even had time to stop before every companion beside them was already dead.

For a moment, they even forgot fear, simply standing dumbly in place, wooden clubs in hand.

Showing no mercy, he strode forward.

The Wooden Sword 【Green Pine】, whose sharpness, even without triggering its affix effect, was on par with ordinary metal weapons.

One thrust, one chop.

Sent the last two Goblins off to the Abyss and Hell.

"Drip."

Viscous blood, still carrying body heat, dripped from the edge of the arm shield, staining the moss beneath his feet red.

The iron rings of the Chain Mail clinked, and the surface of the chest plate armor showed faint scratch marks.

Somewhere on the ground, a severed limb twitched in spasm, its fingers curling and even still gripping a weapon, sending layer upon layer of ripples through the pool of blood.

Mixed with the stench of rotting flesh, the blood-reek in the air nearly congealed into something tangible.

The cave, which had originally been filled with the Goblins' piercing shrieks, was now left in dead silence.

(End of this chapter)