Chapter 1270 - 623: Mysterious Darkness_2

It’s hard to say what impact this might have on his image in the other party’s mind.

Hmm... When making a move later, it’s better to be a bit more restrained, act swiftly, and avoid having intestines and shredded meat all over the place, so it looks somewhat decent.

Seemingly sensing Xia Nan’s hesitation at that moment, he misunderstood.

Frogon, who usually had a cold demeanor and rarely showed emotions, surprisingly reached out to pat Xia Nan’s shoulder. His words, filled with a heavy Northern Territory accent, carried an unusual hint of encouragement:

"Go ahead, don’t worry, I’ll be watching from here. Just do your best."

Hearing the barbarian put it that way, Xia Nan hesitated no longer.

He drew the Straight Sword [Ash Fall] from behind him, walked down the hillside toward the goblin camp in the valley.

Watching the gradually distant figure ahead, Frogon’s face showed no change in expression, but his heart couldn’t help but fluctuate.

Having left the tribe for so many years, his footprints spanned half the continent.

He encountered many things and met many people.

But no matter what, most of his energy was spent tracking the Wild Swamp Druid "Basilom," to the extent that even his perception of time had blurred.

Now it’s been over a year since he last met Xia Nan, and that time flew by in an instant.

The rookie who had just started was now a Senior Adventurer capable of drawing a sword against a large goblin tribe alone.

Such growth and transformation made Frogon feel somewhat gratified.

Of course, he wouldn’t let Xia Nan bear enormous risk for nothing. The barbarian chose this goblin tribe as the test subject with careful consideration.

In his perception, Xia Nan’s Professional Level should be Level 4 or Level 5, though details such as combat skill system and battle style were not known due to the lengthy gap since their last meeting.

However, according to Xia Nan, since he had already reached the understanding of "Combat Formation," his actual Combat Ability should not be too weak.

And even if he aimed to increase his Professional Level as rapidly as possible and was limited by availability, the battle skills he chose upon leveling up were relatively low quality.

With the core battle skill [Teeth Hunting] taught by him, as long as Xia Nan could masterfully use it, he should have some display in such a relatively open valley ground.

Moreover, Frogon had already thoroughly investigated the specific situation of the strange goblin community ahead these days.

Excluding the one hundred twenty-three ordinary goblins, there were two Bear Goblins of Challenge Level lv1 and a relatively troublesome Elite Earth Goblin.

There’s nothing much to say about the former two; they are akin to ordinary beasts. Whether strong or weak, their Challenge Levels wouldn’t change drastically.

The main difficulty lies in how to break the defensive line formed by so many goblins, and whether to conduct Beheading Tactics on the Bear Goblins or use a guerrilla strategy to deal with the minions first and then concentrate efforts on the leader.

Overall, by cleverly employing combat strategies, a Senior Adventurer with a Professional Level around lv4 or lv5 might encounter some trouble in the process, but most likely, they can achieve ultimate victory.

In Frogon’s view, the real challenge in this battle, and the reason he’s standing by ready to intervene at any moment, is the Elite Earth Goblin commanding the goblin community.

Earth Goblins, an elite variant of goblins, have a Challenge Level even lower than Bear Goblins on the Monster Encyclopedia of the Adventurer Association, only 0.5.

But in reality, these demons possess a higher development potential than their cousins.

Unlike the strong and imposing bodies of Bear Goblins, Earth Goblins focus more on Intelligence in their development.

This cunning and brutal demon has an intelligence far surpassing ordinary goblins, capable of rivaling that of humans, elves, and dwarves, the high intelligence species.

This allows Earth Goblins to learn battle skills like adventurers, and attain Professional Levels.

However, because of their inherently arrogant and wicked nature, they obviously cannot become legitimate adventurers in the Association, and generally lack opportunities to learn external battle skills.

They progress along a relatively fixed professional path, upgrading levels using battle skills circulated within goblin tribes.

One often judges the strength of an Earth Goblin by its title.

Due to their racial instinctive enthusiasm for warfare, Earth Goblins usually measure the strength of individuals within the race according to military ranks.

From the beginning "Sergeant" to "Lieutenant," then up to "School Officer" and "General."

And right now, commanding this goblin army is an Earth Goblin Lieutenant.

According to the level system familiar to adventurers, its Challenge Level is around lv5.

This requires an appropriately equipped four-person team with a Professional Level of lv5 to handle properly.

Yet currently, Xia Nan is alone facing the situation.

He needs to battle over a hundred goblins, two Bear Goblins, and a Professional Level Earth Goblin; predictably, this long-absent black-haired lad will face substantial trouble.

And this is exactly what Frogon hopes to see.

He even hoped Xia Nan would engage the goblin army before meeting him, thereby eliminating the influence his presence might have on Xia Nan’s mindset.

Only within such high-pressure combat, through decisions and reactions made in swift moments under the threat of death, can one exert everything mastered to the fullest.

Thereby accurately judging Xia Nan’s current Power Level.

At the same time, it enables a relatively clear understanding of the special battle formation Xia Nan has developed with [Teeth Hunting] as its foundation, and the bottlenecks encountered on his professional path.

"Awoo..."

Beside him, Winter Wolf Fenney, transformed by the Wolf Spirit, has intelligence far exceeding that of ordinary Winter Wolves, reaching the level of intelligent beings.

Seeing Xia Nan head alone towards the goblin camp below, she couldn’t help but whine softly, her two long forelimbs alternately dropping, claws uneasily pawing back and forth, leaving deep claw marks on the ground.

With just a single command from Frogon, she would rush down the hill to follow Xia Nan.

Ultimately, it’s only been more than a year since they saw each other, and now it’s merely Fenney’s second close encounter with Xia Nan. This once proud and cold Spirit transformed Winter Wolf, akin to the icy firmness of the frost plains, was now expressing warmth.

It subtly touched Frogon’s heart.

But he thought less about it, attributing it to the influence of the common origin [Teeth Hunting].

He extended his broad and cold hand and rubbed the fluffy head of Fenney twice, speaking in the dialect of the Barbarian Tribe:

"Don’t hurry, Little Snowflake."

"When that Xia Nan lad can’t hold up, it’ll be your turn."

Woo—

Upon hearing this, the somewhat uneasy Fenney had to whimper softly and lower her head, staring with her pair of wolf eyes, flashing anthropomorphic wisdom at the figure gradually approaching the goblin camp below the hill.

Frogon naturally knew when to intervene.

Frankly speaking, even if something unexpected truly occurs, with him standing at the sidelines, would he just watch Xia Nan encounter trouble?

Currently, he merely needs the aid of goblins to thoroughly evaluate Xia Nan’s present Power Level.

Once Xia Nan starts showing signs of struggling against enemy encirclement, he...

"Aah!!"

Differing from the usual sound when [Teeth Hunting] is unleashed, the deep and long wolf howl suddenly erupted from the slope below.

Feeling the oddity arise, Frogon instinctively looked toward the source of the sound.

What met his eyes.

Was something he had never seen before, yet inexplicably familiar.

The crazed winds seemingly taking form in the air, gradually sketching a fierce wolf shadow, as if a mysterious blackness emerging from the Hell Abyss.