Chapter 138 Swarm

Xia Nan couldn't just stand by and watch his teammate face mortal danger.

Especially with squad leader Adeline heavily injured and out of the fight, leaving Berg as the only one left who could coordinate with him.

Without a shred of hesitation, he pushed off the ground with sudden force.

Accompanied by a resounding howl and the phantom of a Wolf Head enveloping his body, he shot forward in an instant.

This rushing combat technique, derived from the hunting posture of a Northlands Winter Wolf, allowed Xia Nan to display an explosive speed that briefly surpassed even that of the Red-Mane Bugbear.

In a single breath, he closed the gap of several dozen meters and caught up to the Bugbear charging at Berg.

Even moving at high speed, Xia Nan could see the rain- and blood-soaked red bristles violently swaying on its back, and the outline of muscles writhing beneath the thick fur of its arms.

Seemingly not expecting the little bug to possess such speed, a flash of human-like surprise appeared in Red-Mane's fierce, muddy beast eyes.

Then, its thick arm casually swiped to the side without breaking stride.

"Whoosh!"

Xia Nan felt a piercing gale suddenly burst before him as a yellowish-brown blur flashed through his vision. Without time to think, he subconsciously raised the Arm Shield on his left arm to guard his chest.

"Crash!"

The wolf's howl stopped abruptly, and the phantom wolf dissipated into splashing raindrops and flying grass clippings, vanishing into thin air.

Xia Nan's forward-sprinting body stalled before he was sent flying backward.

It was only because the [Fang Hunt] upgrade had granted him a point of Agility that Xia Nan's balance and reaction time had been greatly enhanced.

He barely managed to react in time, enduring the throbbing pain to adjust his center of gravity in midair.

He managed to land in a stance that wasn't entirely ungraceful.

Squelch—

His leather boots, caked in dirt and blood, sank deep into the mud as he slid backward, plowing two long trenches across the ground.

Xia Nan gasped for air, his choppy black hair already soaked with sweat and rain.

His Arm Shield remained raised in a defensive posture, but his left hand trembled uncontrollably.

'Such immense strength!?'

Recalling the terrifying force the Bugbear had displayed with a casual swipe, a chill of lingering fear ran through him.

If he hadn't reacted in time to defend himself, he would likely be lying on the ground heavily injured, just like Adeline.

Even though his defense had succeeded and the Snake-Scale Arm Shield had absorbed at least seventy percent of that steel-twisting force...

...the residual impact traveling up his arm still left half his body numb.

It made him realize even more clearly the gap in strength between them.

...And he felt even more strongly that the Green Blood Squad couldn't afford to lose another member.

If Berg, the only remaining fighter on the field, was heavily injured and forced out of the fight, leaving him all alone, Xia Nan didn't even know how he could win.

Gritting his teeth, he drove his faintly aching thigh muscles into motion.

[Fang Hunt]!

At the same time, his gaze swept forward.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Though it seemed like he had been repelled by Red-Mane in a single blow, forcing the creature to divert its attention and strength to strike while moving at high speed had successfully slowed it down.

This gave Berg plenty of time to react.

Right now, the veteran adventurer had once again unleashed his acceleration combat technique; leaving a phantom trail behind his feet, he rapidly retreated.

His speed was far inferior to Xia Nan using [Fang Hunt] or the Bugbear with its exaggerated muscular explosiveness.

But since there was already some distance between them, even though the gap was quickly closing, Red-Mane hadn't caught up to him yet.

'There's still time!'

His mind raced, analyzing the battlefield situation.

In just a few seconds, Xia Nan caught up once again.

Having learned his lesson, he didn't get too close to the Bugbear.

Instead, after catching up, he maintained his movement.

Only when he was two paces ahead of it did he suddenly halt and spin around.

Thrum—

A sharp, iron-gray gleam of cold light suddenly burst forth.

The Decapitating Longsword was drawn.

It shattered the raindrops and cleaved through the cold air.

Amidst a wolf's howl, a perfect arc of sword light carried a chilling intent as it swung toward the Bugbear.

[Spinning Slash]!

Xia Nan intended to use the powerful momentum provided by [Fang Hunt] to execute his most lethal combat technique, forcing Red-Mane to come to a complete halt.

It was still a creature of flesh and blood. No matter how thick its fur or how hard its muscles, it was still within the realm of ordinary understanding.

Red-Mane might be able to shrug off blunt weapon attacks from low-level adventurers without a scratch, or endure rusty, sharp iron weapons with only minor injuries.

But right now, facing that iron-gray arc of chilling light, even it felt a hint of danger.

"Thud!"

Its charging body suddenly decelerated as it dug its legs in, kicking up a cloud of mud and dust. At the same time, it crossed its impossibly thick arms defensively over its chest.

Slash—

The bristles on its arms were shredded by the sword light, and its thick, tough skin was sliced open, sending strings of blood beads splattering into the air and exposing the crimson flesh beneath.

Completely ignoring the pain from its skin, in the very next second, Red-Mane threw a massive punch—one strong enough to snap a tree trunk—toward the source of the sword light.

"Boom!"

The air currents kicked up countless grass roots and debris, but its knuckles met only empty space. There was no sensation of hitting a solid target.

Once again, the familiar sound of a rapidly retreating wolf's howl rang in its ears.

"Damn little bug, I'll crush every bone in your body!" Red-Mane roared furiously, his aura subtly distorting the curtain of rain around him.

Xia Nan's figure retreated rapidly, his heart pounding wildly.

Without a doubt, his dangerous stunt of walking on the edge of a blade had achieved the expected result.

While dealing minor damage to the Bugbear, he had also forcibly stopped its charge toward Berg.

This returned their positions to a formation the Green Blood Squad was familiar with.

The enemy, the Red-Mane Bugbear, was surrounded in the center. Xia Nan stayed close but maintained enough distance to allow plenty of room whether he needed to fall back and kite or step in and harass.

Meanwhile, Berg, whose primary damage came from his bow, was positioned farther back behind the Bugbear. As long as Xia Nan kept the enemy's attention, Berg could calmly take aim and shoot.

Waiting.

Xia Nan stared intently at the Bugbear in front of him, keeping a close eye on every minute movement of its body.

Right now, the Bugbear was driven into a frenzy by his interference, making it the perfect time for an attack.

And if Red-Mane wanted to finish off Berg first, it would have to expose its back to him entirely.

However, the arrow that should have long since hit its mark never arrived.

Puzzled, he couldn't help but divert some of his attention, glancing from the corner of his eye toward Berg's position behind the Bugbear.

His expression faltered.

'What the hell are you doing!?'

He saw Berg, who should have used the precious time Xia Nan had fought so hard to buy to draw his bow and attack the Bugbear, still maintaining his retreating posture. The veteran adventurer was pale, leaving phantom trails behind him as he fled at top speed.

If it weren't for the effects of the Bugbear's "Taunt", he would likely have already turned and run without looking back.

Just as they had left the dangerous Misty Forest and were about to return to Rivervale Town, the sudden ambush by this powerful enemy had thrown the middle-aged adventurer—who possessed rich combat experience but stayed with the Green Blood Squad to hunt goblins out of a fear of death—back into a state of restless anxiety.

And squad leader Adeline's heavy injury and removal from the fight was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

It seemed to have completely shattered his mental defenses.

He had lost his normally sharp combat instincts and no longer possessed the relentless fighting spirit he showed when facing goblins.

Driven solely by his survival instincts, he was blindly avoiding the fight and retreating.

"Berg, attack!" Xia Nan shouted at the distant man, no longer caring whether the Bugbear in front of him could understand Common.

Unfortunately, against an enemy of this caliber, perfect attack opportunities usually only lasted for a fleeting instant.

If you failed to seize them...

...then the tides of battle would turn.

By the time Xia Nan's voice reached Berg's ears, prompting him to forcibly suppress his survival instincts, raise his longbow, draw the string, take aim, and loose an arrow...

...the Bugbear had already reacted.

Dark red energy flames flared across its body once more. It merely tilted its body slightly to dodge the already poorly-aimed wooden arrow.

Next came the ear-piercing shriek of ruptured air.

Hum—

This was the "Deflection Field" passively triggered by the [Deathline] ring.

A translucent dome of energy shielded Xia Nan from what would have been a fatal strike.

However, the equipment's twenty-four-hour cooldown meant he had permanently lost a trump card in this battle.

He was thrown high into the air by the immense force, tumbling before crashing down.

The shield enveloping him flickered twice like a short circuit before dissolving into the air as a chaotic stream of energy.

Enduring the intense pain wracking his body, Xia Nan immediately sprang to his feet the moment he landed. He held the Snake-Scale Arm Shield over his chest, ready to block the enemy's next attack.

But the expected massive, burly shadow did not fall upon the ground in front of him.

He subconsciously looked up, his gaze sweeping the battlefield.

His expression darkened.

The light was dim.

Heavy leaden clouds brewed in the sky above.

The rain fell harder, a silver-white curtain enveloping almost every inch of the air.

Blood flowed, mingling with the crystal-clear raindrops. It slid over the soaked, dense fur, bypassed the crimson wounds sliced open by his blade, traced the contours of the muscles under the arm's skin, and slowly dripped to the ground.

Claws caked in black grime pierced into a scalp, and a massive, thick hand clamped down over the top of a skull.

An arm thicker than a normal man's waist lifted straight up.

Dark red energy flames flared and swirled from the creature's nostrils with every breath.

Red-Mane stared at the human adventurer it had easily hoisted up like a toy, grasping him solely by the head. Cruelty and savagery filled its murky beast eyes.

Berg struggled with all his might, his legs kicking wildly in the air like a fish out of water.

He reached up with both hands, trying to pry off the vise-like grip that was digging deep into his scalp, but it was all in vain.

More and more blood poured down. His face turned from a flushed red to a bruised purple, and his bloodshot eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

"Crack."

It was the crisp sound of a skull shattering.

The corpse convulsed as it hit the ground, landing next to his snapped longbow.

A viscous mixture of red and white fluid dripped from the tips of the Bugbear's claws.

The Bugbear slowly turned, locking its gaze on the very last adventurer left on the field.

"Fuck."

...

...

"Slash!"

A faintly glowing reddish-brown greatsword, carrying a tremendous force capable of slicing through steel, blurred through the air amid the howling wind.

Severed limbs and pieces of dozens of goblins—whose skin glowed with a faint green light and whose bodies were twice the size of normal goblins—rained down everywhere.

A human Warrior clad in heavy armor silently swung his blade.

Backed by his physical attributes, the exaggerated force—enough to flatten metal armor plates—didn't seem to hinder his movements in the slightest.

He merely swung his sword.

Turning every greenskin Goblin that dared approach into dismembered chunks of flesh.

A tall, blonde Elf was enveloped in dense green light. Beneath the caress of the wind, her rapier whipped up waves of blood within the green tide.

Both being high-level Class Holders approaching the "Transcendent Tier," the two of them alone cleared out a twenty-foot radius of open space within the nest.

Standing dead center in the clearing, Cornell gripped his wooden staff tightly.

His lips moved as if he were rapidly chanting something.

There wasn't a single drop of blood on his indigo ramie robe, but faint sweat stains could be seen around his collar.

Rumble—

Dazzling emerald light abruptly surged from the head of his staff. A flowing, fog-like stream composed of countless tiny phantoms howled as it crashed into the goblins ahead.

Swirling and looping, the phantoms instantly solidified under the Spellcaster's mental control, filling the cavern with the high-frequency screech of scraping carapaces and buzzing wings.

—5th Circle, Conjuration School, [Plague Swarm].

Brownish-green locusts swarmed into a funnel-like vortex. Their hard, spiked wings and razor-sharp, hideous mandibles acted like countless spinning blades, slicing and shredding the surrounding Goblin corpses into bloody mist.

Even if they just got too close and were grazed by a locust's wings, the resulting smoking wounds would rapidly fester under the effects of the lingering toxins, spreading across their entire bodies.

In just a few breaths, a massive gap was carved into the goblins that had originally surrounded the party like a tidal wave.

But... that was all it did.

The crazed greenskin Goblins, who seemed completely indifferent to their own lives, charged one after another into the meat grinder formed by the swarm.

Even if it was just to knock down a locust or two with their wooden clubs, or to open their mouths and forcibly swallow the bugs whole, letting the insects chew their internal organs to pieces.

Within less than a minute, the rampaging insect tide was quickly diluted and dissolved in the blood and gore of the goblins.

The gap blasted into the densely packed Goblins by the [Plague Swarm] was once again filled at a visible rate.

Cornell gasped for breath. Casting high-circle spells multiple times in a short window left his head throbbing with a dull pain.

He watched as the final locust was snatched out of the air by a nearby goblin, torn apart, and chewed up by the fighting mob.

His face looked incredibly grim.

Compared to the magically summoned swarm that turned flesh to bone and left no blade of grass in its wake...

...in this moment, he actually felt that these screaming, hyperactive, twisted goblins were far more savage.