Chapter 214 Astonishment, Exit

The air on the battlefield instantly stagnated.

The core Spellcaster's severe injury and exit from the battle was like the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

From Xia Nan's perspective, the sequence of events was perfectly clear.

When the Owlbear had charged straight toward Mint, Cash had raised his Stone Spear high with both hands. He looked ready to unleash a combat technique to strike the enemy and bail his teammate out.

But the second the young girl was sent flying, Cash's face—flushed and tense from the high-pressure battle—went blank with sudden shock before a strange glint appeared in his eyes.

His grip on the Stone Spear quietly loosened, dropping out of his charged, ready-to-strike stance.

Veris's reaction was even more obvious.

Failing to breach the enemy's defenses twice in a row had somewhat shattered the composure of the Rogue from the Underdark.

Her tall, dark-skinned figure had seized an opening to slip around to the Owlbear's rear flank.

Just two more steps, and she would have been able to plunge her Short Dagger into the slightly weaker vital spot at its hindquarters.

But the moment she saw Mint spitting blood as she was sent flying, Veris slammed on the brakes.

Her pointed leather boots gouged two deep trenches into the soft soil.

Pushing off again, she swapped her advance for a retreat, leaving behind a trail of afterimages as she darted backward.

Though she failed to damage the enemy, she also spared herself the danger of a counterattack, minimizing the risk of enraging the Owlbear and worsening their situation.

From the moment the Owlbear suddenly appeared to attack the Sea Thorn Squad until now, no more than a few dozen seconds had passed.

Apart from Mint, whose fate remained unknown, the other three members—including Xia Nan—hadn't suffered any injuries severe enough to hinder their combat effectiveness. All of them still possessed plenty of fighting strength.

Xia Nan was almost completely certain that his two teammates still had unplayed trump cards hidden away.

If they worked together to face the Owlbear in front of them...

Even if they couldn't defeat it head-on, briefly stalling it or even forcing a temporary retreat was entirely possible.

As for himself, he had already prepared for battle, having run through detailed combat strategies in his head twice over.

The Owlbear had a massive body and absurd Strength, but it was slightly lacking in flexibility.

Armed with [Fang Hunt], as long as he stayed careful while maneuvering, he should have been able to handle it.

Limited by his own Strength and the sharpness of the Decapitating Longsword, relying on [Spinning Slash] alone might not secure a fatal blow. But even if he only inflicted minor wounds, dozens or hundreds of them would eventually accumulate into a qualitative change.

Couple that with the crowd control provided by [Gravity Control] and the physical-defense-ignoring forcefield damage of [Gravity Etching], and if he seized the right opportunity, he might actually inflict enough massive damage to turn the tide.

After all, this was reality, not a game built purely on stats. "Challenge Rating" could only serve as a reference for a monster's average strength; actual combat involved too many variables.

Furthermore, while his Class Level was technically only "1", factoring in his Feats, combat techniques, and equipment, would he really be on the same level as an ordinary Level 1 Warrior?

Xia Nan himself didn't believe so.

Therefore, when he saw Cash and Veris quickly pull back, he simply assumed they wanted to regroup into a proper formation to fight the Owlbear together.

Yet to his surprise, just as Xia Nan prepared to step forward, he saw Cash pull two more Fire Oil Bombs from his belt pouch and hurl them at the enemy.

Boom—

Blazing light suddenly engulfed the massive body. The thick mane and downy feathers served as excellent fuel, turning the Owlbear into a giant sphere of orange-red fire.

Lots of fur meant weakness to fire!

Xia Nan's eyes immediately lit up. 'As expected of a veteran adventurer,' he thought. Cash had maintained his composure in such a critical moment, using their dwindling throwable items to create an advantage for the squad.

"Guuoooh!!"

The Owlbear's sharp, agonizing howl made the surrounding bushes tremble. Enveloped in flames, its explosively powerful and massive body fell into a state of stiff paralysis.

'Now!!!'

His talent and experience allowed Xia Nan to spot this fleeting opportunity. Gripping his Decapitating Longsword tight, he took a step forward, ready to close the distance.

But right at that moment, Cash—who had just thrown the Fire Oil Bombs—did not capitalize on this hard-won chance to advance and attack alongside Xia Nan as expected.

Instead, he instantly turned around. Without so much as another glance at the burning Owlbear, he hurled his Stone Spear into the forest behind him.

Whoosh—

Activating his combat technique, the silent figure was pulled toward the spear like a magnet, vanishing from the clearing in the blink of an eye.

Veris showed a tacit understanding; her movements were even faster.

By the time Cash had pulled out the Fire Oil Bombs, before he had even thrown them, she was already retreating into the nearby bushes.

When Cash turned around with his Stone Spear, her figure was already completely gone.

'Huh?'

Xia Nan's footsteps suddenly faltered. He felt as though a basin of cold water had been dumped over his boiling battle intent, instantly cooling it down.

Reacting immediately, his legs—which had been gathering Strength to charge forward—stomped hard against the ground.

"Bang!"

Specks of mud and shattered leaves flew into the air. Before they could even fall back down, the invisible air currents gathered them and the mist into the shape of a ferocious Wolf Head.

It enveloped the figure holding the gray sword, roaring away in the opposite direction of the battlefield.

Taking a slight detour, Xia Nan checked the direction where Mint had been sent flying, hoping to confirm her condition.

He found no corpse. There were only traces of blood and torn fabric from her robes left on the meadow. That simple Yew Staff was snapped in two, lying quietly on the ground.

Thoughts flashed through his mind, but time was tight, leaving no room to ponder. He conveniently snatched up the broken staff, stuffed it into his bag, and kept moving.

Amid the increasingly frantic and violent shrieks of the beast, Xia Nan's body vanished into the forest, carried away by the phantom Wolf Head.

...

Xia Nan moved incredibly fast.

However, compared to the high, prolonged howl he usually produced when using it on open plains, the wolf's roar from [Fang Hunt] fluctuated, often pausing entirely, like a TV with a bad signal.

It wasn't that he had suffered any injuries that affected his use of the combat technique.

Rather, the dense forest environment had too many trees. Most were incredibly thick—far too sturdy for him to simply smash through with his current physical durability.

As a technique meant for straight-line charges, his use of [Fang Hunt] was severely hindered.

Whenever he encountered a thick tree he couldn't break, Xia Nan had to briefly halt his forward momentum, twist his footing to maneuver around it, and cast [Fang Hunt] anew.

But even so, his movement speed through the forest was far faster than that of ordinary adventurers.

Back when he faced that Petrification Lizard, no matter how hard he ran, he couldn't pull away from it. In the end, he had only survived thanks to the help of Hai'an and Wood.

Right now, once the flames of the Fire Oil Bombs died down, the Owlbear's physical durability, explosive power, speed, and even its sheer hatred toward them would far eclipse the Petrification Lizard.

Yet Xia Nan was visibly leaving the beast in the dust.

After all, he was no longer that rookie adventurer who had to spend nearly half his net worth just to buy a single Healing Potion, nor was he someone who barely knew a single combat technique.

With 8 points in Agility, 7 points in Strength, and 8 points in Constitution, he could maintain a hundred-meter sprint pace for extended periods. As he tore through the woods, he kept his center of gravity stable, nimbly dodging the obstacles of the trees.

The balance bonus provided by [Tidal Stabilization] on unstable surfaces also allowed Xia Nan to run over the forest floor's small potholes, branches, and soft mud as if he were treading on flat ground, maintaining a considerable speed.

Meanwhile, the temporary reduction in body weight from [Gravity Control] made his steps even lighter. It felt like walking on the moon; a single push off the ground often sent his body flying forward across a massive distance.

It even sped up his execution of [Fang Hunt].

In just a little over ten seconds, the Owlbear's roars completely faded behind him.

Of course, it was also possible that the beast's aggro was focused primarily on Cash, who had thrown the Fire Oil Bombs, which was why it hadn't pursued Xia Nan.

Still feeling uneasy, Xia Nan ran deeper into the forest for a while longer before slowly coming to a halt.

"Phew..."

His chest heaved as he panted. A faint scent of blood lingered in his nose—from the bloody water and minced meat plastered across his armor.

His gaze swept across his surroundings. There were waist-high patches of dense grass and thorny bushes tangled like balls of yarn. The fading sunlight of the approaching dusk spilled through the gaps in the canopy overhead, quietly scattering through the thickening mist and illuminating countless motes of dust.

In his ears, he heard the faint rustle of colliding leaves mingling with the chirps of unknown insects.

Secluded and tranquil.

Just as the Misty Forest appeared in the world's common impression.

The cruel, frenzied beasts from earlier and the blood that had nearly dyed the ground red seemed like nothing but woodland illusions.

Xia Nan glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky, his brows furrowing slightly.

Even though he had escaped danger, his heart didn't relax in the slightest.

He kept a vigilant watch over the shadows beneath the surrounding canopies.

Thoughts drifted through his mind.

'Strange, very strange.'

The previous month and a half had been completely normal. Accept a quest, enter the forest, hunt the target, and turn in the quest. Even if there were more beasts due to the recent unrest, it was entirely within understandable limits.

Yet right on his final mission before leaving the squad, when it was the Sea Thorn Squad's turn to help him complete his commission...

Everything had changed.

First, Mint was proactively attacked by a Lycanthrope in a human village. Then came the frenzied herd of beasts besieging them in the forest, and finally, even a monster on the level of an Owlbear had appeared.

Xia Nan didn't think of himself as a novel protagonist with some passive plot armor forcing him to "inevitably encounter higher-level monsters" or "face disaster every time he steps outside."

In his view, since the Misty Forest served as a resource-rich destination that low-level adventurers had reliably visited for decades or centuries...

Then the place itself should possess a relatively stable set of rules and balance.

Whatever the reason for the forest deviating from its usual trajectory to undergo such a massive upheaval...

There was no doubt that it was not something a newly classed Level 1 rookie adventurer had any business getting involved in.

The instant he saw that Owlbear appear, Xia Nan decided deep down that the moment he got back to town, he would seek out Cash and request to leave the team immediately. He wouldn't wait for another mission. He wouldn't even care if he didn't get his pay.

However, he hadn't expected reality to unfold in a more surreal manner than he could have imagined.

It even saved him the breath of bringing it up.

Mint was most likely critically injured, on the verge of death, and abandoned right in front of the Owlbear.

Even if she hadn't been set on fire by that giant fireball, and even if the Owlbear hadn't attacked her again, given her Constitution and the severity of her injuries, she wouldn't last long without medical aid.

The core of the Sea Thorn Squad was gone.

And after an incident where teammates entrusted their backs to each other only to all scatter and run...

The squad was effectively disbanded, so naturally, he no longer needed to come up with an excuse to leave.