Chapter 336 Crashing Down

Grease and dust exploded in a shower of sparks, and tangerine flames instantly swallowed the massive creature's upper body.

Ooooom—

A high-frequency screech vibrated through the fog like raw energy, sending visible ripples through the air. The pain and struggle lacing the sound were unmistakable.

Blazing firelight painted his eyes red. Dongshu stared blankly at the hideous monster twisting in the fog. He kept his body firmly planted to shield the girl behind him, stiff and motionless as if frozen in place.

Only the scalding heat rolling from ahead ruffled his hair and clothes.

A second later, as realization set in, Dongshu instinctively tore his gaze from the monster and started to turn around.

But the tall, cold figure clad in chainmail had already materialized silently by his side.

"Mr... Mr. Xia Nan!?"

Dongshu's mouth fell open, his pupils quivering. The sheer astonishment on his face was impossible to hide.

Behind him, Lillie, clad in a plain white dress, looked even more shocked. She stared blankly at the adventurer who had no business being here.

Pitch-black eyes swept over the boy's dust-stained cheeks and the blood seeping through the bandages on the girl's arm.

Seeing that neither was seriously hurt, Xia Nan gave a slight nod. He tilted his head, jutting his chin toward the path behind him to signal them back.

"Get back."

In this moment of crisis, both the boy and the girl proved sharp.

Dongshu could be stubborn, but only when it came to the girl he loved. Years of hunter training meant he didn't lack quick judgment.

Lillie's mental fortitude was even more remarkable, evident from how calmly she had faced the prospect of death. Even amidst such sudden chaos, she kept a cool head.

The moment Xia Nan spoke, the two supported each other and quickly retreated the way they came without a single wasted word, leaving him plenty of room to fight.

Truthfully, given Xia Nan's usual style and combat habits, he normally wouldn't have even stopped to say a word to them.

The instant he threw the Fire Oil Bomb, he would usually have charged right after it, bringing his sword down upon the enemy the moment the flames erupted.

He never wasted such a precious window to strike.

But as the fierce flames drove back the darkness of the Canyon, the monster lurking in the thick fog was finally forced to reveal its true form.

And he abruptly changed his mind.

The reason could be summed up in a few words:

He didn't know.

In the year and more since Xia Nan had transmigrated into this world, he had made a habit of spending time every day learning adventurer-related knowledge whenever he was in town, on top of his daily training.

Over time, while he couldn't call himself an expert, he had built up a solid mental catalog of almost every monster likely to appear in Cloudclimb Province. He wouldn't go in completely blind upon encountering one, unable to even gauge its basic tier of strength.

But right now, he had to admit that the massive monster standing just ahead of him was a type he had never seen before—or even read a description of.

It looked like some grotesque hybrid of a wood sprite and a treant.

Countless twisted, purplish-green vines formed the bulk of its body, wrapping around each other like necrotic nerves. These were the roots and stalks of fog lamp grass, marred by tumor-like protrusions bulging through the rough tangle.

A pale, almost viscous fog surged and drifted around the vines, held in place by some invisible force as if it were a physical part of the creature's body.

But the most striking features were the fog lamp grass blossoms embedded irregularly throughout the vines and mist.

They pulsed like beating hearts pumping endless energy into the body, yet they also resembled bizarre, wide-open, spinning eyes, flickering in the air with an unsettling blue-white glow.

It had no head and no discernible vitals.

The terrifying beast standing before Xia Nan looked like an unspeakable plant horror born from a massive, mutated cluster of the Canyon's fog lamp grass.

His eyes instinctively swept over its body, taking in the fog-wreathed blossoms and the shifting, undulating thorns hidden beneath the soil at its base.

The instincts he had honed through countless battles warned him to probe the creature for a few exchanges first. He needed to figure out what he was dealing with before committing to a plan.

Fortunately, the monster didn't seem impossibly strong. The invisible spiritual pressure radiating from it didn't even match the Owlbear he had faced in the past; this was entirely within his ability to handle.

He just needed to confirm whether it possessed any lethal special mechanics—like the "Petrification Gaze"—and then he could go on the offensive.

These thoughts flashed through his mind in a split second. Ahead of him, the flames coating the surface of the Fog Lamp Monster were already dying out at a visible rate.

Thrown consumables like the Fire Oil Bomb were common among ordinary adventurers for good reason. They were highly effective and versatile enough for a variety of tricky situations.

But against a powerful monster whose Challenge Rating had definitely surpassed "1", they clearly didn't cut it.

The flames might carry a damage bonus against plant-type enemies, but the moment the fog around the Fog Lamp Monster surged inward, the fire was smothered. Within a breath, it lost any chance of burning further, leaving only faint scorch marks on the purplish-green vines beneath.

Seeing this, Xia Nan couldn't help but congratulate himself on his caution.

If he had mistakenly assumed the Fire Oil Bomb would stun the monster and rushed in blindly, he would have been caught completely off guard.

"Screeeee!!!"

Unsurprisingly, the Fog Lamp Monster lacked the intelligence to match his careful, meticulous calculations.

It only knew that an intruder had suddenly appeared in the Canyon, interrupted its meal, let its prey escape, and burned it with fire.

And so, it launched an attack on Xia Nan.

Rumble—

His Perception, sitting at a high 11 points, silently kicked in. He felt a faint tremor beneath his feet, and a surge of danger flared in his chest.

Without a second of hesitation, Xia Nan's legs exploded with force.

The drastically reduced weight of his body under the effect of [Gravity Control] combined with the explosive power of his solid muscles.

To an onlooker, Xia Nan simply sank slightly as if winding up, and in the blink of an eye, he blurred into a phantom darting to the side.

The instant his feet left the ground, a thick bramble covered in countless spikes tore through the soil right where he had stood. Mud splattered everywhere as the thorny whip cleaved through empty air with a terrifying crack.

But Xia Nan wasn't just dodging. Having deftly evaded the strike, he swung the [Ember Fall] straight sword in his hand even as he moved.

"Slash."

Faced with the night-dark grey blade, the thick, purplish-green brambles stood no chance.

The tapering, razor-sharp edge sheared through the vines with buttery smoothness, meeting no resistance whatsoever as it cleanly severed the brambles, sending plant sap and fibrous debris flying.

It was only half an exchange, but in that split second, Xia Nan gained a solid gauge of the monster's physical toughness and attack power.

Awooo—

A long, resonant wolf howl suddenly tore through the cold air of the Canyon.

His cold, sharp figure blurred.

With a sway of a spectral mane, a massive pitch-black wolf tore through the thick fog, stepping forth.

Its long legs barely tapped the muddy soil before it vanished into a deep, pitch-black phantom, pouncing straight toward the monster.

The force behind the Fog Lamp Monster's vines was tremendously heavy—even stronger than the Petrification Lizard Xia Nan had fought before. It easily crossed the threshold of a Challenge Rating 3 monster.

Its physical defenses were equally impressive. Those thick plant fibers boasted the sheer toughness of solid tree trunks; an ordinary adventurer wouldn't even be able to scratch it.

Xia Nan's ability to sever its thorny vines so effortlessly came down to two factors: his own extreme physical conditioning, and the peerless sharpness of the [Ember Fall] straight sword.

However, like any plant-type monster akin to a treant...

...its unique biology came with a trade-off. While its body granted it tenacious vitality, raw strength, and defense far surpassing ordinary creatures, the roots and vines anchoring it deep beneath the earth completely stripped the Fog Lamp Monster of its mobility.

High attack, high defense, but abysmal Agility.

Against this specific type of enemy—provided its attacks weren't impossible to dodge and its defenses weren't entirely impenetrable—

...it was just a stationary punching bag for someone like Xia Nan, whose entire fighting style revolved around high mobility, explosive burst, and peak agility.

And as for those conditions, that half-exchange just now had already given him the exact measure of the Fog Lamp Monster's so-called "high attack and defense."

Awooo—

The wolf's howl outpaced the wind.

The long, dark straight sword churned the fog, carving a ruthless, deep gash across the monster's body.

Two separate "5%" slashing damage bonuses—one from the feat [Slashing Expert] and one from the straight sword itself—stacked on top of one another, amplifying the force of the blade the moment it struck.

And the instant the blade bit into the Fog Lamp Monster, the innate "10%" mental damage of [Ember Fall] silently bypassed the beast's rugged physical defenses and struck directly at its mind.

Xia Nan had never been hit by anything like it, so he had no idea how this "mental damage" actually felt to the enemy.

But he could clearly observe the results. The moment his blade landed, the Fog Lamp Monster's body violently seized up, and it let out a sudden, ear-piercing screech.

He struck and pulled away instantly, darting back like a stinging bee.

By the time the Fog Lamp Monster whipped its vines toward the source of its pain, Xia Nan's swift figure was already well out of range, retreating amidst the lingering wolf howl.

They traded blows at a furious pace. Within just a few breaths, the Fog Lamp Monster's body was riddled with deep gashes.

Meanwhile, Xia Nan had suffered nothing worse than some plant sap splattered on his hair and clothes.

He had the absolute upper hand!

Yet, despite the dominance, he didn't feel relaxed. In fact, he found the creature incredibly troublesome.

This was Xia Nan's first time fighting this specific type of enemy.

He had practiced against similar hypothetical enemies during his daily training, sure.

But the real thing still felt incredibly awkward to fight.

The biggest and most frustrating issue was simple—

He couldn't find its vitals.

The combat style he had forged through countless life-and-death battles since his transmigration revolved around pinpointing critical weak spots and ending fights swiftly.

At most, he would follow up with a finishing blow just to be sure.

The "decapitation damage" bonus of his old Decapitating Longsword, which had carried over to his current [Ember Fall] straight sword, had only further ingrained this habit.

But right now, facing this hideous amalgamation of vines, brambles, and fog lamp grass stalks, Xia Nan legitimately didn't know where to strike.

'Where is the neck? Where is its neck?'

'How am I supposed to behead something with no neck?'

Forget about a "neck" or a "head"—the Fog Lamp Monster didn't even have facial features. It was nothing more than an aggregate of plant roots and stalks.

The pace of the battle was blinding; these thoughts only had time to flash through his mind in the brief gaps between his movements.

But as frustrated as Xia Nan was, the Fog Lamp Monster was clearly much more desperate.

After all, since the fight began, it hadn't even managed to brush the corner of this damn intruder's clothes, while its own body was already covered in deep sword gashes.

Driven by raw survival instinct, it finally unleashed its special ability.

"Vrrrm..."

The fog lamp grass blossoms embedded across its body trembled violently. Their blue-white glow flared to life, shrouding the monster's massive frame in a brilliant halo.

Noticing the shift, Xia Nan didn't hesitate. His left hand dove into his belt pouch, drawing two Fire Oil Bombs. He hurled them hard at the Fog Lamp Monster to interrupt whatever it was doing, and rapidly backed away.

But the next second, just as the bombs left his hand, an invisible wave carrying that blue-white fluorescence pulsed out from the monster and washed over him.

Xia Nan felt an invisible energy pass straight through his flesh and bones, trying to burrow its way into his mind.

—A mental control attack.

Instantly, the feat [Gaze into the Abyss] triggered.

A silent Saving Throw occurred, and the counter-effect kicked in.

It was as if the wave had hit an invisible mirror. The mental attack was instantly reflected back, crashing straight into the Fog Lamp Monster.

It failed its Saving Throw.

The special counter-effect from [Gaze into the Abyss] took hold, immediately throwing the Fog Lamp Monster into a state of "brief incapacitation."

Xia Nan was not about to miss such a precious opening.

Even though he still hadn't figured out where its vitals were, he sharply seized the moment.

His legs exploded with power, accompanied by a resounding wolf's howl.

Blanketed in the phantom of a massive, pitch-black wolf, he charged forward and leaped high into the air.

He angled the [Ember Fall] straight sword behind him, the dark grey blade turned sideways. Raw power coiled within the bulging muscles of his arm, while ochre-red energy condensed along the cutting edge, flowing over the steel like burning runes.

Calculating the distance between them, he tightened his core the exact instant gravity began to pull him back down, unleashing all his gathered strength in one burst.

Riding the momentum of his descent, the total physical might of his body converged at a single point, pouring directly into his descending blade.

"Smash!"

The two Fire Oil Bombs shattered against the monster's body.

Tangerine flames instantly flared upward—but before they could even reach their peak, they were caught in the slipstream of a far more terrifying force.

Wreathed in roaring flames and grey mist, the ochre-red energy burst forth like a miniature firework. Driven by the dark straight sword, it painted a perfect, glowing arc through the air.

[Spinning Slash], [Fang Hunt], [Gravity Etching], the "Fire Oil Bombs", and the [Ember Fall] straight sword.

Physical, Fire, Mental, and Force.

Four different types of damage, all stacked into a single, devastating strike.

SKRSHHH—

His leather boots hit the ground.

The dark grey straight sword, colored like the twilight, remained frozen at the end of its sweeping arc, angled slightly upward.

His pitch-black hair whipped wildly in the wind. Leftover motes of force field energy mingled with dying embers and swirling fog, drifting around him.

Behind him, the hideous monster had been cleanly bisected right down the middle.

Crashing down to the earth.