Chapter 337 Cautious Last Hits and Easy Healing

"Sshk."

The Gray-Black Straight Sword swept through the air, its incredibly sharp edge blurring into a phantom line.

Sap splattered as it severed the thick vine ahead—which was still squirming and twisting despite being detached from its main body—into two smaller pieces.

Naturally, the first thing to do after a battle ended was to secure the kill.

A lesson learned the hard way. His encounters in Ember Ash Valley had instilled in Xia Nan the excellent habit of securing his kills.

After cleaving the deformed plant monster—mutated from fog lamp grass—in two with a standard full-strength strike, he immediately stepped forward without a second of hesitation.

Stroke by stroke, like a butcher, he further carved the Fog Lamp Monster's relatively intact body from halves into quarters, then eighths—

As long as a piece could still move, it earned a sword strike.

If not for wanting to maximize his profits by deliberately sparing some materials that looked valuable, Xia Nan would have had the patience to finely mince the entire thing.

He couldn't be blamed for overthinking it.

After all, to adventurers in this world, plant-type monsters naturally possessed incredibly vigorous vitality.

And the vines detached from the Fog Lamp Monster's main body were indeed twitching, giving off a strong impression that they were trying to burrow into the soil.

If his greed for gold coins ended up giving the enemy a chance to enter Stage 2—his [Ember Echoes] was still on cooldown.

Therefore, no matter how uncertain he felt, terrified of accidentally destroying valuable materials like he had with the Armored Lurker, Xia Nan swallowed his heartache and swung his straight sword, doing his best to rob every last one of the Fog Lamp Monster's vines and tentacles of mobility.

This made the time spent finishing off the corpse even longer than the actual battle.

Perhaps because he had further dismantled its body, Xia Nan felt something was vaguely off about this monster composed of massive amounts of fog lamp grass.

He naturally knew that in a world filled with supernatural forces and airborne magic particles, it was perfectly normal for a monster's anatomical structure to differ from the ordinary creatures of his past life. Moreover, he hadn't encountered many plant-type creatures before.

However, the Fog Lamp Monster's twisted and deformed thorny vines, the bizarre mist it quietly emanated, and the fog lamp grass bulbs embedded in its surface like energy sources all gave him a lingering sense of wrongness.

It was as if this thing hadn't evolved naturally, but was rather a deformed mutant forcibly stitched together by some special means.

"Squish, squelch—"

As he pondered, the sticky, muddy sound of footsteps rang out from the mist beside him.

He subconsciously glanced toward the sound. His outstanding Perception had already alerted him to the newcomers' movements, so he didn't pay it much mind.

It was Dongshu and Lillie.

During Xia Nan's battle with the Fog Lamp Monster, they had sensibly retreated to the rear, refusing to be dead weight and leaving Xia Nan plenty of room to operate.

Even after the battle seemingly concluded, they smartly refrained from approaching, instead watching from afar as Xia Nan processed the battlefield. Only when he completely stopped and wiped his straight sword did the two cautiously draw near.

"Mr. Xia Nan, you—"

Dongshu stopped in his tracks. His gaze swept over the monster's fragmented remains on the ground before he slightly raised his head to look at Xia Nan.

The sheer shock that had initially painted his face upon Xia Nan's sudden appearance was now replaced by a far more complex expression, carrying hints of reverence and yearning.

He had witnessed the entire battle.

When the man had rescued him from the goblin siege earlier with such overwhelming dominance, the youth had guessed that Xia Nan was likely a veteran adventurer who had even attained a Class Level.

But to his surprise, he had apparently still underestimated the man, his mind subconsciously flashing back to the fleeting scenes from moments ago.

That exaggerated speed and explosive power that entirely exceeded the limits of visual capture, leaving only a phantom trail in the air as if he had teleported; that pitch-black giant wolf that seemed like a hallucination yet simultaneously real, striking uncontrollable fear into his heart; that perfect arc of light streaking through the air, wreathed in flames and an unknown ocher-red energy—

'Is this what an adventurer is...' Dongshu murmured in his heart, the yearning on his face practically overflowing.

Having studied a hunter's knowledge and techniques for so many years, he clearly understood that even if he walked this path to its very end, reaching Brother Aspen's level or even higher, he would absolutely never possess even a tenth of the power Xia Nan had just displayed.

'If... if I could be as strong as Mr. Xia Nan, would the village chief and the others consider my opinion? Then Lillie wouldn't have to—'

His thoughts gradually wandered, but before he could completely spiral into a dead end, he was interrupted by the girl behind him.

"Mr. Xia Nan, thank you so much for your help!"

Lillie stepped forward through the muddy water barefoot, lifting her plain white dress that was already splattered with mud, and expressed her gratitude to Xia Nan.

She was, after all, just an ordinary girl who had grown up in an isolated village. No matter how much she had prepared herself for death after being chosen as the sacrifice, and no matter how calm and indifferent she had tried to appear, she found it incredibly difficult to suppress her turbulent emotions when the true, overwhelming terror of life and death finally descended upon her.

Toward Xia Nan, who had saved the two of them from the jaws of a powerful monster, she felt a mixture of awe and immense gratitude.

Waving a hand to signal that he didn't mind, Xia Nan glanced at the Fog Lamp Monster's fragmented corpse on the ground, a slight frown creasing his brow.

"So, this is your village's so-called 'Spirit of the Canyon'?" he asked.

At those words, both Lillie and Dongshu simultaneously froze in place, highly complicated expressions surfacing on their faces.

'Could it be?'

'Is this the monster—now chopped into fibrous shreds—that caused so many precious lives to be buried in the sunless depths of the canyon over the years?'

'Is this vicious beast, entirely devoid of any divinity, the entity crowned with the title of "greatness," forcing generation after generation of Fog Lamp Village to endure such bone-deep blood and pain?'

"I—I don't know," Lillie stammered, momentarily at a loss for words.

Beside her, Dongshu was even more silent. He stared blankly at the monster's corpse, his eyes red, thinking who knew what.

Xia Nan felt puzzled.

Although the battle just now had been brief, he had roughly gauged the Fog Lamp Monster's power range.

It possessed a certain level of intelligence, but it shouldn't have reached the level of a sapient creature.

Its physical strength was somewhere between a Petrification Lizard and an Owlbear. Even factoring in the special mind-control ability that had been countered by his [Gaze into the Abyss] feat, its Challenge Rating was probably only around 3.

It wasn't exactly strong, but it certainly wasn't weak against ordinary adventurers and villagers either.

But that was exactly where the problem lay.

With the Fog Lamp Monster's strength, it was more than capable of flattening the entirety of Fog Lamp Village. If it wanted to prey on humans, not a single person in the village had the power to stop it.

And if it were intentionally maintaining pressure to treat humans as livestock for regular harvesting, the time interval between Sacrificial Rituals meant that for a monster of this level, trying to fill its stomach with just one or two humans was a complete pipe dream.

Xia Nan harbored a faint suspicion.

There might be some connection between the Fog Lamp Monster and the Sacrificial Ritual, but it was absolutely not as tight-knit as he had imagined.

The truth... might completely overturn the understanding of the vast majority of the village's residents.

"Mr. Xia Nan, what should we do now?" Dongshu and Lillie asked in bewilderment. Treating the man who had saved them from the monster's jaws as their only pillar of support, they both seemed exceptionally lost amidst so many unexpected events, unsure of how to proceed.

"The situation inside the canyon is still a bit complicated. It'll be hard to sort it all out anytime soon," Xia Nan said, gesturing slightly to the two after a brief moment of thought. "You two head back to the gate first. I've already checked, there shouldn't be any danger. I'll be there in a bit."

The canyon was towering, and although the gate blocking the entrance was equally tall, it was obvious that the villagers of Fog Lamp Village didn't have the capability to build the kind of massive door that could completely seal the space. It was just a heavy wooden gate crafted from forest oak.

For someone like Xia Nan, with his outstanding physical attributes and various special abilities like [Gravity Control] and [Tidal Stabilization], scaling it would absolutely not be difficult, even if he had to carry two other people.

Since he was already here, his conscience wouldn't let him just abandon them inside the canyon. Taking them out was merely a matter of convenience.

With things having developed to this point, no matter how much Lillie had previously guilt-tripped herself into sacrificing her life for the whole village out of love for her family and neighbors, she couldn't possibly be foolish enough to demand that the Sacrificial Ritual continue.

Faintly sensing that there might be a turning point in all this, she only asked him a few more questions about the canyon and the ritual before trying to drag away the red-eyed Dongshu—who still hadn't fully recovered—to leave as Xia Nan had instructed.

"Hmm—wait a moment."

His dark eyes shifted slightly, his gaze sweeping over the blood-seeping bandages on the girl's arm.

Xia Nan suddenly recalled the rusty, blunt sickle blade that had left the gash on Lillie's arm during the ritual earlier.

This world naturally also had infectious diseases like tetanus.

And with Fog Lamp Village's conditions, they obviously wouldn't have the means to treat such a wound.

If this girl survived the Sacrificial Ritual in the end, only to die from an infection later on, that would be rather absurd.

After pondering for a moment, Xia Nan waved her over.

He then extended his right hand, his fingertips gently touching the bandages over her wound.

Hum— The crystal teardrop pendant hidden beneath his chainmail and inner lining quietly swayed, causing magic particles to pulse rhythmically in the air.

A cluster of emerald light radiating rich life energy suddenly burst from Xia Nan's fingertips, causing the girl's body to jolt involuntarily. Like a tiny cloud composed of countless verdant motes of light, the life energy seeped down into the wound.

Lillie only felt a numbing, warm current spread across her arm, as if the entire limb had been submerged in a hot spring.

By the time she reacted, the throbbing pain originally coming from the wound had completely vanished.

Moving her arm with a look of absolute amazement, she undid the bandages. What met her eyes was her smooth, flawless skin—completely healed without even the slightest trace of a scar.

[Lesser Healing].

A 1st Circle healing spell from the [Tears of Spring Breath] necklace, a Rare blue accessory.

It could be used three times a day, but due to various reasons, it had been benched by Xia Nan. Its frequency of use was even lower than the Fourth Circle spell [Spring Pulse Cleansing Heal], which had a seven-day cooldown.

Right now, faced with Lillie's ordinary laceration, it perfectly displayed its special utility as a healing spell.

Waving at the pleasantly surprised and grateful duo, he signaled for them not to waste any more time and to leave immediately.

Xia Nan's expression remained calm as he withdrew his gaze from the two figures gradually disappearing into the darkness ahead.

The reason he had sneaked into the canyon before the agreed-upon time with the village chief and the others was twofold. On one hand, he had noticed Dongshu's actions, and both the boy and Lillie had left a genuinely good impression on him. On the other hand—and more importantly—the information he had gathered in the village over the past two days made him increasingly aware of the bizarre and irrational nature of this so-called "Sacrificial Ritual."

Those impoverished villagers... it was as if they were deceiving themselves.

Xia Nan was by no means a purely benevolent saint.

He couldn't possibly sacrifice his own life for these villagers he had never met before just out of a sliver of sympathy.

No matter how much he admired Dongshu and Lillie, if the entity in the canyon truly exceeded his ability to handle, he wouldn't hesitate for a single second to turn around and leave.

But if just acting in passing could help these villagers break free from their tragically inherited fate and allow two people to keep living, he wouldn't be stingy about wielding his power.

After all, one of the main reasons he trained so tirelessly day and night to improve himself was precisely so he would have the power to choose when encountering situations like this.

Instead of being forced to sigh and walk away in helpless resignation.

Having not forgotten his mission for this trip, Xia Nan swept his gaze around and found that there was still plenty of fog lamp grass—more than enough to complete Lady Edwina's commission.

Yet he wasn't in a hurry to harvest them. He figured he would make the most of the time before they wilted and rotted, waiting until he was truly ready to leave the canyon before uprooting them from the soil.

Xia Nan bent down and gathered the few potentially valuable loot materials he had deliberately spared while dismembering the Fog Lamp Monster, stowing them away in a compartment of his backpack.

These included the nearly crystallized fog lamp grass flower core from the very center of the monster's torso, which still emitted a faint blue-white glow even after death, as well as a few bundles of the toughest, purple-green thorny vines that the monster had rooted deep in the mud.

Given their condition, they might just fetch a good number of gold coins at the herbalist's shop.

Tightening the backpack over his shoulders, Xia Nan scanned the surrounding mist, which had quietly thinned out significantly after the Fog Lamp Monster's death.

The sense of danger in his heart felt much weaker compared to when he had first entered.

Driven by the idea of maximizing his gains, he pushed his Perception to the absolute limit.

Concealing his figure, he cautiously advanced deeper into the canyon.