Chapter 341 The End and the Wrap-Up

The garden was shrouded in blue-white fluorescence. A cold, emotionless voice drifted from ahead, carrying the faint botanical scent of fog lamp grass.

It made the druid freeze.

His sharp-featured, purple-green face still bore traces of the feigned reserve and arrogance he had displayed just moments ago while trying to beguile Xia Nan into accepting his mission.

Now, however, his expression was frozen like a statue—much like his lower body, which was woven into the plant roots.

The sudden shift in the black-haired young man's attitude had clearly exceeded his expectations. For a moment, he couldn't even react.

Thinking he had simply misheard, he subconsciously asked, "What—what did you say?"

Xia Nan stared at the evil druid ahead, his sharp gaze sweeping over the creature's neck, heart, and other vital spots. As he rapidly formulated a battle plan in his mind, he spoke in a calm tone.

"The training method for [Mist-Hidden Light Step], the physical accessory of the [Green Grass Wooden Ring], and the formula for the [Concentrated Fog Lamp Grass Essence Potion]."

"Hand over the items you just mentioned."

"I don't want to repeat myself a third time."

Rustle! The branches and leaves trembled.

The druid jerked his head up, his face filled with sheer disbelief.

'What is he saying!?'

The sudden shift in tone and attitude, the naked threat in those words—it all felt almost absurd to the druid.

"How—how dare you—"

A weak, lowly novice Class Holder—someone who wouldn't have even dared to look him in the eye during his prime—actually dared to speak to him like this?

Did this kid really think that just because of his current state, he was a lamb waiting to be slaughtered?

His half-plant body quivered violently. Driven by extreme agitation, the vines of his lower body coiled and tangled, emitting the harsh, grating sound of plant fibers rubbing tightly together.

The mist swirling around him swayed and spread, causing the blue-white fluorescence blooming from the surrounding fog lamp grass to flicker erratically.

Standing before him, Xia Nan could clearly feel the mental fluctuations radiating from the plant druid at the center of the garden—a chaotic mix of shock, rage, and disbelief.

At the same time, his Perception—which had reached a high of 11—allowed him to detect an unnatural, faint tremor in the ground beneath his feet. Something seemed to be shuttling rapidly deep within the soil.

Having dealt with the Fog Lamp Monster, he already had some understanding of this kind of attack.

Without a shred of hesitation, Xia Nan's calves exploded with power. He vanished from his spot like a phantom.

The next second—

Bang!

Dirt and debris exploded upward.

Thick vines breached the soil like sharks surging from the ocean depths, thrashing their barbed appendages and whipping through the air with a terrifying crack.

The druid's head snapped around. His pupil-less, pure white eyes locked onto the chilling figure who had effortlessly dodged his sneak attack.

As his emotions churned, the druid finally realized that this young, black-haired adventurer seemed a bit different from what he had imagined.

That instantaneous speed and explosive power far exceeded what an ordinary novice Class Holder should possess.

It seemed he really did have the strength to turn hostile.

Countless thoughts flashed through the druid's mind. His evolution ritual had failed, leaving him in an abysmal state where not even a tenth of his combat strength remained. Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to clash with an enemy of this caliber.

His expression instantly shifted. Forcing down the rage and resentment that had been practically spilling from his face, he looked ready to offer a few placating words to smooth over their brief conflict.

But the next second, a chilling wolf howl erupted across the clearing. Accompanied by a faint yet fatal sense of danger, it choked the words right back down his throat.

Its mane swaying, a giant, pitch-black wolf with long, slender limbs paced forward.

It appeared to move slowly, but its actual speed was like a phantom's.

An inexplicable sense of threat crept into the druid's heart.

Not daring to underestimate it, the druid's survival instincts kicked in, and he snapped his mouth wide open.

Screech!!

An invisible wave, signifying the special effect of mental control, spread outward from the druid alongside the piercing shriek—a sound no human could ever produce, akin to branches and leaves grinding together to their absolute limit.

Having unleashed [Fang Hunt] to close the distance between them as much as possible, Xia Nan collided almost head-on with this mental fluctuation.

The effect of [Gaze into the Abyss] triggered. The Perception bonus took effect, and the Saving Throw was instantly passed.

At the same time, the Feat's counter effect activated.

Xia Nan only felt a slight tightness between his brows before the mental force attempting to invade his brain was completely blocked. But for the druid, his emitted mental energy felt as if it had slammed directly into an iron wall. Not only did it fail to have any effect, it actually sent a spike of sharp pain through his own brain.

If not for the fact that being trapped in an immobile, half-plant state for years had tempered his willpower through endless torment, that single backlash would have knocked him into a state of brief unconsciousness.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

The abyssal black wolf rapidly closing in on his vision, coupled with the increasingly intense sense of danger in his heart, plunged the druid into a desperate struggle.

For the first time in the many years since his evolution ritual had failed and trapped him in this garden, he once again felt the threat of death.

Already suffering a massive drop in combat strength due to his abysmal condition, the druid almost instinctively threw every trick he had at the formidable enemy before him.

Hum! The blue-white fluorescence of the fog lamp grass violently expanded, transforming into an energy field made entirely of light that enveloped Xia Nan's whole body. In an instant, Xia Nan felt his stamina rapidly draining away under the bright illumination, his body visibly growing weaker.

He had never possessed any countermeasures for magical attacks like this. He could only rely on his stats and template—which far surpassed those of adventurers at the same level—using his 8 points of Constitution and the rapid dash of [Fang Hunt] to endure it and push through.

Boom! Countless pointed sprouts of fog lamp grass suddenly erupted across the surface of the druid's smooth, plant-like epidermal layer. Like some sort of missile launcher, they extracted his life force and violently fired outward.

Tiny and dense, they rained down on Xia Nan. But just a split second before they touched his body, they were blocked by a semi-transparent, reddish-brown elliptical energy shield—the [Deathline Ring]—"Deflection Field".

Rip! Exerting every ounce of his strength, the druid's lower body, which was almost fully fused with the root system in the ground, explosively ruptured, churning the mist and fluorescence as countless thorny vines tore out of the soil and whistled toward Xia Nan in a tangled mass.

In response, the leaping black wolf showed absolutely no intention of dodging.

Reddish-brown light coalesced over the surface of the slender, grayish-black straight sword. As it swung, the force field energy burst like fireworks, massively increasing the attack range and reducing the vines before him to shreds and sap.

In the span of just a few breaths, every single method the druid unleashed was systematically neutralized by Xia Nan through his Feats, combat techniques, and equipment effects.

A wolf howl echoed out as leather boots hit the ground.

By the time Xia Nan steadied his footing on the earth once more, the plantified druid fused with the fog lamp grass roots had already entered his attack range.

"No—you can't—" Due to the excessive drain of life energy from his body, the druid didn't even have the strength to speak aloud anymore. He could only transmit his intentions intermittently through a feeble mental connection.

"The items—aren't with me. They require a ritual—energy to be extracted—we can cooperate—I swear—"

He attempted his final struggle, battered and terrified.

Xia Nan's dark eyes calmly stared at the druid, who had reached the very end of his life. Reflected in his pupils were the fluorescent blue veins of fog lamp grass involuntarily surfacing on the creature's skin due to overexertion.

"You're still lying," Xia Nan said, his voice ice-cold.

He could feel the fear and malice hidden at the bottom of the druid's psyche. That chaotic, weak mental fluctuation, completely saturated with negative emotions, thoroughly exhausted the last shred of his patience.

He had no desire to feign civility with this kind of trash, nor was he ever going to partake in such an inhumane, evil scheme.

Making a deal with a desperate, lying lunatic was not a wise choice.

Those mediocre rewards were not worth the risk.

"Forget it."

Not a trace of emotion could be heard in Xia Nan's voice.

"It's too much trouble."

Having sensed the chilling killing intent that had practically materialized in the air, the druid's mental energy devolved into chaotic disarray, blindly issuing promises and pleas.

"No—please—don't—I definitely—"

What met him in return was only the whistling scream of a sharp blade tearing through the air.

The clean, grayish-black straight sword met no resistance. Its sharp edge bit into the creature's neck in a flash. The blade's edge refracted a faint glimmer as it cleaved straight through the flesh and bone, exiting the other side.

Since he had fused entirely with the fog lamp grass, pale green blood resembling plant sap geysered from the severed stump of his neck. Driven by the sword's momentum, the severed head spun up into the air.

Because the sword swing had been so fast, to an outside observer, it looked as if the fountain of blood was lifting the head up on its own.

Spinning and tumbling.

The stiff, frozen face was still locked in its dying expression of supplication, but the very next second, gravity claimed it, sending it crashing heavily down among the leaves and branches of the fog lamp grass.

The druid who had used innocent villagers as sacrifices in a vain attempt to shatter his life bottleneck and achieve individual evolution had, in the end, failed to escape the fate of death.

Beheaded, just like the goblins in the forest.

After the battle ended, Xia Nan meticulously delivered a few finishing strikes to the corpse.

The vitality of plant-type enemies was simply too exaggerated. If he didn't chop it into smaller pieces, he wouldn't be able to rest easy.

He even planned to toss a [Fire Oil Bomb] before leaving to reduce the druid's remaining corpse and vines to ash, wanting nothing more than to scatter the ashes himself for complete peace of mind.

Honestly speaking, this druid who had once been Level 15 had seen his strength drastically reduced after his ritual failed, turning him into a half-plant trapped in the garden for so many years.

He lacked even basic mobility, and his attack methods were severely lacking. Aside from the mind-control attacks that were naturally countered by Xia Nan's [Gaze into the Abyss] Feat, he could only manipulate things like vines and thorns.

Overall, he felt even less dangerous than the Fog Lamp Monster outside that Xia Nan had already butchered for biological materials.

Of course, he had already anticipated the druid's feeble combat ability the moment he arrived in the garden and noticed the creature's weakened state through various details, so he wasn't particularly surprised.

On the contrary, he had taken the fight extremely seriously. Showing absolutely no underestimation, he had gone all out from the very beginning, unleashing [Fang Hunt], [Gravity Etching], and [Spinning Slash] in quick succession in a display of exceptional caution.

It was only because the enemy's physical condition was so atrocious that he had died so humiliatingly at Xia Nan's hands.

Otherwise, in his prime, if Xia Nan wanted to win head-on, he probably would have had to wait for the cooldown on [Ember Echoes] to finish and activate Stage 2 before he could even compete.

The druid was completely dead, but that didn't affect this garden made of fog lamp grass.

Shrouded in a blue-white fluorescence, a thin, luminous mist drifted gently through the air.

For a time, the only sound left in the air was the heavy, sluggish chopping of a blade hacking through flesh and vines.

The slight relief of pressure after the battle, combined with the mechanical motion of chopping, caused Xia Nan's thoughts to wander as he began to review his recent actions.

"I feel like I was still a bit too reckless."

Perhaps he should have observed more carefully from the outside before stepping into the garden.

Otherwise, if a druid in his prime had been waiting for him, this battle absolutely wouldn't have been as easy as it was.

But on the other hand, for the adventurer profession, caution was ultimately relative.

The moment you stepped into this line of work, you were completely divorced from safety.

Maintaining absolute security was utterly impossible.

For the vast majority of adventurers, being bold but careful was already enough.

Xia Nan didn't intend to be overly harsh on himself in this regard. Even if there were occasional oversights, it was entirely acceptable. After all, at the end of the day, he had been in this business for less than two years. Anyone else would probably still be tangled up with goblins in the forest. To be able to grow to this stage at such a speed, he was already satisfied with himself.

Having shortcomings was perfectly normal; he just needed to slowly improve in the future.

"Though, I could try to improve my eloquence a little."

His Charisma attribute was at 6 points, after all; it wasn't a complete blank slate.

When performing actions like persuasion, deception, or threatening, it provided a corresponding bonus.

If his eloquence had been just a little better earlier, he might have actually managed to squeeze some information out of the druid.

Then he wouldn't be in this situation where, let alone useful information, he hadn't even been left with the combat techniques and equipment the other party had used as bait.

Xia Nan thoroughly searched the druid's corpse but found no sign of the enchanted accessory he had mentioned, nor any combat technique manuals or potion formulas.

They likely weren't kept on his person, but hidden in some other concealed location—possibly not even inside the Canyon. Or perhaps the guy was purely deceiving him and had never planned to hand over those items in the first place.

Considering the details and micro-expressions he had perceived on the druid's face at the time, Xia Nan leaned toward the latter possibility.

Of course, this short trip hadn't been fruitless for Xia Nan.

The loot materials from the Fog Lamp Monster, the gold coins scrounged up in the cabin, and the bounty from the fog lamp grass gathering quest were enough to completely pay off his debt at the Rockhammer Smithy, with a considerable surplus left over.

More crucially, he had obtained a clue to the suspected location of the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key.

Once he returned to Rivervale Town and changed into the new armor Barn had forged for him, he could start preparing to set off.

Oh, of course.

Before that, there was the matter of Fog Lamp Village, Dongshu, Lillie, Aspen, and that old village chief—

He still had some wrap-up work to handle.

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ROUGH ENGLISH TRANSLATION TO POLISH