Chapter 510 Siege, Death

Although his Class Level wasn't high, Xia Nan had encountered quite a few elite Spellcasters since his transmigration.

Among his teammates was the mage Verol, whose background was mysterious yet highly reliable. As for his enemies, he had faced a devil noble from Purgatory, a fallen Cleric wielding the power of crystallization...

To some extent, these experiences had drastically elevated the importance Xia Nan placed on the Spellcaster role.

If he had a trustworthy Spellcaster teammate, he wouldn't mind building a squad around them and centering their combat tactics on their abilities.

Conversely, if a powerful Spellcaster stood in the enemy ranks, he would immediately raise their threat priority to the absolute highest.

It wasn't that Xia Nan had never encountered weaker magic-wielding enemies; he often finished them off with a single sword strike.

However, his past encounters with elite Spellcasters ensured he never underestimated this type of foe.

Take right now, for instance.

After striking the pirate leader Gerry with his Arm Shield imbued with the [Heavy Tide] effect, knocking him off balance, he could have pressed the attack to expand his advantage and inflict extra damage.

But Xia Nan didn't do that.

Instead, he resolutely stuck to his original plan, charging toward the Sahuagin Priest who was rapidly retreating under the cover of its guards.

Facts proved that he made the right choice.

On the Aifala Continent, Spellcaster professions undoubtedly held a rather transcendent status across all fields.

The root cause came down to their glaring rarity compared to other Class Holders, along with the sheer versatility magic provided.

Of course, this profession also suffered from obvious drawbacks.

The extremely low margin for error resulting from their flimsy defenses and fragile bodies was one aspect. The other was the harsh restrictions placed on spellcasting itself.

Particularly for low-level Spellcasters lacking sufficient spellcasting Feats and financial resources, without magical items to fill the gaps between spells and improve their margin for error, it was difficult to maintain stable, high-intensity output when their mana and mental strength were so limited.

Like the formidable enemies Xia Nan had faced before, individuals capable of multi-casting in a single round were ultimately in the minority.

The Sahuagin Priest before him had reached its absolute limit by consecutively releasing "Faerie Fire" and "Hold Person"—two spells requiring concentration. It had only managed to cast them by relying on the innate blessing obtained from its Sacrificial Ritual.

It needed time to recover.

This was exactly why it hadn't cast any spells from the sidelines to assist during Xia Nan's brief clash with the "Carrion Vulture" Gerry.

Only now had it managed to catch its breath.

Thanks to the extreme xenophobia of the Sahuagin race, even though its own Class Level wasn't very high, this Sahuagin Priest had accumulated a vast amount of combat experience against enemies of other races.

Right now, it faced the black-haired human Adventurer rushing forward—a man cloaked in the phantom of a black wolf, moving at an absurdly explosive speed, who had shattered its enchanted equipment's defensive shield with a single sword strike.

Its face was serious and tense, yet it didn't seem panicked.

While calling for its nearby guards to step forward and block the path, its four arms once again lifted that massive horn.

Pressing it to its lips, the priest blew hard.

"Dwooo!"

The high, surging blast of the horn rippled outward, wrapped in a fierce gale. Magic particles abruptly fluctuated, condensing in the air around the mouthpiece at blinding speed.

Hum—

A dark purple magical glow brewed into form amid the high-frequency vibration of energy.

It morphed into a nearly undodgeable, dim phantom that flashed across the air and vanished.

In the next second, it landed squarely on the black wolf lunging toward it to close the distance.

—3rd Circle Illusion Spell, "Fear"!

The effect of this spell wasn't hard to explain. Just as its name suggested, it projected the victim's deepest fears into their mind, forcing them to drop their weapons and flee in blind panic.

Well, a Perception check.

Under normal circumstances, the Sahuagin Priest's on-the-spot decision was flawless—even exceptional.

By casting a control spell on a highly mobile, high-damage melee enemy rapidly approaching, it not only bought itself more time to recover but also created an opening for Gerry and the guards.

But that relied on the premise that the spell actually worked.

Because of the numerous Secret Realms he had cleared and the framework of his own combat techniques, Xia Nan's Perception attribute was already outstanding. Many high-level Class Holders wouldn't necessarily possess his level of Perception.

This formed his foundation for resisting "Fear".

At the same time, in terms of equipment, the pink crystal dagger named [Honey Tangerine] was typically only used by Xia Nan as a small everyday tool for carving up loot.

However, it intrinsically possessed the effect of "slightly increasing the wearer's mental resistance when held," adding yet another layer of insurance for him.

But the most crucial factor after the spell landed on him was naturally the powerful Feat he had obtained from the Evil God Secret Realm: [Gaze into the Abyss].

Mental control magic like "Fear" was completely covered by it, granting him a special bonus influenced by his Perception attribute during the Saving Throw.

With these multiple defenses combined, Xia Nan's actual sensation was simply a sudden chill across his body, as if a gust of cold wind had blown past.

Immediately after, that dark purple magical phantom dissolved under the moonlight like a true shadow, turning into wisps of thin smoke that faded into the night.

At the same time, the secondary effect of [Gaze into the Abyss] triggered—"When you successfully resist a mental control effect, the caster is forced to make a Saving Throw. Upon failure, they will fall into a [Brief Stupor] state and take a certain amount of psychic damage."

Visibly, the Sahuagin Priest—who was already looking astonished at seeing "Fear" instantly resisted—seemed to be struck by some invisible thunderbolt.

Its entire body suddenly stiffened. Its pitch-black fish eyes, which lacked any luster to begin with, completely lost focus and turned vacant.

Its four limbs still clutched the horn out of muscle memory, but its body stood rooted to the ground, motionless.

'Now!'

Knowing the opportunity to end this was right before his eyes, Xia Nan didn't hesitate for a second. He explosively pushed off the ground, causing the already loud wolf howl echoing around him to grow deeper and the fierce aura coiling around his body to turn sharper.

His terrifying burst of speed made it completely impossible for the Sahuagin guards, who had been ordered by the priest to step forward and intercept him, to block his path.

Often, their harpoons had barely been raised before the black wolf phantom vanished from their sight, leaving behind a series of knife-like gashes on their bodies.

An ochre-red glow condensed on the surface of the grayish-black Wolf Fang. It was yet another full-force, unreserved sword strike.

The pitch-black Winter Wolf hunting in the night had finally pounced before its prey.

Hum—

Driven by the Spinning Slash, the ochre-red force field energy was drawn into a flawless, curved arc of sword light.

"Slash."

It was the heavy, jarring sound of flesh and blood being torn apart.

Fluorescent blue blood erupted like a geyser from the severed stump of its neck.

The Sahuagin Priest's head, still bearing a look of shock, spun rapidly through the air like a blood-soaked ball. It overlapped with the full moon for a fleeting instant before gravity pulled it back to the earth.

It rolled with a "thump-thump" sound, coming to a halt beside a patch of bushes.

"Garu!"

"Garuru!!!"

The thud of the priest's corpse hitting the ground echoed simultaneously with the piercing shrieks of the Sahuagin.

The death of the Sahuagin Priest, their pack leader, drove the Sahuagin on the battlefield into a state of sheer frenzy.

They launched a mad siege against Xia Nan and the other members of the Shield of Iron Rock Squad.

Shifting his feet lightly, Xia Nan dodged a harpoon thrusting from his rear flank. Then, with a single sweep of his sword, he sheared off the top of a Sahuagin's skull right in front of him, severing half of its arm in the process.

Xia Nan's focus was highly concentrated.

The Sahuagin Priest's death didn't mean the battle was over; it merely tilted the scales of victory slightly in his favor.

Right now, the enemies he still needed to deal with included many elite Sahuagin guards with a Challenge Rating above 1, as well as the high-ranking Class Holders from the Ebb Tide Gang.

And, of course, the pirate leader himself, the "Carrion Vulture" Gerry.

Actually, Xia Nan had expected the man to take advantage of his surprise attack on the Sahuagin Priest to launch a strike at his back.

He had even prepared himself to use [Deathline]'s deflection shield to defend, or even trade injuries for a kill by relying on the Fourth Circle healing spell from [Tears of Spring Breath].

Unexpectedly, Gerry didn't use this brief opening to attack Xia Nan.

Instead, after being knocked away and landing on the ground, he charged straight at the Shield of Iron Rock Squad on the other side of the battlefield.

From the "Carrion Vulture" Gerry's perspective, this was actually very easy to understand.

The brief clash with Xia Nan over just a few exchanges had made the gang leader realize that this young Adventurer with the moniker "Sea Fang" was far more troublesome than he had imagined.

Not only was his physique exceptionally strong, but his overall combat style, born of his combat techniques, hard-countered his own. Even his proudest rotting poison attacks were entirely useless against that bizarre Pitch-Black Arm Shield.

Under these circumstances, when Gerry watched with his own eyes as Xia Nan resisted the Sahuagin Priest's mental control spell and beheaded the creature with one strike...

...he decisively changed his original battle strategy.

Since facing him alone might be a bit tricky, he would leverage their numerical advantage on the field to launch a siege against Xia Nan.

With so many elite-level Sahuagin guards, plus the Class Holders from his gang, could they really fail to take down just one guy?

Thus, having made his decision, Gerry switched targets, aiming his attacks squarely at the Shield of Iron Rock Squad.

He needed to thin the ranks of Sea Fang's teammates in the shortest possible time to preserve his own side's fighting forces and free up manpower to gang up on Xia Nan.

Gerry's first target was the only unlucky bastard on the field who had been slammed by the Fireball.

The half-orc Hogk hadn't died on the spot. Although the burning damage from the Fireball had heavily injured him, the Constitution attribute bonus granted by the [Warrior] Class and the robust physique from his orc bloodline ultimately allowed him to pull through.

He rapidly recovered with the help of the Healing Potion tossed by Seli.

His gradually recovering vitality finally allowed the half-orc to stop his miserable, high-pitched wailing that sounded like a dying rooster. Drool hung from his mouth as he panted heavily, his round eyes still dazed and hollow from the lingering agony.

He slowly climbed up from the ground. His pale green skin was riddled with black scorch marks, emitting a foul odor.

Yet, perhaps driven by his orc bloodline, even though he had only just begun to recover, the moment the hissing of the Sahuagin reached his ears, he instinctively entered a frenzied combat state.

Completely ignoring the shouts of his two teammates a short distance away, he hefted his handaxes and roared as he charged at the enemies.

After all, he was a Class Holder whose Class Level had reached Level 3. Even the most ordinary beast would burst with unimaginable strength and ferocity when pushed to the brink of death, let alone a battle-hardened Professional Warrior like him.

Hogk swung his twin handaxes into two berserk blurs. Paying no mind to the enemies closing in around him, he fixated solely on hacking at a single Sahuagin, butchering it into minced meat.

This excessively savage display actually instilled fear into the surrounding Ebb Tide Gang thugs and Sahuagin grunts. For a moment, they merely encircled him, not daring to step up and attack.

This was exactly the effect Hogk wanted!

"Roar!!!"

Standing in place, trampling the Sahuagin corpse beneath his feet, he roared at the sky, wildly venting his inner rage and indignation.

It was as if doing this would make the people around him forget the embarrassing sight of him rolling on the ground and wailing.

But... he was a half-orc, after all.

Perhaps a racial talent stemming from his bloodline granted him the special ability to retain combat strength while heavily injured. Yet, due to the drawback of his mixed heritage, Hogk lacked the keen Perception of true orcs from the plains.

His furious roar was interrupted by a dark green blade shadow.

In that moment, the "Carrion Vulture" Gerry truly resembled a scavenging vulture circling high above, glaring covetously at wounded prey.

Darting out from the crowd, the sharp scimitar in his hand, glistening with sweet, sickly venom, acted just like a vulture's sharp, slender talons.

With a twist of his wrist, he lightly scraped the blade across the half-orc's waist, gouging out a chunk of flesh the size of a palm.

He separated the moment contact was made.

By the time the half-orc, his reactions sluggish from his wounds, belatedly brought his iron axes crashing down, Gerry had already retreated back into the crowd.

The venom spread.

The flesh and blood around the wound hissed as it corroded. Plumes of dark green venom could be seen spreading deep into the gash, rapidly flowing through his entire body.

Subjecting a body that was already pushed to its limit by the Fireball to such an ordeal was the breaking point. The agony and weakness, previously masked by his Rage, instantly surged up like a tidal wave, swallowing Hogk's consciousness.

His vision darkened in waves. His body grew increasingly powerless, to the point where even gripping the two iron axes in his hands felt agonizingly difficult.

His bold, furious roar decayed into a pained whimper.

His legs gave out, and he couldn't help but stagger a step back.

And that single step acted like a critical fuse being lit.

The thugs and Sahuagin, who had previously been intimidated by his ferocious aura and too afraid to step forward, immediately sensed the half-orc's weakness and swarmed him.

"Slash!"

A handaxe swung out subconsciously, but it didn't cleave the Sahuagin in front of him in half as intended; instead, it wedged firmly into its shoulder bone.

Hogk subconsciously tried to yank the axe free from the flesh, but that brief, stiff pause completely exposed his body to the countless harpoons and blades surrounding him.

"Squelch!"

"Rip!"

"Crunch!!"

Three harpoons pierced him from different directions: one drove diagonally upward from his flank into his ribs, another plunged downward to skewer his thigh, and the last thrust from back to front, impaling his heart.

Two scimitars chopped down from the left and right. One embedded deeply into the half-orc's neck, jammed by muscle and bone; the other rode its momentum to cleanly sever his right arm.

The fatal blow came from behind—a sharp scimitar whose edge gleamed with a dark green hue.

Slashing straight down from the crown of his skull to his lower jaw and neck, it cleaved the half-orc's head right in half.

Blood mixed with thick white matter cascaded down.

The half-orc's furious roars utterly vanished from the battlefield.

Hogk, dead.