Chapter 622 Mutation and Unexpected Discovery

"Stop them, don't let these green-skinned rats get past!"

A thin man around fifty with stark white hair and a face crowded with wrinkles stood in the middle of a muddy, footprint-covered path between the houses, shouting.

Behind him, the children and elderly were hurriedly retreating. Their destination was a makeshift barn in the center of the village. It housed a large cellar built years ago, stocked with enough food and supplies to sustain dozens of people for nearly half a year.

In front of him stood a defensive line formed by the villagers.

There were robust men wielding heirloom longswords and burly peasant women gripping pitchforks. Slightly further back stood several thin fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boys. Though tense, their expressions were incredibly resolute, showing not the slightest intention of retreating.

Further ahead, beyond this crude defensive line constructed from fences, haystacks, and overturned carts, lay a teeming mass of ominous, nauseating, pus-colored green.

It was over twenty goblins glaring hungrily at the villagers!

It was a bit strange.

Under normal circumstances, when faced with prey exuding such a tempting scent, these green-skinned Goblins should have been driven by uncontrollable desire to launch a frantic assault on the villagers.

But right now, even though the twisted desires churning within these green-skins could still be discerned from the excited, maddened shrieks occasionally ringing through the air, not a single one of the twenty-plus goblins broke away from the group to charge the makeshift traps ahead.

Given that they were all ordinary Goblins, with no leaders like hobgoblins or Bugbears among them, it was bizarre for these goblins to display a level of discipline they simply shouldn't possess.

This bizarre behavior was naturally observed by the fifty-something-year-old man, who appeared to be the village chief.

Surprised, he watched their every move with extreme caution.

The moment the goblins tried to find a path to bypass the obstacles ahead, he decisively ordered the villagers to attack.

He clearly had extensive experience in dealing with these cowardly yet maddened little creatures.

At his command, the women waiting in ambush at the second-floor windows of the wooden houses on both sides poured pre-prepared pots of boiling water out.

Their aim was mediocre, and the vast majority of the water splashed onto the empty ground.

But even the sudden burst of scalding steam in the air, along with the scattered drops of searing water that splashed onto a few Goblins and sent them wailing in agony, dealt a massive blow to the morale the Goblins had been steadily building.

"Whoosh!"

A sharp arrow tore through the air and instantly sank into a goblin's chest. The fletching quivered as the creature was pinned firmly to the ground.

On a nearby roof, the village's sole hunter held his wooden bow steady, his gaze sharp.

"Arghhhhh!"

They knew full well that when facing these green-skinned rats, even the slightest display of fear would become fuel to bolster the monsters' courage.

The villagers' offensive came wave after wave.

Using the crude fences ahead as cover, the strongest and bravest villagers held the frontline, roaring as they charged the goblins.

For a time, the shrieks of the Goblins, the roars of the humans, and the dull thuds of metal piercing flesh echoed continuously above the muddy ground.

Since they were ultimately just untrained commoners, their combat efficiency was limited. Even with ample preparation, it was hard to completely rout all the Goblins in a single clash.

Even so, five goblins were killed on the spot under the villagers' charge.

The elderly village chief gripped his wooden club. His face was taut, but a glint of satisfaction flashed through his eyes.

These casualties entirely met his expectations.

Based on his years of experience with goblins, even after losing five companions, the monsters still numbered just over twenty.

However, the sudden, large-scale death of their kin would severely cripple the cowardly monsters' morale. It would likely cause this Goblin pack to collapse entirely, leaving them unable to maintain their formation as they shrieked and fled.

If nothing went wrong, a maximum of two more charges would completely shatter the Goblin pack and resolve the crisis.

"Shriek!"

A shrill, twisted cry snapped the village chief's wandering thoughts back to reality.

Looking at the scene before him, he froze in shock.

The green-skinned Goblins, which should have fallen into a slump after the mass deaths of their companions, now seemed to have transformed into a completely different species. Faced with the villagers roaring and charging at them, the cowardice that had instinctively surfaced on their faces was replaced by a twisted, fanatical frenzy in the blink of an eye.

Several that had already dropped their weapons to flee even screeched as they picked their wooden clubs back up, howling as they charged the villagers.

"Damn it!!"

He had no idea why this pack of Goblins was acting so bizarrely.

But at this moment, the village chief didn't have the time to think about it.

They were just a small village deep in the mountains with limited manpower; every ounce of strength was crucial in a fight.

Even at fifty-three years of age, he gripped his wooden club tightly and charged toward the goblins.

"Argh!!"

An agonizing scream rang in his ears.

A young, fresh-faced boy with blood on his cheek was sprawled on the ground, his face contorted in pain as he propped himself up by his hands.

His left knee was deformed, as if it had suffered a heavy blow.

Looming in front of him was a green-skinned Goblin covered in pustules, wearing an expression of pure ecstasy.

"Jamie!"

The youth possessed hot blood in their veins.

Perhaps due to a lack of experience, their combat prowess fell slightly short of the adults', but when that hot blood surged, they never lacked courage.

On a battlefield, they often proved braver and more fearless than many veterans—though naturally, their casualty rate would also reach staggering levels.

The rural boy named Jamie was facing these goblin monsters in person for the very first time.

Of course he felt fear. After all, he had learned of the cruel and terrifying nature of these monsters from the countless warnings of his parents and elders since childhood.

But at this moment, as he was truly left on the battlefield for the first time instead of following the others to hide in the cellar as before, what surged in his heart was an even more boiling emotion.

He had to protect his family!

Even though his knee had suffered a heavy blow, making it difficult to stand and forcing him to sit on the ground as the pain spread, Jamie kept his head held high in the face of the filthy wooden club raised by the goblin.

With clear, resolute eyes filled with anger, he glared fiercely at the filthy monster before him.

"Shriek!"

Naturally, it had not a shred of mercy.

Aiming for the vital spot on its prey's head, the Goblin flexed its arm. The muscles beneath its paper-thin skin bulged and writhed, and the raised wooden club was just about to smash down.

And right at that moment.

Like the shadow cast by the Grim Reaper's scythe, an Arm Shield refracted a dark gleam under the sunlight.

Accompanied by the deep, echoing howl of a wolf, a hand suddenly reached out from the side.

With a speed that seemed slow but was entirely beyond a normal person's ability to react, five fingers gently clamped over the Goblin's head, like the metal claw of an arcade crane machine.

A slight application of force.

"Crack."

A crisp sound, much like an eggshell shattering, burst into the air.

The twitching corpse collapsed to the ground.

Flicking away the "eggshells" and "egg yolk" staining his fingers, Xia Nan glanced at the stunned country boy on the ground before turning around, his gaze falling upon the remaining twenty-plus Goblins on the field.

His expression showed no obvious change, remaining calm and cold, but his heartbeat had already begun to silently accelerate under the influence of his twisted emotions.

"Arooo!"

The wolf's howl erupted. The process of crushing dry weeds and rotting wood in battle naturally needed no further elaboration.

To avoid scaring the local villagers as much as possible, Xia Nan maintained his usual crisp, efficient style when facing enemies, rather than indulging too much.

As a result, the entire battle ended very quickly.

The twenty-plus goblins were effortlessly dispatched in less than a minute.

The stamina he consumed was even less than what he spent traveling, and getting injured was completely out of the question; he only got some enemy blood smeared on the surface of his armor.

Thanks to his timely appearance, the villagers didn't suffer any significant casualties either.

Among all the villagers who participated in the battle, the most severely injured was still the young Jamie, whose knee had accidentally been swept by a Goblin's wooden club.

Knowing that the village likely lacked the capability to treat him given their conditions, Jamie would probably have had to live the rest of his life with a limp.

Since there were no adventurers around other than himself, just the most ordinary villagers, they wouldn't know his specific combat style or class system. He could claim to be a paladin or a cleric, and there would be no risk.

So, Xia Nan used the Lesser Healing spell, which could be cast three times a day from the [Tears of Spring Breath] necklace hidden deep within his inner lining, to heal the boy.

The hands spun rapidly. Under the effects of the [Accelerated Healing] ability attached to the [White Flask] Pocket Watch, the boy's deformed knee injury was transformed into a minor sprain that would heal in a few days in just a matter of seconds.

At this point, having first helped the villagers deal with the attacking goblins to display his strength, and then using his abilities as a professional adventurer to heal the injured village boy to show his goodwill, the imagined scenario of being secretly ostracized while forced into a position of respect naturally didn't occur.

The villagers enthusiastically hosted this passing adventurer from out of town.

He had only wanted to come over and ask for directions. To some extent, the existence of the goblins themselves was already a form of reward for Xia Nan, so he naturally didn't let the impoverished villagers spend any more money.

Using the map he had taken out from the [White Flask] Pocket Watch and slung over his back right before entering the village, Xia Nan straightforwardly asked the village chief about their current location and received a very accurate answer.

Fortunately, he hadn't deviated too far. He estimated that it would take him just under half a day to get back onto the straight line he had drawn between Salt Rock Port and Bloodcast Keep.

He was about to leave right then, but suddenly recalled the clearly makeshift defensive setups he had glimpsed on the road during the battle, so he casually asked one more question.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the words left his mouth, the village chief before him let out a deep sigh and began explaining the recent events around the village to Xia Nan.

For a small village situated deep in the frontier mountains like theirs, the advantage was that they wouldn't be discovered by passing wicked adventurers, thus avoiding being massacred simply for poor hospitality.

The disadvantage, however, was their remote location. There were basically no merchants passing through on regular days, leaving them almost entirely self-sufficient, and they constantly had to deal with beasts and monsters from the woods.

Especially the goblins, which infested every corner of the world like cockroaches.

In fact, over the years, successive village chiefs had accumulated experience, and their understanding of creatures like goblins was on par with many veteran adventurers.

They knew that these filthy, ugly green-skinned monsters were driven by desire. If they were truly going to launch a large-scale attack on the village, their first targets were usually the foul-smelling pens where livestock were kept.

Therefore, the village would usually set up numerous alarm traps around the pens and have the villagers guard them in shifts. The pens were located on the other side of the village, not the half Xia Nan had approached to inspect.

Over the years, those simple-minded Goblins had always attacked the pens first, exactly as the villagers anticipated.

With such thorough preparations, the village had managed to survive the goblins' successive attacks.

"But for some unknown reason, starting from the beginning of this year, not only has the number of goblin activities nearby gradually increased, but over the last month or two, their intelligence seems to have risen significantly as well."

The village chief wore a baffled expression.

"In the past, after just killing those few Goblins in the first wave, the rest of the goblins would have lost all courage to keep fighting."

"But now, not only does their morale not drop, they've become crazed and fearless. They're practically braver than human soldiers."

"Furthermore—"

Suddenly seeming to recall something, the village chief's face darkened, the wrinkles on his face bunching together.

Those twenty-plus goblins they had just fought were the very first instance the village had encountered in decades of them choosing not to attack the livestock pens.

Considering the recent mutations discovered in the Goblins, he even suspected that these goblins had intentionally bypassed the trap-laden pens and attacked the village from the other side.

And if that were truly the case—

The village chief couldn't help but shiver.

Xia Nan similarly had no solution to this.

The existence of goblins was like crops in a field. You reap a batch this year, and a while later, a whole new horde pops up out of nowhere. They simply couldn't be wiped out entirely.

And since it was impossible for him to stay in this village for a long time, if the Goblins attacking the village continued to act like they did today, the only choice left for the village chief before him would probably be to pack up and lead the villagers away from this place.

"These past few days have been truly strange, though."

"Not only have the goblins become much smarter, but we've even hosted esteemed adventurers like yourself—who we normally wouldn't see even once a year—for the second time this month."

"Oh?" Xia Nan raised an eyebrow, sharply catching the keyword in the man's sentence.

"Just the day before yesterday, an esteemed adventurer—much larger in build than you, and accompanied by a white wolf—stayed overnight in the village."

"He didn't ask for a single bit of our food, and even left a few silver coins when he departed."

"His direction was just slightly different from yours; he headed into the woods to the northwest."