Chapter 623 Final Encounter

Not wanting to waste the villagers' precious food, and having confirmed he couldn't get any more information out of them, Xia Nan once again politely declined their warm invitations and left the village.

His direction of travel, however, was no longer toward Bloodcast Keep in the northeast, but rather toward the northwest—the direction the village chief said the barbarian Forgan had gone.

Truth be told, Xia Nan hadn't really wanted to disrupt his original plans and travel rhythm.

But the situation had changed.

According to the village chief, the barbarian had just left this small village two days ago. Furthermore, he hadn't seemed to be in any rush when he departed, merely disappearing slowly into the dense forest.

Although they shared the same destination, Xia Nan saw no reason not to put in a little effort if he could run into the man early on the road.

The only thing that left him somewhat puzzled was the man's choice of route.

At least under his own Perception, there were no notable territories of dangerous monsters ahead, nor any extreme terrain that would obviously obstruct the path forward.

With Forgan's formidable strength at the Transcendent Tier, bordering on the Legendary rank, he was entirely capable of heading straight for Bloodcast Keep in a much smoother manner than Xia Nan himself.

Yet now, he had actively diverted his course, choosing the northwest.

Why?

Had he sensed some troublesome danger on the road ahead that Xia Nan hadn't noticed, or had he discovered something else to the northwest, prompting him to temporarily change his route?

Xia Nan couldn't quite figure it out, but he instinctively heightened his vigilance.

The temporary plan he formulated was very simple.

First, following the direction where the village chief said the barbarian had disappeared, he would sprint into the northwestern mountains and forests using his combat techniques for two days to see if he could find anything.

Regardless, with the village chief's help, he had now clearly marked his current location on the map. If there was no progress, he could just make a large detour and return to his original route. At most, it would delay him by three or four days, a cost well within his acceptable range.

Deciding to push forward while keeping enough stamina in reserve to handle sudden emergencies, Xia Nan executed [Fang Hunt]. Leveraging [Tidal Stabilization] and his outstanding physical fitness, he rapidly shuttled through the undulating mountains.

Unfortunately, despite rushing madly toward the northwest for two straight days, he didn't find a single trace left by the barbarian Forgan.

The biting astral winds shredded the falling leaves around him. With his chest heaving, Xia Nan slowly came to a halt and let out a long breath.

The powerful breath blasted the ground, causing the dense, tall grass in front of him to sway violently.

Looking ahead, he saw the same towering, dense forest obscuring the sky and the continuous, rolling verdant mountains—a scene that seemed almost copy-pasted, completely unchanged from the previous few days.

Figuring that his plan to catch up with Forgan was a total failure, Xia Nan didn't feel particularly discouraged, maintaining a steady mood.

Taking the map out of his [White Flask] pocket watch once more, he confirmed his current position and began planning his route back to his original path.

Suddenly, he caught a whiff of an intoxicating, alluring scent that he was extremely sensitive to.

Xia Nan's movements to fold up the map paused.

His gaze subconsciously shifted toward the scent, and he glanced down at the route he had just planned out on the map, feeling a slight inner conflict.

'It's on the way anyway. Even if I stop for a bit, it should only waste ten or twenty minutes at most.'

'How about—'

Xia Nan hesitated for a moment before taking the [Fate Glimmer] brass die off his necklace.

Naturally, it was impossible for him to waste its precious, once-a-month effect in a place like this, and the other luck-modifier effect with only a one-day cooldown wouldn't be of much use right now either.

Faced with such an inconsequential decision, Xia Nan merely wanted to rely on the three points of luck bonus provided by the [Fate Glimmer] die.

With a slight flick of his right hand, he tossed the brass die high into the air.

Ten points or below, he would continue on his journey.

Above ten points, he would indulge himself a bit to relieve some pressure.

"Smack."

He clapped his hands together, catching the die.

He moved his palm away and looked down.

The die landed face up.

The simple, evenly engraved numbers caught his eye:

Twenty points.

The nest of this goblin settlement was not hard to find.

To Xia Nan, the filthy stench permeating the air was like a quest marker pointing the way for players in a video game from his past life.

By merely deviating slightly from his planned route and quickening his pace to wind through the forest for less than ten minutes, a highly conspicuous cave situated beneath a hillside appeared before his eyes.

Even though he was already exceptionally Proficient at this, he still maintained a considerable degree of caution, adhering to the basic principles of an adventurer out on a mission.

He was in no rush to go in and indulge himself. Instead, he thoroughly inspected the area around the cave several times.

His rich experience in eradication campaigns allowed him to astutely deduce the approximate scale of this goblin tribe just from the footprints in the clearing near the nest's entrance, the width of the cave tunnel, and the size and causes of death of the prey skeletons scattered around.

The tribe's population should be between thirty and forty, and there was a high probability that they had a bugbear with a Challenge Rating 1 as their leader.

It was just barely at a level that could allow him to enjoy himself.

His heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate. Taking a deep breath, Xia Nan drew the [Ember Fall] straight sword from his back.

Like some thug breaking into a private home, he lightened his footsteps and silently slipped into the dimly lit cave.

It was a bit strange.

According to his accumulated experience, merely venturing a short distance into the cave should have made it very easy to hear the unique hissing and screeching cries of the goblins echoing from the depths of the nest.

But right now, Xia Nan couldn't hear the slightest sound. It was terrifyingly quiet.

At the same time, he gradually caught the scent of an extremely distinct stench of blood mixed in with the goblins' body odor and the smell of rotting corpses.

He frowned slightly, realizing that some sort of special situation had likely occurred in this goblin nest.

Before he even had time to halt his steps, his Perception—which far exceeded that of an ordinary adventurer—allowed him to notice additional details.

For some reason, the air temperature inside the tunnel was noticeably much lower than in the goblin nests he had cleared out in the past.

As if thinking of something, Xia Nan couldn't help but touch the outline of the [Fate Glimmer] die through his clothes, his mind wandering.

'No way...'

His pace abruptly quickened, but his body unconsciously tensed up, already making combat preparations to deal with unexpected situations.

Passing through a tunnel that was clearly widened to accommodate the size of a bugbear, the core of the underground nest remained spacious, resembling a crudely constructed small plaza.

However, the twisted scene he had imagined of goblins dancing and cheering excitedly around a bonfire was nowhere to be found.

Replacing it were shattered, overturned filthy cooking pots with their vile contents spilled all over the floor; a "carpet" of compressed filth that had been ripped up by the shockwaves of battle, exposing the rocky ground beneath; and—

Corpse after corpse of green-skinned goblins, now cold and dead.

Even their leader, that robust bugbear known as the "Rookie Adventurer Killer," was now lying motionless on the ground, its frozen, cloudy eyes completely devoid of their former fierce gleam.

Having already anticipated this in the tunnel on the way here, Xia Nan was not surprised by the scene before him.

But at the same time, his excitement over the upcoming indulgence was replaced by a more subtle sense of anticipation.

Utilizing his Perception, he surveyed the cave several times to ensure there was no lingering danger.

He began to carefully inspect the corpses of these goblins.

Unlike his own execution methods, which appeared rather cruel to outsiders, the corpses in the nest, including the bugbear deepest inside, had all been killed in a single strike.

There were primarily two types of wounds: bite marks around the neck, and slashing lacerations from a beast's claws.

The sheer force was immense.

Judging from the battle traces left on the scene, that bugbear serving as the tribe's leader hadn't even had time to swing the spiked iron hammer in its hand before half its neck was cleanly bitten off, killing it on the spot.

It went without saying for the ordinary goblins; they couldn't even last half a round before being slaughtered by sharp claws and fangs.

So, the one that had attacked this nest a step ahead of him was a powerful monster from the wild?

The conclusion inevitably left Xia Nan feeling somewhat disappointed.

But just as he was about to leave the cave, a faint glimmer flashing in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

He walked over to take a closer look.

"Hmm?"

His body involuntarily paused. He picked up the reflective object from the ground and rested it in his palm.

It was shockingly a pure white mane hair, so crystal clear that it was nearly translucent. Even though it had long since detached from its main body, it still emitted a faint chill under the effects of Transcendent Tier power.

To be honest, although he was limited by the region he operated in and had almost never seen this special kind of monster in the real world...

...he had personally operated in this exact form for quite a while inside the advancement Ritual Secret Realm held by "Algae Scale" Dodd. How could he possibly be unfamiliar with it?

The instant he saw this mane hair, Xia Nan confirmed its origin in his mind with absolute clarity and certainty:

A Winter Wolf!

His mood, which had previously sunk slightly in disappointment, quietly rose.

Even just going by its name and its pure white appearance, one could guess that Winter Wolf monsters typically inhabited frosty plains and snowy lands.

Yet Xia Nan currently stood in the densely mountainous northeastern hills.

Even the nearest snowy plateau was quite a distance away.

Unless it was an extremely rare and special situation, it was absolutely impossible for a Winter Wolf to appear here.

And at the same time, what he did know was that the barbarian Forgan—whom Xia Nan was tracking and searching for—was accompanied by a Winter Wolf with pure white fur.

In fact, Xia Nan had even seen the creature back when it was just a small wolf cub inside the White Chickadee Tavern.

His heart couldn't help but stir as he placed the wolf mane into a close-fitting waist pouch.

Xia Nan focused his attention and carefully searched through the dimly lit, small plaza-sized underground nest.

Practically pressing himself against the walls, he searched the entire cave inch by inch.

Finally, behind a slightly protruding wall that he had previously mistaken for solid rock, he discovered a hidden passageway leading even deeper, seemingly deliberately concealed by the goblins.

Having already found clues that Forgan had highly likely been here, how could Xia Nan possibly ignore it?

He prepared himself for a moment, confirming that his equipment was secure and that several of his backup trump cards were ready to be revealed at any time.

Only then did he tightly grip the Gray-Black Straight Sword in his hand and, assuming an incredibly cautious posture ready for combat at any second, slip into this tunnel located inside the goblin nest.

Thanks to his past experiences in the [Fang Hunt] Secret Realm within the [Dream Weaving Corridor], even though he was far from reaching the level of a professional Rogue, he still possessed certain concealment skills.

Coupled with his darkvision, which had similarly been enhanced along with his physical fitness...

...even though the lighting inside the tunnel was extremely dim, with only the occasional glowing fungal moss by the walls providing an incredibly faint light source...

...Xia Nan was still able to maintain a considerable forward pace while keeping up his stealth posture.

His attention was highly focused, but his thoughts began to wander slightly.

If it really was as he guessed, and the barbarian Forgan was just up ahead...

Then... what was at the end of this tunnel?

Was it the hiding place of that Swamp Druid the man was hunting down, or was it the nest where some powerful monster resided?

Considering that it connected to a goblin tribe led by a bugbear chief, perhaps what was hidden in the deepest part of the tunnel was an elite-level variant goblin?

He didn't have time to think too much.

As Xia Nan gradually ventured deeper, he made an unexpected discovery.

This long, dark tunnel located at the very back of the underground goblin nest didn't lead deeper underground as he had expected.

Instead, the terrain gradually rose, faintly showing a trend of leading up to the surface.

Just as he was feeling puzzled, suddenly, a small speck formed by bright sunlight—looking exceptionally dazzling in the dark depths—appeared at the far end of the passageway.

Knowing he was about to exit the tunnel, Xia Nan's heart couldn't help but tighten.

His right hand tightly gripped the [Ember Fall] straight sword, while his left Arm Shield loosely covered his front.

Calmly and restrainedly, he muffled his footsteps, making as little noise as possible as he gradually approached.

The ambush he had anticipated did not occur.

As Xia Nan walked out of the tunnel in a combat stance, what appeared in his line of sight were the exact same dense forests and bushes he had seen while traveling earlier.

Judging by the surrounding terrain, this place ought to be a valley.

But other than that, there was nothing special about it.

'Could it really just be a backup escape route from the goblin nest?'

Regardless, the Winter Wolf mane he had found in the nest was a fact.

Forgan—or rather, the Winter Wolf he brought with him—had absolutely been here!

As for where they went afterward...

While Xia Nan pondered, he was just thinking about taking the map out of his Pocket Watch to determine his bearings.

Suddenly, his keen Perception picked up on something.

He subconsciously turned around, his gaze sweeping toward a cluster of bushes not far to the side.

"Rustle—"

As if it had similarly felt his gaze, the bushes suddenly began to shake violently the moment his eyes met them.

"Crash!"

A completely snow-white Winter Wolf with a swaying mane suddenly leapt out from the depths of the bushes.

Its four slender paws landed on the ground. With fierce wolf eyes and a threatening low growl, it bared its jagged, razor-sharp wolf fangs at Xia Nan.

But in the very next second, as if it had caught a whiff of a familiar scent on Xia Nan's body...

...its nose twitched.

The ferocity that had originally filled the wolf's eyes instantly transformed into a kind of clear, innocent confusion.

It retracted its fangs and used its tender pink tongue to lick upward at its nose.

"Whine—"

The Winter Wolf, whose size was clearly smaller than that of an adult, tilted its head to look at Xia Nan, emitting a confused whimper from its throat.

Behind it, accompanied by the sound of slow, steady footsteps, a robust figure gradually grew clear under the illumination of the dim light filtering through the forest.