Chapter 625 Profound Pitch-Black

Xia Nan followed the barbarian Forgan and the winter wolf Fanny deep into the valley.

Their elevation was relatively high, and the continuous uphill climb made it difficult for him to see far ahead.

But as they pressed deeper, Xia Nan gradually caught that familiar scent in the air—one that made his heart race.

Sure enough, after another twenty minutes of trekking through the dense forest...

A large goblin settlement appeared before them.

He had more than enough experience dealing with goblin tribes. Standing on the lush hillside, Xia Nan needed only a single glance downward to determine the settlement's rough scale.

There had to be between 100 and 120 ordinary goblins, and elite individuals were absolutely present; otherwise, a group this large could never have gathered.

But—

Staring at the valley clearing below with his pitch-black eyes, Xia Nan unconsciously frowned.

This goblin settlement seemed a bit different from any he had encountered before.

Normally, given the despicable nature of green-skinned goblins, not even an elite leader could completely suppress their chaotic, crazed, and filthy instincts.

Yet here in this valley clearing, Xia Nan saw none of the feces and rotting carcasses that would typically litter a goblin camp.

To some extent, the entire area could even be considered clean.

Furthermore, the vast majority of goblins dug deep underground to build their nests. This settlement numbered in the triple digits and should have easily been capable of excavating a large underground cavern, yet they had built their camp directly on the surface.

They had patched-up, multicolored tents scavenged from who-knew-where, crooked yet somehow structurally sound wooden huts, and had even erected a decent-looking defensive palisade of sharpened branches around the perimeter.

From a distance, if one didn't look closely, it could easily be mistaken for a temporary encampment set up by the army of some intelligent race.

Even more surprisingly, the goblins in the camp were displaying a bizarre level of discipline.

About twenty goblins were standing in the clearing at the center of the camp.

As if undergoing military training, they had formed two crooked rows. Led by a clearly stronger goblin in front, they swung their wooden clubs to a relatively synchronized "Hiss-gah" chant.

If a restless goblin occasionally failed to suppress its instincts and fell out of line, a single glare from the squad captain would have it instantly shrinking its head and scrambling back into formation.

Xia Nan even spotted individuals acting as sentries and patrol squads near the edge of the palisade.

'This isn't right, is it?'

This behavior was akin to a proper army of intelligent creatures. Even with a hobgoblin as the settlement leader, he didn't believe the goblin species capable of such a thing.

Xia Nan subconsciously turned his head, his gaze falling upon the barbarian Forgan who had brought him here.

Seemingly sensing the confusion in Xia Nan's gaze, the barbarian didn't turn around. His ice-blue eyes remained fixed on the goblin camp below as he spoke.

"It seems you've noticed what makes this goblin tribe different."

"They're the reason I temporarily altered my route to Bloodcast Keep."

"I suspect these goblins came from the border."

Forgan had discovered this bizarrely behaving goblin tribe many days ago.

With his formidable Transcendent Tier strength approaching the Legendary rank, wiping them out would naturally be as easy as flipping his hand.

But the barbarian hadn't done so.

Having noticed the anomalies and formed his own suspicions, he had used this time to comprehensively investigate their origins, circumstances, and the reasons behind their behavioral shift.

This was precisely why Xia Nan had been able to catch up from behind.

As for the results of Forgan's investigation—

He had made a few discoveries, but the details would have to wait for further scrutiny until they reached Bloodcast Keep.

Now that so many days had passed, Forgan had thoroughly investigated this tribe, which most likely hailed from the border. There was no point in keeping them around any longer.

Before leaving, he had originally planned to let the winter wolf Fanny use this opportunity to hone her practical combat skills.

He hadn't expected Xia Nan—whom he had agreed to meet at Bloodcast Keep—to catch up right at this moment, seemingly a bit lost on his class progression path.

Forgan decided to use this goblin settlement as a testing tool to observe the kid's changes over the past year through actual combat.

Understanding the barbarian's intent, Xia Nan nodded. "What exactly do you need me to do?"

"Stealth assassination, or—"

"Just do what you normally do," Forgan replied, crossing his arms. "However you usually handle these goblins, just do that now. No need to overthink it."

'Do what I normally do—'

Hearing this, Xia Nan's expression remained unchanged, but his heart skipped a beat.

'Then I probably really do need to overthink it.'

His little hobby was much healthier than gambling or heavy drinking.

But in most situations, it still wasn't the kind of behavior worth showing off.

When Xia Nan usually indulged himself, he didn't particularly try to hide it. If someone happened to pass by and see, it wouldn't matter much—it wasn't as if he'd silence them on the spot.

But if he were to truly demonstrate his understanding of goblin anatomy and his immensely honed torture techniques right here in front of the barbarian...

It was hard to say if it would negatively impact his image in the man's eyes.

'Hmm... I should hold back a little when I strike. Keep the movements clean. Don't leave guts and minced meat all over the ground. I'll try to make it look somewhat decent.'

Seemingly noticing Xia Nan's momentary hesitation, Forgan misunderstood.

The cold, typically silent barbarian—who rarely showed outward emotion—actually reached out and patted Xia Nan's shoulder. His thick Northlands accent carried a rare hint of encouragement. "Go on. Don't worry, I'll be watching from right here. Just do your best."

Hearing the barbarian say so, Xia Nan no longer hesitated.

He drew the straight sword, [Ember Fall], from his back, walked down the hillside, and headed toward the goblin camp in the valley.

Watching the receding figure ahead, Forgan's face remained impassive, but a ripple of emotion stirred in his heart.

Having left the barbarian tribe so many years ago, his footsteps had crossed half the continent.

He had encountered too many things and seen too many people.

But regardless, the vast majority of his energy had been spent tracking the Swamp Druid, Bartholomew, to the point that even his perception of time had blurred.

Now, over a year had passed in the blink of an eye since he last saw Xia Nan.

The rookie who had originally just entered the trade had already grown into a veteran adventurer who could draw his sword against a large goblin tribe alone.

Such growth and change actually caused a trace of gratification to surface in Forgan's heart.

Of course, he wouldn't let Xia Nan needlessly suffer a huge risk. The barbarian naturally had his reasons for choosing this goblin tribe as the boy's testing ground.

Within his perception, Xia Nan's Class Level should be around Lv4 or Lv5. As for the specifics of his combat technique system and battle style, Forgan naturally had no way of knowing since they hadn't seen each other in so long.

But according to what the boy had said, since he had already reached the point of comprehending a "battle posture" ahead of time, his actual combat ability shouldn't be too weak.

And even if, to raise his Class Level as quickly as possible and limited by his acquisition channels, the combat techniques the boy chose when leveling up were of relatively lower quality...

Having the [Fang Hunt] he had taught him as a core combat technique, as long as it could be utilized proficiently, the boy should be able to put up a decent showing on this relatively open valley floor.

Moreover, Forgan had thoroughly investigated the specific situation of this bizarre goblin settlement over the past few days.

Excluding those 120 or 130 ordinary goblins, there were also two bugbears with a Challenge Rating of Lv1, as well as a relatively tougher elite hobgoblin.

Regarding the bugbears, there wasn't much to say. They were no different from ordinary beasts; whether a bit stronger or a bit skinnier, their overall Challenge Rating wouldn't change much.

The main difficulty lay in how to break through the defensive line formed by such a massive number of goblins, and whether to execute a decapitation strike against the bugbears, or use hit-and-run guerrilla tactics to clear out the grunts before focusing on the leader.

Overall, as long as some combat strategies were cleverly utilized, a normally developed veteran adventurer with a Class Level around Lv4 or Lv5 would likely face some trouble during the process, but the outcome would almost certainly be a final victory.

In Forgan's eyes, the true difficulty in this battle—and the reason he stood here ready to step in at any moment—was the elite hobgoblin leading the settlement.

Hobgoblins, an elite variant of goblins, actually possessed a Challenge Rating in the Adventurers' Association's Monster Compendium that was much lower than even a bugbear's, standing at only Challenge Rating 0.5.

But in reality, this monster possessed a far higher developmental potential than its cousins.

Unlike the strong and burly physiques of bugbears, hobgoblins leaned more toward intelligence in their development.

These cunning and brutal monsters possessed intelligence far exceeding that of ordinary goblins; to some extent, they could even rival advanced intelligent races like humans, elves, and dwarves.

This granted hobgoblins the fundamental prerequisites to learn combat techniques—and even acquire Class Levels—just like adventurers.

Of course, due to their inherently brutal and evil nature, it was impossible for them to become proper adventurers accepting quests at the Association, nor did they generally have the opportunity to learn outside combat techniques.

They could only increase their Class Level along a relatively fixed professional path using combat techniques passed down within the goblin tribes.

A hobgoblin's strength could often be judged by its title.

Driven by their instinctual racial obsession with war, hobgoblins typically used military ranks to measure individual strength within their species.

The ranks progressed from the initial "Sergeant" to "Lieutenant," and further up to "Field Officer" and "General."

And the one currently leading this goblin force was a hobgoblin Lieutenant.

Calculated according to the progression system familiar to adventurers, its Challenge Rating was around Lv5.

This was a threat that required an entire, well-balanced four-person squad of Lv5 members to handle properly.

Yet now, Xia Nan was alone on the field.

Forced to simultaneously fight over a hundred goblins, two bugbears, and a Class Grade hobgoblin, it was entirely foreseeable that this black-haired boy would run into immense trouble.

And this was exactly what Forgan hoped to see.

He had even hoped Xia Nan would engage this goblin force before they met, thereby eliminating any psychological reliance the boy might have on his presence.

Only in this kind of high-intensity combat—through the decisions and reactions made in the blink of an eye, using the extreme pressure of lethal danger to push everything one had mastered to the absolute limit—could one accurately judge his current tier of strength.

At the same time, it would allow Forgan to gain a relatively clear understanding of the special "battle posture" Xia Nan claimed to have developed based on [Fang Hunt], as well as the bottleneck he had encountered on his class progression path.

"Awooo—"

Beside him, the winter wolf Fanny, manifested from a wolf spirit, not only far exceeded ordinary winter wolves in growth speed and strength level, but her intelligence had also reached the level of an intelligent creature.

Seeing Xia Nan heading down to the goblin camp alone, she couldn't help but let out a low whine. Her long forelegs alternately tapped the ground, her paws restlessly scratching back and forth, leaving deep claw marks in the earth.

It seemed that with just a single command from Forgan, she would charge down the hillside to join Xia Nan.

They had only met once over a year ago; this was merely Fanny and Xia Nan's second close encounter. Yet this spirit-manifested winter wolf, who had always been as proud and icy as the permafrost of the tundra, was displaying such fervent enthusiasm.

It made Forgan feel rather complicated inwardly.

He didn't overthink it, however, merely writing it off as the influence of their shared roots in [Fang Hunt].

Stretching out his broad, cold hand, he vigorously rubbed Fanny's fluffy head and spoke in the native tongue of his barbarian tribe, "Don't be in a rush, Little Snowflake."

"When the boy can't hold on any longer, that will be your time to shine."

Whine—

Hearing this, the somewhat anxious Fanny had no choice but to lower her head with a soft whimper, her wolf eyes—gleaming with human-like intelligence—staring distantly at the figure gradually approaching the goblin camp down the slope.

As for when to step in, Forgan naturally had a plan in mind.

To put it bluntly, even if some unexpected situation really did occur, he was standing right on the sidelines. Could he possibly just watch Xia Nan get into trouble?

Right now, he merely needed to use the goblins to carefully test Xia Nan's current strength tier.

If it truly reached the point where the boy faced a siege and showed signs of crumbling, he—

"Howl!!"

Distinct from the usual sound of [Fang Hunt] being unleashed, a noticeably deeper and more profound wolf howl suddenly erupted from the bottom of the slope.

A strange feeling surfacing in his heart, Forgan subconsciously looked toward the source of the sound.

What met his eyes...

was something he had never seen before, yet found inexplicably familiar.

Gathering chaotically in the air like a tangible gale, it gradually sketched out the ferocious silhouette of a wolf—a profound pitch-blackness as if drawn from the depths of hell.