Chapter 626 Suppressed Brutality, Cleanly Crushed

With Forgan watching from a nearby hillside, Xia Nan certainly couldn't let his inner desires run wild—he had to maintain his image in the Barbarian's eyes. Truth be told, he had felt quite stifled traveling from Barracuda Bay to Salt Rock Port these past few days.

The tedious voyage went without saying. After finally swimming to the port, he discovered that the Barbarian, who had agreed to meet him there, had already left ahead of schedule, forcing Xia Nan to set out immediately after only a brief rest in town.

Pressed for time, he had mostly just hacked his way through any goblin tribes he encountered along the road in a blur. He never took the opportunity to properly utilize them or savor the experience.

It only made the suppressed wildfire in his heart burn brighter.

Finally stumbling across a large-scale goblin tribe now was like a lost traveler finding an oasis in the desert. He should have been able to unleash himself to his heart's content.

Yet, mindful of the bystander's presence, he was forced to hold back.

It was truly stifling.

However, Xia Nan's stress tolerance had always been excellent. He was disciplined enough to recognize his priorities.

He knew the most important thing right now was to demonstrate his capabilities in actual combat in front of the Barbarian, Forgan, allowing the man to observe his shortcomings.

Relying on an iron-like willpower that ordinary people could hardly imagine, he forcibly suppressed his inner desires and dragged his focus back to the battle itself.

He had a clear understanding of his own strength and never acted arrogant without reason.

Even though the enemies he faced now were the all-too-familiar Goblins, Xia Nan still maintained a relatively cautious mindset. Before the battle officially began, he mentally assessed the actual combat power of both sides.

On the Goblin side, the hundred or so ordinary Goblins could basically be ignored.

With his current combat style and combat technique system, if ordinary Goblins with a Challenge Rating of merely "0.25" wanted to overwhelm him with sheer numbers... even under restrictive conditions like being unable to retreat and forced to fight to the death, the number of Goblins required would reach an absurd figure.

The hundred or so before him were completely insufficient.

Aside from them, Xia Nan's acute Perception picked up a total of three elite individuals in this goblin force.

Two of them had relatively weak auras. Based on his past experience, they should be two Bugbears with an ordinary Challenge Rating 1.

The remaining individual, whose aura was unfamiliar yet exuded a remarkably strong presence, had to be the commander of this goblin troop.

Since he hadn't made actual contact or even seen the commander, Xia Nan naturally couldn't obtain more intelligence.

But judging solely by its aura intensity, this goblin commander's strength tier should be close to the Shark Beast monsters of the Southern Archipelagos, with a Challenge Rating around Level 5—well within the range he could handle.

With this in mind, and possessing a clear understanding of his own strength—knowing his actual combat power far exceeded his surface Class Level—Xia Nan felt a slight sense of relief.

A target offering both sheer quantity and elite individual strength was perfect for showcasing his current combat system.

"Scree!"

Having no intention of relying on stealth or assassinations, Xia Nan didn't deliberately hide his figure. Instead, he walked directly toward the main entrance of the crude goblin camp. The few Goblins acting as sentries on the camp's edge quickly spotted the black-haired adventurer approaching with a straight sword in hand, prompting them to let out sharp screeches to sound the alarm.

However, they were ultimately not an intelligent troop that had undergone rigorous, systematic military training. No matter how organized these Goblins looked on the surface, the moment they faced a sudden attack, they immediately descended into chaos.

Looking through the incredibly crude fence that offered no defensive capability to speak of, he peered into the camp.

He could see that at the sentries' shrieks, some Goblins didn't even know how to react. Hearing the warning, they blindly rushed to the camp's perimeter; only after actually seeing Xia Nan did they let out weird cries and run back to their shacks to fetch their weapons.

A few individuals—who had been cooped up for a long time, much like Xia Nan—showed absolutely no military discipline. In twos and threes, they raised their wooden clubs and excitedly charged in his direction.

Being all too familiar with the chaotic and evil nature of Goblins, he hadn't expected much to begin with.

His dark eyes shifted slightly, his gaze passing over the drooling Green-Skinned Goblins charging toward him to lock onto the spreading chaos deep within the camp.

Gripping the [Ember Fall] straight sword, Xia Nan gradually quickened his pace.

As the loose hair on his forehead swayed, the invisible astral wind swirling around him was slowly dyed a profound, pitch black amid the growing sound of a wolf's howl.

Gak Bloodspear hated these noisy, stupid Green-Skinned Goblins.

Goblins that had just been birthed from the earth were far more annoying than the most stubborn cubs.

Even getting them to piss and shit in a designated spot, rather than smearing their excrement all over the camp, had taken him nearly half a month.

Fortunately, with such large numbers, a few "mutant" individuals with slightly more developed brains who could understand him would eventually emerge. Gak Bloodspear handed the task of teaching the newborn Goblins to these squad leaders, who were similarly newly born but possessed slightly higher intelligence.

To some extent, the methods of these goblin squad leaders were even simpler and more efficient than his own.

While he ordered the foolish green-skins who defecated randomly to shove their waste back down their throats, the goblin squad leaders chose to directly eliminate the source of the excrement.

If they found a Goblin defecating on the ground, they simply smashed it to death on the spot and threw the corpse into the cooking pot for dinner.

If they couldn't find the culprit, they would drag out a few nearby Goblins from a squad, smash them to death as a public warning, and toss them into the pot just the same.

Consequently, after some time, every Goblin in the entire camp surprisingly learned to control where they relieved themselves.

Of course, Gak Bloodspear figured it was also possible that the Goblins who hadn't learned were already part of the excrement by now. He wasn't worried about their numbers in the camp.

Strictly speaking, the hundred or so currently here were the result of him intentionally culling their numbers according to plan, reducing the chance of exposure by selecting relatively superior individuals and driving away or killing the inferior ones.

As a Hobgoblin Lieutenant who had once commanded large-scale armies, Gak Bloodspear couldn't be clearer on the reproductive capabilities of Green-Skinned Goblins. Even the crops planted by humans only ripened for harvest once or twice a year, and that still depended on favorable weather.

Green-Skinned Goblins, on the other hand, could sprout endlessly from the earth. A few hundred dying didn't matter at all.

It was exactly for this reason that he had the confidence to abandon his original troops, cross the border alone, and build a new force here. Gak Bloodspear's mission was actually very simple.

To rebuild a goblin army within this border region of the Servia Kingdom—one with enough combat power to pose a threat to the kingdom's soldiers.

As for what would happen after its successful assembly—whether they would follow the main force to pincer Bloodcast Keep from the rear, sever the border soldiers' supply lines, or continue deeper inland to harass the kingdom's towns—that was beyond what someone of his rank was allowed to know.

Although Gak Bloodspear guessed it would likely be one of those plans, he didn't act rashly. Instead, adhering to the wartime instincts of the Hobgoblin race, he waited with great discipline for orders from above.

"Boss Bloodspear, there's a small human village southeast of the valley. Do you want..."

Inside the cleanest and tidiest tent in the center of the camp, a Bugbear prostrated on the ground. Its eyes flashed with intelligent light, and its muscular physique resembled a bipedal bear. It offered this suggestion to Gak Bloodspear, who sat ahead on a high chair draped in animal skins.

Humans...

It had been so long since he infiltrated the border and arrived here. Gak Bloodspear had indeed not tasted the wonderful flavor of human blood in quite some time. Now that the Bugbear mentioned it, he couldn't help but feel tempted.

Seemingly sensing its leader's hesitation, the thick-maned Bugbear couldn't suppress its own rising excitement at the thought of humans. It let out a low growl before continuing in Goblin:

"Roar... Normally, there are basically no merchant caravans passing through this small village. Deep in the mountains, there won't even be travelers. Even if we grab all the humans inside, there won't be any trouble."

Gak Bloodspear didn't reply immediately.

In his fierce, round eyes, the thirst for blood and slaughter born from his bloodline instincts repeatedly clashed with the rationality needed to safely execute his mission.

The Hobgoblin Lieutenant looked down at the subordinate prostrating before him and slowly opened his mouth, just about to speak.

Suddenly, the weird "Scree!" screeches from the Green-Skinned Goblins outside the tent interrupted them.

"Damn it, what trouble have these bugs caused now!"

Interrupted at such a critical moment, the Bugbear appeared far angrier than Gak Bloodspear.

"Boss Bloodspear, I'll go out and check."

He was already used to it.

Even though these were the cream of the crop, relatively high-quality individuals handpicked from countless Goblins.

It was still difficult for these Green-Skinned Goblins to shake off their chaotic and disorderly nature.

Despite looking respectable while training under the squad leaders on a normal day, something as simple as a deer wandering into the camp could excite dozens of Goblins into losing their minds.

Incidents like this occurred almost every five or six days.

Thus, Gak Bloodspear thought nothing of it and let the Bugbear leave the tent with an angry roar.

But soon, he realized something was wrong.

Even though the Bugbear—whose status in the entire troop was second only to his own—had gone to quell the disturbance, the screeching from outside showed no sign of stopping. Instead, it was growing ever more intense.

Unease surfaced in his heart.

Gak Bloodspear subconsciously rose from his high chair. He grabbed the Fine iron spear resting nearby—forged by a Hobgoblin blacksmith in his tribe and the source of his surname—and walked toward the tent flap.

A strange noise abruptly rang out from outside, resembling a wolf's howl but far deeper and longer, making him quicken his pace involuntarily.

The attack had come too suddenly. The source of the wolf howl—the unknown attacker's speed—was simply too fast.

From the moment Gak Bloodspear realized something was wrong and got up from his chair, to hearing the wolf howl, quickening his pace, and reaching the tent entrance...

Only a few short seconds had passed.

The first wave of impact was already over.

When Gak Bloodspear cautiously used his Fine iron spear to push aside the tent flap...

What greeted his eyes was a hideous wolf beast with a swaying mane, formed entirely of pitch-black astral aura mingled with fresh blood and shredded flesh.

It was as if they had been sucked into an invisible meat grinder. The Goblins couldn't even manage the most basic approach before the pitch-black astral winds, raging through the air like blades, shredded them into unrecognizable, severed limbs and minced meat.

"Splash!"

Filthy, foul, warm blood rained down.

The Bugbear—who had just been in the tent suggesting they attack the human village and who had stepped outside moments before Gak Bloodspear—was standing mostly intact, its body slightly stiff.

Yet, on a physiological level, it had already lost the ability to ever let out an angry roar again.

Gurgle, gurgle—

Scarlet blood spurted rhythmically from the stump of its neck in time with its still-beating heart, looking like a miniature fountain forged of flesh and blood. However, the head originally responsible for catching this "spring water" had vanished from its neck.

It had landed between jagged wolf fangs.

The Wolf's Maw opened and closed, letting the Bugbear's head roll onto the ground with a thud.

It seemingly sensed a gaze from the side.

The terrifying behemoth condensed from astral wind, blood, and shredded meat slowly turned its head.

As if hailing from the abyss and contrasted against a brutal scene saturated with death, those pitch-black wolf eyes—bizarrely devoid of any emotional fluctuation and as calm as a deep pool in the woods—locked gazes with the stiffened Hobgoblin Lieutenant.

Buzz.

An icy terror erupting from the depths of his soul gripped his heart.

An indescribable, terrifying pressure and a chilling dread he had never felt before caused Gak Bloodspear's memory to blur.

The tactical mindset and combat technique usage he had cultivated under the training of his tribal elders were completely forgotten.

Like a pale mass of flesh that had lost its soul, he could only rely on muscle memory to fight, no longer able to seize the advantage using an intellect and cognitive ability far superior to the Green-Skinned Goblins as he always had.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Gripping his spear tightly with both hands, he continuously blocked the falling blade before him in an incredibly passive stance amid showering sparks. Gak Bloodspear could feel that every strike from the young, black-haired adventurer—who had to be the true form of the wolf beast he had just glimpsed—was rhythmically increasing in both power and speed.

But facing such a furious, torrential assault, he didn't have a single chance to interrupt. He could only parry in vain despair, like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Yet just before the blade's force and speed reached the limits of what he could endure, the previously fierce onslaught bizarrely came to an abrupt halt!

Going from extremely fast to extremely slow, the intense contrast made Gak Bloodspear's brain spin, causing an unstoppable wave of nausea to rise in his chest.

"Clang-crash!"

The spear in his hands was easily swatted aside.

The Gray-Black Straight Sword, wrapped in a dazzling ochre light, traced a perfect arc through the air.

The force field energy erupted instantly. Accompanied by the swinging blade, it was stretched horizontally into a blinding sword light that sliced smoothly through the Hobgoblin's neck.

"Swish-buzz."

His head flew spinning into the air.