Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 236 The Primal Roar from the Heavens

Luca's cooking skills are very average.

Xia Nan had already made up his mind about this after tasting the "smoked meat stew" made by the other party for the first time on the afternoon before he set off from River Valley Town.

This burly, honest-looking man seemed to have little experience in handling ingredients.

Some of the potatoes were either not peeled properly or were peeled unevenly, reducing their size to only half of their normal size.

The seasoning is even more abstract; I have no idea how he managed to cram all that saltiness into the soup base.

The top part is as bland as water, while the bottom part is so salty it hurts your throat.

It feels like any ordinary child who's already matured and takes charge of their own household could whip up a much tastier meal in the kitchen than this kid.

It seems that their escort team wasn't as comprehensive as they had imagined.

Of course, considering that Xia Nan was not very skilled in cooking and had no intention of taking on the role of chef in the team, he didn't say much.

Although the original owner was born into an ordinary village, she usually worked in the fields with her father and brother. Her mother and sister would also come to help in the fields during the busy farming season, but they would usually go back in advance to prepare the food. By the time they got home, dinner was usually already prepared, so they didn't have much experience in handling ingredients.

As for him... all I can say is that if you touch the kitchen countertop in his rented apartment, your entire palm will be covered in dust.

I've watched countless food videos, but at most I'll fry an egg for myself while cooking instant noodles. I come home late every day, collapse on the sofa, and faint within seconds. I simply don't have the time or energy to improve my cooking skills.

There really isn't a suitable solution to the team's current predicament.

Fortunately, they were all adventurers, and once they were in the wild and away from "complex" cooking utensils, the situation immediately improved.

All you need to do is put the food on the campfire to cook it, sprinkle some seasoning, and it won't taste too bad.

"Crench."

He used the muscles on both sides of his cheeks and his arms at the same time to forcefully bite off a piece of jerky from his hand.

Chewing vigorously, feeling the tough, salty, and astringent taste on his tongue, Xia Nan's face remained expressionless, but he dipped the dried meat into the small jar of honey he carried with him a few more times.

His eyes were slightly unfocused, as if he wanted to savor the wonderful time he spent at the White Tit Tavern by the unique sweetness of honey.

At the same time, I made up my mind that if I ever had the chance to obtain a magical item with spatial magic that allows me to store items at will, I would pack a huge amount of food that I had carefully prepared for me before I went out.

Otherwise, even if you become extraordinary or even legendary, when you go out on adventures you'll still be eating the same old things as before, like cooking beans and eating jerky, and you won't really feel the increase in strength.

Swallowing the dried meat mixed with the hot water boiled over the campfire, Xia Nan leaned back against the tree trunk, his slightly narrowed eyes fixed on the firelight before him. The decapitation sword and the wooden sword "Green Pine" were placed beside him, ready to be picked up at any time to fight.

Right now, the escort team has left River Valley Town and is in the desolate wilderness near the edge of the Misty Forest.

This is because we must take into account the possibility that Newme has already discovered Haian's disappearance and has launched a manhunt.

Wood's routes mostly take him away from the main roads between towns, leading him deep into the wilderness, and sometimes requiring him to travel through the misty forest for a period of time.

They only make brief stops in a few relatively safe villages and towns when they need to resupply along the way.

Fortunately, River Valley Town was a remote town near the edge of Panyun Province, not far from the neighboring Yuansha Province, and their destination, Nianshuling, was also located at the border of the two provinces.

Therefore, the overall journey is not too far.

With the stamina of a team of almost professional adventurers, a month would be more than enough.

As for why we don't use horse-drawn carriages or similar means of transportation... as mentioned before, one reason is that the journey may involve crossing hills and rivers, which is inconvenient; another reason is the possibility of entering the Misty Forest, where the dense trees and monsters pose a threat, making both horses and vehicles very inconvenient.

Looking ahead, the entire campsite was laid out before us, illuminated by the campfire.

Luca, a front-line soldier and also a guard for the Wycliffe family, had just returned from setting up warning traps, carrying a struggling wild rabbit in his hand, which he had obviously caught on the way.

This honest-looking man, unlike his clumsy performance in the kitchen, was very professional and cautious when taking risks.

Even in the wilderness, the chances of being attacked by monsters are far less than in the forest, and there are also simple magical warnings temporarily set up by the mage Violet around the camp.

He still set up a trap further away as a second layer of insurance, as was his custom.

Luca gently twisted the rabbit's neck with his calloused hands, and the rabbit stopped struggling, twitching.

Xia Nan watched as the other person tore open the rabbit's belly with both hands, pulled out its internal organs, and threw them into the fire.

They pretended to pluck off some fur, then found a stick, skewered the rabbit whole, and placed it over the fire.

Noticing his gaze, he grinned sheepishly and lifted the wooden stick with the rabbit carcass skewered on it, as if asking Xia Nan if she wanted a bite too.

My nostrils twitched as I caught a faint, acrid smell wafting from across the street.

Xia Nan politely declined with a smile.

But he couldn't resist poking the dried meat in his hand into the honey jar twice more.

On the other side, the half-elf Haian was whispering something to Wood, holding a map in his hand and poking at it with his fingertips.

They must be discussing the upcoming itinerary.

Sava, the dragonborn, sat quietly cross-legged beside the fire, his eyes closed.

She was sitting very close to the campfire, where the surging flames almost reached her toes, and sparks from the firewood often landed on her.

Its relaxed facial features and the slightly trembling scales on its body surface clearly indicated that it was thoroughly enjoying itself.

Her bloodline as a brass dragon meant that even though she wasn't a cold-blooded animal, she still had an instinctive yearning for warmth.

Xia Nan's gaze unconsciously swept over the rapier beside the other person's leg, a sense of curiosity rising within him.

In his mind, thanks to their naturally strong bodies and bloodline magic, dragonborn are often strong warriors or powerful and mysterious sorcerers.

But the Sava before them was wielding a relatively light rapier, a weapon commonly found among wandering knights and bards. Based on information from the other teammates, it was inferred that the opponent was not a spellcaster.

This piqued Xia Nan's interest in the opponent's fighting style.

Thinking about that agile and explosive body, he wondered how to fight so that the rapier in his hand could unleash a greater power than those heavy two-handed weapons.

"It can't be a style that leans more towards dexterity, can it?" Xia Nan wondered to himself. "That would seem like a waste of the dragonborn's racial talent."

He shifted his gaze to the last member of the squad, Violet, who was sitting in the center of the camp.

At this moment, the slender girl with a ponytail is sitting quietly cross-legged on a velvet blanket.

His eyelids were closed, but the expression on his face showed extreme concentration.

Xia Nan guessed that the other party was probably undergoing some kind of mental training similar to "meditation".

But strangely, it was as if I could sense his gaze out of thin air.

The moment Xia Nan's gaze fell upon the other person, Violet's body, wrapped in a beige robe, instantly stiffened.

Beneath tightly closed eyelids, the blurry outline of the eyeballs moving can be seen, as if they are about to break free from their focused state at any moment.

Not wanting to disturb the other person, he then looked away.

But his doubts only grew stronger.

From their very first meeting, Violet inexplicably gave him a sense of extreme caution, even a hint of fear, when she was with him. He had never met her before, and the mage girl's interactions with the other members of the party were perfectly normal; it was clearly not due to her personality.

Why is that?
This confusion reached its peak a few days ago when the group left River Valley Town and entered the wilderness.

I remember that the six-person team at that time, according to their respective roles and fighting styles, adjusted their positions under Wood's arrangement.

Luca, the shield-bearer in the front row, stood at the very front, while Sava stepped back a few steps to assist in the attack. Wood, a rogue, protected the flanks of the team, while Haian, who was being escorted and was also a ranged archer, was protected in the middle of the team.

Violet was positioned relatively far back, with her vigilance spells always on hand.

Xia Nan was assigned to the very back of the squad, tasked with bringing up the rear.

He was, of course, indifferent to this arrangement.

You don't even have to worry about being betrayed by a strange teammate, which is very reassuring.

But Violet, who was walking in front of him, looked a little awkward.

Even though she was walking on a wide-open plain, her body remained tense. When her gaze swept over the white nape of her neck, which was exposed as her ponytail swayed, she often got goosebumps.

He also proactively asked the other party if there was anything they were having trouble adjusting to.

Violet just lowered her head, not daring to look him in the eye, and stammered that the temperature outside was a bit cold, so her body wasn't used to it.

Although a mage with relatively ordinary physical attributes like hers could indeed be affected by ambient temperature.

However, Xia Nan's keen senses made him feel that the other party was hiding something from him.

Although I didn't sense any hostility, we still have almost a month to go, so it's best to be cautious later on.

……

……

"Squeak!"

The thorns, tangled among the dense weeds and covered with barbs, were forcefully cleaved apart by a heavily worn metal scimitar.

He was panting, and the skin bulging from his bulging, firm muscles was covered in sweat.

The metal axe blade hung upside down at his waist, swaying violently with the force of his body, while the iron-inlaid wooden shield was carried on his back like a small tortoise shell.

Luca used his hands to pull the severed thorns blocking the way apart, clearing a path for the people behind him.

Now, more than ten days have passed since the escort team left River Valley Town.

Starting from the wilderness outside the town, we passed through a small patch of misty forest before returning to the plains, and then to the woodland near the border of Panyun Province.

They had to be careful on the road, stay away from main roads, and trek through mountains and rivers. Even for professionals like them, it was by no means an easy journey.

Fortunately, the route Wood chose was relatively safe. Along the way, they didn't encounter many attacks, let alone pursuers from Newme.

I only encountered two small goblin tribes in the Misty Forest, and three days ago a few unlucky bandits who seemed to have just arrived and had no sense of right and wrong.

The former has become nourishment for the forest and relieved the stress of a member of the team, while the latter had its head twisted off by the professionals on the spot, and its corpse should be rotting by now.

"Rest here for twenty minutes before setting off again!"

Beside the group, a patch of shade suddenly blurred, and Wood cautiously looked around before emerging from the shadows and calling out softly to the group.

Without making any unnecessary noise, even Violet, who was the weakest in the group, moved her lips and silently recited two incantations, allowing the magical glow symbolizing a temporary, small-scale alert spell to envelop everyone.

He then braced himself against a tree trunk and sat down on the ground with some difficulty. He took out a small bottle of medicine from his waist bag, the effects of which he didn't know, and gulped it down.

Xia Nan has an outstanding physique, and the special effect of [Tidal Shaping] saves him a lot of energy in these special terrains where ordinary people would need to expend a lot of physical strength.

In a non-combat situation, it is almost impossible for him to become exhausted from normal walking.

There was no need to rest right now; he simply took two steps back to warn his teammates, who needed to rest, of any potential dangers around them.

My gaze involuntarily drifted upwards, past the branches and leaves of the trees above me.

What comes into view is a towering, continuous, and sparsely vegetated mountain range.

—The Molten Scale Mountains.

The natural border between Panyun Province and Yuansha Province is also the last obstacle between them and their destination.

Once you cross the mountain ridge, you'll reach the end of this mission: Sticky Tree Ridge.

"Our supplies are almost exhausted, and it's completely impossible for us to make it to the end."

Sava, the Dragonborn, was also full of energy. He had already overtaken Luca, who was originally at the front of the group and responsible for clearing the way, and was now looking at the road behind him.

"We need to find a place to resupply."

“There’s a town just ahead.” Wood took a water pouch from his waist and handed it to Haian in front of him, saying without turning his head, “It’s safe there, we can stay for a few more days.”

"Get some rest and fully recover before going up the mountain."

He had planned the journey from Hegu Town to Nianshuling countless times.

There are three supply points along the way, as well as backup rest areas and even extra routes in case of emergencies. It is impossible to overlook anything in such places.

"If you're lucky, in ten days you'll be able to sit comfortably in the tavern of Sticky Tree Territory and enjoy a whole glass of chilled ale."

"Hehe, that would be best."

After more than ten days of arduous trekking, even Sava, whose personality was somewhat difficult to get along with, couldn't help but fantasize about the scene described by Wood, and his expression became dazed.

On the contrary, Xia Nan's stress was relieved, perhaps because of the dozen or so goblins that attacked the camp under the cover of night a few days ago.

But now he merely weighed the empty kettle in his hand and asked Wood:
"I smell moisture; there should be a stream nearby. After we rest, perhaps we can..."

thump—

He had only spoken halfway when, for some reason, Xia Nan felt the world around him suddenly become incredibly quiet.

My heartbeat sounded like a drumbeat in my ears.

"What's wrong?" Wood asked, puzzled by Xia Nan's behavior. He put the short dagger back into his waistband, but then cautiously pulled it out again.

Immediately, a semi-transparent blue light shield, centered on Violet's staff, enveloped the entire team.

It trembled suddenly, and the color turned a glaring bright red.

In an instant, it shattered and turned into light fragments.

Anglong—

It was a deep and heavy roar from the sky above, like countless giant drums beating deep in the clouds, wiping out all other noises.

(End of this chapter)