Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 275 [Iron Stomach Flail] and the Dilapidated Church
Already used to it.

A rusty, bloody smell quietly permeated the mist.

A blood-stained gauze was gently wiped across the surface of the dark brown wooden sword, and the fingertips could still feel the residual warmth of the blade.

Wipe away the last trace of blood.

Xia Nan sheathed his sword.

He stepped forward, his grey-white leg armor striding over the headless body of the orc.

His dark eyes were cold and devoid of any emotion.

He seemed to have grown accustomed to this feeling of taking lives, though he didn't know when it started.

Just over a year ago, he was just an ordinary office worker struggling in the workplace, who had never even killed a chicken. Now, however, he is able to disregard the passing of life.

Was it because of the green goblins he used to vent his suppressed emotions, or the power he gradually gained through his adventures?
Or perhaps... this is just my true nature, only it was concealed by the comfortable life I had in my previous life?

Now is not the time to dissect one's inner thoughts.

More important, in comparison, is the timely maintenance of the wooden sword.

After all, it comes from a mysterious foreign land, and there is probably no material related to it on the continent of Aifara. Even if the body is sturdy, if it is damaged over time, it may be impossible to know where to repair it.

If given the opportunity, one should take good care of it as much as possible to extend its service life.

As for the green-skinned orc on the ground, now a headless corpse, the terrible impression it left on me in Ashenvale Village was enough to be the cause of its death.

Xia Nan has always felt disgusted by these bastards who take advantage of their power to bully and humiliate ordinary civilians.

He does not claim to be a "partner of justice," nor does he consider himself a kind-hearted person with overflowing compassion.

It's simply an instinctive aversion stemming from their values.

Looking ahead, Xia Nan saw a small square where there were no living creatures left, only corpses lying everywhere.

His gaze swept over the several heads that had been cleanly and decisively cut off, as well as the nearby obese knights who had also lost their heads.

With his keen senses, even though he was farther away from the adventurer team and there was a strange fog in the air interfering with their activities, Xia Nan noticed the oddity in the square before they did.

Of course, they also discovered the decaying knight in the center of the arena, who seemed to be asleep, with an elite, strange appearance.

It's impossible for me to let those guys who were deliberately left ahead to scout ahead and step on my mistakes get through smoothly.

Make the best use of everything.

Xia Nan needs to know the actual combat strength of these monsters, as well as some areas where he may need to be wary.

If it's too dangerous, it also makes it easier for those who haven't been exposed to retreat in time and come back to explore later.

So, using his ability to control gravity, he hid deep in the fog and gave these adventurers a little "surprise".

It doesn't require much effort, and there's no need to worry about exposing yourself.

Gravity is invisible and colorless; it only needs to be slightly reduced or increased at the right moment and in a subtle position.

That would be enough to achieve his goal.

Without even using any backup plans, Xia Nan successfully made the tall human ranger make enough noise.

A skirmish ensued.

Although they did not actually clash with the elite monsters on the field, their approximate strength could be judged simply by their brief battles with the nearby desiccated corpses.

It's pretty much as I expected. The job levels should all be between lv1 and lv3, and there aren't any obviously overpowered or lagging players.

Professionalism was also expected.

At the cost of their teammates' lives, they tacitly exchanged the opportunity for the entire team to advance safely.

Xia Nan observed very clearly from the sidelines. After the orcs received the captain's order to rush out, the remaining members did not even speak directly, but communicated with each other through eye contact.

With an uncanny understanding, they broke through, withdrew, and left the orc alone on the field.

It's unclear whether this big guy's role in the team was originally like this, or whether the other three had made a plan in advance.

Furthermore, through the battle between the orc and the fat knight, even if it was just a few simple rounds, he roughly understood the fighting style and strengths and weaknesses of this elite monster.

Its massive, obese body, covered in fat and metallic armor on its skin, not only endowed it with exaggerated physical strength and explosive power, but also gave it considerable defensive capabilities.

Even with the barbarian profession, the gifted orc is far inferior to his opponent in wrestling and cannot even break through his defenses.

All of his strengths were perfectly overshadowed by his knightly abilities, and he could not even unleash half of his professional-level combat power.

But for Xia Nan, they were quite easy to deal with.

Leaving aside his trump cards for the moment, his explosive power and mobility, along with his swift and fierce fighting style, perfectly countered this clumsy big guy.

Furthermore, the damage bonus from the wooden sword [Green Pine], which also has a sunburn effect, further reduces the opponent's defensive capabilities.

The fat, which had previously easily blocked the orc's blunt force like a sandbag, offered no resistance when cut by the blade with its flickering flames, melting away smoothly.

Even the layers of fat piled up on the opponent's neck pushed up the metal neck guard that was originally meant to protect vital organs, as if it were deliberately making way for Xia Nan's attack.

With just a slight aim, [Green Pine]'s Yang Flame Inflicts Damage, plus the max-level [Whirlwind Slash], following the folds of fat, he gripped the hilt of his sword and swung it forcefully, and a round head rolled smoothly off his shoulder.

The movement was swift; before the obese knight could even retaliate, he was reduced to a headless corpse.

As Xia Nan subconsciously recalled the smooth feeling of swinging the sword, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

Based on the performance of [Green Pine] in the battle just now, it has far exceeded the "15%" damage bonus shown on its panel attributes.

The cheat code is definitely not wrong. After thinking about it, he could only guess that perhaps these corpses in the mist have extremely high physical resistance, and they have a significant defensive bonus against the slashes and thrusts of ordinary adventurers.

However, it offers no defense against the sunburn damage from the wooden sword, and is even considered a weakness in special attacks.

With this reduction and increase, coupled with his own strong combat ability, restrained fighting style, appropriate timing of attacks, and a bit of luck, he was able to achieve his goals.

That's why it looks like the problem was solved so easily.

Otherwise, any ordinary level 2 or 3 warrior might not be a match for the Fat Knight.

Meeting Xia Nan now is quite a coincidence.

Without going into too much detail, after the battle, the next step is naturally to clean up the battlefield.

After all, Xia Nan still needed to keep up with the adventurer team ahead, so he didn't have much time and didn't have time to check carefully.

Fortunately, there might be loot on the field, but the two corpses of the orc and the knight were not too difficult to search.

Of course, the results were also relatively average.

A dozen or so gold coins from the orc's pouch, and the weapons of both:

Ironwood sticks – completely worthless, the attributes on the information panel are practically blank, there's no way they'd fetch a price. Even if you took them to the best-reputed general store in River Valley, they'd probably only get you ten or twenty gold.

It is heavy and inconvenient to carry around.

Xia Nan didn't have any storage items on him, so he chose to give up without hesitation and left the wooden stick behind.

However, the flail in the fat knight's hand should be worth something, at least:
……

[Iron Stomach Flail] Type: Flail

Level: Common (White)
effect:

When the user's Body Mass Index [weight (kg) / height (m)] is greater than or equal to 50 —

1. When a blunt force strike hits, the probability of causing internal bleeding is slightly increased for enemies with less than 30% health.
2. Stamina consumption during battle -10%.

Introduction:

The user of this weapon typically uses their own terrifying weight to pull the iron chain, causing devastating damage to the enemy.

Remarks:

"Boss, the shop should be open as usual tomorrow, right?"

—Warren, the Destroyer of Buffet Restaurants and “Greedy Stomach”

……

Without a doubt, this weapon, whether considering its type or its effects, is not the type that Xia Nan is suited for.

He prefers swift, mobile warfare, relying on the high mobility granted by his combat skills and expertise; weapons like flails are completely out of place in his fighting style.

The equipment effects look pretty good, but the trigger conditions for the effects on its attribute panel are definitely not something that ordinary people can achieve.

Take Xia Nan as an example.

If we substitute his current height of nearly 1.9 meters into the formula on the panel, he would need to gain weight to 180 kilograms to meet the trigger condition.

It's not some kind of magical artifact; the cost of gaining weight is completely outweighed by the potential benefits of the equipment.

Therefore, the only fate for this mediocre flail was to be sold by Xia Nan to a blacksmith shop, so that it could eventually find a suitable owner and demonstrate its true power.

Regardless, it is a fact that the flail comes with two effect attributes, so the material or forging process of this weapon should be better than that of ordinary equipment.

Even secondhand goods salvaged from the battlefield can fetch a good price.

After a moment's thought, considering that he still needed to go deeper with the team, carrying it around wouldn't be very convenient for either stealth or combat.

Xia Nan found a corner in the ruins near the entrance of the square and hid the flail, reminding himself not to forget to take the things with him when he left Ashenvale later.

Finally, they quickly scanned the area again to make sure there were no valuable loot items left behind.

He strode towards the path leading into the depths of Ash Valley, his figure, carrying two swords, gradually disappearing into the thick fog.

……

……

"pat...pat..."

Scattered, cautious footsteps echoed faintly in the thick fog.

The grotesque scar, resembling a centipede, lay silently on Marcus's face.

The official team leader, who was registered in the Adventurers' Guild's roster, looked particularly solemn at that moment.

It wasn't because of that orc teammate they'd left behind, who was probably already smashed into mincemeat by the steel flail.

It was caused by increasingly dense fog in the air, which severely affected the visibility of objects.

Casualties are common in adventures.

We're all in this line of work, risking our lives to make money; death and injury are nothing out of the ordinary.

Haven't you noticed that the other two members of the team haven't mentioned this matter yet? From their own perspective, they've both tacitly agreed to it.

Moreover, although the group did not communicate verbally at the time, they did exchange glances.

To some extent, the decision to exchange the lives of the orcs for the chance to spare several people from fighting that seemingly particularly difficult enemy, thus preserving their strength and condition to continue forward, was made jointly by the three people.

In short... everything was done.

If anyone is to blame, it's the orc blood in Gorg's body that affected his intelligence, and the fact that he ended up in the "Barbarian" profession, which is known for its volatile temper and tendency to lose its mind in battle.

They were almost completely unprepared for the schemes behind their backs, and rushed out at a shout, giving them this opportunity.

To put it bluntly, the fact that the other party was able to survive with such intelligence among the adventurers and the Bloodblade Squad until just now is already a result of Marcus's extraordinary mercy and excessive "benevolence".

There's nothing to regret.

They're not rare spellcasters, just front-line melee fighters. You can find them everywhere in any adventurer gathering point.

Replenishing personnel shouldn't be too convenient.

Despite losing a team member, the atmosphere within the Bloodblade Squad was not particularly low.

On the contrary, it was accompanied by a sense of eager anticipation and excitement.

If the mummies and ruins they encountered when they first arrived in Ashenvale only gave them a guess about what they might encounter.

The appearance of that obese knight just now truly confirmed the immense rewards the group was about to reap.

Having worked in the adventurer's profession for many years, they all know one of the most basic, simple, and widely accepted rules—

The higher the risk, the greater the reward.

With undead knights of such power guarding the ruins, what's hidden there is probably not something worthless.

And things turned out exactly as they expected.

As the group ventured deeper into the path, the dilapidated buildings on both sides of the trail gradually came back to life at a visible speed.

At least you can distinguish the specific function of these buildings, whether they are residential houses, shops, or some other type.

It won't be like before, where all that's left is a pile of ruins, making it impossible to distinguish anything.

The mountain dwarf "Stonebelly" has an exceptional ability to observe, and even managed to find a few oddly shaped coins in the ruins by the roadside.

The coin's surface pattern is strange and unlike any that most people would recognize.

The stone's belly suggests it may have originated from an ancient kingdom that has vanished into the annals of history.

If it is as he guessed, there would probably be many collectors and scholars willing to pay a high price to acquire it on the market.

If we collect more from the ruins, it should be enough to support several people's retirement.

Marcus thought to himself, his dark and ferocious eyes flashing with the greed and malice unique to adventurers.

Imagining the potential rewards in the future, he even considered the possibility of eliminating the other two teammates and taking all the prizes for himself.

And it was during this time that his mind was filled with wonderful dreams about the future.

A towering shadow appeared silently at the end of the road ahead, amidst the drifting mist.

That is--

A massive church that was once complete, yet inexplicably dilapidated and desolate due to cracks in its walls and the loss of its former popularity.

(End of this chapter)