Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 511 Slightly Irritated
"Ahhhh!!!"

Fear and pain filled the air, and piercing screams echoed throughout the arena.

The splashed venom corroded the skin and muscles. The thugs who were unfortunately affected by the attack by the leader of the Tide Gang were rolling on the ground in excruciating pain. The purulent toxins could be seen spreading rapidly around the wounds.

Unable to pass the perception check, [Night Mother's Gaze] silently took effect. His will seemed to be swallowed up by the wolf howl echoing in his heart, and he fell into boundless fear. One after another, the Sakawa fishmen minions dropped their weapons and fled in panic into the forest outside the warehouse.

The current situation on the field is extremely chaotic.

The perspectives from different angles are all different.

In Xia Nan's view, although most of his temporary teammates had been killed or wounded, his side only had him and a ranger left.

However, he also took the opportunity to behead the most threatening murloc priest in the enemy camp, and the fighting style of the other leader, "Rotten Vulture" Gri, was countered by his snake scale arm shield.

Apart from that, the rest were just ordinary gang members and murloc minions that could be dealt with relatively easily.

Use [Fang Hunt] to charge around a few times, maybe add [Spinning Slash] and [Heavy Tide] at most, and you'll basically have the job done.

The scales of victory are undoubtedly tipping in their favor.

But for "Rotten Eagle" Grylls, the situation on the field seemed to be in his favor.

In just a few brief exchanges, he keenly grasped the subtle intensity of Xia Nan's attack.

Their actual combat strength was completely inconsistent with their overly young appearance.

Even their equipment is so exquisite.

In a one-on-one situation, he might not be a match for this black-haired adventurer.

But this isn't a fair competition on an underground black market arena. It's a life-or-death battle during the mission, and even if he had a 100% chance of winning head-on, he couldn't possibly go up alone.

Taking advantage of numbers is perfectly normal.

Now, all of the enemy's teammates have been eliminated one by one, leaving only a human ranger with no outstanding abilities as an ally.

He, however, had a large number of Sawa fishmen reinforcements and thugs under his command.

The advantage is entirely on our side!
Both sides had a feeling that they could ultimately win the battle.

But unexpectedly, the first to act in the next second after the dwarf Habik died was the human ranger Selene, who took advantage of Xia Nan's help to hold off the enemy and escaped their encirclement.

From her perspective, it's not hard to understand what the situation on the field was like.

The Iron Rock Shield squad severely underestimated the strength of the enemy on Wild Berry Cliff.

I thought it was just a temporary stronghold of the Tide Receding Gang outside Fish Bay. Even if there were high-ranking gang members stationed there, there would only be a few low-level professionals at most.

Unexpectedly, the person in charge of the island was none other than "Rotten Vulture" Gerry, the leader of the Tidefall Gang.

This pirate captain alone, plus the high-ranking professionals under his command, is enough to give the Iron Rock Shield team a real beating.

Now they've even teamed up with a group of Sawa fish that appeared out of nowhere, and they even have a spellcaster priest with a fairly high professional level as their core.

This was completely beyond the expectations of everyone in the Iron Shield squad.

Worst of all, the Tide Receding Gang discovered their trail and called for reinforcements to ambush them.

Right now, only a few minutes have passed since that fireball, burning with bright orange flames, crashed into the warehouse.

His teammates, with whom he had spent every day, had been reduced to mangled corpses amidst the howls of the fishmen and the roars of the thugs.

If it weren't for "The Hague," a temporary member of the team, intervening, I would probably be dead by now.

Can……

Looking at the dozens of ferocious figures surrounding him, he felt the blood and death permeating the air.

In contrast, the young figure confronting the pirate leader on the field appeared so frail and powerless.

Sally admitted that she had underestimated Xia Nan's strength.

The series of actions the opponent just took, such as beheading the murloc priest, are enough to prove that the origin of his nickname "The Hague" is true.

But with the bodies of several teammates right before their eyes, compared to such a large and powerful enemy, no matter how strong the enemy was, they could not stand alone.

Sally didn't believe that Shanan could handle so many enemies on his own.

Even if I were to join in, it would be of no use.

In the blink of an eye, under the pressure, countless thoughts raced through the human ranger's mind, making it difficult for him to maintain absolute rationality in his thinking.

His eyes flickered uncertainly.

That face, which was always arrogant and sometimes even slightly harsh, had now lost the sense of detachment that came with being a professional over ordinary people.

Instead, her features were almost distorted into a jumbled mess by her tangled thoughts, and the scheming and ruthlessness on her face, which she had always hidden, were now completely exposed.

In the blink of an eye, Sally had made her decision.

Xia Nan showed no gratitude or encouragement towards him for saving her during Gri's ambush.

She didn't say a word.

He simply glanced at the other person from behind with a complex and emotional gaze.

Then, by pushing off with his feet and twisting his waist and abdomen, he simultaneously pulled the longbow back to his back.

He turned and ran away.

That's how adventurers are in this world.

There may be a few exceptions, but for the vast majority of professionals who grow up in such an environment, extreme individualism has become a common trait. They pursue wealth and put their personal safety above all else.

To some extent, the industry's own screening mechanism has already filtered out those who are traditionally considered "kind" and "weak".

These seasoned professionals have transformed from clueless and naive newbies into seasoned veterans, a product of the unspoken rules of the "adventurer" industry.

Sally will not regret it.

He didn't think it was shameful to abandon Xia Nan, who had just helped him.

If she were to escape today, but Xia Nan were to die on this island, Sally might feel a pang of guilt deep down, but that "pang" wouldn't be enough to make her change anything, not even enough to build a grave for Xia Nan.

At most, in the future, when the mood strikes at the dinner table, it can be used as a topic of conversation, where one can talk to the drinking buddies next to them in a tone that seems regretful but is actually boastful, about their experience fighting fishmen and pirates on this island, as well as a certain young teammate who is not very strong.

Of course, this is just a hypothetical scenario.

Judging from the current situation, the ranger Selene, who abandoned Xia Nan and ran away alone, has not been favored by Lady Luck.

She had only just turned around, and had barely taken two steps forward, not even having fully swung her arm.

The shadow beneath his feet suddenly began to wriggle.

He was a level 1 wanderer from the Tidefall Gang.

He was also not worth mentioning by name. Born a homeless orphan, he suffered from hunger for many years in his childhood, which made him look thin and weak even as an adult.

Fortunately, he had decent talent. Over several decades, he painstakingly acquired three of the most basic combat skills through various means, and at the age of forty-five, he became a legitimate professional and rose to become one of the high-ranking members of the Tide Retreat Gang.

His experience of roaming the streets like a rat gave him extensive combat experience, and he learned to hide in the shadows and wait with unparalleled patience for the perfect opportunity to appear.

Since the start of the battle, he had been hiding at the edge of the arena, slowly approaching and searching for prey.

His innate talent in shadow energy, combined with his short and thin physique, endowed him with a natural ability to conceal himself far beyond that of others.

Even Sally, whose perception was quite good, was unaware of the danger that was unknowingly approaching her.

Until she made her decision, she turned and ran away.

His back was completely exposed.

The sharp dagger, waiting for its chance, then pierced her back.

The rogue was experienced; the tip of his short blade pierced precisely into the heart, even employing a subtle technique to amplify the damage. He twisted his wrist as he thrust, tearing the heart apart with a single, decisive blow, like a bee's sting.

As the wanderer pulled the dagger from Sally's back, a bloody hole appeared in the ranger's chest.

Sally's expression froze. Under the influence of the pain, she tried to reach for her backup weapon at her waist to fight back, but the next second, the thugs and fishmen who were chasing her caught up.

As it turns out, the Ranger's physical toughness was indeed only average.

After just a few chops, it was no longer human, just a pile of rotten flesh.

Sally, dead.

……

He glanced at Sally to his side and behind out of the corner of his eye.

Xia Nan's face showed no change in expression.

But in his heart... to be honest, he was indeed somewhat disappointed.

Although Xia Nan had anticipated Sally's reaction, she still couldn't help but feel some negative emotions when Sally abandoned her without hesitation and turned to run away.

He felt that his good intentions had been betrayed—which is also why he didn't speak up to warn Sally even though he noticed the wanderer's presence earlier than Sally later on.

Since you've chosen to run away, you have to bear the consequences.

But thinking about it, it makes sense; he shouldn't have had too many expectations of the adventurers in this world.

Not only have they not received a systematic education, but they have also grown up in such an intensely competitive and harsh environment. How could they possibly be good people in the traditional sense? It would be quite remarkable if they could even speak of some so-called "morality".

"Tsk."

Xia Nan subtly pursed her lips, her gaze deep, a hint of irritation in her heart.

He had already put those unreliable teammates out of his mind, and his dark eyes were fixed on the distance ahead.

There stood "Rotten Vulture" Gerry, gripping his green-edged pirate scimitar. Leaning forward, he shifted his feet while his triangular eyes were fixed on Xia Nan, as if searching for a weakness.

"Heh heh, it seems you're the only one left, The Hague."

The fierce-looking man stuck out his tongue and licked his dry, chapped lips, tentatively asking.

"This is your last chance. Put down your sword and let's talk."

"If we can reach a cooperation agreement, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, the remaining half of his sentence was swallowed up by the wolf howl that followed.

Frustrated, Xia Nan felt the other party was being increasingly dawdling and just wanted to shut this gang leader's rotten mouth forever.

On the other hand, it was also because he knew that the other party was stalling for time so that the henchmen who had been lured away by the ranger Sally could return and surround him.

Perhaps it was this indescribable feeling of being let down that made him, who rarely felt anger, even more focused, as if he had entered a special state of high concentration, as if he could see every detail of the enemy's movements in front of him.

Bending your knees and bulging your calf muscles, is it an attempt to dodge?

With a single sword strike, Xia Nan forced back two thugs who were attempting to ambush him, and instantly used [Gravity Control] to add a bit of gravity to Ge Li.

You can see that the pirate captain, who was originally quite agile, suddenly froze, his expression one of astonishment, as if surprised by the heavy pressure that had been placed on his body.

Unable to continue his dodging maneuvers, he could only hold his scimitar horizontally in front of him in an attempt to defend himself.

【Spinning Slash】+【Gravity Etching】+【Heavy Tide】.

The classic three-part combo.

A crimson sword flashed through the air.

With her attention highly focused, Xia Nan did not choose to confront Ge Li head-on with her sword. Instead, she flexibly adjusted the point of her sword's strike, directing it as low as possible to the hilt of Ge Li's sword.

This makes it impossible for such an attack to hit the opponent's vital points.

The angle of the sword light pointing downwards even gave Gri a chance to counterattack.

The pirate captain, with his rich combat experience and keen awareness of this, assumed that Xia Nan had made a mistake. He immediately raised his scimitar to meet the sword light and simultaneously slashed at Xia Nan's chest.

By trading injury for injury, Griezmann completely profited.

His blade would strike a vital point directly, while the deflected sword light from the black-haired adventurer would at most cause minor injuries; if he could just dodge a little more...

Before he could even finish processing what was happening in his mind, a reddish-brown energy field suddenly appeared around Xia Nan's body, causing Ge Li's thoughts to come to an abrupt halt.

——【Death Line】Ring - Deflection Field!
It was a hasty counterattack lured into a defensive stance. Gri did not unleash his full power in this strike, so when the scimitar landed on the ochre-red shield, the force on the blade was completely absorbed and deflected.

As if striking some extremely smooth and hard object, the scimitar rippled with energy across the surface of the ochre-red light shield, and then slid down the surface of the shield.

At the same time, the sword light that Xia Nan unleashed also struck Ge Li.

Just a light touch.

laugh--

Muscles tore apart, and blood gushed out.

His right hand, which was gripping the scimitar, was severed at the wrist and flew to the ground amidst the flash of the sword.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

Gri cried out in pain instinctively, but he did not lose his will to fight.

As the leader of the Tidefall Gang, a seasoned professional with decades of adventure experience in the Southern Islands, how could he possibly give up his chance of survival just because of such a little pain?

Despite screaming in pain, he forced his feet to exert force, dragging his unusually heavy body backward at high speed.

Meanwhile, his still intact left hand, with its four fingers bent together and forming a cylindrical shape with his thumb, is raised and placed near his mouth.

A pus-green liquid could be seen rapidly condensing into the space of his left palm, as if it were brewing some kind of special combat technique.

Xia Nan launched a barrage of attacks, showing no intention of dodging.

The wolf howled, and they followed suit.

At the same time, he deliberately loosened the [gravity control] that had been applied to the other's entire body.

It's like returning to shore from a swimming pool with an inexplicably heavy body, or suddenly taking off a weight after a long period of training.

Just as "Rotten Vulture" Gri had begun to adjust to the gravity exerted by Xia Nan, he suddenly felt a lightness throughout his body, as if he were about to float into the sky.

My center of gravity was momentarily off balance, and my body involuntarily leaned backward.

With the blessing of [Fang Hunt], Xia Nan closed the distance to his opponent in just one step.

The snake-scale shield in his left hand slammed down, landing directly on the opponent's face.

It directly interrupted Gri's combat technique, causing the venom that had just accumulated at the corner of his mouth to shatter instantly, turning into a dark green, viscous venom that splattered all over his face.

The Serpent Scale Arm Shield, which possesses immunity to corrosion and toxins, remained unscathed. Along with Shield Bash, [Gravity Etching] and [Heavy Tide] took effect simultaneously.

The ochre-red force field instantly flattened half of the pirate leader's face, broke his teeth, and crushed his nose.

The already unstable center of gravity was further disrupted by the gravitational fluctuations, causing the person to completely lose balance and fall backward to the ground.

They didn't give the other side even the slightest chance to breathe.

The instant "Rotten Vulture" Grylls' head hit the ground.

The gray-black [Emberfall] straight sword was already being wielded by Xia Nan in reverse, slicing a straight line through the mud, gravel, and his neck.

Crimson blood gushed out like a spring from the severed neck.

The facial features were unrecognizable; the flattened head resembled a deflated ball, reflecting the moonlight and rolling on the ground.

(End of this chapter)