But the sticky and foul stench that wafted into his nostrils with each breath made him frown, feeling even more nauseated in his heart.
Finally, at the dimly lit end of the long tunnel, a faint glow appeared.
He could vaguely hear the crackling of flames burning wood, along with the excited shrieks of goblins.
His heart pounded fiercely, the tension from being highly focused allowing him to hear the rushing flow of blood in his veins.
With a strong sense of purpose, as if to confirm something.
His eyes first turned to the only light source in the cave—the bonfire.
There was no boiling red iron pot that made him nauseous, nor were there any limbs resembling those of intelligent beings.
Above the orange-red flames, a small deer-like beast was roasting.
He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
His gaze surveyed the environment deeper in the cave.
Moist moss that grew and spread from the cracks in the rock walls, under the reflection of the firelight, was dyed a sickly dense green; The air was filled with the rotten and fermented odor of decaying flesh, mixed with a sweet and cloying scent of blood.
The shrill and piercing cries of the goblins echoed between the stone walls.
Covered in pustules, their coarse green skin revealed emaciated ribs, their withered bodies seemingly exposing squirming organs, exuding a filthy stench from ragged cloths, chewing on half-raw meat pieces, with jagged rotten teeth amidst blood and scraps...
Seated around the bonfire were a total of fifteen adult green-skinned mongrels!
It’s hard to describe Xia Nan’s feelings at this moment.
As if he was a terminal procrastinator.
Before entering the cave, the nauseating encounters at the beginning of his journey made him genuinely resist taking each step inside with his heart.
But when the "Dead Line" descended, with no room for delay under the pressure of numerous external factors.
Facing these fifteen emaciated demons before him.
In an instant, all the previous inner resistance, transformed into a strong aversion to goblins, and...
...a thirst for blood.
The first to notice Xia Nan’s silhouette was a green skin sitting in the corner.
It leaped up, its excited and shrill voice instantly echoing in the cave.
In unison, fifteen pairs of muddy, fierce blood-red eyes turned, reflecting the fully-armored figure at the entrance.
From bodily instincts, catalyzed and driven by an alien soul.
The combat talent, suppressed for years by sun-beaten fields and pale screens, manifested at this moment.
The Wooden Sword [Green Pine] was somehow already sheathed, the Beheading Longsword, emitting a steely gray chill, was gripped tightly in his palm.
—The cave space beyond the tunnel was vast, enough to unleash the power of a dual-handed sword, while the battlefield situation of one against many also subconsciously led him to choose a long-handled weapon with a wider attack range that could harvest a large number of enemy lives in one sweep.
Before his eyes, the green-skinned rats took him as a delivered meal, waving wooden clubs, giggling, surging like a wave.
In Xia Nan’s pitch-black eyes, there was not a trace of cowardice.
All the negative emotions in his heart had turned into boiling and surging combat will.
He stepped forward boldly, directly welcoming them.
To such loudmouthed green-skinned scoundrels, one cannot show the slightest fear.
In front of their kind, chop off heads, crush eyes, and let organs spill all over the ground.
These beasts will know your prowess and stop smiling.
Sturdy boots crushed the moss, splattering thick juices.
Under the layered armor, muscles swelled with blood, collecting and concentrating a powerful force from bottom to top.
Trailing with a steely gray chill, the Beheading Longsword cut through the air in a perfect arc, slashing through flesh and bone.
The five goblins crowded at the front of the "Wave" vanished in an instant.
Amidst the splattering blood, there was the patter of organs falling and the dull thump of corpses hitting the ground.
Like the golden wheat stalks in autumn under the sickle in fond memories, crushed by the sword light, leaving only fragments.
The once-crowded battlefield was emptied in an instant.
If it were a typical skirmish, this one slash from Xia Nan would have been enough to send these inherently cowardly, low-level demons screaming and fleeing.
But since it was just him, still in the familiar lair of the green-skinned rats.
The combat force retained.
A slightly larger goblin followed immediately, shrieking sharply, its withered arms raised high, with a filthy color revealed in the firelight on its black-brown wooden stick.
The next second, the sound abruptly stopped.
The sword tip, gleaming with sharp, cold light, pierced through its throat, spraying acrid-smelling, filthy blood.