Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 103 Mad Dog
It was the height of summer, and the biting cold wind that suddenly blew in from outside made the drinkers in the hotel shiver unconsciously.

And when they looked at the burly figure at the door of the tavern with surprise.

Because of the cold aura he exuded, she subconsciously looked away, not daring to meet his gaze.

The warmth of Midsummer Festival still lingered, but the noisy and bustling atmosphere suddenly cooled down.

All that was left was the adventurers whispering to each other in an attempt to pretend to be calm.

In the middle of the tavern hall, the few people who were pushing and shoving each other just now suddenly stopped, as if frozen by the cold wind.

All the dirty talk also came to an abrupt end.

It was as if they had already communicated in secret. There were no unnecessary actions, nor any unwilling or harsh words.

Even the red-bearded dwarf's most cherished braid had a small section cut off at some point during the fight; and the leading Calinshan had a purple fist mark on his eye socket.

They just separated their entangled limbs tacitly and walked back to their tables silently.

"boom."

The sound of slow and powerful footsteps came from the door of the tavern and gradually became clearer.

Chapton looked at the barbarian in a wolf-fur cloak in front of him with a stiff business smile on his face.

"Guest, what would you like to eat?"

"Two pieces of raw meat."

His thick northern accent made his voice sound as if it came from a snowstorm, muffled and unclear.

The ice-blue eyes glanced at the black-haired young man not far away and replied.

"Okay, sir. Please wait a moment."

Chapton hurriedly trotted to the kitchen.

Gala——

It was the sound of tables and chairs being moved.

With the light behind him, the shadow cast by his sturdy body covered the surface of the table.

Xia Nan looked at Fugang on the other side of the table. The anxiety that had been lingering in his heart for the past few days also dissipated into thin air as the temperature around his body dropped sharply.

There were no obvious scars on his muscular, marble-like bronze skin; the pair of deep, cold eyes beneath his brows were still calm and focused.

Except for the amputated little finger on his left hand, the bare wound was covered with a layer of clear ice crystals.

There appeared to be no other injuries.

Around her neck she still wore the thin iron necklace with bone and tooth ornaments.

But the middle of the chain was still empty.

I thought to myself that even though the barbarians had caused such a big commotion in the next town, they could still return to River Valley Town openly like they did now.

There shouldn't be any hostile relationship between us and the Adventurer's Association.

Xia Nan opened his mouth and was about to say something when he heard the barbarian in front of him suddenly speak:

"Learned it?"

There was a slight pause of a second before he reacted.

It turned out that just by looking at him, Fugan realized that he had already mastered the basics of [Tooth Hunting].

Wondering how the other party could tell, Xia Nan nodded and replied:
"I happened to encounter a difficult monster on the way back."

The air around him suddenly turned cold, like a wild beast smelling blood on the ice field. Ice points that were faintly flickering with crystal light suddenly appeared in the air.

It swayed as if with consciousness, and circled twice around the beheading sword behind Xia Nan.

Then it returned to the sky above the table, and a pattern of a ferocious monster the size of a palm with one wing broken condensed.

Fleeting.

"That thorn demon?" The barbarian put his sturdy arms on the wine table, and the silver-white fur of his fur cloak swayed slightly. "You are lucky."

He was surprised that the other party was able to use ice to recreate the opponent he had fought two days ago with just the slightest bit of breath left in his body.

After hearing what Fugang said, Xia Nan also felt lucky.

I don't know if it was the effect of the coin of destiny kept close to my chest, or if I got the attention of the goddess of luck [Tamora].

Just one step away from completely mastering the fighting skills, his training schedule was interrupted by the sudden appearance of hyphae.

I thought it would take a while, but on the way to escape, I happened to encounter a seriously injured thorn demon.

Perhaps it was because he had been driven away by the barbarian's breath once on the way back to the city, and the coldness infused in his body for training in combat skills had attracted the other party's attention;
It is also possible that the deeply eroding dark purple spores affected its sanity.

Faced with the aftermath of the battle between the extraordinary people behind him, the thorn demon not only did not run away, but instead grabbed him tightly and dragged him into the battle.

Moreover, it was severely injured. Even though its challenge level was as high as "2" under normal conditions, it had lost the most important ability to fly, and its physical strength seemed to be rapidly declining due to the erosion of the spores.

His fighting ability was only slightly higher than his own at that time.

A perfect combat target for improving combat proficiency.

"Here is your raw meat, sir."

There were no cooking requirements, and not long after the barbarians sat down, the tavern owner Chapton personally came up to the two of them with a tray of food.

"Ding."

The bottom of the metal plate fell onto the wooden table with a crisp sound.

The two pieces of raw meat on the plate that were cut into regular square shapes began to vibrate, and faint blood could be seen sliding down the sides.

I couldn't help but feel confused.

Although they were barbarians from the northern ice fields, Xia Nan had never seen them eat raw food during all those days in the forest.

Before he could say anything, the smell of blood in the air seemed to have attracted the attention of a certain little creature.

"Woo——"

A childish whimper suddenly came from across the dining table.

The plush cloak on the barbarian's chest suddenly moved twice.

A furry little head struggled to stick out.

It was a winter wolf cub that had just been born and whose fur had not even grown fully grown.

As if it had just woken up, it squinted its eyes and its pearly black nose twitched slightly.

As if he sensed the aroma of food, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He jumped out of the barbarian's arms and landed lightly on the table.

Perhaps it was not used to the outside temperature, so its young body shrank a few times before it shook its tail vigorously and pounced on the piece of meat in front of it.

Obviously, the sudden appearance of this cub is also one of the changes brought about by the battle.

For some reason, looking at the winter wolf cub in front of him, Xia Nan vaguely felt that the other party was somewhat similar to the translucent wolf soul that searched for the goblin's nest with him in the Misty Forest a few days ago.

He even thought about touching the other person's head.

But seeing the cub baring his teeth as if protecting his food, he was afraid of being bitten, so he retracted his outstretched hand.

He glanced at the empty chain in the middle of the barbarian's chest.

His thoughts flashed through his mind about Fugang's purpose over the past few days. Xia Nan lowered his voice and asked:
"How is the matter...handled?"

The Savage only shook his head.

"Almost."

His eyes were still cold, but there was no regret or annoyance on his face.

He reached into his waist pocket and took something out.

Put it on the table and push it in front of Xia Nan.

——A bone-white wolf's fang.

He picked it up from the wooden table, felt the cool touch of the wolf's fang on his palm, and looked at the other party in confusion.

"I owe you a favor."

The hunting effect of [Frostbinder] has no distance limit, but due to the nature of the profession of the Swamp Druid "Basilomew", it is always impossible to accurately locate. If he had not accepted the commission and brought Shanan into the Misty Forest to train combat skills, he would probably have to spend many days before he could find the traces left by the druid in the Goblin Cave.

Even if he found any traces, the direction he would search would only be deep in the misty forest, which was the opposite of the target.

There was no way they could actually discover the druid's true hiding place while transporting Shanann to the nearest town as they were doing now.

Catch the opponent off guard.

Therefore, even during this series of processes, Xia Nan did not actively participate in his hunting.

But it still provided considerable help.

In this regard, Xia Nan was not very clear about what exactly happened and what role he played in it.

But since Fugang said so, there was no reason for him to refuse.

Just as he was about to stuff the wolf fang into his backpack, he suddenly remembered that he had already learned two combat skills and was only one step away from obtaining a professional level.

My eyes suddenly brightened.

Put the wolf fang back on the table.

"Can this favor... be used now?"

……

……

Deep in the misty forest.

A complex and large goblin nest.

“Hiss!!!”

The sharp whistling sound echoed among the stone walls like waves.

This is a goblin tribe with a hobgoblin leader and a population of up to three digits.

Their natural and outstanding military talents make the goblins under the command of the earth elves like a miniature army.

They wandered in groups in the dense forest, screaming and wielding all kinds of weapons looted from nowhere.

If they came across a wild animal they could handle, they would gather around it, kill it, and bring it back to their lair;
When encountering powerful monsters, they did not rush to die as they did in the past. Instead, they left behind a few mutilated and old greenskins as bait and retreated directly.

The powerful reproductive ability and the intelligence of the earth elves, which far exceeds that of ordinary monsters, allow them to survive even in the depths of the misty forest full of dangerous monsters.

They even opened up a large habitat underground, filled with all kinds of traps and tunnels.

"Crack!"

A giant bonfire made of countless branches burned fiercely, and the scorching flames it emitted almost illuminated the entire cave.

Above the campfire, several sturdy camels were being roasted.

The thick and dense fur gradually turned black and cracked under the burning flames, revealing the soft, tough and juicy fresh meat underneath.

The cave, which was filled with the foul stench of excrement and the strong smell of blood, now had a bit more aroma of food.

The high-pitched and crazy howling became more and more violent. Under the light of the fire, the rough, pus-filled green skin reflected a disgusting and sickening color.

If it were other groups, the prey would not even be completely roasted before it was torn apart and swallowed by the greedy and undisciplined greenskins.

But right now, there are hundreds of goblins.

It actually displayed an order unique to intelligent creatures, suppressing its physical instincts.

Everyone sat around the campfire.

Even though the saliva from the corners of his mouth had soaked the rags around his waist; his skinny belly, with only a layer of skin left, was wriggling and convulsing due to hunger.

There was no green-skinned creature, driven by desire, that would pounce forward and bite.

At the deepest part of the nest, there was a hobgoblin wearing a full set of armor with a two-handed axe at his feet.

Looking at the scene before him, a human expression of satisfaction appeared on his face.

He threw the bone in his hand, which had been gnawed until only a few pieces of meat were left, to the ground.

He slowly stood up from the stone seat lined with silk and cushions and took two steps forward.

The smelly mouth opened, and air rushed up the throat along the chest.

The vocal cords also vibrate faintly.

The next second, the order for the goblins to eat will be issued.

And right now.

It was so abrupt that the whole world seemed to have been paused.

The goblins' fanatical and chaotic screams that filled the cave suddenly stopped.

The hobgoblin stood motionless, maintaining the last posture he had before speaking.

The remaining blood from the half-cooked meat slowly dripped from the surface of the two yellow-brown fangs that protruded from the lower lip, splashing blood stains on the metal armor on its chest.

Deep inside the mouth, which was covered with cavities, a thin touch of dark purple flashed by.

"Squeak."

Just like a bud breaking through the soil or a moth breaking free from its cocoon, a very subtle sound suddenly rang out in the extremely silent nest.

boom--

The hobgoblin's strong body suddenly fell down, and his metal armor collided with the ground, making a harsh sound.

"Ho..."

The head jerked up and the mouth opened.

A dark purple hyphae, like some kind of parasite growing inside the body, clings to the throat and mouth with its thin tentacles, wriggling and multiplying.

The ties entangled with each other and poured out of the hobgoblin's mouth.

faster and faster.

In just a few seconds, it spread from the tiny tentacles at the beginning to devour the whole body.

The earth goblin's body, which was originally much stronger than that of an ordinary human, was like a deflated ball, shrinking and collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Far from enough.

The dark purple mycelium spread rapidly outward along the ground like a fungus blanket, with the hobgoblin as the center.

A combination of feces and soil, metal and rock, leftover bones and flesh, and hundreds of greenskins who had also lost consciousness and were lying on the ground...

"Crunch... crunch..."

The bonfire that emitted heat and light went out at some point, and even the remaining embers on the surface of the firewood dimmed.

In the extremely dark cave, only some strange and eerie sounds that made one's hair stand on end echoed.

It's like a stomach, wriggling and digesting the flesh and blood inside.

I don’t know how long it took.

“Sizzle.”

Amid the sticky and slow footsteps, a vague humanoid creature made of intertwined dark purple hyphae moved its body out of the cave.

It looks like a crude clay doll in the hands of a child. It has no facial features, and its limbs are of different lengths and twisted and deformed.

Only three deep and strange holes were left where the eyes and mouth were originally.

hold head high--

In the distance of the forest, the howling of an unknown wolf-like monster startled several birds and beasts, which flapped their wings and flew away from the treetops.

The buds squirmed, and the humanoid creature barely made of hyphae twisted its head.

After looking into the distance for a while, he turned his head with difficulty.

Towards the outskirts of the forest, away from the other side of Riverdale Town, crawling away.

In the air, there was only one sound that seemed to be made up of countless tiny sounds, a sound that made one's teeth ache:

"Mad...dog..."

(End of this chapter)