Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 430 Ritual Experiment
Northwest of Suoyu Bay.

Woodland, underground nests.

"Hiss!"

A sharp whistle from a green-skinned goblin echoed through the somewhat empty cave.

Most of the time, the people living on the continent of Aifara loathe this sound.

For ordinary civilians who have little fighting power, hearing the howling of goblins means impending disaster.

Destroyed farmland, vital livestock devoured, and even family and friends abducted...

These ugly, ferocious, and lowly monsters are despised by all intelligent races.

Even ordinary adventurers with a certain level of strength would not want to hear the squeaks of these green rats during their missions.

If they can defeat the enemy, that would be fine, but if they accidentally capsize, they might end up being dragged into the goblin's lair.

Adventurers' superhuman physical abilities also mean that they will feel the pain of being tortured more clearly and for a longer period of time.

Goblins are more repulsive to most people than cockroaches or rats.

The same applies to Xia Nan.

He may enjoy relieving his stress by clearing out goblin caves, but it's not because he likes the creatures.

On the contrary, it was precisely because he loathed these green-skinned goblins that he was able to derive pleasure from their shrill screams and deaths.

This can be proven by the scattered and gruesome corpses left in the goblin lair after he cleared it out.

"Hiss!"

It was that same sharp goblin howl.

But compared to the previous excitement and frenzy, the voice now was filled with deep fear and despair.

It even carried a hint of pleading.

However, its adorable little brain, which has always been driven by the desire to kill and reproduce, will probably never understand.

Why are all my comrades who bravely attacked the invading enemy dead, while I, the coward, am left to be the last one standing?

The reason is actually very simple.

The more it behaved this way, the more excited and pleased the black-haired youth in front of him became.

"call out!"

The surrounding air was vaguely blurred by gravity, carrying a heavy tide, and the not-so-sharp scabbard lightly touched the goblin's chest.

Its thin, festering body seemed to be caught in some invisible vortex, losing its balance and instantly falling to the ground.

The wooden stick he used for attacking had long since been thrown away.

Arms as thin as twigs supported him on the ground, and he gasped for breath with a shrill wail, thick, foul-smelling saliva dripping from his mouth.

But death did not come.

Even after it had recovered slightly from the dizziness of its unbalanced state, the black-haired adventurer in front of it still stood quietly.

His gaze instinctively traveled upwards, from the pair of leather boots stained with goblin blood and bits of flesh, a sight that seemed like a nightmare, to the bone-white, reflective leg armor, the leather belt holding a dagger and a small bag, the oval arm shield emitting a ghostly glow, and finally...

Those dark eyes, shrouded in deep shadows, were calm yet seemed to exude a strange chill.

They exchanged a quiet glance.

The skinny goblin couldn't help but shiver suddenly.

It groaned and instinctively got up from the ground, turned and ran away, wanting to get as far away as possible from the bare, thick rock wall in front of it.

But as soon as those dirty little legs took a step, the familiar touch came from his back once again.

He lost his balance and fell to the ground.

This went on for an unknown period of time.

Even the originally sharp screams echoing in the air became hoarse and weak.

His facial muscles trembled violently; fear, panic, and pleading had vanished, leaving only a deep, ashen despair.

After the final strike of the sword sheath, the goblin completely lost the will to resist or escape.

His entire body lay almost face up on the ground covered with blood and bits of flesh, his lifeless eyes staring blankly at the dark stone ceiling above.

"Proficiency +1"

"【Chongchao】lv1: (86/100)"

"..."

Familiar, semi-transparent characters flashed before my eyes.

Xia Nan nodded slightly, grateful for the green rat's final contribution to him with its tiny and despicable life.

[Emberfall] The straight sword is drawn.

It was accompanied by a soft "humming" sound.

The goblin, lying on its back in despair, finally got its wish and lost its head.

Xia Nan felt it was a bit of a pity.

Based on his own experience and through anatomical research, he concluded that goblins actually possess tear glands.

But strangely, he had never seen any goblin cry.

Of course, it wasn't because their entire race were so-called "hard bones." In his year-long adventure, he had encountered quite a few cowardly individuals who begged for mercy.

Perhaps... their brains have gradually forgotten this bodily function during evolution, or perhaps they killed too quickly, or their methods were too cruel, causing these lowly creatures to fall into a deeper despair before they even had a chance to cry out.

"Tsk."

Xia Nan pursed his lips, thinking that next time he cleared out a goblin nest, he could be a little "gentler" and proceed step by step.

There might be a pleasant surprise.

He is a normal person, and he also has empathy as a human being.

Under normal circumstances, even when facing enemies from different backgrounds, he rarely tortured them intentionally, often simply cutting off their heads to end the matter.

Whether facing novice adventurers whose strength is far inferior to his own or ordinary civilians who are not much stronger than goblins, the values ​​he developed in his previous life allow him to communicate with them in a friendly manner with an almost equal attitude.

Even when encountering ferocious monsters during missions, he rarely delays, quickly ending the battle while ensuring his own safety.

But goblins are different.

These low-level monsters, which were originally on the verge of extinction, have undergone a change in their biological nature after their main god returned.

They have completely degenerated into killing machines driven by desire, harboring the purest malice towards all intelligent beings.

Their way of life and their environment of growth dictate that every goblin who can stand in front of Xia Nan has filthy and sinful blood flowing in their veins, and even their breathing is a waste and desecration of the air in this world.

They are born with original sin.

They're not even as good as cockroaches or rats.

In Xia Nan's eyes, these ugly, filthy, and despicable species were no longer even considered "living things," but simply "things."

Thus, their lives are no longer something to be cherished, meaningless, and can be taken at will.

There were no obvious emotional fluctuations in my heart.

He took out a gauze from his pouch, carefully wiped the [Emberfall] straight sword, and then sheathed it again. His free right hand swept across his waist, and in the blink of an eye, a small, exquisite, and ornate dagger, seemingly crafted from pink crystals, appeared in his hand.

The green dagger named "Mandarin Orange," from the battle of the Crystal Priest of Goat's Horn, may not have much practical use, but its sharp, short blade and sturdy durability make it an excellent tool for extracting monster materials.

Even after several dozen days since I got it, Xia Nan still can't get enough of its crystal-clear and beautiful appearance.

He admired and played with the goblin corpse for a while, basking in the sunlight streaming in from outside the cave, before turning his attention back to it.

Crouching down, as if he knew every bone and tendon in the goblin's body like the back of his hand, the pink crystal, like a gorgeous glass-like short blade, cut smoothly with a skillful knife technique that seemed to have been repeated a thousand times.

In just a few seconds, Xia Nan plucked a pale bone vertebra with traces of blood from the goblin's corpse.

[Gravity Control] took effect silently, and the goblin head that had rolled to the side was pulled up by gravity and floated into his hand.

The dagger was sheathed.

He was holding his head with his left hand and gripping his vertebrae with his right.

Xia Nan turned around.

What came into view was a small mound of goblin heads that had already taken shape.

Learning from his previous experience of the skulls collapsing and falling, he reached out and inserted the vertebrae into the gaps between the top four skulls to stabilize them. Then, he grabbed the last goblin's head and inserted it along the end of the bone, allowing the other end of the vertebrae to pierce through the eye socket. This completed his "masterpiece".

Limited by the size of the goblin's lair, he managed to build four layers in total, and the total height of the four layers did not even reach his waist.

Although it looks quite intimidating.

But the main reason for this is the contrast with the cave environment he is currently in.

The light was dim, the air was filled with the smell of blood, and the ground was covered with bits of flesh and blood.

In this environment, if you were not mentally prepared, you might really be startled when you first see such a Jingguan (a mound of skulls).

However, if placed in a well-lit forest or by the sea, the effect will definitely not be as good.

Clearly, it falls far short of the requirement of "a large-scale deterrent ceremony" in the job application conditions.

However, I'm only level 3 now, and I'm still two levels away from the level 5 bottleneck of the [Meteor Blade Hunter] class, so I'm not in a hurry to break through the class level cap.

However, this is just a preliminary attempt.

There are many suitable options, and he has not yet determined his future development path.

"but……"

Xia Nan stared at the mound of stones he had painstakingly built, which was still not as tall as the halfling Alton's, and couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

"It only has four layers, yet it used a full thirty goblin heads."

"If you want to create a sufficient deterrent effect, it would have to be at least three stories high, which would require a lot of heads to kill."

Moreover, although goblins are accustomed to acting in tribal groups, unless a goblin leader with strong leadership appears, there are usually only about twenty or thirty goblins in a nest.

Considering that corpses decompose quickly, and that a smooth skull is not as intimidating as a head with remaining flesh and blood.

You must collect thousands or even tens of thousands of heads in a very short period of time.

Where did I find so many goblin heads all at once?
But stacking all these round things up one by one will be an incredibly difficult task.

He pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with a suitable solution.

Looking at the sky outside the cave, Xia Nan shook his head slightly.

The key right now is to find the key to the [Dream Corridor], then find an opportunity to go to the secret realm to replenish energy and raise your job level to lv5 as soon as possible.

The rest can be thought of slowly on the way.

Clearing his mind of distractions, he went to a corner of the cave and wrapped the goblin ears and some of the spoils he had previously packed in several layers of coarse cloth before stuffing them into his backpack.

They turned and left the nest.

……

……

Suoyu Bay was as lively as ever.

The saltwater area near the port remains as bustling and crowded as ever.

As I moved, I squeezed through the crowd, deftly dodging a basin of foul-smelling water poured down from a resident across the street.

Ignoring the curses and shouts from passersby and residents behind him who were soaked, Xia Nan turned around and disappeared into a side alley.

He didn't come often, and his memory wasn't particularly outstanding.

But he's a professional adventurer after all; it would be absurd for him to get lost in a place like this.

However, it took a little time, as we circled around a few key intersections.

Soon, a somewhat dilapidated-looking grocery store came into view.

I glanced up at the sign that read "Salmon Roe" to make sure I hadn't gone to the wrong place.

Xia Nan pushed the door open and entered.

"jingle……"

The clear sound of the bell echoed softly in the air.

The overall environment is not much different from before; the general store still has the same seemingly messy but actually neat and clean layout.

There was no one at the counter, but the faint sound of two people talking could be heard from the back room.

“There’s a batch of goods to be received the day after tomorrow. You’ll come with me. Talk less and observe more. I’ll show you the receiving process and let you get to know the people.”

"Once you're skilled enough, you can go out and run on your own, which will save me some energy."

"Understood, Uncle Paddy."

"..."

Hearing the sound of the door opening from outside, the noticeably younger voice quickly called out:

"I'm coming!"

Then came a series of hurried footsteps.

The visitor was naturally Colin, who had only recently parted ways with Xia Nan.

This pragmatic young man from a remote village, after realizing that he lacked the talent of an adventurer and the courage required for sea voyages, fully understood his own shortcomings.

He has now returned to the grocery store run by his uncle Paddy and is patiently and steadily working on the small business.

Compared to when he first disembarked from the Black Gull, he now wears a durable and sturdy linen shirt commonly found among ordinary residents in saltwater areas, and he looks noticeably more energetic, as if he has found a path to strive for.

Upon seeing the dark-haired young man in front of the counter, Colin was initially taken aback, but then a genuine, enthusiastic smile appeared on his face:
"Mr. Xia Nan, what brings you here!?"

Paddy, who was a little slower inside, quickened his pace upon hearing his nephew's voice.

Nodding to Paddy, who was also greeting him warmly, Xia Nan looked at Colin, reached into his fanny pack, and replied:

"I went for a walk outside today and happened to come across a goblin's lair. I was lucky and picked up some loot."

He had always had a good impression of the two of them, and didn't know many people in Barracuda Bay. Now that he had acquired some small spoils from the goblin lair, he naturally thought of coming over to patronize their business.

But before he could take the spoils out of his pouch, a series of footsteps suddenly came from outside the grocery store behind him, accompanied by a commotion.

(End of this chapter)