Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 461 Wilderness Form

The Blade of Vengeance is a team formed around adventurers.

Perhaps the captain had other purposes when he first formed the team, and the name "Blade of Vengeance" can indicate this to some extent.

However, under normal circumstances, they are not fundamentally different from the adventurer fleets in Barracuda Bay. They "accept quests - receive rewards - rest - accept quests again" and maintain the operation of the entire team with quest bounties.

Even though Xia Nan didn't think any of the team members were bad people, each with their own personality, their performance in the storm proved their reliability in battle.

However, if we strictly follow the faction division, the "Blade of Vengeance" team as a whole should be positioned between "Lawful Evil" and "Chaotic Neutral".

Driven by self-interest, they appear free but actually practice their own principles in a team-based manner.

Lorraine, the sawa fish-woman, had seen too many of them and knew their habits very well, so she felt disgusted with them. She had interacted with the fishermen on Hare Island before and had some acquaintance with their village chief, but they were far from being friends.

Given this premise, and considering the current situation where the fishmen have slaughtered an entire fishing village, she obviously cannot rashly take action just because she inexplicably wants to avenge the fishermen she has only met a few times, thus dragging herself and her teammates into danger. Moreover, the values ​​she has gradually formed over a long period of time traversing the ocean are not those of a human supremacist who sees other species as enemies, and she will not be particularly angry just because her fellow humans are killed by monsters.

She was only considering the current situation from the perspective of herself, her teammates, and even the entire fleet behind her.

First and foremost, of course, is the current level of threat posed by these murlocs.

There were a total of thirty-six, most of whom were ordinary murlocs with a challenge level of "0.5". However, the six sarva murlocs kneeling at the front of the altar had two pairs of arms and were obviously very strong. Their equipment and armor did not look simple, so they were obviously elite-level beings with a challenge level of "lv2" or even "lv3" or higher.

The Sakawa fish-man priest, who held a strange conch shell in his webbed hand, could further enhance their overall strength to another level.

This is very subtle.

It's true that Lorraine is a level 7 professional, but professional level and challenge level are two completely different concepts. A monster in good condition requires four professionals of the same level with reasonable roles and a certain degree of tacit understanding to deal with it safely.

There were thirty-six mermen in front of her. Perhaps Lorraine could handle them, but considering the presence of spellcasters among them and the fact that the beach was near the ocean, the actual battle situation became somewhat ambiguous.

If she were younger, she might have just gone for it.

But now there are more things to consider.

They came to Hare Island only to repair their ships and had no fundamental conflict with these fish-men, so it seemed unnecessary for them to fight.

However, the ship's maintenance will take a long time, and even if everything goes smoothly, it will not be able to leave the island until this evening at the earliest, while it is only early morning now, with a whole day in between.

The Shahua fish-men are inherently hostile to humans, and these people are even more extreme, not even searching the village and leaving no survivors.

In this situation, who can guarantee that these Shahua fishermen won't discover the Blade of Vengeance, which is currently docked at the pier less than thirty minutes away from the fishing village, during such a long period of time?

When that time comes, the fish-men will no longer be able to fight them on land as they do now. With the ocean as their home ground, the initiative will be completely handed over to the enemy.

Given Lorraine's personality, she clearly wouldn't risk putting her team in danger just because of a bit of wishful thinking.

With the enemy's overall strength within their capabilities to handle, she decided to take the initiative and nip the crisis in the bud.

"I'll stay here. Xia Nan, you take Hein back first and call Sasha and the others over."

In Lorraine's opinion, the safest course of action would be to wait until all the professionals in the team were present before launching a surprise attack on the murlocs in front of them.

Xia Nan was instructed to take the spellcaster Hein to the docks to call for backup, while Xia Nan, as the team leader, remained in the most dangerous location to monitor the merfolk below.

Her approach was certainly correct, and could even be considered prudent.

If Xia Nan were in the other person's shoes, he probably wouldn't be able to come up with a better solution either. As a temporary member, he had no intention of challenging the captain's authority.

But Xia Nan's experience on Qiaoyan Island has given him a different perspective.

“Captain, these Shahua fishmen are probably performing some kind of ritual. I’ve seen it before.”

"The monsters they summon are extremely troublesome, and the situation could change drastically from here to the dock and back."

It wasn't that Xia Nan was overthinking it; after all, the scene of that shark beast slaughtering the Silver Claw Osprey team was still vivid in his mind, and even he himself had barely managed to kill it.

With the current merman sacrifice being such a grand spectacle, if they were to summon a few more shark beasts, or even more powerful monsters, the Blade of Vengeance team might not be able to handle it safely even if they were all assembled.

I've only been with the team for a short time, and I don't want it to end so soon.

Therefore, some reminders are still very necessary.

Following closely behind, Druid Hein's words further confirmed the credibility of Xia Nan's warning.

“The water elemental energy by the sea does indeed show signs of converging towards the altar. Although it’s not certain that it’s a summoning ritual, the merman priest is definitely casting a spell.”

Upon hearing this, Lorraine frowned.

She was certainly not the kind of dictator who would not tolerate any questioning of her authority and who acted arbitrarily.

With her two teammates saying the same thing, she realized the unusual nature of the current situation.

When it became necessary to wipe out the group of merfolk, but going back to call for reinforcements would be too slow and could easily lead to unforeseen circumstances, it seemed that only one option remained for the three of them.

Her furrowed brows suddenly relaxed, and as her fiery red hair swayed, Lorraine had made her decision.

However, the number of people is indeed limited at the moment. There are only three of us, including myself, and one of them is an important spellcaster who needs to be protected.

After a moment's thought, Lorraine nodded meaningfully to Hein:

"You go up first, I might not have time to take care of you later."

Go up?

Xia Nan was taken aback, but then saw Hai Yin suddenly take two steps back.

hum-

The emerald green magical light flashed and disappeared in an instant.

The woman, with pale, cool skin and long, flowing brown hair, stretched out her arms and stood on her tiptoes.

The emerald light in the air compressed inward and adhered to her body surface.

His face became blurred under the light, and his two already slender arms stretched outward under the magical glow, while his center of gravity gradually shifted downward.

Like a piece of clay made of pure green light, the human form, originally standing upright, rapidly changed with each breath, and one could vaguely see a bird's beak that grew sharper and longer as the light flickered, as well as feathers that materialized.

"Hula..."

A gentle breeze swept by, scattering the lush green light covering Hein's body.

As the light shards fell, the human druid who had been standing in place vanished.

Instead, a short-tailed albatross, significantly larger than its kind, with pure white feathers and brown downy feathers covering its back and neck, was discovered.

As a Druid of the Coral Society, who has reached level 3, Hein has naturally also obtained her "Wilderness Form," which allows her to transform into a beast, just as people stereotype the Druid class.

Seeing a druid transform in front of him for the first time, Xia Nan couldn't help but feel curious and sized up the druid a few times.

Even the usually calm and collected Hein felt a little embarrassed and flapped her wings, wanting to fly into the sky.

Although her spellcasting ability was greatly weakened after transforming into her wilderness form, she gained the ability to fly like a bird, giving her a height advantage and eliminating the need for two people to protect her.

Gazing at the enormous wings of the albatross transformed from Hein before him, Xia Nan's heart stirred. Unlike the cramped environment of the cave on the cliffy islet, the beach they were on now was incredibly open, allowing him to use [Fang Hunt] to dodge and maneuver without restraint, fully utilizing his mobility.

However, the excessive depth of the space also gave the fish-men ample time to react, allowing them to spot Xia Nan and his companions from a great distance.

Even if you use [Fang Hunt] to shorten the distance beforehand, you will still be discovered very quickly.

The tactic that Xia Nan was used to—decapitating the spellcasters in the enemy team at the start of the battle—became a challenge.

I was wondering if there were any other options, like trying to flank from the side.

Looking at this short-tailed albatross, which was much larger than usual, Xia Nan suddenly had an idea.

"Wait a moment."

"you……"

……

……

"Ga... Lu..."

The deep, resonant voice carried a certain rhythm as the Shahua fish-man priest, holding two conch shells in his hands, swayed as he stood on the altar.

You can vaguely see the mucus secreted on the surface of its dark blue scales, which helps it retain moisture when it leaves the marine environment for a short time.

An elite-level saka fishman, arriving late, casually tossed the lifeless human corpse he had dragged all the way from the fishing village into a pit that was almost completely filled with flesh.

Then, relying on his stronger body than others of his kind, he squeezed to the closest place in front of the altar and knelt down.

Just as he was incredibly devout and fervent, wanting to keep up with the sacrificial chants and join the ceremony.

The priest's deep voice suddenly stopped coming from in front of him.

I subconsciously looked up.

The merman priest, who had been fully focused on the sacrificial ritual, had now stopped what he was doing.

A pair of fish eyes gaze into the distance.

There, at the junction of the beach and the jungle, a tall figure strolled leisurely towards them.

Her long, fiery red hair swayed gently over her shoulders as she moved, and each step of her pointed leather boots left clear footprints on the sand.

"Crackling sound".

Mars exploded in the atmosphere surrounding its body.

He held the sharp, curved blade, its surface gleaming with a flame-like light, tightly in his hand.

"Garu!!!!"

The fishmen's cries suddenly erupted from the beach.

Just a few breaths ago, the Shahua fish people were obediently kneeling and prostrating like the most devout believers. Now, however, they roared and charged in groups towards Lorraine's direction like sharks that had smelled blood.

Lorraine showed no sign of panic in response.

He remained calm, and even had time to light another cigarette for himself.

As her full, red lips parted, a pale white mist of tobacco smoke escaped.

"Buzz."

The crimson flames were fleeting.

In the blink of an eye, the [Scalefire Curved Blade] in his hand had already completed a spin in the air.

A drop of ash fell from the cigarette hanging at the corner of his mouth, and the Shahua fishman charging at the forefront of the group was simultaneously split in two by the flames.

She didn't even need to use any combat skills; her exaggerated physical attributes, granted by her LV7 professional level, were enough for Lorraine to crush ordinary fishmen with pure strength and agility.

To some extent, the term "monster" used by the people of the world to describe these fishmen is more appropriate to describe her.

Faced with this human who disrupted the ritual, the already brutal Shahua fish-man was enraged by the flickering flames in the air, and his rationality was gradually consumed by his anger.

The encirclement that had been gradually forming around Lorraine, thanks to their numerical advantage, suddenly crumbled, and the attackers rushed towards the woman like moths to a flame.

A subtle smile curved at the corners of her lips.

Lorraine took a small half-step back.

Just as her heels hit the ground, a burst of scorching red air suddenly erupted from the [Scalefire Curved Blade] in her hand.

A circular area with a radius of six meters centered on the curved blade.

As the flames dissipated, the temperature soared!

Even the air seemed to distort slightly due to the high temperature.

Just a step away, the dramatic temperature difference felt like going from extreme cold to the desert, causing plumes of white smoke to spread rapidly across the beach with a hissing sound.

[The Realm of Scorching Temperatures], Proficient.

As you can see, any fishman who dares to rush into this high-temperature area will have their body mucus evaporate with each breath, and the edges of the scales on their skin will gradually char, becoming crisp and curling up like potato chips.

The scorching air currents drawn into their bodies with each breath were destroying the flesh of these monsters from within.

Meanwhile, Lorraine, who was standing at the very center of the entire area, was completely unaffected.

He simply stood there, his chin slightly raised.

A pair of reddish-brown eyes, reflecting the firelight, gazed intently at the sky above.

Against the backdrop of a vast, cloudless blue sky, a short-tailed albatross, much larger than its kind, soars through the air.

Her white belly feathers made her look like a white cloud drifting quickly.

But at this moment, it was clear that she seemed to be struggling with the flapping of her wings, and her body was unsteady in flight.

As for why...

Naturally, it was because of that dark figure that was currently gripping her tightly with its bird claws, suspended in mid-air.

While Lorraine distracted the enemy, Xia Nan, using Gravity Control to minimize the gravity on himself, used the Wilderness Form of Hein Albatross to fly over the fish-man guards and arrive directly above the altar.

The next second, I let go.

hold head high--

The deep, high-pitched howl of wolves echoed in the air.

(End of this chapter)