Chapter 3: Goblin
Goblins,
Infamous like cockroaches, they are found in almost every plane that can be associated with the element of "Western Fantasy."
These short creatures are inherently greedy and despicable. If their average racial intelligence wasn't at the bottom tier of intelligent beings, they might also be described as "cunning" and "good at deception."
Their species' overall alignment strongly leaning towards "Evil" and their low productivity due to backward intelligence often link their survival behavior to "plunder" and "theft."
Furthermore, their race lacks females, forcing them to rely on plundering females from other intelligent beings for reproduction.
This, to some extent, gives them a worse reputation in the multiverse than even Abyss Demons and Hell Devils.
Individual Goblin combat power is extremely weak. A regular farmwoman with a pitchfork can easily deal with a plain Goblin without weapons or equipment.
But just as the Hunter Maji described earlier,
These little things are like the stray dogs seen everywhere in town.
A single one doesn't amount to much, but once they gather, and their numbers reach double digits, or even triple digits,
Then the Goblins' courage and the destructive power they can cause will increase exponentially.
Raiding merchant caravans, attacking villages...
Especially when the number of their groups develops to a certain extent, elite individuals with leadership roles will naturally appear.
If allowed to develop unchecked for a long time, they could even grow into a kingdom-level disaster.
Currently, the Goblin tribe being tracked by the Rotten Fish and Shrimp Squad may not have developed to the scale of plundering towns.
But clearly, they already possess the ability to actively attack humans.
The gradually chilling corpse of the humorous Dwarf who used to like telling untimely cold jokes on the ground can prove this point.
"Roar!!!"
An inhuman roar suddenly echoed through the forest.
The Half-orc Gagu, like a startled jungle beast, suddenly leaped up, his hands tightly gripping his blood-stained great axe.
The sudden attack and the death of his squadmate seemed to awaken some ancestral glory in this mixed-blood half-breed with thin Orc blood.
His canine teeth, which had become faintly elongated and sharp, and his clearly swollen and reddened muscles, showed that this Half-orc was entering some kind of combat state.
Hunter Maji was the quickest member of the entire Rotten Fish and Shrimp Squad.
Almost the instant that dark wooden club emerged from behind Aier Ji's head, he reacted.
While shouting a warning, he slung his longbow behind his back and, using his hands and feet, nimbly climbed up the tall, hard-skinned oak tree behind him.
His thin figure disappeared into the dense canopy in an instant.
Although he really didn't want to admit it, Xia Nan was undoubtedly the slowest one in the entire squad to react.
For more than thirty years before crossing over, he had almost sat from the classroom to the office, not even having killed a chicken;
In this life, he was just an honest and simple farmer who faced the yellow soil and had his back to the sky.
One second he was considering how to get more information about this world from Aier Ji, the next second the other party was headshot by a wooden club right in front of him, with even brain matter flowing out.
Xia Nan only felt his mind go blank. Although he instinctively picked up the one-handed sword on his knee, his body stood rooted to the spot, as if in some kind of paralysis.
Until...
"Whoosh!"
His hair swayed, and a fierce gust of air scraped across his cheek, leaving a stinging sensation.
A wooden arrow shot through the shadows of the forest, flying out from the canopy above his head.
"Ah!"
A sharp cry of pain sounded from behind him.
Xia Nan suddenly jolted, instantly snapping back to his senses.
The world that had been as if the mute button was pressed, instantly became vivid again.
Without time to thank Maji above for lending a hand, he quickly turned around.
His gaze swept across, and his pupils constricted slightly!
There were two short figures crouched low.
Their rough, dark green skin was covered in scars, and their crimson eyes were filled with cunning and malice; their entire bodies were only covered below the waist by a piece of dirty brown rags, and their limbs were slender but one could faintly see the outline of bulging muscles beneath.
At some point, two Goblins had quietly crept up behind him!
If it hadn't been for Maji's warning, he would probably have been hit just like the Dwarf Aier Ji.
Xia Nan felt a surge of fear in his heart, and subconsciously tightened his grip on the sword hilt wrapped in coarse rope.
"Wacha!"
Their stealth had been exposed, and one of the Goblins' feet was even shot through by a wooden arrow from above, pinning it firmly to the ground.
These naturally timid monsters seemed to lose the courage to continue their attack at this moment.
They merely raised the wooden clubs in their hands in a threatening manner towards the young human in front of them.
The entirely dark club body showed a dangerous orange-red hue under the reflection of the bonfire.
Xia Nan looked at the rusty iron nails embedded on the surface of the wooden club, and suddenly recalled the horrific scene of Aier Ji's skull cracking open earlier.
Like some kind of stress reaction, driven by the intense fear in his heart, he suddenly stepped forward with his right foot, while bending his right arm holding the sword to gather strength.
"Tap!"
His foot instantly sank into the soft muddy ground.
Like the roots of a tree growing downwards to absorb nutrients from the soil.
A mysterious force erupted from the sole of his foot, following his bones and muscles, gathering strength from his entire body along the way.
Finally, it poured out with the sword blade.
Spinning Slash
Tear—
Accompanied by the sharp sound of tearing air, the lingering mist violently rolled.
A sharp silver light with a beautiful arc flashed and disappeared in front of Xia Nan.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The carefully maintained blade, combined with the technique practiced hundreds of thousands of times, made the Goblins' skin, muscles, and bones as fragile as sandpaper, unable to withstand a single blow.
"Proficiency +1"
A string of semi-transparent text flashed before his eyes.
Xia Nan only felt two brief sensations of resistance in his hand, and the one-handed sword had already been swung by him from left to right, diagonally upwards, just as he had done countless nights before.
Blood splattered.
What landed on the muddy ground were the Goblins' severed hands, half a skull, foul-smelling internal organs, and their dirty and hot blood.
Those two insidious monsters who attempted a sneak attack were easily cut in half with just one sword strike, like the countless rice stalks on the field ridges before.
The forest seemed to fall into a deathly silence at this moment.
Above the tall canopy, Maji subconsciously loosened the longbow he had drawn taut.
Looking at the two scattered corpses on the grassy area, his eyes shifted, and he glanced at Xia Nan, who was slowly exhaling and sheathing his sword.
His Adam's apple bobbed twice, and his face was filled with uncontrollable surprise.
"Is this a damn newcomer!?"