Whirlwind Slash

Maji clearly remembered that afternoon a few days ago.

When he and Elki arrived at the Adventurers Association and searched the notice board in the main hall for suitable jobs.

That shy farm boy whom the guide had brought over.

Though the boy claimed to have mastered a "combat skill," Maji had not taken it seriously.

He had seen far too many blockheads like Xia Nan, whether in the mountains along the kingdom's borders or here in River Valley Town.

They cast themselves into the heroic epics sung by Bards, picked up a few moves from the village militia, and thought that qualified them to venture out.

Then, clutching unrealistic fantasies, they charged headlong into the continent's forests and dungeons.

Only to become fertilizer for the plants growing from the soil.

A "combat skill" was one of the essential requirements for becoming a professional!

Even an old hand like him, who had spent years making his way outside, had only learned a move or two. How could some greenhorn who could barely plow a field master one by spending some time staring at a few scraps of paper?

Even those noble young masters born into prominent city families needed their households to spend huge sums hiring professionals already skilled in combat skills. They trained from childhood and were even supplemented with expensive medicinal herbs and equipment.

Only then could they barely attain a Profession Level.

Though Maji had thought all this at the time, his wealth of experience kept it from showing on his face.

On the contrary, he had warmly welcomed Xia Nan into the team as a temporary member, even spending a "fortune" to treat him to a serving of Gray Rat Meat Fried Rice at the White Tit Tavern next door.

After all, the three of them were enough for the difficulty of the jobs their party usually accepted, but they still needed someone who could handle the dirty, exhausting work.

And if they ran into any emergencies, a novice unfamiliar with the forest terrain could, to some extent, buy them time to escape.

He just had not expected...

Whoosh!

Maji abruptly released the string, and the Wooden Arrow vanished from the bowstring in an instant.

As a brief numb tremor ran through his fingertips, a shrill scream rang out from the ground beneath the canopy.

His mind replayed that fleeting flash of silver he had glimpsed among the trees moments ago.

That had definitely been a combat skill!

Could this kid really have stepped in some kind of dog shit and actually mastered one?

No matter what, Xia Nan had genuinely mastered a combat skill.

Perhaps his role in the team needed to be reconsidered?

Draw the bow, release the arrow.

Maji's hands never stopped moving, but his mind had already begun making plans.

"Elki is dead. The team happens to be short on immediate combat strength."

"Once this job is over, I'll bring this kid into the team."

His chest rose and fell.

Xia Nan slowly let out a long breath.

His arms trembled slightly from overexertion, while the solid feel of the Sword Hilt pressed against his palm.

He recalled the sensation of instinctively using [Whirlwind Slash] just now.

It was difficult to describe.

After countless practices over the past few years, this move seemed to have become instinct.

Build strength, aim, swing.

It was not until the Goblin's piercing wail reached his ears that he realized the blade had not struck straw this time, but real flesh and blood.

Blood gradually spread across the grassland, while scattered limbs lay strewn over the ground.

Xia Nan felt a slight urge to vomit, but the gruesome scene before him had come from Goblins. Though they too were intelligent creatures, the difference in height and build was simply too great.

It did not feel quite so real, so he could barely endure the discomfort in his stomach.

Roar—

The sounds of fighting came from behind him, pulling him from his recollection back into reality.

The battle was not over yet.

Though Xia Nan was a newcomer, he had no intention of backing down.

Perhaps that strike just now had scattered the Terror brought on by Elki's death.

Without further thought, he tightened his grip on the Sword Hilt and hurried toward Ga Gu to support him.

Angry roars, shrill cries, arrows slicing through the air, blades piercing flesh...

The battle had come suddenly, and it ended just as quickly.

Less than ten minutes had passed from beginning to end before silence returned to the forest.

Leaving only an extremely thick Blood Scent lingering in the air.

The Goblins' ambush could be said to have been highly effective.

At the very start of the battle, they had successfully reduced the Stinky Fish Rotten Shrimp party's numbers and taken out one of its main combatants.

But afterward, they revealed their true nature as low-level monsters.

Facing the resistance of the remaining party members, they gradually fell into a disadvantage.

Especially after Xia Nan cleaved two Goblins in half with a single strike, the situation instantly collapsed and swung in the party's favor.

Without the courage that came from acting as a group, the Goblins' combat strength plummeted despite their weapons still being in hand.

Ga Gu stood at the front, his Hand Axe whistling through the air; Xia Nan moved along the edge of the battlefield, finishing off enemies and covering his teammates; Wooden Arrows occasionally shot down from the dense canopy overhead. They were not perfectly accurate, but every arrow served its purpose.

There had been sixteen Goblins in total.

Xia Nan dealt with five of them, while Maji killed six with his bow alone.

Ga Gu was drenched in blood and looked incomparably fierce, like a savage warrior of the battlefield.

Yet when all was said and done, he had only killed five Goblins, the same as Xia Nan, who had just joined the team.

They cleaned up the battlefield.

Imitating Hunter Maji's movements, Xia Nan stepped on a Goblin's head and used his One-handed Sword to cut off its left ear.

This was his trophy.

The process made him somewhat uncomfortable, but when he thought of how the bounty for just one Goblin was nearly four Silver Coins—almost two days' wages for a hard laborer in the city—

Xia Nan's movements unconsciously became brisker and more forceful.

"Here, take it!"

A bloodstained Goblin ear was held out to him.

Xia Nan looked at Ga Gu before him, surprise rising in his heart.

If he remembered correctly, although he had landed the finishing blow on this Goblin, Ga Gu's Hand Axe had already struck it in the forehead before Xia Nan acted, leaving it nearly dead.

He had assumed it should count as Ga Gu's kill and had not bothered with it. He had not expected this Half-Orc to cut off the ear for him and bring it over.

"You've got some skill, kid. I'll buy you a drink later!"

Ga Gu patted Xia Nan's shoulder with a large, bloodstained hand and said in a rough voice.

In truth, the two had barely spoken before this battle.

On one hand, Xia Nan had seemed dazed because he was trying to process the memories in his mind.

On the other, Ga Gu had actually looked down on this newcomer somewhat.

With Orc blood in him, the belief that the strong deserved respect ran through nearly all his understanding of the world.

Unlike Maji, he had not thought too deeply about it. He had simply believed Xia Nan had joined the team to drag them down and was utterly worthless.

It was not until just now, when Ga Gu had personally witnessed Xia Nan's performance in battle, that he was truly convinced.

He now regarded him as one of the team.