Chapter 143 Tidal Stabilization

Under normal circumstances, an adult goblin's combat ability was not particularly strong.

It did not even require formally trained soldiers or heavily armed village guards to deal with one.

A burly peasant woman wielding nothing more than a rusty pitchfork could easily handle the threat.

But when the numbers of these roach-like, bottom-tier monsters swelled into the dozens or even triple digits, driven by their elite individuals, they gained both the strength and the nerve to raid small human settlements.

"Squelch!"

Cold light flashed.

A one-handed sword, coated in foul goblin blood, plunged violently into the chest of the Goblin before him.

The blade was sharp. Although the slight wear on the hilt and the body of the sword showed it had seen long use and was not fresh from the blacksmith's forge, under its owner's meticulous care, it remained in excellent condition.

Almost the instant its wielder exerted force, the sharp tip of the sword pierced the Goblin's turquoise skin, which was as coarse and brittle as sandpaper.

Fat, muscle, cartilage.

Then, amid the grating sound of metal rubbing against flesh and bone, it slowly ground to a halt.

It failed to punch clean through the body. The aim had even been slightly off, failing to kill the enemy in a single blow.

Naturally, this had nothing to do with the weapon's sharpness.

The violently trembling hands gripping the hilt—shaking from overexertion—were the real reason.

Abi held his one-handed sword in a reverse grip with his right hand, the palm of his left hand pressing against the pommel.

Leaning forward, he pressed nearly his entire body weight onto the blade.

"Ah!!!"

He roared, suddenly surging with strength.

The blade, which had bogged down after plunging into the enemy's body, finally broke through the last layer of resistance amid the abruptly halted screech of the Goblin beneath him.

"Hah... Hah..."

He gasped heavily for air, ignoring the filthy mixture of rainwater, blood, and goblin spit plastered across his face.

With great difficulty, he planted his foot on the Goblin's corpse and wrenched the one-handed sword free.

Due to overexertion and his stamina bordering on total exhaustion, he failed to control his center of gravity the moment the blade came loose, nearly collapsing backward.

He staggered a few steps before managing to steady himself.

As a rookie who had only recently joined the trade, Abi had not mastered any so-called combat techniques.

To some extent, the only things distinguishing him from the villagers of Emerald Creek Village were the gear he had spent many gold coins to scrape together, a bit of experience fighting goblins, and a body that was gradually growing sturdier from being able to eat his fill every day on a lucrative income.

He knew, of course, that there were times he was a burden to the party.

Especially when the enemies the squad encountered were no longer just goblins swinging wooden clubs.

Therefore, even though the others had never voiced a single complaint about it, he still did everything within his power whenever the situation allowed.

Right now was no exception.

In fact, at the very beginning of the battle, before the Bugbear entered the fray, when he and the others were holding the frontline alongside the villagers against the goblin charge, he had actually felt a long-lost, wondrous sensation of fighting side by side with his teammates.

But after Red-Mane shattered the entire defensive line single-handedly, radiating red light from its body, he snapped back to reality.

Knowing his own limits, when his three teammates needed to focus on dealing with the Bugbear, Abi consciously fell back so as not to get in their way.

He simply helped the villagers who were being attacked by goblins while taking the time to quietly monitor the situation on the battlefield.

And because of that, he witnessed with his own eyes Adeline being heavily injured, Xia Nan's bitter struggle to survive, and Berg's tragic death.

The teammate he spent day and night with was reduced to a cold corpse, and the captain who had looked after him since he first started was gravely wounded, her fate unknown.

The Green Blood Squad, which had just finished its mission and was returning fully loaded, was brought to the brink of collapse in a mere matter of minutes.

The massive shock left Abi unable to feel sorrow.

Only numbness.

Yet, driven by the last shred of rationality left in his mind, he restrained himself from the foolish act of rushing forward to throw his life away.

Taking advantage of the gap when Red-Mane was entangled by Xia Nan and unable to break free, he hurriedly made his way to the edge of the battlefield and helped Adeline drink the Healing Potion she carried on her.

He guarded her side until she regained her mobility.

Then he fled the main battlefield as fast as he could, throwing himself into the fight against the other goblins.

Until now.

"Thump."

His body, coated in mud and blood, slowly slumped backward against the wall by the side of the road.

In his ears were the screeches of Goblins echoing from all directions.

His gaze drifted into the distance, toward the battlefield where Xia Nan and the others fought.

His line of sight was blocked by the village's wooden cabins, hiding the actual scene from view.

But the roars of the Bugbear—which had once reverberated through the air, every sound driving the goblins into an even more frenzied state of excitement—had not rung out for a while now.

"Is the battle... over?" Abi murmured.

Who won?

Adeline and Xia Nan, or... that Bugbear?

He already knew the answer in his heart.

He was not an idiot.

When Abi watched with his own eyes as Berg, a veteran adventurer of their squad, was effortlessly grabbed and had his head crushed by the enemy; when he watched Adeline, who was capable of clearing out an entire Goblin Lair single-handedly, take a heavy blow that left her unconscious...

Even Xia Nan—who had recently joined the squad and had unhesitatingly lopped off "Gap-Toothed" Bennett's head with a single, clean strike—could only barely hold on under the Bugbear's onslaught.

Abi had already recognized the massive disparity in strength between the squad and their foe.

Deep down, for the first time since the battle began, the urge to retreat welled up within him.

He did not wonder why it had taken him until now to feel the urge to run, considering he had never been a particularly brave person to begin with.

He simply harbored some unrealistic hope, fleeing away from the core battlefield toward the nearest screams of the villagers in an act of escapism.

But he was only a rookie adventurer after all. Without much formal training, his physical conditioning was terribly average.

Right now, after surviving such high-intensity combat, his stamina was already utterly drained.

A brief respite of a few breaths did nothing to alleviate it.

Instead, it only made the sore, aching pain in his muscles sharper, allowing exhaustion to swallow him like a tidal wave.

He had only just peeled his back off the wall and taken two steps forward when he suddenly stumbled, swaying before crashing to the ground.

He still clutched his one-handed sword.

But no matter what, he could not get back up.

It was as if even the strength to stand had been completely exhausted.

And right at Abi's most desperate moment, seemingly drawn by the thick stench of blood in the air, three goblins darting between the village cabins in search of prey spotted his prone body on the ground.

"Screech!"

Their excited, shrill cries suddenly pierced the air.

Abi struggled to get up, but in that moment, his brain seemed to lose all control over his body.

He could only lift his neck in vain, staring in despair as those mud-caked feet rapidly closed in on him.

Flashing through his mind were the few memories worth cherishing from his short life.

Abi closed his eyes, quietly waiting for death to descend.

On the verge of death, his heart—which had been filled with a chaotic mess of emotions and thoughts—actually found complete peace.

He even had the luxury of making a little joke to himself:

'Goddess, please let these Goblins not be too hungry. It'd be nice if they at least put me out of my misery before they start eating.'

Abi's prayer did not work.

Because the rapid pattering of goblin footsteps echoing in his ears gradually turned sluggish and heavy before they could actually reach him, until finally they stopped altogether, moving no more.

Confused, Abi slowly opened his eyes.

What entered his vision were three pairs of spindly legs planted in place like dead branches, completely motionless.

As if bearing some immense pressure far beyond what their bodies could endure, the goblins' calves trembled violently. Beneath their thin skin, one could faintly see their scrawny muscles bulging and tearing, pushed to their absolute limits.

"Thud!"

The crushing pressure became too much for the three goblins to bear.

Almost simultaneously, they dropped to their knees and crashed onto their stomachs.

Their movements were identical to Abi's just moments ago.

Limbs pressed against the ground, faces buried in the dirt, they wailed and struggled.

They were clearly exerting every ounce of their strength, yet they could not even manage the basic act of standing up.

Even now, these dim-witted, low-tier monsters could not understand why their bodies had suddenly become so unbelievably heavy in the span of just a few seconds.

It was as if a massive magnet lay buried beneath the surface, clamping them firmly to the earth and making it impossible to break free.

Of course, for these three goblins at least, there would be no chance in this lifetime to unravel that mystery.

Because in the next second, a streak of iron-gray sword light fell from above like an executioner's guillotine.

Amid a geyser of spurting blood, it sliced off their heads.

Xia Nan, gripping the Decapitating Longsword in his right hand, leaned down and hauled Abi up from the ground.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to him.

But seeing Abi's unfocused eyes, his hazy consciousness, and his face plastered with mud and blood, Xia Nan knew that the man probably would not hear a word he said.

He simply patted Abi's shoulder and jutted his chin toward the direction he had come from. "I've already cleared that side out. It's safe."

"Adeline and some of the villagers are there."

"Leave the rest to me."

He repeated himself twice until Abi gave a wooden nod. Only then did Xia Nan turn around and charge deeper into the village.

With the Bugbear dead, all that remained on the field were some Green-Skinned Goblins.

Even before his advancement, they had not posed the slightest threat to Xia Nan.

Let alone now, when he had become a proper Class Holder, his overall strength skyrocketing several tiers.

Dispatching them was easier and much more efficient than before.

From the outskirts to the interior, nearly half the village was completely cleared out in under ten minutes.

And that even included the time spent resettling the villagers.

His speed was incredible.

Even without casting [Fang Hunt], an onlooker would only see a blurred afterimage flashing through the air.

And if one looked closer, they would discover something even stranger. Despite him wearing heavy iron armor and bounding great distances with every step—which clearly demanded explosive power from his leg muscles—the footprints he left in the mud were incredibly shallow.

They were about as deep as the tracks left by an adult male walking at a steady pace.

This, naturally, was one of Xia Nan's preliminary applications of his newly acquired [Gravity Control].

—Flexibly adjusting gravity to increase or decrease the gravitational pull acting on an object for a short period of time.

It was the first application that had popped into Xia Nan's head after obtaining the skill.

Simple, but effective.

Against enemies, just like those three goblins earlier, jacking up the gravity acting on them by a single margin caused them to instantly lose all mobility.

They lay pinned to the ground like lambs waiting for slaughter, necks stretched out for him to reap.

As for Xia Nan himself, reduced gravity meant a lighter burden on his body and much faster speeds for the same amount of physical exertion.

It was not just his everyday movements; his other two combat techniques, [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt], would both receive a massive boost under the effects of gravity manipulation.

If he could gradually raise the proficiency level of [Gravity Control] in the future so that he could sustain it stably for long periods, Xia Nan would not even have to factor in armor weight when buying gear. Without compromising his agility, he could pick the heaviest, most defensive pieces. He could layer on a hundred suits of armor (as an exaggeration), and as long as [Gravity Control] could suppress the weight, the burden on his body would be no heavier than a thin, short-sleeved shirt.

Further down the line, when he upgraded [Gravity Control] to the point where it could completely negate the effects of Earth's gravity on himself...

He did not even dare to imagine.

And all of this was merely what he had come up with while clearing out goblins over the brief few dozen minutes since becoming a Class Holder. He simply had not had the time for deeper contemplation.

Gravity, as one of the four fundamental forces of the material world, covered far too broad a spectrum.

It definitely was not something he could fully grasp in a short span of time.

For now, he needed to finish clearing the goblins out of the village. It would not be too late to slowly research it once they returned to Rivervale Town.

While he pondered this, a charred house ruin ahead of him rapidly drew closer in his vision.

Frantic, exhausted roars of anger echoed from within.

A man in a simple hemp shirt tightly gripped a mud-stained hoe with both hands, swinging it wildly to force back the few goblins in front of him.

Leaning against the wall behind him was a middle-aged woman hugging her child tightly, a meat cleaver clutched in her hand.

Her eyes were resolute, as if she were already prepared for a fight to the death with the Goblins before them.

Without a moment's hesitation, Xia Nan surged power into his legs!

Mud splattered!

It was as if springs had been installed under his feet. His incredibly light body, freed from gravity, instantly launched into the air.

He vaulted over the collapsed wall blocking the path ahead.

He plummeted downward, only to pull the intensified gravity back the moment he touched down. Though the momentum of his fall looked like it would crater the ground, in reality, it left only two shallow footprints.

"Squelch."

The blade whirled, an iron-gray arc of light flashing out.

The headless corpses of the goblins slumped to the ground.

Descending from the sky, he showed the way out to the equally dazed villagers inside the house.

Xia Nan did not waste any time and leapt up once more.

In the blink of an eye, he landed atop a ruined roof.

Scorched by fire and battered by the Bugbear's charge, the house was already teetering on the verge of collapse.

The surface of the roof was uneven and spiderwebbed with cracks.

Yet Xia Nan, who was using the high vantage point to search for targets, stood incredibly firm upon it, as steady as if he were on flat ground.

...

[Tidal Stabilization]

Category: Feat

Effects:

Fall damage halved (Constant/Rule);

When standing on unstable surfaces, you gain a bonus to your balance;

Any push/pull effects directed at you can be amplified or mitigated depending on the situation (Active/Passive)

Description:

Under the sway of gravity, no one can shake you.

Note:

"Three thousand meters... a piece of cake!"

—Adventure King · Legendary Cliff Diver · The Great Survivor · Bunyan