Chapter 204 Hard to Deal With!

The clearing, previously echoing with the howls of wolves and the roars of humans, fell dead silent in an instant.

Only the sounds of rapid, ragged breathing and the rustling of leaves remained in the air.

The massive alpha wolf lay motionless on the ground. Its beastly eyes, which should have been glaring with ferocious cruelty at its prey, were already shut.

Bathed in a faint glimmer, its pure, flawless silver-white mane swayed gently in the breeze.

An iron-gray blade had pierced straight down through its spine, erupting from its lower jaw to pin it to the earth.

Steaming scarlet blood gushed from the wound, trailing down the straight, sleek blade to soak and stain the soil below.

Following the blade upward revealed a pair of long, distinctly jointed fingers gripping the hilt in a reverse hold. Above that was a Snake-Scale Arm Shield gleaming with a dark luster deeper than the night itself, thick gray-black iron plates and metal buckles, and finally, a pair of cold, sharp black eyes.

The iron-clad figure sat mounted high atop the wolf's corpse.

In the sky behind him, a cold silver moon peeked through the dense canopy, bathing his entire body in its light.

"Squelch."

Metal scraped against flesh and bone, letting out a sluggish, grating sound.

Xia Nan pulled the Decapitating Longsword out of the alpha wolf's body.

With a twist of his wrist, he executed a crisp, clean sword flourish, flicking away the blood clinging to the blade.

He sheathed his sword.

His meticulous Perception, combined with the instincts forged from thousands of slaughters, assured him that the leader of this night-stalking wolf pack was truly dead.

He had to admit, he was slightly surprised.

Although he hadn't directly clashed with it before, he had clearly observed the details of the alpha wolf's battle against Cash and Veris while clearing out the lesser beasts.

It was incredibly strong.

Under normal circumstances, if he hadn't used his trump cards or gotten incredibly lucky, it shouldn't have been an opponent he could finish off in just one or two exchanges.

Therefore, before launching his attack, Xia Nan had thoroughly prepared a contingency plan.

He would first use [Fang Hunt] to ambush it. If the alpha wolf reacted, he would unleash [Spinning Slash] to expand his range and amplify his attack, striving to inflict a crippling wound. Then, during the brief pause after his swing, he would activate [Fang Hunt] again to retreat and dodge any potential counterattack.

But he never expected this.

The plan had only reached the very first step—using [Fang Hunt] to ambush—before the battle abruptly ended.

What had happened in between?

Why had the alpha wolf's body suddenly frozen in place?

It most likely wasn't because it failed to react, nor had it exhausted its stamina.

He had indeed secretly applied Gravity Control to slow its movement.

But given his current mastery over [Gravity Control], the effect shouldn't have been nearly this potent.

It was clearly due to something else.

"Pitter... patter..."

Hurried, unsteady footsteps echoed from the sparse woods ahead.

Mint, who had been providing support from the rear of the battlefield, saw that the fight was over and was currently jogging over to regroup with her teammates.

He remembered that the alpha wolf, now reduced to a corpse, had cast its final glance just before death... right toward Mint's position.

Was there some sort of connection?

While Xia Nan felt puzzled, he couldn't help but raise his guard.

"Is... huff... is anyone hurt?"

"I'll heal... heal you."

A pale green, teardrop-shaped earring dangled from her left ear, swaying with her movements.

Her pale, bloodless face—drained from excessive spellcasting—was covered in sweat. Before she even got close, Mint's breathless voice carried through the air.

Xia Nan did not respond.

He merely focused his attention in secret, using his Perception to carefully observe the nuances in her demeanor.

Under the moonlight, her body trembled slightly. Her lips parted and pursed repeatedly, as if she were enduring something. It was highly likely the aftereffect of repeatedly casting spells in a short period, which severely drained her mental strength.

He had experienced this feeling himself, so he understood it.

And her other bodily movements were all textbook instinctual reactions to post-battle exhaustion.

'Mhm... at the very least, it doesn't look faked.'

Meanwhile, behind Xia Nan.

Veris stood quietly in the bushes, her slender, tall figure almost melting into the shadows.

Her faintly glowing eyes stared through the dark night at the massive, motionless wolf corpse.

Her gaze followed the trail of snapped branches in the woods, swept over the mangled corpses of the night-stalking wolves, and finally landed on Xia Nan.

A complicated and subtly strange expression appeared on her face.

She subconsciously turned to look at Cash beside her.

To her surprise, he was also looking over at that exact moment.

Their eyes met. Though neither spoke a word, they both grasped the meaning in each other's gaze.

"Cough..."

As if hearing Mint's voice from ahead, Veris's expression suddenly changed, deliberately feigning a look of weakness.

Pressing gently against a wound left on her right forearm from the battle, she called out, "Over here, little Mint. Come quick and check on your big sister's wound."

Cash took two steps forward, proactively meeting Xia Nan as he hopped down from the wolf's corpse.

He gave him a nod.

"We need to clear the battlefield as quickly as possible."

"The Misty Forest is incredibly dangerous after midnight. I'm worried the stench of blood here might attract unnecessary trouble."

"Fortunately, the quest is already complete. We can head straight back to town once dawn breaks tomorrow."

Xia Nan naturally had no objections to this.

Truth be told, although this battle seemed rather dangerous on the surface, it had actually been quite easy once he truly entered his combat state.

Not only had he avoided taking any injuries, but even the Plate-Chain Composite Armor—which he had worried might get scrapped again before he even had time to maintain it—hardly had any obvious scratches on it.

This allowed him to breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

And in contrast, the haul should be fairly decent.

Excluding the quest reward provided by the Association, just the pelts and bodily materials of these night-stalking wolves alone could sell for quite a bit of money.

Even split four ways, it should be enough to replenish his nearly drained little treasury.

As seasoned veterans, the four members of the Sea Thorn Squad spent only about half an hour processing the wolf corpses in the woods.

Calling out to one another to reform their formation, they hurried toward the camp, led by Cash carrying a lantern.

Still bringing up the rear.

Xia Nan cast one final backward glance at the spot where the alpha wolf lay.

It had lost its former elegance.

The fluffy silver-white pelt had been completely flayed off, and its sharp claws and fangs had been plucked from its body.

All that remained quietly slumped in the bushes was a mangled, bloody carcass reeking of gore.

The soft moonlight spilled over it, only making it look all the more macabre and grotesque.

He shifted his gaze upward.

The silver moon hung high in the night sky like a jade plate, dotted by a few glittering stars.

Dim clouds drifted by like a thin veil, gently illuminated by the moonlight.

Time quietly accelerated.

The bright moon silently slipped down the horizon as the morning sun rose, casting purple-red clouds that rippled across the sky like brilliant silk.

Sunrises and sunsets, the alternation of day and night—clouds thick and thin shuttled back and forth, lingering in the heavens.

In the blink of an eye, another month and a half passed.

...

Rivervale Town, White Chickadee Tavern.

"Creak."

Accompanied by the grating noise of rubbing hinges, the wooden door of the tavern was slowly pushed open.

In the depths of winter, the biting chill from the streets outside was quickly dispersed by the warm air inside, which was thick with the scent of alcohol and food.

Veris was still wearing that figure-hugging, cut-out leather outfit of hers. The physical constitution of a Class Holder, the Drow blood flowing in her veins, and the relatively mild climate of Cloudclimb Province allowed her to completely ignore the temperature's effect on her body.

She confidently displayed her exotic fashion sense, straight out of the Underdark.

The metal pendants at the ends of her hair clinked crisply together. The dark skin spilling out from the cut-outs of her tight leather suit looked even smoother and more delicate under the tavern's lighting.

Veris could feel the streams of gazes—some concealed, some burning hot—directed at her from the surrounding tables.

She was long used to it. Her identity as a half-blood and her long years spent living both on the surface and underground made her keenly aware of the cultural and habitual differences between the Drow Elves of the Underdark and the intelligent races of the outside world.

And her wealth of experience as a veteran adventurer allowed her to adapt to this environment perfectly.

To some extent, driven by the wicked tendencies deep in her blood, Veris rather sadistically enjoyed these conflicted stares—men who were desperately thirsty on the inside, yet too terrified to approach due to her status as a Class Holder and a Half-Drow.

Her pointed leather boots clicked crisply against the floorboards as she strode on her two plump, long legs toward a sparsely populated corner of the tavern hall.

Cash was sitting there.

Looking at the half-empty liquor bottle and the plate littered with food scraps on the table before him, it was obvious he had been waiting here for quite a while.

"Are all the supplies ready?"

Raising an eyebrow to glance at the Half-Drow, his face remained devoid of excess emotion as he asked casually.

"Of course." Veris sat directly across from Cash and grabbed the bottle to pour herself a glass. "I've got to say, Rivervale Town doesn't look like much, but it's got a pretty complete set of shops."

"Take that Verdant Crucible for instance. They even sell Myconid rot poison from the Underdark. I have no idea where that Lady Edwina gets her stock, but it certainly saved me a lot of effort."

"It's only normal."

Cash held his glass, his eyes narrowed slightly as if savoring the taste of the liquor.

"With the Misty Forest being as massive as it is, everything that comes out of there has to pass through this town."

"So many adventurers come and go every year, each with their own needs. If a shop didn't have a complete inventory, reasonably priced goods, or sold too many defective items, they'd never stay in business."

As he spoke, it was as if he suddenly thought of something, his tone taking on a reminiscent edge.

"Just like back in the day, the shop my family ran in Barracuda Bay. They called it a fishing tackle shop, but didn't they sell potions, manuals, and everything else too?"

"Only an idiot would turn down money."

But after venting his feelings under the influence of alcohol, he recalled some unbearable memories from the past, which made him shut his mouth and set down his glass.

The atmosphere at the table fell into silence.

After a while, Veris finally opened her mouth, lowering her voice to ask, "We've been here for so many days, and there hasn't been any progress at all."

"When are we leaving?"

Over the past month and a half, they had taken on numerous beast-clearing quests from the Association, but they still hadn't found any trace of their target.

"There's no rush," Cash said, shaking his head. "We'll talk after we finish this last one."

Hearing him say this, a look of amusement suddenly appeared on Veris's delicate face, and she teased, "Hehe, are you actually planning to honor the agreement and help that Greysword do his quest?"

"You're overthinking it."

Cash scoffed at that and explained, "I just feel like his Lycanthrope investigation commission might be related to our target. We might actually find some useful information."

"Besides, we've already stayed in town for this long. If it wanted to run, it probably left the forest ages ago."

"A few days more or a few days less won't make a difference."

Veris didn't reply to that, but she silently nodded, agreeing with his perspective.

"Fuck!"

Seeing the topic shift to Xia Nan, Cash's emotions suddenly spiked under the effects of the alcohol.

"So fucking unlucky!"

"I just wanted to find a couple of rookies to make some extra cash between quests. How did I end up running into someone like him?"

He looked exceptionally frustrated.

"I literally watched the receptionist take him up to the second floor with my own eyes. He didn't even fucking know how to level up!"

"He was clearly just a rookie with no background who got lucky enough to scrape together three combat techniques and stumble his way into a Class Level."

"And look at me now. I'm just trying to do some quests, but I have to guard against him the whole way, terrified he might chop my head off with a single sword swing at any moment. I even have to speak to him politely!"

"If I hadn't been unable to find any suitable teammates on short notice, and if he wasn't genuinely useful during quests, I would've..."

Hearing this, Veris—who had worn a constant smile since entering the tavern—darkened her expression.

"There's definitely something wrong with that kid."

"After all these days, I've barely seen his back a single time. There were a few times I thought about going over to fish for information, but he'd look over the moment I took two steps. It's like he has eyes in the back of his head."

"Plus, you've seen those two combat techniques of his, right?"

Cash gave a heavy nod.

"Troublesome."

"That alpha wolf a few days ago. Even though the two of us held back a little, if you asked us to take that beast down in just a few exchanges... we definitely couldn't do it."

"But that kid only needed one strike. Sure, luck played a part, but..."

"He's hard to deal with!"

"And I suspect... no, I'm certain."

"He's definitely hiding something!"

Looking convinced, Cash tilted his head back and downed the rest of the liquor in his glass.

"The risk is too high. Forget it this time."

"We'll let him keep his little life."

"Once this quest is over, we'll just leave immediately. Let's not tangle with him any further."

Hearing that, a hint of pity couldn't help but show on Veris's face.

"It's just a shame about my little Mint. Big sister will just have to see you again another time."

But Cash only raised an eyebrow and said with pointed meaning, "What's there to pity? When we leave, we can just take her with us."

"Once we're out of Rivervale Town, how you want to handle her is entirely up to you, isn't it?"

"Heh." Veris's eyes instantly lit up, and she let out a sinister chuckle.

She was about to say something else when she suddenly saw Cash abruptly sit up straight for some unknown reason.

The somewhat sinister expression on his face instantly vanished, replaced by the upright and serious demeanor of a squad captain.

His reaction was incredibly quick, and quite natural at that.

Veris also smoothly shifted her expression, hanging a soft smile on her face.

She stood up, turned her head, and waved from afar.

"Xia Nan, over here!"

"What took you so long? Big sister has been waiting for you for ages."