Chapter 367 Surprise Attack! Battle!

The light barrier towering like an iron wall at the edge of the Orange Orchard left Xia Nan and the others completely helpless.

He could feel the sheer strength of this wall forged from pure energy.

On a purely physical level, given their current attack capabilities, breaking through it was absolutely impossible.

The force field energy of [Gravity Etching] might be of some use, but against the massive light barrier enveloping the entire town, trying to blast a hole in it with a Level 3 combat technique—and only two uses remaining at that—was undoubtedly a pipe dream.

Considering the [Dream Weaving Corridor]'s special ability to absorb Pastel Gemstone energy, Xia Nan made sure it was safe before touching the barrier itself with his ring-bearing right hand.

Strangely, although the [Dream Weaving Corridor] produced the same reaction as when it absorbed energy before, the silver-white ring on his ring finger only trembled slightly.

However, the mechanical voice indicating its charging progress did not ring out in Xia Nan's mind.

It felt as though the energy density of the light barrier itself was simply too low. Compared to a Pastel Gemstone, the difference was like a thin mist drifting in the air versus clear water rippling in a bowl.

It was completely impossible to absorb.

"Damn it!"

Thordin gripped his Faceted Hammer and smashed it against the light barrier to vent his frustration.

As his braided beard swung back and forth, its ornaments scraped and collided with a crisp clatter.

"What the hell is this thing?"

"This was supposed to be a normal escort mission. Why is this weird crap happening?"

The grumbling reached his ears, but Xia Nan's expression remained unchanged. Acting as if he hadn't heard a thing, he simply continued to study the pink wall of light in front of him.

Margaret, however, offered a few words of comfort, slightly easing the dwarf's mood.

The dwarf did not actually mean to complain too much. As an experienced veteran Adventurer, encountering sudden emergencies during a mission was perfectly normal.

Right now, they were merely trapped in Sheep Horn Town; it wasn't exactly a deadly predicament.

He was just venting verbally due to his personality, while his actual mindset remained incredibly stable.

Without needing anyone else to console him, once he confirmed that their combined strength could not break the barrier, Thordin raised his round shield once again and took the vanguard position.

"So, what's our plan now?"

Hearing this, Margaret glanced at Xia Nan. Seeing that he had no intention of voicing an opinion, she took the initiative to answer, "With this light barrier blocking the way, we probably won't be able to leave Sheep Horn Town anytime soon."

"But if we just give up now, we'll be handing all the initiative over to the enemy hiding in the dark. Falling into such a passive situation... is not a good thing."

"Besides, with a commotion this big, who knows if they're holding some kind of special ritual? If it's a sacrifice of some sort and we just let them continue, there's no telling when we might end up being offered as tributes ourselves."

"We have to take the initiative and strike!"

"At the very least... we need to figure out who's hiding in the shadows pulling the strings."

...

For Xia Nan and the other two, the first two plans had ended in failure. Although the townsfolk they found had managed to break free from the gemstone's charm, the influence ran too deep, making effective communication impossible in the short term. Furthermore, the light barrier enveloping Sheep Horn Town could not be broken by their current strength.

Aside from passively defending in place—hoping the barrier would dissipate on its own or waiting for reinforcements that might never arrive—their only remaining option was to head toward the center of town, right where the pillar of light connecting heaven and earth was rising.

Foreseeably, they had a high probability of finding answers there.

But by the same token, the level of danger would skyrocket.

However, not a single person in the squad voiced any objections.

Even if no one said it out loud, the moment they had stepped out of the inn and looked up to see that pillar of light shining brighter than the moon, everyone had already mentally prepared themselves.

The path was completely clear.

From the Orange Orchard on the rural edge of town back to the main street, the group encountered no danger whatsoever.

The originally somewhat crowded street felt exceptionally wide now that it was entirely empty. Standing at one end, they could see all the way to the far corner with a single glance.

There was also no sign of the townsfolk emerging from the houses on either side of the street. Presumably, just like the ones they had dragged out of the buildings earlier, they had all completely lost their minds under the control of the Pastel Gemstones.

Just to be safe, the trio made a trip back to the Woolen Rusty Nail Inn as they passed by.

The atmosphere around Horac, Afu, and the rest of the caravan was tense and grave, but fortunately, they had not been attacked. The high-pressure collective environment had also helped calm down some of the more panicked merchants. Under the guidance of the two leaders, they were doing what they could to transport supplies and help build defensive barricades.

Unfortunately, the few townsfolk whom Xia Nan had helped break free from the gemstone's charm still hadn't recovered their ability to communicate properly; they remained tied up, huddled in a corner shivering.

After briefly discussing their subsequent plans with Horac and the others, the trio continued onward, soon arriving at the street where Horac had argued with the blacksmith the other day.

"I remember when Horac had that argument with the blacksmith, he mentioned that the Adventurers who sold him the Pastel Gemstone seemed to have acquired it through the blacksmith's channels, right?"

Gripping his [Ember Fall] straight sword, Xia Nan spread his Perception outward to stay alert for danger while recalling the scene he had witnessed that day. He asked the two beside him in a low voice, "But looking at the townsfolk's attitude toward us... they don't seem like the type who would willingly hand over the gemstones to outsiders."

Margaret pondered this for a moment. Her dark-gold braided hair swayed gently as she offered her guess, "Perhaps when that Adventurer Squad arrived in Sheep Horn Town, the blacksmith wasn't as deeply affected by the Pastel Gemstone yet?"

"After all, look at Horac. Although he was also charmed by the gemstone and followed the caravan all the way from Nym City to this backwater town, he didn't act nearly as extreme. He was even willing to proactively bring out the gemstone to show it off when we set up camp. His level of influence was clearly lower."

"And after you helped him break free from the mental control, he quickly returned to normal—unlike those townsfolk just now who couldn't even speak properly."

"So... the mental control the Pastel Gemstone exerts over people obviously follows a gradual process."

"Only when it fully infects their minds do they degenerate into its zealots."

Listening to her explanation, Thordin, who was holding his shield at the very front of the squad, also offered his own thoughts. "Actually, maybe it's not that complicated."

"It could just be that the Adventurer Squad was the first to discover the secret of Sheep Horn Town. Relying on their abilities as Class Holders, they might have simply sneaked into a townsman's room and stolen or forcefully robbed the gemstone from them."

"After all, no matter how much the locals resented or resisted them, they are ultimately just ordinary people who haven't mastered any combat techniques. In terms of sheer strength and combat experience, how could they possibly compare to veteran Adventurers?"

Xia Nan felt that both of them made good points.

Nodding slightly, he was just about to ask for their further thoughts on the Pastel Gemstones when his entire body involuntarily froze.

His Perception attribute, which had reached a high of 11 points, allowed him to instinctively detect danger the instant it arose.

"Watch out!"

Even as he shouted, bringing his Snake-Scale Arm Shield up to guard his front, he instantly spun toward the direction his Perception had traced the danger to.

Margaret and Thordin reacted noticeably slower. It was only after Xia Nan's voice reached their ears and translated into actual meaning a split-second later that they subconsciously turned around out of sheer trust.

This slight delay between their actions had already opened up a time gap of a single breath.

Because of this, when Xia Nan turned, he saw a burly figure hiding deep in the shadows of the blacksmith shop, arm raised high, gripping something in its palm.

By the time the two members of the Blackwood Squad turned around at his warning, the sight that met their eyes was the burly figure holding a throwing posture—along with a sharp object howling through the air, shooting straight at them with extreme speed.

Screech—

A sharp shriek that tore through the air suddenly erupted across the empty street.

They could vaguely glimpse a flat, sharp object flashing with silver light, refracting the moonlight as it streaked through the air at a speed far beyond what an ordinary person could react to.

Because it was a sudden ambush from the squad's rear flank, Xia Nan, who had fallen about two paces behind the dwarf during their march, became the target of the attack.

Without the slightest hint of panic, he was calm to the absolute extreme in this moment.

His immediate reaction was to split off a thread of mental intent to touch the [Deathline] ring on his right index finger.

Yet, he did not directly trigger the [Deflection Field] enchanted within the equipment. After all, it had a cooldown time and was considered a trump card.

For now, he only treated it as a backup option for the worst-case scenario.

Almost at the same time, he nudged his left forearm slightly forward. The Arm Shield, dark and cold like black jade, seemed to blend into the night, yet the air around its surface faintly twisted and rippled.

[Gravity Control] activated silently.

Although Xia Nan had practically integrated the training of this combat technique into his daily life, constrained by its Level 1 proficiency tier, it still suffered from obvious shortcomings in both manipulation precision and effective range.

Therefore, he couldn't lock onto the speeding sharp object in advance to create a gravity singularity in the air and alter its trajectory early.

But if it was just fixing a gravity vortex onto the Arm Shield, that was not difficult for him to achieve.

These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

In a split second, the shrieking whistle and the fierce wind were already rushing against his face.

Raising his right hand, he brought the Dark Gray Straight Sword up to his chest, acting as a failsafe between the Arm Shield and the Deathline ring.

As it turned out, Xia Nan had acted a bit too cautiously.

The sharp object tearing through the air gave the impression of tremendous momentum, but that was actually just an illusion brought on by the suddenness of the ambush against the backdrop of the dead-silent street.

In terms of both force and angle, it was nowhere near as difficult to deal with as he had imagined.

A crisp "Clang" rang out.

Clusters of sparks flashed across the surface of the Arm Shield from the violent collision.

The sharp object that had shot toward him was knocked flying.

It failed to leave even a single scratch on the Arm Shield's surface. After this blue-tier defensive equipment absorbed the impact, the remaining force felt like nothing more than a simple push against Xia Nan's left arm, which he bore effortlessly.

"Clang, clatter..."

Vastly inferior in hardness, the sharp object was warped by the collision and rolled onto the ground.

Looking closely, it was a broken iron shard that had been dismantled from God-knows-where.

And it was only at this moment that Xia Nan had the chance to cast his gaze further back toward the blacksmith shop.

There, acting as the attacker, the tall and burly figure stood deep within the shadows beneath the eaves.

Through his bald head and the robust physique honed from countless hammer strikes beside an anvil, one could vaguely identify the figure's identity:

—It was the very same bald blacksmith who had been fiercely arguing with Horac earlier over the gemstone rumors!

However, his current state had undergone an earth-shattering change compared to how he looked during the day.

Unlike the other residents of the town, the blacksmith—much like the innkeeper—still retained the ability to move independently, even though he was deeply trapped within the gemstone's charm.

He was bare-chested, exposing his knotted muscles. At the same time, right in the center of his chest, a Pastel Gemstone the size of an adult's fist was deeply embedded into his flesh.

An eerie, sickeningly sweet pink glow flickered within it like a breathing lung, making it exceptionally conspicuous against the backdrop of the night.

His level of affliction seemed even deeper than that of the people Xia Nan and the others had encountered earlier.

Centered around the gemstone in the blacksmith's chest, hideous veins spread out like tree roots. Streams of pink light could be seen flowing through them, pumping energy into this body in tandem with the gemstone's pulsation.

His thick, callus-covered hands gripped a heavy forging hammer that emanated a metallic luster.

"Roar!!!"

A shout rang out from behind.

He was extremely reliable. Perhaps his reaction speed was slightly slower because his perception wasn't on par with Xia Nan's, but as a Level 4 [Shield Warrior], Thordin took up the responsibility he was supposed to shoulder the very instant he realized the group was under attack.

Like a steel ball rolling past him, a silver-white hue surfaced on the dwarf's skin. Gripping his Faceted Hammer in one hand and propping up his round shield with the other, he took a few strides and positioned himself to guard Xia Nan behind him.

Thanks to his race's average height, even with Thordin standing right in front of him, the nearly 1.9-meter-tall Xia Nan still had an unobstructed view without the slightest possibility of being blocked.

Meanwhile, Margaret had already circled around to the flank of the battlefield.

Also a Level 4 Class Holder, her [Swordsman] class sacrificed a certain amount of defensive capability compared to the pre-mutation [Warrior] class, but in exchange, it gained burst power and damage.

Her combat style was somewhat similar to Xia Nan's.

The three of them hadn't known each other for long and hadn't fought together much, but at this moment, they displayed decent synergy using the most fundamental tactics.

There was no hesitation whatsoever; any instinctive fear or panic in their hearts had long since dissolved into surging hot blood and fanatical battle intent.

Smashing his Faceted Hammer against his round shield, Thordin's eyes went wide as he let out a wild roar and charged straight at the blacksmith in the distance.