Chapter 385 Let Fear Be My Guide

Restricted by their upbringing and limited education, the naive youths growing up in the remote mountainous regions of the Aifala Continent rarely possessed a clear or comprehensive understanding of the world they lived in.

Oftentimes, many of them reached adulthood without ever spending significant time away from the villages where they were born.

Their entire knowledge of the outside world was pieced together from the heroic epics and local folklore told countless times by village elders, supplemented only by the drunken ramblings of traveling merchants whenever a trade caravan occasionally passed through.

Under such circumstances, it was entirely typical for a naive boy like Colin—whose heart was full of beautiful hopes for the future—to harbor unnecessary fantasies about the "adventurer" profession.

Of course, precisely because of this, even though the mortality rate among adventurers was absurdly high, the industry never lacked fresh blood.

Perhaps, only when their bones were shattered by goblins and they lay deep within some sunless, gloomy cave—or when they lost all their coins at a tavern card table and had to spend the night alone in a freezing alley against the biting wind—would they truly realize what the word "adventurer" meant on the Aifala Continent.

"Mr. Xia Nan, if I could be as powerful as you, my village definitely wouldn't be on the verge of collapse just because of a pack of goblins."

"Isn't that important?"

Colin's azure eyes were filled with the unique vitality of youth, and a touch of stubbornness marked his face.

"It's better than... staying in the village and farming for the rest of my life!"

Xia Nan did not reply.

As an adventurer himself, he knew exactly how dangerous this line of work was. Every mission was a dance on the edge of a blade. A single, minor accident during a commission was enough to turn decades of hard work into a meaningless death, leaving not even a corpse behind.

At the same time, he had to admit that for the vast majority of ordinary people in this world, trapped in poverty with no way out, becoming an adventurer... was the only solution to their problems.

Walking alongside them, Hunter John was watching Xia Nan's expression with intense nervousness. If the man showed even the slightest hint of disgust or impatience, he was ready to immediately interrupt Colin and drag his apprentice over to apologize to this young adventurer of unknown strength.

Xia Nan naturally noticed the hunter's cautious behavior.

However, the man was overthinking it.

Possessing a soul from another world, Xia Nan didn't share this world's strong sense of hierarchy. No matter how much Colin talked, to him, it was just a normal conversation between two people.

He didn't feel offended in the slightest.

He even followed up on the boy's topic.

"This isn't a matter of whether it's important or not."

He raised his right hand and extended the index finger wearing the Silver Ring, pointing to the dent on the surface of his [Purgatory Pulse] armor, a scar left from his battle with the crystalline being.

"Colin, can you afford to pay with your life?"

The boy froze, staring blankly at the dent on the silver-gray iron armor, his throat going dry.

He paused for a moment before answering, "I... I can learn. I'm not afraid of the price! My uncle told me before that the outside world..."

"Uncle?"

"Yeah!" Colin nodded heavily, a look of yearning washing over his face. "His name is Paddy, and he works in the Southern Archipelagos!"

"He said they have massive galleons there, along with merchants and sailors from all over the world. Every tavern is packed with adventurers of different races."

"He told me that if I ever got the chance to go there, he could help me find work on a ship or get me into a merchant caravan to learn a trade!"

The Southern Archipelagos...

Hearing this keyword suddenly pop out of the boy's mouth, Xia Nan's eyes flickered imperceptibly.

"I heard your parents and older brother mention yesterday that you were already prepared to head south?"

"Hehe." Colin rubbed the back of his head and offered a silly smile. "I originally planned to set off in the next couple of days, but you know... with this pack of goblins suddenly appearing near the village... I couldn't just leave with peace of mind."

Hearing this, a thought stirred in Xia Nan's mind.

The reason he had left Rivervale Town for Barracuda Bay was twofold: first, someone there was looking to buy a [Tide-Surge Lure Pole], and he needed to physically bring the equipment over to negotiate the price in person; second, and more importantly, he wanted to search for news regarding the missing encryption key for the [Dream Weaving Corridor].

However, he was a stranger in a strange land. No matter how strong he was, arriving in a completely new environment meant he would have to spend a massive amount of time establishing contacts.

Building a reputation like the "Greysword" had in Rivervale Town would likely be no easy feat.

With that in mind, having a local help him blend in—even if it was just introducing him to necessary customs or local taboos—would be incredibly helpful.

He organized his words mentally, intending to ask Colin for more information about his uncle working in the Southern Archipelagos.

But before Xia Nan could even open his mouth, he swallowed the words right back down.

He grabbed his sword and stood up.

His voice reached the ears of the other two.

"Enemies are here. Prepare for battle."

His Perception attribute, sitting at 12 points, was fully demonstrated in this exact moment.

The first manifestation for Xia Nan was a faint sense of threat in his mind, like the edge of a sharp object lightly pressing against his skin. When he focused his attention and perceived it more deeply, it translated into physical reality: a faint, foul stench from a distance so far it was almost undetectable, and the subtle sound of footsteps entirely masked by the rustling of leaves.

This entire process took less than a second, yet it was more than enough for him to confirm the enemy's presence.

The two people in front of him, however, remained completely oblivious.

It wasn't until Xia Nan stood up with his warning that John sprang up from the ground, driven by sheer muscle memory. Like an agile ape, the hunter scrambled up a thick tree trunk nearby, hiding his body in the shadows of the canopy while tightly gripping his longbow.

Colin's reaction speed was noticeably slower, but true to John's guarantee before departure, the young apprentice didn't drag the team down.

Even without knowing what he was about to face, he followed the warning and, like John, scaled another towering oak tree nearby.

However, seeing how his limbs trembled slightly, it was obvious the boy was incredibly nervous.

Under normal circumstances, any moderately disciplined Adventurer Squad encountering danger in the forest would collapse their formation inward, maximizing the team's margin for error and defensive capabilities.

But the current situation for this group was entirely different.

From the perspective of party roles, having two archers and one Warrior was a completely unbalanced composition. Furthermore, the gap in actual strength was immense; the two hunters were less like helpers and more like "accessories" strictly responsible for guiding the way.

Naturally, Xia Nan had no need to follow the unwritten rules of traditional adventurer squads and fall back.

Not to mention, he had already determined the identity and rough numbers of their enemies from the overly familiar, almost nostalgic stench in the air, along with numerous other subtle details.

A strange smile, imperceptible to others, flashed across his shadow-veiled face. In a flurry of footsteps, he vanished into the depths of the thick forest.

From the perspective of Colin, who was hiding beneath the tree canopy, he had only just climbed onto a branch and nocked an arrow on his bowstring.

When he looked down, the fully armed, black-haired adventurer was already out of sight.

The air suddenly sank into a deathly silence.

Over the sound of his own rapid breathing, Colin could faintly hear the pounding of his heart in his chest.

The arrowhead, glinting coldly under the sunlight, aimed erratically at the dense bushes ahead, as if an enemy could leap out from any thicket. Unconsciously, his mind recalled the terrifying descriptions of monsters he had heard in the past.

He hadn't engaged in any strenuous movement, but his highly strung nerves and tense muscles caused sweat to silently soak through his clothes.

At this moment, Colin was stressed to the absolute limit.

Breaking the dead silence was a shrill, agonizing scream from deep within the forest.

It almost made Colin shudder violently, and he nearly lost his grip on the bow and arrow.

His first thought was whether the young adventurer named Xia Nan had encountered some deadly danger.

After all, in Colin's eyes, walking alone into the dark woods to face enemies hiding in the shadows was simply too reckless.

If he...

No!

Colin shook his head, quickly realizing the truth.

That miserable wail had a pitch significantly higher and sharper than an ordinary human's. It most likely hadn't come from the adventurer.

So, he had already engaged the enemy?

Colin hesitated, wondering if he should go and provide support.

But then, another screech laced with agony echoed from the woods.

One after another, the cries rang out in succession.

Mixed with the faint metallic tang of blood, the sounds of snapping branches and sharp weapons tearing through the air drifted over on the breeze.

Lacking experience, the youth naturally couldn't make any decisive judgments.

While he was still hesitating, the commotion from the dense forest ahead suddenly vanished.

Replacing it was a terrifying, suffocating silence that surged back like the tide.

'Is the battle... over?' Colin wondered.

Recalling the continuous screams from just moments ago, he figured that Xia Nan had most likely secured the final victory.

But what if an accident had happened? Or what if the monster they encountered was too powerful? What were he and Uncle John supposed to do if they were left out here?

Could they make it back alive?

The extreme anxiety caused the inexperienced youth's mind to race with wild thoughts.

Following that, the excessively quiet environment and the delayed return of the adventurer further amplified his panic.

Colin even wanted to risk calling out loudly to Uncle John in the neighboring tree, just to confirm that the older hunter hadn't abandoned him to hide here all alone.

Right at that moment.

"Rustle!"

A patch of bushes ahead suddenly shook, and the frantic, hasty patter of footsteps erupted from within, rapidly closing the distance at an astonishing speed.

Colin instantly held his breath.

He subconsciously drew the bowstring to the full. His arms trembled slightly from the immense exertion as the sharp arrowhead locked onto the violently shaking foliage.

Crash—

A small, deformed, and hideous figure, showered in dead leaves and broken twigs, burst out from the depths of the bushes.

The figure was hunched and twisted. Its rough, sickeningly pus-green skin was covered in boils and mud. Its feet were coated in slippery rot and sludge, and a pair of brownish-yellow eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

A goblin!

Colin's mind went completely blank.

Under the training of the village hunter, John, the youth had gained a certain amount of outdoor hunting experience. He had even seen these dangerous monsters, which infested every corner of the world like cockroaches, before.

But for safety's sake, John had never allowed him to get close, only letting him take a distant glance before leading him into a retreat.

Let alone killing one or two with his own hands, he had never even experienced a close-quarters encounter.

And perhaps precisely because of this.

At this moment, as Colin stared directly at the goblin's bald, hideous head covered in bulging veins and warts, saw the thick saliva oozing from its jagged, yellow-black rotting teeth, and smelled that overpowering, primal stench of sweat, blood, and mud in the air...

A sliver of terror involuntarily rose in his heart.

The fully drawn longbow in his hands suddenly slipped. The bowstring snapped back, and the arrow shot forth.

However, due to his overwhelming nerves, the arrow—which should have been a guaranteed hit at such a close distance—lacked a bit of accuracy.

The projectile whistled past the goblin, missing it by a hair's breadth, and buried itself into the trees behind it.

"Screech!"

A sharp, ear-piercing shriek erupted.

The unexpected miss wiped Colin's brain totally blank.

Immediately after, the scream let out by the startled, wildly sprinting Goblin, along with its instinctual glance toward the direction the arrow had come from, completely paralyzed the sixteen-year-old boy.

His foot slipped, and his center of gravity spiraled out of control.

He plummeted straight down from the tree.

In this instant, the inexperienced and intensely panicked Colin lost his ability to think.

He completely failed to notice why his body's descent from the tree had slowed down so drastically, almost like a falling leaf drifting gently to the ground;

Nor did he consider why the goblin, despite seeing him fall and lose the high ground, had absolutely no intention of attacking, and instead pumped its two twig-like little legs even faster, sprinting frantically in the opposite direction;

It was even more impossible for him to notice the fresh blood coating the Goblin's body, or the naked panic and terror in its demeanor.

Driven purely by muscle memory, he leaned back against the tree trunk, drew another arrow from the quiver on his back, nocked it onto the string, aimed at the fleeing Goblin, and pulled the bow back with all his might...

"Slap."

An unfamiliar hand reached out from behind him and firmly grasped the shaft of the arrow he was about to loose.

Colin could even see his own sweat-drenched, dazed face reflected in the dark, cold, and smooth surface of the Arm Shield.

"Don't rush," a familiar voice rang out from behind him, accompanied by an incredibly thick stench of blood.

Just like the deep silhouette framed by the brilliant sunset when his older brother had opened the door back then, a tall, slender figure stood there with his back to the light.

"Let its fear be our guide."