Chapter 638 Sulfur Dragon Breath

"Screech!"

A mournful, agonizing shriek echoed through the forest.

The pitch-black Arm Shield reflected the cold light of the surrounding rime pines. Past it, five slender, powerful fingers clamped tightly around a goblin's fragile neck.

His sharp Perception allowed Xia Nan to clearly feel a slight, electric-like numbness on the thin skin of the goblin's neck in his palm, caused by the high-frequency vibration of its vocal cords as it screamed.

Beneath his fingertips, he could feel its squirming, bulging neck muscles and the deeper, asymmetrical cartilage.

All four of its limbs dangled off the ground, suspended in midair by a single hand choking its neck.

The green-skinned goblin shrieked and struggled, but no matter how hard it tried, it could not break free from the iron-like grip around its neck.

It was an all too familiar sensation. Xia Nan possessed an understanding of goblin anatomy that surpassed even professional doctors, combined with perfect control over his own muscle Strength.

This allowed him to control the force exerted by his hand in an extremely precise and microscopic manner.

He kept the green-skinned goblin—whose vitals were firmly locked in his grasp—in a delicate state of extreme agony, preventing it from passing out.

He savored the wonderful feeling of a goblin slowly dying amidst its own wails.

In the past, Xia Nan would not have minded using this to relieve his internal stress.

Letting a green-skinned goblin that should have died instantly live for another ten minutes in extreme torment was perfectly normal for him.

But right now—

"Mr. Xia Nan, how are things on your end? Do you need any help?"

Crack—

With the crisp sound of breaking bones, the goblin's agonizing screams abruptly ceased.

He casually tossed the green-skinned goblin's broken-necked corpse onto the ground like trash, stomping on its skull to finish the job.

Just as he had during his previous travels with Forgan, he once again forcibly suppressed the desires blazing like wildfire within his heart.

His chest heaving, he let out a long breath.

Xia Nan turned around, his expression calm, and walked toward the bald ranger Tal who had called out to him.

Seeing this, the Winter Wolf Fanny—who had been quietly sitting next to a few severely mangled goblin corpses, patiently waiting for him—wagged her tail and approached. She affectionately and excitedly rubbed her furry, icy head against Xia Nan's palm.

Three days had passed since he accepted the quest at the fortress's Military Merit Office.

And Xia Nan's location had shifted from the Bloodcast Keep settlement to the Rime Hills on the eastern side of the fortress.

Lone-wolf Adventurers were certainly free, but they were often inevitably restricted by various factors.

The only requirement for the banshee hunting quest Xia Nan had picked up at the Military Merit Office was that it had to be accepted by an Adventurer Squad of four or more people.

Just him and the Winter Wolf Fanny alone did not meet the quest conditions.

Even with the ranger Tal, their numbers were far from enough.

Therefore, they had to cooperate with another Adventurer Squad and complete the quest as a team.

"Trill!"

Melodious, soft flute music rippled through the ice-crystal-covered branches and leaves.

The flute melody seemed to contain a peculiar power. Allies who heard it felt relaxed and pleased, but to the goblins in the forest, it was exceptionally grating, draining their will to fight and making them drowsy.

Swish—

A slender figure held a Vertical Flute in one hand and tightly gripped a rapier in the other.

With flashes of cold light, he turned the goblins in front of him into lifeless corpses.

Uriah, a Bard. He was a plain-looking human male in his early forties wearing relatively Fine light leather armor, serving as the temporary leader of his squad.

Unlike the Halfling Alton, although Uriah was also a Bard, neither his sheet music quality nor his playing technique could compare to the former.

His support abilities were limited, not enough to let him comfortably stay in the backline under everyone's protection.

Thus, during combat, he only occasionally performed his main role as a Bard to play his instrument.

He mainly acted as a half-Swordsman, engaging the enemy in close combat.

"Squelch!"

A green-skinned goblin that had quietly snuck around to launch a sneak attack suddenly stiffened.

A sharp dagger pierced right through the center of its chest. With a twist of the wrist, the blade churned, turning its internal organs into a mass of minced meat.

It convulsed and collapsed, revealing a tall, slender figure hidden deep within the shadows behind it.

Treebrook, a Half-Elf Rogue. His facial features inherited his Elf bloodline, soft and exquisite. His pale blonde hair fell down to cover his pointed long ears. He was cold and unsmiling, wielding two well-maintained, poison-coated Short Daggers as his weapons.

"Roar!"

At the very front of the team, accompanied by a loud, furious roar, a massive, burly figure swung the Heavy Hammer in his hands, smashing the goblins in front of him away like a bulldozer.

Pale green skin, ugly, beast-like uncivilized features, and yellowed tusks protruding from his lower lip—

These distinct physical traits already indicated his racial identity.

Gank, a half-orc Warrior. Unsurprisingly, his personality was as rough and reckless as if he had been produced on an assembly line with the rest of his kin. He was bare-chested, not wearing even a single piece of leather armor, as if simply showing off the hideous scars on his chest and abdomen.

A human Bard, a Half-Elf Rogue, and a half-orc Warrior—this was the entire composition of this squad.

Their strength was actually quite decent, with Class Levels estimated to be around Level 3 and Level 4.

It was just that their team composition was a bit lacking and their numbers relatively few, otherwise they could already be considered an elite squad.

The name of their squad was Sulfur Dragon Breath.

Just like Blade of Vengeance that Xia Nan had encountered previously, it was named after the outside moniker of its squad captain.

It was said to be rather famous among the Adventurers in the Calm Peaks Province, though Xia Nan had never heard of them; he only knew of them through Tal's introduction.

Furthermore, for some unknown reason, the core captain of Sulfur Dragon Breath was currently not present in the team, and it was unknown where she had gone.

It was precisely because of this that the remaining three members of Sulfur Dragon Breath, who also could not meet the conditions required for the banshee quest, had no choice but to form a temporary team with Xia Nan and Tal under the arrangement of the Military Merit Office receptionist, heading to the destination together.

"Bang!"

The massive iron hammer landed heavily on the ground, smashing the last goblin on the field into meat paste.

The half-orc Warrior spat excitedly onto the ground, his scalding breath turning into two visible trails of white mist in the freezing air.

Without any thought of cleaning or maintenance, he lifted the Heavy Hammer, coated in filthy blood and flesh, from the ground and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

"These damn little shits have no eyes! To think they'd actually dare to provoke me!"

"It's only because Captain Gretchen isn't here, otherwise she'd definitely lead us to wipe out the nests of these greenskins directly!"

"Why bother getting worked up over these greenskin rats? Let's just finish the quest first," the Bard Uriah chimed in, motioning for the half-orc to sit down by the campfire.

Seeming to hear the anxiety in the half-orc's words, he added, "Don't worry, Captain Gretchen will be fine. Maybe by the time we finish this quest, she'll already be waiting for us back in Bloodcast Keep."

"I know..." the half-orc muttered with his head lowered, visible irritation on his face.

Meanwhile, the Half-Elf Rogue remained silent the whole time, sitting in the shadows cast by an oak tree somewhere beside the two of them, quietly cleaning the blood off his daggers.

Looking only at this, there didn't seem to be anything special.

It was just an Adventurer Squad that had recently lost its captain and was in a depressed state.

But when adding Xia Nan's group—who had also just finished dealing with the goblins attacking the camp alongside them, sitting on the other side of the campfire without any interaction, treated as if they didn't exist—

The atmosphere in the air—became somewhat delicate.

Although no open conflict had occurred yet, the relationship between the two sides was actually not harmonious.

From the perspective of the Sulfur Dragon Breath squad, if their captain had been present, they would have had exactly four people, meeting the quest's acceptance conditions.

But right now, they were forced to cooperate with complete strangers, which in turn significantly reduced the quest rewards each person could ultimately obtain.

Out of distrust toward unfamiliar Adventurers and the reduction in expected compensation, they naturally wouldn't give Xia Nan's group a friendly look.

From Xia Nan's own perspective, shifting from the "lone wolf" mode where he monopolized all profits, to the current team mode where rewards were split evenly, obviously drastically slowed down his progress in raising his contribution Class Grade to redeem the [Chain of Conquest].

He was already feeling a bit disgruntled, and seeing the behavior of these temporary teammates, he naturally wouldn't bother kissing up to a cold shoulder.

Fanny only had eyes for Xia Nan, which went without saying.

The ranger Tal had rich worldly experience and knew what to do and when, so he didn't try to act as a peacemaker to ease the tension, standing completely by Xia Nan's side.

Under these circumstances, despite seemingly sharing a single camp, the two people and one wolf were faintly divided into a separate camp from the three Adventurers opposite them.

"Gurgle..."

Tiny bubbles gradually surged upward.

It had not yet fully boiled, but it was already hot.

Xia Nan took down his metal canteen from the campfire, tilted it, and poured out some of the melted snow water inside, feeling the temperature with his palm.

His Perception attribute as high as 14 allowed him to spot enemies faster in combat, and its convenience was apparent everywhere in daily life too.

The snow water heated by the campfire was at the perfect temperature, in a very comfortable warm state.

He took out some gauze from his belt pouch and wet it with the warm water.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Xia Nan simply patted his thigh gently.

Fanny, who had been sitting quietly beside him, whimpered once, then moved her long, slender limbs and obediently lay across his lap.

Limited by her wolf body structure, even though the Winter Wolf Fanny possessed outstanding combat prowess and was exceptionally intelligent, it was still quite difficult for her to clean her body after a battle ended.

Especially when it came to viscous blood, which dried and coagulated easily, leaving conspicuous stains.

Pure, transparent, white fur was a Winter Wolf's natural camouflage on the snowy plains, and after every hunt and meal, they would clean the bloodstains off of each other.

Following Xia Nan meant Fanny no longer needed to hunt outside, but driven by her Winter Wolf racial instincts, the blood staining her body still made her feel uncomfortable and awkward.

He acutely sensed her mood.

Having been instructed by Forgan to take good care of this clingy little wolf, and being someone who never let down the goodwill shown by others, Xia Nan naturally couldn't just let her remain in such a filthy state.

With Fanny lying across his lap, Xia Nan gently stroked the Winter Wolf's head and back while using the warm, wet gauze to clean the bloodstains from her fur.

"How much further to the destination?" Xia Nan asked without turning his head to Tal, who was warming himself by the fire next to him.

"We'll arrive by tomorrow noon at the latest, Mr. Xia Nan."

Having checked the map just before setting up camp, the bald ranger was very certain about their current position.

He nodded slightly. Before he could reply, a voice drifted over from the other side of the campfire, in the direction of the Sulfur Dragon Breath squad.

"Perhaps... we could set off a bit earlier tomorrow? That way, if things go smoothly, we might not even need to spend the night there. Once we finish the monster, we can head back to the fortress the very same day," said the temporary leader of Sulfur Dragon Breath, the slender human Bard named Uriah.

The atmosphere between the two sides was indeed delicate, but ultimately, no real conflict had occurred; they just didn't interact much normally.

Moreover, the target of this quest was a banshee with a Challenge Rating of Level 4.

Even if they had made ample preparations, it was hard to say they could resolve it easily.

Having the help of two more Class Holders would obviously reduce the difficulty of the battle significantly.

Now that they were about to arrive at their destination, Uriah knew they couldn't delay this any longer. As the temporary leader of the squad, even though his heart was fraught with anxiety over their missing captain and he had absolutely no mood for managing relationships, he still forced a stiff smile and took the initiative to speak, attempting to ease relations with Xia Nan's camp.

In response, since the other party had taken the initiative to show goodwill, Xia Nan wouldn't pretend to be aloof.

He looked up at the Bard on the other side of the campfire, nodded, and replied, "Sure."

One could notice that the moment Xia Nan nodded in response, on the Sulfur Dragon Breath squad's side, the half-orc Gank didn't pay much attention. Looking just as anxious as before, he continued turning the meat skewers in front of him.

However, the Half-Elf Rogue sitting in the shadows, Treebrook, secretly let out a sigh of relief.

They were all veteran Adventurers of the Class Grade. How could they possibly inexplicably underestimate someone like Xia Nan, who was covered head-to-toe in Fine equipment and even brought a Winter Wolf companion?

To a certain extent, even the traditionally clumsy and blunt half-orc Gank had maintained a fairly restrained state during this period, not taking the initiative to provoke the other side.

If Captain Gretchen had still been in the team, she probably would have taken the initiative to step forward and build a good relationship with them on the very first day they met.

How could it have come to the point where they waited until now to start easing the tension?

To put it bluntly, if Uriah hadn't made a move before they rested for the night, even though Treebrook was terrible at socializing, when they woke up tomorrow morning to pack up the camp, he would have had to make an attempt for the sake of the upcoming quest, to see if their relationship with Xia Nan could be smoothed over.