Chapter 664 Mushrooms

Perhaps his combat style was relatively aggressive, but Xia Nan was never a reckless brute.

His outstanding Perception attribute—far exceeding that of Class Holders at the same level—combined with a highly offensive combat technique system focused on single-point burst damage, ensured his battles were almost always short and decisive.

Use Perception to observe, locate the enemy's weakness, and deliver a targeted, full-force strike.

This was his usual combat flow.

Right now was no different.

Having largely confirmed the enemy's identity as a phase spider possessing the "Ethereal Jaunt" ability, he had already prepared a countermeasure earlier that afternoon.

Xia Nan knew his own advantages perfectly well; there was no need for further analysis.

As a mechanic-based monster, the phase spider's main source of difficulty lay in its ability to freely traverse between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane, as if teleporting.

As long as he could handle this through appropriate means, a phase spider—whose Challenge Rating was almost entirely propped up by this mechanic—would be no different from a Goblin to Xia Nan.

The only pity was that the Monster Compendium only provided a general introduction for phase spiders. It didn't mention which organ powered their "Ethereal Jaunt," preventing Xia Nan from targeting specific body parts to cripple it.

This was also why his attack aimed at the back of the spider's head and neck.

Since he couldn't find the key organ controlling its shifting ability, he opted to keep things simple and strike a vital spot directly.

As long as he could deliver a fatal blow, there would be no need to worry about anything else.

Furthermore, by keeping the phase spider's special internal organs intact, he could even earn a few extra gold coins.

"Boom!"

The hit was perfectly precise.

The moment the dagger's blade touched the spider's skull, the dark red forcefield energy condensed upon it suddenly exploded with a resounding blast, just like detonated gunpowder.

There was no resistance to speak of. Under the ravages of the forcefield energy, the seemingly thick carapace was more fragile than the thinnest paper. Amid splashing blue-green bug blood, it shattered into fragments and shot outward in all directions.

The dark red fireworks vanished in a flash.

Under the moonlight, the phase spider looked as if it had been viciously smashed in the back of the head by an invisible iron fist plummeting from the sky. Its originally round and plump skull instantly caved in at the joint with its hind neck.

Bug blood overflowed and splattered, faintly revealing the complex structure of flesh and blood within the wound.

"Hiss!!!"

The pain-filled insectoid shriek didn't stop as the forcefield energy faded; instead, it grew even louder.

Insectoid monsters had always possessed tenacious vitality.

Even after suffering such heavy damage, this phase spider, struck directly in its vital hindbrain by [Gravity Etching], did not die on the spot.

Its plump, fuzzy abdomen visibly trembled, and several strands of spider silk sprayed from its rear, much like a human losing control of their bladder.

The eight spine-chilling articulated legs on its sides twitched violently, but it still managed to remain standing.

A high-pitched wolf howl transformed into a biting gale, surging past from the side.

How could the ever-cautious Xia Nan not have a backup plan?

At the very moment he threw the short dagger imbued with [Gravity Etching], his entire body had already transformed into a black wolf phantom under the effects of [Fang Hunt], lunging toward the enemy's position.

Warping the surrounding air, the sharp, grayish-black blade of the [Ember Fall] straight sword thrust toward the wound on the back of the spider's head the instant the forcefield's glare dissipated.

"Swish!"

The blade tore through the air. Driven by a Strength attribute that exceeded the average of Adventurers at the same level, the already sharp semi-purple-tier straight sword nearly sliced the air itself, letting out an ear-piercing shriek.

There was no doubt that with its hardest outer carapace already completely shattered by the forcefield energy, suffering such a sword strike would pin the phase spider dead to the ground.

But right as the blade descended, a split second before the tip touched the flesh of the spider's hindbrain...

The silvery-white mist of light, which had somewhat dissipated due to the creature's intense pain, instantly coalesced back onto the phase spider's body.

Its grayish-blue body turned transparent in the blink of an eye, rippling like a reflection in water.

The straight sword, which should have pierced through the spider's flesh, met no resistance whatsoever. It passed through the air and, carried by its immense momentum, stabbed straight into the soil below.

Meanwhile, the phase spider vanished from its spot amid a flash of silver light.

'Did it escape?'

Pushing his Perception to the absolute maximum, Xia Nan exerted force to pull the [Ember Fall] straight sword from the ground and looked around, searching for any tracks the enemy might have left behind. However, while his Perception attribute was very high, it was ultimately only a score of "14", not "24". How could he possibly pierce through the barrier between planes to catch the hidden, rippling spatial distortions?

Just as Xia Nan was finding the situation troublesome, guessing that the phase spider had already completed its escape using its "Ethereal Jaunt" ability, a sudden commotion from nearby caught his attention.

Right at the border between the valley's flat ground and the adjacent cedar forest, the empty air suddenly distorted, followed by a blinding, chaotic silver-white light.

Wreathed in dense silver mist, the massive eight-legged spider fell from midair in an incredibly wretched state, looking as if it had been hit by a carriage. Landing on its back, its limbs flailed briefly before it managed to agonizingly scramble back to its feet.

A hiss echoed. The silver light flashed again, and the insectoid body vanished from the spot.

It left behind only a large pool of bug blood on the grass, causing the charging Xia Nan to hit empty air once more.

However, he felt no discouragement; instead, he grew even calmer.

Clearly, his ambush plan wasn't entirely useless.

Although the forcefield energy striking squarely at the enemy's vitals had failed to kill the phase spider outright, it had severely impacted its "Ethereal Jaunt" ability, preventing it from making long-distance, extended jumps like usual.

This gave Xia Nan the opportunity to track and pursue.

"Hiss!!!"

Another pained insectoid shriek accompanied a fleeting flash of silver light from the nearby woods.

Pushing off the ground, his body wreathed in pitch-black astral winds, Xia Nan turned into a black wolf phantom and howled toward the direction of the sound and light.

The winter wolf Fanny followed closely behind, likewise vanishing into the depths of the dense forest.

In just a few short seconds, the Sheep Pen—which had been a battlefield filled with overlapping explosions and light effects—was left with only the dead ram lying quietly on the ground and the flock of sheep huddling together, shivering in fear.

On the other side, the cabin door was left half-open.

The shepherd, who had witnessed almost the entire battle, swallowed hard. Still not daring to make a sound, he completely suppressed his inner curiosity. Trembling with fear, he merely poked his head out to shoot a few quick glances in both directions before withdrawing his body back into the house.

"Bam!"

The door was shut tight.

In the pursuit between the phase spider and Xia Nan, the spider initially held the upper hand.

After all, its ability to traverse planes with "Ethereal Jaunt" was simply too overpowered. When the phase spider was in the Ethereal Plane, Xia Nan couldn't track its path at all.

Every time he rushed to its landing point, the spider would have already disappeared from the spot again.

Worried about heading in the wrong direction, Xia Nan didn't dare to speed up recklessly. He could only wait in place for the phase spider to drop back into the Material Plane, judge its location by the noise and light it made, and then accelerate his pursuit.

But clearly, the injury inflicted by his [Gravity Etching] strike was far too severe for the phase spider.

No matter how tenacious a monster's vitality might be, with nearly half of its hindbrain blown away, how could it completely suppress the wound? Combined with the current high-intensity activity, the phase spider's life force and stamina were being drastically drained at a visible rate.

Reflected in reality, this manifested as the gradual shortening of the spider's displacement distance each time, along with increasingly weak shrieks.

If this trend continued, it wouldn't take more than a dozen minutes before the phase spider completely lost the ability to use "Ethereal Jaunt" due to excessive loss of vitality and stamina, reducing it to a lamb waiting to be slaughtered beneath Xia Nan's butcher knife.

As a monster, its intelligence wasn't outstanding. However, driven by survival instincts, it sought its limited chance of survival, subconsciously fleeing in the direction of its lair.

Finally, after one last insectoid shriek, the silver-white magical glare no longer flashed through the forest.

And Xia Nan, tracking the disturbances left by the phase spider along the way, also arrived at the monster's hiding place.

This was a...

Goblin lair?

Standing in the forest, he rubbed the head of the winter wolf, Fanny, who had hurried over to his side.

Xia Nan looked at the wide, deep cave entrance leading underground right in front of him, a strange expression on his face.

He could unapologetically call himself a "Goblin expert". With just a sweeping glance, he had already deduced from the dense footprints and prey bones scattered on the ground around the entrance that this was a small-to-medium-sized Goblin lair.

Its scale was roughly between 15 and 30 individuals, and it possessed a bugbear as the tribe leader.

'Why would the phase spider choose this place as its final hiding spot?'

Was it because, under extreme exhaustion, it instinctively chose this cave packed with fragile Goblins to replenish its stamina through feeding? Or had it already slaughtered all the living creatures inside this burrow beforehand, usurping the nest to use as its temporary lair in the Material Plane? Pondering this, and perfectly aware that a monster pushed to the brink was the most dangerous, Xia Nan heightened his vigilance.

He shared a telepathic connection and perfect synergy with Fanny. With just a glance at her, the winter wolf's body tensed up, ready for battle. One man and one wolf cautiously walked into the cave.

Just as Xia Nan had predicted earlier, the passageway—exceptionally wide due to the presence of a bugbear—lacked the complex warning traps typical of hobgoblin tribes, leaving an unobstructed path.

It wasn't long before they reached the deepest part of the cave.

His brow furrowed involuntarily.

What entered his sight was a relatively spacious Goblin lair.

The reason he called it "relatively spacious" was because the towering rock walls and gloomy corners that should have made the burrow feel expansive were now covered in thick, silvery-gray spider silk.

Perhaps because it hadn't been here long, the silk hadn't had time to completely cover the entire underground cavern. At a rough glance, it looked sparse, only spreading outward from a few nodes.

And looking closely, those so-called nodes were actually clusters of insect eggs wrapped in cobwebs.

—Was this a phase spider's lair...?

This was exactly what made Xia Nan frown at the moment.

Because apart from the spider silk covering the cavern and those spider eggs, there were many figures roaming inside the cave that he was incredibly familiar with.

They were bustling green-skinned Goblins!!

Goblins and phase spiders—two completely unrelated monsters—had unexpectedly formed a bizarre symbiotic relationship here and now. The Goblins screeched bizarrely as they dragged corpses, delivering fresh, whole animal flesh to the eggs. Without even needing any prompt, dense swarms of tiny spiders poured out of the webs, crawling toward the food the Goblins had brought.

Xia Nan even saw the remains of many Goblins between the spider webs, having already been devoured clean by the little spiders.

Clearly, if food were scarce, these mad and frantic green-skinned Goblins didn't mind offering their own flesh to provide nutrition for the phase spider's offspring.

Why?

Why would the Goblins coexist with a phase spider in such a manner?

It must be known that even "worgs", the traditional partners of Goblins, usually only maintained a semi-cooperative relationship with them.

What reason could possibly compel these Goblins, driven purely by physical desires, to sacrifice their own bodies to feed these spiders?

Did this have some kind of connection to the recent phenomenon of monsters going berserk at the kingdom's borders, and the resulting surge in Goblin sightings? His mind raced.

But obviously, Xia Nan hadn't gathered enough clues to allow him to reach a relatively reliable and correct conclusion.

Perhaps it was because his leather boots touched the spider silk on the ground. Or perhaps it was due to the chaos caused by the phase spider in the middle of the cavern—the one whose head had been partially blown off by Xia Nan's forcefield energy, which had finally succumbed to its wounds after a desperate escape and now lay completely dead on its back, chelicerae splayed, unmoving on the floor.

The Goblins in the lair quickly spotted the intruder at the entrance.

They were as frenzied as ever.

Screeching bizarrely, they charged right toward Xia Nan.

However, compared to before, the enemies he had to face now included numerous tiny phase spider hatchlings that seemed to have just burst from their eggs.

Fortunately, these hatchlings had not yet matured and did not possess the special "Ethereal Jaunt" ability of adult individuals.

While it looked quite terrifying to see them swarming over like a tide, their combat style was actually just that of ordinary spiders.

He didn't even need to use his sword blade to slash at them; swept up by the astral winds kicked up by [Fang Hunt], they were reduced to unidentifiable mush. As a self-proclaimed "Goblin expert", clearing out a Goblin lair like this naturally didn't take him much time.

In less than five minutes, the only ones left breathing in the entire Goblin lair were Xia Nan and Fanny.

Out of an Adventurer's professional diligence, aided by his sharp Perception, Xia Nan didn't spare a single little spider, crushing them all.

He even pierced the unhatched eggs one by one, clearing out the larvae inside.

He checked the corpse of the adult phase spider again to ensure there were absolutely no enemies left on the field.

Only then did Xia Nan carefully search the battlefield, looking for clues related to his quest.

Sure enough, right at the deepest part of the cave, hidden beneath the spider webs, was a deep fissure leading to an unknown destination.

Considering the information provided in the Quest Summary and the phase spider corpse behind him, this fissure was likely the entrance to the Underdark, ripped open by the recent earthquake.

Standing in front of it and glancing inside, his line of sight met only pitch-black darkness. He couldn't see anything at all, yet Xia Nan didn't have the slightest intention of going in.

The Underdark was too dangerous for him right now. Unless absolutely necessary, it was impossible for him to delve deeper into it.

All he had to do was memorize the location and heading, then report back to Bloodcast Keep, and he'd be done.

Just as he was about to leave directly, he noticed that the winter wolf Fanny, who had been following by his side the whole time, suddenly walked over to a corner of the cave where the spider webs were still somewhat intact, as if she had discovered something.

Her back lowered, her body tensed, and both her ears perked up high. A vigilant gleam surfaced in her ice-blue wolf eyes, and from between her fangs came a threatening, low growl she had never let out before.

Her Perception ability was certainly not as high as Xia Nan's, but having grown up following the Barbarian Forgan, Fanny possessed a sensitivity toward certain things that far exceeded an ordinary person's. Feeling puzzled, Xia Nan walked forward and gently peeled back the spider web with the tip of his sword.

Appearing in his line of sight, growing quietly in the corner, was something completely harmless and seemingly devoid of any special traits. Yet, the moment Xia Nan laid eyes on it, a sense of extreme danger instantly exploded in his heart... A small cluster of mushrooms!

"Arooo!!!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment he saw the mushrooms, Xia Nan reacted with the fastest speed of his entire life, scooping up the winter wolf Fanny under one arm while unleashing [Fang Hunt] at full power to sprint madly toward the cave entrance.

But perhaps the burrow was already on the verge of collapsing after the earthquake, or perhaps it was due to some deeper reason—the very instant Xia Nan moved, tremors came from underground. Rapid cracks surfaced and spread across the surrounding rock walls.

Rumble!

The entire cave caved in and collapsed!