Chapter 678 Making a Decision

Landa had ultimately underestimated the young black-haired adventurer who was said to be from Rivervale Town.

'Just what level is this Class Holder?'

When he first met Xia Nan, the gnome Rogue felt he had accurately gauged the man's Class Level to be around Level 5 based on his Fine equipment and the aura he exuded.

Xia Nan was definitely much stronger than him.

But exactly how much stronger, he wasn't entirely sure.

That was until a moment ago, when he watched Xia Nan bring his sword down and blow away nearly half the head of that hook horror, which seemed to have been enhanced by fungal hyphae.

Only then did Landa truly form a vague concept of Xia Nan's power level.

'Looking at his face, he only seems to be in his early twenties.'

'Could he already be touching the boundaries of the "Transcendent Tier"—'

Of course, he hadn't reached that extent.

Actual combat power aside, from the perspective of Class Level, Xia Nan was only Level 4.

It was simply that his mastered combat techniques synergized well, and their average quality far exceeded the norm. Combined with physical attributes that placed him at the very peak of the pyramid among Class Holders of the same level thanks to various fortuitous encounters, along with a combat style heavily focused on explosive offense—all of this resulted in an exaggerated display of combat prowess to uninformed onlookers.

It also had to be said that, due to the unique power system on the Aifala Continent, as Class Levels gradually increased, the gap in combat power between Class Holders of the same level would progressively widen.

Take two Level 15 Class Holders. The first meticulously plans every combat technique, takes a class that perfectly balances high quality with compatibility, wears a mix of green and blue equipment, and even sports one or two purple items.

The second has absolutely no plan to speak of, learning whatever combat techniques they come across without any discretion just to increase their Class Level, choosing the class with the simplest requirements, blowing all their quest earnings in casinos and brothels, wearing nothing but ordinary white-quality gear, and relying on a half-empty Healing Potion in their belt pouch as their sole life-saving trump card.

Despite sharing the same Class Level, in an actual one-on-one combat scenario, the difference would be stark.

The latter would likely last at most three rounds against the former—and that was assuming the former didn't immediately use any high-powered trump cards.

Right now, Xia Nan and Landa could, to some extent, be seen through this analogy.

Both were Level 4 Class Holders. Yet one could only dodge miserably when facing the hook horror, completely unable to find a chance to land a solid blow, while the other needed only a few minutes to kill the monster outright.

Of course, from Xia Nan's perspective, the battle wasn't actually that complex.

He spent the first few exchanges probing, confirming the rough power level, strengths, and weaknesses of this hyphae-enhanced hook horror. Realizing that the opponent possessed high Strength and Constitution but low Agility, he knew it was a type he completely countered.

He formulated a brief battle plan in his mind.

Utilizing the advanced concepts developed for his new combat technique, he slashed down fiercely from the front without holding back at all. This drew the hook horror's full attention, causing the beast to instinctively roar and raise its twin hooked claws to block.

In reality, it was an imperceptible feint. A split second before the blade met the claws, he abruptly pulled his strength, resetting his basic attack. At the same time, he shifted his footing and leapt explosively toward the back of the creature's neck.

Before the hook horror could even fully react, the Gray-Black Straight Sword, wreathed in ochre-red forcefield energy, cleaved into its brain.

Then the energy violently detonated, turning its internal tissues into a firework of flesh and blood that splattered across the ground.

Having suffered losses from carelessness before, Xia Nan pushed his Perception to its absolute limit. Only after confirming the hook horror beneath him was thoroughly dead did he breathe a sigh of relief.

His thoughts then drifted as he mentally reviewed the battle that had just concluded.

Well—the fight had been so simple and efficient that there wasn't actually much to review.

The most important takeaway was the application of his newly developed combat technique.

It proved highly effective in actual combat.

This battle with the hook horror had allowed Xia Nan to further grasp how to wield this kind of technique:

Feinting!

This special trick, which functioned similarly to "interrupting the current action and resetting the attack," made this combat technique different from other feints. It allowed him to apply one hundred percent of his force into the initial disguised strike without worrying about overcommitting or his momentum making it difficult to pull back.

To some extent, it was practically Xia Nan's full-powered strike.

As long as the opponent tried to block, parry, or dodge, he could perfectly retract his force at the exact right moment, reset his attack stance, and catch the enemy completely off guard to inflict massive damage.

On the other hand, if the enemy saw through his feint and held back their own strength while defending or dodging—as previously established, Xia Nan's first, seemingly disguised attack was already his full-powered strike. If the opponent reacted like that, he simply wouldn't reset. He would fluidly transition the "feint" into an "assault," still catching them by surprise.

Having found a clear direction, a single battle of relatively low intensity had pushed the development progress of Xia Nan's new combat technique forward by another huge margin.

A strong sense of accomplishment involuntarily welled up within him.

For a moment, the thought even flashed through Xia Nan's mind to stay in the Underdark a little longer. He could find a few more strong opponents with real combat value, wait until he had fully developed this combat technique and made it officially manifest on his Attribute Panel, and only then return to the surface.

But a second later, he rejected the idea.

The most critical priority right now was to hurry back to Bloodcast Keep. He needed to report the suspected presence of the Swamp Druid in the Underdark, along with the information regarding those bizarre fungal hyphae that might be tied to their conspiracy, to the Barbarian Forgan.

To put it bluntly, now that even hook horrors corrupted by hyphae had shown up, who knew if that Swamp Druid was lurking nearby? Fleeing this region as quickly as possible was what Xia Nan should be doing above all else.

Jumping down from the hook horror's corpse, Xia Nan rubbed the head of Winter Wolf Fanny, who had trotted over to him. His gaze then shifted forward to the gnome Rogue Landa, as well as the two youths, Zanfrey and Winsor, who were walking toward him.

Seeing that aside from Landa looking a bit ragged, none of the three had suffered any injuries that would hinder their movement, he gave a slight nod.

"This should be the hook horror you mentioned earlier, the one roaming near the exit, right?"

"Yes, yes!" Landa nodded repeatedly. His eyes subconsciously darted to the hook horror's shattered head. Recalling the burst of ochre-red fireworks he had glimpsed a moment ago, he swallowed hard. "There should only be this one."

"Walking forward for about twenty more minutes will take us to the exit leading from the Underdark to the surface."

Relieved that they could finally escape this place, Xia Nan let out a breath.

He called out to the two youths behind him—who had also witnessed the finishing blow and were now flicking their gazes back and forth between him and the monster's corpse—and the group of four people and one wolf resumed their trek toward the exit.

However, they only walked forward for eight minutes this time—not even half of Landa's estimated distance—before they were forced to halt once more. The good news was that they hadn't stopped because of another dangerous enemy.

The bad news was that running into a few more enemies would have actually been preferable to their current situation, as that would have at least left them with a hope of escape.

Right now, blocking their path was a solid wall of rock formed by shattered boulders of varying sizes, completely sealing off the tunnel that was supposed to lead to the surface.

Faint traces of dark purple hyphae could be seen spreading deep into the crevices between the stones.

"H—How could this be!?"

Landa's face turned grim. He hurried forward and began frantically clawing at the rocks with both hands, trying to dig a tunnel through.

It was clearly futile.

The earthquake that had sent Xia Nan and the others plunging into the Underdark in the first place had also completely collapsed this route to the surface, stripping them of their hope for escape.

His expression remaining calm, Xia Nan quietly cast out his Perception.

Standing a short distance away, he carefully studied the stone wall blocking their path.

A moment later, he gave a slight shake of his head.

Despite Landa claiming they were only ten or so minutes away from the surface, it didn't mean much.

Given the sheer complexity of the Underdark's terrain, the twists and turns ahead were definitely not few.

Besides, who knew what the terrain looked like beyond the blockage? Even if his physical attributes were high enough to carve a path through the rocks, there was no guarantee they could actually reach the surface by following Landa's memory.

And if they accidentally struck a load-bearing structure and triggered another cave-in, the group would likely be buried alive, doomed beyond salvation. Therefore, no matter how unwilling and disappointed they felt, stopping here was their only choice.

"Is there no other way out?"

Maintaining his inner composure despite the terrible situation, Xia Nan directed the question to the gnome Rogue, who had slumped against the stone wall in utter dejection.

"No more, Mr. Xia Nan—" Landa hung his head, his tone crestfallen. "The small path our party normally uses has been completely blocked off, and now even this backup route is impassable. We can only—"

As he spoke, the gnome Rogue suddenly jerked his head up. A glimmer of hope surfaced on his face, only to be replaced by hesitation a second later.

"In theory, there should be one more way out, but—"

As if weighing its feasibility, Landa looked hesitant before speaking slowly. "Middle of last year, our party followed a large force of Dire Corbies and passed by a Serpentfolk tribe."

"Those Serpentfolk were highly powerful. They seemed to have lived in the Underdark for a long time, and they drove off the passing Dire Corbies with ease."

"I took a glance from far away. Their tribe was quite large, so they must have many skilled Serpentfolk warriors."

"But most importantly, I've heard other adventurers mention in taverns that these Underdark-dwelling Serpentfolk regularly trade with human merchants from the surface. They exchange underground goods like ores and monster materials for surface commodities like spices and daily necessities."

"If nothing has changed, the Serpentfolk living there should know of many routes leading to the surface."

For everyone present, this was obviously great news.

But Xia Nan noticed the hesitation on the gnome's face. He seemed to be worrying about something. "So? What's the catch?"

Regarding this, Landa had two main concerns.

First, his memory was exceptional. Even though he had never been near the area again after passing by it back then, he still clearly and completely remembered the route to the Serpentfolk tribe.

However, precisely because of this, Landa knew all too well just how many dangers lurked along that path.

Previously, they'd had the Dire Corbies clearing the way ahead of them, so there wasn't much to worry about.

Right now, with only their small group of adventurers heading down—there was no guarantee they could safely overcome every obstacle they would face. Not to mention they were dragging along two deadweights who hadn't even acquired a Class Level.

Given the harsh environment of the Underdark, if they suffered heavy injuries and ran out of the Healing Potions they were carrying, they would fall into an incredibly lethal predicament.

And his second concern was the Serpentfolk themselves.

It didn't matter if they appeared capable of cooperating with other intelligent races and maintained regular trade with human merchants.

At their core, especially in the eyes of many high-ranking Serpentfolk, humans were nothing more than cowardly, ugly, and edible livestock. There was no such thing as friendship between their races.

On the surface, for the sake of regularly obtaining trinkets lacking in the Underdark, the Serpentfolk might be willing to coexist peacefully with other intelligent races.

But deep in the Serpentfolk's Underdark stronghold, for a tiny handful of adventurers like them to just waltz into their tribe and ask for directions—

While he didn't know exactly what would happen, Landa didn't think the Serpentfolk would roll out the red carpet to welcome them.

"But this is the only lead we have left, right?"

Xia Nan's emotions remained perfectly calm.

The situation they were in was actually crystal clear.

Both of the surface routes known to the gnome Rogue Landa had been completely sealed off.

They only had two choices left.

One: continue running around aimlessly through the labyrinthine, danger-filled Underdark, praying they would miraculously stumble upon an exit;

Second: head to the Serpentfolk tribe and ask the Serpentfolk living there for a way out.

Both choices were undoubtedly dangerous, but at least the risks of the second option were predictable and could be prepared for.

Even if things devolved to the absolute worst-case scenario, the most they would have to face was an entire army of Serpentfolk.

That was still better than the first option—blindly charging into the unknown, only to blunder straight into some adult red dragon's treasure hoard, or perhaps tumbling into an ancient ruin swarming with powerful aberrant guardians.

"Then let's go check out that Serpentfolk tribe from your memories first."

As the strongest member of the party and its decision-maker, he had never been afraid to take responsibility.

Seeing Landa's conflicted, hesitant expression, Xia Nan naturally took up the burden and made the choice for the team.