Chapter 684 Frightening Proficiency, Weapon Master

"Landa!!!"

The gnome rogue's death served as a chilling soundtrack, like a score meant to build suspense in a horror film, adding a deep, bone-piercing terror to the monster's entrance.

Realizing the exit was completely sealed by mycelium, the two members of the "Shadow Crows" party had turned back in despair, only to watch their close companion die right before their eyes.

If Landa had died in the midst of fierce resistance, struck in a vital spot by the monster's weapon, their reaction might not have been this severe.

Instead, the gnome rogue's death was like that of prey coiled tight by a python, paralyzed and entirely unable to muster even the slightest struggle before the monster swallowed him whole.

The sheer psychological impact of such a scene, combined with their lingering trauma and the environment, was unimaginable.

The Half-Drow Yexi—who had seemed resigned to her fate, prone to joking around, yet proactive enough to guide her teammates and secretly memorize their escape route—had lost all her former easygoing demeanor. She slumped against the mycelium wall, screaming without any regard for her image.

The human Warrior Benny—reserved, silent, yet highly capable and oddly reliable—was faring no better. His chest heaved violently beneath a pale face, as if his heart were about to leap out. He gasped for air in the spacious cavern, looking as though he might suffocate and die at any second despite the abundant oxygen.

They were veteran adventurers with considerable Class Levels, after all. Even in poor physical condition, with their weapons and gear ruined or stolen, they shouldn't have been reduced to such a pathetic state against a sudden enemy, acting even worse than rookies.

Clearly, their previous defeat and capture by the evolved arrow snake-men had left them with far more than a simple psychological shadow.

Through some unknown method, the twisted monster before them had shattered the mental defenses of the two veteran Class Holders. Much like Xia Nan's [Night Mother's Gaze], it had plunged them into a state of absolute terror, stripping away all their will to fight.

In contrast, the reactions of the others on the battlefield were much more normal.

Xia Nan and Winter Wolf Fanny, of course, had fully transitioned into combat mode.

Unlike the two from the "Shadow Crows" party, the guard Ake—despite his shrinking pupils, quickening breath, and a body trembling from extreme tension—displayed the mental fortitude expected of a veteran adventurer. He hadn't lost his will to fight.

Even the absolute rookies, Winsor and Zanfrey, were handling it better than the mentally shattered Yexi and Benny. Realizing the enemy's strength vastly exceeded what they could handle, they didn't dare utter a single word. They stumbled and staggered toward the edges of the battlefield, trying to reduce the burden on the combatants as much as possible.

"Roar!!!"

Xia Nan had been the first to sense something was wrong and the first to choose retreat; now, he was also the first to actively attack the enemy.

The retreat plan was ruined. The monster before them had openly declared its hostility by devouring the gnome rogue, a member of their temporary party.

Realizing that battle was unavoidable, Xia Nan once again displayed his decisiveness.

Without a shred of hesitation.

Pitch-black, piercing astral winds intertwined and shattered, taking the shape of a phantom wolf. The sharp wooden sword, burning with intense, almost tangible orange-red flames dancing across its surface, turned into a glaring, fiery wolf fang. With a howling whistle, it struck from the side, aiming straight for the snake-man monster's vital neck.

Its reaction was much faster than expected.

Under Xia Nan's dark gaze, the moment he pushed off the ground, he sheathed [Ember Fall] while drawing [Azure Pine] from its scabbard and activating [Fang Hunt] to launch himself.

The snake-man monster in his sights had already noticed. Its mycelium-covered body twisted, turning its originally sideways profile to face him head-on.

"Clang!"

The fierce orange-red flames left a fleeting, searing trail through the air.

Sparks flew.

The flaming wooden sword that should have cleaved into the enemy's vulnerable neck was blocked by a heavy tower shield, its outer face engraved with the family crest of the Shield of the Silver Lake.

The splattering flames left scorched black marks on its surface, but the blade couldn't penetrate a single inch further.

If an ordinary adventurer had faced Xia Nan's strike, even if they managed to block it, the sheer size and weight of the heavy shield, combined with the tremendous force behind the blade, would have made it nearly impossible to launch an effective counterattack.

But this snake-man monster clearly had strength to spare.

Its strong, twisted body easily maintained its original defensive shield stance.

From its side, two arms woven from mycelium suddenly threw themselves wide.

In their palms, the gnome rogue's poisoned short daggers gleamed with a cold light.

Gathering power—they stabbed downward!

A sense of danger exploded in his heart.

His sharp Perception had come in handy once again.

Xia Nan decisively pulled his blade back to retract his force, simultaneously raising his right leg to viciously kick off the scorched surface of the heavy metal shield.

"Thud!"

"Rip—!"

The muffled thud of the leather boot hitting metal overlapped almost perfectly with the piercing whistle of the daggers slicing through the air.

Using the recoil to retreat, he spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees in midair before landing as lightly as a feather, aided by [Tidal Stabilization].

The daggers, striking down in an "X" pattern, swiped past the front of the shield. There was no blood on their blades, but a few shreds of cloth drifted down through the air.

From a considerable distance away.

Still holding his combat stance, Xia Nan couldn't help but glance down at himself.

The thick fabric of the trousers on his outer thigh had been sliced open, leaving a moderate tear.

Fortunately, his reaction had been timely and his movements swift enough to avoid cutting the skin beneath.

Otherwise, given the poison coating the gnome's short daggers, he would have had to immediately use [Tears of Spring Breath]'s "Lesser Healing" to purge the toxins and preserve his combat effectiveness.

Looking forward again, his dark eyes reflected the twisted monstrosity of snake scales and mycelium.

Thoughts raced through his mind.

Although it had been nothing more than a hasty, single-round exchange.

For Xia Nan, it was enough to gather a substantial amount of the intelligence he needed.

First, it was clear that the actual strength of this snake-man monster wasn't at a level he couldn't compete with.

When Xia Nan had first seen its highly familiar appearance, he had almost thought his enemy was a "six-armed snake demon" from the Abyss.

He had seen such powerful monsters in the chapter on abyssal creatures in the Monster Compendium.

Leaving aside its habits and preferences, as a reference point, a normally developed adult six-armed snake demon of average racial standard had a Challenge Rating of 16 in the compendium.

Without a doubt, if his enemy were truly a six-armed snake demon, even if it were severely injured, the sheer disparity in strength was absolutely not something Xia Nan could handle—not even if he activated [Ember Echoes].

Fortunately, it had only taken a few seconds for Xia Nan to reject his guess about the enemy's identity.

Compared to the detailed description of the six-armed snake demon in the Monster Compendium, this deformed mutant emitted none of the sulfurous stench common to abyssal demons, nor did it carry the wanton evil aura of demons who crossed planar barriers. Its size and appearance were also entirely different.

The only similarities were its half-human, half-snake body structure and the six slender arms extending from its torso.

It was glaringly obvious that the snake-man monster before him was not a creature born of normal, natural evolution.

Its original body was likely an "abomination" or "hex" snake-man from this local tribe.

It was just that some bizarre ritual and the corrupting erosion of the fungal colony had triggered a mutation, forming this twisted, grotesque appearance.

Even the four extra arms on its sides were woven from dark purple mycelium, rather than being natural growths.

His extremely cautious probing attack just now had also confirmed his estimation of the monster's strength.

But even so, the enemy was far more troublesome than Xia Nan had anticipated.

Its reflexes were superhuman, able to detect the hostility from his direction the exact moment he pushed off, allowing it to mount a timely defense;

its physical strength was also vastly superior to his own—he had slashed down with his sword, but the shield-bearing monster hadn't budged an inch.

Even though he had pulled his strike for the sake of probing, he could still feel the tremendous power contained within the monster's body.

Beyond that, the most crucial piece of information Xia Nan had gleaned from this exchange was—

Frowning slightly, his gaze swept over the weapons gripped by the monster.

The shield looked familiar. A quick recall reminded him that he had seen it in Ake's hands.

Combined with the fact that the two adventurers accompanying Ake were also completely unarmed, and that the snake-man had picked up the gnome rogue's daggers, he concluded that all the weapons the monster currently held belonged to the adventurers present.

But his mind involuntarily flashed back to the monster's skillful movements—raising the shield to defend and simultaneously thrusting the daggers down.

"This is going to be a problem."

Unless someone was a "weapon master" who specialized in all kinds of gear, taking up an unfamiliar weapon required a long adjustment period. Not just for someone like Xia Nan, who had exclusively used swords since his transmigration, but even for veteran adventurers who had spent years in the business.

Yet from that brief glimpse, this six-armed snake-man showed no signs of stiffness or hesitation when using these weapons.

Its shield movements were fluid, and its dual-wielding dagger strikes were incredibly light and deft.

Naturally, this wouldn't be an isolated case.

It was highly probable that it possessed comparable proficiency with the longbow and the great-axe held in its other hands.

These thoughts flashed by in an instant.

Soon enough, the snake-man monster before him responded to his guess through its actions.

"Awooo!"

Taking advantage of the clash between Xia Nan and the enemy, a swift, pure white silhouette had stealthily circled into the monster's blind spot.

Possessing incredible synergy, an intelligence far exceeding other monsters of her kind, and situational awareness matching that of a veteran adventurer, Winter Wolf Fanny, lurking deep in the shadows, perfectly seized the brief opening after the snake-man crossed swords with Xia Nan. She lunged at its seemingly defenseless back, snapping her Wolf's Maw wide to sink her sharp fangs into the enemy's nape.

However, the snake-man monster's perception and reflexes were vastly superior to what anyone in the cavern had expected.

Just a second ago, it had been retracting its shield and blades.

The very next second, the moment the killing intent erupted from behind...

The six-armed snake-man's lower body, which seemed fused with the fungal carpet on the ground, shot out like a spring.

Its thick, mycelium-covered snake tail whipped out like a long whip, tearing through the air with an explosive crack.

Only Fanny's equally fast reflexes saved her; she halted instantly and leaped back lightly, barely dodging the lash of the tail.

It didn't stop there.

Just as Fanny dodged the strike, realizing her presence had been discovered and preparing to fall back to wait for another opening...

Her beastly survival instincts flared, and an intense sense of danger exploded in her mind.

She lifted her wolf eyes, her gaze sweeping upward.

The six-armed snake-man, which had been facing away from her just a moment prior, acted like an owl. Its lower body remained completely still, while its entire upper torso, driven by the mycelium, abruptly spun one hundred and eighty degrees to face her head-on.

"Creak—"

It was the wail of a bowstring being drawn back under tremendous strength.

One arm firmly braced the longbow taken from the Half-Drow. Its only remaining free hand plucked a fletched arrow—also belonging to Yexi, though now swallowed by mycelium and fused into the quiver grafted to its back—and nocked it to the string.

It aimed.

"Awooo—"

A strong sense of crisis made Winter Wolf Fanny instinctively dart and weave in rapid, erratic movements, hoping to break the enemy's ranged lock.

Clearly well-versed in dealing with archers, Fanny shifted and dodged at a blistering pace. Under these conditions, even the most seasoned hunter would struggle to land a precise hit.

But just as it had when raising its shield and thrusting its daggers earlier, the six-armed snake-man moved with an inexplicably exaggerated proficiency, acting like a cold machine.

Its mycelium-clouded slit pupils locked tightly onto the lithe figure ahead—a figure moving so fast she was practically a blur of afterimages. The longbow in its grip swayed slightly, adjusting its angle.

And the very instant the bowstring was drawn near its breaking point, gathering power to its absolute zenith—

it let go without a sliver of hesitation.

"Twang!"

The arrow, tainted by dark purple mycelium, vanished from the bowstring in a flash, like a bullet fired from a gun.

Without a hint of spin, the terrifying force behind the shot propelled it at a speed bordering on teleportation. In less time than it takes to blink, it crossed the distance from the bowstring to Fanny with astonishing precision, arriving right as she twisted her body to dodge.

It was entirely foreseeable that if the arrow were allowed to continue its flight, its razor-sharp head—driven by that tremendous momentum—would plunge straight into Fanny's flesh.

Right at this critical juncture, a colorless, formless power that slightly distorted the surrounding air suddenly acted upon the arrow, giving it a gentle nudge to the side.

"Swish!"

Nudged slightly off course, the arrow streaked past Winter Wolf Fanny's flank. It sheared off a few strands of snow-white mane before burying itself deep into the rock wall behind her.

Landing squarely on all four paws, her lupine eyes flashing with a very human-like look of lingering shock, Fanny instinctively glanced forward.

She saw Xia Nan standing in the exact same posture as before, but a sliver of grayish-white was rapidly fading from his pitch-black eyes.

[Heart-Guided Vision]!