“Thud!”
A bloodstained leather boot slammed into the soft, damp grass and sent specks of mud flying.
“Damn it… how the hell was there a class holder!?”
The flat-topped man with the vicious face ran while gasping for breath.
His arms pumped wildly at his sides, and dense bushes blurred past him.
“I never should’ve trusted that old man! This damn job almost got me killed!”
“Big Brother, what do we do now?”
Beside him ran another man, sturdier and broader, though his features were somewhat dull.
Right now, however, fear had completely overwhelmed that dull expression.
“What do we do?”
The vicious man nearly shouted.
“Look at what we’re doing!”
“Run!”
“That kid’s background isn’t simple. We can’t stay in Rivervale Town anymore… No, forget Rivervale. We probably can’t stay in any town near Neum!”
Hum…
An arrow spun through the air with a sharp whistle.
It buried itself in the dirt beside the man’s boot.
Something moved rapidly through the shadows behind them.
The sound alone made both men shudder.
Their already panicked strides became even messier.
It was as if some ravenous monster were closing in from behind, ready to tear them apart the moment they slowed.
“Crunch!”
Leaves and grass scattered through the air.
The vicious man suddenly felt the endless drag of undergrowth disappear from in front of him.
At the same time, sunlight that should have been blocked by the canopy struck him full in the face.
The world opened.
A clearing!?
“Big Brother! Ambush!”
The dull man’s frightened shout snapped his attention sideways.
A black-haired young man stood in the clearing.
Sharp features.
Young.
The vicious man felt a faint flicker of familiarity, but there was no time to think about it.
Blood rushed through his head.
His vision flashed.
With death breathing down his neck, he made his decision in an instant.
“Fuck it! There’s only one of him!”
“Kill him!”
“If I’m dying today, I’m dragging someone down with me!”
…
Two sets of hurried footsteps suddenly came crashing through the forest near Xia Nan.
He rose.
Turned.
Two men covered in leaves and grass burst into the clearing.
For a moment, everything seemed to stop.
The pungent, slightly fishy scent of Glowgarlic Vine filled Xia Nan’s nose.
Branches rustled in the wind.
His mind accelerated.
[0.1 Seconds]
His first instinct was simple.
[Run.]
The situation practically screamed ambush.
A clearing in the middle of dense forest.
Valuable plants sitting conspicuously in the open.
A careful search that had revealed no danger.
And now, just as he finished harvesting the Glowgarlic Vine, two armed men suddenly appeared.
Too much lined up.
They had to be waiting for him.
Then another realization followed.
If Xia Nan ran, the heavy backpack full of Glowgarlic Vine had to go.
More than thirty gold.
Thrown away.
Profit and risk seemed to settle on opposite ends of an invisible scale inside his mind.
[0.2 Seconds]
[Can I avoid the fight?]
A thought flashed through his head.
[Talk them down? Give them part of the harvest?]
No.
Impossible.
He was alone.
They had two people.
Until he proved he could fight back, he had absolutely no bargaining power.
And judging from the way the two men were charging toward him, desperate and wild-eyed, they did not look interested in negotiation anyway.
Which meant…
[0.3 Seconds]
The blade rasped against the sheath.
The backpack he had treasured only moments ago, worth dozens of gold, hit the ground without hesitation.
Battle intent rose.
The decision was made.
[0.5 Seconds]
Xia Nan stood his ground.
The two men split apart as they advanced.
One left.
One right.
Trying to flank him?
Reality was not a game.
A sword wound did not remove a piece of a health bar.
If an arm was cut off, it stayed off.
If a leg was severed, he became a cripple.
If a blade entered his throat, he died.
Even the Healing Potion at his waist could not regenerate limbs or resurrect the dead.
Xia Nan did not know who these people were.
He did not know how strong they were.
All he could do was let survival instinct drive his mind into overdrive.
One person against two.
That was bad.
Anyone who could stand in the middle of several enemies, parry attacks from every direction, and counter them all at once was the sort of master who had trained combat technique to an absurd degree.
Even the nearly fantastical martial arts movies from his previous life understood one basic principle when the protagonist was surrounded.
Split the battlefield.
Deal with them one at a time.
In less than a second, Xia Nan had his plan.
Turn a two-on-one into two one-on-ones.
[0.7 Seconds]
His gaze snapped between the men.
Left.
The flat-topped man carried an iron sword.
Focused expression.
Fast movements.
Experienced.
Right.
The other man was bigger and sturdier, but clearly half a beat slower.
His face was red.
His movements were clumsy.
A heavy two-handed hammer dragged in his grip.
Target acquired.
[1 Second]
Xia Nan raised the tip of his sword slightly.
Cold metal pressed into his palm.
He stepped forward.
One against two.
Everyone involved carried a weapon capable of ending the fight in a single clean strike.
So the first enemy had to die fast.
Three more steps.
The distance between Xia Nan and the hammer-wielding man vanished.
The iron-gray blade flashed at the edge of his vision.
[He’s in range.]
Xia Nan’s right foot slammed into the ground.
His boot sank into the soft earth.
“Spinning Slash!”
Power surged upward from his feet.
Legs.
Waist.
Back.
Shoulders.
Arms.
Every trace of force in his body gathered together like a rushing tide and poured into the sword through his hands.
Hum…
Iron-gray light swept through the air in a crescent.
Slashing Expert.
+5% slashing damage.
Decapitating Longsword.
+5% decapitation damage.
Strength: 6.
Xia Nan swung the fastest sword strike he had unleashed since coming to this world.
“Shhk!”
The heavy two-handed hammer had only risen halfway.
The man’s head was already spinning through the air.
[3.5 Seconds]
Blood erupted from the severed neck like a fountain.
Several hot droplets struck Xia Nan’s face.
He felt no disgust.
Not now.
Because the rush of air behind him was already screaming danger.
No time to recover the sword properly!
Xia Nan let the remaining momentum of Spinning Slash carry him around.
His body turned half a circle.
The sword came back across his chest.
Then…
“Clang!”
Sparks burst through the air.
A silver-white blade crashed into the iron-gray Decapitating Longsword.
Those two extra seconds had been more than enough for the second enemy to close the distance.
“Thud.”
The headless body behind Xia Nan finally hit the ground.
Only a few hours ago, he had been carefully wiping every speck of dirt from his precious new sword.
Now he braced that same four-foot blade across his chest without a shred of hesitation, using it to catch an enemy strike head-on.
Cold light shimmered along the steel.
At this distance, Xia Nan could see everything.
The slight tremor in the vicious man’s pupils after watching his companion die.
The muscles in his face tightening as he clenched his teeth.
Even the flecks of spit at the corner of his mouth as he forced more strength into the blade.
[4 Seconds]
Their weapons locked.
Xia Nan’s first burst of power had already been spent.
The next had not yet gathered.
For an instant, his body was stiff.
But his opponent was not in much better shape.
The impact had sent numbness through the man’s arms, making it difficult for him to exert full strength.
The two of them entered a momentary deadlock.
Then the extra point of Agility Xia Nan had gained when Spinning Slash reached maximum level showed its value.
He recovered first.
His balance returned.
His leg moved.
A kick slammed into the man’s stomach.
The vicious man’s face twisted in pain.
The strength in his arms collapsed.
Xia Nan immediately stepped back twice, opening half a body length between them.
Then…
[Spinning Slash]
Iron-gray sword light flashed.
A smooth arc.
Red and white fluid scattered through the air.
Half a head spun away.
Dropped.
A green leaf drifted slowly down beside it.
From the instant the two men appeared to the end of the fight…
5.25 seconds.
…
…
“Huff… huff…”
Xia Nan stood there breathing hard.
Sweat had soaked through the lining beneath his leather armor.
Five seconds.
Barely a deep breath.
That was all it had taken for an encounter to begin and end.
His heart hammered inside his chest.
His head felt faint.
The extreme focus that had swallowed everything else during the fight finally loosened.
Reality rushed back in.
Only now did Xia Nan realize how much pressure he had been under.
In some ways, those five seconds had been every bit as tense as his fight against the bugbear.
One wrong judgment.
One movement half a beat too slow.
And the result could have been a lost limb, a crippling injury, or death.
Once again, Xia Nan had to thank his predecessor.
Years of stubborn practice had pushed Spinning Slash close enough to completion that, shortly after Xia Nan transmigrated, the attribute panel had allowed him to bring it all the way to maximum level.
The reward from that breakthrough had helped raise his overall strength to where it was now.
The heavy smell of blood filled the air.
Xia Nan looked down at the two corpses lying on either side of him.
For a moment, he felt strangely emotional.
Who would have imagined it?
A dozen days ago, he had still been a miserable corporate drone, stuck in an office all day and unable to claim he had ever killed so much as a chicken.
Now?
He had just cut down two adventurers in the span of a single breath.
Maybe he really did have some kind of “combat talent.”
“Drip.”
Warm blood slid from the sword tip and splashed onto the grass.
Xia Nan blinked.
Then his expression changed.
The sword!
He hurriedly raised the Decapitating Longsword and pulled out his gauze.
Blood came first.
Then he leaned close and carefully inspected the blade, especially the place that had taken the full force of the other man’s attack.
A moment later, he exhaled in relief.
That 50% durability bonus on the attribute panel was not for show.
The collision had been violent enough to throw sparks everywhere, yet the blade had suffered only a tiny, almost invisible scratch.
A proper maintenance session back in town should take care of it.
“Thank goodness.”
He looked again.
“Thank goodness.”
It still hurt a little to see even that tiny mark on his new weapon, but Xia Nan could accept it.
Especially since there was loot to collect.
His mood improved almost immediately as he began cleaning up the battlefield.
“Mm… These secondhand leather armors will only sell for half price anyway. Heavy, too. And not valuable enough to justify carrying them.”
“If I strap all this onto myself, I probably won’t be able to walk.”
“Forget it.”
He moved to the weapons.
“The iron sword’s decent. Looks like it was maintained regularly.”
“And with this hammer…”
“Maybe fifteen gold total?”
He kept searching.
“Don’t need their food. I brought enough.”
“Compass barely takes up any room. I’ll take that.”
He paused.
“Why are they carrying two shovels…?”
Then his hand stopped.
“Huh?”
Xia Nan raised an eyebrow.
From the vicious man’s waist, he pulled free a bulging money pouch.
He opened it.
Golden light greeted him.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Xia Nan weighed the pouch in his hand.
“This feels even heavier than the money pouch I got from the association when I collected that bounty.”
He gave it another small shake.
“At least fifty gold.”
His brows drew together.
“Strange.”
“Were these two carrying their entire fortunes around with them?”
The corpses did not answer.
Naturally.
Xia Nan did not particularly care either.
He gave both bodies one final, careful search to make sure he had missed nothing.
Then he hoisted the backpack full of Glowgarlic Vine onto his back.
Time to leave.
Blood attracted trouble.
That was one lesson he had learned while traveling with the ragtag party.
“One gathering quest, and I’ve made a tidy eighty gold.”
Xia Nan’s mood brightened as he calculated the profit.
“At this rate, I won’t need much longer before I can afford a decent set of medium armor.”
“Leather armor’s fine, but the defense is still a little weak.”
He was just about to leave.
Then hurried footsteps came from the same direction the two dead men had appeared.
Again.
Xia Nan froze.
“Seriously?”
“More?”
His mind immediately shifted back into survival mode.
He had not been injured in the fight, but using Spinning Slash twice in rapid succession had left his arms aching.
His fighting ability had dropped.
Xia Nan could be reckless at times.
He was not stupid enough to die for money.
If the situation looked bad, he would dump the backpack, drop the two salvaged weapons, and run.
No hesitation.
He still had more than fifty gold from the corpses tied securely at his waist.
Even if he returned without a single clump of Glowgarlic Vine, he would still have made money.
At the same time, several figures burst from the approaching undergrowth.
“Crash!”
Leaves exploded outward.
A plump figure stumbled into the clearing.
Only after noticing the sudden open ground did he duck low and awkwardly assume something that could generously be called a fighting stance.
Right behind him came the half-elf Hai’an, longbow in hand and expression alert.
Beside him was a blonde girl whose pale face made her panic obvious.
And then there was Wood.
The man Xia Nan suspected of being a class holder.
His presence remained so faint that he seemed almost like Hai’an’s shadow.
Silver-white hair stirred in the wind.
Hai’an gripped his bow with one hand.
The other hovered behind him near his quiver, ready to draw an arrow at any moment.
His silver-gray eyes narrowed against the harsh sunlight as he swept his gaze across the clearing.
Then he saw the bodies.
Two corpses.
Still fresh.
Slowly growing cold.
Hai’an’s pupils widened.
His gaze shifted.
And landed on Xia Nan.
The only person left standing.
Sword in hand.
Guarded.
“You…”