A bugbear was one of the many goblin variants.
It was every bit as vicious and greedy as its smaller cousins.
The difference was that while ordinary goblins were small, scrawny, and weak, bugbears possessed bodies that looked like the result of some absurd genetic mutation. They were powerful, fast, and brutally athletic.
They were cold-blooded and savage, but not stupid.
A bugbear possessed a certain degree of intelligence and could speak some Goblin and Common.
Some assassin organizations in the western part of the continent even went out of their way to recruit young bugbears and train them into professional killers.
Almost every adult bugbear possessed the strength needed to become the leader of a goblin tribe.
And once a group of goblins gained a bugbear “boss,” their courage and destructive potential multiplied under its brutal rule and overwhelming strength.
Fortunately, bugbears were nowhere near as common as goblins.
Ordinary goblins infested the continent like cockroaches. Bugbears, by comparison, were relatively rare.
After reaching adulthood and leaving their own groups to fend for themselves, they were usually scattered among goblin tribes of various sizes.
Most of the time, once they had underlings to satisfy their endless hunger for food and treasure, bugbears could not even be bothered to leave their lairs.
They simply holed up inside like dragons.
Unless a low-level adventurer was especially greedy or exceptionally unlucky, encountering one within their usual range of activity was uncommon.
But once a group of adventurers without even a single class level ran head-on into one of the strongest individual goblinoids…
The outcome was not difficult to imagine.
“Rrrrgh!”
A deep, aggressive growl rolled through the spacious cave.
The hulking figure in the shadows slowly stood.
It was nearly seven feet tall.
Coarse reddish-brown fur covered a body packed with thick, knotted muscle like that of a brown bear. Its yellowish-brown eyes gleamed dangerously in the firelight. Thick, foul-smelling saliva dripped from the two tusks jutting upward from its lower jaw.
Yet the most eye-catching thing was the weapon beside its feet.
A spiked mace nearly half as tall as a person.
Its relatively slender haft made the massive black head look even heavier. The soil beneath it had sunk slightly from the weight, and the entire mace head was studded with steel spikes.
It was difficult to imagine what would happen if a clean hit from that thing landed on a human body.
“Gagu, hold it back!!!”
After one brief moment of panic, Maji finally recovered.
The hunter had enough combat experience to understand their situation immediately.
Escape was impossible.
They were barely more than ten meters from the bugbear.
With explosive speed far beyond that of an ordinary person, it could cross that distance in an instant.
The cave was fairly spacious, but only wide enough for two people to move side by side. There was nowhere for them to scatter.
If they turned and ran, exposing their backs, the bugbear would probably tear all three of them apart before they ever reached the entrance.
They had to attack.
Now.
“Xia Nan, handle those goblins beside it!”
One bugbear alone was already enough to force them into a life-or-death struggle.
If they also had to deal with those annoying greenskin rats while fighting it, their already miserable odds would drop even further.
Maji had no choice but to trust the rookie who had just shown what he could do.
He had to believe Xia Nan could keep the goblins occupied long enough for the other two to focus everything they had on the bugbear.
Maji’s tense shout snapped Xia Nan back to reality.
Before he had even fully processed the command, he watched Gagu tighten his grip on the heavy two-handed axe and charge at the bugbear with another furious roar.
Something was very wrong.
Unlike Maji and Gagu, the body’s original owner had been nothing more than an ordinary farmer.
He had never even heard the word “bugbear.”
Naturally, Xia Nan had no idea just how dangerous one was.
But Maji and Gagu’s reactions told him everything he needed to know.
The situation was desperate.
There was no time to think.
The moment Maji finished speaking, Xia Nan gripped his sword, steeled himself, and rushed toward the four goblins clustered along the side of the cave.
To be honest, he was not confident at all.
This was nothing like the chaotic fight during the previous night’s ambush.
There would be no teammates drawing attacks or covering his flanks.
In the open cave chamber ahead of him, he had to fight four goblins head-on by himself.
Perhaps it was luck.
Perhaps he really did have some talent for combat.
Whatever the reason, when Xia Nan saw the four greenskin rats scrambling to pick up their weapons, an idea flashed through his mind.
[Fighting all four head-on is too dangerous. I need to split them up and break through one point with everything I have!]
He did not hesitate.
Even while running, he began gathering power for [Spinning Slash].
The skill had been practiced for years by the body’s original owner and raised all the way to Lv. 4. Now, it activated almost as naturally as breathing.
Whoosh!
Cold light flashed.
The nearest goblin was sliced cleanly in half across the waist.
By then, the remaining three had already seized their wooden clubs and were charging toward Xia Nan side by side.
His attention narrowed completely onto the fight.
Xia Nan reacted at once.
He kicked over the iron pot in front of him, its bottom still glowing red-hot from the fire.
Boiling broth and cloudy grease spilled across the ground.
The goblins had nearly reached him when the scalding liquid spread underfoot. They stopped instinctively, their neat formation breaking apart in an instant.
It worked!
Xia Nan surged forward two steps.
Taking advantage of his greater height and reach, he drove his one-handed sword straight ahead.
The sharp blade punched through the goblin’s fragile flesh and sank deep into its abdomen.
Wind rushed at him from the side.
Xia Nan twisted away just in time, narrowly avoiding another goblin’s descending club.
He did not pull his sword free.
Instead, with the first goblin still skewered on the blade, he activated [Spinning Slash] again.
“Sshk!”
The sword ripped sideways through the goblin’s unprotected body with all the force Xia Nan could muster.
Steel tore free in a spray of brilliant blood.
The same swing continued straight into the goblin beside it.
One slash.
Two bodies.
The second goblin came apart at the waist.
Only then did the last greenskin bastard finally make it around the overturned pot and reach Xia Nan.
It took one look at the scene.
Then it realized it was alone.
The cowardice of a bottom-rung monster immediately took over.
It threw down its club and turned to run.
Xia Nan caught up in a few long strides.
Two thrusts later, it was dead.
“Huff… Huff…”
Xia Nan stood there gasping.
The entire fight had lasted less than twenty seconds, yet the intense concentration had burned through more than half his stamina.
His coarse linen clothes were already soaked with sweat.
The sword remained clenched in his hand, but his right arm would not stop trembling. Deep, aching pain pulsed through the muscles from his wrist to his shoulder.
Using [Spinning Slash] twice in such a short span had taken its toll.
[At least I did what they asked.]
That thought offered him a sliver of relief.
Then Xia Nan turned toward the other side of the battlefield.
“They should have…”
His words died in his throat.
“Fuck!”