Although his professional level was not high, Xia Nan had encountered a fair number of elite casters since his transmigration.
Among his allies, there was the mysterious yet extremely reliable mage, Wei Rou'er; among his opponents, there were devil nobles from the Purgatory and fallen priests who wielded the power of crystallization...
To some extent, such experiences had greatly increased the importance Xia Nan placed on the role of the caster.
If he had a caster-type teammate who was trustworthy, he wouldn't mind building the team around them as the core and coordinating combat accordingly.
Conversely, if there was a powerful caster in the enemy camp, he would secretly elevate their priority to the highest in his mind.
It wasn't that Xia Nan hadn't encountered slightly weaker caster-type enemies—those were usually dealt with in a single sword strike.
However, because of his past encounters with elite casters, he never allowed himself to underestimate enemies of this type.
Just like now.
Having struck the pirate leader, Glee, with an arm-shield imbued with the [Heavy Tide] effect, leaving him off-balance, Xia Nan could have pressed the advantage to inflict additional damage.
But Xia Nan did not do so.
Instead, he resolutely carried out his original plan, charging toward the Sahuagin priest who was rapidly retreating under the cover of guards.
As it turned out, he had made the right choice.
On the continent of Efara, caster-type professions undoubtedly held a relatively transcendent status in various fields.
The fundamental reason lay in their obvious rarity compared to other professions and the versatility provided by spells.
Of course, this type of profession also had distinct drawbacks.
The extremely low margin for error granted by thin defenses and fragile bodies was one aspect; the other was the stringent restrictions on casting.
Especially for low-level casters who lacked sufficient casting feats and limited financial resources to acquire magic items to fill casting gaps and increase their margin for error, it was difficult to maintain stable, high-intensity output given their limited mana and mental strength.
As with the powerful enemies Xia Nan had encountered before, individuals capable of multiple spells in a single round were ultimately a minority.
The Sahuagin priest before him had reached its limit by consecutively casting "Witchfire" and "Human Paralysis"—two spells that required a state of concentration—and had only managed to do so through the talent blessing obtained from a sacrificial ritual.
It needed time to recover.
Precisely because of this, during the single round of exchange between Xia Nan and "Carrion Vulture" Glee, the priest had been unable to provide spell support from the sidelines.
Only now had it slightly recovered.
Thanks to the extreme xenophobia of the Sahuagin race, even though its professional level wasn't particularly high, this priest had extensive combat experience against enemies of other races.
Now, facing the black-haired human adventurer before it—who was shrouded in the phantom of a black wolf, had shattered its enchanted equipment's defensive shield in one strike, and possessed an exaggerated burst of speed—the priest's expression was solemn and tense, yet it did not appear panicked.
While signaling the surrounding guards to step forward and block the way, its four arms had already raised a massive horn.
Bringing it to its mouth, it blew with all its might.
"Dion!"
The high, stirring sound of the horn carried a powerful current of air outward. Magic particles suddenly fluctuated and condensed rapidly in the air around the mouthpiece.
*Buzz—*
A dark purple magical glow took shape amidst the sound of high-frequency energy vibration.
It transformed into a dim phantom that was nearly impossible to dodge, flashing through the air in an instant.
In the next second, it had already landed upon the black wolf that was rapidly closing the distance in a pounce.
—Third Circle, Illusion School: Fear!
The effect of this spell was not hard to explain; as its name suggested, it projected the target's greatest fear into their heart, causing them to drop their weapons and fall into a state of panicked flight.
Now, for the Perception check.
Under normal circumstances, the priest's split-second decision was flawless, even excellent.
Facing a high-mobility, high-damage melee enemy closing in, casting a control spell not only bought the priest more time to breathe and recover but also created opportunities for Glee and its guards.
The prerequisite, however, was that the spell had to work.
Due to various secret realms and the structure of his own professional combat skills, Xia Nan's Perception attribute was already extremely prominent; many high-level professionals might not possess perception capabilities at his level.
This became the foundation for his resistance against "Fear."
Simultaneously, regarding equipment, although the rose-crystal dagger named [Honey Orange] was only used by Xia Nan as a small tool for cutting loot in daily life, it possessed the effect of "slightly increasing the wielder's mental resistance while held," providing him with another layer of insurance.
And once the spell landed on him, the most critical factor was the powerful feat he had obtained from the Eldritch Secret Realm: [Gaze into the Abyss].
Mental control magic like "Fear" was completely covered by this feat, granting him a special bonus influenced by his Perception attribute during the saving throw.
With multiple layers of protection combined, Xia Nan's actual sensation was a sudden chill, as if a cold wind had swept past.
Immediately after, the dark purple magical phantom dissolved like a shadow under moonlight, vanishing into the night as wisps of thin smoke.
At the same time, the additional effect of [Gaze into the Abyss] triggered: "When you successfully resist a mental control effect, the caster must be forced to make a saving throw; failure results in the [Brief Daze] state and a certain amount of psychic damage."
One could see that the Sahuagin priest, whose expression had been one of shock upon seeing "Fear" be instantaneously immunized, looked as if it had been struck by an invisible bolt of lightning.
Its entire body suddenly stiffened. Its dead-black fish eyes, which had no luster to begin with, completely lost focus, becoming vacant and dazed.
Its four limbs still gripped the horn out of muscle memory, but its body stood frozen on the ground.
"Now!"
Knowing the opportunity to end it was right before him, Xia Nan did not hesitate. He exerted a sudden burst of power from his feet, making the wolf howl surrounding him even deeper and the internal energy wrapping his body even more fierce.
His terrifying burst speed left the Sahuagin guards, who had been ordered by the priest to intercept him, completely unable to block him.
In many cases, the harpoons had barely been raised before the black wolf phantom had already vanished from their sight, leaving behind nothing but knife-like wounds on their bodies.
The surface of the grey-black wolf fang condensed an ochre-red glow—once again, a strike delivered with full effort, without a shred of restraint.
The pitch-black winter wolf hunting in the night finally pounced before its prey.
*Buzz—*
Driven by a spinning slash, the ochre-red force energy was pulled into a perfect arc of sword light.
*Squelch.*
It was the dull sound of flesh being torn.
Fluorescent blue blood erupted like a fountain from the severed neck.
The head of the Sahuagin priest, still wearing an expression of astonishment, flew into the air like a blood-stained ball, overlapping with the full moon for an instant before falling back to the ground under the pull of gravity.
It rolled "glug-glug" and stopped beside a patch of shrubs.
"Galu!"
"Galu-lu!!!"
The sound of the priest's corpse hitting the ground coincided with the shrill howls of the Sahuagin.
The death of the Sahuagin priest, as the group leader, sent the Sahuagin on the field into a state of frenzy.
They launched a mad onslaught against Xia Nan and the other members of the Iron Rock Shield squad.
Moving his feet with light agility, Xia Nan dodged a harpoon thrusting from his side-rear, then followed with a sword strike that sheared off the skull of a Sahuagin in front of him, along with half an arm.
Xia Nan's concentration was highly focused.
The death of the priest did not mean the battle was over; it simply tilted the scales of victory slightly in his favor.
Currently, the enemies that needed to be dealt with still included many elite Sahuagin guards with a Challenge Rating of "1" or higher, and the high-level professionals of the Ebb Tide Gang.
And, of course, the pirate leader, "Carrion Vulture" Glee.
Actually, Xia Nan had expected the opponent to take advantage of his assault on the priest to attack him from behind.
He had even prepared to use the deflection shield of [Dead Line] for defense, or even use the fourth-circle healing spell of [Tears of Spring Breath] to trade injury for a kill.
Unexpectedly, Glee did not use this brief window to attack Xia Nan.
Instead, after being knocked back to the ground, he charged directly toward the Iron Rock Shield squad on the other side of the field.
From the perspective of "Carrion Vulture" Glee, this was quite easy to understand.
The brief exchange of a few rounds with Xia Nan had made this gang leader realize that the young adventurer nicknamed "Sea Fang" was far more troublesome than he had imagined.
Not only were his physical attributes powerful, but his combat style—integrated with combat skills—was the type that countered Glee's. Even his proud corrosive poison attacks were completely useless against that eerie, deep-black arm-shield.
Under these circumstances, when Glee saw with his own eyes that Xia Nan had immunized the priest's mental control spell and beheaded him in one strike, he decisively changed his combat strategy.
Since dealing with him alone might be troublesome, he would use their numerical advantage on the field to swarm Xia Nan.
With so many elite-level Sahuagin guards plus the gang's professionals, surely they could handle one man?
Thus, having made this decision, Glee shifted his target to the Iron Rock Shield squad.
He needed to reduce the number of Sea Fang's teammates in the shortest time possible to preserve his own fighting force and free up manpower to surround Xia Nan.
Glee's first target was the only unlucky soul on the field who had been hit by a fireball.
The half-orc, Hogge, had not died instantly. Although the burning damage from the fireball had left him severely wounded, the Constitution attribute bonus granted by the [Warrior] class and the powerful physique brought by his orc bloodline eventually allowed him to endure.
With the help of the healing potion thrown by Celi, he recovered quickly.
As his vitality gradually returned, the half-orc finally stopped his shrill, chicken-like wailing. Saliva dripped from his mouth as he panted heavily, his round eyes still appearing dazed from the previous pain.
He slowly climbed up from the ground, his pale green skin covered in black scorch marks, emitting a foul odor.
But perhaps due to the orc blood, even though he had only just recovered, the moment the Sahuagin shrieks reached his ears, he instinctively entered a state of berserk combat rage.
Completely ignoring the two teammates calling to him from a short distance, he roared and charged toward the enemies, clutching his hand-axes.
After all, he was a professional who had reached level 3. Even the most ordinary beast would erupt with unimaginable strength and ferocity when on the brink of death, let alone a seasoned professional warrior.
Hogge swung his two hand-axes, turning them into two violent phantoms. Ignoring the enemies closing in around him, he focused solely on one Sahuagin, hacking it into minced meat.
The scene was so savage that it actually caused the Ebb Tide Gang thugs and Sahuagin fodder to hesitate; for a moment, they merely surrounded him, not daring to attack.
This was exactly the effect Hogge wanted!
"ROAR!!!"
Standing his ground, he stepped on the Sahuagin corpse and roared toward the sky, venting his inner anger and indignation.
It was as if doing this could make everyone forget the embarrassing sight of him rolling on the ground wailing.
But... he was a half-orc, after all.
Perhaps the racial talent from his bloodline gave him the special ability to maintain combat effectiveness while severely wounded, but because of the disadvantages of being a half-breed, Hogge lacked the keen perception of the orcs of the grasslands.
His roar was interrupted by a deep green blade-shadow.
At this moment, "Carrion Vulture" Glee was truly like a scavenger vulture circling high in the sky, eyeing wounded prey.
He leaped out from the crowd, the sharp scimitar in his hand shimmering with a cloying, poisonous intent, like the sharp, long talons of a vulture.
With a flick of his wrist, he lightly grazed the half-orc's waist, carving out a piece of flesh the size of a palm.
A touch and a separation.
By the time the half-orc, whose reactions were dulled by his injuries, belatedly brought down his iron axe, Glee had already retreated back into the crowd.
The toxin spread.
The flesh around the wound sizzled as it was corroded; streaks of deep green poison could be seen spreading deep into the wound and rapidly traveling through the entire body.
Having already been pushed to the limit by the fireball, his body could not take another such blow. The pain and weakness previously masked by rage surged back like a tide, swallowing Hogge's consciousness.
He felt his vision go black in waves, his body becoming increasingly powerless; it became difficult even to grip the two iron axes in his hands.
The boisterous roar turned into a pained whimper.
His legs gave way, and he couldn't help but stagger back a step.
And that single step was like a fuse hitting a critical point.
The thugs and Sahuagin, who had previously been deterred by his fierce momentum, suddenly noticed the half-orc's weakness and swarmed forward.
*Squelch!*
He swung his hand-axe instinctively, but it did not split the Sahuagin in front of him in half as expected; instead, it jammed directly into the creature's shoulder bone.
Hogge instinctively tried to pull the axe out of the flesh, but because of this brief jam and stiffness, his body was completely exposed to the countless harpoons and blades surrounding him.
*Shink!*
*Squelch!*
*Crack!!*
Three harpoons pierced him from different directions: one entered diagonally upward from the flank into the ribs, one pierced downward through the thigh, and one entered from the back into the heart.
Two scimitars hacked down from the left and right; one embedded deeply into the half-orc's neck, jammed by muscle and bone, while the other sliced off his right arm.
The fatal blow came from behind—a sharp scimitar with a deep green luster along the edge.
From top to bottom, from the crown of the head to the jaw and neck, it split the half-orc's head clean in two.
Blood mixed with thick white fluid flowed down.
The roars of the half-orc vanished completely from the field.
Hogge was dead.
(End of Chapter)