Chapter 48: Significant Improvement (Please keep reading!)

The skull exploded, but the body, now nothing more than a mass of festering sores, continued to swing blindly forward.

A heavy shield strike slammed into the creature, wrenching its hand aside. Seizing the opening, the blade in the left hand swung in a fluid arc, severing the enemy's forearm.

The heavy hammer in the right hand crashed down once more with immense force.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

Hammer blow after hammer blow.

It was a perfect window for damage; not a single second of output could be wasted.

Sharp weapons struggled to kill a body devoid of weak points. But as the blunt instrument struck again and again, it was like pounding meat upon a butcher's block.

The entire corpse had become a pulpy mess; the bones supporting the frame had been shattered one by one within the flesh.

Watching this scene from the rear, the dwarf, who was occasionally retching, paced anxiously.

This was because Kana had no idea how to actually use a hammer; he was simply gripping it and swinging with brute force, devoid of any technique.

Yet, because Kana’s strength had inexplicably become massive, he was able to relentlessly batter the headless, rotting goblin leader, leaving it with no way to resist.

Shield bash, slash, heavy hammer.

Even though the enemy appeared virtually dead, Kana showed no intention of letting up.

Not until the information he sought popped up.

Experience +52

【Experience: 62/1000】

A small goblin gave 20, while the big goblin gave 52.

Compared to the previous level-up, the quality of the experience gained now was not as high.

Looking at the goblin corpse lying on the ground, now transformed into a heap of rotten flesh and pus.

The stench grew increasingly thick, and the mask of blood on his face was becoming difficult to contain.

Kana also felt an uncontrollable urge to vomit.

"We need to leave this place, fast."

Without hesitation, he turned and led the exhausted dwarf out of the cave.

Bobot jumped down from a distance, following the group out of the cave.

Only once they had burst out of the cavern did the two of them remove the masks of blood from their faces.

The moment the dwarf emerged, he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.

Bobot panted heavily, "Good heavens, how could it be so stinky in there?"

"Those goblins worshiped the Lord of Decay; that is why they turned out like that," Kana explained simply.

He had a rough idea of why he was gaining experience.

The condition he had previously set for gaining experience was killing "Invaders."

And clearly, there were far more invaders in this world than he had anticipated.

When Kana had set the parameters, he had imagined invaders to be something similar to the "Void."

Since he knew the locations of many "Void Vanguard" nests in the game, even with that setting, he would have been able to find enough monsters to gain experience.

Now, he had killed the followers of the "Lord of Decay." Although they were just goblins, he had still gained experience.

It was almost certain that an evil god like the "Lord of Decay" was also considered an invader.

If that was the case, there were many entities in this game that could be classified as invaders.

Compared to his previous assumptions, finding targets would be much easier, and the method of acquiring experience would be much more straightforward.

This was clearly a good thing.

He noticed that while the dwarf had recovered somewhat, the sores on his face had not subsided immediately.

"Here, Son of the Mountains, your hammer."

As he spoke, Kana walked over, helped the dwarf up, and handed him his weapon. "Thank you for your hammer; it is very useful."

"Haha, of course! This has been blessed by the Mountains," the dwarf laughed as he stood up.

Taking the hammer, he looked at the lingering pus on it and wiped it against the ground with a look of disgust.

"Seriously, mate, your hammer technique is atrocious. You really ought to learn."

Kana smiled but did not argue. In the game, he had never actually used a hammer.

Using a sword or a spear was far more stylish than using a hammer.

"Let's get acquainted. My name is Getari, Getari Graystone. A Son of the Mountains from the Gray Mountain Tribe. And you?"

"Ah, a friend of the Gray Mountains," Kana nodded in acknowledgment, placing his right arm across his chest and bowing slightly at the waist.

Seeing this, Getari quickly returned the salute.

It was the etiquette of the dwarves.

"My name is Kana, Kana Savro Sat. This is my Guardian Knight—Aliris..."

After a brief introduction, Kana asked, "Why were you here? And why were you captured by a group of goblins?"

At those words, the dwarf instantly became embarrassed. With a sheepish expression, he leaned in and whispered, "We should be considered comrades-in-arms by now, right? Don't go spreading this around; it's too humiliating. Though, of course, that doesn't include my heroic combat later on."

The dwarf then explained, "I got drunk at the banquet last night. Perhaps I drank too much and lost my way. When I woke up, I had already been carried into that cave by those little monsters."

*Well, your 'drunk walking' took quite a detour then,* Kana thought.

If he remembered correctly, the main settlement for the dwarves on the Gray Mountains should have been on the backside of the mountain—the side facing the Kingdom of Coen.

At that moment, the dwarf tried to rub his face and let out a sharp cry of pain.

"Damn it, what is this on my face?"

Only then did he reach out to touch the large swelling on his face, realizing he actually had pustules.

"Do you remember? You vomited in there. I told you not to vomit," Kana reminded him.

"Yes, yes, I remember. But it was just too stinky in there." Recalling the sensation, Getari couldn't help but feel another wave of nausea. "You seem to know about this stuff. How can I fix it?"

Getari was anxious, unable to stop poking at the pustules, which elicited hisses of pain.

"I feel like I look like a toad right now. I've really made a mess of things."

"Pop them. Not right now, though."

Getari stopped his hand.

"You should return to your tribe before popping them. Take a bottle of antitoxin and apply it, then drink half of it. Keep the area clean and tidy for a while, and it should be fine. Or, you could have someone cast a purification spell on you; that would certainly be faster."

Hearing Kana's advice, Getari nodded. "Thank you. But I think I must go; they are probably already looking for me."

Kana nodded. "If you need anything, you can find me by the riverbank. We are camping there."

"Alright, no problem. I will."

Getari nodded, lifted his hammer, scanned the surroundings, and then ran toward the hillside.

Watching Getari leave, Aliris finally spoke up. "Are they really dwarves? They're a bit different from what I imagined. I thought they would be shorter. But the beard is quite fitting, and they are more agile and stronger than I expected."

Previously, Aliris had thought things like "dwarves" were merely stories from storybooks. Seeing a new race today, she felt that traveling with His Highness truly broadened her horizons.

Only then did Kana wave his hand.

George jumped down from a distant tree and jogged over.

His eyes were still fixed in the direction the dwarf had gone, and he couldn't help but ask, "What was that? An old man with a disease?"

He thought perhaps it was something like dwarfism; the man looked quite pitiful with those sores on his face.

Seeing George's expression, Kana felt a bit of pity, especially since the man had just been rescued from a goblin cave.

"Oh, heavens," Bobot muttered, covering her face upon hearing this.

Having spent so much time with Kana, she had almost forgotten that the concepts held by most people in this country were no different from those of savages.

Kana couldn't help but chuckle, then said, "Alright, let's head back. I'm sure Bobot will be happy to answer your questions."

They jogged all the way back and finally reached the camp before dark.

"You're finally back. Otherwise, I would have had to send men to find you," the captain of the camp guards said, sighing in relief upon seeing them.

The forest at night was not safe.

Moreover, these were soldiers from Riverbend Town, located only about twenty miles from this forest and the Recovery Zone.

While they did not know about the Magic Recovery Zone, they were well aware that the danger level of this forest far exceeded that of other places.