Chapter 9: Terrible

Maji seemed to have lost the ability to resist.

It wasn't because he was disheartened and merely seeking a quick death.

Though he was certainly desperate, he had been an adventurer for many years, and his mental fortitude was not so fragile.

The hunter was currently in a state of physical rigidity, unable to move.

[Precision Strike] is an exclusive skill of the "Ranger" class. It not only helps professionals lock onto an enemy's vital points in complex battlefield situations but also slightly enhances the damage of arrows to a certain extent.

As a "Combat Skill," it naturally consumes no mana, but it does require a certain level of physical fitness to support.

Normally, for a professional, this level of physical exertion is considered very easy and not a burden at all.

But for an ordinary person like Maji, who had yet to attain a professional rank and lacked the base stat bonuses of a class, the side effects of using [Precision Strike] were somewhat too severe—

After each use of the combat skill, he had to endure nearly 15 seconds of extreme weakness.

In this state, let alone fighting, Maji couldn't even walk without someone supporting him.

Therefore, in the vast majority of cases, [Precision Strike] was the trump card he could only play at the very end.

Now, facing a bugbear—a monster far beyond the capabilities of their squad—the hunter had chosen to coordinate with his teammates from the very beginning and unleash his most powerful move to seize the initiative in the battle.

There was nothing wrong with that.

But now that the arrow had missed its mark due to some unknown force and the plan had failed, he had lost his best opportunity. It was only logical that the scales of victory would tilt toward the enemy.

*Huff—*

The bugbear "Hunk" exhaled a puff of white smoke from its flared nostrils.

"Ruined Hunk's lucky day," it muttered, its murky, yellowish-brown eyes reflecting the fragile, motionless body of the human before it. "Little bug, need compensation."

A few months ago, its underlings had snatched a woman from somewhere unknown.

Hunk was hungry and particularly fond of this food called "human"—tender and soft, tasting much better than the wild boars and rabbits in the forest.

But having just become independent from the tribe, it still remembered the teachings of the tribe's priest, who was said to have lived for two hundred years.

"Keep the female to breed; you can only eat her after she's finished breeding."

So it had been guarding her in the lair, not even knowing how much drool it had shed.

Until today, when the woman had finally finished breeding.

But before it could even take a bite, it had run into these little bugs.

"You will be punished, Hunk will..."

The smell of blood filling the air rushed into its nostrils. The wonderful scent made it lick its dry lips involuntarily.

As if realizing something, a flash of surprise suddenly appeared on Hunk's originally irritable face.

Thinking this, the bugbear "Hunk" raised the morning star in its hand high.

The muscles on its arms, as thick as a normal person's thighs, bulged, and the ridges covering the hammer head emitted a cold, eerie light under the reflection of the campfire.

It swung the iron hammer down toward the little bug in front of it.

And just at that moment,

*Hum—*

In the dimly lit cave, a sharp, silvery-white streak of light suddenly flashed.

[Spinning Slash]

The biting wind stung its skin, and Hunk felt a cold, chilling sensation on the side of its neck.

Instinct took over, and it subconsciously tilted its body.

The movement of its hand faltered, and the morning star, originally aimed at Maji's vitals, shifted its position, striking the opponent's right lower leg instead.

"Ah!!!"

The human's fragile leg bone was instantly shattered by the metal hammer head, and the entire right leg, along with the knee, was severely twisted and deformed.

Maji wailed in agony, his pale face covered in cold sweat.

But at this moment, no one on the field was paying attention to him anymore.

Xia Nan stared fixedly at the burly figure in front of him, feeling a slight sense of regret in his heart.

As an ordinary person who hadn't even killed a chicken before yesterday, he felt he had already done his absolute best.

In the 0.5 seconds after witnessing Gaguo's head being smashed by the bugbear, the following series of thoughts flashed through his mind

Realizing the opponent's strength was not something he could face head-on, while simultaneously recognizing the impracticality of running away due to the explosive power the enemy had displayed, he made the decision to launch a sneak attack while the enemy hadn't yet noticed his presence.

Xia Nan had even waited with great patience and precision to catch the brief moment when the bugbear was exerting force to swing its hammer.

It was just that he hadn't expected this monster from a fantasy world to be capable of a secondary burst of strength.

While swinging the iron hammer, it was still able to control its body to dodge his attack.

"This is bad..."

Xia Nan muttered.

The good news was that he had managed to cut the opponent, knowing that this inhuman existence was still made of flesh and blood—it had a health bar!

And his previous strike hadn't triggered the energy shield the bugbear had displayed earlier, which meant it should have entered some kind of cooldown state, or perhaps it simply didn't trigger against melee attacks.

As for the bad news...

First, having unleashed a third [Spinning Slash] in a short period, his body had reached its limit.

Just holding the sword hilt, he could feel the muscles in his forearm trembling, as if they would cramp at the slightest exertion.

Second, although his previous sword strike had hit a vital area, the bugbear's dodge had significantly reduced the severity of the wound.

This meant that not only had he failed to effectively weaken the bugbear's combat power, but he had also exposed his own position to the enemy's sight and attracted its hatred.

*ROAR—*

A bugbear roar filled with fury erupted suddenly, low and ferocious, as if an invisible sound wave had swept through the air.

Having been ambushed by a "little bug" and suffering a bloody gash on its neck, Hunk instantly fell into a blind rage.

Looking at the sturdy figure charging toward him like a flesh-and-blood tank,

Xia Nan had no time to formulate any tactics.

Driven by the instinct to survive, he threw himself to the side and performed a very ungraceful roll.

*BANG!!!*

The dark morning star smashed down, grazing his head, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground.

The wind, carrying splattered mud, stung his cheeks.

Perhaps it was because he had already died once in his previous life, or perhaps the surge of adrenaline in his body allowed him to ignore those negative emotions.

At this moment, facing an unbeatable opponent before him, Xia Nan didn't feel a shred of fear.

He stood up quickly.

The longsword in his hand was already swinging toward the opponent's neck once again.