Chapter 8: Tricks
For low-level adventurers like the Rotten Fish and Shrimp Squad, often, one's strength can be judged merely by their appearance.
In most cases, a man who appears thin and weak will not have high actual combat power.
Similarly, if your opponent is a Barbarian with muscles as hard and massive as rocks, then it clearly possesses strength commensurate with its physique.
An adult Bear Goblin stands approximately seven feet tall, which is about 2.2 meters.
Coupled with its burly physique, full of robust muscles and thick fat like a brown bear, it looks like a small mountain of flesh from afar.
In contrast, although Gagu possesses a thin Half-orc bloodline, his height and build are only slightly larger than an average adult human.
Even when he activates his bloodline and enters combat, he can barely reach the Bear Goblin's shoulder.
When they stood together, it was almost the difference between an adult and a child.
And his actual combat ability was even worse.
Previously, Xia Nan's entire attention was focused on fighting the Goblin, with no time to spare for his surroundings.
Therefore, he was unaware of what had happened on the other side of the battlefield during those twenty-odd seconds.
He only saw the scene unfolding before his eyes.
Compared to when he encountered the ambush last night, Gagu's body was very clean, with only some mud and almost no bloodstains.
He was also very quiet.
There was no unintelligible Half-orc slang, nor deafening roars of rage.
Of course, this wasn't because the Half-orc had suddenly learned human etiquette.
It was because, at this moment, he had lost the ability to speak.
Broken, pale bone fragments pierced through his flesh, protruding from his abdominal cavity.
In the center of his chest was a deeply sunken hole.
His eyes rolled back, his mouth unconsciously agape, and bloody foam dripped from the corners of his lips.
Like a broken toy, Gagu was lifted upside down by one ankle by the Bear Goblin.
The dark, iron-spiked mace, poised in the cold air beside it, was ready to strike.
At this moment, for some reason, seeing such a scene, Xia Nan suddenly thought of the night watchmen in ancient times who beat gongs late at night.
The next second, the mace vanished from its spot, and the gongs and drums sounded.
Splat—
Accompanying the whistling sound of a hard object moving through the air was a strange sound, like an egg cracking, with a hard shell intertwining with viscous liquid.
The Half-orc's body swung like a pendulum.
A puddle of red and white viscous fluid appeared on the mace head, and Gagu also physically lost the ability to make sounds.
"Thud."
The headless corpse was casually thrown to the ground, blood gushing out like a fountain, gradually forming a pool of blood beneath him.
"Die, ahhhhh!"
The very next moment Xia Nan witnessed the Half-orc being completely shattered by the Bear Goblin, a hoarse roar, faintly tinged with anticipation, rang out in his ears.
Although Gagu died miserably, he ultimately completed his mission of 'stalling for time'.
The bowstring was taut, and the bow's back was bent almost to the point of snapping.
An iron arrow, gleaming with metallic luster, was tightly clutched between Maji's fingers, its faintly purple arrowhead pointing directly at the Bear Goblin's head.
【Precision Strike】
One of the prerequisites for becoming a Ranger.
It was also the only offensive combat technique Maji had mastered in his decades as an adventurer.
In higher-level combat, the effect of this move is naturally primarily about precise targeting of attack positions.
However, for low-level adventurers like Maji, the 'slight' power bonus it provides, which is considered minor for higher-tier professionals, is enough to handle most situations.
Even when facing the Bear Goblin, known as the 'newbie killer,' he held full expectations.
If this arrow could directly pass through its eye socket and penetrate its skull, it would instantly kill the Bear Goblin;
If it hit its skull, the force carried by the arrow would be enough to put the Bear Goblin into a dying state, and he would be fully capable of finishing it off;
Even in the worst-case scenario, if he missed with this arrow, the characteristics of the 【Precision Strike】 combat technique would ensure it left a wound on its body.
At this point, as Maji's trump card, the specially made metal arrowhead, which he had spent a large amount of gold coins to acquire, would be able to play its role.
The horn serpent venom smeared on the arrowhead's surface could quickly paralyze the Bear Goblin's body in a short time, significantly reducing its speed and slowing its reaction capabilities.
At that point, whether to press the attack or turn and flee, the choice would be his.
Complex thoughts flashed through his mind.
Maji held his breath, aimed at the enemy's vital point, and gently released his clenched fingers.
Whoosh—
The sound of air tearing came from in front of him, and the impact from the bowstring's recoil caused a tingling numbness from his fingertips to his forearm.
The moment the arrow was shot, decades of experience in the jungle told him in his heart:
"This arrow, it's a sure hit."
Under extreme pressure, the Hunter performed at his best, almost every movement executed to the highest standard.
A few strands of white hair at his temples gently swayed with the breeze created by the arrow's flight.
Maji was incredibly confident, as if he could already hear the dull sound of the arrowhead penetrating the eye socket and entering the skull, and the Bear Goblin's abruptly cut-off cry of pain.
But then, the appearance of a reddish-brown hue shattered all his illusions like waking from a dream.
As if sensing the fatal blow the Bear Goblin was about to face, a reddish, translucent shield appeared out of nowhere in the air in front of it.
Its material was neither light nor gas; it seemed to be some kind of free-floating energy temporarily condensed to form an unstable reddish-brown force field.
The iron arrow, carrying the Hunter's full strength, merely touched it and was deflected by the reddish-brown energy.
Its force undiminished, but the target of the arrowhead shifted from the Bear Goblin's head to the wall behind it.
"Whoosh-thud!"
The metal arrow shaft easily pierced through the mud-and-stone wall inside the cave, leaving only the violent trembling of its fletching and the Hunter's pale and desperate face.
"H-how...how is this possible!?" Maji's bloodless lips quivered, his body trembling with fear, "My arrow..."
And facing Hunter Maji, who had already revealed his last trump card, the Bear Goblin uttered its first words since appearing in their sight.
"Your little trick, magic."
Its gravelly voice echoed faintly in the cavern, and its broken Common tongue made it impossible to understand what it wanted to express.
But at this moment, what the Bear Goblin said no longer mattered.
Because the next second, its gruesome shadow, filled with the aura of death, had already arrived before Maji, enveloping him.
