On the other side, just as Xia De had returned the necklace, a rustling sound came from the bushes in front of him.
Before he could even use his Perception Domain, the thing making the noise had already revealed itself.
It had a short, scrawny body, withered and rough green skin, pointed ears, red eyeless sockets, and a tattered rag wrapped around its waist.
It was none other than a staple of any fantasy world.
A goblin!
A few goblins stood there, holding oddly-shaped weapons—either large wooden clubs or stone axes.
They stared at Xia De with greedy eyes, continuously making strange squeaking noises from their mouths.
“Goblins? And they're only low-level ones at Tier One, Rank Three or Four.”
Xia De's expression turned odd.
He had not encountered such starter monsters in a long time.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. It was just that during his recent sweeps, only Tier Three and higher magical beasts were worth noting.
He hadn't paid any attention to the lower-tier magical beasts; if he didn't run into them, fine, but if he did, he simply wiped them out in passing without a second thought.
Encountering these low-tier Tier One monsters after so long actually made him feel a bit nostalgic.
The goblins seemed to sense Xia De's contempt. Screeching, their scrawny, wrinkled skin twitched.
Brandishing their weapons, they charged straight at Xia De.
Is this that classic anime trope where the protagonist changes locations, and some minor mobs always appear to block the path just so the protagonist can show off and defeat them all?
But doesn't this kind of plot usually happen after some major event?
They arrange for these extras to block the way just to show the protagonist's determination and growth.
But...
Xia De walked toward the goblins. Without dodging or evading, he leisurely strolled right through them.
Behind him, graceful arcs were left in the air.
As he completely passed the goblins...
...only piles of minced meat remained behind him, their green blood pooling into a small puddle.
Xia De looked at the piles of minced meat. They were so finely shredded and covered in green blood that they looked like green chili paste.
He nodded in satisfaction.
“Yep, it has to be me. What was Hilia's chopping earlier? A bunch of meat chunks. It looked terrifying! Unlike mine, which is directly minced into meat paste. It looks much more appetizing.”
With that, a wisp of black flames ignited over the minced meat, turning everything into ashes.
But I'm not the protagonist. I don't need any psychological growth.
Whoever blocks me or threatens me, I just have to destroy them all.
“Besides, this kind of plot is usually placed at the end of an episode. Even in a novel, it should be at the end of a chapter. Who puts it at the beginning? Only a third-rate author would do that.”
Dusting off his hands, Xia De composed himself and set off once more toward Toka City.
Behind him, a green light emerged where the black flames had incinerated everything. Grass and flowers rapidly sprouted from the soil, returning the area to how it was, as if nothing had ever happened.
Xia De's retreating figure grew increasingly faint with each step.
...
“Fiery Explosion!”
Several scorching fireballs slammed into a massive bear radiating abundant magic power, exploding with a violent roar.
The bear had an earthy-yellow body with limbs armored in hard stone plates, and an irregularly shaped rock protruded directly from the flesh on its back.
Standing firmly on the ground, the giant bear was not brought down by the small fireballs. Instead, it was thoroughly enraged by the humans before it.
It roared toward the sky, unleashing its full aura of Tier Four, Rank Three. With a mountain-like pressure, it lunged forward to slaughter them.
“I'll block it!”
A loud shout echoed from the group. A tall, voluptuous woman raised a massive shield and collided with the bear.
The powerful collision generated a massive shockwave. She gritted her teeth, her face contorting with exertion as low growls escaped her throat.
“Hyaah—!”
Yet her feet kept sliding backward. To be precise, she was being pushed back by the bear, leaving two deep grooves in the ground.
Suddenly, she felt a mysterious surge of power course through her. Her body stopped sliding backward, and she entered a stalemate with the magical beast.
“Nice! Sheena blocked it! Everyone, put in some more effort, let's take this big guy down together!” a handsome, blond young man said.
He wore armor and held a longsword in his hand.
Watching the magical beast deadlocked with his teammate, he leaped high into the air.
The edge of his sword slashed down toward the bear's body.
However, the longsword left no mark on the magical beast's body. Instead, the blond youth felt his hands go numb from the impact, nearly losing his grip on the sword.
But soon, a surge of power welled up inside him, helping him steady himself as he continued to slash at the magical beast.
During the gaps in his slashes, several arrows shot toward the giant bear from time to time.
However, they fell powerlessly to the ground without causing any damage to the magical beast.
Feeling the abundant magic power flowing through his body, Reid took a deep breath. He first cast a displeased glance at a plain-looking, brown-haired man hiding behind a boulder, then turned his gaze back to the magical beast.
Then, looking at the magical beast, he shouted, “Sheena, listen to my command! The moment I unleash Heaven Flight Slash, dodge! Shanna, Kathleen, you two use your strongest magic as well!”
“Got it!” × 3
Gripping the hilt with both hands, the magic power throughout his body began to boil, channeling into his sword.
The longsword emitted a blinding white light.
“Sheena! Heaven Flight Slash!”
He shouted loudly to warn his teammate, then slashed his longsword toward the magical beast.
Closely following him were a massive fireball and an arrow crackling with lightning.
Hearing her teammate's shout, she withdrew her shield with the momentum and dodged to the side, clearing a path for her teammates' attacks.
With a tearing sound, the longsword's slash carved a massive gash into the magical beast.
Without the magical beast's sturdy defense to block them, the subsequent fireball and arrow struck directly through the wound into its flesh.
Its life force rapidly drained.
“Roar—!”
The crack-rock bear roared in pain. Unwilling to go down alone, it swiped its claws, wanting to tear the blond youth in front of it to pieces.
Reid had no time to react. He could only raise his longsword in front of him, taking the brunt of the crack-rock bear's death struggle.
Spitting a mouthful of blood, he was sent flying backward.
“Reid!”
For a moment, he felt as if his internal organs had been completely shattered.
But he quickly realized that he hadn't sustained any actual damage.
The magical beast lost consciousness, its body collapsing limply to the ground, kicking up a heavy cloud of dust.
Reid panted heavily, looking at the fallen crack-rock bear with lingering fear.
Then, he sneered proudly, “Hahaha! It was just a death struggle with no power behind it. I really am amazing!”
His teammates quickly gathered around him: a tall, voluptuous woman clad in armor and holding a shield as tall as herself; a woman wearing a short skirt that revealed her fair legs, showing off a large expanse of snowy skin beneath her pointed wizard hat; a petite girl with reddish-brown hair, wearing off-the-shoulder clothes, shorts, and short boots; and finally, the plain-looking, brown-haired man.
The teammates quickly crowded around Reid, all of them looking at him with excitement.
The girl with reddish-brown hair was the first to speak: “This is great! Now that we've defeated this guy, we're a B-rank adventurer team!”
“And the youngest B-rank adventurer team in Toka City!” Shanna, the mage, excitedly added.
Sheena, the tall woman, didn't say anything, only wearing a faint smile.
Reid, the blond youth, flipped his golden bangs with his hand and said proudly, “Of course. Under my leadership, our adventurer team will only grow more and more glorious. After all, I'm a genius who broke through to Tier Four, Rank Three at just twenty-two years old.”
The two female teammates looked at him with adoration. They were already twenty-five, yet their strength was only at Tier Four, Rank One.
“As expected of Reid. You're much better than a certain useless guy who only knows how to watch from the sidelines.”
The speaker was the mature female mage. She cast a cold glance at the brown-haired youth on the side who hadn't spoken since the beginning.
She muttered under her breath in dissatisfaction.
Rate on N.U.
