Many times, thanks to scenes in movies and TV shows, people tend to believe that beings with massive, well-muscled bodies may excel in strength—but lack agility and finesse. In many respects, that's true. Overdeveloped, bulky muscles can seriously hamper one's nimbleness, and a weight far beyond that of ordinary mortals makes even the lightest movement cumbersome.
However, this assumption holds only if your opponent is on the same level as you. In modern society, where supernatural powers do not exist and no amount of training will elevate you beyond mortal limits, this isn't much of an issue. But in a fantasy world teeming with living legends, incarnations of saints, and the coexistence of gods and demons, it becomes critically important.
Compared to Xia Nan—the "farm boy" who had just turned eighteen—the bear goblin was superior in every way except for intelligence and farming skills. Even in terms of knowledge, the goblin had an edge—it was fluent in both Goblin and Common.
Thus, even as adrenaline temporarily wiped away his fear, Xia Nan seized the moment to counterattack right after dodging. The bear goblin, known as "Hengk," reacted with surprising ease. Without even bothering to extract the spiked hammer embedded in the ground, it simply swung its thick, brown-furred arm at the incoming slash of a longsword.
Bang!
Xia Nan was flung through the air as if he had collided head-on with a train. A massive force slammed into his chest, freezing his thoughts for an instant. Overwhelming dizziness and searing pain nearly shattered his consciousness.
"Damn!"He struggled to rise, his mouth filled with the iron tang of blood.
Meanwhile, Hengk's hulking figure now loomed before him."Bug, don't you dare misbehave!" the bear goblin barked, letting a shallow wound on its neck bleed freely. Its yellow-brown eyes burned with anger and humiliation—as if a rabbit about to be placed on a chopping block had taken a bite.
"Hengk's gonna eat you alive!"
The goblin tribe had never developed methods of torture. In their almost primitive mindset, forcing prey to watch themselves be eaten alive was the cruelest fate of all. In fact, the tribe's priests had even discovered a plant that could keep prey conscious despite severe injuries. Of course, Hengk didn't have the means—or the sophisticated "cooking" skills—to pull that off today. So, Xia Nan was probably in for a quicker, less painful end.
At this point, as he watched the bear goblin steadily closing in, fully aware of the vast gap in their abilities, Xia Nan had no thoughts of pleading for mercy. On one hand, he doubted that a creature with such primitive morals would show any leniency; on the other, he noticed that not far behind the goblin, the hunter Majie—whose leg had just been shattered and who now sat against the cave wall in pain—was slowly rising. His right hand gripped a longbow tightly while his left hand reached for his quiver.
Their eyes met briefly, then split apart. Although the two had barely known each other and shared no real rapport, in that fleeting moment, Xia Nan instinctively understood what Majie's gaze conveyed:
Delay time. Draw the enemy's attention.
His mind raced. Opening his mouth, he said,"Hey, you're not that tasty like this."
"Hmm?" Hengk paused, its spiked hammer still raised high, as it registered the small creature talking. "No! Humans taste good!"
"If you want to eat them raw instead of roasted, I'd recommend a marinated method," Xia Nan continued without much thought, rambling on as if his words were the recipe of the century.
"You could throw me in a basin to wash me clean first, then add refined salt to sterilize and marinate. Stir for five minutes, then toss in some ginger, garlic, chili, and soy sauce, seal it up, and let it sit for thirty minutes."
"The flavor…" Hengk's eyes narrowed with impatience at the seemingly absurd recipe. Sensing this, Xia Nan quickly shifted his focus to taste:
"It would be sweet and tender—preserving my natural flavor while letting you savor the tangy, spicy kick of the seasonings. Truly appetizing."
"Sweet? Spicy… what taste is that?"Hengk, still holding its spiked hammer aloft without letting it drop, asked in puzzled tones. But being a bear goblin—not a single-minded, meat-obsessed ogre—it soon snapped back:
"Little bug, trying to trick me? Damn it!"
With that, it lunged forward two steps. Its right arm bulged around the spiked hammer as if it were about to crush the annoying bug beneath it into pulp.
And just then, Majie readied himself once more. Nocking an arrow, he drew his bow and aimed.
Whoosh—
The familiar sound of metal slicing through the air rang out again. This time the distance between him and the goblin was even shorter, meaning that even Hengk's superhuman reflexes would hardly allow it to dodge; and, notably, that dreaded energy shield (a true archer's nightmare) failed to appear.
So then…
Chik!Blood splattered. Majie, whose leg had been shattered, was forced to nearly sit against the cave wall as he fired his arrow. Though his combat skill ensured the shot was still precise, its power was greatly diminished. Even though the metal arrow nearly instantly pierced Hengk's right eye as it turned in response to the sound, only about half of the arrowhead embedded itself in the goblin's socket. The toxin—with its paralyzing effect—quickly spread inward from the wound. A severe injury, but not one that would be fatal.
Facing this final chance to snatch victory from death, Xia Nan showed no fear.As the bear goblin howled in excruciating pain from its pierced eyeball, Xia Nan gripped his one-handed sword tightly in both hands. Despite the searing agony in his arms as if his muscles were being torn apart, he forced out his fourth use of [Spinning Slash] for the day.
A cold gleam flashed.The sharp blade met the brown fur with no resistance; the hide—thick as bovine leather—offered the first line of defense, slightly impeding the blade; the accumulated fat, like muddy water in a swamp, let the sword glide smoothly while sapping some of its force; and the rock-solid muscles almost absorbed the entire edge of the longsword—yet, boosted by the momentum of [Spinning Slash], the blade eventually broke through. It sliced past the fur and flesh until it encountered the hardest barrier inside any living being—the bone.
Crunch.
Without the delays seen in the hands of inexperienced adventurers, the battle-hardened sword finally met its destined end in an encounter that would be remembered for ages. In that split second of emptiness—when the sword's handle was suddenly bare—the stored energy could not be released normally. Xia Nan watched in dismay as cracks spread along the blade, and then, propelled by the inertia of [Spinning Slash], he was sent flying sideways.
Roar!!!A wild, anguished howl rang out. The beast—massive and built like a brown bear—lost all semblance of sanity under the relentless, unfamiliar pain. In a frenzied state, it even yanked the arrow straight out of its eye socket. Scarlet blood cascaded like a waterfall over its body, further fueling its ferocity.
Now, facing this deranged, bestial creature—a weak hunter with a shattered leg and an exhausted, weaponless rookie adventurer—the fate of the "Rotten Fish and Rotted Shrimp Squad" was all but sealed. Despair was etched on Majie's face. The second use of [Precision Strike] had left his body completely paralyzed from overload, every muscle twitching uselessly. His eyes were vacant, and he couldn't tell what he was thinking—perhaps regretting his greed in venturing into this cave, cursing himself for never learning from past mistakes, or maybe recalling the smiling girl beneath the white oak of his hometown. Surprisingly, unlike the hunter Majie who had already lost hope of survival, Xia Nan—though also on the verge of collapse—wore a strangely complex expression.
It was like playing mahjong in a past life: when you've got a lousy hand and intend to just defend until the round ends, only to unexpectedly complete a winning hand at the very last moment; or spending thousands in a game with no rare pulls, only to snag an SSR in the final free draw before quitting. It was that peculiar mix of relief, surprise, and resentment—almost like shouting, "Why the hell didn't you come sooner?"
Because just as he executed that [Spinning Slash] and swung his sword, a stream of translucent characters flashed before his eyes like a scrolling barrage:
"Proficiency +1" "[Spinning Slash] lv4 (100/100) —— [Spinning Slash] lv5 (Max)" "Strength +1, Agility +1" "Specialization [Chopping Master] Unlocked" …
[Chopping Master]Category: SpecializationEffect: +5% chopping damageDescription: Day after day of practice has allowed you to uncover the secrets hidden within a sword's edge.Note 1: "Back in the day, I wielded this very sword, hacking my way from Heaven's Mountain all the way to the Ninth Layer of Hell. Five years and six months, back and forth—without so much as a blink." —From Twilight of the Gods, the 35th wielder of the "Sword of Final Annihilation," the Abandoned, JuliusNote 2: "Sweat will never betray you!" —Stone Saint, the legendary monk of the "Tempered Sect," Yongwu …
In the midst of this life-or-death crisis, Xia Nan had no time to study these details. He only managed a cursory glance—realizing that in the previous battle he had just gained the final proficiency point for [Spinning Slash], pushing it to lv5 (Max) and reaping a series of enhancements.
Immediately, an inexplicable force burst forth from deep within him like a spring, rapidly spreading through every fiber of his body. His fatigued muscles relaxed as if bathed in a hot spring; his slightly slack frame tightened, and his strength and explosiveness surged noticeably. Even the ground beneath his feet seemed to soften—as if his shoes were equipped with springs—rendering him agile and light. It was as though he had been granted a whole new body, with all fatigue and pain wiped away in an instant.
Xia Nan lifted his head, his dark eyes fixed on the ferocious figure charging straight at him while roaring. He tossed aside the broken hilt of his one-handed sword. Out of the corner of his eye, a flash of silvery light caught his attention. Turning briefly, he noticed—the skeletal corpse lay on the ground with his half-person-sized double-handed axe planted upright beside it.
In that fleeting moment, his resolve was made.
The bear goblin Hengk, grievously wounded, had completely descended into uncontrollable madness. Driven by an insatiable hunger for destruction, it would tear even its fallen goblin minions to shreds without mercy. In such a state, it failed to notice the transformation in the weak human youth before it.
Instinctively, Hengk repeated its countless hunting steps honed over more than a decade—charging, aiming at its prey, raising its spiked hammer, and striking…
Buzz—
A flash of pure, fleeting silver light streaked through the dim cave—shorter and purer than before. That brief burst signified an even greater explosion of power and a refinement of technique. Now at lv5 (Max), [Spinning Slash] had become an inseparable part of Xia Nan. He knew exactly how to maximize power while conserving energy, which angle would yield the most devastating impact, and the precise moment to strike.
And the 5% bonus from [Chopping Master]—though it might look like a modest number—applied unconditionally to every blow, increasing damage with each strike. Not to mention the extra precious +1 to both Strength and Agility.Muscle power, latent physical potential, reaction speed, and sharpness…Raising from "5" to "6" was not merely a 20% numerical boost, but a complex, multifaceted surge. In just a few seconds, Xia Nan's combat prowess had leaped several tiers. With this newfound strength, the [Spinning Slash] he unleashed transformed in quality.
That double-handed axe—which should have felt impossibly heavy—now moved with perfect ease as his reinforced body channeled boundless energy from his legs. In one swift, upward swing, he gathered all his force into a single point and then unleashed it in a fierce burst!
"Roar!"A reeking stench of blood filled the air, and the looming shadow of the spiked hammer enveloped him. Xia Nan could even clearly see strands of blood emerging in the bear goblin's murky yellow-brown eyes and feel the slight tremors in the air from its furious roar. But that was all there was.
Because in the very next moment, he felt that all-too-familiar, sluggish sensation of a blade tearing through flesh. The fur, the flesh, the bone—what had briefly shielded him from his broken sword's defense—were effortlessly breached. After a momentary delay came an indescribable smoothness and exhilaration. The axe carried his body in a perfect 180-degree rotation.
Swish—
The bear goblin's massive head spun away from its original position, still contorted in a furious roar. The spiked hammer clattered to the ground. A torrent of blazing, scarlet blood gushed forth as its hulking body finally collapsed.