Goblin Dependency

The powerful jaws capable of easily crushing bones snapped shut around the neck of the fire elemental’s humanoid outline as the body leaped up.

"Kaka."

A teeth-grating collision sound echoed through the air.

Perhaps due to inexperience in fighting such energy creatures, the hyena adventurer chose an obviously incorrect point of attack.

It was as if they bit into a mass of orange-red mist, causing no real harm, and instead burying their entire head into the body of the fire elemental.

The painful whimper of being scalded echoed in the air.

The hyena adventurer fell to the ground in agony, rolling and struggling on the scorched grassland, finally becoming cooked food at the hands of the fire elemental.

"Immune to physical damage, huh..."

In a competitive situation with the adventurers on the field, and with a possible retreat, Xia Nan continued to observe from the side, carefully analyzing the fire elemental’s combat abilities.

Oftentimes, elemental-type demons are just this tricky.

No need for deep combat techniques, nor a review of combat experience.

Just the point of being "immune to physical damage" is enough to render it unbeatable before ninety-nine percent of low level adventurers.

Not to mention its body made of elemental energy can ignore most terrain obstacles and deliver extremely damaging elemental attacks to flesh and blood.

Only by personally battling such demons can one realize their troublesome nature.

Seeing that the adventurers on the field had mostly been wiped out, Xia Nan had roughly gauged the combat power of this fire elemental.

Quickly devising a battle plan in his mind, he pondered whether to enter the battle now.

Suddenly, a strong sulfuric stench flooded his nostrils with his breath.

The extremely keen perception bestowed by his body after four evolutions instinctively led Xia Nan to gaze at a charred spot beneath the fire elemental’s feet on the other side of the field.

There, a mass of shadow was quietly writhing.

It expanded suddenly!

Like a shark leaping from beneath the water’s surface, a gaunt and menacingly sharp silhouette burst forth from the shadow.

With broad membranous wings, purple-black skin, sharp claws, and a long barbed tail...

This was a "thorn demon" from Hell.

Familiar with such demons, Xia Nan was not taken by surprise.

Even back when he was operating in River Valley Town, he had combat experiences with them.

But unlike the few he encountered before, this thorn demon appeared taller, obviously larger, and the shadow energy techniques it just used were far beyond what ordinary thorn demons could master.

The most critical was its eyes, filled with intelligence and spirit, not typical for low-level devils.

This was also an adventurer!

Seemingly having observed for a while like Xia Nan, this adventurer possessing the thorn demon was making a deadly move.

The powerful membranous wings vibrated to give it an exaggerated speed burst, the hands gripped a spear crudely made of wood and branches, its surface wrapped in a faint black shadow energy, aiming straight for the heart of the fire elemental’s chest flame center.

It was visible that, unlike typical physical attacks, with the addition of shadow energy, the spear thrust underwent a noticeable slowing penetration trend when it encountered the flame.

The surging body of the fire elemental seemed to freeze for a moment.

Unfortunately, this suspected mutated thorn demon had limited control over shadow energy, maybe initially resisting the fiery scourge but as the spear tip barely penetrated halfway into the fire elemental’s body, the shadow energy engulfing its surface was gradually eroded and devoured by the blazing flame.

Without the protection of shadow energy, this so-called "spear" naturally exposed its material weaknesses, made of stone and wood, and was burned to ash in an instant.

"Boom!"

Orange-red flames spread from the spear handle to the thorn demon’s arm.

Being a demon from Hell, such creatures are inherently immune to most fire damage, even having considerable resistance to flame attacks from these elemental energy creatures.

The thorn demon decisively abandoned the burned-out spear, gritting through the pain of its flaming body, shadow energy appearing over the wings, flapping fiercely at the fire elemental ahead!

Buzz--

The shadow energy covering the membrane wings transformed into a soundwave-like energy impact.

Extinguishing the flames on its arm while freezing the fire elemental in front, its lean body retreated swiftly using the force.

The set of fluid motions seemed practiced countless times.

Watching the entire battle process from the side, Xia Nan experienced a peculiar sense of déjà vu.

The same movements... he seemed to have seen somewhere before.

Trying hard to recall, Black Bear Sasha, also gazing at the battlefield behind him, seemed to have recognized something.

Not daring to make a sound to attract enemy attention, it could only use its left paw to quickly pat Xia Nan’s side shoulder, and after he turned, urgently and carelessly write a few characters in the Universal Language with its right paw:

[Lorin! Captain!]

Xia Nan immediately realized.

In an instant, as the thorn demon flapped its wings, causing damage with shadow energy and retreating simultaneously using the force, it overlapped with the image of "Sword of Vengeance" Captain Lorin who wielded the scimitar using Flame Combat Technique, incinerating the enemy while utilizing the flame’s shockwave to pull back.

It might not have been high-level combat skills, simply coincidentally aligning, causing potential misjudgments from Xia Nan and others.

But being at the current moment, even with only a ten percent probability, it was sufficient for Xia Nan to take action, to rescue him and then confirm the other’s identity.

Howl--

A high-pitched wolf howl suddenly erupted on the field.

Drowning out the previously echoing flames’ burning and thorn demon’s roar.

Once sensing the fatal threat coming from behind.

The fire elemental, which had been engaging the surrounding adventurers with a mad assault as if devoid of rationality, immediately reined in its intended pursuit of the thorn demon.

Stirring its entire flame, its already large energy body swelled several sizes, and the flames on its surface surged like solar flares, causing the surrounding air to slightly distort.

Juxtaposed was the twisted air around the sword clamped in the wolf’s jaws.

However, one side was due to light refraction from the heat, the other was due to optical deviation caused by gravitational changes.

Perhaps because enemies encountered in the Material Realm were unable to inflict substantial damage previously, even sensing the peril ahead, the fire elemental had no intent to evade.

It simply increased its firepower, hoping the opponent would charge in like past foes, being consumed and scorched by its flames.

Xia Nan held nothing back.

Having already assessed the fire elemental’s combat abilities through observing its battle with other adventurers, further testing was unnecessary.

"Buzz..."

Ochre-red force field energy swiftly condensed over the sword blade, the surrounding black powerful qi outlined a vague wolf head shape.

Carefully feeling the combination and alignment between Battle Skills to find what he lacked, making it a complete system.

Xia Nan pushed off with all four paws, leaping into the air.

The longsword tightly gripped in the wolf’s jaw swept a perfect arc through the air, the ochre-red sword light symbolizing force field energy flickered and vanished.

Still noble, still ignoring resistance.

The pure energy damage unmistakably hit the fire elemental’s deathly spot.

And before entering the Secret Realm, having already reached Level 5 Full Level skill proficiency in [Gravity Etching], combined with this "Steel Skeleton·Skeletal Blade Wolf’s" formidable body, unleashed unprecedented mighty power.

The incandescent flame resembling a flame core in the center of the fire elemental’s chest under the force field energy impact, was like an egg yolk shaken loose, bursting into numerous tiny streams of flame scattered around.

The body entirely composed of flame exploded, yet did not completely extinguish.

And just as when it first appeared, shedding its orange-red glow, dissolved into a mist-like ethereal blue glow as it scattered.