Goblin Dependency

The lynx adventurer probably hadn’t noticed the existence of Sefeng and the others, as he jumped down from the tree and charged toward the black bear.

It was unclear whether he had undergone evolution, but compared to his kind, this lynx was noticeably larger.

Even when facing the medium-sized black bear ahead, he was entirely unfazed.

Within a few rounds, relying on his more agile body and sharp claws, he left noticeable wounds on the opponent’s fur.

Yet he was only slightly panting, without any injuries.

Sefeng, who was watching from the side, planned to wait a little longer, intending to make a move when both parties were wounded, to swoop in and seize the opportunity.

However, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

The black bear deliberately exposed a flaw, luring the lynx adventurer into his attack range.

Then, at the cost of another claw scratch on his shoulder, the two heavy, solid bear paws suddenly pressed down on the lynx’s head.

With all his strength and the aid of gravity, he pressed the lynx down to the ground.

Seeing the next second the black bear was about to bite the lynx’s vulnerable neck, Sefeng, who had already considered both adventurers’ life energy his own, couldn’t possibly let the opponent land a fatal blow and absorb the energy.

With a loud shout, he grasped the crude stone axe he crafted with his right hand, held a sturdy tree branch with his left, and swung his heavy body forward, almost pulling down a sizable part of the tree crown as he leaped into the arena.

Apparently not expecting Sefeng’s presence, the black bear intentionally displayed a hint of surprise on his face, but his grip instinctively loosened, letting the lynx escape.

Both were experienced senior adventurers, sharp in their judgment.

The lynx adventurer, who narrowly escaped the bear’s grasp, first glanced at the black bear, then at the silver-backed gorilla slightly further away.

A flash of contemplation crossed his face.

Then, without hesitation, he turned around and fled into the dense bushes.

For Sefeng, this was clearly the most disadvantageous scenario.

Initially planning to step in after the two exhausted themselves in battle, he was forced to reveal himself earlier to prevent the waste of life energy, due to the sudden shift in the situation.

This left both the black bear and the lynx with considerable combat ability and did not affect their fleeing speed.

Now, with one prey escaping and the other remaining in place,

Sefeng lost the chance to capture them all at once, forcing him to choose between the two.

With a slight thought, he quickly made a decision.

With the blue light in the sky about to land, he couldn’t possibly chase prey deep into the forest at this critical juncture.

The beast eyes, deep in their sockets, quietly moved from the lynx’s quickly disappearing figure in the forest to the black bear standing in place.

Unable to speak, lacking communication skills.

Already aware of the black bear’s "Sword of Vengeance" crew background, Sefeng naturally wouldn’t waste time writing words to communicate with him.

Guided by instinct, he roared ferociously, raising the stone axe in his hand, ready to charge at the black bear adventurer.

Just at this moment, from the spot where the lynx had disappeared into the forest.

Accompanied by the grating sound of a sharp blade tearing through flesh, suddenly came an abrupt beastly scream.

His gaze instinctively turned.

"Gululu..."

A lynx head with its beast eyes wide open, its neck stump smeared with blood, rolled out from the bushes like a ball.

Plip-plop—

A wolf paw stepped out, treading upon the blood.

The gray-blue mane gently swayed under the forest wind, with the blue light symbolizing life energy transforming into a mist behind him and slowly merging into his broad back, his large body shrouded in the shadow cast by the tree crowns, revealing a ferocious silhouette.

The wolf eyes were mysterious, a long horn like a longsword was clenched horizontally in the wolf mouth, creating an image of the recent clean cut of flesh through the bloodstains on its outer edge.

Sefeng had never seen a wolf creature of such size and fighting style.

Yet it did not stop the extreme sense of danger, born from his survival instincts, from erupting deep within upon sighting the creature.

Will die! Will die! Will die!

Like a wild rabbit hearing the flapping wings of a soaring eagle on the plateau, like a fawn glimpsing the striped skin of a tiger deep in the jungle, the gap in species hierarchy between predator and prey made Sefeng almost give up resisting at that moment.

But ultimately, the body he operated belonged to a senior adventurer who had roamed the seas for many years; rationality momentarily overcame instinct.

Realizing he couldn’t defeat the opponent, and his body too heavy to escape.

At this moment, Sefeng made the wisest and most decisive decision given his predicament.

The thick, black-furred big hands crossed each other left and right, extending backward.

The right hand grabbed the squirrel stopped at the left side of the neck, while the left hand clenched the grasshopper lying on the right shoulder in its palm.

Sefeng could clearly sense, from the palms, the struggles of his two teammates, filled with cries of confusion and fear.

But obviously, facing an enemy whose life level far surpassed his own, having undergone countless evolutions, he had no other choice.

The next second, his fingers exerted force and tightened.

"Pop!"

Accompanied by the viscous sensation splattering from the palm, two crisp explosive sounds echoed in the air.

The bodies of the squirrel and grasshopper fell from the ape’s body.

Two cerulean lights quickly merged into him along his arm.

Sefeng used the lives of his two teammates to initiate his Second Evolution.

His already robust, rock-like body began to rapidly expand like a balloon.

His two bulky arms were stretched like putty, and thickened keratin layers replaced the original fur near the knuckles and elbows; two fangs protruded like those of a wild boar, continuously growing outward.

Xia Nan certainly couldn’t just stand there and watch the enemy complete the evolution cutscene.

[Soros Blade Wolf], a rare wolf species haunting the ancient battlefield ruins, a master of sword-fighting, stronger than Winter Wolf, a product after the Third Evolution.

At this moment, controlled by a human soul, combining battle skills, it burst out a combat power far beyond its usual level.

Ao——

A high-pitched wolf howl burst forth, and the massive wolf body disappeared instantly.

Replaced by a completely pitch-black qi-formed, blurred, ferocious phantom wolf head.

The barrier of space was instantaneously crossed.

Completely caught off guard, the evolution was only halfway completed.

In the wolf eyes, reflected the bewildered ape eyes sunken in their sockets ahead.

Exerting the muscles of his waist and abdomen, his head and neck slightly tilted, ochre energy condensed on the surface of the blade between the wolf’s jaws, distorting the surrounding air.

Leaping into the air, exerting force, his body rotated 360 degrees.

"Buzz!"

An ochre arc of light, stretched to nearly a crescent shape, exploded into appearance from the sky.

[Teeth Hunting], [Gravity Etching], [Vortex Slash], [Heavy Tide].

These four battle skills were stacked onto a single sword in an instant.

And the result of this one sword swing...

"Slash."

The slash was exceedingly smooth.

It wasn’t until the sword-bending giant wolf landed on all fours and in the stiff motionless state behind that the massive, muscular mountain began to split and disintegrate.

Blood slowly oozed out, a slender crack extending obliquely downward from the neck to the side waist.

Like being slightly detained by the flesh on the other side, yet ultimately unable to resist the pull of gravity.

The half-body of the silverback gorilla, along with its entire head, right arm, and upper torso, slid down to the ground.

Revealing neat cuts and unspeakably responsive, struggling organs inside, undeterred by the inevitability of death.

On one side was an ordinary adventurer who hadn’t even adapted to the Second Evolution;

On the other side was an entity having stepped into the realm of Third Evolution, possessing battle skill advantages, and having autonomously planned an evolutionary path through the attribute panel - a "cheater".

Since Xia Nan’s birth, the snowball in this Ritual Secret Realm began rolling from the moment he first used battle skills in the grass beside the wolf nest.

Until now, it has already carried the bodies of the adventurers it killed along the way to an unreachable height for any other adventurers.

And in a few seconds, it will again achieve a transcendental evolutionary upgrade.

Buzz——

Continuous life energy from the gorilla corpse possessed by Sefeng poured into Xia Nan’s body.

Alongside translucent characters fleeting in the void before his eyes.

Not far beside him, the massive cerulean light cluster slowly descending from high above finally fell onto the ground.