Chapter 48: Massive Improvement-Jogo em Outro Mundo? Outro Mundo de Jogo!(Quer tomar uma Coca-Cola?)

The head exploded, leaving only the pus-filled torso to continue swinging blindly forward.

The shield slammed hard, knocking the hand askew. The blade in the left hand swept forward, directly severing the enemy's forearm.

The heavy hammer in the right hand came crashing down once again.

"Thud!"

Hammer blow after hammer blow.

An excellent window for damage output; not a single second of offensive time could be wasted.

Sharp weapons struggled to kill a body devoid of vital weak points. But with every blow of the blunt instrument, it felt like pounding chunks of meat on a butcher's block.

The entire torso had turned into a pulpy mess, the bones supporting the frame snapped to pieces within.

Standing in the rear and occasionally dry-heaving, the dwarf watched this scene, hopping mad with anxiety.

Because Kanna had no idea how to use a hammer; he was simply holding his own weapon and bashing away frantically, completely devoid of technique.

Yet, owing to Kanna's inexplicable surge in monstrous strength, he beat the headless, rotting goblin chieftain so hard that the creature was rendered entirely helpless.

Shield bash, slash, fierce hammer blows.

Even though the enemy looked practically indistinguishable from the dead, he had no intention of letting up whatsoever.

Until the information Kanna was waiting for finally popped up.

Experience +52

[Experience: 62/1000]

Even minor goblins granted over twenty, while a greater goblin only yielded fifty-two.

Compared to his previous level-up, the quality of experience held far less weight for him now.

Gazing at the goblin corpse collapsed on the ground, already reduced to a pool of putrid flesh and pus.

The stench was growing increasingly intense, and the blood-soaked mask was beginning to struggle to keep it out.

Kanna, too, could not suppress the rising urge to vomit.

"Let us leave this place quickly."

Without hesitation, he turned and led the near-exhausted dwarf out of the cave.

In the distance, Bobot leaped down as well, following the group as they rushed out of the cavern.

The moment they cleared the exit, both of them removed the blood-stained masks from their faces.

As for the dwarf, the instant he emerged, he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.

Bobot panted heavily, "Good heavens, why was it so foul inside?"

"Those goblins worship the Rotting Monarch, which is why they ended up in that state," Kanna explained briefly.

He now had a rough idea of why he had been able to gain experience.

The conditions he had previously set for acquiring experience required the elimination of "invaders."

And clearly, the invaders in this world were far more numerous than he had anticipated.

When Kanna originally set the parameters, he had imagined invaders to be entities similar to the "Void."

After all, having known the locations of many "Void Vanguard" nests within the game, even with such a setup, he could still find enough monsters to farm for experience.

Now, he had slain worshippers of the "Rotting Monarch"—though mere goblins—and had likewise gained experience.

It was virtually certain that evil deities like the "Rotting Monarch" counted as invaders as well.

If that was the case, there were quite a few presences in the game that could be classified as invaders.

Compared to what Kanna had previously envisioned, finding targets would be much easier, and the method of acquiring experience would become considerably simpler.

This was undeniably a good thing.

Noticing that the dwarf had recovered somewhat, though the pustules on his face had yet to recede, Kanna spoke up.

"Come, Son of the Mountains, your hammer."

With that, Kanna walked over, helped the dwarf to his feet, and handed him the weapon. "Thank you for your hammer; it works wonderfully."

"Haha, of course it does! This has been blessed by the mountains," the dwarf said with a laugh as he stood up.

Accepting the hammer and seeing the residual pus still clinging to it, he wiped it against the ground with a disgusted expression.

"Seriously, pal, your form with a hammer is absolute garbage. You really ought to learn how to wield one."

Kanna chuckled without refuting the claim; in the game, he had never once used a hammer.

Using swords and guns was infinitely cooler than swinging a hammer, after all.

"Let's get acquainted, friend. I am Gletar, Gletar Greystone, a Son of the Mountains from the Grey Hills clan. And you?"

"Ah, a friend from the Grey Hills," Kanna nodded in acknowledgement, bringing his right arm level across his chest and bowing slightly at the waist.

Seeing this, Gletar hurriedly returned the exact same courtesy.

This was traditional dwarven etiquette.

"I am Kanna, Kanna Safro Satter, and this is my guardian knight—Aliris..."

After a brief introduction, Kanna asked, "What brings you here? And how did you manage to get captured by a pack of goblins?"

Upon hearing this, the dwarf instantly grew sheepish, wearing an embarrassed expression as he leaned in and lowered his voice.

"I suppose we count as comrades-in-arms now, don't we? You mustn't speak of this to anyone; it's terribly humiliating. Of course, our heroic battle just now doesn't count."

With that, the dwarf offered an explanation. "I drank quite a bit at the feast last night—perhaps a bit too much—and lost my way. When I woke up, those little monsters had already carried me into that cave."

Well, the path you walked off while drunk certainly seemed a bit crooked.

If Kanna remembered correctly, the primary gathering place of the dwarves on the Grey Hills should be on the back slope—the side facing the Cohen Kingdom.

At that moment, the dwarf reached up to touch his face and let out a sharp cry of pain.

"Damn it, what is this on my face?"

Only then did he reach out a finger to prod the massive swelling on his cheek, discovering to his horror that a pustule had formed there.

"Remember? You vomited in there. I told you not to vomit," Kanna reminded him.

"Yes, yes, I remember, but it was just so foul inside!" As the memory resurfaced, Gletar couldn't help but feel another wave of nausea. "You seem to know about these things. How is this supposed to be cured?"

Anxious, Gletar couldn't resist poking the pustule on his face again, hissing in pain.

"I feel like a toad right now. Curse that ale barrel!"

"Pop it. Though definitely not right now."

Gletar froze his hand in place.

"You should return to your clan before you pop it. Apply a bottle of antidote over it, and drink half of it. Keep yourself clean and hygienic for a while, and it should clear right up. Or you could have someone cast a purification spell on you; that would certainly be much faster."

Hearing Kanna's advice, Gletar nodded. "Thank you, but I must be off. They're likely searching for me by now."

Kanna nodded in response. "If you need anything, you can find me by the riverbank; we've set up camp there."

"Right, no problem, I will."

Gletar nodded, hefted his hammer, surveyed the surrounding terrain, and broke into a run toward the hillside.

Watching Gletar depart, Aliris finally voiced the question on her mind.

"Are those dwarves? They're a bit different from what I imagined; I thought they'd be shorter. Still, the big beard is quite accurate to the tales, and he's far more agile and stronger than I expected."

Previously, Aliris had assumed that dwarves and the like were merely characters from storybooks.

Seeing a new race today proved that traveling alongside His Highness truly broadened one's horizons.

Only then did Kanna wave a hand.

George leaped down from a distant tree and trotted over.

His gaze still lingered on the direction the dwarf had vanished, prompting him to ask, "What was that? An elderly man suffering from an illness?"

Perhaps some kind of dwarfism; he looked rather pitiful, what with the pus-filled sores on his face.

George felt a twinge of sympathy, especially since the individual had been rescued from a goblin cave.

"Oh, heavens," Bobot muttered, pressing a hand to her face upon hearing this.

Having spent so much time with Kanna, she had almost forgotten that the vast majority of people in this country possessed a worldview no different from savages.

Kanna couldn't help laughing softly before saying, "All right, let's head back first. I'm sure Bobot will be more than willing to answer all your questions."

Jogging the entire way, they finally returned to the camp before nightfall.

"You're finally back; otherwise, I would have had to send people out looking for you," the soldier captain guarding the camp said, letting out a sigh of relief as he saw them approach.

The forest at night was far from safe.

Not to mention that these soldiers hailed from Riverbend Town, and this forest was mere miles away from the Resurgence Zone.

While they were unaware of the magic resurgence zone itself, they knew all too well that the dangers lurking in this forest far exceeded those of any other place.