I'm not a goblin Frankenstein's monster.

The gnoll leader let out a low growl, and his massive body became surprisingly swift!

The hammer tore through the air, bringing with it a vicious wind that could crush everything. It wasn't a smash, but a cunning and tricky diagonal slash from the lower left to the upper right, aimed directly at the right side of Guts that had been exposed due to his defense.

It spotted the direction that humans typically use their hands!

Guts neither retreated nor parried.

Just as the hammer was raised, a cold glint flashed in his single eye.

The greatsword, which required the full strength of both hands to wield, was wielded with even greater speed and a simpler trajectory by his steel prosthetic limb and one arm, delivering a straight slash that was both unadorned and extremely heavy, directly towards the direction from which the hammer was coming!

"clang--!!!!!"

A deafening explosion!

The greatsword's blade didn't strike the hammerhead, but rather precisely at the point where the hammer handle and head were least stressed during the hammer's swing!

Sparks flew wildly! The enormous impact shook the leaves in the forest to their feet!

"Snap!"

A faint but clear cracking sound rang out.

The sturdy hammer handle, forged from fine iron, was cleaved open by this sword strike that embodied all of Guts's strength and charging momentum!

The immense impact completely distorted the trajectory of the hammer's swing, grazing past Guts and only creating a gust of foul wind.

The gnoll leader's arm trembled violently, a tingling sensation shooting straight to his shoulder blade. His eyes, usually dominated by strength, widened in astonishment.

However, Guts' attack was not over yet!

Using the recoil force, the greatsword he had swung with was pulled back half a foot. Then, he exerted force from his waist and abdomen, using his left foot as a pivot, and his whole body was like a taut spring that was then released.

The greatsword drew a short, fierce semicircle, then turned from a retraction into a horizontal slash, cutting down on the enemy who was slightly swayed by the hammer's setback!

This sudden change of tactics was faster than the gnoll chieftain could react!

It only had time to twist its body with all its might, hastily blocking the broken handle of the hammer to its side.

"Bang! Sizzle—!"

The greatsword struck the crack in the hammer handle with a vengeance. The already damaged joint finally gave way, and the hammerhead, along with a small section of the broken handle, spun out of the hammer!

The sword's momentum had not yet dissipated when it fiercely swept across the jackal leader's right ribcage!

Thick, tough fur and solid muscles were cut open, and dark red beast blood gushed out as if it had been squeezed!

A deep, gruesome wound appeared on its side, and blood instantly stained a large patch of its fur.

"Awooo—!!!"

The excruciating pain and rage drove the gnoll chieftain completely insane!

It discarded the hammer handle, which was now only half intact, and ignored the blood gushing from the wound on its side. The muscles in its left claw bulged, and with a ferocious hatred that seemed to tear everything apart, it ripped down on Guts' head with a suicidal stance, as if it were about to take him down with it!

This claw strike contained all its fury and power, determined to tear the human before it, armor and all, to shreds!

All its attention and all its killing intent were locked on Guts.

The excruciating pain in his side and the shame caused him to momentarily lose his senses, ignoring another danger lurking on the battlefield.

Just as its claws swung towards Guts, its vital organs, chest and abdomen, were completely exposed by the movement.

The mimic "green-skinned" Xia Lin, who had been lurking like a shadow on the flank, holding his breath and waiting for the right moment, made his move!

There was no shouting, no warning.

He was like a blade that had broken free from the thick darkness.

【Bloodlust Tracking】 made the smell of blood gushing from his waist as conspicuous as a lighthouse, the remaining power of 【Temporary Berserk】 roared in his veins, and the instincts honed by countless life-and-death battles merged with the essence of 【Despicable Sword Strike】.

With feet pushing off the ground, the body moved like an arrow.

He didn't charge straight in, but instead cut along a precise, lateral arc, instantly slicing into the gnoll leader's exposed side as he swung his claws.

It was right in the direction of that bloody wound!

The veteran's longsword, drawn from the lower right, rose violently along the upper edge of the wound on his waist, with the force of a full-body sprint!

The target was the thick neck whose side arteries were taut from the furious tilt of the head back!

"Pfft—!!!"

Precise and deadly!

The sword sliced ​​through the gnoll chieftain's blood-stained fur without resistance, embedding itself deep into the muscle, and then precisely found the gap between the cervical vertebrae.

The pent-up power exploded completely at this moment!

"Snap! Sizzle—!"

The dull thud of the gnoll chieftain's neck breaking, combined with the tearing sound of blood vessels and trachea being severed simultaneously, created a chilling noise!

A fountain of blood, several times more turbulent than the wound on his side, gushed skyward from the severed neck, forming a desolate blood mist under the moonlight!

The gnoll chieftain's claws, aimed at Guts, froze in mid-air. All his strength and rage collapsed in that instant as life rapidly slipped away.

It futilely twisted its head, trying to see the attacker, but only saw its own gushing blood and the rapidly blurring moonlight.

Its massive body swayed, then crashed forward with a thud, kicking up a cloud of blood and mud.

Guts maintained his defensive stance, his greatsword held horizontally in front of him. He looked with one eye at the giant beast that had crashed to the ground, and then slowly moved toward Xia Lin, who was panting and sheathing his sword.

A bloody gash was seeping from his waist and abdomen, a mark left by the claw attack earlier. Had Xia Lin not delivered that fatal blow in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Xia Lin leaned on his sword, panting heavily. The all-out attack that killed the jackal leader had almost drained his remaining strength.

The frenzied red tide is rapidly receding, leaving behind aches and pains that feel like bones are falling apart and a burning stinging sensation from the wounds.

"Still alive?" Xia Lin asked, panting.

"He won't die."

Gus glanced at him, his voice squeezed out from between his bloodied teeth.

Moonlight pierced through the blood mist that permeated the forest, coldly illuminating the slaughterhouse.

The pile of wolf carcasses, the broken iron hammer, and the corpse of the gnoll leader, whose head was almost completely separated from his body.

Two men, covered in blood and covered in wounds, stood silently in the bloody scene, panting.

The only sound was the continuous dripping of blood from the blade in my hand...

When the three of them finally found the caravan wagon, supporting each other, Kaikin and the rest of the group could hardly recognize them.

Xia Lin was covered from head to toe in half-dried scabs and mud. He walked with a limp. Guts's left ventral armor plate was cracked, and the seeping blood soaked through the lining.

After a simple rinse with water, application of medicine powder, and bandages, the two finally looked like normal people again.

Despite their nausea and fear, the caravan members went into the woods to collect their spoils, cutting off the claws of the gnolls and the pelts of the hyenas.

Unfortunately, most of the hyenas were already mangled under the frenzied attacks of Gus's greatsword and Charlin's longsword, and only four or five relatively intact hyena pelts could be peeled off.

The gnoll chieftain's giant iron hammer was completely destroyed; the twisted handle and head could barely be sold as equipment materials.

Team leader Kaijin stuffed a small money bag into Xia Lin's hand, his expression complicated: "15 gold coins, the spoils will be divided as agreed beforehand. This time... we really owe you all a lot."

Xia Lin weighed the money bag in his hand, quickly calculating in his mind that after deducting the 5 gold coins he had spent on the Blue Nightmare, the 5 gold coins he had spent on the low-level healing potion, and the 5 silver coins he had spent on the discarded standard round shield, he still had a net profit of 4 gold and 5 silver coins.

Not bad, this was a good deal.