With the monsters retreating, the Adventurers didn’t dare to pursue them recklessly.

After all, the Blights had coordinated their actions quite well, suggesting something was commanding them from afar. Walking into an ambush would be disastrous.

"Colin!" "Colin!" "Colin!"

Once they confirmed the battle was over, a group of Adventurers gathered and cheered.

A few Adventurers from the other side came over to take a look, then quietly returned after seeing everything was fine.

After the crowd had vented their excitement, the Halfling began organizing the cleanup of the battlefield.

The most gruesome casualty on the battlefield was undoubtedly Victor. The giant bear had torn off both his arms in two swift moves, ripping his Chain Armor to shreds in the process.

Then, the bear had smashed him into a house, leaving his body mangled beyond recognition.

His equipment was given to the two teammates who had come with him.

Overall, only a few Adventurers had suffered minor injuries. The most seriously hurt was some unlucky soul who’d been hit by a roof beam when a house collapsed.

As for the enemy, they left behind a field littered with the corpses of Blights.

Most importantly, one of the Frostland Druids responsible for all this had been killed. The other Frostland Druid, who had launched a surprise attack at another gate, had only made a brief appearance and wasn’t taken down.

After gathering to tally the battle’s outcome, the Adventurers carried the Blight corpses to a small pit outside the village for a mass burning, preventing the dark influence from spreading into the village.

These monsters weren’t worth anything.

Furthermore, the Frostland Druid was only wearing a leather tunic and holding a crooked stick. Besides a few bones and some strange trinkets in his pockets, there was nothing else—no loot worth mentioning at all.

All one could say was that he was dirt poor.

Silently vowing to himself to take on fewer quests against Fallen Druids in the future, Colin simply went up to the bedroom with Kase to rest.

He’d get ten Gold Coins for this trip anyway, so there was no need to dwell on it.

"Colin, my friend, you’ve really made a name for yourself this time," Bob said with a laugh from his bed. "I heard people shouting your name outside the window."

"Something like that. We just happened to clean up the mess that troublemaker made," Kase said.

Bob slapped his thigh. "Haha, this reminds me of a great battle I was in when I was young."

The two of them started rambling on about the recent battle.

Colin, sitting safely on his bed, felt a bit out of place.

For once, he’d gotten through a battle unscathed. Aside from a dizzy spell from excessive Casting, he felt fine. He hadn’t even felt a thing when he fell from the roof, since the ground was soft.

’Maybe this is the start of my luck turning around.’

With nothing else to do, Colin glanced at his Panel and was surprised to find that the proficiency bar for Dwarf Armor Technique had filled up without him noticing.

-----------------

Dwarf Armor Technique (Apprentice) 501/1250

[Through the Dwarves’ unique combat methods, you have learned to analyze an enemy’s attack patterns to adopt more suitable defensive measures.]

[Specialty Acquired: Attack Prediction]

[Attack Prediction: You can briefly predict an enemy’s next move. The prediction duration increases with "Intelligence."]

-----------------

’Predicting attacks? That sounds a little too mystical, doesn’t it?’

"Punch me," Colin said to Kase, who was beside him.

The Half-Orc, who was in the middle of an enthusiastic story with Bob, lazily drew back his fist and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Did you not eat or something?"

"Didn’t we both just miss dinner?" Kase retorted, turning back and throwing a sudden punch.

In that instant, Colin clearly recalled how the Half-Orc usually threw his punches. Based on the taut muscles in his arm and his typical swinging habits...

Colin pulled his shoulder back, and the massive Half-Orc fist met nothing but air.

"Huh?"

"Stop!"

Seeing Kase stand up to put some real force into it, Colin hurriedly yelled.

The Half-Orc smacked his lips, annoyed, and sat back down. He went back to telling Bob about his heroic feat of blocking the giant bear and rescuing the troublesome little squirt beside him.

Colin thought back on the sensation.

Colin, the so-called "troublesome little squirt," realized that just now, he had known the method and target of Kase’s attack before the punch was even thrown, allowing him to dodge it quickly.

Of course, his Speed was still the same as usual.

If an opponent’s attack was too fast, he could face the awkward situation of seeing it coming but being unable to dodge.

Now Colin understood where this Specialty came from.

He’d had this same feeling before when fighting the Winter Wolf, Carrion Insects, and the Earthworm. He would predict their attack patterns based on their physical characteristics and then dodge based on that impression.

For example, dodging the Winter Wolf’s breath attack or ducking under the Earthworm’s pincers.

In truth, many people could do this. The key was to stay calm and not hesitate when it was time to dodge.

Langgrin had mentioned this point before.

’So that means the Dwarves in Heavy Armor all have this ability,’ Colin thought. ’They can use their judgment of an enemy’s attack to ensure the blow lands on the thickest part of their Armor.’

Thinking about it that way, this Specialty would be quite useful even if he didn’t wear armor in the future.

Kase and Bob were still chatting idly beside him.

Bob recounted the "great battle of his youth" with such vivid detail that it was hard to tell if he was telling the truth.

Lying in bed, Colin waited for the adrenaline from the battle to fade, eventually drifting off to sleep amidst the murmurs of his two companions.

「The next morning.」

Colin’s eyes opened, and he sat up in bed.

He frowned and rubbed the back of his head.

The ring’s influence was still active. He had dreamed of practicing his swordsmanship again last night. He had no idea how long this would last. ’Maybe the Elf who owned this ring was a sword-crazed maniac in life.’

After getting up, going downstairs, and washing up, a villager came looking for them a short while later.

The pair then went to the village chief’s room to meet up with the Gray Squad.

As Colin entered the room, the Mage spoke. "You two, well done. You secured our first victory yesterday."

The Halfling said, "Both of you reacted like veterans. You’re clearly experienced. If the big guy hadn’t drawn the Druid’s attention, I wouldn’t have succeeded so easily."

The group had come to recognize this heroic two-man team.

"Just what you’d expect from an Orc," the Elf was the only one in the squad still being sarcastic.

"As long as I’m better than a pointy-ears," Kase immediately retorted.

The Elf just shrugged, ignoring the Half-Orc’s provocation.

Colin glanced at his still-annoyed companion. Kase wasn’t usually very talkative, but he seemed especially serious when dealing with the Elf.

"That was their attempt to intimidate us, but we turned the tables on them. That leaves four enemies," the Mage said. "The main problem now is figuring out how to cut off their means of escape."

"No need to," Kase said.

The Mage asked, "How so?"