Chapter 116: Act 49 – Fish in Troubled Waters (Part 1)
The white skeletons came to a sudden halt, raising their bows, the iron-cast limbs creaking loudly. At this moment, the mercenaries and adventurers below finally realized that things were going badly, but the scattering animated figures in the hall prevented them from escaping.
Brendel’s first thought was Romaine, but as he looked around, he could no longer see the Merchant Miss or Antinna. Anxiously, he swung his sword— the silver blade leaving a trail in the dim environment, cutting through three chairs and striking the undead that was battling Balthom.
The undead staggered to the side, and the red-bearded mercenary seized the opportunity, swinging his greatsword to cleave the animated figure in half.
With a crash, the animated figure fell apart, with several silver orbs rising from its remains and shooting into Brendel’s body.
At the same time, Lohn, assisted by Charles, forced back another animated figure. They turned around just in time to hear Brendel shouting, “Have you seen Romaine?”
“We’re over here!” Antinna stood up, holding Romaine on the other side, completely unaware of any danger, waving excitedly towards him.
“Get down!” Brendel shouted at them, then instructed Charles, “Charles, the wall!”
The young wizard apprentice understood immediately and raised a ruby high. Countless lines extended from the gem in all directions— Charles poured all his strength into the spell, his mind and magical energy flowing like water into it— the wall of magic extended fifty meters, enclosing Antinna and Romaine on the other end.
Hundreds of lines flickered briefly before disappearing, forming a wall of air out of thin air.
At this moment, the skeleton archers completed their preparations, their bowstrings trembling in unison like a storm, as arrows shot out in numerous black streaks below, the first row of guests collapsing together, while the others followed suit, groaning and falling to the ground.
But Charles saved more people; with every arrow that struck the air wall, a burst of white light flashed, and this wall flickered dozens of times, its undulating glow finally merging into a single mass.
This wall finally awakened those within the surprised and panicked crowd, including several wizard apprentices and lower-level elementalist, even one or two mid-level wizards. While most of them had not yet grasped what was happening, they began to understand. They stood up, rotating their rings or even chanting aloud.
The wizards extended their hands, and beams of white light appeared among the crowd, extending towards the auction area entrance, even a few weak fireballs were conjured.
Then came a series of explosions, air currents, bone fragments, debris, wood chips, and dust flew everywhere. Brendel saw several skulls bounce away, rolling a short distance from him.
The smoke began to fill the entire hall, and Brendel coughed a couple of times, though his coughing was drowned out by the surrounding noise. He shoved aside a mercenary who was rushing about, then yelled upwards:
“Charles, Romaine, come down! Over here!”
Brendel was still worried that his voice hadn’t reached those above, but he quickly saw Balthom emerging from the smoke, carrying the unconscious Lohn, followed by Charles, and then Antinna and Little Romaine. The Merchant Miss looked quite disheveled, like a little fox covered in dust, with a thick layer of grime on her nose. When she saw Brendel looking at her, she couldn’t help but stick out her tongue shyly.
“I thought I would be safe behind Charles’s wall, Brendel, I’m sorry.” Though her tone was shaky, her expression clearly showed excitement: how thrilling, she wanted to do it again.
Brendel briskly tapped her forehead, glanced at Antinna, and replied, “Thank her properly later, Miss Antinna. This isn’t the time for that. Come with me, we need to get out of here.”
The noble lady at the back started to cough, replying in a low voice, “No need.”
However, the girl slightly lifted her chin, feeling a hint of pride. As a member of the nobility, she couldn’t help but inherit a bit of that ancient pride of the Erluin family.
Antinna never told anyone that the elaborate family crest of the Bogen-Nation family featured a prominent lily, located at the top of the shield, nearly identical to the royal lilies of Corvado. This indicated that the noble family was once a branch of the royal family hundreds of years ago, though now fallen, the nobility embedded in their bl**d still lingered.
In truth, her design for the magical conduit device was inspired by a dusty blueprint in her family’s basement. Otherwise, with her unremarkable talent, how could she have thought to walk down this path?
Yet, Antinna had never considered surrendering; the more their family fell into decline, the more she yearned to revive her ancestors’ legacy. Unlike her declining noble father, she had always been a fiercely competitive girl.
However, Balthom’s words interrupted her thoughts as the red-bearded mercenary carefully asked, “Where do we leave from, Lord Knight? We don’t know how many of these monsters are outside, or how they got in. Lohn said the underground trading fair was heavily guarded; it’s damnable—”
“We’ll exit from the backstage,” Brendel replied, glancing around at the smoky surroundings. His mind was already set; it seemed the target of Madara was the high-ranking nobles from Bruglas attending this auction, so their primary target must be the boxes above.
What made him a little uneasy was that the previous three animated figures had clearly come straight for him. He didn’t understand what had attracted Madara’s attention; thinking it over, he could only suspect that somehow his leadership of those refugees had leaked through some channel.
But he had only killed one of their squad commanders— was Instalung really so vengeful? Collecting intelligence on him and others and planning this operation couldn’t have been easy.
Even saying it was a mobilization of forces wouldn’t be excessive.
Brendel could only hope that he was merely considered an extra target in this operation, but in any case, he was beginning to realize that his presence was gradually affecting the course of history.
This filled him with a sense of urgency.
Otherwise, his advantages would gradually dissipate.
Charles agreed with Brendel’s assessment, but his sentiments clearly went further. The young wizard apprentice had evidently analyzed the previous discussions between Brendel and him regarding equipment, attributes, and experience. His suggestion was that exiting from the backstage would clearly be beneficial for opportunism; those auction items and money that hadn’t been turned over yet were clearly a huge treasure.
If Freya were here, she would surely express dissatisfaction with Charles’s idea— unfortunately, the kind-hearted and righteous future Valkyrie was currently awaiting rewards at the Silver Wing Cavalry Headquarters.
Meanwhile, Antinna, who had taken Freya’s place as Brendel’s aide and assistant, though from a noble family, understood that in this era, the essence of nobility often resembled that of bandits— not to mention this Miss was a practical thinker. Upon hearing Charles’s proposal, she not only did not stop it but immediately supplemented it with her wisdom, striving to make the plan feasible.
As for Little Romaine and Balthom, the former was eager for any thrilling and wondrous adventure, without caring whether it was legal or not. Moreover, the underground trade was not a lawful endeavor to begin with.
As for Balthom, as Brendel’s “vassal,” he certainly wouldn’t object.
Not to mention the unconscious Lohn; even if he weren’t unconscious, he would likely raise both hands in agreement. Just like the rumors circulating in Bruglas taverns— if anything made the people from Black Pepper Alley happier than taking advantage, it was seizing a great deal.
Seeing his nominal “subordinates” in such a crisis, focused primarily on figuring out how to make some profit, Brendel found himself uncertain whether that was good or bad.
But talking about it, this style resembled his early performance in the “Amber Sword”— back then, “Sue, who risked her life for money,” was quite a well-known title. Of course, that was due to the financial predicament he faced early in the game— as the Erluin dynasty faded, he gradually distanced himself from that reputation.
Yet, his penchant for risk-taking remained deeply rooted in his bl**d. Whether it was Sue or Brendel, they were now both potential gamblers.
And this style of action had, more or less, influenced Balthom, Romaine, and Charles. As for Antinna, he glanced back at the girl; her character resembled his a little.
After a moment of planning, they moved towards the auction platform below. However, they quickly discovered that many shared the same intention; it was just that, hindered by the animated figures, few could approach the two warriors with ‘Black Iron upstream’ strength and the fifteen wind spiders paving their way, and even saying none would not be wrong.
Thus, only they managed to break through Madara’s “assassins” and reach the platform below.
Brendel first spotted the auctioneer and his assistant collapsed in a pool of bl**d, and the place where the fire seed should have been was already empty; that highly valued treasure had long vanished. This made him frown, as there were two possibilities. One was that the undead had taken the fire seed— and the other situation was worth pondering.
He exchanged glances with Charles, both expressing confusion.
While the fire seed was an invaluable treasure for most intelligent beings, it wasn’t for the undead. Madara expanded its territory through soul fire and the spirit tower, making the fire seed almost worthless to them— this information wouldn’t be known to many, but it wouldn’t escape the eyes of a seasoned gamer or a wizard apprentice.
Such as himself and Charles.
“There’s a problem,” Brendel immediately raised his sword to his chest, warning those behind.
Charles also shielded the team’s rear at the same moment.
“What’s going on?” Balthom asked.
But before he finished speaking, a massive red figure suddenly dropped from above, thundering down onto the platform with a loud crash, creating a gigantic hole and filling the platform with smoke and dust.
…
(PS: I’m doing a bit better today; unfortunately, I still can’t eat meat. What a tragedy! If I recover tomorrow, I’ll start making up for the missed days. Hope everyone can be understanding.
Today is already the 30th; please continue to support with monthly tickets and subscriptions.)(To be continued. For further developments, please log in for more chapters and support the author by reading the official version!)
