Chapter 169: Act 103 – Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole (Part 2)
In Korkin’s view, the silence in this valley was somewhat eerie.
In fact, he didn’t like this utter stillness, as danger was always lurking beneath the calm surface, like a venomous snake hiding in the shadows, ready to strike unexpectedly.
Korkin was a lizardman dragon knight squad leader. In regular missions, his orders were often straightforward and simple—attack or raid—but the dragon knights sometimes served as reconnaissance units, one of their least favorite tasks. Scouting was far too dangerous, especially in the jungle, where professional skills often outweighed speed and agility.
Korkin also disliked situations where he couldn’t utilize his strengths.
He lifted his head, his elongated, diamond-shaped pupils reflecting the platinum light of the rising sun. The sun’s warmth dispelled the last remnants of cold that lingered from the night. As this warmth seeped into his cold lizardman blood, he couldn’t help but shiver. The lizardman lieutenant shook his head in disgust, using his keen olfactory senses unique to his race to search for abnormal scents in the air—his orders required them to locate a group of humans, but where were those humans?
To the north of Shubli lay a vast, boundless sea of forest. Honestly, Korkin felt it was somewhat fanciful to find a few humans in this jungle.
However, this lizardman lieutenant still cautiously gripped his spear tightly, extending his three fingers to point towards the forest ahead. He emitted a series of high-frequency sounds, commanding his subordinates to disperse and enter—
But he did not realize he had made a mistake at that moment.
When Korkin sent his subordinate into that eerie forest and received no response, he finally realized this point.
But it was a bit too late to react at this point. The lizardman hurriedly tried to retreat—while also pondering how to explain to his leader, the lizardman chief Hyeugil, that his negligence had cost four valuable dragon knights their lives.
This question was difficult to answer. Although Hyeugil seemed to most of his subordinates like a crude, unsociable upstart, he was also a shrewd lizardman. Korkin knew that his chief was not easily fooled. How was he to answer? But soon he realized he didn’t need to worry about this question anymore.
Because when he turned around, he saw a human and an elf standing right behind him, and Korkin had no idea when they had appeared there. All he knew was that the elf staring coldly at him—that must be a silver elf. Recently, they often caused trouble at the tomb of the silver elf king, so Korkin had gained some insight into them.
The silver elf radiated an aura typical of someone at the peak of the gold hierarchy.
The outcome of the battle was predictable; it was hard to imagine that five “fragile” lizardman knights had any chance against more than twenty gold-ranked warriors.
Thus, Korkin had no choice but to surrender.
…
Sometimes, a minor mistake could cost a life.
However, the only thing that relieved the lizardman lieutenant was that those who captured him didn’t seem to plan on taking his life just yet. Unfortunately, this was merely one of many bad news that seemed somewhat more acceptable. As a scout, Korkin understood that reconnaissance troops sometimes captured tongues and kept the prisoners alive for a little while longer to gather information before they inevitably met a singular fate—scouts wouldn’t carry burdens along.
This sounded somewhat absurd, but it was the truth; sometimes death wasn’t the worst thing.
If you didn’t reveal the truth, those cold and ruthless scouts had many ways to make you experience worse horrors than death. As a seasoned scout and an even more experienced lizardman outlaw, Korkin was no stranger to what was about to happen. But he wasn’t afraid because he was prepared to divulge everything he knew at the slightest press for information.
Lizardmen had no principles.
And as thieves, lizardmen had even fewer.
His hands and feet were tightly bound by a rope, yet he still cautiously surveyed his surroundings. However, Korkin quickly realized one fact—if they were capturing tongues, these people seemed to have captured far too few. The lizardman lieutenant soon saw that all of his subordinates were dead—four, not one more, not one less. He wasn’t foolish and immediately realized that his survival situation might be a bit dire.
So who were they? What did they want?
Korkin pondered this question but suddenly fell into darkness as the two who had captured him—human and silver elf—stood right in front of him. The lizardman lieutenant swallowed hard, his eyes darting around; if he could survive, he would want to.
But the key was how to ensure his life?
As he contemplated this profound question, Brendel was also staring at him. Because the Amber Sword was not a game governed by common sense, in fact, those initial players who transitioned from past PCs and next-gen consoles gradually learned these rules after suffering many losses.
Of course, these learned experiences had been passed down, and after experiencing the virtual era, Brendel had naturally learned how to adapt to this world’s play style.
He initially stood in front of the lizardman lieutenant, scrutinizing him closely before smiling slightly.
He squatted down before Korkin, reached out to pat his rough, elongated face, and gently said, “I know,” he said, “you’re thinking I’ll ask what I want to know, and you’ll tell me everything you know, then beg for your life, right?”
Korkin’s mouth fell open—revealing over a hundred sharp teeth—he felt as if he was prepared to confront all potential foes, but unexpectedly, he was hit squarely in the face instead. This lizardman shook his head, unable to fathom why this human knew what he was thinking—or did the other party have mind-reading abilities?
But if they had such a capability, didn’t that mean his only chance of survival was non-existent? Korkin couldn’t help but shiver, and even if it came down to a stretch, he didn’t expect to live; he simply hoped that these terrifying foes wouldn’t torment him too much before his death. He nervously fixed his diamond-shaped pupils on Brendel.
“Are you afraid?” Brendel asked again.
He noticed coming from behind him a low, muffled laughter. He recognized it as Romaine and Antinna’s voices, along with the two wild elf sisters, and most of the Lubis mercenaries joined in. For a moment, Brendel couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated, thinking he wished they’d show him some respect—didn’t they see he was dealing with serious matters?
However, this was quite helpless; in fact, when he first spoke those words to the lizardman, everyone in attendance was left stunned. But after experiencing it a second and even a third time, they discovered their lord was merely playing tricks.
But perhaps these people did not understand, Brendel’s capacity was neither mind-reading nor trickery; it simply stemmed from his extensive interactions with NPCs like bandits and outlaws. He had long been familiar with some of their basic reactions. Which NPCs had principles, and which did not, Brendel knew all too well.
Yet at this moment, Korkin clearly had no room to care about the others; he was already terrified by Brendel, and he was almost certain this human was a wizard, a terrifying one who could see into the heart. Of course, he originally had some doubts, but then he saw Brendel stand up, take a ruby from his pocket, gently point it at him, and ask, “You can try to answer my questions—”
Korkin was skeptical but when he opened his mouth, he realized that no sound came out. Though his mouth moved, not a single sound was emitted.
This time, Korkin was genuinely scared. Although in this era wizards were no longer as mysterious as they had been in the chaos of the past, in the minds of people living in such remote mountains, those individuals still possessed terrifying powers. Korkin couldn’t help but stare at Brendel, not understanding why he would “steal” his voice.
But Brendel gripped the ruby, releasing the silence spell. He glanced at the energy in the ruby, which still had 6 charges left—then he put the gem away and seriously told the lizardman, “See? I can take away your ability to speak; I can also give it back to you. Your voice is part of your soul; what I can take isn’t just your voice, but also your soul.”
The young man’s voice chilled: “The body decays, but the soul endures. Therefore, the punishment and pain regarding life itself is often temporary. But have you ever tasted the agony of your soul eternally tormented in flames?”
Korkin shivered and hastily shook his head.
Brendel smiled gently, squatting down to press against the other’s forehead and said: “So how about you help me with a favor?”
The lizardman nodded vigorously.
…
“You mean they retreated to the southwest?”
“Yes, chief. My people saw them retreating along the southwestern valley from the mountainside. I don’t know if they discovered us…”
Korkin opened the door to the hall belonging to Hyeugil and saw one of his colleagues reporting something to their leader, who sat in the high chair in the middle. This scene made him a bit tense, but ultimately, survival instincts took precedence. He took a deep breath, organized his thoughts, and walked up.
At this moment, the lizardman who was giving the report seemed to have finished speaking. At Hyeugil’s gesture, he turned and passed by Korkin, leaving the hall. The lizardman lieutenant didn’t dare to look back or meet Hyeugil’s gaze; in such circumstances, he could only lower his head—though he quickly recognized from the number of boots on the carpet that there were two extra people in this hall.
In fact, he knew those two people. They were both humans but seemed to have some connection with his leader. Korkin had seen these two fellows yesterday afternoon, but that was his leader’s affair; he didn’t dare pry.
He mentally recited what Brendel had told him, and with Martha in mind, he swore he had never been so serious even when reciting prayers.
That human wizard’s threatening words still echoed in his ears; his life was at stake.
…(To be continued. For what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
