**Chapter 48: Great Fire**
Evening. Soren left the merchant caravan’s encampment alone. Gloria was right; he really didn’t have the ability to guide Vivian’s path at this moment. Unless he planned to take up wizardry part-time, Vivian would have to comprehend any spell on her own. This would inevitably lead to many detours, and at times even cause destruction and danger. To some extent, this was also something that an excellent Sorcerer had to face. Therefore, Soren ultimately decided to let Vivian stay by her side for a while. He wouldn’t let Gloria take Vivian away, but they were trapped in White Horse City. Rather than having Vivian stay in the inn, it was better for her to temporarily follow him.
Additionally, Soren was prepared to take this opportunity to venture out and take a risk!
When he walked out of the room, the little girl’s eyes were red. He didn’t know if she had eavesdropped on their conversation as she stretched out her little hand and tightly grabbed Soren’s clothing.
Her pitiful appearance made Soren’s heart ache, further solidifying his resolve to venture out!
Time waits for no one.
If he continued to slowly improve his strength as before, it would be hard to possess the ability to protect himself before the chaotic years began. Therefore, Soren had to venture out, as an opportunity was right in front of him. Although the Ancient Red Dragon had not yet appeared, the chain reactions from its impending appearance were already beginning to ferment. In the past, hunting monsters required going out into the wilderness, but now all creatures around the Black Gas Marsh had been expelled by Dragon Pressure. This meant that Soren wouldn’t need to travel deep into the wilderness for several days to encounter many monsters!
If he was lucky and didn’t run into anything life-threatening, he could earn nearly 1000 points of Killing Experience in a day by hunting monsters.
White Horse City would need at least a week to reopen the trade route.
As long as Soren didn’t have the bad luck of dying at the hands of a monster, this week would be enough for him to elevate his Profession Level to the Third Tier!
Dried food, weapons, bandages, potions, bug repellent powder, antidotes.
Soren busied himself in the trading area, quickly spending his accumulated savings until there was no room left in his Dimensional Bag, at which point he finally stopped his frenzied purchasing.
The night was hazy.
Soren’s figure appeared near the inn where they initially stayed. Having learned the circumstances from Vivian, he naturally wouldn’t let them off so easily.
If they dared to do certain things, they must pay the price!
In a dim alley.
Due to the worsening security situation in White Horse City, the number of patrolling guards on the streets had greatly increased, and there had even been proposals for a curfew, though none had been passed yet.
The inn felt rather desolate since someone had died during the day, and most guests had checked out. A lamp was lit at the bar counter.
The innkeeper named Kofan sat with a gloomy face, facing the fat man before him, saying, “Morode, is this all the brains you have? You actually sent a subordinate who can’t even handle an eight-year-old girl to do this!”
“Are you out of your mind?”
Morode’s expression stiffened. After hearing his words, he growled, “How could that be possible!”
“Rask’s skills are no worse than those guards. How could he not even handle a little girl? There must be something strange about this. It’s possible that someone else quietly took action, not only stealing our business but also killing my subordinate.”
In fact, he had another suspicion.
That is, his subordinate truly had been careless, not only failing to successfully abduct that little girl but also being killed by her instead.
But that was too ridiculous.
How could a little girl who looked at most seven or eight years old possibly k*ll an adult man trained for combat and also an advanced professioner?
A slight rustling sound came.
Morode raised his head warily and signaled to the thug beside him. As someone who had navigated the slums, his alertness was always very high.
“Boss! Bad news! The warehouse is on fire!” One of his subordinates hurried over.
It was unknown when the fire started behind the inn, but it quickly spread and was almost about to reach the kitchen in the back.
Kofan stood up, furious, and shouted at those around him, “Bastards! Hurry up and put out the fire!”
More than ten people in the inn started to get busy.
Such inns had their own wells and water containers. Others were grabbing things to fetch water to put out the fire, but Morode’s expression turned pale. He quietly looked around; his chubby body quickly moved away at a speed not consistent with his size. Judging by his instincts, he felt that this fire started too suddenly; perhaps someone was planning to take action against them. Moreover, the young man who had gone out during the day had not yet returned. This fire might have been set by him.
The fat figure quietly slipped out through the side door. Morode placed his hand on the hilt of his kn*fe, warily scanning the surroundings, before running toward the street outside.
Swish!
A crossbow bolt shot out from the darkness.
Morode’s fat body trembled as he emitted a painful scream.
Boom!
A violent explosion sounded from a distance; the barrels in the inn’s warehouse ignited, causing a series of explosions that immediately spread throughout the area, alarming the patrolling guards nearby.
Swish!
A second crossbow bolt shot out from above. Already having been on guard, this bolt merely grazed Morode’s cheek. It was only at this point that he realized the enemy’s position was actually on the rooftop beside the street. The previous explosion masked his cries, and upon realizing that the opponent had a strong crossbow, Morode immediately rolled towards the house while drawing his weapon. Crossbow bolts were slow to fire, but the two arrows shot in succession had intervals of less than a second. This meant the opponent was adept at using crossbows.
He had no armor on him, and relying on his body alone was impossible to withstand a crossbow bolt.
Morode tried to cry out for help, but a gradually numbing sensation spread from his wound throughout his body, causing him to become increasingly rigid until he finally collapsed to the ground.
It was poison!
The poison of a Bipedal Dragon!
Years of experience in the gray areas made him realize something, and despair immediately showed on his face.
A shadow jumped down from the second floor.
Cold light flashed.
A curved blade directly slashed down from his neck, instantly severing his head.
Soren’s masked figure appeared. He coldly glanced at the corpse before him, then bent his body and propelled himself off the wall to the second floor. The guards of White Horse City would arrive in at most ten minutes, and he needed to eliminate these enemies within five minutes to escape calmly. The fire had started to spread, and it was possible to alert the wizard and priests. In this era, many houses were made of wood; once a great fire broke out, it would be terrifying and nearly impossible to extinguish, sometimes directly burning down an entire street.
A row of data appeared before Soren:
“k*ll target!…”
“Extract target’s soul energy, gain 180 points of Killing Experience.”
………………
In the shadows of the night, a swift figure leaped across the rooftops. Soren hurriedly approached the location of the inn while reloading his crossbow.
He only had a few seconds to strike.
This meant he needed to k*ll the enemies as effectively as possible before others heard the screams and reacted to look for cover, because even under the cover of night, these seasoned gang members could respond in seconds to someone attacking them with ranged weapons. Once they took cover behind objects, half the effectiveness of Soren’s crossbow would be wasted.
All the crossbow bolts were coated with poison in advance.
Soren crawled forward on the roof. The fire lit up the area, but no one noticed him.
Many residents in the surrounding area had also been startled; some had already started to get dressed to help put out the fire, not because the innkeeper had good relationships but simply because the fire would threaten their homes as well.
Soren quickly identified his target.
It was a tall man. Due to the distance and firelight, he couldn’t see clearly, but judging by the way he was shouting, it should be the innkeeper from the day before.
Swish!
A crossbow bolt was shot out.
The innkeeper let out a scream and immediately ducked behind the wooden boards.
The opponent reacted quickly, seeming to have gone through plenty of battles. After being attacked, he immediately shouted to his subordinates and picked up a wooden barrel to shield himself. Soren didn’t have the specialty of crossbow expertise; hitting the target wasn’t difficult for him, but targeting a vital spot was not easy. However, this didn’t matter much; the poison on the crossbow bolts would take effect in a short period of time. Even if the toxicity wasn’t enough to be lethal, the paralysis effect of the Bipedal Dragon’s venom could incapacitate the enemy.
Swish, swish, swish!
Three consecutive crossbow bolts shot out from the darkness.
Soren couldn’t afford to aim; he quickly loaded and shot at the areas where people were, one bolt hit the wooden door, and the other two struck the enemy, but neither hit vital spots.
Clang!
Soren drew out his curved blade from behind, a cold gleam in his eyes, and jumped down from the rooftop, rolling to dissipate the momentum, and pounced on the innkeeper who had first hidden behind the wooden door.
“d*e!”
The curved blade traced an elegant arc as Soren slashed across the opponent’s waist, instantly cutting open his belly, revealing large sections of severed intestines.
In an instant, he retracted the blade and stabbed it into the opponent’s chest, piercing the heart.
The poison of the Bipedal Dragon would take effect within two minutes, its fierce toxicity spreading through the bl**d; at first it would merely numb, but soon the wound would lose feeling, and finally, the entire person’s reaction speed would drastically decrease. This was the best poison available to buy at the early stages, and it was an essential item for thieves challenging boss-level enemies.
A bottle the size of a thumb cost around 120 Gind!
Equivalent to an Extraordinary Weapon.
There was no time to clean up the battlefield; Soren quickly got up and charged toward another enemy who had been struck by the crossbow bolt.
The paralysis wouldn’t last long!
In this world, humans had good antibodies; as long as they didn’t d*e from the toxicity, they would gradually recover.
The paralysis effect of the Bipedal Dragon’s poison could last for five to ten minutes.
As long as one’s constitution wasn’t exceptionally high, like above 18 points, or even 20 points of extraordinary constitution, it would be difficult to resist the paralysis effect. At most, it would only shorten the duration.
Shouts from the White Horse City guards echoed from a distance.
The battle here had already attracted many people, and the screams scared the nearby residents away.
Soren glared resentfully at the other thugs hiding away, swung his curved blade to slice one guy’s throat, and then dove into the night.
He couldn’t let the guards of White Horse City discover him!
For now, he had to let these lucky fishes go; fortunately, it seemed he had already killed the leader.
The fire was growing larger.
When the guards of White Horse City arrived, soon several wizards in gray robes appeared. Frowning, they glanced at the bl**d and corpses on the ground before starting to cooperate in casting spells to extinguish the fire.
In comparison to the m*rder event before them, controlling the spread of the fire was the most important matter!
