Chapter 210: Rotting Leaves and Inverted Sky

Adventurers,

A complex and contradictory group that exists outside the mainstream social structure.

They hunt monsters, exchange for gold coins, protect farmland and villages from disasters, and make many people who should have starved to death in the streets and alleys have a mouthful of food, and the huge profits have nourished countless upstream and downstream industries with them as the core pillar.

And at the same time, the relatively low threshold of the industry, as well as the individual greatness far exceeding ordinary people, also made this group uneven.

Robbing food, harassing women, looting villages, and fighting to the death if they don't agree are common things.

It is an unstable factor in society and a potential source of danger.

For those noble lords living in high castles, they need adventurers to complete some "dirty work" that they cannot and disdain to do, but they also regard these armed personnel who carry weapons and do not depend on the territory as a threat.

And the farmers working in the fields might worry about passing adventurers looting their villages at will and destroying their peaceful farming life, but when encountering monster attacks, they have to desperately beg adventurers for help, even if they pay a high price for it.

With different positions and different angles, the views on this group are also very different.

But even so, after countless years, for adventurers, especially the bottom layer, some stereotypes, or "commonalities," have been summarized.

Actually, it's just two words:

——Desire.

From the most humble desire for survival: "live," "don't be hungry," "don't be cold"; to the dream of class leap: "become a lord," "buy land," "be a sheriff"...

From the instinctive timely indulgence of the senses: "alcohol," "reproduction," "slaughter"; to the ultimate pursuit of power and freedom.

Even those "human legends" who left their names in history cannot escape the cage called "desire."

In many cases, those sober people who realize the essence of desire will even take the initiative to let desire control themselves, drive their bodies and will, and move toward the direction of the goal.

And for adventurer squads like the Sea Thorn Squad, composed of low-level professionals, they certainly don't have to worry about filling their stomachs, but they also don't have any noble pursuits.

Mostly just for gold coins.

Weiruisi and Kashi are both professionals and partners for many years.

Since the establishment of the Sea Thorn Squad, the names of the two have been on the registration list of the association.

Even if they have been together for a long time, just like occasionally facing a crisis, they still guard against each other, and the two have never revealed their detailed experiences in the past to each other.

Only knowing roughly that one lived by the sea as a child and was a fisherman, and the other mixed in the Underdark and the surface since childhood, and was a mixed-blood of humans and Drow Elves.

As for whether they have joined other squads and had other teammates, no one knows.

At the beginning, the Sea Thorn Squad was just like the vast majority of adventurer squads on this continent, just an ordinary squad that lived by taking missions, hunting monsters, and obtaining bounties.

But I don't know when it started, maybe it was in the 1014th year of the Arcane Calendar, when facing that displacer beast, the half-orc warrior who was abandoned by the two; or maybe it was three years ago, when cleaning up the battlefield, the red gemstone short blade worth 150 gold coins touched from a dead gnome ranger teammate.

Kashi and Weiruisi gradually became accustomed to getting some small wealth from teammates in addition to completing missions.

If the benefits were large enough, they wouldn't even mind doing it themselves, letting those poor newcomers see the true cruelty of adventurers.

Thanks to their rich adventurer experience and skills in identifying people, the two had never made a mistake, and even if they occasionally misjudged and recruited objects that were difficult to deal with, they were often treated as teammates until the end, and then took the opportunity to leave.

Of course, under such behavior, the high member loss rate, if staying in a fixed human gathering place for a long time, is very easy to make a name in the small circle of adventurers, not only affecting the team's recruitment but also very likely to attract trouble.

Therefore, the two are accustomed to "roaming crimes," coming and going between various association branches, using time and space to dilute the impact of this behavior.

Perhaps within their scope of handling, there is no excessive loot on adventurers with lower professional levels, but after several years of accumulation, it still saved a considerable amount of wealth for the two.

Even if the usual expenses are huge, they have also saved a considerable number of gold coins in the bank, or purchased houses and shops in several big cities.

Just like this, their despicable adventurer career lasted until a few months ago.

In a town that was not very prosperous, the Sea Thorn Squad welcomed a new team member.

——A young, cute, kind priest.

And during the mission, the two discovered that their teammate seemed to carry a precious magic accessory that could be sold for a sky-high price enough for retirement in the market.

The things that happened next no longer need to be described too much.

But what is hateful is that at the last moment, the necklace woven from thorns was stolen by a disgusting, nauseating thief—a black bear with dense mane.

And this is exactly the reason why Kashi and Weiruisi have been tracking for months and finally came to Hegu Town.

Fortunately, persistence is always useful.

Only the most patient fisherman with the most tenacious willpower can catch big fish in that chaotic ocean—this is the original words of Kashi's father before he died.

And just like the proverb circulating in Weiruisi's clan: the cave you accidentally fall into in the Underdark might be a hungry hook horror, or it might be a hidden treasure sealed for many years.

A "suspected newcomer" who was recruited into the squad unintentionally, the extraordinary strength suddenly displayed disrupted the two's original plan, but when they were together peacefully until the last mission, they discovered that the target they had been pursuing was the object of the other party's investigation.

A turn for the better.

When Weiruisi stood in the bushes, across an entire open space, looking at the corpse of that Beastman.

When the dazzling magic light on the other party's neck reflected into her eyes that became brighter as the night deepened.

This Drow mixed-blood from the Underdark suddenly recalled the night before she passed the clan trial.

Sweet and memorable.

Everything is worth it.

The pathological pursuit of money and wealth, which was unconsciously cultivated after many years of adventurer career, even made Weiruisi instinctively want to swallow the magic accessory in front of her alone.

But the next second, the only remaining reason warned her in the deepest part of her heart:

Don't rush, don't rush yet.

Wait until the only outsider on the field, the young boy who just joined the team, is solved.

She and her teammate will naturally discuss the distribution of the spoils.

At that time, if they are still not satisfied...

Weiruisi's eyes flickered, and the greed that was thick enough to be suffocating flashed away in the depths of her pupils.

"Patter."

Behind her, accompanied by the sound of branches breaking and metal plate-chain collision, footsteps approached rapidly.

Coming!

She was suddenly alert in her heart.

Subconsciously turning her head, she made silent eye contact with Kashi on the side.

That look, which she had seen countless times and was exactly the same as her own, made the corners of her mouth bend into an arc unconsciously.

No extra communication was needed, Weiruisi knew clearly in her heart that her old teammate had the same idea as her.

Her brain operated rapidly, and countless thoughts flowed through in an instant.

This black-haired young man, who was called "Grey Sword" among the bottom-level adventurers in Hegu Town, possessed strong strength far beyond other professionals who had just been promoted.

Although the combat style tended to be close combat, and the equipment on his body was thick and heavy, possessing decent defensive power.

But after careful observation of these few missions, she knew clearly that the other party also mastered some kind of combat technique with strong explosive power that could achieve rapid displacement in a short time. And it looked like the consumption was not large, and it could be used repeatedly in a battle.

Under normal circumstances, this was definitely a very difficult opponent.

In close-quarters combat, wielding that iron-grey longsword with its distinct personal style, the arc-shaped slash—suspected to be a Mastered-level combat technique—was difficult to block even for the Owl Bear's thick downy feathers and fur;

From top to bottom, a set of fine plate-chain composite armor and leg guards with cold and hard styling nearly wrapped his whole body, giving him a tough defensive power far exceeding ordinary adventurers, and the fault tolerance rate was extremely high.

And if one thought about pulling away the distance, that displacement-type combat technique that condensed a wolf head in the air would control the initiative of the battlefield under the wolf fangs in an instant.

Retreating, wandering and pulling, approaching and attacking...

As long as you don't possess a speed faster than the wolf howl, then how the field develops is controlled by him.

Opportunity, only for an instant.

At the beginning, the moment the other party approached her and hadn't perceived hostility yet.

Was the best opportunity to solve the other party at the fastest speed.

Otherwise, after "Grey Sword" reacted, the field would fall into a stalemate.

Knowing clearly in her heart that solving Xia Nan in an instant was a difficult thing.

But Weiruisi was exceptionally confident in the bottom of her heart.

On one hand, it was the bloodline from the Drow Elf, which made her increasingly calm and steady at critical moments, a natural assassin, a big heart.

On the other hand, it was also her own perfect and even somewhat complicated preparation.

The right hand gripping the sharp short dagger brushed across her waist quietly, and the next second, between her slender fingers in the blind spot of Xia Nan's vision, there was an object shaped like a closed eye, oval.

This was her trump card, brought out from the clan and placed close to her body, used at critical moments.

An eyeball of the terminal of the 【Beholder】, a dangerous monster with a challenge rating as high as "3," which had been specially processed.

This dangerous monster does not have the burly and strong physique of an Owl Bear, and even its physical fitness is not as good as that of a Shihua Xiyi.

But its eyes and tentacles, which can shoot "Confusion Ray," "Paralysis Ray," "Fear Ray," and "Wounding Ray" respectively, make it one of the most terrifying existences in countless deep tunnels in the Underdark.

At this moment, the eyeball in Weiruisi's hand retained a "Fear Ray."

As long as she pulled the mental power and squeezed it gently, the special ray capable of making the target fall into a "Fear" state would fall on Xia Nan.

She didn't know how long Xia Nan would be affected by this consumable item.

One minute, thirty seconds, or just a few breaths?

Considering the worst case, the other party's will was tough enough to completely resist the mental attack of the Fear Ray.

At the same time, the professional ability of the Rogue, the 【Shadow Bind】 she mastered, had also locked the other party's legs like silt.

This kind of ability could not be offset by will alone, and the other party's physical fitness could not reach the level of being able to break through the restraint in an instant.

An instant, even if it was just an instant of restraint.

Was enough for Weiruisi to continue her plan.

【Shadow Body】 could grant her far higher movement speed than usual in a short time, allowing the master-level 【Direct Stab】 to show exaggerated explosive power in an instant.

And even if considering all possible situations without a lower limit, under the synthesis of all the above conditions, while ignoring Kashi who shot with her, her strike didn't achieve the ideal effect.

As long as she grazed the other party with those two poisoned short daggers, the lethal poison would seep into the body through the wound and flow through the whole body with the blood.

By this time, the balance of the goddess of victory would be completely tilted to their side.

Weiruisi didn't hold back at all, using her full strength from the beginning and revealing her trump card.

And if everything developed as she expected, Xia Nan might also encounter a heavy blow that would affect the situation on the field in less than a second.

It's a pity that no matter how meticulous Weiruisi planned, and no matter how insidious and vicious the means were.

She wouldn't have thought that everything would fall into stagnation from the beginning.

The short dagger in her hand had just been stabbed out, and the master-level 【Direct Stab】 combat technique hadn't had time to take shape;

A shadow appeared faintly on the surface of her body, and the explosive power brought by 【Shadow Body】 was still brewing in her muscles;

The shadows on the meadow under the dim light twisted slightly, and 【Shadow Bind】 had only just locked onto the target, probing slowly toward the other party's feet.

At the very beginning of everything,

She aimed at Xia Nan in front of her and squeezed open the eyeball from the 【Beholder】 in her hand.

When that closed eye suddenly opened and projected the dark purple beam-like light onto the black-haired young man, trying to make him fall into a state of fear.

Everything was over.

【Look into the Abyss】

Category: Specialty

Effect: 1. When resisting mental control spells such as charm, fear, hypnosis, etc., your saving throw gets a bonus (affected by perception attribute);

2. When you successfully resist the mental control effect, the caster must forcibly perform a saving throw, and if it fails, they fall into a 【Brief Stun】 state and receive a certain amount of mental damage.

Weiruisi found it difficult to describe in words the experience she had the moment she squeezed open the Beholder's eyeball.

All thoughts, the planning in her mind, and even the greed for wealth were washed away by some more massive invisible force in an instant.

It wasn't a simple blank brain, even the ability to "think," which every creature is born with, seemed to have been deprived.

Only a withered body containing a pale soul remained, sinking into the bottomless abyss where no light could be seen... sinking, constantly sinking.

Weiruisi didn't know how long she had been in this state.

When her eyes regained focus, the colorful colors of the world were reflected into her pupils again with the light.

She suddenly realized that the sky and the ground seemed to be inverted in rapid rotation.

Trees grew down from the sky paved with soil and rotting leaves, and the dense canopy and dim twilight fell to form the earth.

The last remaining thought turned in her mind, and only then did she suddenly realize amidst the headless body spraying blood and the iron-grey sword light remaining in the corner of her eyes.

Oh... so that's it.

"Bang."

In the quiet forest, came the sound of a corpse falling.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 211 =====