Treasure

The Black Skeleton appeared in front of Benny Blanco in an instant, its two black scimitars flashing toward his neck like lightning.

"The Scourge Legion?" Benny Blanco's face changed dramatically. In his panic, he could only twist aside to avoid the blade light, then retreat two steps.

But at that moment, the Bronze Skeleton Warrior had already taken position and charged forward.

This Bronze Skeleton had evolved to the Fourth Tier and followed a defensive path, possessing immense strength. Blocking the narrow staircase like this, it immediately stopped several Rogues in Stealth. Its great bronze shield swept and blocked, sealing off the staircase, which was only wide enough for two people abreast.

"Sulonna, you actually colluded with a Scourge Legion mage?" Benny Blanco shouted as two Blackwater Sabers sprang into his hands, blocking the Black Skeleton's twin blades.

Before his words had faded, Li Shaolin flipped through the black book in his hand. A brown Clay Golem and another Skeleton Warrior carrying a bone blade and shield appeared and rushed toward the staircase.

"Venomous Dagger!" As his chant rang out, blue light gathered in the air around the weapons of the three skeletons, coating them in a vivid azure glow.

White light lit up between his fingers again, and two Bone Fangs shot out at an angle.

"Get back down to the hall, now!" Benny Blanco roared. On this tiny staircase, their group had been blocked by just two Skeleton Warriors. Since they were all melee fighters, they would never withstand the combined attacks of two mages.

Before they could react, the Black Skeleton leaped into the air at Li Shaolin's command, springing past Benny Blanco's twin blades and landing among the Rogues behind him. The Bone Skeleton pressed forward to take its place, holding Benny Blanco back.

The Rogues had been blocked by their leader and unable to get upstairs, and they had long been holding back their frustration. Seeing the Black Skeleton jump down on its own, they got exactly what they wanted. Who cared whether it belonged to the Scourge Legion or not? They immediately surrounded it.

"Clack, clack, slash, slash." Unable to dodge in time, the Black Skeleton was struck by two Rogues' daggers. Naturally, those two men were also cut by the Black Skeleton's scimitars.

The daggers only knocked the Black Skeleton's bones slightly off balance. Without flesh or blood, and with the Rogues' attacks focused on agility, the damage they dealt was naturally limited. In contrast, the Rogues cut by its black scimitars were in trouble. Blue spread rapidly from their wounds, and in the blink of an eye, the two men had turned completely blue.

"Watch out, it's poisoned!" Benny Blanco shouted. Just as he finished warning them, a Rogue fighting beside him was struck by the Bronze Skeleton and immediately turned blue as well.

With a crack like shattering ice, Sulonna saw that they were about to retreat downstairs. Frost Nova had just come off cooldown, so she shifted aside and froze three Rogues, Benny Blanco included.

Li Shaolin pointed at the Bronze Skeleton's opponent. Black light flared above the Rogue's head—Lesser Blindness. His vision went dark at once, his dagger techniques became chaotic, and the Bronze Skeleton killed him with a powerful slash.

Benny Blanco swept a Blackwater Saber forward and used Kidney Shot, stunning the Bone Skeleton. With a struggle, he broke free from the ice ring's control, flipped over, and jumped down into the hall.

"Get out! Fight them outside!" Benny Blanco shouted, only to discover that the door had been blocked by tables and chairs. They had barricaded it themselves to keep their prey from escaping, and now it had trapped them instead.

At that moment, the Black Skeleton's scimitars danced again, cutting another Rogue.

The Bronze Skeleton, Clay Golem, and Bone Skeleton followed them downstairs. Behind them came Li Shaolin holding the black Book of the Dead and Sulonna wielding a Gem Staff.

Benny Blanco hurriedly waved his hands. "Wait, Sulonna. I think this is a misunder—" Before he could finish, the Bronze Skeleton attacked first, slashing at him with its long blade, followed closely by the other summons. On the Defias side, one had been slain, three had been poisoned, and they were slowed by the Clay Golem. They were practically useless now, leaving only five who could still fight.

Sulonna began chanting and cast Fear Spell again. Another Rogue was affected, wandering aimlessly around the room. Naturally, this gave Li Shaolin an opening. He fired Bone Fang after Bone Fang, drawing blood from the Rogue, then Sulonna followed with a Shadow Bolt that ended his life.

Benny Blanco gritted his teeth and struck repeatedly with his Blackwater Sabers, battering the Bone Skeleton's ribcage and forcing it back again and again.

Then he spun around. With a slash, the Bone Skeleton was hit as though by a heavy blow. Half its ribcage shattered, and it fell to the floor. Benny Blanco had spent all that time building up combo points, finally reaching five stars and unleashing his deadly attack: Eviscerate! That single strike robbed the pain-free undead Bone Skeleton of its ability to fight.

If Benny Blanco had known Li Shaolin's weakness and taken the chance to finish the skeleton with another strike, dispersing it completely, Li Shaolin would likely have been left with a splitting headache and unable to assist. Unfortunately, Benny Blanco gave up that chance. He turned, activated Sprint, and charged Li Shaolin with both blades swinging.

With Sprint active, he was unbelievably fast. Li Shaolin did not even have time to react before the blade light was upon him!

"Watch out!" Sulonna cried out beside him. A sharp crack sounded as a Bone Shield faintly shattered in midair.

Benny Blanco was about to strike again, but his energy had run dry, forcing him to switch to a normal attack.

By then, Li Shaolin had reacted. The two Bone Fangs prepared at his fingertips flew out. Benny Blanco knocked one away, but the other struck firmly into his shoulder.

Without the other Rogues holding it down, the Black Skeleton's scimitars flew like lightning. How could any ordinary person possibly stop it? Its body spun again and again, and before long it had wounded its opponent. Affected by the poison on its scimitars, the man was dispatched after only a few exchanges. Then black shadows flickered through the room, and within moments, the remaining Rogues had all been brought down.

"Ha!" Seeing that he could not hurt Li Shaolin and that his men were being wounded one after another, Benny Blanco began to panic. He turned and lunged at Sulonna!

Sulonna was about to cast Fear Spell when he kicked her with the tip of his foot, immediately interrupting her spellcasting. It was the Rogue's signature skill against casters: Kick!

Darkness suddenly filled his vision, and he could no longer see. Li Shaolin had already prepared Lesser Blindness and cast it at just the right moment, allowing Sulonna to escape.

When Benny Blanco's sight returned, all his subordinates were already lying on the floor. He was surrounded by the Clay Golem, Black Skeleton, and Bronze Skeleton, while Li Shaolin watched him coldly from the side.

"Sulonna, for the sake of my friendship with Erland—" Mr. Iron Wrist began pleading.

Before he could finish, three blades and a pair of stone fists struck together!

One of Westfall's three great powers, commander of the Defias Smugglers and Defias Trappers, Benny Blanco, known as Iron Wrist, crashed to the ground!

Li Shaolin gave his summons an order to clear the field. The Bronze Skeleton and Black Skeleton immediately moved, killing every poisoned Rogue who was too weak to move.

"Ah..." Sulonna watched from the side and sighed for no apparent reason.

After cleaning up, Li Shaolin stored the Skeleton Warrior with half its shattered ribcage in the Book of the Dead. Just as he was about to move the tables and chairs blocking the door, Sulonna grabbed him.

"What is it?" Li Shaolin asked in confusion.

"Benny Blanco was one of Westfall's three great commanders. He should have quite a bit of wealth. And those two wooden doors upstairs were locked with iron chains. Don't you think that's strange?"

At her reminder, Li Shaolin realized it. Right, perhaps that guy had hidden some good stuff.

So the two did not hurry to leave. Instead, they returned upstairs and ordered the Clay Golem below to deal with the Rogues' corpses.

Without much effort, the Bronze Skeleton following behind Li Shaolin chopped the iron lock apart with its long blade. When they pushed the door open, all kinds of jewelry immediately came into view.

"How much do you think this stuff is worth?" Li Shaolin was an outsider and did not know much about such things, so he asked Sulonna beside him.

"Probably... probably one to two thousand gold coins' worth of wealth. Oh my god, I've never seen so much treasure in my life!" After estimating it, Sulonna replied, "Benny Blanco must have only found these things recently. He probably uncovered the Fabron Family's treasure cache."

"Treasure cache?"

"Yes. Every ancient family has its own place for storing treasure. If they lack the strength to create a magic array to seal the key, they often rely on special objects instead, like the Defias Brotherhood's vault in Elwynn Forest. It can only be opened with the Receiver's ring." Seeing that Li Shaolin did not understand, Sulonna explained it to him.

"So that's how it was. No wonder all the squad leaders fought over that ring. It was a key. Then that Goldtooth we found in Fargodeep Mine was probably also the Stonemason Family's treasure key. No wonder, no wonder they were willing to argue with me over the mine." Li Shaolin finally understood. There had been so many twists behind it all.

"What do we do with all this treasure? My Storage Space can't hold it." Li Shaolin complained.

Sulonna smiled. "Of course not. A professional's Storage Space only has eight slots. If it could hold all this, Benny Blanco would have carried it with him already. Why would he need to lock it away here?"

"What about Storage Space equipment?" Li Shaolin thought, Couldn't you equip bags?

"Storage equipment? Don't even think about it. Ordinary people can't afford it."

It seemed things were somewhat different from the game.

After discussing it, the two decided to return the treasure to the Fabron Family's original vault and collect it later. Naturally, following the principle that those who worked more received more, Sulonna insisted on accepting only one-tenth of the proceeds.

Downstairs, the Clay Golem had absorbed all the corpses cleanly, leaving behind a pile of weapons, gold coins, and the like.

"What happened? Where are the bodies?" Sulonna asked in surprise.

"Well... heh heh, I have a bit of a connection with the Scourge Legion, so I have my own methods for disposing of corpses. Never mind that. Let's find the vault first," Li Shaolin said smugly.

Sulonna was quite skilled at finding vaults. Before long, she found the hidden compartment behind the bookshelf. The key to opening it turned out to be a Pocket Watch. It seemed the Fabron Family liked using such things.

Once everything had been dealt with, the two let out long breaths. Li Shaolin saw that Sulonna had remained somewhat downcast. After all, within the Defias, the only backers she had were gone. Her days ahead would likely become even harder.

"What do you think would happen if we returned the Receiver's ring to VanCleef?" For some reason, the thought rose in Li Shaolin's mind, and he spoke it aloud.