Treasure

The black skeleton materialized instantly in front of Benny Blanco, its twin black sabers streaking toward his neck like lightning.

"Scourge Legion?" Benny Blanco's face went pale. In panic, he twisted his body aside to dodge the blade's edge, shifting his feet lightly as he retreated two steps.

But by then, the bronze skeleton warrior had already squared off and moved to intercept.

This bronze skeleton had evolved to the Fourth Tier, built for defense with immense strength. Blocking the stairwell entrance, it held off several Rogues who had been in Stealth. The bronze greatshield swung and parried, sealing the narrow passage—barely wide enough for two to walk side by side—tight as a drum.

"Sulonna, you're colluding with a Scourge Legion mage?" Benny Blanco snapped, his twin Blackwater Sabers springing up to block the black skeleton's slashing blades as he roared.

Before his words faded, Li Shaolin flipped through the black book in his hands. A brown Clay Golem and another skeleton warrior wielding a bone blade and shield materialized, charging toward the stairwell.

"Venomous Dagger!" At his incantation, blue light coalesced in the air around the three skeletons' weapons, turning them a shimmering blue in an instant.

White light flickered between his fingers as two bone fangs flew diagonally forward.

"Get back to the main hall below!" Benny Blanco shouted. On this cramped stairwell, his group was blocked by two skeleton warriors, all of them melee fighters—they wouldn't survive a joint assault from two enemy mages.

Before they could react, the black skeleton leaped up at Li Shaolin's command, springing clear of Benny Blanco's twin sabers and landing among the Rogues behind him. The bone skeleton pressed forward, taking its place to hold off Benny Blanco.

The Rogues, held back by their leader and itching for a fight, welcomed the black skeleton's descent. Scourge Legion or not, they surrounded it eagerly.

Clink, clink, slash, slash. The black skeleton couldn't dodge in time; two Rogues' daggers cut into it, though they too were slashed by its curved blades in return.

The daggers scraped against the black skeleton's bones, only knocking it off balance. Without flesh, the Rogues' agility-focused attacks did little damage. But the Rogues struck by its black sabers were unlucky—blue spread rapidly from their wounds, and in moments, both turned into blue figures.

"Watch out—poison!" Benny Blanco shouted his warning just as a Rogue beside him was cut down by the bronze skeleton, his body instantly turning blue.

A sharp crack of shattering ice rang out. Sulonna, seeing them about to retreat, had timed her Frost Nova cooldown perfectly. She sidestepped, freezing three Rogues—Benny Blanco included.

Li Shaolin pointed at the bronze skeleton's opponent. Black light flared above the Rogue's head—Lesser Blindness. The Rogue's vision went dark, his dagger strikes faltering, and the bronze skeleton finished him with a single powerful blow.

Benny Blanco slashed his Blackwater Sabers in a Kidney Shot, stunning the bone skeleton. He wrenched himself free of the ice ring's grip, flipped over, and jumped down into the main hall.

"Get out—fight them outside!" Benny Blanco yelled, only to find the doors blocked by tables and chairs—the very obstacles they'd set to trap their prey, now turned against them.

Meanwhile, the black skeleton swung its blades, wounding another Rogue.

Soon, the bronze skeleton, Clay Golem, and bone skeleton all descended, followed by Li Shaolin clutching the black Book of the Dead and Sulonna wielding her gem-studded staff.

Benny Blanco quickly waved his hands. "Wait, Sulonna, I think this is a misunderstanding." Before he finished, the bronze skeleton struck first, its long blade slashing toward him, followed by the other summons. By now, the Defias side had one dead, three poisoned, and the Clay Golem's slow effect had crippled them further—only five remained fit to fight.

Sulonna chanted, unleashing another Fear Spell. A Rogue fell under its influence, stumbling aimlessly around the room, which played right into Li Shaolin's hands. He fired bone fangs in rapid succession, blood spraying from the Rogue, then Sulonna hit him with a Shadow Bolt, finishing him off.

Benny Blanco gritted his teeth. His Blackwater Sabers struck out repeatedly, hammering the bone skeleton's chest until it staggered back.

He spun around. Shrrrk! The bone skeleton took a heavy blow, half its ribcage shattering as it crashed to the ground. Benny Blanco had saved up combo points for five stars and finally unleashed a lethal Eviscerate. In one strike, the painless, deathless bone skeleton was rendered combat-incapable.

If Benny Blanco had known Li Shaolin's weakness—finishing off that skeleton to disperse it and cause him crippling headaches—he could have crippled his support. But he let the chance slip, turned, activated Sprint, and charged at Li Shaolin with both blades swinging.

With Sprint, his speed was blinding. Before Li Shaolin could react, the blade's edge was upon him.

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

Benny Blanco tried to strike again, but his energy was drained, forcing him into a normal swing.

By then, Li Shaolin had recovered. The two bone fangs he'd readied between his fingers flew out. One was parried by Benny Blanco, but the other lodged solidly in his shoulder.

With no other Rogues to distract it, the black skeleton's sabers whirled. How could an ordinary man hold it off? Its form flickered, wounding its opponent quickly; the blade's poison did the rest. In moments, the remaining Rogues in the room were all downed.

"Ha!" Benny Blanco, unable to harm Li Shaolin and seeing his men fall one by one, grew desperate. He spun and lunged at Sulonna.

Sulonna was about to cast Fear Spell when he kicked her foot, interrupting her casting—the Rogue's signature anti-mage skill: Kick.

Her vision went dark as Li Shaolin's prepped Lesser Blindness hit her, but it let her escape.

When Benny Blanco's sight returned, all his men lay on the ground. He was surrounded by the Clay Golem, black skeleton, and bronze skeleton, while Li Shaolin watched him coldly.

"Sulonna, for the sake of my old friendship with Erland..." Iron Wrist began to plead.

Before he could finish, three blades and a pair of stone fists struck in unison.

One of Westfall's three overlords, the commander of the Defias Smugglers and Defias Trappers—Benny Blanco, known as Iron Wrist—crashed to the ground.

Li Shaolin ordered his summons to clean up. The bronze and black skeletons moved at once, slaughtering the poisoned, immobile Rogues.

"Ah..." Sulonna sighed inexplicably as she watched.

Once the cleanup was done, Li Shaolin stored the skeleton warrior with its shattered ribcage back into the Book of the Dead and moved to shift the tables blocking the door, but Sulonna grabbed his arm.

"What's wrong?" Li Shaolin asked, puzzled.

"Benny Blanco was one of Westfall's three commanders—he must have plenty of wealth. And those two wooden doors upstairs, locked with iron chains—don't you think that's odd?"

Her reminder made Li Shaolin realize she had a point. Who knew—maybe the guy had hidden treasures up there?

So they didn't rush to leave but headed back upstairs. Meanwhile, Li Shaolin ordered the Clay Golem below to dispose of the Rogues' bodies.

Without much effort, the bronze skeleton following Li Shaolin cleaved through the iron chains with its long blade. Pushing the doors open, the jewels inside gleamed before their eyes.

"How much is all this worth?" Li Shaolin, an outsider unfamiliar with local values, asked Sulonna beside him.

"Probably around a thousand to two thousand gold coins' worth. Good heavens, I've never seen so much treasure in my life!" Sulonna estimated, then added, "This must be something Benny Blanco found recently—likely the Fabron Family's hidden cache he dug up."

"A hidden cache?"

"Yes. Every old family has a place to stash their wealth. If they can't make a magic seal for the key, they use special items to lock it—like the Defias Brotherhood's vault in Elwynn Forest, which can only be opened with the Receiver's ring." Sulonna explained, seeing Li Shaolin's confusion.

"So that's it. No wonder all the squad leaders fought over that ring—it's a key. That means the gold tooth we found in Fargodeep Mine was probably the Stonemason Family's treasure key too. No wonder they were willing to trade the mine for it." Li Shaolin finally understood the twists and turns behind it all.

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

Sulonna smiled and said, "Of course not. A professional's innate Storage Space only has eight slots. If it could fit, Benny Blanco would have carried it on him long ago. Why would he need to lock it up here?"

"What about Storage Space equipment?" Li Shaolin thought to himself: Can't you equip those bags or something?

"Storage equipment? Don't get your hopes up. Ordinary people can't afford that." Sulonna replied.

It seemed there were some differences from the game after all.

After some discussion, they decided to stash the treasure back in the Fabron family's original vault and retrieve it later. Naturally, following the principle of more work for more reward, Sulonna insisted on taking only a tenth of the haul.

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

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

"Well, heh, I have a bit of a connection with the Scourge Legion. I've got my own methods for handling corpses. Don't worry about it—let's find the vault first." Li Shaolin said smugly.

When it came to finding vaults, Sulonna was quite skilled. She quickly located the hidden compartment behind the bookshelf. As it turned out, the key to opening it was a Pocket Watch. It seemed the Fabron family had a fondness for these things.

Once everything was tidied up, the two let out a long sigh. Li Shaolin noticed that Sulonna had been looking a bit down. After all, within the Defias, she had lost her only supporters, and life would only get harder from here.

"What do you think would happen if I returned the Receiver's ring to VanCleef?" Li Shaolin suddenly had the thought and blurted it out.