Scroll

Yusuf's body broke through the collapsing railings behind him, and he plummeted from the top of the tower.

Before falling, with his shield knocked away, Yusuf once again saw Rhode's indifferent gaze.

After sending Yusuf flying, Rhode desperately suppressed his forward momentum, finally stopping at the edge of the watchtower.

In the air, Yusuf had let go of the weapon in his hand at some point, his arms flailing wildly, but to no avail. Realizing he was about to die, Yusuf seemed to think of something, his face filled with regret.

Yusuf's last thought in his mind somehow turned into a picture: Rhode standing at the edge of the watchtower after knocking him down, his indifferent gaze.

At the top of the tower, watching Yusuf fall, Rhode suppressed his rapidly beating heart and recalled the key to defeating Yusuf: undoubtedly using a spell to paralyze him, rendering him unable to move or exert force, and then seizing the moment to knock him off the tower.

Rhode had no mana on him. The reason he could cast this spell was by using a spell scroll obtained from the apprentice, Lightning Strike.

Previously, Rhode had found this spell scroll in the apprentice's space ring and had not used it until now.

Lightning Strike was a Tier 2 spell. Its base damage was similar to the Tier 1 spell Magic Arrow, but its effectiveness was greatly enhanced by the mental attribute. Furthermore, Lightning Strike also had a short-duration paralysis effect.

In a normal battle, the paralysis effect's short duration would make it difficult to have a significant impact, but at this moment, it became Rhode's trump card for victory.

Since he only had this one scroll, Rhode knew he only had one chance. He had to hit Yusuf's body with the spell to succeed.

If used directly, Lightning Strike would be blocked by Yusuf's shield, only paralyzing the hand holding the shield, with little effect on his overall strength. Even if Rhode charged, Yusuf would either block him head-on or dodge.

Therefore, Rhode chose to throw a gold coin first, making Yusuf raise his shield, which allowed Lightning Strike to hit Yusuf's body. The paralysis of his entire lower body made Yusuf's legs unable to exert force, and he was eventually knocked down by Rhode.

Through his understanding of Yusuf during this time, Rhode knew that if he threw an object towards Yusuf's head, no matter what it was, Yusuf would raise his shield to block it. This gave Rhode the opportunity to hit him with Lightning Strike.

At this moment, Yusuf hit the ground with a loud crash and instantly lost his life.

After confirming the increase in experience points through the system, Rhode did not look at the fallen Yusuf again and turned to walk down the watchtower's stairs.

Nearby, those fighting the vampires also heard the loud noise, but due to the vampires they were facing, they paid little attention to the direction of the sound.

At the edge of the battlefield, the blue-robed mage, who had been controlling the battlefield situation with spells, clearly noticed the loud noise. This reminded him of something, and he looked in that direction.

As the duration of his first spell ended, the blue-robed mage reapplied a weakening spell to the vampires and then, following the sound, went to where Yusuf had fallen.

As he got closer, the blue-robed mage clearly discovered something, and his face showed a look of astonishment.

Before the blue-robed mage was the corpse of their captain, who had fallen to the ground.

"Impossible..."

The scene before him was unbelievable, but the reality was undeniable. The blue-robed mage had to accept that the captain had died in such a manner.

The blue-robed mage recalled that there were only two travelers in the team. One was the vampire they and the other members were fighting. Based on the situation on the battlefield, the vampire clearly couldn't hold on for much longer. The blue-robed mage believed that under the combined assault of himself and the other merchant group members, the vampire would soon be killed.

The captain, who had not appeared, was undoubtedly dealing with the other traveler. The blue-robed mage had a deep understanding of Captain Yusuf's composure; even with his full effort, he could only fight the captain to a draw.

At this moment, the blue-robed mage clearly couldn't connect the usually composed captain with the pulpy mess before him.

Before the blue-robed mage could grieve, a chill spread through his heart.

If the captain was already so formidable, how powerful would the other traveler who killed him be?

The blue-robed mage dared not think further and glanced towards the vampire in the center of the field. At this moment, the remaining merchant group members were all attacking the vampire. The vampire had once again used Bat Form, and all the members were currently dealing with the bats in the air.

Seeing this situation, the blue-robed mage made a decision in his heart. He took the space ring from the dead captain's hand and put it on his own, then returned to the battlefield.

Seeing that the other merchant group members were focused on dealing with the bats in the air, the blue-robed mage did not inform any of them of his discovery. He silently returned to the carriage.

The blue-robed mage quickly opened a hidden compartment inside the carriage, put some scroll-like items into his pocket, then tore off a large piece of cloth from the side and packed some valuable items and books containing knowledge into it.

The blue-robed mage slung the packed bundle onto his back, choosing not to put it into the space ring.

Even though he had just retrieved the space ring from the captain's corpse, the blue-robed mage understood the potential danger and chose not to expend mana to activate the space ring, carrying the bundle on his back instead.

The blue-robed mage came out of the carriage and looked at the members still fighting the bats around him. He said a few words silently in his heart, then went to the front of the carriage, took out the dagger from his pocket, and intended to cut the ropes binding the horses.

After trying for a while, the blue-robed mage could only helplessly discover that the ropes used to secure the horses had been specially treated to withstand the pulling force of the horses and were extremely tough on the outside.

With just a dagger and his own strength, the blue-robed mage clearly couldn't cut through them in a short time.

Seeing this, the blue-robed mage directly cut his own palm with the dagger. Watching the blood seep from his palm, he smeared the blood onto the dagger.

As soon as the blood touched the dagger, it emitted a red glow. As the blood increased, the red glow deepened. With the help of the dagger's eerie red glow, the blue-robed mage cut through the originally tough ropes with little effort.

Mounting the horse, without paying attention to the remaining members of the merchant group, the blue-robed mage rode towards the forest.

This scene happened to be seen by Rhode as he walked down the watchtower.