Ambushed

"Screw you!"

Nova could no longer maintain his composure, what little dignity he had left.

Enraged and embarrassed, he couldn't help but pull out his magic staff.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Tang Qi, on the other hand, was the one who remained unhurried.

"We still have to face judgment from the court, and punishment from Lord Mel.

Melard just offered me a job earlier...

So if you're going to make a move, please aim it at him."

Black Snake's lips twitched.

Seeing his shameless demeanor, Nova wished he could cast a fireball spell at the heads of these two bastards—

If only he had learned it yet!

Tang Qi had a point. After much consideration, Nova felt it wasn't worth the trouble.

He could only retreat from the noisy mouth and leave in anger:

"You'll pay for this!"

"You truly are a respectable scholar; even your threats are so weak and feeble." Tang Qi replied.

"Go to hell!"

"Rua!"

Watching Nova puff up with rage yet be utterly helpless, Kuru felt a sense of cathartic satisfaction.

Tang Qi and Black Snake exchanged a look:

"It seems we cooperate quite well."

Black Snake felt that even with the shackles still on his shoulders, he could probably sleep soundly:

"I knew it. With your mouth, you'll never have trouble driving people away."

"So, did you really bring back any treasures from the Great Desert?"

"I advise you not to pry too much. Haven't you heard the saying—curiosity killed the cat."

"I'm human, not a cat."

"I've heard enough of your bad jokes."

The brief united front ended. After laughing for a while, Black Snake returned to his previous lazy demeanor.

Seeing that he couldn't pry any more information, Tang Qi had to sort through the current intelligence—

So, that group of adventurers Kuru stumbled upon was wiped out because they lacked items to detect illusions?

No.

Kuru had mentioned that when they found the adventurers, they were already extremely weak.

The mist was just a contributing factor.

Before their direction was disoriented by the mist, they must have encountered something dangerous...

Whatever could scatter an entire small team wouldn't possibly be just a few ghouls or goblin bandits.

As Tang Qi increasingly sensed the imminent danger, he felt his hairs stand on end again...

Very similar to the last time not long ago.

"Poet, since your hands are free, why not sing some lullabies to help me sleep more soundly."

Black Snake's voice echoed in his ears, but it seemed to turn into an echo, gradually becoming muffled and slow.

In an instant, Tang Qi felt time freeze.

His five senses became sharper than before, his vision clearer.

The campfire in his peripheral vision seemed to flicker at a slower frequency.

The mist, formed from tiny dew drops scattered in the forest, even just brushing against his skin, suppressed his hairs, causing a needle-like itch.

His body began to heat up, yet his mind was surprisingly calm—

"Something's wrong."

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Tang Qi frozen in place, Black Snake couldn't help but want to kick him.

But Tang Qi seemed to have foreseen his action.

The moment he lifted his leg, his whole body tensed as if trembling, and he rolled onto the ground, pressing close to its large wheel—

"Plop!"

"Hey, I haven't kicked yet!"

Why is this poet trying to scam me?

Is he really this timid?

Just as Black Snake was surprised and about to mock him, he heard Tang Qi, who had almost fallen under the truck's tailgate, shout:

"Get down!"

"Chiiii--"

A faint whistling sound followed, piercing Black Snake's eardrums.

He couldn't pinpoint the sound's origin, but past experience proved it was far from friendly.

So, almost without thinking, he moved, using his bound legs to forcefully kick the truck's tailgate, flipping the entire truck onto its side.

But the truck's railing was tied to the old ox, causing it to fall into the mud as well.

It tried to struggle to its feet, thus shaking the truck that was shielding the prisoners.

But in an instant, "Bang, bang," sounds like something being nailed echoed from beneath the overturned truck.

The old ox let out a muffled groan, struggled for a moment, and then fell silent.

"Rua!?"

Kuru was also thrown to the ground, but using the truck as cover, it let out a shout and pointed behind Tang Qi.

Looking back, several rough arrow shafts, crudely whittled with barbs, were lodged irregularly in the damp mud--

As expected!

This sense of crisis was no different from before.

It wasn't because of Black Snake that he felt threatened.

It was the [Specialty: Alertness] that allowed him to perceive the danger lurking in the dense forest--

The first time was vigilance, the second was evasion.

"Ambush! Ambush!"

Near the distant campfire, Explosive Wolf's roar was as deep as ever.

He had already drawn the greatsword from his back and saw the direction of the attack.

"Everyone, ready your weapons!"

"Yes!"

They were well-trained mercenaries.

Their names were known throughout Dragon Gold City.

After a brief moment of panic, they immediately regained their composure.

Upon seeing the direction of the greatsword, a few short figures hidden in the dense forest and thick fog immediately realized the enemy's origin:

"It's goblins!"

The ugly, short-statured enemies with yellow-green skin had already drawn their bows, pulling the strings taut.

The whistling of arrows cutting through the air was uniform, their shrill cries like the piercing screeches of birds and beasts. They stirred the white mist, soared into the sky, and then fell indiscriminately upon the camp--

The well-trained mercenaries were not affected by this scattered arrow rain.

But the pampered young master, however, was far from possessing their discipline.

Even as he saw the arrows flashing with a cold silver glint heading towards him, his plump body could only tremble!

"Young Master!"

Hus shoved Melard's shoulder. Faced with danger, he no longer cared about maintaining noble decorum, and tackled him to the ground together in the mud.

"Hus, Hus..."

Melard nearly hit his face on the ground. The brief dizziness was enough for him to regain his senses.

"Are you alright?"

"Thank you for your concern, of course I am."

As humans, once they crossed the threshold of fifty, many things became difficult.

But fortunately, as the steward of the entire family and the leader of the caravan, Hus had practiced some self-defense martial arts, making his body sturdier than Melard's:

"Young Master, they are just some goblins. Let's retreat for a moment and let these mercenaries handle it."

After a brief moment of heart palpitations, Melard also realized that these goblins were not a significant threat.

He slowly nodded and quickly retreated towards the vicinity of the set-up tents.

As the most common danger in the wilderness, few people showed respect for these scattered humanoid creatures.

Adventurers out in the wild would feel like their day was incomplete if they didn't kill a couple of highway-robbing goblins.

But underestimating them did not mean letting their guard down.

At the very least, Explosive Wolf understood that on the eve of every departure from the city, one should embrace the resolve of never returning.

Only in this way could one achieve a peaceful triumph.

"Great Step Sprint!"

Nova never slackened during battle. A handful of dirt floated in the air as he chanted, scattering onto Explosive Wolf's plate armor.

The latter immediately let out a great roar, dragging his greatblade and charging forward fiercely.

It was unimaginable that, fully clad in plate armor, he seemed completely unaffected and could still run like a tiger or wolf--

In almost the blink of an eye, he was about to reach several goblins who were still drawing their bows.

As he came to a halt, his iron boots scraped against the ground, and flying dirt was about to blind the goblins.

But just as the mud splattered near their eyes.

The sharp blade whistled past.

"Thwack—"

The scarlet blood that sprayed into the air instantly obscured the kicked-up sand and dirt.

Where the blade passed, three goblins were cut in half.

"It's not over yet!" he roared.