What a Fine Curse

Only when the shattered debris of the truck scattered across his back did Tang Qi pinch his thigh hard, using the brief pain to drive away his terror before hurriedly rolling aside.

A figure suddenly sprang out from the smoke and dust of the truck's wreckage.

Black Snake leaped forward and landed before Tang Qi, with no time to explain further.

"Give me the chisel!"

Tang Qi noticed that the long cangue over Black Snake's shoulders was already in ruins.

With a mere jerk of his shoulder, he flung the splintered boards to the ground—

The instant the spiked club smashed into the truck, Black Snake had darted aside and used the gale kicked up by the swinging weapon to blast apart the long cangue on his shoulders.

Though his hands were still bound in handcuffs, he was far more agile than before.

Tang Qi hastily dug the chisel out of his bag and threw it to him. Black Snake caught it in a rush and drove it through his own shackles first.

With a sharp clack, he braced the chisel against the joint of the restraints and forcibly smashed the chain between them apart.

Repeating the trick, he knocked off Tang Qi's and Kuru's ankle shackles as well, then immediately gave the order.

"Go find the key to the handcuffs—and my damn blade!"

"Roar—"

The moment Black Snake finished speaking, the dusty haze stirred up by the flour had just begun to clear.

Before the troll, the two tall and one short figures had become plainly visible.

Its roar boomed like thunder.

But before it could charge over, arrows already loosed from the bow swept aside the powder behind it, streaking through the air with silver-white arcs.

They carried no small force and were swift enough, but not swift enough to catch Black Snake after his ankle shackles had been removed.

The instant he saw where the arrows were coming from, he twisted at the waist and flipped away, narrowly evading them.

Alarm bells rang in Tang Qi's mind.

But he did not possess Black Snake's nimble footwork. He could only grab the edge of the kobold's long cangue and hold the whole thing before himself as a shield.

"Rua!?"

Though the kobold was small, the wooden board that enclosed most of its body made for the finest shield.

Thanks to Tang Qi's [Alertness], the arrows seemed to trace predetermined paths through his mind, allowing him to predict their trajectory.

Several incoming barbed arrows passed within a hair's breadth of Kuru's skin before thudding into the wooden board with a series of knocks.

Kuru was frightened out of his wits, tears glimmering at the corners of his eyes as he complained bitterly.

"Human, bad!"

"Stop dawdling. An iron chisel can't pierce its hide!"

Black Snake called out a warning and bent low into a sprint.

He was so fast that he left little more than an afterimage in the white mist.

Though both hands were restrained, it did not affect his grip on the iron chisel.

The troll's spiked club whistled past. The wind pressure it drove carved a visible trail through the white mist and swept past Black Snake's ears, making his eardrums tremble.

He did not panic. Lowering his body, he slid beneath the troll's crotch.

Holding his breath and ignoring the rotten, fishy stench wafting from its body, he planted his toes, sprang into the air, stepped onto its shoulder, and drove the iron chisel viciously into the back of its skull—

Squelch!

The chisel punched clean through its skull. As he pulled away and retreated, thick blood splashed across his nose.

If he had been facing an ordinary human, that would have been enough to take a life.

But the troll merely let out a furious roar, seemingly unaffected. It swung its club around and knocked the flea on its shoulder back to the ground.

Before it could turn around, Black Snake landed lightly. Catching sight of the bloody hole through the back of its head, he saw the flesh inside the wound begin to squirm inward. He could not help but spit in disgust.

"Did you come here with a full belly?"

Trolls possessed voracious appetites; in a single meal, one could easily swallow a four-hundred-kilogram wild boar.

What their appetite bought them was not merely bloated stomachs, but near-immortal regenerative power.

The second head on this troll's body had most likely grown back after its original head had once been cut off—

Only by burning or corroding their wounds could one interrupt the healing of their flesh.

As Tang Qi fled toward the camp, he saw Explosive Wolf slice off one troll's arm, only for yellow-green lumps of flesh to surge from the severed stump in an instant.

He understood as well that regeneration consumed energy. The faster it healed, the fuller its belly must be.

Trolls only had the desire to actively seek food when they were hungry.

So Tang Qi picked up his pace in astonishment.

"Could there be other people behind them!?"

The mercenaries under Explosive Wolf were well trained, and New Star was keeping order.

As a result, aside from scattered showers of arrows, the camp had yet to face any threat from within.

Relying on [Alertness] to avoid danger and seek fortune, Tang Qi dodged the arrows and burst straight into the most lavish tent in the camp—

"Who goes there!?"

The moment Hus realized Tang Qi had barged in, he immediately drew a slender sword from his waist, one hand held behind his back as he stood ready.

Though he was not of noble birth, he had inherited his father's profession and served the Mel family with unwavering loyalty, receiving the finest education in return.

His back was ramrod straight, and naturally, he had mastered an excellent courtly swordsmanship.

Tang Qi had no wish to clash with him and immediately stated what he needed:

"My apologies for disturbing you two, but the situation outside is urgent. I need fire glue, the handcuff key, and Black Snake's curved blade."

Hus furrowed his brow and stepped in front of Melard first.

"How did you break free of the shackles on your feet!? And why are you asking about weapons?"

He had heard the trolls' roars, but did not believe they were a problem the mercenaries outside the tent could not handle.

So he remained fairly calm and instinctively rejected Tang Qi's request.

Understanding his attitude, Tang Qi patiently explained:

"Those trolls are being directed by someone. They may even be nothing more than the vanguard..."

"Impossible! Twilight Forest is shrouded in mist—without seeing through the illusions, how could an army possibly move about here?

Do you think this is the southern battlefield?

They are clearly just hungry trolls that came out to forage. They cannot possibly be a match for the mercenaries."

Tang Qi did not have enough evidence to persuade him.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he simply said:

"You can save your nonsense until after this is all over."

"Bastard, mind your words!"

"Twang—twang—"

With the lute in his hands, he unexpectedly struck two fierce chords, then began to sing:

"Fuck you, idiot! What I do is not for you to decide!

No one will bear the consequences of your stubbornness. Now answer my question—

Tell me where the keys and weapons are!"

"You!"

Tang Qi's "lyrics" were truly vulgar. Having been steeped in noble refinement, how could Hus possibly tolerate such abuse?

He was about to raise his rapier.

But the moment he met the poet's eyes, he suddenly felt that the poet before him possessed the warmth of an old friend from his youth.

In the blink of an eye, it was as though he had returned to his childhood.

Back then, he had been a mischievous student, learning the most basic etiquette of serving nobles under an old butler.

Because he had failed to arrange his knife and fork properly, he had been sternly scolded by his kindly mentor.

When he realized his mistake, he had felt too ashamed to show his face.

Now, that same guilt rose in his heart once more.

To the point that Tang Qi's insults no longer seemed vulgar or grating.

Perhaps this was what the old butler had meant by "good advice jars the ear":

"You! You—"

Hus stammered, lowered his slender sword, and tossed a ring of keys to Tang Qi.

"My friend, that was a fine scolding. You woke me up.

I cannot risk letting the young master get hurt by going outside to confirm the truth.

But I can see that you, too, are concerned for the young master's safety—

That prisoner's curved blade should still be in that mage's tent."

Kuru blinked its confused eyes.

It knew what "idiot" meant.

So if you called nobles "idiots," they would obediently listen?

Humans really were strange...

Hus did not actually know what was happening outside.

Tang Qi's [Art of Making Friends] had affected his judgment, making him realize that the situation was urgent.

He did not care if the chief steward bore a grudge against him afterward.

"Which direction?"

"The one farthest from the campfire. He said he needed a quiet place when studying ancient texts."

"Where's the fiery adhesive?"

"In the box beside the campfire."

Tang Qi roughly identified the direction as he used the key to unlock Kuru's handcuffs.

"Kuru, I'm going to get the fiery adhesive.

You can't find your way through this fog, so don't even think about running. Go get Black Snake's knife.

Then we'll leave this damned place together!"