A Familiar Feeling

Xia Lin followed close behind Barrett as he rampaged forward like a moving fortress. With the sharp instincts of a hunting hound, he slipped into the battlefield's flank, searching for openings to exploit and threats that had to be removed.

A Kobold that had slipped through let out a threatening hiss. Nimbly evading Barrett's frontal charge, it raised its sharpened stone spear, its tip glinting viciously as it tried to Sneak Attack Barrett's side while he was crushing another Kobold into pulp.

Xia Lin shifted his footing, his body turning nimbly like a tightly wound spring.

A week of grueling sword training paid off at that moment. His wrist flipped, and his longsword traced a silver arc beneath the dim candlelight, precise and anticipated.

"Clang!" With a crisp ring of metal, the stone spear's tip was knocked aside accurately, sending sparks flying.

The longsword did not pause. Like a venomous snake striking, it thrust forward!

[Pierce]!

"Pfft!" The dull sound of a sharp weapon sinking into flesh rang out.

The sword tip cleanly pierced its filthy, wrinkled neck, and warm, sticky blood instantly splashed over Xia Lin's hand.

That's one! he encouraged himself, without stopping his movements.

Another Kobold howled as it swung a thick wooden club that looked rather heavy. With a rushing whistle, it circled in from the other side, aiming straight for Xia Lin's head, clearly intending to smash him into meat paste.

Xia Lin spotted the right moment. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward sharply, turned sideways, and struck back with a swift [Pommel Strike]!

Bang!

The heavy metal pommel, carrying the force of his entire body, smashed solidly into its lizard-like face. The Kobold's nose caved in at once, and its yellow eyeballs nearly popped from their sockets.

Dazed by the blow, the Kobold let out a brief, strange cry and staggered backward uncontrollably. The wooden club flew from its hand as well.

Xia Lin seized the opening and rushed in. With a backhand swing, he unleashed [Furious Slash]! The blade cleanly cut across its neck. An ugly head flew into the air, then rolled across the bloodstained ground.

"Two!"

He flicked the filth from his sword and quickly swept his gaze across the battlefield.

Barrett was still like a raging bull, charging left and right through the Kobolds. Wherever his battle axe and shield went, flesh and blood flew.

Lila remained farther back, occasionally tossing out one or two insignificant sparks.

Amid the chaos, Xia Lin noticed several Kobolds lying at the edge of the area Barrett had plowed through. Their bodies were curled up, their breathing steady—they were the poor wretches Lila had knocked out with her expensive [Wind of Slumber] scroll, and they had yet to wake.

Without hesitating, he turned and approached the sleeping targets as if harvesting wheat.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

His longsword fell with precision and efficiency. Every thrust swiftly finished off a Kobold still drooling in its dreams.

There were no screams, no struggles—only the dull sounds of blades entering flesh and the faint splatter of warm blood.

In the blink of an eye, three more potential threats had been completely eliminated.

After finishing, he did not even spare the corpses another glance. He immediately withdrew and refocused on the main battlefield.

He needed to make sure his flank was secure while keeping an eye on Kasimir's progress.

At that moment, the focus of the battlefield had completely shifted to the Kobold Shaman.

The Shaman finally recovered from its initial chaos and shock at the scroll's effects. It let out a shrill, piercing hiss, raised the Bone Staff embedded with a yellow eyeball-like stone, and rapidly chanted strange syllables.

The stone atop the staff burst with an ominous, murky glow. A heart-pounding energy was rapidly gathering. It was clearly preparing some kind of spell.

But it was still too slow.

The Duelist moved like a bolt of black lightning. At a speed nearly impossible for ordinary eyes to follow, he silently closed in from the side and rear of the Shaman, which was fully focused on chanting and completely defenseless, as though he had teleported.

His rapier was like the Death God's icy finger.

"Pfft!"

The Shaman's chant came to an abrupt halt. The spell's glow atop its staff went out like a snuffed candle. It stared wide-eyed in disbelief, its murky yellow eyes bulging as a wheezing sound escaped its throat. Then it fell backward limply.

The Shaman's death was the final straw.

Having lost their leader and backbone, the remaining Kobolds immediately fell into even greater chaos and terror.

They ran about like headless flies. Some continued attacking Barrett frantically, while others threw down their weapons and tried to flee.

But before Barrett, as steadfast as a mountain, Kasimir with his terrifying killing efficiency, and Xia Lin constantly cleaning up the flanks, their resistance became meaningless.

The slaughter did not last long.

When the last Kobold attempting to escape was caught by Xia Lin and chopped down from behind with a clean Furious Slash, the entire Cavern finally fell silent.

In the deathly silence, only the adventurers' heavy breathing remained, mingling with the overpowering stench of blood, sweat, and the peculiar reptilian musk of Kobolds.

The enormous Golden Candle on the altar continued to burn quietly. Its flame was so steady that it did not sway in the slightest, occasionally making an almost inaudible crackling sound.

"Pah! Those spineless little reptiles really can't take a beating!" Barrett spat a bloody gob of saliva onto the ground, then roughly used the filthy handle of his battle axe to smash the head of a nearby Kobold corpse that was still twitching faintly.

He panted like a bull that had just finished plowing a field, then turned toward Kasimir, who was wiping his rapier with a clean piece of cloth, and complained in a voice that echoed through the empty cavern:

"Couldn't you take a few more off my hands?! Didn't you see I was almost buried under those little bastards, Kasimir?! Once you killed that rag-wearing Shaman, you had nothing else to do?"

"Eliminating the highest-priority threat is essential to ensuring mission success," Kasimir replied expressionlessly, without even looking up at Barrett. "The Shaman's unknown spell could have inflicted unpredictable and severe casualties on the team."

"Efficiency my ass! You just wanted to save your strength!" Barrett cursed, though he knew there was no reasoning with someone whose logic was so rigorous it bordered on inhuman.

Off to the side, Lila muttered softly, her voice trembling with tears and heartbreak like the buzz of a mosquito. "My scroll... sob... that was ten shiny, heavy silver coins..."

Complaints aside, Barrett did not forget to walk over. His fan-sized hand, carrying a rough sort of approval, heavily slapped Xia Lin's uninjured left shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance.

"Not bad, kid! You've got tougher bones than I expected!" Barrett grinned, revealing a smile mixed with exhaustion and the smell of blood. "I thought those little bastards would scare you into pissing yourself! You held the flank well just now. Didn't let those trash slip past and cause me trouble! You're way better than some little girl who only knows how to cry over a scroll!"

Lila's cheeks puffed up in anger at that. She glared fiercely at Barrett but did not dare talk back.

The straightforward praise, thick with the smell of smoke and sweat, caught Xia Lin off guard. He gave a tired but faintly pleased smile. "Just luck. I was only trying not to hold everyone back. I'm still a novice who has a lot to learn."

After the brief exchanges of teasing and post-battle remarks, the adventuring party immediately threw themselves into the part they knew best and anticipated most—looting the spoils.

Barrett strode toward the back of the altar and carefully inspected his mysterious "goods," a satisfied smile finally appearing on his face.

As professional as ever, Kasimir carefully searched the Shaman's corpse and found a coin pouch along with several strange spellcasting materials.

Lila temporarily forgot her grief as well. Excitedly, she ran to the edge of the altar, pulled out a small knife, and began carefully scraping off the hardened golden wax.

Clinking copper coins, strange tooth necklaces, broken weapons... the Cavern filled with the fragmented yet pleasant sounds unique to looting.

But after turning over two Kobold corpses, Xia Lin's movements gradually slowed.

This scene... this atmosphere... The battle was over, the gains were being counted, and their tightly wound nerves had just begun to relax...

It felt too familiar!

Just like... just like in that mage's bedroom, before that sudden disaster descended...

Something was wrong!

The flickering candlelight, the twisted corpses on the ground, his companions focused on their loot...

Everything looked so normal. Too normal—terrifyingly so!

Xia Lin abruptly stopped turning over the corpse in his hands. His body tightened in an instant like a fully drawn bowstring. Standing still, he vigilantly swept his gaze across every dark corner of the Cavern, his ears pricked as he tried to catch any unusual sound.

His eyes quickly passed over the piled, foul-smelling Kobold corpses on the ground, over the wavering yet strangely steady golden flame on the altar, and over his companions bent over their respective "spoils"...

At last—

His gaze settled on the Shaman's cold corpse.

Blood.

The blood flowing from the wound in its neck had not gathered into an ever-expanding pool across the cold stone floor, as it naturally should have.

As though drawn by some mysterious force, it slowly and strangely, yet unwaveringly, flowed along the ground—even where it sloped slightly upward—winding like a living thing toward... the base of the altar!

The dark-red trail finally touched the ancient stone blocks blackened by smoke around the altar.

Hummm!!!

Atop the altar, the golden flame that had been burning steadily suddenly surged as if boiling oil had been poured into it! Its radiance blazed!

A dazzling golden pillar of light, concentrated like the wrath of a god, erupted violently from the top of the giant candle!

It tore through the air, carrying terrifying energy capable of destroying everything. Without the slightest deviation, it shot with absolute precision in one direction—

Lila!

The Apprentice Mage, so passionate about spellcasting materials, had her back turned to the sudden beam of death. With her rear sticking out, she was completely focused on scraping away the golden wax she considered incomparably precious with her delicate little knife, even humming an off-key tune.