Things Seem a Little Off

"You're lying."

The man spoke with a tone of absolute certainty, as if he had seen through Colin's performance at a single glance.

[You feel confused by his words, unable to understand how he saw through your disguise, but after some contemplation, you discover the clue.]

[You realize this man has a keen sense of smell; his breathing was much more frequent than the others earlier. Clearly, you feel he discovered the flaws in your setup through his nose.]

Damn, is your nose that good, like a dog?

Colin muttered inwardly. Although being seen through by the opponent was a bit unexpected, he didn't panic in the slightest.

Seeing the man about to continue speaking, he smiled and said:

"Your next line is: 'The smell of sulfur and gunpowder exposed your identity; you are the one who created the explosives.'"

The tall man, wearing iron armor and holding a rusted iron sword, had his words cut off before he could even utter them. He froze, subconsciously wanting to speak, but Colin stepped in again: "Your next line is: 'How did you know?'"

"How did you know?"

After saying it, he froze, his face flushing red with an inexplicable sense of stifled frustration and humiliation.

But just at that moment, a cold icicle suddenly smashed toward Colin. However, the next second, the icicle was shattered by Shana using the Sun Bible in her hand.

"What are you doing!" The man wearing knight armor only on his upper body looked displeased at the other "mage," who couldn't quite be called an ally yet.

"This is the guy who found the niter mine, so what's there to talk about? Look at the size of their group; how could he possibly share with you? Don't be stupid! Once he finds an opening, he'll pick us off one by one!"

"In the Gray Fog, it's kill or be killed. How could he possibly yield profits to you?"

"Take advantage of this moment, everyone unite to take him down so we can form a cohesive force!"

The man wearing tattered mage robes, holding a Shattered Staff, and appearing to be in a poor mental state, barked.

After speaking, this "mage" looked at Shana, his eyes revealing undisguised greed and lechery:

"And this chick, she's such a top-tier prize. Don't you guys want to have some fun? I guarantee, as soon as we take him down and seize 'control' of this woman, everyone will get a turn!"

"The 'mage' friend is right! I've had my eye on this woman for a long time! Take that man down, and everyone gets a share!" one of the people standing with the mage shouted aloud.

Their group consisted of five people who were already a unit before meeting Colin. They were the largest group, led by the "mage."

At this moment, the others who heard their companions' words immediately began to jeer and cheer.

"Haha, I also want to strip her clothes off and hear what she sounds like when she's in bed!"

"I can't hold back anymore, brothers, let's go!"

The man in iron armor frowned. He suddenly felt a bit of regret for walking with these people.

Aside from their personalities, he discovered that the sanity of the people here seemed to have some issues. He didn't know what they had encountered, but their emotions were quite extreme.

However, as the other side said, Colin had to be brought under control, otherwise, no one could stand against him.

As for whether to kill him, he felt it wasn't necessary.

Meanwhile, the "mage" wasn't in a hurry to act, but felt a bit puzzled. Why hadn't the man who found the niter mine made a move yet?

Although they hadn't spoken very loudly, at a distance of only ten meters, one could still hear them if they listened carefully.

Yet, faced with such "filthy language," the opponent hadn't taken any action?

Even a normal person would be enraged upon hearing such words, their blood boiling as they rushed out to fight for their lives, right?

Something wasn't quite right.

Just then, he suddenly saw the man in armor sniff the air, his expression changing. He sniffed the air in confusion, his eyes widening abruptly!

"I was waiting for the explosion. What were you waiting for?"

A cold voice came from the front.

"Get back! Get down immediately!"

The "mage" immediately stopped his advance, wanting to call out to the two survivors who were already charging toward Colin with several servants, but the moment the words left his mouth, he was interrupted by a deafening explosion.

Boom, boom, boom—

Three loud bangs erupted from near their feet.

The powerful shockwave sent them scattering, and the soil thrown high into the air fell back down like rain.

Some who were closer fell to the ground under the impact, their brains buzzing; they struggled several times but couldn't get back up.

Their brain's balance systems were blown out of control; they wouldn't be recovering for at least a dozen seconds.

"Protect me! Protect me!" the two unlucky survivors screamed in terror, one of them even having his leg blown off.

However, no one paid them any mind.

Long before they met, Colin had already planted small amounts of explosives in the ground and then retreated a certain distance.

He had specifically stood in a nearby area so that when they approached, they would notice him first, rather than the traces buried in the ground.

In reality, the guy with the keen nose had smelled the gunpowder on the ground, not the scent on their bodies from over ten meters away.

Coupled with the natural cover of the Gray Fog, it wasn't until those few barrels of explosives were about to detonate that they truly came to their senses.

Unfortunately, it was already too late!

Their already loose formation was blown to pieces in that instant, and some even began to entertain thoughts of fleeing.

"Despicable, no class, actually launching a sneak attack!" someone cursed in anger.

What they didn't know, however, was that Colin had only intended to scatter them so he could pick them off one by one; he hadn't expected them to step directly onto a powder keg.

Although it hadn't gone exactly as he planned, the result seemed even better.

"Holy Light, protect us!"

Shana suddenly whispered, and in an instant, everyone within a certain range was enveloped in a divine halo of light.

This dawn-like radiance would persist on Colin and his companions for nearly three minutes, during which they would be immune to at least half of all incoming damage.

However, casting a skill on so many people caused a trace of fatigue to appear on her face, and she could feel her already meager mana reserves showing signs of bottoming out.

"That woman is a healer! I'll go deal with her, you guys hurry up and take down the survivor! Capture the ringleader first to break the gang!"

The "Mage" had seen through everything!

With that said, he launched an attack toward Shana, the mysterious item "Shattered Staff" in his hand coalescing ice shards as he struck at her!

As long as he landed three hits, he could freeze his target solid!

Yet, what he didn't expect was that the healer, after casting the shield on her teammates, looked at him with an icy expression and then charged out!

Charged out.