A Splintered Squad

Grant didn't go in immediately, but instead scanned the room and saw only a body lying on the ground, almost a corpse.

He slowly walked in, closed the door, unlocked the latch, and then turned to Gavin and asked:

"Where is Anna? Where did she go?"

Gavin paused for a moment, then answered, his voice choked with emotion:

"She decided to leave, but her movements were so exaggerated that the skeletons noticed her and chased after her."

"Oh," Grant responded expressionlessly, then said in a low voice:

"I should have killed her; that way, our information wouldn't have been leaked."

Gavin felt a little uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything. He pointed to his 'comrade' lying on the ground, as if asking a question or confirming something.

"What about 'him'? How should we handle this?"

Grant remained expressionless and slowly said:

"Find a quiet place to dispose of it, so those people don't discover the body and then use their Prophecy Spell to see what we look like."

Gavin was not surprised by the result; abandoning one's comrades is a required course in the Mercenary world.

In many situations, an injured comrade is unable to fight, and carrying them along would be a burden, so the best option is to simply abandon them.

The ultimate test for every Mercenary is to avoid getting injured in battle; otherwise, you would never want to gamble on your comrades' kindness.

Clearly, Gavin's companion failed the test, and his fate was far worse. To avoid the Prophecy Spell, they couldn't leave him with a complete corpse.

The reason Gavin waited until Grant returned before telling him about it was because he knew that Grant needed to know.

Otherwise, Grant might think that Gavin wanted to attack him directly and take the item for himself.

"What do we do now?"

Gavin asked, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Grant was stumped by the question. He bit his lip and then slowly said:

"When dawn breaks and the undead on the mines begin to be scorched by the sun and try to retreat into the mines, we'll strike and wipe out a wave of them."

"Then we'll go back in, find that damn thing, come out alive, and hide somewhere else."

This plan is a gamble with lives. Even though Grant risked his life to go deep into the mine today and did some preliminary exploration of the terrain, it didn't help their goal much.

But they had no choice; ever since that thing went inside the mine, they had no way out.

Gavin vaguely remembered how that thing, which they considered a chance to make a fortune, suddenly seemed to have grown legs and twisted and turned as it ran into the mine, amidst a trap full of disguises and warnings.

It was only then that Gavin realized clearly that the box had always been alive, and that the inexplicable feeling he had every night was not a lie.

But it was too late. He could only watch as the box ran into the mine, where there happened to be a First Order Necro-Skeleton Mage.

This Undead is so famous that Necromancy School Necromancy School was founded after seeing this iconic Undead.

Although this creature is very famous, it is not actually very dangerous. Perhaps one or two First Order Profession would have a headache, but there are six of them.

As they expected, their team encountered no obstacles whatsoever when facing skeletons in the mine that even apprentices might struggle to defeat.

But when they saw the traces of the box, the low-level skeletons seemed to have suddenly transformed; the ones that sprang out from the corners were no longer the low-level skeletons that couldn't even defeat an apprentice.

It's First Order skeleton that even First Order Profession can withstand two moves from.

Furthermore, the skeletons' attacks were imbued with an unknown energy that caused a sense of hindrance when those present unleashed Combat Technique or spells.

As the battle continued, the members of their squad were surprised to find that although they still had strength, they simply couldn't unleash Combat Technique or spells.

This directly led to a stalemate on the Battlefield, leaving them with no option to retreat or advance.

Because they could tell that they were very close to their target; perhaps around the next corner, there would be that bright blue box.

But after they saw a long skeletal arm emerge from around the corner, they abandoned the idea of continuing the fight.

"Let's retreat!"

Left with no other choice, they had to retreat first, regroup, and rest for a while before rushing back into the mine, because they knew better than anyone that their time was running out.

If they dawdle any longer and are found by the Mercenary, all their efforts over the past few days will have been in vain.

Unfortunately, their attack failed; the Necro-Skeleton Mage's strength far exceeded their expectations.

Normally, a Necro-Skeleton Mage could only summon four skeletons that could be considered First Order if too many people had died in this area.

But as soon as they went down, they were stunned. Roughly counting, there were more than thirty First Order skeletons here.

On average, each of them had to kill more than five skeletons, and those skeletons were like freebies; for every one they killed, two more would appear.

In the end, they managed to escape with their lives by leaving behind two corpses, one of them seriously injured.

Even after this incident, they still didn't want to give up. After all, this was a rare opportunity, and if they seized it, they would never have to worry about anything for the rest of their lives.

But when Grant went to investigate, Anna simply told him she was quitting and then ran away.

So yesterday, the six of them were still full of confidence that they could evade the pursuit of others, find the seller with the box, and obtain a lifetime of wealth and honor.

Today, the entire team has fallen apart, leaving only the two of them.

He even considered telling Grant, "Let's quit. Our identities shouldn't be exposed now. Let's disguise ourselves as Mercenary, deal with our comrades on the ground, and slip away."

But he also knew that Grant was the one among them who cared most about that thing; any of them might give up, but Grant would never give up.

Similarly, he also harbored a tiny bit of wishful thinking: we've already given so much, so why can't we be a little luckier?

Hoping for a lucky break, he didn't leave like Anna, even though he already knew it was unlikely he could get the item back.

Grant's face remained expressionless, but a hint of unease could be seen in his pupils, and deep within them emanated a faint blue glow of soul fire.

The blue light was so faint that none of them noticed it.