Martial Monk (Part 1)

Before pushing open a completely unknown door, one had to make every possible preparation, because there was no telling what lay behind it.

It might be enemies lying in ambush, or it might be a deadly trap.

That was why, after entering, they had not immediately opened the conspicuous double doors, instead exploring the surroundings first.

But since voices were coming from inside...

The group exchanged glances, then all rose onto their toes and crept toward the door.

This door was much better crafted than the one outside, and its soundproofing was correspondingly better. Only by gently pressing an ear against it could they vaguely make out some sounds.

"Brother Anton, I only managed to escape when the chance came. For the sake of all those drinks we shared, advance me a little of my payment."

The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Pei Renli thought for a moment before remembering that it belonged to Jixiu, the lackey they had captured not long ago.

They had chased him into the sewers in the first place, only to lose him midway after getting lost.

In fact, Jixiu had also been forced to take a detour when the sluice gates redirected the water flow, and he had ended up lost just like Pei Renli's group.

But having been here a few times, he retained at least some impression of the route and managed to circle back here. Pei Renli's group had never been here before, but with the kobolds leading the way, they had actually arrived faster than Jixiu, who was finding his own way.

Most likely, Jixiu had only just entered when Pei Renli's group launched their ambush on the guards outside. They had arrived almost one after the other.

"The only reason you're still alive is because we drank together. There's no way I'm giving you your payment."

"I've been in prison before. The guards have a portrait of me. Once they realize I'm gone, they'll definitely issue a wanted notice. If I really get caught and sent back, Brother Anton, you and the patron backing you will be in trouble too, right?"

"Hmph. That's none of my business. The payment I received isn't enough for me to consider every little thing for them."

Jixiu was a lackey at the very bottom of the ladder. The only valuable information he had was the location of the "thieves' den"—this place. And judging by all the clues, the place had already been thoroughly evacuated. Whether Jixiu was caught or not did not matter in the slightest.

"Then at least lend me some money, Brother. I need to catch a ship and leave before the wanted notice goes out."

"I don't have any money. Don't even think about borrowing from me."

"Then how about this? You'll definitely have to report back to your employer and collect your payment later, right? Can I go with you?"

"That's fine, but I can't guarantee you'll get enough for travel expenses."

The man talking to Jixiu should have been the person mentioned in the notebook who had come to clean up afterward.

Come to think of it, Jixiu had escaped because the prison caught fire. But most of the prison was made of stone, with very few wooden parts that could burn. And at night, the prisoners should not have had any chance to slip out of their cells and secretly start a fire.

Just how had Jixiu, who had originally been waiting to receive a grand memory-restoration treatment, escaped...?

Eve nudged Pei Renli, pulling him from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw that Kaya had already raised her longsword, while Koura had drawn an arrow, ready to replicate the success of their previous ambush.

Judging by the voices, there were only two people inside. Jixiu's combat ability could be ignored, leaving only one opponent to deal with. They could launch a surprise attack before he noticed them.

Seeing this, Pei Renli also prepared to cast a spell. The group exchanged looks, then Kaya held her sword in one hand and reached for the door with the other, intending to push it open just enough for spells and arrows to pass through. First, they would hit the enemy while he was still stunned and confused.

—Creeeak...!

"Who's there?!"

Damn it!

The idea of launching a surprise attack had been perfectly sound, but the door itself had gone without maintenance for too long. The slightest push produced an ear-piercing screech, and they were discovered before they could make a move.

Through the gap in the door, they could see a roughly circular space inside. It was about the same size as the corridor outside, but its round shape made it seem more spacious.

Two people stood near the rear of the center. One was Jixiu, whom they had captured before. The other was a burly, broad-shouldered brute, visibly over two meters tall, with muscles as thick and solid as armor.

There was no time to inspect him more closely. After all, they had already been discovered.

"Brother Anton! It's them! They're the ones who had me thrown into prison!"

The muscular giant named Anton swept his gaze over the four behind the door.

"Adventurers?"

Then he barked:

"You, go get a weapon. If you want to live, go fight them."

"No, Brother Anton! Two of them are mages!"

"I said, go get a weapon!"

Anton seemed to have been enraged by Jixiu's cowardice. He stepped up and punched Jixiu beside him.

With a bang, the struck Jixiu flew backward and smashed straight into a nearby wall. At the same time, a series of crisp cracks rang out as bones shattered. He twitched twice, then lay still.

"Sigh... I really need to break this habit of hitting people whenever I get angry. Ordinary people are just too fragile."

He looked at the four, who were facing him as though confronting a great enemy, and a savage smile split his fleshy face.

"Since the four of you are here, keep me company and let me stretch my muscles!"

Anton did not draw any weapon. He merely clenched his fists and assumed a stance. But the fact that the enemy was unarmed gave Pei Renli's group no sense of safety at all. Instead, faint stabs of pain throbbed in their heads, as if instinct itself were warning them that this man would not be easy to handle.

The problem facing them now was how to fight.

They could stay where they were and bombard him with ranged attacks, drawing him over and making full use of the narrow terrain. But the cramped space was also a disadvantage. There were many of them, after all, and such a confined place left them with little room to maneuver.

Besides, compared to a pair of fists, something like a longsword inherently required a certain amount of space.

In a flash of lightning, they made their decision. Almost the moment the other man finished speaking, Kaya lunged forward. The others also stepped up, bringing him within their attack range.

"You saw me and didn't run? I'll give you credit for having some courage."

Kaya was fast, yet Anton showed no intention of moving his feet. He simply stood there and waited for her to come.

But before Kaya reached him, two Magic Missiles glimmering with spiritual light curved around behind her, sweeping in from the left and right at nearly drifting arcs toward Anton.

Magic Missile's defining trait was its ability to track a target, though it was not especially fast. Using Kaya's charging figure to conceal the missiles' flight paths greatly reduced the chance of them being intercepted. By the time he noticed them, it would already be too late to run.

But the other side seemed to have no intention of dodging at all.

"Ha!"

Facing the incoming Magic Missiles, Anton let out a roar and raised both arms to shield the sides of his head. At that instant, even the air around him seemed to warp slightly.

The Magic Missiles struck his arms without surprise, arcane energy exploding against the surface of his skin. In theory, Magic Missiles strong enough to knock an adult flat were like clay oxen sinking into the sea, raising not the slightest ripple.

The spell attack had achieved absolutely nothing. By then, Kaya had also reached him.

Her body rose, her longsword lifting overhead as if she intended to deliver a downward slash. But the very instant she entered the sword's reach, she abruptly dropped low, forcibly changing the downward strike into a backhand upward sweep.

Her powerful coordination and long training made Kaya extremely proficient with this move. Pei Renli had suffered plenty from it during their practical sparring: when he thought the attack was coming from above, it came from below instead, and when he thought it was a feint, she would truly bring her sword down on him.

Anton had been prepared to defend against a blade coming from above, and the sudden change caught him somewhat off guard.

Yet he still did not dodge. He directly raised his arm to block the sharp blade.

Clang!

Incredibly, when the sharp steel sword collided with Anton's fist, it produced a crisp ring like metal striking metal. It was as though that was not flesh and blood at all, but a pair of metal prosthetic limbs.

Not only had Kaya's feint failed to land a decisive blow, the rebounding force left her palm numb.

"A decoy? It's useless against me!"

One of Anton's hands held back the blade while his other fist smashed straight toward Kaya's head.

She hurriedly pulled back her sword and held it horizontally before herself. A piercing screech of twisting metal rang out as the steel sword was forcibly bent under that brute strength.

At the critical moment, an arrow flew in from behind Kaya, aimed at Anton's neck. He had no choice but to abandon his pursuit and free a hand to knock the arrow aside.

Clearly, even if his hands were as hard as steel, his neck was not nearly so sturdy.

Kaya seized the chance to regroup. This time, she was much more cautious than before, holding back some strength with every slash so she would not give him an opening to seize.

For a time, the excavated circular cavern rang nonstop with clanging sounds, like a blacksmith's forge.

Pei Renli stayed back. He did not rashly offer more spell support. Instead, he frowned as he watched the battle and racked his brains for a solution.

Magic Missile had been completely ineffective, and continuing to use it would only waste mana. His "blue bar" was not deep enough for him to cast without restraint; he had to conserve as much as possible.

As for Burning Hands, setting aside whether it could take Anton down, its area of effect made it far too easy to catch Kaya in it.

Besides, the floor here was covered in flammable fire oil. On closer inspection, he could even see open barrels of fire oil sitting in the corners. If that caught fire...

The four of them would become barbecue in an instant.

So Pei Renli, who had learned only a handful of offensive spells to begin with, could only observe the situation and think of a solution for now. Meanwhile, Eve beside him kept hurling spell after spell at the target while Kaya tied Anton down.

Because the two sides were too close together, Eve did not use attack spells. Instead, she used disruptive spells such as Stun, the so-called debuffs.

Such spells mostly came from the Enchantment school. As battlefield control, they were far more effective than anything Pei Renli, who had only recently come into contact with magic, could manage.

But Enchantment spells had one flaw: the caster's level and the target's level directly affected a spell's chance of success.

Put simply, when there was too great a difference in strength between the two sides, Enchantment spells found it difficult to have much effect.

So when three spells in a row landed on Anton without affecting him in the slightest, everyone immediately understood one fact.

Their opponent was far more powerful than all four of them!