The moment Dylan pushed open the oak door, the briny stench mixed with watered-down ale hit him full in the face.
This was a tavern for dock workers and sailors—filthy and boisterous. Dylan liked this kind of environment.
"Stew and a drink, send it to my room." After flicking a few copper coins to the owner, he walked straight through the crowd and headed upstairs.
This was already Dylan's third day in Clark. Tomorrow, a ship at the docks would set sail for the islands and was willing to take passengers along. Dylan had been waiting three days for it to depart.
These past few days, the guard patrols and inspections had been unusually strict. He wondered if it was because of Cloro killing that pretty-boy rich kid.
Either way, Dylan tried to keep a low profile and stay indoors.
Aside from the tavern owner and the ship's first mate, he hadn't really talked to anyone else.
After returning to his room, Dylan took a bottle of mana potion from his pack and drank half of it in one gulp.
In the city, he couldn't photosynthesize naked, so he had to rely on potions.
He poured the remaining half bottle onto the scout.
The mana potion flowed between the scales, and the scout-turned-backpack became a bit more plump.
Dylan then drew his longsword and carefully wiped it down with a cloth.
"Sir, your stew and ale."
Finally, dinner had arrived!
Dylan stood up and had only taken two steps when he stopped.
Sir?
You?
This wasn't some high-class establishment. If the tavern's servers could speak without swearing, that would already count as polite. How could they use such formal language?
As Dylan thought about it, he immediately noticed more problems.
Downstairs... had somehow gone quiet...
"Sir, are you asleep?" Seeing no response from Dylan for a long time, the person at the door asked again.
This made Dylan even more certain that the person outside definitely had problems. How could they possibly be this polite!
He quietly shouldered the scout and gripped his longsword.
Dylan crept to the window and peered down through a gap in the rough cloth curtains.
Damn it, guards!
Just from what he could see, there were three guards downstairs, not counting however many he couldn't see!
Dylan couldn't figure out how he'd been spotted!
Had Cloro been captured and ratted him out?
*Click click—*
While Dylan was lost in wild thoughts, the person outside seemed to lose patience and decided to force the door open.
Facing this predicament, Dylan decisively chose to—
"Boss! Boss! Need backup!"
"Huh?"
Lin Jun, who had been experimenting with the effects of [Plant Affinity LV1], received Dylan's distress signal and shifted his attention over.
[Mana Perception LV6]
[Airflow Sensing LV7]
[Sound Wave Detection LV6]
After running through several reconnaissance skills, Lin Jun quickly understood the situation.
"Surrounded by thirteen people. How'd you manage that?"
"I don't know..." Dylan still hadn't figured it out.
"Kill them all?"
The backpack straps tensed, ready for action.
One Gold-rank and twelve Bronze-ranks had come. With the second floor of the tavern's terrain advantage, killing them all really wouldn't be difficult.
"Don't do it, Boss! This is inside the city!"
A city couldn't possibly lack Diamond-rank powerhouses, especially not Clark, an important port city connecting to the islands.
Making a big scene here, Dylan didn't think he could escape.
"Can't kill them... then..." Lin Jun thought for a moment, then the backpack strap pointed in a direction. "Across the street, the building with the red roof. Charge in there."
Hearing this, Dylan looked out the window and indeed saw a red-roofed warehouse diagonally across.
*Click click—BANG—*
Just as Dylan confirmed the location, the door was violently broken open.
"It's you!?"
Standing outside the door were several guards and a knight in silver-gray armor. Although she wore a helmet this time, Dylan recognized her immediately.
So that's when he was exposed?
But why?
No time to think. Dylan decisively smashed through the window and jumped out.
"Don't think you can escape!"
The knight actually charged straight at him. Though she didn't catch Dylan, she directly smashed through the wall!
Dylan, having jumped from the second floor to the ground, faced two spear-wielding guards thrusting at him but didn't dare engage in prolonged combat.
Relying on [Dodge LV4] and [Acceleration LV6], he managed to dodge away without injury.
Behind him, the knight had already jumped down. She stomped once on the ground with one foot.
[Swift Movement LV5]
The female knight Liadrin, despite her heavy armor, showed no signs of sluggishness. Enhanced by her skill, she quickly pursued Dylan.
Further behind, the guards hurriedly followed.
Red-roofed warehouse! Red-roofed warehouse!
With the advantage of a head start, Dylan rushed frantically to the red-roofed warehouse.
But there was no time to leisurely knock on the door. Though he didn't know why the boss had pointed him here, charging in was probably the right move.
[Whirlwind Slash LV5]
Dylan unleashed his signature move again!
The door was just ordinary wood. Under his slash, the wooden bar behind it snapped.
Without delay, Dylan dove inside.
Only after entering did Dylan realize something was wrong.
Why were there so many people in this empty warehouse?
Why were all these people wearing black robes?
Why weren't there any lights, just candles on the ground?
What were these circles drawn on the floor?
One of the black-robed figures even had dark magical energy gathering in their hands...
All the black-robed people stared at Dylan in shock, apparently not expecting someone to suddenly burst in.
Behind Dylan, the female knight had already caught up, blocking the doorway.
"Ah! I see now. This is a gathering of abyssal magic users. No wonder there were so many high mana value targets over here." The boss sounded like he'd just figured it out too.
Dylan's face went pale.
What could be worse than being hunted by one group of people?
Being hunted by two groups at the same time, of course!
"Interloper!" The black-robed figures' hands lit up one by one with the dark glow representing abyssal magic.
"So you're a dark magic user. No wonder..." The knight crushed some item, forming a translucent protective membrane around her body.
"Boss, am I definitely going to die today?" Dylan, caught in the middle, looked as miserable as possible.
"Die my ass!"
Purple miasma gushed forth from the backpack, its sweet bloody scent instantly spreading to the surroundings.
[Hallucinogenic Spores LV6]
The familiar smell made even Dylan, at the center, feel a bit dizzy.
"What are you spacing out for? While you can, run!"
The boss's voice snapped Dylan back to alertness. Thanks to the resistance built up through daily training, Dylan ran toward the corner following the backpack's direction.
Behind Dylan, the knight and black-robed figures soon started fighting in the chaos.
"Quick! Activate the magic array!" came a distorted shriek from somewhere.
Immediately, Dylan felt a bone-deep chill, as if seeping from his marrow. Something was very wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what.
His skin was perfectly intact, yet a draining sensation of life force spread through his entire body—like invisible hands were slowly tightening around his heart.
Lin Jun could clearly "see" that Dylan had been cursed again.
[Withering Curse: Maximum life gradually decreasing]
Not only Dylan had been hit with the curse, but so had the scout, and this one had no time limit.
No time limit meant it had a range limit!
Lin Jun directly commanded: "Stealth out now, get as far away as possible!"
Dylan heard this and his body color changed, becoming similar to the wall.
The warehouse was dimly lit, and with the hallucinogenic spores not yet fully dispersed, Dylan's movements were very well concealed.
Meanwhile, the two groups in the warehouse were beating each other's brains out.
The black-robed figures wanted to use their array formation and abyssal magic to kill the knight. Several guards had already fallen victim and lay on the ground, life or death unknown.
The knight wanted to destroy the array. Though forced back several times during her charges, she had consecutively cut down several black-robed figures.
At a time like this, no one had the spare attention to notice something the same color as the wall sneaking out.
After getting a bit farther away, Dylan immediately broke into a run.
The farther he ran, the lighter that heart-palpitating feeling seemed to become.
Just as Dylan was starting to relax a little, the boss suddenly warned again: "Be careful."
Be careful?
Careful of what?
Dylan looked around in all directions and finally spotted a figure walking toward him from the darkness ahead.
Loose silk robes, with a long and short sword at the waist that were clearly no ordinary weapons.
"Boss, who is this?"
No response...
Dylan didn't dare move rashly. The boss said "be careful," not "run!"
Getting closer, Dylan could finally make out the person's appearance—an utterly unremarkable middle-aged man.
You could find a dozen people who looked like this in any tavern. Aside from those two swords, Dylan couldn't see anything special about this person.
But the boss shouldn't be wrong!
"What happened over there?" the middle-aged man asked casually.
"I'm... not sure. A knight with guards suddenly started fighting with some people..."
Dylan naturally wouldn't say it was related to him. The middle-aged man nodded and continued walking forward at an unhurried pace.
But after passing Dylan, he suddenly stopped, staring at the backpack on Dylan's back for quite a while. His hand even moved to the hilt of his short sword, seeming somewhat hesitant.
However, he had now entered the range of those black-robed figures' array formation. After feeling a wave of heart palpitations, the middle-aged man clearly realized what this was.
He withdrew his gaze without further delay and instantly vanished from where he stood.
Dylan felt like he'd finally escaped a lion's gaze and immediately shivered.
Actually, not just Dylan—Lin Jun had also felt that final powerful oppressive force and had briefly thought the guy was really going to attack.
"B-Boss, who was that?"
This time Lin Jun didn't continue playing dead.
"So... do you humans have someone called a Sword Saint?"
[Name: Elvion Slaine]
[Level: 70]
[Title: Sword Saint]
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