Chapter 231
Splat!
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Dark green blood spattered, falling on the ground as white smoke bursted up .
“Clean it up and get going . ”
Rhode put away his sword and calmly ordered . He completely ignored the mercenaries who looked at him . The mercenaries were stunned for a moment, then began to clean up the corpse in panic .
Originally they thought that they would only meet a group of goblins in these ruins . But when they entered, they found out that they were facing monsters they had never seen before . There were no goblins, no huge underground spiders, but rather creatures they had never seen before . They looked like a lizard, but the difference was that they were human-like, bipedal and could even use some basic weapons .
If it was just that, then they wouldn’t be too surprised since there were so many strange creatures underground here . This kind of lizard perhaps was also one of them . However, the precious stones on their forehead clearly showed that they were not a natural-born existence .
When the mercenaries first encountered them, they received a little damage because they were unprepared . These lizards were more than two meters tall, with a strong and powerful body . Even though they were not wearing armor, their smooth scales were enough to block the mercenaries’ swords . That was why these mercenaries weren’t able to react until Rhode quickly issued an order to change the way they fought . Their group became a lot more balanced .
Even so, the thing that surprised them the most was Rhode . Facing a monster that was more than two meters tall, Rhode was flying in the middle of them like a shadow . Many mercenaries felt their visions turn blurry . After a while, those lizard fell to the ground just like that . Strangely, when they checked the corpses, they couldn’t find any injuries on them . They didn’t understand just how did Rhode killed those monsters .
“Kavos?”
“Ah, yes, Sir!”
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Hearing Rhode call his name, Kavos finally stopped dazing off and quickly reacted . Soon, those mercenaries took out their knives and daggers and walked towards those huge corpses . Rhode asked them to take out the gems on those lizard’s foreheads . Although they looked crappy, the gems on their foreheads seemed to cost a lot of money .
Rhode stopped looking at his subordinates and began to examine the ruin .
Unlike the Black Pine Ruins, the Unicorn Peak looked old and shabby . Besides some stone stairs, no artificial remains could be seen . Even the frescoes and sculptures looked extremely dusty . This made Rhode feel a little bit worried . If it was really as he had guessed, then wouldn’t it take quite a long time to reach his goal?
If that was the case, then the loss really outweighed the gain .
But to his surprise, according to Gillian’s report, the Ophenians weren’t recording the ruins after they entered . Although they still did occasionally, according to Gillian, the Ophenians seemed to be looking for something .
This news made Rhode feel quite surprised . Did he guess wrongly? That the information regarding the Composition Adornment wasn’t hidden in these frescoes, but in some kind of treasure chest? But this was too illogical . Rhode had gone to the sealed underground ruins on Unicorn Peak eighty to a hundred times . He was well aware of the loots here . If there really was a Composition Adornment design there, he wouldn’t have needed to kill everyone in Ophenia back then .
But these Ophenians definitely wouldn’t come to this ghostly place if there was really nothing .
However, there was still another possibility that the design of the Composition Adornment was never meant for players . According to game time, this time period should have been during the beta test . The majority of the players weren’t yet familiar with the Dragon Soul Continent . There was no way for them to come to these ruins, located in the depths of the forest . At that time, the Dragon Soul Continent was the only online game that was based on “real-time”, meaning the NPCs in the game lived just like ordinary people . They would go to work, live, and adventure when no one noticed . Of course, most of the NPC would be resurrected even if they died as consideration for the players .
It was possible that an NPC had come here for adventure and brought back the Composition Adornment design while players were still busy familiarizing themselves with this continent . It wasn’t impossible since there were many NPCs that gave props and quests .
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But if it were like that, Rhode had to change his plan . Originally, he was still worried about the Ophenians and didn’t walk too far from the team behind them . But now, if they were actually “searching” for something, then he didn’t have to wait for them and clean up all the monsters here . Afterwards, there should be no more problem .
In addition, Gillian also reported another thing to him . She said that Lapis was getting even stranger than before . When she entered the ruins, she seemed to have lost her consciousness and walked around like a controlled puppet . If not for Gillian taking care of her, she might have already wandered off somewhere .
As for Lapis’s condition, Rhode couldn’t really do anything about it . Since he wasn’t a robot, he didn’t understand the three laws of robotics . Since Lapis was an alchemist race, he wasn’t too clear on what was happening to her . There was no other way besides asking Gillian to pay attention to her since he still had a lot of things to do .
“Keep going . ”
As Rhode was recalling his thoughts, the mercenaries finished taking all the gems from the lizards’ foreheads . Rhode took a deep breath and issued another order . He pulled out his sword and continued to move forward .
Besides the torches hanging on the mercenaries’ waists, the glowing plants that grew along the passage also emitted an icy light . Of course, Rhode did not forget to remind his subordinates to stay away from these glowing plants . According to the common sense of people on Earth, something that could shine without electricity was definitely not a good thing…
Save for the sound of the mercenaries’ footsteps, everything was quiet .
But Rhode didn’t miss the hissing sound hiding in the darkness .
“Kavos, get ready! To the left!”
Following Rhode’s instruction, Kavos waved his hand . The mercenaries threw out several torches and retreated . With the help of the firelight, they could see the shadows of huge lizard men that had been hiding previously .
“Attack!”
The sudden light surprised the lizard men . They didn’t expect that they would be found out by the enemy in this kind of situation . As a creature that had been living in the darkness, they, of course, couldn’t stand such a strong light . They stretched out their hands to cover their eyes while hissing . Kavos took this opportunity to bring his men forward . In the beginning, Kavos used crossbows to entertain these monsters, but after receiving Rhode’s instructions, he quickly realized that crossbows couldn’t damage lizard scales . It was better for them to attack their weakness—their lower abdomen—at close range . After the lizards were plunged into turmoil, Kavos immediately took out a pair of knives and gave a signal to his men . Then, they rushed over towards the group of lizard lightning speed .
But Rhode was faster than them .
Kavos only felt a shadow flash from the corner of his eye . In the next moment, Rhode had already appeared at the lizards’ feet . He raised his sword and thrust forward . The lizard failed to attack with its wooden stick and lost its life . Its body heavily fell to the ground .
This could be regarded as a very impressive scene for Kavos . Rhode’s speed was so fast that even Kavos, who was a professional thief, was speechless . There was no way for him to keep up with Rhode’s actions . He couldn’t even accurately judge Rhode’s position at that time . Whenever Kavos saw Rhodes, all he could find was the afterimage, not where Rhode was .
There were about thirty lizardmen lurking in the corner, waiting to ambush . However, in just an instant, Rhode had managed to exterminate the ten of them . The rest of the lizard men were still waving their wooden sticks to fight with the mercenaries . Their monstrous strength and slender tails were very dangerous weapons . Moreover, these cold-blooded reptiles were much smarter than the mercenaries had originally thought . They actually even know the basics of defense and offense, which made it hard for the mercenaries to easily succeed .
“Ha!!”
A mercenary shouted and swung his two-handed sword forward, but before it could pierce through a lizardman’s lower abdomen, he was blocked by a wooden stick . His body shook as the strong impact of a sword made him unable to react . Suddenly, the sound of the wind passed through his ears . In the next moment, the lizard tail heavily hit him and sent him flying .
“Woah!!”
The defenseless mercenary heavily crushed the wall . The excruciating pain made him almost spurt out blood . As he forced himself to get up, the lizardman arrived before him, lifting the wooden stick in its hand .
Is this the end?
As he looked at the lizardman, his heart felt cold .
A shadow flashed .
Rhode leaped towards the lizardman’s shoulder like a bird while waving the Crimson Tears sword in his hand . The translucent sword instantly cut through the lizardman’s neck . The whole process did not even take two seconds, and Rhode had already turned around and assembled with the group .
The lizardman who had just been attacked threw his wooden stick towards the mercenary just before it fell to the ground . The wooden stick heavily hit the side of the mercenary and pulled him back to reality . Soon, after realizing what had happened, he immediately jumped up and rushed toward the lizardman that had attacked his comrades .
The battle was still far from over .