Chapter 14: Crisis (Part 2)
“Ah, ah~~~” A wrist being devoured alive—the agony made the shadowy figure shriek in pain.
The Shadow Mouse ‘Bebe’ darted again, appearing right before the shadowy figure’s eyes. The figure stared in terror at this creature that looked like nothing more than a pet: “What… what kind of monster is this?” He absolutely refused to believe it was a Shadow Mouse. He had seen Shadow Mice before, and they weren’t this terrifying.
Biting back the pain of his severed hand, the shadowy figure summoned a black Dou Qi protective shield over his body while attempting to flee at top speed.
All he felt was the terrifying little monster before him suddenly blur, and then a searing pain—the Shadow Mouse had opened its jaws wide and clamped down viciously on the figure’s throat, even tearing through the dark Dou Qi shield with sheer force.
“Crack!”
The sickening sound of bones snapping sent chills through the air. The shadowy figure’s neck was bitten more than halfway through, leaving only a thin layer of skin connecting his head to his torso. His eyes went completely dim, and he collapsed limply to the ground.
Linley landed at that moment as well, immediately drawing his short blade. Blood from his chest had already soaked the front of his clothes. Staring at the wound piercing his chest, a chill ran through Linley’s heart. If the enemy’s short blade had gone just a fraction deeper, his heart would likely have been pierced.
“So close… so close to losing my life.”
Having narrowly escaped death, Linley couldn’t help but look at the little Shadow Mouse ‘Bebe’ who had saved him. Bebe asked nervously, “Boss, how are you?”
“I’m fine. My life’s safe for now.” Linley smiled at Bebe. If not for Bebe, he would have died for sure this time.
Hearing this, Bebe’s face relaxed from its earlier tension, and he began to strut proudly. He stood up on his hind legs, wiggled his little bottom a couple of times, and smugly communicated through their soul link: “Boss, you’re way too weak. You said you wanted to train on your own, and look—you almost got killed by someone hiding in the shadows.” Little Shadow Mouse ‘Bebe’ wasn’t about to miss this chance to rib Linley.
Linley just smiled.
“Bebe, thank you. You saved my life.” Linley looked at the two terrifying wounds on his chest and sighed inwardly. “And this is only the first day!”
Delin Kewart appeared at that moment and remarked in amazement, “That assassin’s stealth ability was truly terrifying. This time, you were lucky to have that Shadow Mouse. If not for him, Linley, you’d be in deep trouble. An old wreck like me, nothing but a soul left—I couldn’t have saved you even if I wanted to.”
Linley understood. Delin Kewart, a Saint-level magus, was nothing more than a soul now.
“Grandpa Delin, how was that assassin so fast? I used a wind-type auxiliary magic and still couldn’t match him.” Linley found it hard to believe.
Delin Kewart explained, “That assassin was probably a level-six warrior. But he trained in the sinister dark-attribute Dou Qi and likely underwent special training in stealth and aura concealment. For a level-six warrior with that kind of training, his attack power is generally stronger than an ordinary level-six warrior’s. Dark-attribute Dou Qi is quite peculiar—he must have used some secret technique to boost his speed.”
Linley nodded slightly.
Dark-attribute magic or Dou Qi was forbidden in the Holy Alliance, though it could be practiced in the Four Great Empires and the Dark Alliance. It was the same as how the Dark Alliance forbade practicing light magic or light-attribute Dou Qi.
“Boss, come quick!” The Shadow Mouse ‘Bebe’ hopped beside the assassin’s corpse, calling out excitedly.
Linley looked over curiously. “Bebe, what is it?”
“This assassin has a pack strapped to his back!” Little Shadow Mouse ‘Bebe’ said excitedly. Linley looked at the corpse—the black clothing on its back had been torn open. Clearly, that was Bebe’s doing.
Beneath the torn black cloth, a pack was tightly bound to the corpse’s back.
“Linley, based on my estimate, the previous five people were also killed by this assassin. With his strength, he must have killed countless others. There’s no way his pack doesn’t hold a good number of magical beast cores.” Delin Kewart said with a smile.
Linley’s heart stirred. With this assassin’s strength, even an ordinary level-six warrior might have fallen to him. His stash was likely substantial.
“Squeak, squeak~~” The little Shadow Mouse bit the pack, leaped, and landed on Linley’s shoulder.
Seeing this, Linley marveled inwardly: “Bebe’s speed is incredible. That assassin was fast, but only a bit faster than me. Bebe’s speed was so fast I couldn’t even react—no wonder the assassin couldn’t escape and was bitten to death by Bebe.”
“Squeak, squeak~~” Bebe held the pack in his mouth, swinging it from Linley’s shoulder. “Boss, open it and look!” Little Shadow Mouse ‘Bebe’ urged Linley through their soul link, growing impatient.
Bebe was curious about what was inside too.
Linley took the pack with a smile. It was pitch-black and made of leather, but clearly of much better quality than his own—likely crafted from the hide of a powerful magical beast. He undid the buckle.
Looking at the contents, Linley’s eyes lit up. One compartment held a set of clothes and some seasoning for roasting meat. Another compartment held a pouch of gold coins. The largest compartment contained a big bag. When Linley opened it, he gasped.
“How many people and magical beasts did this assassin kill?” Linley was stunned. The bag was filled with a dazzling array of colorful magical beast cores, with a few magic crystals mixed in.
“How many magical beast cores are there? At least several dozen!” Linley felt a surge of excitement.
He immediately began counting and sorting the cores by grade. Distinguishing the energy levels of magical beast cores wasn’t difficult for a mage. In no time, Linley had fully cataloged the entire bag of magical beast cores and magic crystals.
“102 magical beast cores in total, and 7 magic crystals. Among the magical beast cores: 5 level-six cores, 26 level-five cores, 71 level-four cores, and no level-three ones. As for the seven magic crystals: six are mid-grade, and one is high-grade.”
Linley felt his heart pounding. He didn’t know that the assassin had also obtained level-three cores but simply couldn’t be bothered to keep them.
As for the magic crystals—they were typically set into magic wands to quickly restore magical power. The assassin must have pried them off the wands of mages he had killed.
“102 magical beast cores are worth about 13,000 to 14,000 gold coins. The seven magic crystals are worth about 1,600 gold coins. Together, that’s around 15,000 gold coins.” Linley calculated the number and felt a rush of joy. Just one assassin’s pack held this much.
And his own family?
To send his younger brother ‘Wharton’ to study at the O’Brien Empire, they had nearly drained the family’s reserves. The current Baruch family would struggle just to scrape together 10,000 gold coins.
“On my very first day in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, I’ve gained this much. How much will I harvest in the next two months?” Linley felt a sense of anticipation.
But he also knew he wouldn’t run into such a ‘fat sheep’ every time. And the bigger the ‘fat sheep,’ the stronger they were—he had nearly lost his life this time. Remembering that moment, Linley couldn’t help but touch the wounds on his chest and the cut on his face from the shattered flat blade.
Suddenly, Linley looked at the ten dead Windwolves.
“Ten level-four magical beast cores—that’s several hundred gold coins. Can’t waste them.” Linley used the assassin’s short blade to pry the cores from the skulls of the ten Windwolf corpses. As he used it, he noticed that this blade was noticeably sharper than his own flat blade.