CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 30: STRICTLY FORBIDDEN TO ATTACK

Two raiders charged in from outside the cave, giving Vera and her team no time to react.

Gelonggba laughed heartily as he used charge, his target being Fei Yin, who was clad in mage attire.

Fei Yin, facing the sudden ambush, couldn’t figure out why her detection spell hadn’t discovered the opponents in advance.

Vera roared as she drew her curved saber, her movements as if skating on ice, sliding in front of Fei Yin to intercept the dwarf.

The wide-blade axe and the curved saber clashed, sparking wildly.

As soon as the two clashed, Vera found herself at a disadvantage, the axe blade pressing towards her collarbone.

Vera held onto the saber with both hands, preventing the axe from splitting her in half.

"Nice weapon, kid, it’s sure to fetch a good price."

So close was he that Vera could smell the dwarf’s stench of alcohol.

"Fei Yin!"

Being called snapped Fei Yin out of her panic, quickly casting a series of beneficial magic spells on Vera.

[Power Amplification]

[Agility Amplification]

[Endurance Activation]

Bolstered, Vera retreated, making a flourish with the saber, forcing the dwarf to step back a few paces.

The dwarf, gaining no advantage, cursed at his partner who was slacking off behind:

"Half-Ear, what the hell are you doing? Take out that brat with the magic staff!"

"What’s the rush? Doesn’t reloading take time?"

Nasa approached with a crossbow but didn’t fire. Instead, he pulled a small pouch from his pocket and tossed it at Fei Yin.

Vera saw the pouch flying over but waited in vain for Fei Ling to shoot it down.

"Fei Ling?"

In the end, she had to step forward herself, stabbing it with her saber, releasing a cloud of light blue powder.

Vera quickly covered her nose, dragging Fei Yin backwards, and looked towards Fei Ling, only to find her collapsed on the ground, unable to move.

"Paralyzing liquid extracted from the Sixth Floor Flower Demon, a little bit can immobilize you. Works well, doesn’t it?"

Nasa smiled as he aimed his crossbow at them and pulled the trigger, loving the sight of panicked prey.

Fei Yin hastily cast a spell, but the magic shield disintegrated mid-air before taking shape.

"That’s why you’re rookies, can’t even recognize the powder from the Forbidden Demon Flower."

"Despicable!"

In desperation, Vera stepped forward to shield Fei Yin, deflecting the crossbow arrow with her saber but was left with numb hands.

Gelonggba was waiting for this moment!

His muscles bulged, steam snorting from his nostrils.

The dwarf swung the wide-blade axe in a circle, aiming at Vera’s waist.

Vera could barely keep the curved saber close to her body before being sent flying out of the cave by the axe’s blow.

Though not dead, she was left barely conscious.

Once Vera was down, Fei Yin, unable to cast spells, was easily knocked out with a couple of strikes.

The battle was dominated by the two raiders from the beginning.

But this wasn’t Vera’s team’s fault, their combat experience was with demons, so were their tools.

The raiders, however, focused their tactics, tools, and skills on human targets.

Combined with their deliberate ambush and level advantage, they rarely failed against their chosen targets.

Gelonggba hefted his axe, preparing to finish them off one by one, but was stopped by Nasa.

Impatiently, the dwarf asked: "What’s up? Want to do something because they’re twins?"

Nasa looked disdainful: "What are you thinking? When have I ever gone for non-elf bastards?"

Gelonggba didn’t care for this nonsensical superiority, aware that Nasa himself was a mixed-blood mongrel.

Of course, he never said this in front of Nasa, as his partner’s endless gadgets were useful.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Tie them up, and when they wake up, we play the game of deciding who lives and who dies."

This was a game Nasa invented: simply having the captives decide among themselves who should die.

Of course, in the end, he planned on killing them all, as he just enjoyed watching teammates betray each other for survival.

Gelonggba rolled his eyes, having no such proclivities.

Though he was a drinker, gambler, and killer, compared to his perverse teammate, he seemed like a decent dwarf.

Not that he minded Nasa’s hobbies. Let him play if he wished.

He was more interested in the oversized walking mushroom in the cave, having seen it pull out a shield from its body earlier.

Could it be full of goodies?

————

Pain!

Such pain!

Broken ribs pierced into flesh, left arm bone penetrated skin, blood mixed with organs flowed from his mouth.

Vera woke up from the pain.

He tried to move but found himself tied to a tree.

Before him, two other trees had his childhood friends bound to them, still unconscious.

"Fei Ling... Fei... Yin..."

Responding to Vera’s weak calls, the two girls slowly awakened.

As they opened their eyes, they saw Vera barely clinging to life.

"Vera, you’re seriously hurt! Damn this rope..."

Fei Ling struggled against her bindings, to no avail.

She could only look to her sister.

"Fei Yin, use your magic!"

"I... I can’t... sobs... can’t use it..."

Fei Yin had never seen Vera so badly injured before, and unable to use magic, she began to cry.

"Want to leave? I can let you go~"

The nightmare voice came from behind the trees, Nasa playing with a small knife as he approached.

"What do you want?"

"Want?" Nasa ran the knife across Fei Ling’s cheek, leaving a small cut, "Here you’ve got a sister and a boyfriend, choose one."

"Choose what?"

"Choose who dies!"

Nasa grinned, licking his teeth, unable to hide his excitement.

"Choose one to die, and I’ll release you and the other. How about it?"

Fei Ling lunged forward to bite his hand but missed him as he dodged aside.

"Pick your mother to die, you scum! You beast! You’ll be bitten to death by wild dogs sooner or later, you mongrel!"

"Tsk."

A slap hit Fei Ling hard, knocking out a tooth.

Fei Ling fainted from the slap, and on the other side, seeing this made Fei Yin cry harder.

"Boring bastard."

He was about to ask the other twin to choose when he heard Vera’s mosquito-like voice.

"Kill..."

Nasa’s eyes lit up, quickly leaning over:

"Yes, yes, tell me who to kill? Don’t worry, if you choose, I’ll give you a drink of Life Potion, you’ll not die."

Fearing Vera wouldn’t believe him, he pulled out a bottle of Life Potion from his pocket.

"Kill... me... let... them go..."

"You, sigh—"

Nasa stood up, coldly looking over the trio, eventually raising his knife.

"So boring, you love sacrifice, huh? Then I’ll let you watch them die first!"

Meanwhile, inside the cave.

Gelonggba tried pulling, tearing, and every method he could think of but couldn’t open the piggy Puki’s resilient pouch with the skill.

Finally out of patience, the dwarf decided to go for the direct method.

Standing in front of the piggy Puki, he raised the axe high above his head.

[Heavy Slash Level 6]

With a thunderous explosion, Gelonggba turned into a rain of droplets that showered over Nasa, who was laid out on the ground.

Nasa: ???

Lin Jun: ???