Inside the small attic.
Doncic scratched his head as he looked at the dead Alchemy Guild members lying on the floor, who had met their ends in the blink of an eye.
Granted, Doncic had guessed that since Leon was confident enough to stay behind with Alicia to face the dwarf chairman and his men, he must have had some trick up his sleeve.
But this level of confidence was simply off the charts!
In less than twenty minutes, Leon and Alicia, a mere combination of a Silver priest and a Silver rogue, had completely slaughtered a Gold-rank bloodline warrior and several other Silver-rank transcendents inside the small attic?
“What a monster...”
Seeing the fate of these alchemists in the attic, Doncic suddenly felt a sense of relief regarding his own previous experience of being dragged out of hiding in public.
Being detected and dragged out by Leon wasn't a matter of his own skills being lacking; it was simply because this priest was a monster who defied all common sense!
Let alone him, even if other Shadow Agents came, they would have been dragged out just the same!
Leon was unaware of Doncic's thoughts. He merely stared at the dwarf chairman, who had been slain by the Blades of Hunger, and pondered to himself:
With my current strength, I can barely manage to deal with transcendents below the peak Gold rank...
However, the only reason I was able to suppress the dwarf chairman in this fight was because he's a lunatic who replaced his flesh with alchemical machinery. My Thunder Vibration attacks are a hard counter to him, causing paralysis and stiffness with every hit.
If it were any other normal Gold-rank transcendent, they would have realized something was wrong and fled the moment the paralysis effects began to stack...
Given the vitality of a Gold-rank transcendent, even though Leon's Radiance Longbow had linked quite a few Divine Arts and possessed immense power, it would still be extremely difficult to heavily wound them and prevent them from escaping.
Still, with my current offensive and defensive capabilities, it is basically impossible for an ordinary Gold-rank transcendent to kill me.
Leon thought to himself.
At this point, he was practically invincible against anyone below the Gold rank.
And as for those above the Gold rank, as long as they didn't fight to the death and refuse to retreat, no one could kill him either.
In that case, I shouldn't go to the Dusk Sea to join the commotion just yet. I'll upgrade my Walking Meditation first, advance to the Gold rank, and then go play with the Four Kings of the Dusk Sea to harvest some experience points.
Having assessed his current strength, Leon pulled his thoughts back, turned his gaze to Doncic, and asked, “Who is this?”
His gaze lingered on the unconscious man Doncic was carrying.
“He's a member of the Alchemy Guild.” Hearing the question, Doncic finally remembered he was holding someone. He tossed him onto the floor and said, “I followed their tracks and found the remaining two members of the guild hiding in a house on the outskirts.”
“At the time, this guy seemed to want to sneak attack his Wood Elf companion from behind, but the other guy noticed, and they started fighting right then and there.”
“In the end, he killed the Wood Elf and survived, and I just happened to swoop in and take advantage of the situation.”
“When he saw me appear, he didn't resist at all. Instead, he proactively claimed he knew all the intelligence about the Alchemy Guild and was willing to confess everything.”
“I figured we could use him to find out their purpose for coming to Jellyfish Town, so I didn't kill him. I just knocked him out and brought him back.”
Hearing this, Leon nodded.
He also happened to want to know how the Alchemy Guild had obtained intelligence regarding the underground ruins of Zachary Manor.
Seeing Leon nod, Doncic raised his hand and slapped the unconscious man's face twice. Then, he channeled his arcane power to wake the man up.
Noticing Leon's strange look, Doncic explained, “Slap him a couple of times first so he feels pain the moment he wakes up. This will instantly make him realize his situation and reduce the likelihood of him lying.”
As Doncic spoke, he used his arcane power to revive the man.
Scott slowly woke up from his unconscious state. Just as he wanted to struggle to his feet, the burning pain on his cheeks made him shudder.
Looking up to see Leon's group of three standing before him, he immediately raised his hands and said in a panicked voice, “My name is Scott! I was captured and forced into the Alchemy Guild! I've never killed anyone, and I haven't committed any crimes! I'll tell you whatever you want to know, I swear there won't be a single lie!”
Quite cooperative.
Hearing this, Leon and Doncic exchanged a glance.
With a flick of his wrist, a cold, gleaming dagger appeared in Doncic's palm. He pressed the blade against Scott's neck and said, “Very well. From now on, we ask, you answer.”
“If you dare hide anything, or if there is anything that displeases us—”
Doncic pressed down slightly, and the sharp dagger sliced a tiny, bleeding line across Scott's neck.
“—then you won't get a second chance to speak.”
“Understood! Understood!” Scott raised his hands high and cried out repeatedly.
Leon stepped forward. He didn't speak immediately, but instead scanned Scott from head to toe, lit a Light Prayer Orb, and finally asked, “Are you a member of the Alchemy Guild?”
“Yes!” Scott said quickly. “But I was forced and abducted into the Alchemy Guild by them!”
“I was originally a citizen of the Palin Duchy. Because I possessed some advanced alchemical technology, those people from the Alchemy Guild tracked me down and forcibly recruited me into their ranks—”
“Where is the Palin Duchy?” Doncic interrupted before Scott could finish.
Scott immediately replied, “Along the southwestern coast of the Hoki Archipelago!”
Doncic nodded to Leon, indicating that the Palin Duchy Scott mentioned was indeed along the southwestern coast of the Hoki Archipelago.
Leon nodded as well and asked further, “How did the Alchemy Guild know there was a ruin here? And how did you find this place?”
“A map!” Scott dared not hide a single detail. “Bowman—the chairman of the Alchemy Guild, that Gold-rank dwarf—he has a map that details these ruins. He found this place by cross-referencing the landmarks on the map.”
“Where is the map?”
“I don't know... Bowman never told us. But I suspect it should be on the leather vest he always wears, because he never lets that map leave his person.”
Hearing this, Leon turned his head to look at Alicia.
“Hmm?” Alicia also turned her head to look at Leon.
A second later, she came to a sudden realization. She fished a lollipop out of her pocket, tore off the wrapper, and held it to Leon's lips.
“...” Leon let out a helpless sigh. He popped the lollipop Alicia offered into his mouth, then walked over to the dead dwarf chairman to search him.
In the end, he did indeed find a map sewn into the dwarf chairman's leather vest.
After a brief glance at the map, Leon returned to Scott and continued his questioning, “Tell me about the origin of this map, the owner of the underground ruins, as well as the Deep Diver, the alchemical technology, and the alchemical core inside.”
“Tell me everything you know about them.”
...
Rate on N.U.
