Chapter 267: Exploring The Buried City
“Arthur, it’s all your fault. We’ve only been to the tenth floor, but you insisted that we go down to the 11th floor today. The monster on the 11th floor is a silver-tier flame lizard. We are no match for it!” a girl with a red head scarf and goggles growled.
The person she reprimanded was a tanned man with mysterious patterns on his face. He retorted unhappily, “Annie, how dare you criticize me? You agreed to enter the 11th floor.”
“Alright, Arthur, Annie, stop arguing. The most important thing now is to escape from those silver-tier flame lizards. There’s a mysterious restriction outside the dungeon. They can’t chase us past a certain area.”
The team leader was a middle-aged swordsman with yellow hair, a tall figure with a scar on his face. He seemed to be the leader of that adventurer team. What was surprising was that the swordsman held a rare two-handed sword in his hand, and his two swords crossed in a beautiful arc. He barely managed to block the claws of a flame lizard that was fiercely slapping at him.
Bang!
With a m.u.f.fled sound, the tall, yellow-haired man retreated more than ten meters and shouted, “Leon, give me support.”
“n.o.ble Baldur, the G.o.d of Light, your devout servant Leon is offering his faith to you. Please show him mercy and bless him so that his courage and strength can be increased.”
Leon was the youngest man in the group. He had dark hair and a handsome face, and he was wearing the Holy See’s unique clothing. At that moment, he was touching a cross on his chest as he murmured something.
As his voice fell, a mysterious light appeared in the sky. It connected to the stars in the distance and covered the yellow-haired man’s body. The shadow of an ancient G.o.d with a light wheel on his back appeared above his head. It instantly enhanced his speed and strength significantly.
The yellow-haired man exerted his strength. He flicked the flame lizard’s claws with his two swords and dug a large rock out of the ground. He threw it behind him as an obstacle.
Roar!
A few fire lizards used their claws to crush the rock. The shattered dust blocked their vision; they shook their heads. When they looked up again, the adventurers had already left the mysterious building. However, the fire lizards were unwilling to give up. After they circled for a while, they entered a ma.s.sive hole under the ancient building.
“Phew… we’ve finally escaped. We almost died. It seems that we should not have explored down there. We should have just stayed at the tenth level.”
After they escaped, the young girl, Annie, sat down on the ground. She took off the goggles on her face and panted heavily.
“It was all thanks to Captain Clyde. If it were not for the captain blocking the giant flame lizard’s advancement toward us, we would have been in trouble.” The muscular man, Arthur, whose face had patterns on it, also sat down.
“You should really thank Leon. That devout priest gave me G.o.d’s blessing at the critical moment. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to stop a silver-tier magical beast.” Clyde was holding onto his two swords. He shook his head and looked at Leon, who stood at the end of the group. The young priest just bowed modestly in response to his flattery.
“In any case, the captain and the priest were of great use just now. The most useless person was Arthur. He couldn’t help at all and almost got us killed.” The young girl, Annie, pouted. When she said that, Arthur immediately became angry. He retorted, “Annie, what are you saying? Did you do anything during our escape just now? What right do you have to criticize me?”
“I’m a girl. As a man, don’t you feel useless comparing yourself to me?”
“Do you want to fight?”
Clyde frowned and wanted to say something as he saw Annie and Arthur were about to start a fight. However, at that very moment, a young voice echoed from somewhere nearby.
“Excuse me. We’re traveling from the border. We want to go to the City of Steel to do business. Is it convenient to ask you to lead the way?”
The adventurers raised their heads and saw a carriage had stopped in front of them. It looked simple, pulled by an ordinary black horse. However, the driver did not look like an average person. It was a beautiful woman with black shoulder-length hair and deep eyes. Her face was as delicate as a sculpture, and her figure was even more voluptuous.
Arthur and Annie subconsciously ceased their argument when they noticed the person driving the carriage. Arthur’s eyes were a little blank as he glanced at the lovely woman in the carriage. Even Clyde and Leon took a couple more glances at the black-haired beauty.
“Guys, did you hear what I just said? If not, I’ll repeat it. I want to go to the City of Steel. As a reward for escorting me, I’ll give each of you a silver coin.”
At that moment, the carriage’s door opened. Watson came down from the carriage with a wallet in his hand; Denise followed behind him. The impact on the adventurer team was much more significant when the two of them walked out.
Denise’s face was covered in scales resembling a snake; it was not a surprise as she was a former member of the elven kingdom and the fire elf race. Her eyes and hair were a flaming red, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with exotic hues. She was unlike Nightingale, yet equally gorgeous.
The adventurer team was mesmerized by two distinct forms of beauty. Simultaneously, they were taken aback by the well-dressed youngster. He was able to enchant two magnificent ladies and an elf to accompany him. Clearly, that youth was not an ordinary person.
“You said that you are from the border. Where exactly did you come from? Furthermore, you’re going to the City of Steel. Why would you want us to escort you?” Clyde did not immediately agree with Watson’s request. Instead, he cautiously inquired about that request.
A silver coin per person was definitely enough to escort them to the City of Steel. It was not a small trade; his team members were only bronze-tier. They would not earn a silver coin even if they hunted bronze-tier magical beasts in the underground city every day. However, Watson had appeared and said that he wanted to hire him. Based on his adventurer’s instincts, he felt that something was off.
Since Watson wanted to trade, why did he not bring any guards with him? Furthermore, there was only one carriage, but none of them had any goods in it. He did not think that Watson looked like a merchant.
“It’s simple. I was just pa.s.sing by and saw that you escaped from the jaws of a silver-tier monster. Your skills are not bad, so I wanted to hire you! If you are not willing, just pretend that I did not say anything.”
After Watson said that, he put the money pouch back into his pocket, turned around, and was about to leave.
“Wait a minute, who said that we’re not taking that job? Captain Clyde, we entered the 11th floor rashly, and silver-tier magical beasts have chased us for the whole day. So, we didn’t even get any materials that we’re supposed to get. If we don’t take this job, we’ll be in trouble for a long time.” The young girl, Annie, tugged on Clyde’s arm as he gave her a look.
“Yes, Captain. We’re only escorting them to the City of Steel. There’s no danger there,” Arthur said, and even Leon nodded.
Clyde’s face changed when his team members urged him. After a long hesitation, he finally made up his mind. He said, “Very well, we’ll take the job. One silver coin each. Pay half first, and pay the other half when we get there.”
“Deal.”
Watson smiled. He took out two silver coins from his pouch and handed them to Clyde. Then, he looked around before he asked casually, “Oh, right! I heard that the City of Steel is also known as the City of Adventurers and that the adventurers are fond of the underground city! The magical beast that chased after you came from there, right? I’m a little interested in that ruin. I wonder if you can take me to explore it?”