Chapter 55

Chapter 55: No One Leaves

Yinna, who had immediately concealed her presence, quickly withdrew her prying gaze, then flipped the dagger she held reversed in her hand behind her, planting it upright at Ned's feet.

At the same time, Karon Gui, who had been preparing to close his eyes and feign sleep, suddenly raised his head, locking directly onto the ancient tree where Yinna was hiding. The next moment, he saw a small emerald-green bird flutter its wings and lightly soar into the air.

"It seems I really have been a bit too tense..." Karon shook his head, muttered softly, and closed his eyes once more, unaware that a certain elf had nearly been scared out of the tree.

If Yinna hadn't spotted a Green Hill Sparrow the moment she climbed onto the treetop and, thanks to her Animal Affinity racial talent, instantly established communication with it, her Apprentice Ranger concealment skills would have been absolutely impossible to hide from him. But fortunately...

The moment the Green Hill Sparrow took to the air, Karon had already shifted his attention, allowing Yinna to fully conceal herself.

Meanwhile, Ned, who was a dozen meters behind her, also received the signal and immediately instructed everyone to enter a hidden state.

"Yinna has spotted the target." Ned mouthed to the others behind him, then glanced at Salazar with a questioning look.

The latter immediately understood. He gently crouched down, and within moments, streams of barely perceptible air currents began to emerge around him, merging back into his body within seconds.

And at that very moment, Mo Tan and Futaba were astonished to find that they could no longer sense the lizardman monk's presence at all. If they closed their eyes, they wouldn't even notice that someone was half-crouching right in front of them.

Unlike rangers and thieves who excelled at disguise, the monk skill Salazar had just used—called 'Breathless'—didn't cause any visible change in him, at least not on the surface. Yet it almost seamlessly resonated with the surrounding environment, assimilating himself with nature itself, temporarily erasing his existence in the domain of 'perception.'

Of course, the practical combat value of this skill wasn't particularly high. After all, blind oddities like the blind Sword Saint and demon hunters were rare exceptions; most people with normal vision and no astigmatism wouldn't overlook a living person right in front of them. So this kind of 'concealment' skill, which lacked visual deception, rarely found much use.

Top-tier thieves could completely erase their existence in both visual and perceptual senses, while powerful rangers could hide their form and presence even with just a single blade of grass.

But at least in the current situation, Salazar's 'Breathless' was the best choice.

The terrain here was vastly different from before crossing the border. They were in a fairly dense forest, surrounded by all sorts of large plants whose names Mo Tan couldn't identify—one of Fire Claw Territory's natural barriers.

So with their vision greatly weakened, suppressing all traces of their presence was naturally one of the safest reconnaissance methods. Yinna's lower-level Hide skill and natural Affinity were both less effective than this technique.

Of course, there were limitations. In this state, Salazar could not make any large movements at all, and had to devote most of his attention to maintaining his 'Breathless' state. It was practically a state of being completely defenseless, and his movement speed was also greatly reduced.

But that was enough...

Ten minutes later, Salazar slowly retreated from the front, shook his head at the group who barely dared to take a breath, and then silently said something.

Everyone wore solemn expressions, not understanding but impressed.

"You should just speak," Klab muttered quietly. "I honestly can't read your lizardman lip movements at all."

Mo Tan and the others also smiled bitterly and nodded.

"Fine." Salazar deactivated his resonance with the surrounding environment and gently rubbed his forehead. If he weren't cold-blooded, he would definitely be sweating by now. He lowered his voice and said, "There is indeed a fairly large camp ahead, with about thirty warriors inside. There are two hidden sentries each on the west and north sides. The orc who appears to be the leader in the camp should be quite powerful—at least judging from the aura he unconsciously radiates, killing me would only take a few moves. From his attire, they should be Fire Claw regular troops."

Ned nodded, staring into Salazar's eyes and asking quietly, "Did you see..."

"Yes." The latter nodded. "I saw at least thirty people being held captive, including humans, goblins, and elves. They're clearly not on the same side as those fellows in the camp."

The truth was out...

"Heh." Ned let out a bitter dry laugh. "There's no misunderstanding, and no need to prove anything else. Those people are definitely the victims taken last night. It seems the earlier intelligence wasn't suspicious after all—we really were overthinking things..."

Klab glared with furious eyes, reached back and pulled the axe from behind him, growling, "I can't accept this."

Futaba opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end just sighed, clearly also agreeing with Ned's words.

Mo Tan was the same. Even though he felt this matter wasn't as simple as it appeared, at least some things no longer required doubt.

So next was...

"We must rescue them." Ned said solemnly. "We can't delay even a second. Hei Fan..."

Mo Tan brushed his forehead lightly with his index and middle fingers together.

"I have a plan..." Ned said in a low voice. "If I can hold off that strong one for about a minute, is there any chance you can lead everyone to save those captives and then break through the encirclement and retreat safely?"

"I can't be certain." Mo Tan gently shook his head, then immediately added, "But if the warriors Salazar mentioned earlier are roughly on par with the ones we encountered that day, I'd say we have about a seventy percent chance."

Ned pondered for a moment, then patted Mo Tan on the shoulder. "That's enough. We'll go with that plan then. Your job is to keep the prisoner and our squad safe, and break through to retreat as best you can."

"And you?" Futaba suddenly asked Ned. "Planning to go out in a blaze of glory?"

Ned shook his head, pulling a silver pendant from his collar with a smile. "Don't underestimate your captain. I've got plenty of good stuff here. This magical item allows for one random teleport—that's more than enough to guarantee my own safety."

"A pendant that powerful~" Futaba whispered to Mo Tan. "If it's real, it's got to be at least Epic Equipment, right?"

Mo Tan shrugged without offering an opinion, but he did breathe a sigh of relief. He'd been worried Ned might be planning some self-sacrificing heroics.

"Then it's settled." Ned smiled faintly. "Five minutes from now, we move out."

...

Karon was growing restless...

That damned bastard still hadn't shown up!

By all rights, the scum he'd captured should be pretty important to them, and the one most suited to come rescue him was undoubtedly that bastard—but he just hadn't come!

He couldn't wait any longer...

The Great Chieftain's patience had to be at its limit by now. Tolerating a disobedient little Overseer like himself to this extent could already be considered a kindness.

Regardless, he had to retreat before tonight!

And though he'd been saying he'd chop that scum to pieces, he'd probably still have to bring him back intact. The intel that guy held was too important, and he himself was completely useless at interrogation...

How infuriating!

He let out a long sigh and was just picking up his battle axe to take a stroll and hunt some game for the warriors, when his expression suddenly hardened. He bellowed with murderous intent, "Who?! Get the hell out here!!"

The next second, a tall figure strode over with a sword in hand from not far away. Ned stared coldly at the hulking orc before him, who towered at least two heads above him, and demanded in a low voice, "Was it you people who slaughtered wantonly and abducted the innocent?"

"Oh?" Karon's crimson eyes locked onto Ned, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "What's this? So you're the one Marshall's scum sent to rescue him?"

"I'm asking—" Ned began to press further, but was cut off by a frantic, desperate howl.

Not far away, inside a wooden cage lined with barbed spikes, a filthy orc suddenly shouted at him, "You finally came for me! Quick! Get me out of here! Otherwise I'm definitely going to be killed! And by then it'll be too late for everything!!!"

Gazing at that blood-soaked orc, Ned's eyes gradually began to redden as he roared, "Move!!!"

A thunderbolt suddenly flashed, and the blood-stained wooden cage was instantly blasted to pieces, with the caster's precise control ensuring not a single injury to the prisoner inside!

Immediately after, Salazar's figure darted out from behind a bush, sending the nearest orc warrior flying with a single elbow strike. Klab followed closely, roaring as he charged forward, his battle axe smashing a muscular brute of similar build to the ground.

Ned, who had already been blessed with Tough Prayer and Divine Decree: Shield, leaped forward, slashing an ice-blue Sword Light toward Karon while simultaneously kicking the newly freed orc in the rear, sending him tumbling to Klab's feet.

"Ridiculous!" Karon didn't dodge or flinch, simply shattering the sword light with his body before stomping the ground fiercely. The terrifying Strength launched Ned into the air, followed by a swift axe swing!

Bang!!

Ned, barely managing to block with his sword, was sent flying nearly ten meters like a rubber ball before crashing to the ground, blood spraying from his mouth.

One blow!!

Just one blow nearly rendered Ned, the strongest member of the Fenrir Squad, combat-incapable.

Salazar's judgment had been far too optimistic. This orc Overseer's power was absolutely beyond their ability to handle—even if they all banded together, it wouldn't be enough!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Three Feathered Arrows pierced the sky, causing Karon, who was about to give chase, to pause momentarily. Yinna leaped down from a nearby tree, landing with a bewildered expression and shouting, "What's going on?"

"New plan! Cover the civilians' retreat!" Mo Tan, who had rushed out alongside Futaba, cast a shield on Salazar as he organized the retreat of the thirty-odd people, then called out loudly, "Yinna, fall back behind Klab and hold off the ones closest to the captain! Futaba, disrupt the archers on the higher ground to the right!"

Another flash of purple Lightning Flash streaked by, and one of the orc archers on a hidden post went dark—not fatally wounded, but trembling uncontrollably on the spot.

Unlike Mo Tan, whose current character had barely improved, Futaba, who had been exceptionally diligent lately due to some 'game,' had been frequenting the Mage Guild these past few days. She had also completed several side quests in Layered Rock City, and her strength was now vastly different from their previous skirmish.

This was especially common in the early stages of the game—after all, going from ninety to a hundred was hard, but no one ever said that climbing from zero to ten should be a grueling ordeal... right...?

Yinna also retreated in the same instant, her slender figure weaving through several nimble movements before appearing behind Klab, followed by a series of Rapid Fire Arrows that pinned down two orc warriors.

"So it was you, little girl~" Karon sneered, glancing dismissively at Yinna before grabbing the stone chair behind him and hurling it straight at her: "Get lost! You small fry!!"

Klab was terrified, yelping "Oh my god!" as he immediately hit the ground, not forgetting to shove Yinna aside with his rear in the process.

Immediately after, a loud crash rang out as the stone chair grazed past Klab's scalp and slammed into the ground not far behind him, producing the effect of a fragmentation grenade as it shattered into bricks that scattered in all directions. One of them happened to smack right into Klab's back, eliciting a pained howl from the burly man.

By then, Salazar had already urged the terrified onlookers to flee, then rushed to Klab's side and yanked him back: "Dead yet?"

"Not yet!" The latter spat out a mouthful of bloody spittle, grimacing through clenched teeth: "But close!"

Mo Tan raised his hand and cast the freshly cooled Tough Prayer and Holy Healing onto Klab, then shouted at Ned: "Captain, we can retreat!"

"You all go!" Ned had only just managed to struggle to his feet, slashing his sword at an orc warrior charging toward Mo Tan and the others, bellowing: "I'll buy you some time, then I'll pull back!"

He then found himself shrouded in a shadow. Turning around, he saw the towering orc chieftain standing behind him with a cold sneer.

"Overreaching!"

Without even using a weapon, a single simple punch sent Ned, whose reaction was half a beat too slow, flying back four or five steps. His face was somewhat distorted, and several teeth sprayed onto the ground along with a gush of blood.

"If you don't leave now, you won't get another chance!" Futaba gave her staff a light wave, conjuring a streak of red fire that blazed toward Karon, then shouted at Ned: "Now's your chance!"

Bang!

Another orc warrior lunging forward was kicked to the ground by Ned, who turned back to the others with a faint smile, pointing at his necklace: "Idiots! I'm way safer than you all! This thing's teleport radius is huge!"

"Go!" Salazar made the call without hesitation, his voice low: "The faster we move, the safer the captain will be!"

"Is that so?" Karon's reply came even quicker than the Fenrir Squad members'. He glanced at the adjutant who was dragging the half-dead orc back, and sneered: "None of you are going anywhere!"

Chapter Fifty-Five: The End