Chapter Ninety-One: The Target Locked In

At that moment, Maple was thinking that even the first-rank charm spell could at best improve a person’s favorability a little; she had never heard of it making a non-player character surrender wealth of his own accord.

In adventuring parties, there were generally several arrangements. One was a long-term team, where equipment was divided according to need. Another was a temporary gold-party arrangement, where all loot was auctioned off piece by piece, the highest bidder taking it, and the others splitting the gold raised by the bidding.

The remaining kind was theirs: a hired expedition. Roya provided the compensation, the weapons, and all consumables, and naturally everything they gained belonged to Roya, unless some other arrangement had been agreed upon.

Even if Zhao Xu did most of the work, he could still be compensated afterward, or even receive a share of the spoils then and there.

But he would not be allowed to choose first in advance like this.

The underground power called Shattered Star was able to thrive in Hurricane City, which was dominated by the Merchant Alliance, and it was even rumored that Isis might one day rise to become a partner of the Alliance. Clearly, that success depended on more than force alone.

Isis never treated lightly anyone who had helped her. Maple had heard those words when he completed his warrior training in Hurricane City, and Rainbow had felt them all the more keenly when he finished his rogue graduation trial.

The four of them all knew the extent of Isis’s influence throughout Hurricane City.

So when they learned that this assignment came at Isis’s request, they were willing to take part.

Only, Zhao Xu had somehow led Roya to mistake him for someone backed by an immense power?

Maple even felt a little nervous, hoping only that after Zhao Xu had claimed his share of the spoils, he would flee far away before Roya realized he had no great backing at all.

Roya, meanwhile, broke into a light sweat, relieved that he had never done anything to offend the spellcaster before him.

Anyone in the underground world knew that mages were not to be touched, unless you had another mage to cover for you or shoulder the blame.

No matter how secret the assassination, it could not escape the divinations of mages. That was a lesson the underground learned at the cost of blood and tears.

During one gang clash, Roya’s side had clearly held the advantage. Yet when a relative of a high-ranking mage stepped forward, they demanded back the piece of territory Roya’s faction had seized on the spot.

Even afterward, their leader Isis had to smile and hand over another portion as well.

That was the deterrent the mage class of Arthur held over them.

“Stop daydreaming,” Zhao Xu said when he noticed that the fourth spell, Vampiric Touch, had struck the barrier and been nullified.

By then the four rounds of spells had finally been completed. The next round would be the turret’s charging interval, and that was their chance.

“Those of you still behind, move to the very back. As for Mister Roya, stand at the far left side of the corridor, right against the magic barrier, but don’t step outside,” Zhao Xu instructed. After that, he himself moved to the right.

“Once the fireball is launched, remember to pull me back in quickly.” After tying the rope he had used to draw others inside around himself, Zhao Xu tossed the other end to the people remaining behind him.

From the perspective of positioning, he was now the one closest to the runic turret.

The runic turret always locked onto a single target. Earlier, after Roya crossed the pit trap, he had moved to the front and raised his shield to protect them, and so he had triggered the turret first.

Roya had also become the target locked onto from the first through the fourth round of spells. That fireball spell had been launched toward the position where he had first stood.

Normally, once a fireball landed, the ensuing blaze would cover a radius of seven meters. A common person, even crawling and scrambling, could never create that distance in an instant. Only Zhao Xu’s spell-nullifying barrier had happened to block it just in time, sparing Roya and the others disaster.

When the quiet fifth round ended and time stepped into the sixth, the runic turret condensed its energy once more, and another fireball began to form in the maw of the demon-head statue.

“Be careful,” Zhao Xu reminded them.

The instant the fireball left the turret’s mouth, Zhao Xu’s whole body was yanked sharply backward by the others and pulled inside.

Yet the fireball’s trajectory was not aimed at him at all. It shot directly toward Roya.

Seeing the sphere of flame coming, even though Roya was standing inside the ward, he still could not help taking a step back.

But no matter how searing the fireball’s heat, the instant it touched the barrier, it vanished into nothingness on the spot, as though it had never existed.

Seeing this, everyone finally let out a breath.

And yet, in the blink of an eye, outside the spherical barrier there rose another towering wave of fire.

Countless scorching flames instantly filled the view before them, searing the air around them.

“The fireball spell hasn’t disappeared. It just can’t take effect within the barrier’s range,” Zhao Xu explained calmly.

Then, turning to Roya, he said, “Just now I was worried the spell might block the turret’s recognition, so I deliberately stepped outside and got a little closer. But the turret’s spell still locked onto you, which means you have been its target all along. Unless you move forty meters away from the turret, far enough to break its lock.”

Seeing that everyone still looked blank, Zhao Xu knew they had not yet grasped it. He pointed irritably toward the far end and said, “So long as Roya stays here, even if someone rushes under the turret, he still won’t become its target.”

“As long as Roya doesn’t leave, or doesn’t die,” Zhao Xu finished with a smile, “we’re going to send someone ahead first to check what’s around the corner. If the way is clear all the way through, then Roya can still use the fifth-round interval to sprint over.”

Only then did the others in the team understand Zhao Xu’s plan.

“I’ll scout the way,” Maple said, stepping forward.

Zhao Xu glanced at him. “Your physique is impaired, and so are the skills tied to it. Don’t join in the excitement. Whoever has the highest rolling-type skill should go scout.”

“I’ll do it,” the rogue Rainbow said, stepping out. “My sixteen points of agility are not a joke.”

Seeing Rainbow volunteer, Zhao Xu nodded. He murmured a few instructions by his ear, then patted his shoulder and sent him off.

Zhao Xu’s spell-nullifying barrier could last for twenty rounds, and fortunately it was twenty rounds.

If it had been the original version, with the protection staff only at a caster level of thirteen, those thirteen rounds would have been far more restrictive.

Rainbow knew time was tight, so he did not dare linger. He hurried forward at full speed.

Zhao Xu had chosen Rainbow, who had the higher rolling skill, precisely so that if he encountered a trap again, he would be able to gamble on forcing his way through.

And at last, this long corridor did not produce a third trap. Rainbow made it all the way to the end without incident.

By then he was standing beneath the demon-head runic turret, a faint sheen of sweat on his brow. But once his torch illuminated the passage beyond the corner, he could not help laughing.

Beyond the turn there was yet another corridor, more than a hundred meters long. Though no one could tell how dangerous it might be, it was enough to let them open a safe distance of forty meters from the turret.

“I’ve reached it safely. You can come over. Code name thirty-three.”

A moment later, Rainbow’s shout came from beyond the corner.

At that very time, the ninth round had just arrived, and the fourth spell again struck the barrier and vanished.

“The code matches. It’s Rainbow himself. The rest of you, charge forward. Roya and I will bring up the rear,” Zhao Xu continued to direct.

Seeing that everyone was still frozen in place, Zhao Xu hurriedly shouted, “Move! Run out seven meters first. You can stare blankly later, once you’re outside the fireball’s range.”

Only then did the members of the team hastily dash toward the front of the corridor.