章 78: Chapter 78: Return
Chapter 78: Return
"Next item is a peak Rank-2 Magical Beast core of Crimson Fox. As you all know the value of this magical core, I'll not waste my time explaining how we got this. The starting price is 12,000 gold coins." The auctioneer announced as an assistant carried a fist-sized red core to the auction hall.
As soon as he spoke, the whole auction house started becoming noisy. Raven could see many wizards instantly standing up and started bidding.
"12,300 gold coins!"
"12,500 gold coins!"
"12,800 gold coins!"
…
"15,000 gold coins!"
….
'Why are the wizards showing this much interest?' Raven was curious.
[Magical core is more like a fuel storage for a magical beast. The elemental energy it contains is enormous and can be used for various purposes like recharging the elemental energy in one's circle, artifact creation, magic scrolls, etc. The higher the rank of a magical core, the more valuable it will be. When you become a Rank-2 or a Rank-3 Walker, you will also rely on these cores to refill the elemental energies in your Circlets. After all, the elemental energies in the atmosphere are very minute and take longer to gather.]
As Raven was asking his doubts, the price soared up to 17,000.
Thankfully, no one bid more than that number, and the item was sold to a Wizard in a hooded black robe.
The following three items were the Corpse of the Crimson Fox Magical Beast, a Rare Rank Amulet, and a Rare Sword—each item sold for over 20,000 gold coins, making a huge commotion.
And the auction ended without any disturbance.
"Those who bid can collect your items now. Follow me." The auctioneer said as he stepped down from the stage and moved towards the hall next to it.
Raven and Jacob stood up from their seat and moved towards the hall.
They soon saw a few people sitting at the counters and calling out seat numbers.
Whenever a person's seat number was called out, an assistant would come forward and escort him to the nearby storage, where all the auctioned items were placed in the open.
"Seat no F12!" A female voice came from the counter.
Raven instantly went ahead and arrived before the counter.
It was a woman in her twenties with blonde hair and brown eyes.
"Your badge and ticket, please." The blonde-haired woman asked.
Raven took out the ticket and badge and presented them to her.
Meanwhile, she quietly looked at the ledger and spoke.
"Bid items: Phantom Compass-1,250 gold coins, Frozen Wyrm- 6,500 gold coins, a common rank spatial ring- 2,500 gold coins, Unknown Key from Ruins- 4,100 gold coins, Worm Magical Beast corpse- 12,000 gold coins. Sold items: Night Vision potion- 19,000 gold coins. You bid items for a total of 26,350 gold coins. After subtracting the amount of the sold item, you still have to pay 7,350 gold coins, sir."
Nodding, Raven quietly took two pouches from his inventory and placed them on the counter.
"One pouch contains 70 platinum coins, and the other contains 340 gold coins." He deliberated momentarily, took out ten more gold coins, and placed them on the counter.
Meanwhile, the blonde-haired woman checked the money and soon spoke as she pointed her finger at a bald man standing near the counter.
"Transaction completed, sir. You can go with our assistant and collect your items."
Raven nodded, quietly followed him and took the items. He stored Merlin's Compass and the Key of Dark Dungeon in his inventory and the Mind-Worm and Ice Wyrm corpses in the spatial ring.
After that, Raven didn't stay in the storage hall and quietly left the auction with Jacob.
The night air outside the auction hall was chill as Raven and Jacob stepped onto the cobbled street. Gas lamps cast long shadows across the stone pathway, and the sound of distant chatter filled the air. A few carriages were lined up, their horses snorting and shifting restlessly.
Raven was about to move towards the nearby carriage, but a brougham carriage came from the other side and soon stopped beside them.
"Need a ride?" A young woman's voice came from the driver's seat.
She was a young woman with long blonde hair, amber eyes, and a round face, and she looked around her mid-twenties. She wore a black overcoat over her formal dress and also had a cigar in her mouth.
Raven quietly touched his monocle, adjusted it, and nodded.
"Aurora Street, Glory Wine." He spoke while taking out three silvers and gave her before walking towards the carriage door.
The carriage door shut with a quiet click, and the vehicle lurched forward, quietly moving through the dimly lit streets of Bloodstone City.
Raven was tired from the long day, so he quietly leaned on the seat and closed his eyes.
Jacob also couldn't see anything outside due to the darkness and sat silently.
The carriage traveled for more than thirty minutes and soon stopped.
"We're here, Young Master." The blonde-haired woman spoke.
The corner of Raven's lips rose.
Meanwhile, Jacob raised his hand, pointed his middle and index finger towards his eyes, and then towards the direction where the lady driver was seated.
'Not bad. It seems Jacob also realized something was amiss.' Raven nodded and decided to play along.
"'Yawn' Wait a second, ma'am."
While speaking, Raven waved his hand and took out a leather bag from his inventory before passing them to Jacob. When leaving for the auction, Raven talked with Jacob and decided to keep his weapon in his inventory for emergencies.
Jacob quietly took the bag, opened it, and took a 124 cm long Aether rifle from it. Then, he also took out a leather pouch and tied it to his waist. After that, he took a few more knives and daggers from the bag and kept them hidden in his coat.
"Please act as a bait, My Lord," Jacob whispered.
"I'll reduce the number quickly."
Raven was about to say something, but Jacob's figure suddenly became dark and disappeared, leaving him dumbfounded.
'Is that Shadow Step skill?' Raven grabbed the door handle and waited.
Three seconds later, he opened the door and walked outside.
At the same time, a kick came from the right side and landed on his chest, causing him to roll on the ground.
"Ugh!"
"Hmm? Where did that baldie go? I was expecting to meet the Scarlet Wolf of the Sepoy Corps." A rough male voice came from ahead.
"Don't let your guard down, Preston. That guy might be hiding somewhere waiting for an opportunity." A female voice followed.
Raven groaned, slowly looked up, and glanced around.
Instead of bustling streets, he saw abandoned buildings, half-destroyed compound walls, and broken street lights.
At that moment, he was lying in the middle of the empty street.
But what startled him was the people standing before him.
Along with the lady carriage driver, around four people were standing before him. One was a middle-aged man, around 40 years old, with deep brown eyes, messy black hair, a square face, barely visible eyebrows, and was 170 cm tall. He wore a frock coat over his red shirt and a black top hat and held a cane in his left hand.
The second person was a woman in a black dress who covered her face with a mask and held twin daggers at her waist. Besides her strange purplish eyes and red hair, Raven couldn't find anything about her appearance. And the last person was a silver-haired young man in his twenties. Instead of formal clothes, he wore a plain grey robe and held a strange stick in his left hand.
'An Acolyte Wizard? And Two Radiant Rank Walkers!'
Raven's eyes narrowed as he pushed himself up, feeling the bruise forming on his chest. While storing the monocle, he patted the dust off his coat and asked while locking his gaze on the carriage driver.
"So, why are you targeting me? Didn't you have fun torturing me all this time, Mia?" Although his face appeared calm, an intense anger could be heard in his tone.
Meanwhile, the blonde-haired woman drew the dagger from her waist and pointed it at him.
"You look like Thomas but act different… I clearly remembered that I killed you in the underground basement, though."
A deep sigh leaked out of Raven's mouth.
"I can still feel the pain whenever I think about the moment when you sliced my throat. But who ordered you to kill me?" As he spoke, he slowly raised his hand and tried to grip something in the air.
A moment later, Raven caught the iron spear that appeared out of thin air and gripped it with both hands.
But before he could even step forward to attack, the blonde-haired man suddenly opened his mouth and spoke something.
Vines crept from the ground a second later, slithered around his legs, and even wrapped his body in two seconds, binding him completely. Raven tried to move, but he couldn't.
'No good! Magic spells are mysterious indeed!' What shocked him most was that whenever he tried to move his muscles, the vines started tightening and even injecting poison into his blood through thorns!
"Hold him tight, Tadeo. I want to know how he escaped-" Just as Mia spoke, a bang sound echoed, followed by a reddish hole appeared on her forehead.
She didn't even have time to understand what happened to her as darkness clouded her vision. She stumbled forward and soon fell on the road with a thud.
"Sh*t! I told her to be extra careful! Preston, the bullet came from 2 o'clock." The red-haired woman spoke, unsheathed her daggers, and added.
"Tadeo, make sure to cripple him while we go take care of that annoying Ranger!" Saying so, she took a step forward and started running towards the direction where the bullet came from.
But as she took a second step, another bang sound came from 2 o'clock, causing her to roll down. But she soon moved behind the carriage and slowly disappeared into darkness. The middle-aged man also leaped towards the left side and started running towards the direction where the bullet came from.
Only the silver-haired man stood still, as if he was not bothered by Jacob's attack, and started moving towards Raven.
[You've only one chance, lad. Disturb his concentration once he gets closer.] Zera's voice echoed in Raven's head.
'I need to kill him. B-But I never killed anyone before.' In truth, he even felt nauseous whenever he saw the corpse of Mia.
Raven stood silently; hesitation lingered in his eyes.
As he was in deep thought, the Wizard named Tadeo suddenly raised his staff and spoke.
"Arise!"
A second later, the ground before Raven started to become watery, and soon, the humanoid shape of a monster came out from it. It was two meters tall and looked more like a being made of sand and rock.
"Golem!"
As Raven muttered in shock, it suddenly raised its rocky fist and punched at his chest.
'I need to dodge!' His instinct screamed about the upcoming danger, but the vines restricted his movement.
With no other choice, Raven used his hands and the spear as a shield and tried to stop the impact. But the strength behind the golem's attack was too strong for him to endure.
A heartbeat later, he was sent back flying like a ball and crashed onto the nearby compound wall.
The poisonous vines were also ripped in the process, leaving him wounded all over.
Raven spat out a mouthful of blood and used the spear as a support to stand up.
"This looks like a one-sided battle," He said with a forced smile, activating the 'Iron Resilience' skill.
A moment later, his body's wounds and scratches started to heal incredibly quickly, even lessening the pain.
Raven then pointed the spear tip at Tadeo and dashed forward.
At the same time, an invisible layer of aura formed at the tip of the spear and covered the whole spearhead.
"You are fine after receiving a blow from the golem?" A surprised expression appeared on Tadeo's face. In truth, the power behind the golem's attack was a beginner Radiant Knight's punch, around 1,500 kg.
Even an Elite Rank Walker would find it hard to stand steadily after taking a hit from it.
'Wait, why is my heart beating faster? I'm feeling restless inside!' Tadeo felt a strange uneasiness in his heart.
But he soon snapped out of the shock and cast the next spell.
A purplish ball of energy appeared before his hand and flew incredibly toward Raven.
It soon arrived before Raven and exploded while spreading the surroundings in poisonous gases!
In two seconds, the whole surrounding air turned purplish!
After casting this poison spell, Tadeo cast an invisible shield spell and protected himself from the poisonous air.
In the meantime, a coughing sound echoed continuously within the poisonous gas and died out after a while.
And the poison also disappeared, revealing a young man lying on the street road unconsciously.
"Ugh, I ended up using this 'Toxic Mist' spell. Now I need to waste a poison antidote potion on him." Although the effect of his Toxic Mist spell was not instantaneous, it could become deadly if proper treatment wasn't done.
Tadeo walked closer to the unconscious boy, undid the shield spell, and took a greenish vial from his pouch.
"Even in the unconscious state, he is gripping his spear like a treasure." An amused smile crept on his face.
Then, he squatted down and was about to give him an antidote, but a sharp pain appeared in his chest. Not only that, but he noticed that his vision started becoming blurry, making him feel dizzy.
"Did I inhale some poison gas?" As he was muttering, he suddenly saw the eyes of the unconscious boy wide open.
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