Chapter 506 3rd Circle Evocation School

Things proceeded very smoothly.

The warehouse, holding a massive stockpile of supplies, was a crucial location for the Ebb Tide Gang on the Wild Berry Cliff Islands.

Aside from Hogen's group, high-ranking gang members who had already acquired Class Levels were stationed here on a daily basis.

Of course, considering the Ebb Tide Gang was merely a small-to-medium organization in Barracuda Bay, those assigned to this duty wouldn't be high-level experts.

They were two of the most ordinary, common [Warriors], and their Class Levels were only Level 1.

A few of the gang's petty thugs accompanied them to handle miscellaneous chores.

To some extent, it was actually a cushy job.

After all, the warehouse sat in the core area of Wild Berry Cliff, and outposts ringed the island's coastline.

If someone really managed to fight their way here from the beach through the Ebb Tide Gang's attacks, these two Level 1 Class Holders wouldn't be of much use anyway.

Perhaps because of this, they were exceptionally relaxed.

When Hogen walked out of the bushes alone and entered the camp under the orders of the Shield of Iron Rock party, one of the two Class Holders was already sound asleep. The other was drowning in alcohol, raising his glass and dancing with the thugs by the fire, having completely lost track of his longsword.

The battle ended just as quickly.

Having used that brief window to grasp the camp's layout, Xia Nan and the others infiltrated the grounds just as a few thugs threw their arms around Hogen's shoulders and poured him a full glass of liquor.

The moment the Rogue Agu's dagger pierced the sleeping Warrior's neck, a wooden arrow from the Ranger Seli whistled through the air and punched through the dead-drunk Warrior's temple by the campfire.

The two Class Holders died instantly.

The remaining scattered lackeys were completely outmatched.

Within a few minutes, the originally noisy warehouse camp was reduced to dead silence.

The campfire's flickering flames illuminated the corpses scattered across the ground, and the thick stench of blood filled the air.

"Gulp, gulp..."

His thick Adam's apple bobbed as liquor spilled from the corner of his mouth, soaking the clothes on his chest.

The half-orc Hogk recklessly chugged from the barrel in his arms, downing more than half of it in a single breath.

"Refreshing!" Emitting a low, beast-like growl from his throat, he tossed the barrel onto the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Captain, are you sure you don't want a few glasses?"

Hearing this, the dwarf Habik swallowed unconsciously.

As a pureblood hill dwarf, he naturally had a hard time staying away from such wonderful liquor.

However, they were still in the middle of a mission, and as the captain, it wasn't appropriate to indulge. He could only forcibly restrain his desires.

Keeping a straight face, he waved a hand at the half-orc. "The mission is what's important. Just have a couple of sips and leave it at that. Once we get back, I don't care if you buy out all the stock in the tavern."

Having worked together for many years, Hogk knew his personality and understood what was important.

He merely looked at the barrel on the ground, licked his lips, and didn't drink anymore.

"They're all just a bunch of paupers. There's nothing valuable."

Clearing the battlefield was something veteran Adventurers like them were extremely proficient at.

Less than five minutes had passed since the last thug died, and Seli and Agu had already finished cleaning up.

One of them held two longswords, while the other hefted a somewhat deflated coin pouch.

"The weapons on these two Class Holders are just common goods from the blacksmith shops in Barracuda Bay. They won't fetch much even if we sell them back."

"They didn't have much money on them either. We searched the entire camp and barely found a few gold coins."

This was within reason.

On one hand, when a Class Holder chose to retire from the "Adventurer" profession and become a gang member or a pirate, it meant saying goodbye to their original high income and entering a relatively stable life.

On the other hand, this was just a temporary camp, not the Ebb Tide Gang's main headquarters. They frequently changed shifts, so it was naturally impossible for anyone to carry their entire net worth on them while working.

But no matter how small the harvest, this income should belong to all members participating in the mission, and it should be discussed and distributed.

Yet right now, the members of the Shield of Iron Rock Squad... didn't seem to have any intention of sharing the spoils.

Standing a short distance away, Xia Nan subconsciously furrowed his brow, a trace of aversion rising in his heart.

He had already made up his mind that once this mission was over, he would have a good "chat" with them.

Even if it was just a single copper coin, the share he was entitled to absolutely could not be shorted.

"Let's go, don't waste time," squad captain Habik commanded, seeing that his teammates had cleaned up the valuables on the field. "Check if the goods in the warehouse are the batch we're looking for. If they are, we grab them and quickly fall back."

Having already learned that the Ebb Tide Gang had formed ties with the Sahuagin, he clearly didn't want to get involved in any trouble. Furthermore, killing all those petty thugs along the way, along with the two Class Holders just now, fulfilled Auriel's quest requirement to give the Ebb Tide Gang and the pirates a lesson.

He just wanted to quickly grab the items and leave.

...

The temporary warehouse built by the Ebb Tide Gang on Wild Berry Cliff was quite spacious, roughly half the size of a football field.

Of course, most of what was stored inside were everyday living supplies. It was impossible to find things like enchanted equipment here.

For these pirates, anything truly valuable would only be carried on their person or hidden in a secret location known only to them.

Fortunately, perhaps because the goods had only recently been plundered from the merchant ship, they hadn't even changed the crates; they had merely opened them for a brief inspection.

It didn't take the group much time to find the collector's goods in the center of the warehouse, based on the hidden markings Auriel had described.

A full three large crates.

They contained tobacco, rare ores, and some antique collectibles of indiscernible value—Xia Nan took the opportunity to sweep over them with the golden finger of his Attribute Panel, but he found nothing special. They were all just ordinary items with some collectible value.

They needed to move these things to the beach and then transport them back to the merchant ship using the small boat they came in.

The shift change at the warehouse wouldn't happen until dawn at the earliest, and it was currently just past midnight. As long as nothing unexpected occurred, they had plenty of time.

Meanwhile, true to the greedy nature of Adventurers in this world, the members of the Shield of Iron Rock Squad began searching for valuables in the warehouse once the quest objective was found and the pressure had dropped.

"Mr. Sea Fang, why aren't you joining those lords?" Hogen asked cautiously, gathering his courage and keeping his head low as he observed Xia Nan's expression from the corner of his eye.

It was unknown whether he wanted to take the opportunity to escape or was deliberately trying to cozy up out of fear of being silenced.

"Hm?" Xia Nan raised an eyebrow and glanced at the thug beside him. "Didn't you just say the warehouse was full of living supplies? What, were you not telling the truth?"

"No, no, no!" Hogen said, looking terrified and waving his hands repeatedly. "Everything I said was the truth, Lord Xia Nan! When these things were brought in, I was right there watching. I-I was just asking casually."

Naturally, he couldn't completely trust this thug's guarantee. In fact, when Xia Nan followed the squad into the warehouse, his Perception had already been pushed to its maximum, his gaze sweeping over every corner around them.

By the time the Shield of Iron Rock Squad finished confirming Auriel's goods and started looking for extra income, Xia Nan had already checked the place twice.

This was why he was so unhurried right now.

In comparison, what he truly cared about right now was another matter.

"On my way here, I came across a dungeon. It was holding many commoners from the nearby islands. These should be the sacrifices you plan to trade to the fishmen, right?"

"Yes, my lord. They are indeed preparations made by Leader Gerry for the trade with the Sahuagin," Hogen confirmed, trying to distance himself from the matter. He seemed exceptionally sensitive to the word "you" in Xia Nan's question, which lumped him in with the Ebb Tide Gang.

"How many dungeons like this do you have on the island?" Xia Nan followed up, paying no mind to the thug's insistence.

"I'm not sure of the exact number, but it's definitely no more than ten." Hogen looked thoughtful, recalling carefully. "But not every dungeon has people locked up in it. Many of them are still empty, supposedly prepared for the future."

"Do you know their exact locations?"

"The dungeons are basically all built in fixed areas. I've seen them before when I was patrolling the island with the gang. If given some time... I can find all of them."

Xia Nan nodded slightly and said no more.

The commissioned quest was nearly complete now that Auriel's lost collection had been found.

He planned to take advantage of the transport process to rescue the ordinary commoners locked in the dungeons in passing, without affecting the rest of the party.

There was enough space on the merchant ship; the number of people wouldn't be an issue.

Of course, since this wasn't part of the commission, any losses incurred by these commoners, or things like food expenses, he would negotiate with Auriel later and cover himself.

"Fuck, why isn't there anything valuable in this warehouse!?" the half-orc Hogk complained in great disappointment, taking a vicious bite out of a piece of cured meat he had dug out of a food crate.

For Adventurers like them, the reward for the quest itself often only accounted for a small portion of their total income.

The bulk came from the extra cash earned during the commission, including but not limited to protection money offered by villagers encountered on the road, loot from other Adventurers, and monster materials.

Just returning with the quest objective like this left him feeling somewhat unwilling.

His round eyes subconsciously shifted to Hogen beside Xia Nan. With a tone brimming with ferocity, he threatened, "Hey, brat! Is there anything else of value in this place? If you dare lie to me, I'll peel your skin off!"

"No, there really isn't anything else, my lord!" Under the threat, Hogen immediately dropped to the ground and begged for mercy.

Baring his teeth, the half-orc originally wanted to say something more, but the beast-like instinctual reaction to danger from his orc bloodline made him subconsciously shut his mouth.

His gaze instinctively shifted away from Hogen and looked toward Xia Nan.

He saw that the exceptionally young-looking, black-haired man had turned halfway at some unknown point.

His brow slightly furrowed, his pitch-black eyes stared into the profound darkness beneath the night sky outside the warehouse doors.

"What's wrong?" squad captain Habik asked, his attention also caught by Xia Nan's unusual behavior.

"We've got a situation," Xia Nan said, his keen Perception allowing him to faintly sense an unusual commotion coming from the depths of the night.

Fancying her own Perception to be quite strong as well, Seli, whose class was [Ranger], similarly focused her attention and concentrated to sense carefully upon hearing this, but she found absolutely nothing.

She gave a slight shake of her head toward Habik.

"I don't sense anything..." she said.

Wooooom—

A high-pitched, piercing sound, much like a steam whistle, rang out from afar, instantly cutting off Seli's words.

The expressions of the Shield of Iron Rock Squad members changed drastically.

Disregarding their ongoing search for supplies, they hurriedly gathered together and got into formation.

"What's the situation!?" Habik growled lowly.

Xia Nan was equally unsure of what was happening, but his Perception attribute, which was as high as 12 points, allowed him to make a practically perfect response by pure instinct the instant the crisis descended.

Exerting force with his right hand, he grabbed Hogen's collar beside him and directly threw the unlucky thug out the window—he still needed the other party to help him find the locations of the dungeons later, so he had to ensure his survival as much as possible.

Then, driving power into his legs, his dark silhouette almost turned into a blur. In the blink of an eye, he moved from near the warehouse entrance to stand in front of the three crates of goods that were their quest objective.

The [Ember Fall] straight sword was unsheathed in an instant, but he didn't point it forward; instead, he let it hang naturally, the tip angled toward the ground. He raised his left arm horizontally, the [Darkscale Coiled Guard] Arm Shield protecting his front.

"Raise your shields!" he warned his temporary teammates.

Although he didn't know why Xia Nan was reacting so strongly, seeing him act this way caused the dwarf Habik to subconsciously unequip the large, heavy steel tower shield strapped to his back.

And in the very next second after the bottom edge of the tower shield hit the ground...

A heavy, deep hum joined the horn blast echoing through the air.

As Seli dove behind the dwarf's shield, her gaze subconsciously followed the direction of the sound.

What met her eyes was the bare, wooden-plank wall of the warehouse.

Along with a violently expanding, tangerine-red light that was seeping and surging in through every gap between the wooden boards.

An explosive, scalding wave of heat surged into the warehouse at almost the exact same time as the wooden boards were blasted to pieces, turning into fiery spears.

It was an extremely fast, highly concentrated sphere of flame. Its outer layer was wreathed in tangerine-red fire, while its interior was an almost transparent white, brewing an explosive, high temperature that ordinary people could scarcely imagine.

The warehouse wall shattered at a touch like flimsy paper, and the surrounding goods were reduced to unrecognizable charred remains the moment they were even slightly caught in the blast.

It was like a meteor flying sideways into the building.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the sphere constructed of pure flame gently landed right in the center of the warehouse.

BOOM!!!

—3rd Circle Evocation School: Fireball!