Chapter 42: Thieves vs. Mages 1

“Hehe... looks like I’m going to make a great contribution this time.”

The moment Klar’s body collapsed onto the ground, the air behind him suddenly distorted twice.

A man dressed completely in black and wearing a face covering appeared silently behind Klar’s corpse.

In his hand was a pitch-black dagger, with fresh blood still dripping from its blade onto the ground.

The masked man was clearly in an excellent mood. He laughed softly and muttered to himself.

From his voice alone, it was obvious that he was a man.

“You people actually dare to call yourselves a bandit group? Then what does that make people like us? You trash have insulted the profession of thieves.”

The man looked at the only remaining scout from the bandit group who was still struggling on the ground.

He walked over casually and with a single slash cut the scout’s throat, killing the last survivor.

However, this thief did not bother collecting any loot.

Instead, he crouched down and carefully examined the traces left on the ground.

“There are footprints from only six people, but there are four women... Hmm, judging from the steps, they are all men except for those women. Five of them are carrying heavy burdens.”

The man narrowed his eyes.

“I see. There are five burdens among them. Looks like this is my chance to make a fortune, Dark Blade.”

He carefully examined the footprints left by Kent’s group.

Then he lowered his head and sniffed the air.

A cold flash appeared in his eyes.

Without hesitation, he quickly followed the direction Kent had gone.

Meanwhile, the situation on the riverbank had become even more chaotic.

The battle, which had originally been at a stalemate, had suddenly become even more complicated because another group of thieves had appeared out of nowhere.

Thieves were experts in stealth, assassination, rapid movement, and vicious killing techniques.

This was what a true thief organization looked like.

Compared with them, the people who had attacked the ship earlier were nothing more than ordinary bandits.

The original bandits had suffered heavy casualties when caught off guard.

However, once they recovered and began fighting back, even the thieves did not dare to approach carelessly while facing military crossbows.

As a result, the situation on the riverbank became even more complicated.

There was also another group of people on the opposite side of the river.

And now, it was already noon.

“Sir, this situation has become troublesome.”

“According to the bounty information, the target must be somewhere on the riverbank. Otherwise, there would be no reason for nine powerful professionals to gather here. I estimate that the target is inside that magical barrier.”

Not far away from the battlefield, inside a low-lying area, a masked man dressed in black spoke quietly to another man beside him.

The entire group was hidden carefully.

“We only need their heads.”

The man addressed as “sir” smiled faintly.

“They are four against five. No matter what happens, both sides will suffer heavy losses. When that happens, we will strike while they are exhausted and completely unprepared.”

His plan was extremely calculated.

“That is why I sent my men to kill those bandits.”

“We need to maintain the balance of power.”

“Sir is wise. Sir is truly wise.”

Several other black-clothed men nearby immediately lowered their voices and flattered him.

“Bring everyone from our group back.”

“No one is allowed to make a sound.”

“We will wait here. Do not expose our position.”

The leader slightly frowned before giving the order.

These black-clothed people were completely covered from head to toe.

Only their eyes were visible.

Around their waists hung rows of crossbow bolts. Behind them were small hand crossbows, leather pouches, and two completely black daggers.

It was the standard equipment of members from the Thieves’ Guild.

“Sir, everyone has returned.”

“Only Dark Blade has gone after a small group of escaped targets.”

Not long afterward, someone came back to report.

“Hehe.”

“Meeting Dark Blade is their nightmare.”

The leader laughed softly.

“Dark Blade is a member of the Shadow Division.”

“Although he is only a fifth-level professional, even an eighth-level swordsman would not be able to detect him.”

“Forget about him.”

“We will continue hiding here and wait.”

The leader was clearly not concerned.

Dark Blade had been sent by the Shadow Division to compete for the reward.

Since he had already left, that was even better.

One less person to divide the spoils.

Dark Blade followed the trail carefully.

He had witnessed exactly how the bandits had died.

A magical trap.

However, because Dark Blade had been some distance away at the time, he did not know that the magical trap had not released even the slightest trace of magical energy.

Fortunately for him, Kent no longer had any more of those things.

But Dark Blade did not know that.

Therefore, he did not dare to follow the exact path Kent’s group had taken.

Doing so would greatly restrict his speed and movements.

Dark Blade was a member of the Shadow Division of the Thieves’ Guild.

The Shadow Division referred to a special type of innate talent.

Its ability was simple but terrifying—to conceal one’s presence as much as possible while moving in stealth.

Through controlling breathing, relaxing or tightening muscles, and adjusting countless small movements of the body, a person with this talent could minimize all traces of their existence.

Every year, the Thieves’ Guild conducted selections for this ability.

However, those who possessed such talent were extremely rare.

The greatest strength of a thief was the ability to launch a sudden attack.

But thieves had limited methods at their disposal.

They relied mainly on physical strength and poison.

Most ordinary thieves did not circulate their battle energy while moving.

The moment they activated their battle energy, they would immediately reveal themselves.

The essence of a thief’s combat style was to constantly pressure the enemy.

Dark Blade had once hunted a seventh-level swordsman.

In the end, that swordsman had exhausted himself to death.

The reason was simple.

The swordsman had to keep circulating his battle energy at all times, constantly defending against a possible assassination that could come from any direction.

That was the true strategy of a thief.

“Damn it... what kind of place is this?”

Dark Blade looked down at his torn pants.

His clothes were made from the most durable double-layer linen available to the Shadow Division.

Yet even such clothing had been ripped.

The reason was that Dark Blade had refused to walk along the path Kent’s group had taken.

Instead, he had been forced to move through vines and thorn bushes.

As for the path Kent’s group had used, it was actually very easy to identify.

The vines along that route had already been cut apart by weapons.

Fortunately, thieves possessed extremely high agility, so ordinary vines were not a major problem.

But the thorns were another matter entirely.

They were extremely troublesome.

“Zhi zhi... zhi zhi...”

Kent was not moving very quickly.

He was simply following far behind Kweilin’s group.

At that moment, Kent was collecting a type of magical plant growing beside the road.

This was the first time he had ever encountered a magical plant.

The faint wood-element magical fluctuations it released were extremely weak and easy to overlook.

Just then, Big Nose suddenly began squeaking.

And it was staring toward the direction behind them.

Kent immediately became alert.

He quickly found a large tree.

With a sudden movement, he climbed up the tree.

However, no matter how carefully he looked around, he could not find anything.

Could Big Nose have made a mistake?

But Kent immediately rejected that idea.

Big Nose had never made a mistake in detecting danger before.

So Kent could only remain where he was and wait patiently.

“What the hell... is this supposed to be a mage?”

Dark Blade stared at the completely smooth tree trunk in front of him.

The tree itself was not particularly thick.

Its diameter was only a little over twenty centimeters.

However, trees like this grew deep inside dense forests.

They were extremely tall, and the lower parts of their trunks had almost no branches.

Dark Blade had already discovered Kent.

In his perception, Kent was like a candle burning in the darkness.

He could clearly sense that Kent was only a first-level mage.

Therefore, Dark Blade immediately moved forward.

But Kent’s reaction nearly made him cough up blood.

Since when did climbing trees become something a noble mage would do?

That rough and primitive movement was completely inconsistent with the image of a mage.

But that was not even the most important problem.

The real problem was that Dark Blade could not climb trees.

Even if he could, the moment he tried to climb upward, Kent would definitely sense his movement.

For a thief who relied on stealth, exposing himself before launching an attack was absolutely unacceptable.

Dark Blade stood beneath the tree and carefully measured the distance with his hand crossbow.

Unfortunately, the range of a hand crossbow was only a little over ten meters.

Although the bolts had been coated with deadly poison, it was useless.

Kent was a full twenty meters away from him.

Dark Blade looked up at Kent and almost felt like vomiting blood from frustration.

Because more than twenty meters above the ground, the tree had a large branch extending outward, along with several thick vines hanging around it.

Kent had discovered that this spot was actually extremely comfortable to sit in.

From there, he could clearly see the path he had taken to reach this place.

At the same time, the vines around him provided excellent natural cover, making it very easy to conceal his presence.

For an assassin who relied on stealth, this was almost the perfect hiding position.

“Big Nose, where is that guy?”

Kent held a piece of roasted meat in his hand while teasing Big Nose and asking.

There was nothing he could do.

Big Nose only recognized roasted meat, not people.

The little creature had a very simple loyalty system.

Food came first.

Big Nose vigorously twitched its bright red nose twice.

Then it pointed its head downward and squeaked toward the base of the tree.

After that, it suddenly grabbed the piece of roasted meat from Kent’s hand and began eating happily.