Chapter 75: Struck It Rich 2

“You’re all going to die.”

The two men who had erupted with silver-white battle aura were clearly Hank’s personal guards.

One of them crouched beside Hank to examine his injuries, while the other slowly rose to his feet and stared coldly at Keta and Kent.

The look in his eyes made it seem as though the two of them were already dead.

“Hmph! With trash like you?”

Before Keta could even answer, Kent suddenly jumped out from behind him and shouted at the top of his lungs,

“I already told you! Muan City doesn’t welcome you! Leave! Right now! Get the hell out!”

The moment he finished shouting, he immediately ducked back behind Keta.

“With just the few of you?”

The leading guard sneered.

“Hahaha! I’d like to see how you can possibly claim to represent Muan City.”

Even Keta was beginning to lose his temper.

“Muan City does not welcome you,” he roared. “Leave immediately. Otherwise, by the time you decide to go, it may already be too late.”

“That’s right! Hurry up and get lost!”

Kent immediately added.

He still had his eyes on all the treasures Hank was carrying. The sooner these people were dealt with, the sooner he could turn his attention back to those valuables.

“Hmph. I’m staying right here. What are you going to do about it?”

The guard snorted coldly.

Step by step, he began walking toward them.

“If that’s how you want it,” Keta said, his anger finally rising, “then I suppose I’ll have to discipline you on behalf of your master.”

“You?”

The guard laughed mockingly.

“Just because you can speak, you think that makes you human? What hole did you crawl out of—”

His voice suddenly stopped.

“Uh... th-this...”

A wave of green light had begun spreading from Keta’s body.

Then his entire form started to change.

The thin figure that had stood only a few meters tall expanded rapidly.

Higher.

Larger.

Within moments, Keta had transformed into a towering tree dozens of meters in height.

Covering the enormous tree were countless round growths, each roughly the size of a soccer ball.

To anyone who lived in the subterranean world, those things were instantly recognizable.

The guard swallowed the rest of his insult.

“My gods!”

“What... what is that?!”

“What’s going on?”

The surrounding guards stared upward in stunned disbelief, drawing in sharp breaths.

There was almost no one underground who failed to recognize such a creature.

An Ancient War Tree.

The ultimate weapon of the dark elves.

Ordinarily, an Ancient War Tree of this size should have been surrounded by a large number of dark-elven guards.

None of them could have imagined that the thin, unremarkable-looking man standing before them just moments ago was actually one of those terrifying beings.

Strictly speaking, an Ancient War Tree was not completely impossible to escape from.

But that was hardly the real problem.

The problem was the dark elves.

In the subterranean world, dark elves were unquestionably the largest and most powerful race.

Dwarves ranked second.

Humans third.

Gnomes fourth.

Several of the guards were already trembling at the knees.

Their eyes remained fixed on the countless spiked spheres covering the Ancient War Tree.

If they truly enraged Keta and he unleashed a full volley, at least half of them would probably be left behind.

The wooden spikes themselves might not be able to penetrate heavy armor.

But penetration was hardly necessary.

The spikes carried an extremely powerful paralytic toxin.

Even the smallest scratch was enough.

Within three breaths, the victim’s entire body would become paralyzed.

There was a story known throughout the underground world.

When one of the first Ancient War Trees had appeared in the depths, a single volley of its spikes had been enough to frighten away a black dragon.

And a black dragon was a true member of the dragon race, a creature possessing extraordinarily powerful resistance to poison, magic, and abnormal effects.

Were these men stronger than a black dragon?

Of course not.

Fortunately, dark elves were not naturally warlike.

Otherwise, the entire subterranean world might already have fallen under their rule.

“Lord Keta, what has happened?”

Unfortunately for Hank’s men, their nightmare was not over.

The moment Keta revealed his first combat form, six streaks of golden light shot toward them from the distance.

They arrived almost instantly.

Then a voice rang out.

“Lord Keta?”

The guards slowly looked upward.

“G-Golden battle aura...”

“Level Nine dark elves...”

If they had still possessed even the slightest hope of escaping the situation a moment earlier, that hope was crushed completely now.

Six figures floated silently in midair above them.

Their bodies were surrounded by brilliant golden battle aura.

The fact that they could remain suspended in the air, combined with the color of their aura, revealed their identities beyond any doubt.

Every one of them was a Level Nine dark elf.

The arrogant guard who had been speaking so boldly only moments ago suddenly went weak at the knees and collapsed to the ground.

But what truly shattered his courage was not the appearance of six Level Nine experts.

It was the way they had spoken.

Their voices had been respectful.

They had addressed the Ancient War Tree as Lord Keta.

If six Level Nine powerhouses treated him with such deference...

then just how terrifying was the true status of this Ancient War Tree named Keta?

“Honored Elders! These bastards were harassing Daphne. I couldn’t stand by and watch, so I killed a few of the idiots who refused to listen. Then the rest of them tried to silence us for good... Grandpa Keta saw the whole thing with his own eyes!”

Kent, always eager to stir up trouble when the opportunity presented itself, immediately jumped forward and loudly gave his version of what had happened.

“E-Elders...?”

The surviving guards went limp the moment they heard how Kent addressed the newcomers.

Several collapsed to the ground outright.

Those who had narrowly escaped death earlier simply fainted where they stood.

Hank himself began trembling uncontrollably.

Anyone who had spent time in the subterranean realm knew exactly what the elders of the dark elves represented.

They were monsters.

Old monsters.

Terrifyingly powerful old monsters.

And the dark elves had only seven elders in total.

Yet six of them had appeared here at once.

Hank suddenly felt as though death might have been the kinder fate.

Worse still, Kent was standing there loudly accusing them of harassing a dark elf.

Harassing a dark elf?

Here?

In the subterranean realm?

Who in their right mind would dare do such a thing unless they were tired of living?

Yes, there had occasionally been cases of lone dark elves being abducted, but those incidents were exceedingly rare. No one had ever heard of anyone openly molesting or harassing a dark elf in broad view of others.

Hank desperately wanted to argue.

Unfortunately, he discovered that he did not even have the strength to open his mouth.

“Hmph.”

The Second Elder glanced at Keta.

Keta had made no attempt to deny Kent’s story, and the fact that he had transformed into his first combat form was proof enough that this was no trivial dispute.

“Guards!”

The Second Elder shouted coldly.

“Take all of them into custody. We’ll find out exactly who is backing these people and what gave them the courage to behave so arrogantly in Muan City.”

A squad of dark-elven guards immediately moved in and surrounded the knights.

Arrests began at once.

“I’ll help! These damned bastards deserve it!”

The moment Kent saw the dark-elven patrol taking prisoners, he enthusiastically rushed forward.

The knights’ mounts had already gone completely limp under the overwhelming pressure in the area.

Even Hank’s Blazing Steed was lying helplessly on the ground.

Kent strode over to Hank in a few quick steps.

First, he cursed him viciously.

Then he began kicking and punching him.

“This greatsword will stay with me for safekeeping.”

Kent yanked the weapon away.

“The mount too.”

He continued stripping Hank of his possessions.

“And the armor.”

Off it came.

“These boots as well. They’ve got wind magic enchanted into them. What, were you planning to run away?”

Kent pulled those off too.

“And this ring? Confiscated.”

He plucked the spatial ring from Hank’s finger without hesitation.

“When this whole matter is settled, you can come and claim your things back.”

Kent said all of this while continuing to beat him.

Hank was so furious he nearly spat blood.

Yet he did not dare resist.

Fighting back here would be no different from committing suicide.

All he could do was glare at Kent with such hatred that it looked as though he wanted to tear a piece of flesh from him with his teeth.

Kent, meanwhile, could not have been happier.

He ran his hands over the greatsword.

Then admired the armor.

His heart was practically singing.

The surrounding dark elves watched him carefully for a moment.

Then, apparently deciding that his method made perfect sense, they followed his example.

Weapons were removed.

Armor was stripped away.

Anything valuable was confiscated.

And before Kent knew what was happening, all of it was being handed over to him for “safekeeping.”

Kent stared at the growing pile of equipment in stunned delight.

Even he felt a little embarrassed to inspect everything openly in front of so many people.

So he handed most of the spoils over to the three Hark brothers and Kobi, telling them to take everything back and store it in his room.

Hank’s spatial ring was another matter.

Kent slipped that directly into an inner pocket close to his body.

There was no chance in hell he was handing that over to anyone.

“Boy, let me tell you something.”

Kent crouched beside Hank.

Seeing the hatred in the man’s eyes irritated him, so he patted Hank lightly on the cheek and whispered with a sinister grin,

“Don’t even think about walking out of that prison alive.”

“You tried to kill me just now, didn’t you?”

Kent’s smile widened.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have plenty of time to entertain you properly later.”

“Heh heh.”

Before Hank could respond, Kent grabbed one of Hank’s own socks and stuffed it into his mouth.

Then he stood up and loudly called after the guards,

“Don’t feed these people anything for the first week! It’ll keep them too weak to escape. Just give them a little water.”

He pointed toward the prisoners with a grave expression, as if he were suddenly the most responsible man in Muan City.

“These people came to Muan City at a time like this. I’m sure they’re plotting something.”

His voice became solemn.

“Whatever you do, don’t let a single one of them get away.”

“Yes. Guard them carefully.”

The Second Elder nodded.

“These people are clearly after the hope of our dark elf race.”

After hearing Kent’s words, the Second Elder immediately thought of the Bread Tree, and the way he looked at Hank changed at once.

The Bread Tree was a sore point for every dark elf—something no one was allowed to touch.

Hank’s eyes widened in panic. He shook his head desperately, trying to deny the accusation, but all he received in return was a sharp slap from the dark-elven warrior beside him.

Clearly, Kent’s words had had some effect.

“Kent.”

A voice suddenly sounded beside him.

“You’ve already gotten what you wanted. Isn’t it time for us to make our deal?”

Kent had been lost in thought, and the unexpected voice startled him.

He turned quickly and found Keta standing beside him.

“Heh heh... I was only looking out for you dark elves,” Kent said with an awkward grin. “You know, the Bread Tree is—”

He stopped halfway.

“Fine, fine. Don’t look at me like that.”

Seeing Keta’s expression, Kent knew there was no point trying to explain himself.

“Let’s go take a look at the other treants. But this time, those...”

He trailed off again.

Keta’s stare made it obvious that he had seen straight through him.

Kent could only admit defeat.

A moment later, he left together with Keta.

The dark-elven elders who remained behind were completely baffled.

They could not understand what Kent had that was valuable enough to attract even Keta’s interest.

Still, none of them felt comfortable asking outright.

So they simply looked at one another in confusion.

One elder glanced at the next.

The others exchanged equally puzzled looks.

Then, with a flash of light, the elders and City Lord Hel all returned to Muan City.