I did consider that my blood could be a very powerful poison, so I did some tests, but Poison tipped the bolt, only worked with my blood. Not with my spit, sweat, or any other bodily fluid.
I didn’t know if that was true in this world, but vampire bodily fluids usually had dangerous stuff since they are dead. Unless some people obtain their blood in the right way to become a vampire, they become monsters. There are also legends that their blood has necrotic energy and so on… Regardless, it didn’t look like it was true to me.
‘The pirate class wouldn’t suit me… while it would increase my strength, all the skills involve fighting in boats. I should feel satisfied that my mana regeneration increased again. Even though those skills aren’t that impressive. Perhaps they can be of some use as scrolls.’
I looked around and sighed when I confirmed that there was no path deeper in the dungeon. It wasn’t half bad. I made some decent progress and now I had almost all parameters to improve. It was time to bail.
Perhaps I should enter some towns while semi invisible and then gather intel just like that and then get the blacksmith and armorsmith classes. Then my progress when it comes to crafting will only rely on my insistence.
I decided to buy time by killing the enemies with my bow and then use Shadow Step with the Mana that I recovered. That increased my speed a bit, but it wouldn’t change things since I had to take a break and rest along the way.
It took only a day to return to the entrance, but even after all this time, I didn’t find anyone getting back to the dungeon. It wasn’t like leaving a dungeon or labyrinth alone for a week will cause a break, but it was still odd.
I decided to take a break on the first floor and rest for a couple of hours, but even after that, no signs of people.
‘I guess I should at least check things before returning to my labyrinth exploration… that will give me some peace of mind.’
The closest town was only two kilometers away. Heading there would be super easy, barely an inconvenience. I didn’t even have to head there to see some smoke raising coming from the town. It looked like my guess was right…
‘These battles between clans are always like this?’
Before long, I heard the sound of cannonballs and then the smoke began to increase… I knew that orcs, goblins, and ogres didn’t use that kind of thing on land, they barely used it in the sea. They only used it when their targets had the numerical advantage. So I immediately understood that something was off.
It was an invasion… just like I thought that I would be fine, my bad luck attacked again. Still, I couldn’t imagine who the enemies were… they should know that all the clans will band together to fight off the threats.
‘I guess they are finally paying for the war that they started years ago. With that in mind, this is none of my business.’
I was a bit curious about those who were invading… humans and Aquarians still should be at odds. It was hard to imagine humans crossing the Ocean this much without being attacked by the Aquarians. At the same time, the Aquarians didn’t use things like cannons…
I decided to shake those thoughts out of my mind and check the map for the direction of the next labyrinth. The closest one was in the North… After memorizing the route, I began to head in that direction.
‘I can’t imagine this nation falling, so it will be fine. It is time to focus on myself.’
I took out my automatic bike and then headed toward the North. Still, since my luck was that bad, I ended up seeing some large groups heading in the opposite direction of the town that were being attacked. I waited for a bit for them to disappear in the distance.
The group was mainly made up of kids and elderly… It was kind of odd seeing that place with elderly people knowing how bat shit crazy orcs can be. I figured out that the goblins and ogres couldn’t be much better, but…
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‘That can’t be all the refugees of that town… they must have destroyed that port town and the other that I wasn’t allowed to enter before.’
Two days had passed by the time the guys left the labyrinth, then that day, the port town should have been destroyed. It wasn’t like the distance between the territories of the clans was that big, but it was clear that the attackers were being quite methodical.
I think that I have read something like that before… a quick attack would be the best option to deal with the Skarnash Tribelands, but an orderly one, and piercing the heart of the land with several attacks coming from several directions would be even better. At least, that was what Albert thought.
While I was lost in thought, a lot more explosions took place in the town and then the refugees began to run away even faster. I didn’t think that the invaders would have brought horses with them, but the speed of the refugees was basically useless against those that had unlocked their parameters for years.
My fear soon became reality when I heard shouts in the distance… heading in the direction of the refugees, I saw a group of knights running.
‘I guess honor is truly an illusion in times of war… I can understand that they don’t want the refugees to become a problem in the next city, but this still is messed up.’
My route has been blocked and turning in the opposite direction wouldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t find a similar situation either, so my best option was to head west instead, even if it was the longest route to the next dungeon.
While I was lost in thought, the knights reached the refugees and began to cut them down… there were no warnings and no talking, asking them to surrender. Thanks to that, I opened my eyes widely. That set of armor was given to those who just graduated from the knights academy. If even those guys were being that merciless, then everyone had the orders to kill everyone in their path.
I sighed since that was the unavoidable end of a land that didn’t try to stop most of its people from becoming pirates and starting wars left and right. That was their way of living, so they should be fine if that was their way of dying as well, right? Well, even if they were fine with that, I wasn’t… I clicked my tongue in annoyance since I only forced myself to move when I saw some kids being cut down.
‘I am as naïve as ever…’
This wasn’t my battle, this wasn’t my fight… still, it was a fact that I wouldn’t be able to sleep well for a while if I kept watching that and doing nothing. I was only causing problems for myself. No one was looking for me in this land, but they certainly would do now.
I summoned my bow and some arrows with Arcane Arrow. I added the shocking effect on them before firing toward the knights. I was being naïve again… I fired the arrows at their legs and while those easily pierced and shocked them, it was far from mortal.
The contingent of knights was forced to stop when they realized that they were being attacked by their flank and soon stopped their chase.
‘Now, I should be satisfied with acting like a hero, right? Wrong, I feel like a moron… at least I followed Zyra’s advice. At least I recovered the mana that I used.’
The group of twenty or so knights looked at me in confusion. They didn’t expect an attack like that, much less from someone who looked like me. They assumed their fighting stances, but that would change nothing. I was one hundred meters away from them. I could hurt them with my shock arrows, since their weapons and gear were all made of metal. Few of them could block those and they still would be shocked.
“Stop! Keep chasing the targets. I will handle this.”
A certain knight with a spear stepped forward after saying that. His voice sounded familiar, so the image of Rowan came to mind. I tried to use identification on him, but the skill was blocked. Fortunately, the knight was kind enough to take his helmet and show who he was. He was a bit different from I remember with the long hair and everything, but that cocky smile was hard to forget.
“Hahahaha! This is amazing! You are actually alive! I thought that you had died in some dirty alley somewhere, but I guess it is fitting for someone like you to be in a place like this.”
The knights hesitated in following the refugees, but soon they turned to chase them when they noticed my gaze on Remi. We didn’t look alike at all, but the green eyes were there. It was essentially the same, aside from the glint that Remi was showing now. It looked like he had experience with fights to the death.
In any case, he got ready to fight when he saw me nocking another arrow and then firing. It was an explosive one, but I fired in front of the other knights.
“Hey, don’t ignore me.”
“Stop!”
Remi assumed his fighting stance and got ready to charge, but he stopped when another familiar voice echoed in the area. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised meeting both of them here. From all the brothers, they were the ones who needed to show more of their skills to gain merit if compared to the other two. Regardless, Ulric also took out his helmet and while his sword wasn’t unsheathed, he was still holding his handle.
“It has been a while, Regulus. We didn’t expect to find you here.”
“Trying to buy time? You have grown more cunning, but it looks like you still lack confidence. At least you are smarter than him.”
Ulric looked a bit surprised when he heard that, while Remi looked annoyed. It would make sense that he would since no one likes to lose at anything against a younger brother. Still, I almost had a heart attack since the kid truly looks more and more like Rayner as he grows.