Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

But finally, they are out of that nightmare.

"Good heavens, how did you find us? I didn't hear a sound outside!" Count Katina asked, stretching his arms and back with difficulty. "The way here was full of traps! Louise and I suffered heavy losses with our entourage, even our mounts were not spared, and we were captured alive by those goblins—didn't you run into them?"

“Utterly useless!” Louise glanced at the Count with disdain, then turned to Leslaufer. “We have to leave as soon as possible. The master here is actually a halfling mage who keeps goblins and other monsters, and he’s even experimenting with fusing different kinds of monsters—the two-headed tiger is his masterpiece!”

"He interrogated us and forced us to reveal King Henning's location and route. I'm afraid he's planning something against them—Is Earl Doule there too?!"

Upon hearing this, Raslaufer's expression changed slightly, but the next second, just as they were about to turn around and leave, the door behind them, which had not been locked, suddenly made two loud noises, one of closing and the other of locking!

They're locked inside!

Chapter 564 It's Time to Hunt

"Slap, slap, slap."

A round of applause rang out from the four walls, and a ghostly blue magic lamp lit up the ceiling of the cell.

There wasn't a soul in sight, only the mocking applause continuing unabated.

“Such an old-fashioned thing is really not suitable for halflings…” The bard picked up his harp, skillfully arranged himself in formation with his companions, and prepared to deal with the dangers that might come from all directions.

The person clapping must have been able to hear what was happening inside, which explains their quick reaction. Upon hearing Daisy's words, the clapping stopped abruptly: "Nonsense! This is my own idea, how can it be cliché?!"

"That's because you've been staying here too long and your brain has gone haywire." There are probably not many people who can get the better of Daisy in a verbal battle with her quick wit. "You don't think that makes you seem cunning, do you?"

"This will make it seem like you've already fallen into my trap!" the voice shrieked. "Thinking I was completely unaware of your intrusion? You're sorely mistaken! From the very beginning, I've been preventing anyone from sneaking into my lab, and after that woman's uncle ran away, I meticulously set up this trap, just to catch slippery fish like you!"

"It's just that you have a bit more than I expected. I should have moved them to a bigger room—but it doesn't matter!"

A series of mechanical gear-like sounds echoed from behind the surrounding walls. Amidst the violent tremors, the walls of the entire room began to collapse towards the center like a tidal wave: "Hahahaha! You will all be crushed into meat patties! And the rest, what kind of bullshit kings! What kind of bullshit nobles! They will all become food and excrement for my petrified lizard and my other pets!"

"They dared to frame the Scott family; this is the fate they deserve!"

“Wait, the Scott family?” Angelita was slightly taken aback. “What does this have to do with that family?”

“Of course there’s a connection! The land you’re standing on right now is theirs! They’re also my only legitimate partner!” The voice from the surrounding walls grew louder as the walls drew nearer. “Why do you think Ehrlich sealed the Scott family here? Because I was here—but now you’ve ruined all of that!”

“No sponsors, no helpers or servants! I can only hire some goblins to do my work—which is completely useless! They can't even build their own kennels properly!” The halfling mage’s voice grew increasingly angry. “And you’re actually standing up for them? It’s utterly absurd! Unfounded empathy!”

Several people instinctively looked towards Daisy and Angelita, who could only stick out their tongues in acknowledgment of their mistake.

However, none of this could stop the wall from continuing to approach.

Even at this moment, Leslaufer still did not take any action. He simply showed a look of realization: "No wonder. I was wondering before why some rooms didn't seem big enough, but the two adjacent rooms were so far apart. It turns out it was to make room for your mechanism."

"Don't you think it's a little too late for you to understand all this now, warrior?" The mage, who hadn't even shown his face yet, laughed hatefully. "You're about to become one with your expensive and beautiful armor, turning into a can of food!"

Doble looked at the walls, which were now only two meters apart on either side, and shook his head indifferently: "There are two things that you, the great inventor, haven't figured out."

"First of all, I didn't buy this armor with money; it was a gift from a friend."

"Secondly, your dilapidated room can't stop us at all."

"Nonsense!" the halfling immediately retorted. "I've set up a magic array to suppress the use of magic; that bard next to you can't unleash his full power at all!"

"boom!"

Before he could finish speaking, Raslaufer grabbed the count beside him and charged toward the corridor. With a loud crash, the door, which was magically locked from the outside, was no match for his charge.

Because although the door was locked, the wall next to it wasn't!

Knowing what Leslaufer was planning, the group followed Doppler's charge and escaped with Louise. The walls behind them could only close up in vain, leaving no gaps.

"Are you kidding me?!" The halfling's frantic shout from behind seemed distorted by the impact of the walls. "All the bricks here—"

“It’s already quite difficult for a person to master one or two crafts,” Raslaufer casually tossed the count against the wall across the corridor. “You’re a halfling, so you’ll live longer, and I have complete faith that you can master arcane arts, alchemy, and mechanical crafts at the same time.”

"But how much do you really know about smelting?"

"You talk like you know everything!" "I don't know, but my dwarf friend is very knowledgeable."

The black flame greatsword slammed into the wall as Reslaufer swung his arm, unsurprisingly leaving a trail of sparks and deep scratches as he moved. "Alright, enough of the nonsense, friend."

"Now it's your turn to run. Be careful, don't let me catch you."

"Keep dreaming!"

The halfling cut off his voice with a scream, and as Raslaufer and his companions moved swiftly down the corridor, doors on both sides of the wall opened one by one, while alarm bells blared throughout the building hidden within the mountain. Large numbers of goblins and other enslaved creatures were awakened, and countless terrifying roars echoed—the halfling was keeping more than just two monsters!

Louise and Count Katina's faces turned deathly pale. Even before, they couldn't handle this many monsters at once, let alone now. However, the members of Raslaufer's squad remained calm, ready to face any possible battle.

They had even seen the purple worm underground. What kind of stitched monster could compare to a behemoth that was naturally at the top of the food chain?

A creature that looked like an enlarged version of a snake-chicken, but with wavy carapace on its back and moth-like feathery antennae on its head, charged toward them with a strange cry. As it ran, it was also devouring a piece of iron ingot that had been almost completely corroded, which looked like its food.

But when its tentacles touched the greatsword in Reslauver's hand, several dwarven runes lit up on the magical weapon, as if coated with a thin film that completely blocked the monster's corrosion. Before it could even open its mouth to bite Reslauver's shoulder armor, Dobul had already sidestepped and elbowed it to the ground. As the hilt slammed back, it knocked the still struggling creature dizzy and disoriented. The owner of the black flame greatsword laughed maniacally as he tore open the monster's neck with its flame-shaped blade:

"Now, begin the slaughter!"

Chapter 565 The Empty Corridor

Eleven monsters, half toads and half humanoids, lined up in three rows, spears raised, and charged toward the squad. The slime on their bodies was disgusting to look at, but it could easily deflect fire arrows and freezing rays without harming them.

“…I’m at a loss.” Angelita withdrew her left hand from the spellcasting, rested it on the hilt of her sword, and bravely swung it to deflect the spear that was already upon her. Beside her, Mary used her agility to dodge the spearheads thrusting towards her, while simultaneously closing in, trying to bring these strange-looking creatures into her attack range.

Behind them lay a carpet of monster corpses, and the enemies that emerged now were significantly stronger than the ones before. Although they still appeared to be stitches together from different creatures, they knew how to cooperate and how to use weapons. Combined with the strange slime on their bodies, they made it difficult for the group to get close.

They suddenly emerged from behind a hidden door on the side, surging out alongside the goblins and separating Reslaufer, who had charged too far forward, from the others. Although the goblins were suffering heavy casualties under Dobler's mowing-down-the-grass attacks, Reslaufer still found it difficult to break through this barrier, which relied entirely on sheer numbers, to come and rescue the others.

"Damn it, this...this...this...it seems he's recruited all the monsters on the mountain!" Count Katina's jaw was chattering. Although he held a short sword he'd snatched from a dead goblin, he was actually powerless and listless. His eyes kept glancing back, trying to figure out the best way to escape.

"Stop looking around, my Count," the bard said casually, slapping him on the back of the head as he raised his lyre. "There are still people here who haven't made their move yet—leave them to me!"

As the strings were plucked, a discordant tremolo suddenly rang out, but this was not a mistake by Daisy; it was intentional. An invisible sound wave swept over the toads who were rearranging their ranks, causing six of them—a row and a half—to momentarily to slow down. It was as if the flow of time around them had been disrupted by the discordant music, becoming like quicksand in a quagmire.

The previously seamless formation of toad spears suddenly developed gaps. The toads, who had been slowed down, desperately wanted to speed up, while the remaining five wanted to coordinate with their slowed-down companions. As a result, some gaps appeared in the previously almost impenetrable thicket of spears.

This was a fatal oversight, without a doubt.

Two streaks of sword light, one pink and one emerald green, moved forward, one to the left and one to the right. Angelita and Marie's footwork was characteristically precise and agile, typical of Corazonde swordsmanship, as if moving along the tangent of a circle, always maintaining a relatively advantageous position. However, Angelita's long poem of self-preservation followed the style of Doples:

As she dodged the spear thrust by a toad-man, she immediately raised her left forearm to prevent the spear shaft from sweeping across. Her other hand, using the momentum, used her longsword to deflect the spear shaft off course. The toad-man instinctively turned its spear shaft to retaliate, but Angelita's lowered left hand, protected by the gauntlets attached to her balanced breastplate, gripped the middle of the longsword, allowing her to deliver a thrust at closer range.

The tip of the half-sword, crafted by elves, was not deflected by the mucus on the toad's body and pierced its chest cavity precisely. The toad's counterattack was rendered futile, and even its not-quite-dead corpse was used by Angrita as cover to continue closing in on its kind.

On the other side, Mary swiftly slashed and cut the toad-man's webbed hands and legs. Taking advantage of the moment when her opponent exposed his vitals due to pain or loss of balance, she delivered a precise stab to his throat, ending his life.

The remaining Toadmen still did not intend to be defeated but prepared to fight back. However, this time, Louise and Count Katina rushed forward and picked up the spears on the ground. Having been able to play the role of the weak and protected, their self-esteem had been constantly being worn down. This time, they finally got a chance to get back at the top.

Even farmers conscripted in the morning could learn to use a spear by evening, and it was enough to threaten ordinary soldiers. Such a weapon would only become more formidable in their hands.

As expected, with the addition of two new fighters, the majority of the toad-men, already weakened by the slow spell and suffering recent losses, could no longer resist and collapsed one after another at the feet of the crowd. Meanwhile, on the other side, Raslaufer had already driven back the goblins—these little creatures had very limited loyalty to their master, and upon realizing things were going badly, they abandoned their comrades and even their own kind without hesitation, disappearing around the corner of the corridor in a panic.

“Not bad adaptation,” the blood-stained and other filthy gauntlet tried to pat Angelita’s shoulder, but then stopped. “If we disregard the difference in sword weight, and followed my instructions to cut the spearhead, you would probably have been knocked to the ground by that guy—but the breastplate that von Dahl made for you is also quite special, so it shouldn’t have injured you.”

“Ever since you got paid by Professor Paul, you’ve become less and less attentive to me!” Angelita complained, rolling her eyes, but took another step forward, leaving four dark red streaks on the silver metal with Raslaufer’s dirty hands.

“This is what someone said they wanted to learn,” Doble reluctantly withdrew his hand and turned to look at the corridor ahead, where there were no longer any people blocking the way. “Alright, let’s continue. Don’t let that old bastard get away.”

"This halfling is not much better than a groundhog. If he hides in the wild, it will be too difficult to dig him out again."

Unfortunately, even so, the halfling mage did not show up, leaving only the sound of footsteps echoing in the empty corridor as people searched for him.

In the room at the end of this seemingly circular but actually slowly spiraling building, a small figure with light red, graying hair and a large head was huddled up, trembling and tugging at the hem of the shirt of the person next to him, shaking incessantly.

"It's all your fault! It's all your fault! You insisted that I attack some king, and now look what happened. I sent out all my pets, and now all the ones left behind are dead, even the frogmen I just recruited are gone. All that's left here is a bunch of goblins who are about my height, and they won't listen to me!"

"Tell me! Tell me! What should I do now?!"

Chapter 566 The Circle of Swordsmanship

"You should have listened to me and come outside with me a long time ago."

The man coldly pulled his clothes back from the halfling's grasp, glancing with slight disdain at the corner of his garment, which was smeared with tears and snot.

"Longzhi told me to visit 'Ghost Wisdom' Finnan on my way here. I thought he was some kind of sage, but I didn't expect him to be this kind of person."

"Shut up! It's all because of you!" The halfling trembled with rage. "If it weren't for you instigating..."

"Your strongest Frankenstein's monster?" It was a sneer. "In my opinion, it's nothing special. Although it looks powerful, it's actually just a reptile with a few more heads."

“You’d better watch your mouth,” Finnan glared angrily. “In your mouth, is Tiamat also ‘just a reptile with a few more heads’?”

"...Gods are gods after all, even evil gods are still gods."

The man straightened his clothes and checked the Swift Sword at his waist—it was an ordinary weapon, neither enchanted nor made of rare materials.

But when the man looked at it, the sword, though not drawn, revealed an extraordinary sharpness, just like its owner.

"Alright, stop crying. You're so old, don't you know that crying won't solve anything?"

"You can't cry? What makes you think you can?!"

This was just a casual remark from Finnan, but unexpectedly, when he looked up, he saw the other person nod solemnly:

Yes, I can.

"And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

He smoothed his slightly disheveled hair, his gaze sharpening and piercing: "But don't get me wrong, I'm not helping you, I'm just taking care of some trouble here."

"Trouble? That earl and that Strongman heir?"

“Of course not,” the man said, lifting his leg and placing one hand on the doorknob. “It’s a few other people. Dragon Finger has their portraits. He’s suffered quite a bit at their hands. Although he got some revenge, there’s no guarantee they won’t cause trouble again.”

"If I hadn't run into them on this trip, that would have been fine. But since I have, I will absolutely not let them leave alive!"

Finnan's mind was a little confused: "But those guys are just mercenaries, aren't they? And this is Eastern Inassus, what trouble could they possibly cause you?"

"Their area of ​​activity is quite large—didn't you know they recently went to Rihazhisen in the central region?"

The halfling mage shook his head blankly: "After the last of the Scott family members were chased like rabbits by that king into my petrified lizard territory, I have hardly heard anything about what's happening outside."

"Then you should at least know that a family in Western Inathas has recently been subjected to a vicious revenge attack, right?"

“The Popenos family, I do know about them, after all, it happened a long time ago,” Finnan nodded. “They’re said to be a small group of dragonborn spellcasters called the Five Friends of the Scales. The Popenos family killed the parents of their members, but what does that matter—oh.”

Finnan suddenly realized: "The dragonborn of Western Inathas, you have a long-standing feud, and these people are their friends?"

“Not only that, they also sabotaged Dragonfinger’s plans,” the man snorted. “But that was Dragonfinger’s business, back when my teacher hadn’t been convinced by Dragonfinger yet.”

"But now that my master has joined us, as his apprentice, I naturally and must share his burdens. So you can rest assured, they will die here, and you will survive."

"As for what happens after that, that's none of my business."

Without further hesitation, the man strode out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

He had just used Finnan's surveillance magic to see through all the group's movements and techniques, and had already figured out a way to deal with them. Now it was time to act.

In a roughly straight corridor, Raslaufer raised his hand, causing the people behind him to stop. Opposite him, about fifty meters away, the man wielding the Swift Sword also stopped, staring directly at Dobler.

“He is…” Louise and Katina exchanged a glance, but it was Mary who called out the other’s name, “Sid?”

"Sid? What are you doing here? Were you captured too?"

Count Katina shouted at the top of his lungs, holding his spear in a defensive stance. He didn't know the other person well and wouldn't risk going forward just because he saw someone he recognized.

And this did indeed save his life.

"Look at him, he's much more comfortable than you all."

Mary warily watched the swift sword at the other man's waist. Although the distance between them was considerable, some people couldn't be judged by ordinary standards. If this person was truly a master swordsman, then he might be able to do it...

And that's exactly what Sid did.

Faced with Count Katina's question, the unassuming man suddenly blurred, leaving only a blur in the lamplight. His movements were as swift as lightning, and Louise and Katina didn't even see when he disappeared!

But Raslaw moved faster than Mary, and swung his sword fiercely at Sid's shoulder, who had just landed after his second touchdown!

In that instant, seeing the black flames that resembled a massive mountain range pressing down on him, Sid had to admit that his heart skipped a beat. If he hadn't anticipated some of Raslaufer's usual moves, this one move alone would have turned him from the attacker into the defender, and ultimately into a dead man!

But at this moment, he dodged Dople's sword like a slippery Corazonde catfish, this side step seemingly a dangerous coincidence, but in fact a brilliant calculation that allowed him to follow the geometric changes of Corazonde swordsmanship and stand precisely on a tangent line that would be advantageous to his next attack.

From this position, Raslaufer was at his peak strength. He only needed to strike the gap in the heavy armor on the wrist to quickly win. According to Sid's calculations, he could create five opportunities for himself. Based on the intelligence he had gathered, no matter how Raslaufer changed his tactics, he would be the ultimate winner!

However, just as Sid thrust his sword out like a venomous snake, his pupils contracted in horror—the ferocious barbarian from Eastern Inas had withdrawn his force the moment Sid drew his sword. Even more terrifying, Raslaufer's upper body remained in the Dople's two-handed greatsword style, stabilizing the weapon back in the center line between the two; but his feet had shifted 1.28 meters diagonally to Sid's left without any fancy moves.

He moved along the tangent of another circle centered on himself, and he was positioned precisely between two of Sid's three most likely directions of movement, with the distance so accurate that any subsequent errors were negligible.

There's no need for Koratsund's swordsmanship to kill monsters that aren't even mentally sound!