Chapter 52: Troublemaker

  The girl once had a dream.

  Heroes holding weapons, eliminating the evil monsters that block their way, breaking through thorns and charging forward, ultimately achieving victory and honor - but this does not include heroes rolling up their sleeves to pick up trash in front of the monster's corpse.

  Unfortunately, reality is often more cruel than dreams.

  Looking at Rode and the others rummaging through the already rotting corpse, shaking out a few gold coins and other strange objects, Marlin could only stand by with a dark face, unable to do anything. And all she could do was protest.

  "This is desecration of the dead!"

  Unfortunately, Marlene's indignation and protest seemed to fall on deaf ears.

  "Don't joke around, young lady."

  Roder picked up the few gold coins and gems that had fallen to the ground into his own pocket, while responding lightly.

  "We are mercenaries, they are our enemies, now we have won, of course, we will take the spoils of war, this is what we deserve. Besides, desecrating the dead, these poor guys have already been desecrated once by that lich wizard, I think they won't mind being desecrated a second time."

  "This is outrageous! Lijie, you say something about him, he..."

  As she gazed at the girl carefully removing a silver necklace from the corpse's neck, Marlin's words trailed off and she couldn't say another thing.

  "Ah, this..."

  Noticing Marlene's gaze, Lijie's face turned slightly red and she smiled awkwardly. She wasn't unaware of Marlene's thoughts - after all, when she had just joined the mercenary group herself, she had held the same attitude, but now...

  "Our mercenaries' income is very limited, so……"

  Although Lisha's expression was awkward and her tone apologetic, she didn't slow down one bit as she put away the spoils of war.

  "But aren't we supposed to get a reward after completing our task?"

  "Do you think that little money is enough for us to fill our teeth gaps? Young lady?"

  Compared to the slightly reserved Lige, Old Wark's behavior was like that of a thorough robber. He grabbed a maimed arm, pulled off the ring on it with force, and examined it carefully before putting it back in his pocket. Then he cut open the corpse's skull with one slash of his knife and scooped out a large chunk of thick corpse oil - just looking at it made Marlin want to vomit up last night's dinner.

  "Each time we complete a task, we only get around 100 gold coins, sometimes even less. This kid's mercenary group is small so it's not noticeable, but an average mercenary group has at least ten or more people. Each person works hard to get their share, which is only about 10 gold coins. What can you do with this little money? We need to repair our weapons and armor, we need to drink and eat, do you think these things are free? Moreover, there's a reward only when the task is completed, if the task fails, are we supposed to go hungry?"

  When Marlin heard Old Walker's question, she opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing. She just stood by and watched with a complex expression as the three of them looted the corpses clean before continuing on their way.

  Although the group encountered several ambushes along the way, they all passed through safely under Rod's command. Although there were only four of them, Rod and Wolk had rich adventure experience, Lisha could restrain undead creatures, and Marlin's large-scale destructive magic made it easy for them to penetrate deep into the mine, quickly reaching the deepest part of the pit.

  The deeper they went, the darker it became. Lige's holy light seemed to be eroded and suppressed by the darkness, almost weak and blurry. Rode walked in front, holding the Star Mark, vigilantly gazing at the deep shadows in front of him like a thick ink. He believed that the undead wizard had already sensed their arrival, after all, they hadn't killed fewer undead creatures along the way, and the undead wizard who lost contact with his subordinates would certainly be aware of something being wrong and take precautions. If Rode had enough manpower, he wouldn't mind forcing a breakthrough, but now there were only three people under him, and this world didn't have resurrection spells for them to use.

  Rod lowered his left hand and gestured for the three people behind him to stop, then scanned the surroundings again before lowering his voice and speaking to the crowd.

  "We've approached the Lich Wizard, now I'll tell you what to do next in battle. Remember this, because I won't be able to give you orders everywhere at any time during the fight, so I want you to remember my words, and if anyone forgets...I don't think I need to punish you, since corpses can't hear my complaints."

  Upon hearing Rude's characteristically calm and venomous words, the three of them immediately perked up, even Marlene, who had initially been skeptical of Rude, was now fully spirited. During their journey, Marlene had benefited greatly from Rude's commands. Although she had previously studied the insights and techniques of mages in combat at the academy, it wasn't until under Rude's command that Marlene truly grasped the underlying meaning behind these insights and techniques. Even after casting her spells according to Rude's commands, the girl only then realized with a start how certain insights she had learned were actually applied. This also made Marlene, who was eager to learn, no longer skeptical of Rude's commands, but instead began to trust and understand him.

  As for Old Walker, although he was still unhappy with Rode, at least he didn't want to become a martyr that people would mourn over just yet.

  "Lily."

  Rode first looked back at his spiritual teacher behind him, who was the most important person in this battle.

  "I'll take care of tying that guy up, you focus on putting shields on the others first. Don't waste your strength on me unless I ask for it. The lich has strong resistance to magic, so I'll have Marlene dispel its magical shield, then you can attack afterwards. Otherwise, it's just a waste of energy."

  "Yes, I understand, Mr. Rhodes."

  Jin Lijie nodded in understanding, and Luo De turned around, looking at Malin on the other side.

  "Miss Marlin, your primary task is to dispel the protective magic on that lich. I think the level shouldn't be too high; if it's beyond your capabilities, let me know immediately and I'll take care of it. Also, I'll draw most of the lich's attention to myself, but it won't give up harassing you either. During the intervals when dispelling magic, keep an eye on whether there are any undead threats around others; if so, deal with them promptly. Unless I give the order, do not attack the lich."

  "Okay, no problem, give it to me."

  After a long battle against the undead on the way, Marlin's answer was much more confident. And after getting her reply, Rod turned to Old Wark.

  "Mr. Walker, your task is simple. The undead warlock has a gemstone on his forehead, very conspicuous, I think it shouldn't be hard to notice. Your job is to shoot at that gemstone when he's about to cast a spell. Although with your strength, it's unlikely you can destroy the gemstone, but as long as you can hinder its casting, that's enough. Also, please pay extra attention to the two ladies, and remind them immediately if there's any danger."

  Although Rod said it in great detail, Old Walker did not respond immediately. On the contrary, he frowned and his expression moved slightly.

  "Hey kid, it seems like there's a sound over there."

  As he spoke, Old Wokker raised his hand and pointed to a pit.

  "Over there?"

  Roder's face sank as he followed his gesture.

  At this moment, everyone is at the fork in the mine road. One path leads directly to the location of the undead wizard, another is a dead end, one is the path that Rod and others came from, and the last one is the slope in front of them - it leads to the main gate. In other words, if they didn't take Rod's "back door" but instead chose the most regular route, then they should have come down this road.

  But now, Old Walker suddenly sensed movement over there.

  Rhode signaled to the crowd to be quiet, then closed his eyes. Soon, he also sensed that there was a faint sound of weapons clashing from the other side of the passage. It was clear that someone was fighting, and it seemed that they had the same goal as themselves.

  What's next?

  Rod furrowed his brow and glanced back at the three people behind him. The undead mage wasn't that difficult, but fighting with four people would require a considerable amount of time, during which anything could happen. What if someone were to stab them in the back while they were busy fighting? That would be a huge problem.

  People who have played online games are very clear that when killing BOSS, the most taboo thing is that someone passes by. In the instance, it's okay to say, but for this kind of BOSS that belongs to the task category, it's really hard to say. After all, this outdoor BOSS is a public bus with no shame at all, as long as it's knocked down, anyone can get on. Fortunately, the BOSS in the game will refresh over time, so people with some quality are okay, if they can't grab it this time, they can wait. If that were a unique BOSS...

  Blood flowing like rivers is not enough to describe that miserable scene, and even the corpses scattered all over the fields are a light description...

  As a legendary figure who led the guild from the first game era to now, Luo De was extremely familiar with this kind of thing. He immediately gave up his plan to go kill the undead mage and instead set his sights on those uninvited guests, only...

  Luo De turned his head and carefully sized up the three people behind him.

  Lijie's expression was somewhat panicked, apparently she understood that running into others at this time wasn't a good thing. Marlin, on the other hand, was indifferent to it, but it was no wonder, as someone who had never been a mercenary before, she naturally didn't understand what this meant. Old Woke, however, was calm and composed, apparently he was very familiar with this situation, otherwise he wouldn't have spoken up to remind them earlier.

  What's going on? Are those guys taken care of?

  "Let's go and take a look."

  Rode didn't hesitate for long and soon came to a conclusion. If the other party was very strong, then he would take advantage of their battle to stab these guys in the back and completely eliminate the hidden danger. If these guys were already on the verge of extinction, then he would quietly wait for them to be annihilated, anyway, no matter what, he had to see the hidden danger disappear with his own eyes.

  The place where the other party was fighting was not actually that far from Rod and the others, but compared to Rod and the others, their situation was much more miserable. In fact, when Rod brought the three people to the battlefield, it was only a matter of time before the other party was "wiped out".

  That was also an abandoned mine, where dozens of undead creatures were besieging the intruders in the center of the mine. Although the enemy's numbers were clearly more than Rod and his companions, they were at a disadvantage on the battlefield. But this is not surprising, looking at their personnel configuration, it's clear why these people are struggling so hard.

  Three swordsmen, one shield warrior, and two thieves.

  It was just a glance, and Luo De confirmed the opponent's team configuration, then shook his head helplessly. These melee professions might have some threat elsewhere, but among the undead, they were nothing more than a dish for the opponent. The undead did not fear injury or death, so melee professions were not a big threat to them. Moreover, these swordsmen looked like they were only in their teens, and couldn't even use Sword Energy Condensation yet. Being able to fight this far was already a remarkable achievement for them.

  But it can only go this far.

  A thief dodged the undead creature's attack and swiftly inserted his dagger into its throat. His movements were quick and agile, if it were a living person, they would have been dead by now. However, for an undead creature, this was nothing. Soon, the corpse raised its hand and heavily smashed down.

  "Waaaah!!!!"

  The poor thief dodged and weaved but was still smashed flying out, heavily crashing to the ground. Before he could even get up, a pair of icy, stinky hands had already reached out.

  "Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

  Accompanied by a mournful scream, wave after wave of fresh blood flowed out from the mountain-like undead creature, and then there was complete silence.

  The mercenaries' formation loosened, losing an assistant, their pressure grew greater and greater. Just then, a fiery light suddenly emerged from the corpse ghost group, forcibly dispersing the undead creatures. Afterwards, a red-haired woman appeared from within, her face pale, her entire body covered in fresh blood, even the leather armor she wore was everywhere stained with fresh blood and cracks.

  After seeing that woman, Lijie was suddenly startled.

  "Sister Shana!!"

  At this moment, Rode also made a decision.

  "Marlene, take action."

  P.S. I went to deal with the wallpaper and measured the area for decoration today, so I came back a bit late, and the update is also a bit late. There will be another update tonight, yeah, that's it...

  PS2: The background wall is really expensive, one wall cost me 2000 bucks...