10: Who is the real magician?

"Lord White Night, a mage's meditation requires..."

Evil Axe clumsily tried to be as tactful as possible, "requires extreme tranquility to..."

During meditation, mages are easily interrupted by slight external disturbances.

Ronan's offhand fabrication clearly contradicted this, and coupled with the possibility of a curse, instantly sent chills down the spines of the three.

Wait, how do you know more about mages than I do?

"It's fine, my meditation method is rather unique."

He smiled gently, fully displaying the approachability of his youthful face.

"Then let's get to it. Evil Axe can't wait any longer." Seizing the moment, Shield Mountain wanted to finalize the candidate directly.

"I didn't... that's not..." Evil Axe suddenly felt a sense of being backstabbed.

"Shield Mountain, you carry me. Evil Axe's height is limited; carrying someone is a bit inconvenient."

Ronan couldn't stand seeing the other bully the simple-minded honest man and directly named him.

"You wouldn't be unwilling, would you?"

"No, not at all." Shield Mountain laughed awkwardly, his expression somewhat off.

Eagle Eye, standing to the side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was fortunate he had a bit of unpleasantness with the mage earlier; suffering a loss truly brings blessings.

"In that case—"

Ronan waved his hand, a red Ray shooting from his fingertips.

Multiple stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling, like crystal chandeliers, snapped from their roots and crashed down with a rumble.

The passage behind the group was thus partially blocked.

But obstructing the passage was just a side effect; the stalactites' collapse was merely one pre-planted step.

The real goal was to destroy the cavern's ceiling structure, causing the entire cavern to collapse instantly.

"Let's go, next location." Ronan climbed onto Shield Mountain's sturdy back and urged.

"Alright, alright." Shield Mountain reluctantly agreed, his muscles inexplicably tensing up.

And so, Ronan rode on Shield Mountain, moving swiftly through the cavern passages, destroying stalactites and wrecking the ceiling.

By the time they heard the Bear Goblins catching up again, the group could already see the Young Lady and the Maid standing at the cave entrance.

"Don't just stand there, run out!" Eagle Eye shouted at the two.

But the Young Lady and the Maid remained unmoved, just staring blankly at the approaching group.

"Why aren't they..." Shield Mountain glanced at the cave entrance and swallowed the rest of his words.

Outside the cave, a large group of short, green-skinned creatures, Goblins, had gathered.

Wielding various crude weapons, led by a Centurion Goblin, they had the exit completely surrounded.

Ronan jumped down from Shield Mountain's back, his face somewhat pale.

After using "Scorching Ray" multiple times in succession, his Spiritual Power was nearly depleted.

Even so, he mustered his strength and shot one final Ray, completely triggering the collapse switches he had pre-set along the way.

A swift sound of merging echoed, and the deep cavern passage instantly collapsed, leaving only the relatively stable space at the cave entrance.

Hearing this noise and witnessing the disappearance of the passage behind, the Young Lady finally understood what had happened.

"Still too late..."

She slumped down, her eyes vacant, repeatedly murmuring what seemed to be the Second Young Master's name.

The Maid crouched down and gently patted her back. The Young Lady instantly broke down in tears, burying her head in the Maid's embrace and sobbing.

Ronan gave the two Employers a strange look.

Then, he turned his attention to the large group of Goblins surrounding everyone outside the cave.

Goblins are often low in intelligence and bully the weak, but among large numbers, individual anomalies always appear.

These anomalies might be smarter than other Goblins or exceptionally brave, eventually able to conquer and lead a certain number of their kind.

A Goblin that conquers ten to a hundred of its peers is generally called a Centurion.

Just like the one outside the cave entrance.

Its build was noticeably stockier, adorned with trophies from some past raid, distinct from ordinary Goblins.

Under its command were about forty to fifty Goblins, of moderate strength.

Under its direction, some Goblins tightly surrounded the cave entrance, while others continuously hurled stones at it.

Strangely, Ronan didn't see any stones thrown into the cave.

Accuracy that bad?

He stepped forward and discovered a light purple transparent shield had appeared at the cave entrance, emitting a peculiar Spiritual Power fluctuation.

Stones thrown by the Goblins were deflected at a certain distance, accompanied by faint wailing sounds.

"What is this?" Evil Axe stared for a long time, unable to figure out what the shield was, doubting his memory, "It wasn't here when we came..."

Shield Mountain remained silent, his gaze falling on Ronan.

Undoubtedly, this should be knowledge a mage would know.

Ronan searched through the book of magical knowledge in his mind but found no related information.

"Necrotic Barrier..."

Eagle Eye spoke gloomily, his eyes fixed on the occasional flicker of spirits on the shield, with no desire to explain further.

"The infamous magic of a Necromancer?!" Shield Mountain seemed to lose control of his emotions, exclaiming in shock.

A Necromancer?

Ronan immediately reacted and searched for related information, but only got 'partial school' details.

The original owner clearly didn't know much either. He guessed this might be knowledge gained after obtaining a class.

Ronan looked somewhat frustrated at his two teammates.

Who among us is the real mage? "How could such magic appear here..." Evil Axe felt his head was full of corn mush and turned to Shield Mountain.

"This wasn't here when we entered, right? Right?"

More than the magic itself, Evil Axe was concerned about whether he had amnesia.

"Who is it?!"

Shield Mountain believed no one would set up a barrier here without reason; there must be another purpose.

He felt suffocated and So be it took a big step out of the cave.

The Necrotic Barrier's range was quite large, covering a certain distance in front of the cave entrance.

As soon as Shield Mountain emerged, the first thing to greet him was a cold emanating from the barrier, as if it could freeze the soul.

And a swiftly flying dagger.

"Clang."

Shield Mountain seemed prepared, instantly raising his shield. The dagger struck the battered iron greatshield, producing a crisp metallic clang.

"It's you!" Shield Mountain was both shocked and furious, quickly turning his body and assuming a combat stance.

"Captain, I'll help you."

Evil Axe's blood surged. As soon as he jumped out of the cave entrance, three daggers flew toward him along different trajectories.

He swiftly swung his twin axes, knocking away two of them.

But the last dagger, as if already familiar with his weakness, directly struck his left shoulder.

Evil Axe grunted, rolling on the ground, preparing to rise and counterattack.

Ronan followed Eagle Eye out of the cave. As soon as he steadied himself, he heard Evil Axe's incredulous exclamation.

"Wolf Fang? You bastard, you're not dead?!"

Following Evil Axe's gaze, the two saw a man wrapped in bandages, with a gaunt face.

A flickering bead hanging on his chest was exceptionally conspicuous, its glow identical to the Necrotic Barrier's.

The person before them was the other Adventurer team member, previously severely injured and buried during the Bear Goblin attack, presumed dead by everyone—the only other human in the team, the Assassin Wolf Fang.

"Was it all your doing?"

Shield Mountain's face darkened, the killing intent in his eyes more intense than ever before.