70: Let's go together!

Parker's face instantly turned pale as a heart-wrenching pain radiated from his right shoulder.

His hunched body twitched incessantly, yet he clamped his hand tightly over his mouth.

He was terrified that letting out a sound would displease his master and invite further punishment.

The Employer stood up and patted his hands, acting as if nothing had happened as he continued walking toward Ronan's cell.

The sound of messy footsteps gradually drew closer.

Pelly curled up again to play dead, though she adjusted her position to the corner by the cell door.

Ronan hid behind Savage Stone, using the man's robust physique to shield himself as much as possible.

The cell door opened, and the Employer entered followed by five burly thugs. Torches illuminated the entire dark, empty dungeon cell.

"Do it."

At the Employer's command, the five thugs drew their weapons and walked toward the five members of the squad lying on the ground.

These thugs were all muscular Green-skinned Orcs. It was unknown if they possessed skills, but their fists alone were enough to beat a person to death.

Just as Ronan was about to act, someone was faster than him.

Pelly uncurled and regained her human form, quietly circling behind the Employer.

She produced a longsword from somewhere and lunged fiercely toward the Employer's heart from behind.

The strike was swift and vicious, but it was forced to a halt before it could even touch the Employer's clothes.

The longsword in Pelly's hand began to tremble violently, as if an invisible, gargantuan force had gripped the tip of the blade and was shaking it at will.

Her expression remained blank, showing not a single ripple of emotion.

Her hands gripped the hilt firmly without moving an inch, silently resisting the vibration.

Ronan sensed that she wasn't using any skills; this was a manifestation of pure physical strength and personal will.

The Vice Commander of the foremost of the three major mercenary groups was indeed someone whose strength could not be underestimated.

The scene fell into a temporary stalemate.

The Employer had detected the assassination attempt behind him long ago but took no action.

He was confident that the defense of his 'Force Field Robe' was flawless.

Unable to withstand the clash of two opposing forces, the longsword shattered into three pieces after a short while.

The impact recoiled, causing both Pelly and the Employer to stumble back a few steps simultaneously.

Seeing this, the five thugs immediately pounced toward Pelly.

The weapons in their hands all emitted different glows, appearing to be the result of special enchantments.

Confronted with this formation, Pelly hesitated for a moment.

According to normal combat logic, she should either retreat from the cell and pick them off while kiting them,

Or unseal her power and wipe out everyone in the dungeon in one go.

The problem was that Ronan and the others were still in the cell; if she went all out, they would likely not survive either.

While she was hesitating, the heads of the five thugs were pierced through one after another by several Rays.

By the time their momentum carried them in front of Pelly, they had already become five headless corpses.

"I couldn't tell, Uncle, but you've got some skills." Pelly gave a thumbs up, manually giving him a like.

She reached into her pocket and actually pulled out two more longswords identical to the previous one.

Immediately after, Pelly turned the hilt and tossed one of the longswords to Ronan.

"I have plenty of weapons. Let's see how many times his robe can hold out. Let's attack together!"

"Attack with what? I'm a Mage!"

Ronan had caught the sword subconsciously, only now realizing the Vice Commander wanted him to go up and hack at the man.

"What he's wearing is a Force Field Robe; it's specifically designed to reflect magic."

Pelly had already charged ahead, thrusting a sword fiercely toward the Employer's chest.

"The little girl actually has some knowledge," the Employer laughed, completely disregarding her. "However, who told you this only reflects magic?"

The Employer crossed his arms, neither dodging nor parrying Pelly's thrust.

Then, his arms snapped open, and a ring-shaped shockwave rapidly expanded, rushing toward the two of them.

Another physical shockwave!

Ronan almost wanted to curse. Couldn't he use some high-end soul attacks?!

He swore that once he got back, he would first improve his Constitution.

Although his attack power was currently sky-high, he had basically no defense against physical shockwaves.

In some respects, he was no different from a pure glass cannon.

The shockwave struck, penetrating the Magic Shield Ronan had cast in front of him, sending him and the four people on the ground flying against the wall.

Fortunately, he used Savage Stone as a cushion in time, avoiding more serious impact injuries.

He hadn't suffered such heavy physical trauma even when dealing with the Polluter. He stood up immediately and pointed a finger at the Employer.

A Scorching Ray with controlled power shot rapidly toward the Employer.

However, the moment the blazing Ray was about to hit the target, it weirdly reflected back along its original path, heading straight for Ronan.

Sizzle.

The Ray was blocked by the Magic Shield Ronan was pushing to its limit.

Judging by the intensity of the reflected Ray, it seemed to have lost over sixty percent of its power.

In other words, that Force Field Robe had absorbed forty percent of the damage.

Ronan pondered whether he should use Scorching Ray to engage in a war of attrition with the opponent,

To see whether the man would give out first or the robe would break first.

However, since it could defend against both physical and energy attacks, what about a spiritual attack?

On a whim, Ronan used his Spiritual Power to manually craft a Secret Seal and threw it at the Employer.

This Secret Seal was his recently perfected 'Spiritual Fear' trigger seal; it would automatically trigger the magic as long as it sensed malice.

As soon as the Secret Seal approached the Employer, before it even touched him, it was triggered by the dense malice.

Spiritual Fear achieved its Descent instantly.

The Employer suddenly felt a chill all over, and his surroundings turned into a dark, deep sea.

Finding himself submerged, he suddenly saw two massive, bright lights ignite nearby. An invisible suction force arose, dragging him toward the area beneath the lights.

He looked closer—those weren't lights at all; they were clearly the two eyes of a deep-sea behemoth.

And he was being carried by the seawater, rapidly flying into the behemoth's giant maw.

"Ah!"

In reality, the Employer suddenly fell into a frenzy, struggling and crawling on the ground with both hands and feet.

With the Force Field Robe active, Pelly couldn't break his defense in a short time. She could only let him crash around until he finally ran out of the cell door.

The effect of Spiritual Fear was exceptionally good.

Ronan didn't want to waste time here either; if they stayed too long, a large number of enemies might swarm in.

Pelly looked at Ronan in shock. "What did you just do? A spiritual attack?"

"A newly learned spell, why?" Ronan asked in turn,

"Is there any way to wake up my teammates?"

"That intensity... and you knew they were coming earlier..." Pelly realized. "You don't have Night Vision?"

"I don't." Ronan shook his head.

"Then you..."

"I've been using Spiritual Power perception all along."

Although the cell was now lit by torchlight and the two could see each other, Ronan's Spiritual Power net was still active.

"You... are you really such a freak? Your Spiritual Power is several times higher than others?"

Pelly stared at him as if looking at a rare animal.

"Something like that, but I think other terms could be used to describe it," Ronan said calmly.

"Like exceptionally gifted, a natural sovereign, child of the world, and so on."

"Then why are you asking me? Just hit them with a spiritual shock, and the people on the ground will all wake up, won't they?" Pelly asked, puzzled.

Are you the Mage or am I?

"It won't scramble their brains, will it?"

Ronan really didn't know about this method; his knowledge of spiritual attacks only covered fear-related subjects.

Pelly rolled her eyes. "Can't you control your strength?"

"I'll try."

Ronan imitated the way a shockwave worked and threw his Spiritual Power toward the three Halflings on the ground.

He was a bit unsure for his first attempt; he couldn't use his acquaintances to test it out.

If he used too much force, it might cause some damage.

Sure enough, his worry was justified.

Under his wave of spiritual shock, the three Halflings slowly opened their eyes.

However, there were some minor side effects—foam was inadvertently leaking from the corners of their mouths.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

Little Mustache was the first to wake up. Looking at the unharmed Ronan, he said in a panic,

"I was forced! They said if I found a way to bring you here and then opened that small box, they would give me all the reward..."