Chapter 26: What a Waste!
Griffin signaled the three other team members with a sharp glance before stepping forward. "Young master, might we join your expedition?"
"You witnessed the dimensional rift's malice firsthand." he pressed, gauntleted hand brushing his scarred pauldron. "That miasma trap shredded our wards like parchment."
"Three good men liquefied before we could draw steel." His voice cracked with calculated roughness, the type tavern bards romanticized.
"Survival demands numbers." The mercenary captain spread his palms like a cardshark revealing a winning hand. "We'll sheath our blades under your command."
His companions dipped their chins in synchronized deference, armor joints hissing like a nest of coiled asps.
The calculation blazed brighter than any campfire: this velvet-clad fool carried enough enchanted trinkets to outfit a royal battalion. Let his family sigils soak up the eldritch horrors while they plundered the scraps.
"Loyalty's coin spends easy when the vault's already overflowing." the tracker murmured through teeth stained by smokeweed, fingers twitching toward the young lord's pulsating dimensional satchel.
If the young lord exhausts his defensive artifacts during the expedition." the lead adventurer's thumb caressed his dagger's filigree, our tailing party gets both intel on his combat capacity—and cleaner knives when the blackjack the lot.
"By all means, tag along." Sila's tone could frost wine in midsummer. Behind the porcelain calm, his mental sneer crystallized—fools mistaking chessboard for hunting ground.
The scavengers hungered for his gilded coffers. He thirsted for the crimson currency pumping through their veins.
Mutually beneficial transaction!
Capital!
Vivian's gaze flickered at the exchange. Moments prior, she'd puzzled over Sila's inexplicable revelation about the armor-caked cavern walls—resources they could've claimed uncontested.
Now the epiphany burned cold.
Each careless shrug at wealth, every nonchalant discard of treasure, functioned as pheromones to ambition's carrion flies.
Her mind replayed Sila's fiscal theatrics—the strategic "waste" of coin that bent outcomes like light through a prism. "Was this not mindless extravagance after all?"
"Impossible..." Her nails bit crescent moons into her palm.
"To manipulate human avarice with such surgical precision?"
"Mastering historical arcana alone consumed decades of his study."
"What sorcery allows simultaneous expertise in psychological warfare?"
"Yet how else to explain the fractal consequences of his every 'whimsical' expenditure?"
...
Vivian was in a dilemma.
She really had misjudged Sila.
Sila seized every chance to throw coin at problems.
Greasing wheels with wealth bred merit points.
What use is gold moldering in purses when it could buy power?
The miasma clung persistent as beggar's stench.
Four adventurers nursed wounds with tinctures and talismans.
Their sidelong glances carved Sila up—a fatted calf ready for slaughterhouse steel.
As scheming thickened the air, Sila flashed teeth: "Commander Griffin—what tier claims your prowess?"
"Gold-ranked sixfold." Griffin hedged, his pupils contracting like mercury sliding from truth.
"Seems I'll need dirty these hands after all." Sila drawled, cleaning nails with daggerpoint.
"What sorcery—?" Griffin's blade cleared sheath before the question fully formed, trio of lackeys mirroring his lethal ballet.
Too late.
Shadow-kissed forms poured through cavern's maw—four, six, eight bladed whispers.
Yet Griffin's delayed reflexes mattered not. The assassins' steel choir sang toward softer prey—Sila's unprotected back, Vivian's slender throat.
Vivian's fingers already danced toward her arcane satchel, Firefly Seed primed to bloom. Her breath hitched as Sila's arm cinched her waist.
Coal-smoke and bergamot engulfing her senses.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
They all drew their blades at the same time, but all of them stabbed onto the strange shield that Sila had somehow put up!
There was a pale - yellow glow in the shield, and it remained as steady as a mountain in the face of a very strong impact.
At this moment, Griffin's eyes shrank: "Is it you, old Horton?" His face changed dramatically!
Because he knew that Horton was a seventh - rank elite, a powerful assassin.
Fortunately, after the other party rushed into the cave, he directly went for the orb in the hands of that young master and his girlfriend. Otherwise, if Griffin was assassinated while holding the key, he would also suffer a great loss!
However...
A few seconds later, Griffin's expression became extremely strange again.
Because the young master's shield was still there!
If it was just to withstand an instant attack, it would be one thing, but old Horton and his three subordinates, who were also elite - status assassins, actually showed no sign of breaking through the shield put up by that young master!!
Even—
Old Horton's figure flashed, and a dark, dim light burst out.
He activated a combat technique. In an instant, he stabbed 16 times!
But it still only caused a series of tinkling sounds and failed to break the young master's shield.
"This is an expert - level protective item."
Griffin sighed softly, and the three members of his adventure group beside him were even more extremely grateful. Fortunately, they hadn't thought of getting into a conflict with that young master just now. Otherwise, just this shield would be an insurmountable chasm for them.
However...
After the initial panic, Griffin's expression was one of delight. He had to thank old Horton!
This seventh - rank elite master and his three subordinates had already launched their strongest attacks, yet they still failed to break the shield, which doomed them to a certain death.
But at the same time, Horton had also forced the young master in front of him to reveal one of his trump cards.
You know, an expert - level protective item that can be activated by an elite - status individual is definitely extremely precious.
Even if this young master has a powerful background, it's impossible for him to be so extravagant.
To put it bluntly, even the heir of the Leviathan family wouldn't be this rich and have several protective items of this level!
This means that the young master's greatest life - saving ability is gone!
How could the four of them, including Griffin, not be in ecstasy? The malice in their eyes became more and more intense.
These people were in a great mood, but the several attackers were out of luck.
One by one, their faces were ashen - pale. No one could have imagined that this young master, who seemed to be pampered and the weakest in the cave, could actually take out such a powerful protective item.
The next second, they didn't need to be afraid anymore.
Sila waved his hands, and "Fiery Rain of Flames" was activated. Bursting flames erupted instantly in the cave, directly setting all four elite - status powerhouses on fire.
Old Horton, who had the strength of a seventh - rank elite, could have originally forced himself to twist his body and dodge, but he had just released his combat technique and was at the time node when his strength was dissipating.
Sila seized this time node, leaving him with no power to resist and being hit miserably!
Accompanied by bursts of screams, the four "torches" were burned and fell to the ground.
In an instant, the attackers were completely wiped out, leaving only Sila standing there with his hands behind his back.
At this time, Vivian and the remaining four adventurers in the cave all looked at him with strange eyes.
They were also confused.
Previously, Sila blocked the attackers' attacks with a magic shield, and they could still understand that.
A rich young master going on an adventure in the Dimensional Rift, how could he not have any preparations at all.
They just lamented that the effect of this shield was too powerful.
Now Sila's behavior made them unable to understand.
Come on, man.
Is it necessary to be so wasteful?
You have a female companion with some strength and are followed by four adventurers.
Facing four enemies who have just released their moves and are in a weakened state after the surprise - attack.
Just have your companions rush up and take them out, right? Why waste a magic scroll?
He's simply a money - throwing, waste - loving madman!
The power of Fiery Rain, with the boost of the Sunfire Staff, exceeds the spell power that a normal elite - status mage can unleash. Everyone present feels that unless Sila's strength has reached above the eighth - rank elite, it's absolutely impossible to defeat the enemy with one move!
But if he has the strength of an eighth - rank elite, he didn't need to use such a powerful shield magic scroll just now. Relying on his own strength to cast a protective spell would have been enough to deal with old Horton and the others!
The only explanation then is -
Sila used another magic scroll just now!
In the cave, although no one said it explicitly, Vivian and the four adventurers all had strange expressions!
Sila himself lifted the effect of the True Essence Shield, with a satisfied smile on his lips.
The points weren't wasted!
The combined attacks of four elite - status assassins couldn't break the True Essence Shield.
Basically, in the Dimensional Rift, he can act without fear.
As the spell - caster, Sila sensed most clearly that after the four assassins' set of attacks, they only depleted less than 20% of the protective power of the True Essence Shield.
With the power of the Fiery Rain amplified by the Sunfire Staff.
Sila can confidently say that at least more than twenty ordinary adventurers would be needed to pose a threat to him!
Invincible!