Chapter 290 – Angry Wolf.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?”

“Yeah, the boss only told us to scout out the area from outside, he didn’t say that we should go in there…”

“What the hell are you fuckers afraid of? Look at this place, the damn Lich is dead, you can see the bones everywhere.”

“Yeah and we were just supposed to pick them up.”

“Why would we take these scraps when the main dish is inside, do you have a brain in that fat head of yours?”

“What the hell?”

“Think about it, the runesmith is loaded. How much do you think the weapons he makes will go for on the market? I bet there is more loot inside, he has to have a safe there…”

“But what if he is there?”

“Hah, why would he still be here with all these monsters around, you all saw the explosion that monster probably walked into some stupid trap but thanks to it the path is clear, let’s go, we’re going to be rich! You have to trust me on this one.”

A conversation between the five hooded individuals continued as they made their way through a path of destruction. They found the exact way the Lich took to get to Roland’s home and were using it to evade any potential traps. It seemed their eyes were being clouded by potential treasures. A magical crafting profession usually allowed a person to amass riches and this was the best moment to get some loot.

Soon they arrived at a mangled entrance gate, it looked like something burned a hole through the middle and then later exploded. The whole thing was blown forward by an explosion that left a strange rectangular-looking hole in front of it. There were strange metallic objects everywhere that the thieves didn’t recognize but it only made them giddier with anticipation.

“I bet we could even get coin just from these lumps of metal…”

The thieves had an eye for making money and the blue stuff was made from some kind of superior metal. They would probably be able to drop it off at one of the dwarven merchants in the city for a nice profit. The only regrettable thing about this was that the margins weren’t high and they had no way of identifying the true worth of these things.

“Leave them, our bags aren’t big enough to take everything, we also don’t have much time, let’s find the safe first, it must be in that house.”

“What about the shop? I bet there are some runic items in there.”

“Yeah… let’s split up.”

After crossing through the broken gate they had two real targets to go after. One was the store that was known in the city for having quality runic weapons and armor pieces. The only problem with it was that it had not been destroyed by the Lich so getting through the front door could be potentially dangerous. Everyone knew that magical types liked to leave strange traps to protect their belongings.

This didn’t stop the group from going after them, they were experienced burglars and ruffians. They had come equipped with some trap detection devices and a large amount of lockpicking knowledge. While two of these people worked on the shop lock the other three would go inside and target the house. In there they hoped to find the safe that contained what they were really after.

This wasn’t their first rodeo but considering that they couldn’t see or hear anyone they somewhat dropped their guard. The entrance to the home was blown wide open and the prize was before them. No one expected that behind that black entrance only death awaited them.

“Huh?”

One of the thieves felt something as he stepped into the wrecked home. Inside there was a variety of destroyed furniture and holes everywhere but that was not what he was looking at. Further in the back, he spotted three glowing objects, two of them looked like eyes belonging to a predator while the shiniest one made it hard not to see the wolf behind the eyes.

The man could not move, not because of being scared but because of the thing that pierced through his chest. He could feel a metallic aftertaste in his mouth but could not muster the strength to produce any words. Soon the long object that pierced him retracted behind the creature and with it, he fell forward with a hole in his heart.

“W-what is that thing? A stray monster?”

“R-run…”

The man that convinced everyone to come here for a big payday was down for the count and no one would be able to save him anymore. Instead, the two that were with him quickly tossed some magical explosives into the broken home to help them escape. To their surprise, before these objects could produce the distraction they needed, a strong wind appeared to blow them back. Instead of giving them a smoke screen, they exploded up in the air.

Without anything to protect them from this beast, they could only split up and run. They were the speedy type confident in their escaping capabilities but to their horror, this wouldn’t work against this beast. The two scattered which caused the monster to chase after only one of them. This should have allowed the other to get away but the monster wolf was just too fast.

“N-noo…guh…”

One of the hooded men had to look at his partner’s neck being crunched down by sharp teeth filled with fire energy. The bite contained some kind of flame magic that cauterized the wounds instantly and left behind a flaming stump while the head flew through the air. The other man panicked but there was some space between him and the monster. Perhaps if he kept running he could reach the forest and confuse it enough to escape.

That was the plan but right before he approached the exit he felt an increase in temperature. His instincts told him to jump to the side and in the nick of time, he managed to evade certain death. The spot he was standing in was covered in molten flames, a hit that he certainly could not take. In his panicked state, he tumbled to the ground and was forced to look at the large wolf in the distance.

Around the wolf, he could see two large orbs of flames circling its head. Before he could gather himself to his feet one of those orbs shot forward toward his location. This he also managed to dodge but his left arm was engulfed in the flames and he was tossed to the side. Perhaps if this was all then his plan of escaping could come to fruition, it wasn’t meant to be however as the third orb of flames collided with his body right after he barely evaded the second one.

…

“Agni, that’s enough, the other two have already escaped, there is no use chasing after them.”

Roland walked out of his destroyed home while dragging the body of the first thief that was killed. Agni’s ruby tail pierced right through his heart in an instant without giving the man much time to react. The three people here were quite weak and could not contend with a high-level monster in any way.

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It was a one-sided slaughter but he was too tired to be lenient with these sorts of people. Probably if they found him with a critical injury inside his house they would slit his throat and take his belongings if they had that option. This didn’t mean that he wanted everyone dead, the two people that were trying to get into the outside store quickly ran away and there was no use in chasing them.

He did not believe that they would seek vengeance for these three that were killed here; instead, they would most likely withhold this information from the higher-ups. Roland’s position in the city wasn’t small, his ties to the thieves guild were also known and they probably didn’t want to have him as an enemy.

‘They were probably tasked to scout out the area to see what happened to the monsters and acted out on their own, the job was too sloppy to be something planned.’

People like this were usually just trying to capitalize on the situation. After a big chaotic event like this, there were many empty homes that could be robbed. His home was just the biggest target as he was known as the rich runesmith. In actuality, there wasn’t that much gold in his safe as he usually spent what he earned instantly on new materials for research or expanding the workshop.

This didn’t mean that he wasn’t rich, if people ransacked his whole workshop and sold everything that wasn’t welded down they could probably retire. There were enough runic weapons and magical items to last a regular person their entire life. All things considered, living in this world was not that costly but a life of luxury was something else.