Chapter 359 – Time To Run?

“Watch out!”

An arrow connected with a large skeleton’s head and shattered it instantly. The monster lost its balance and fell down from the wall it was climbing. On the way, it took a few similar-looking skeletons together as there were multiple of them right behind it. All of these could be seen climbing up a sidewall of a large chamber, chasing what looked to be an adventurer party.

“Use the potion!”

“But it’s the last one…”

“Just use it, do you want them to get up here?”

“…”

A man holding two blades shouted at one of the archers that were shooting. Two men were still climbing the wall, one of them was wearing quite heavy-looking armor along with a shield on his back. The other one was close to the ledge as he was not as encumbered as his heavier party member. If nothing was done about it, the skeletons would surely reach the slow-moving man.

It was a group of Infernal Skeleton Berserkers that was after them. Their large hands that had sharp claws made it easy for them to climb hard rock walls like this one. They could casually stick those pointy digits into the rocks without needing to find a good spot for their footing. They were climbing at twice the speed of the armored man that was barely keeping himself from falling.

One of the monsters approached, and even when getting bumped by the falling skeleton it still persisted. Its massive mitts moved for the man’s ankles in an attempt to grasp them. Luckily before it could sink those claws into his flesh a flail of golden liquid connected with its face. This concoction produced a sizzling sound as it burned the unholy creature and caused it to fall and drench some of the other pursuing monsters.

“Now, kill them all!”

The Archers listened to their leader that was in the process of helping the spear user up to the ledge they were standing on. With many arrows still remaining and skills to guide them to the undead cores, it was possible to cause enough damage. With the help of all this support the heavily armored man managed to make it up to the top where he was pulled up by to of his party members.

“We need to get out of here, we’ll run to that tunnel!”

“But what about the skeletons?”

“I’ll collapse the path, just get into the tunnel first.”

Everyone nodded as they quickly decided to leave this place. They were able to destroy some of the undead that were after them but this wasn’t over. Their leader came prepared as he took out a circular magical bomb that could cause the ledge they were previously standing on to collapse. Just like planned the magical explosion sent a mass of rocks down towards the group of skeletons.

Following the group would not be as easy anymore and by the time they got to the tunnel the adventurers escaped into, their presence would be lost. Even though the animosity rating would persist for a while, the monsters had no way of tracking their enemies. The adventurers knew this and would use it to their advantage. It would only take them a few forks to probably lose the monsters and cancel out the aggro.

“Who was that guy?”

“I don’t know, but do you think that Gnome is still alive?”

“Shit, what if that fucker reports us to the guild?”

The party leader cursed out his luck while thinking about the biggest problem they were facing. They had tried to sacrifice the temporary party member that had actually hired them to perform a task. For adventurers like them who lived from taking missions, trying to sacrifice the person that hired them was unforgivable. It would be enough for them to lose their adventurer cards and being platinum rank would not save them.

Biting the hand that fed them was one of the things that the guild could not stomach. However, this was probably the least of their problems. There was a strange witness with the gnome and the bigger the case the more in hot water they became. Losing their cards or being demoted was bad but they could be turned into criminals. Considering that they were tier 3 adventurers there would be only one thing left for them, becoming battle slaves.

Tier 3 class holders had a lot of worth and this worth could be brought out in various ways. Usually, people like them would be wined and dined. They brought in too much money for the guild that would rather protect them as the money makers that they were. There was always a limit to this generosity and they could still be profited off by being sold as slaves. They would be sent to either work for the army as cannon fodder or work in dungeons until they died. With a slave collar around their neck they would have all their rights stripped and used for all they were worth.

“Hey Jack, didn’t you notice something strange about that guy?”

“Yeah, that armor, I’ve seen it somewhere…Oh shit, could it have been…”

“Who is it?”

The two archers started talking as their eyes were the only ones good enough to see through the dark caverns. It was a badly lit place but for them with various skills to help, seeing in the dark was rather easy.

“I think it was the new Knight Commander from the city, I’ve seen him parading through the city in the same thing, he was missing the cape but the noble crest was still on his breastplate…”

“The fucking Knight Commander from those shitty nobles? What the fuck is he doing down here?”

“How should I know? It was him for sure, that thing that grabbed the gnome was a wolf monster.”

“I heard he had one of those…”

The other archer nodded as the two came to an agreement. They had not been long in this city but long enough to gather all the important information. It was good to know who the powerhouses of each city were and the Valerian noble house could not be denied. All of them knew about the duel but were not really aware of the levels the knights had.

“This looks bad, weren’t those people at the entrance also part of those noble bastards? If it was only the gnome then we might have had a chance of explaining ourselves…”

Now it was the spearman that voiced his opinion. If it was the word of one alchemist against a party of adventurers then they could have perhaps gotten away with it. However, if someone like a knight from a noble household backed up those claims, it would be over for them.

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“Leader, what should we do?”

“What can we do?”

The leader stopped in his tracks as the group left the skeletal chamber in the dust. There was no danger of them catching up to them and a decision needed to be made. All of them were in it together, putting the blame on the leader was an option but would probably not work. No one lifted a finger as they just abandoned the gnome that had all the right to blame everyone for it.

“If that Knight makes it to the exit, then I see only two options. Either we leave the city before they can report it or…”

“Or what… Do you seriously want us… He is part of the nobles and the Valerians, you know how those bastards are!”

Everyone here knew what the leader insinuated. People died in the dungeon constantly and if a knight vanished in these unexplored depths, then it wouldn’t be that suspicious. If they played their cards right, it would be possible to get away with murder.

“Then what do you want us to do instead? Turn ourselves in Jack? Do you want to be a slave? I’d rather join the thieves guild! But do we have to? It’s only one Knight, he might have won one duel but there are five of us and two of them.”

“He is right, if the Knight bastard vanishes here no one will blame us nor will they know how he died. The lord of this city isn’t even a real noble, he doesn’t have enough leverage to launch a full investigation, and even if he does…”

“We’ll be long gone!”

“Yeah… I’m in, what about you?”

Jack, who was the only one that voiced another opinion, was shocked by his party members. Yet, he knew what all of them were getting at. If they allowed them to escape then their lives would be over. The only option would be to give themselves up to the nobles or escape somewhere. Their future would then involve becoming bandits or attempting to leave the Kingdom itself.

“I’m… in too.”