Chapter 247 Concealed Detection and the [Crimson Armor Lord]

Layers of gray clouds crowded the sky, churning and surging as if struggling against something, only to fall powerlessly from the pale fringes of the fog, heavy with moisture.

The wind gradually picked up.

The cold, clammy air seemed to slip through the gaps between armor and inner linings, clinging uncomfortably to the skin.

A sudden, damp chill brushed against the tip of his nose.

Xia Nan instinctively looked up. His pitch-black eyes reflected the heavy leaden clouds.

"Is it going to rain?"

He furrowed his brows slightly.

Whether in his past life or after transmigrating, he didn't dislike this kind of weather. In fact, he faintly enjoyed it.

He enjoyed the sound of raindrops drumming against the glass; even when it was gloomy and howling with wind outside, the indoors remained warm and peaceful—a cozy sense of security rooted in his genetic instincts.

He also enjoyed the refreshing chill of a misty drizzle wrapping around his body, or the crisp air mixed with the scent of earth on the streets after a rainfall.

But right now, no matter how much he favored this gloomy, damp weather, facing the street before him—packed shoulder-to-shoulder and reeking with all sorts of foul odors—a wave of irritation still washed over him.

"What's the meaning of this? Are they letting people through or not?" the dragonborn Sava complained with deep dissatisfaction beside him.

She wasn't a cold-blooded animal, but perhaps her bipedal, lizard-like appearance carried similar traits, making her instinctively despise any environment lacking sunlight.

Her mottled yellow-brown scales trembled slightly in the increasingly thick, damp air. The scales on her arms and the back of her neck even flared up a little, like a frightened cat puffing its fur—or perhaps the human equivalent of goosebumps?

"Maybe something happened? I'm not too sure," Luca offered proactively. Having hit it off with her during their trip to the casino, his relationship with the dragonborn had clearly improved.

At the same time, he stood on his tiptoes. Relying on his tall, burly frame, he craned his neck to peer ahead.

By now, the escort squad had left the Resting Dragon Lair Inn and arrived at the main road near the exit of Molten Scale Town.

Though they occasionally spotted hurrying guards along the way, nothing seemed out of the ordinary overall.

But as they neared the intersection leading to the Molten Scale Mountains, the road—built into the hillside and already narrow amidst the dense architecture—suddenly became congested.

Peddlers, pedestrians, and adventurers, along with a few carriages, packed the entire street to the brim. Taking even two steps forward required squeezing through with the sheer physical strength of a Class Holder. Instinctively shielding his waist pouch, Xia Nan looked around.

Without a doubt, the people crowding the street right now were all travelers planning to leave the town, just like them.

Given this situation, something must have gone wrong at the exit.

Molten Scale Town was not large, but it was the only human settlement in the vicinity.

Anyone wishing to cross the Molten Scale Mountains from the Sticky-Tree Territory side into the Abyssal Veil Province usually had to stop in town to rest and restock their supplies.

This made the town's foot traffic far greater than its size should accommodate.

Moreover, due to its unique terrain and architectural layout, the town only had two entrances and exits—one at the front and one at the back.

Unless one possessed the ability to fly or had the confidence to scale the towering rock walls on either side bare-handed, they could only pass through these two openings.

This meant that if something truly happened in the town, and someone was sent to block both exits, they would become completely trapped—like a turtle in a jar.

Just as he was looking around, a sudden commotion broke out behind him.

He shifted his gaze and saw two or three young knights in standard-issue armor running hurriedly toward the exit.

Their undisguised, full sets of armor allowed Xia Nan to recognize their identities at a glance.

They were the knights serving under Trevelyan from the Morton Family, whom they had briefly seen in the inn's lobby earlier.

Recalling their encounter at the casino, he already had a few guesses in mind.

Having also recognized them, Wood quickly stepped forward and stopped one of them, asking, "What happened? Can we still leave today?"

Naturally recognizing this personal guard of the Nym City Lord's second son, the stopped young knight didn't get angry. He merely showed an apologetic smile and replied, "I am truly sorry, Mr. Wood. We have an emergency on our end. If you wish to leave the town right now, you might have to undergo a rather strict search, which you probably wouldn't accept. I suggest you all find a safe place in town and wait for a little while. It won't be too long—one night is definitely enough. The passage should be restored by daybreak tomorrow."

Although Trevelyan was forced to initiate his operation early and clash with Lawson because the brothers assigned to keep watch were captured...

...prior to that, as an "outsider" standing in the shadows and yet to enter the fray, he had observed everything very clearly.

Perhaps the treasure had indeed fallen into Lawson's hands, and his actions over the past two days were merely a smokescreen.

But the possibility of a third party in town stealing the secret treasure before Lawson was absolutely not small. Right now, as he and Lawson fought, both sides were pinned down.

If the faction holding the secret treasure was still staying in town, they would definitely not miss this chance to slip away.

Therefore, after the operation began, he specifically separated a small detachment of his knights to lock down the town's entrances and exits, while ordering them to thoroughly inspect anyone acting suspiciously.

As for whether this would put the town's sheriff in a difficult position... it could only be said that the moment he presented his Duke Morton Family crest, he had already gained the authority to mobilize the town's guards.

Of course, the escort squad couldn't possibly accept the "strict" search the knight mentioned.

Even putting aside the self-defense tools Hai'an, Wood, and the others brought from Nym, just the three adventurers in the party—including Sava and Xia Nan—would never allow someone to rummage through their luggage and personal belongings like that.

Both Hai'an and Wood were very clear on this point.

Naturally, they wouldn't demand anything from Xia Nan and the others.

Wood only held the knight back to ask a couple more questions before letting him go without much further pestering.

After all, the fact that he explained things so bluntly despite knowing their identities already showed there was no room for negotiation.

"How is it? What exactly is going on?" the half-elf Hai'an quickly asked when he saw Wood walk back with a serious face.

"He didn't go into detail," Wood shook his head. "He only revealed that it's related to their mission objective."

"So we have to stay in town for another night?" Sava crossed her arms, her face filled with dissatisfaction, yet a subtle emotion laced her tone.

Clearly, she wasn't resistant to the idea.

The towering stacks of chips on the gambling table just moments ago, along with her reluctance when Luca dragged her out of the casino, already explained why.

With a hot streak going, the dragonborn seemed to still harbor lingering desires for the casino known as the Flowing Gold Roulette.

"What do you all think?" As Hai'an's guard and the de facto leader of the party, Wood didn't make an immediate decision, but rather asked for everyone's input.

"I'm fine with whatever. I'll follow your lead!" Away from the gambling table, Luca had reverted to his honest demeanor, offering a simple-minded laugh.

"I don't care. If we stay another night, we stay another night," Sava said, deliberately pretending to be indifferent.

Verol offered no opinion, simply remaining silent with a smile.

Just as always, she never interfered with the party members' actions outside of combat, nor did she voice subjective opinions on anything.

It was as if speaking even a few more words would cause the situation—already diverging from her memories—to spiral further out of control. Having long gotten used to this, Wood didn't press the matter and turned his gaze to Xia Nan.

Truth be told, as an adventuring party composed of Class Holders, complete with a reliable Spellcaster like Verol...

...even if the knights blocking the exits had similarly attained Class Levels...

...there were easily dozens, if not ten thousand, ways they could leave Molten Scale Town.

It was just that they would all require taking on certain risks, along with the possibility of being misunderstood by Trevelyan and his men.

Under normal circumstances, Xia Nan wasn't really in a rush over a day or two. In fact, the squad's original plan had been to depart tomorrow morning anyway.

However, his recent experience at the casino made him faintly aware of some hidden danger, which was why he had suggested the party leave early.

The exaggerated speed and explosive power displayed by that gloomy man named Lawson flashed through his mind again.

Xia Nan's heart sank slightly. He looked at Wood in front of him and opened his mouth.

Boom— Before he could speak, an explosive roar suddenly blasted from behind.

Turning to look, he saw the flicker of firelight glowing through the gaps of the dense buildings down at the end of the street, coming from the center of town.

The trail of white smoke rising from behind the roof tiles was especially stark against the backdrop of the gray-black sky.

He could faintly hear the terrified screams and wails of the townsfolk echoing from afar.

The crowd on the street immediately broke into a panic.

Xia Nan's expression froze; his sharp Perception seemed to abruptly catch onto something.

His pupils contracted, and his pitch-black eyes instinctively darted toward the roof of a certain house by the street.

It appeared empty, holding only the eaves, the tiles, and the gloomy leaden clouds as a backdrop.

Yet, as his gaze locked on, the air just above the roof distorted ever so slightly.

He suddenly sensed a flash of cold, murderous intent. It felt like a needle pricking his eyes, forcing him to blink instinctively.

When he opened them again, the subtle presence hovering over the roof had already vanished from his Perception.

From turning his head and shifting his gaze to that final sting, merely two fleeting seconds had passed.

Other than Verol, who cast a glance his way after his unnatural blink, no one else around him—not even Wood—noticed anything amiss.

"Whoosh—"

Another whistling howl echoed from far down the street.

Utilizing the dim light under the overcast clouds to the extreme, a heavily armored figure tore through the air like a heavy artillery shell, wrapped in a brilliant silver light radiating from his body.

In just a few seconds, he went from being a faint speck in the distance to arriving right before them.

"Bang!"

Rubble sprayed outward as cracks spiderwebbed across the dirt-paved ground.

The silver-clad figure leaped high into the air, traversing the eaves to bypass the crowded street, and vanished from everyone's sight in an instant.

"Trevelyan?"

Even though it was only for a few seconds, Xia Nan had still clearly caught a glimpse of his face.

He seemed to be in a combat state.

Compared to the polite demeanor he had shown when Xia Nan first met him, right now, all that remained was the expressionless look of extreme focus.

His entire right arm gripping the hilt of his sword, stretching from just below his neck down into his inner collar, was covered in a flowing, silvery-white sheen.

Xia Nan guessed that this had to be some special ability of his.

As he pondered this, before he even had time to share it with his teammates...

...the dense crowd packing the road ahead suddenly began to flow rapidly, like a cork popping out of a bottle.

"Hurry!" Wood called out to the team members behind him. "We can't stay in this town any longer!"

Shk! A razor-sharp blade flashed with a deadly, freezing gleam in the cold air, tearing out a blurry phantom image amid a piercing whistle.

The young knight standing in the middle of the road—his longsword raised across his chest in a defensive block—only let out a muffled grunt before collapsing in agony as blood erupted from his neck.

Alongside the two comrades next to him, he was instantly reduced to a corpse.

For three knights of the Morton Family, who had endured rigorous training since childhood, the transition from life to death took less than three seconds combined.

The vast disparity in strength might have been part of the reason.

But the far more critical factor was the enemy who had inexplicably materialized out of thin air, his figure as swift as a phantom.

Flicking his right hand that gripped the hilt, he shook off the residual blood on the blade and took a step forward.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the gloomy middle-aged man vanished from where he stood.

He wasn't some exceptionally skilled Rogue specializing in stealth.

This was the class ability granted to Lawson by the [Blood-Seeking Veteran].

As an obscure subclass under [Warrior], the [Blood-Seeking Veteran] provided its Class Holder with fierce, barbaric bravery and powerful endurance akin to a Barbarian Berserker, while also allowing them to conceal their presence on the battlefield to increase their survival rate.

And the class's inherent weaknesses—a relative lack of close-quarters combat strength and explosive power—were perfectly compensated by his lv4 [Warrior] class.

Lawson naturally knew that multiclassing halfway along the path of a [Warrior]—a class that should have allowed him to progress smoothly until hitting the bottleneck at the lv10 Transcendent Tier boundary—would, in most cases, drag down his potential and narrow his future avenues for advancement.

Moreover, in terms of class advancement, a pure lv10 [Warrior] had a far simpler and easier path than a lv5 [Warrior] mixed with a lv5 [Blood-Seeking Veteran].

If one merely had enough Points, they could directly exchange them for an Advanced Class inauguration method at the Adventurers' Association.

But many years ago, when he was still a guard for the Morton Family, a special encounter during a mission had revealed to Lawson the detailed advancement method for a powerful Transcendent Advanced Class known as the [Crimson Armor Lord].

A multiclass combination of [Warrior] and [Blood-Seeking Veteran] was one of its prerequisite conditions.

Furthermore, the abilities of the two classes were a perfect match.

Under these circumstances, the inherent disadvantage of multiclassing—an unstable progression path—ceased to exist.

If he could secure that secret treasure stolen from the Dragon Lair, even if he couldn't uncover the secret that led to the Duke's family's rise, simply exchanging it for resources would be enough to support him all the way to the final step before the Transcendent Tier.

But right now, as he caught a glimpse of the brilliant silver light approaching from far behind from the corner of his eye, a cold glint flashed through Lawson's gaze.

His figure, nearly merged with the surrounding environment, swiftly roamed toward the outskirts of town.

In a one-on-one fight, Trevelyan was no match for him.

However, while Trevelyan's subordinates were ordinary in strength, they would be somewhat troublesome to deal with together, and the narrow confines of the town were not conducive to him fighting at his full potential.

He needed to lure the enemy out to an open area outside the town.

And the class abilities granted to him by his lv5 [Blood-Seeking Veteran] allowed him to move rapidly while staying hidden, deliberately leaving a trail without being detected by anyone else.

Thinking of this, for some unknown reason, he suddenly recalled that highly palpable gaze he had felt when passing by a street near the exit moments ago.

The image of a black-haired young man wearing matte-black Plate-Chain Composite Armor and carrying twin swords on his back surfaced in his mind.

'It was probably just a coincidence.'

The thought flashed through his mind.

His nearly invisible figure had already vanished at the end of the road.