IRM Chapter 50

Fren Desert Teleportation Array.

Ji Chi raised his hand to shield his eyes from the direct sunlight. He silently surveyed his surroundings, trying to find Bard, who had changed his appearance, in the gray and dusty sand.

This was the drawback of teleportation scrolls – unlike teleportation arrays that could transmit to precise locations, teleportation scrolls inevitably produced deviations.

Just like now, even though the three of them had departed from the same place, used the same scrolls, and aimed for the same destination, they had scattered upon arrival.

What a nuisance…

Ji Chi impatiently furrowed his brow. Looking for people under the scorching sun was already irritating enough, but for some reason, more and more people were gathering around him, and the whispered discussions were getting louder.

Ji Chi thought he was blocking someone’s path, so he stepped aside, but unexpectedly the crowd also moved closer in his direction.

Hmm? What was going on? Ji Chi looked up in confusion.

The moment he revealed his entire face, the crowd erupted.

“Hey! Look at that girl! Oh, she’s so beautiful!”

“Yes! Look at her bright black eyes, those bright red lips, and that snow-white skin! She’s even prettier than our queen!”

“Ah! She’s looking this way! Quick, help me check – do my clothes look decent? Is there sand on my collar?”

Ji Chi immediately understood. He stopped walking, and storms brewed in his dark eyes.

Tang, I’ll remember this.

“Cough, beautiful young lady, may I ask what’s troubling you? Is there anything we can help you with?”

Ji Chi looked down upon hearing this. Around his legs, he didn’t know when a group of dwarfs had gathered – exactly seven of them – who were looking up at him with their heads raised, gazing at Ji Chi with friendly expressions.

Ji Chi: “……”

Do all seven of you dwarfs have the same taste?

He maintained a cold expression and said nothing, only shaking his head to refuse their kind offer – a beautiful young girl was stunning and praiseworthy, but being disguised as a beautiful young girl was quite suspicious.

Just as Ji Chi was about to be swallowed by the crowding people, Bard’s disguised figure finally appeared in the distance. He was attracted by the commotion here and looked toward Ji Chi, who was surrounded by the crowd, with some helplessness.

Ji Chi finally found his group and breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief. He was just about to lift his foot and walk toward Bard.

“Miss, you haven’t answered our question yet, or perhaps… you’re disguised as a girl?” One of the dwarfs changed from his previously kind tone and laughed sinisterly. In his hand, he concealed a sharp dagger, and the gleaming cold blade was pressed against Ji Chi’s lower back.

Bard caught sight of Ji Chi’s expression becoming strange. He walked forward a few steps with confusion, wanting to call Ji Chi over, but suddenly discovered several pairs of malicious eyes showing behind him.

Bard’s eyes widened, and for a moment he even forgot to disguise his voice. “Who are you? Let her go! We’re just passing travelers!”

The dwarf laughed heartily. “Master Anthony predicted this so accurately! It wasn’t in vain that we observed under this blazing sun for so long!”

He looked at Bard with malicious intent. “Actually, we don’t want to harm this lovely little girl, but the master also said that you must have already destroyed the treasure… How about this – let’s make a deal? I only need a place name, and this little girl will be safe. How about it? Isn’t that a very good bargain?”

Bard looked at them angrily, his chest heaving up and down. He looked around but didn’t see Tang’s figure, and a sense of powerlessness surged in his heart…

What he had said to Ji Chi in the workshop before were all angry words. If he really had to choose between life and treasure, he would still choose the former.

It had to be said that Anthony understood him better than he had imagined. Those years of teaching and wholehearted instruction weren’t without traces.

The dwarfs’ hostage-taking wasn’t secretive – they confronted each other right next to the busy teleportation array, completely disregarding the surrounding “lower-class people.” This alone was very much in line with Anthony’s style.

Passing travelers were attracted by their confrontation and stood watching from not far away.

Among them were quite a few heroes with a sense of justice. When they saw the “pitiful girl” being held hostage, they immediately felt compassion. “No, I have to stop them! How can they treat a beautiful human girl like this! It’s too rude!”

The person beside him quickly held him back. “Do you want to go die? Look carefully – they’re the Desert Seven Scorpions!”

The hero’s face changed upon hearing this, and his hesitant steps that had stepped forward were withdrawn.

He had obviously heard of the Desert Seven Scorpions’ reputation. They were indifferent to good and evil, utterly wicked, and were the most favored assassins of the dwarf nobles. Anyone who displeased them would be silently assassinated.

The pitiful Ji Chi stood in place, expressionlessly allowing people to watch him. He stood there thinking about whether to directly attack and annihilate them all, his expression particularly clean and harmless, like a frightened and helpless delicate girl, making people feel heartbroken and pitiful.

“What are you doing! Let that girl go! How can you do such things in the street!” A voice burning with vigor and anger came from the crowd.

The owner of the voice rushed to the front of the dwarfs like a ball of red flame, and the young man’s not-particularly-strong body blocked between Bard and Ji Chi.

No way, young master, just how idle are you! How can I encounter you everywhere!

Ji Chi’s previously indifferent expression finally changed. His face twisted slightly as he looked at Brandon, who was standing in front with his hands on his hips, in disbelief.

Brandon noticed Ji Chi’s gaze and thought it was the girl’s earnest plea for help. He was about to give her a brilliant smile, but froze the moment he saw the girl’s face clearly.

He hadn’t observed too long before rushing over, and only now did he see clearly what kind of girl she was.

Her tender skin was as clean and white as the first snow of winter, her lips were as fresh and red as rose petals touched by morning dew, her dark pupils were like the most precious black diamonds in a treasure chest, and her soft hair swayed gently in the wind.

The girl wore a snow-white shirt and brown vest, with a pair of slender, white, straight legs showing beneath shorts that resembled a short skirt, standing nervously in place.

The young master’s face flushed red. He coughed and softened his voice. “Don’t be afraid. With me here, they can’t hurt you.”

Very good. Ji Chi’s original desire to take action instantly vanished. Now he only wanted to quietly be a beautiful girl and have a quiet, futureless encounter with Brandon.

One of the Seven Scorpions saw the troublesome Brandon, frowned, and spoke disdainfully, “I advise you not to meddle in affairs that don’t concern you, because as a lower-class person, you have no idea who you’re facing.”

“Young master! Little master! Why did you suddenly run so fast! We almost couldn’t find you!” The diligent old butler had just turned his head when Brandon suddenly disappeared, nearly scaring him to death.

Fortunately, no matter how fast the young master was, he couldn’t go too far. The butler immediately led people to catch up to the nearby disturbance and indeed found him in the crowd.

The old butler had just squeezed through the onlooking crowd and trotted to Brandon’s side when the Seven Scorpions’ description of “lower-class people” hit him in the face.

Heaven have mercy! The Elliott family was highly respected in the Saint Trilley Empire, yet their precious young master was being called a lower-class person! How unreasonable!

The old butler couldn’t bear it anymore. He straightened his back and turned toward the Seven Scorpions, gently clapping his hands to the side. Instantly, a group of tall, well-equipped guards stood solemnly behind the butler, surrounding the young master.

The old butler wore no cooling clothing under the blazing sun. His black and white tailcoat was neat and proper, and even in the vast desert, he maintained the elegant demeanor of a mansion estate.

He looked down at the seven dwarfs with his chin slightly raised. “Lower-class people? Then what are you? Livestock that escaped from some farm?”

The Seven Scorpions realized they had kicked an iron plate when they saw their formation. The dwarfs exchanged glances, two of them restraining Ji Chi while one pierced Ji Chi’s outer clothing with his dagger, the sharp iron blade pressing directly against his skin.

The other four crouched low and darted to the side, leaving afterimages as they swept past Brandon’s group and charged straight at Bard.

Their small bodies were the best camouflage, just like real desert scorpions, making it very difficult to track their movements.

The old butler snorted heavily, instructing some guards to intercept them while raising his hand and cracking his knuckles. “It seems this old bag of bones needs some exercise too.”

Brandon, trapped among the guards, tried to break out. “Let me out! I want to fight too! I haven’t tried the weapon I just bought yet!”

The old butler pretended not to hear. His emotionless eyes swept over Ji Chi’s face and settled on the three dwarfs around him, saying softly, “I don’t know this young lady, so your threats have no effect on me. However, to prevent the young master from getting too angry, I’ll still be cautious. So, please take this seriously as well.”

As he spoke, he drew a sharp iron spike from his sleeve – very small, only forearm length, but as he flicked it downward, the spike suddenly extended, shaking dangerously in the air, carrying a piercing sword aura.

The remaining three dwarfs exchanged glances and were about to leave with Ji Chi as hostage.

Just then, a soft laugh suddenly came from behind, so close it seemed to be right at their ears. One dwarf was so startled his hair stood on end. He freed one hand to rub his ear and asked his companions, “Are you laughing?”

The other dwarfs looked at him with expressions that said ‘what kind of joke are you making at a time like this.’

The laughter sounded again, and this time all the dwarfs heard it, even the old butler frowned slightly.

The dwarfs looked around in panic, trying to find who was playing tricks.

A hand appeared without warning above the dwarf holding the dagger. Before anyone could react, it grabbed his head and twisted forcefully, actually tearing the entire head directly from the neck. Blood spurted from the neck, staining a large patch of sand red.

“No, impossible! Who did it! Who exactly?!” The remaining dwarfs cried out in anguish after their initial shock, their gazes filled with hatred as they searched around, but couldn’t find any suspicious figures.

The killer seemed to be everywhere, yet nowhere at all.

The first to see through the deception was the old butler. He sighed and put away his iron spike. “It seems our intervention was unnecessary. I didn’t expect you were protecting her from the shadows.”

“No, please allow me to thank your young master. I had a little accident here, and if you hadn’t intervened, I might not have made it in time,” Tang’s laughing voice came from an empty space. The dwarfs followed the sound and glared angrily, then fear immediately appeared in their eyes.

They trembled as they murmured, “Ni… Nidhogg…”

What many people didn’t know was that the Desert Seven Scorpions’ title actually borrowed from Nidhogg. They greatly admired this mercenary group that used animal names as member codenames, and fantasized daily about having the chance to join it.

As seven lurkers with some reputation, the Desert Seven Scorpions were naturally very familiar with the chief mercenary codenamed [Black Panther], who was also the leader of the Nidhogg mercenary group.

They knew all his rumors, such as – he was the master of darkness.

Tang walked out from a patch of darkness. He didn’t reveal his true appearance; his face and body were shrouded in swirling black mist, as if he were the incarnation of darkness itself.

Tang raised his index finger, and the black mist also vaguely showed the shape of a finger. He waved it and smiled. “Lurkers are indeed elusive and act according to their whims, but being polite is a rule that every profession must follow~ Doing such things to a beautiful girl is truly unforgivable, especially when she’s my masterpiece—”

He suddenly clenched his palm, and the black mist spread under the blazing sun, inexplicably chilling people’s hearts. The remaining two dwarfs froze, knowing he was about to use his ultimate move, and hurriedly turned to flee, abandoning Ji Chi without hesitation.

Tang chuckled softly. “Too late…”

Darkness surged like a tide, spreading out in a domain of dozens of meters around Tang, trapping the two dwarfs along with Ji Chi and the old butler within it.

The old butler felt as if his head had been pressed into thick ink. His sight, smell, and hearing were all sealed by the darkness, and even breathing became difficult.

He simply closed his eyes and stood motionless in the domain, saying somewhat displeasedly, “Using such a method to greet someone on first meeting isn’t very polite either.”

Tang smiled apologetically, his voice clearly reaching their ears. “I’m truly sorry, I also find this domain’s indiscriminate treatment quite troublesome.”

“Please bear with it for a moment,” Tang said lightly. “It’ll be over soon.”

Ji Chi’s vision wasn’t affected at all. He could clearly see the two dwarfs running around like headless flies in the domain. Even though the exit was clearly not far in front of them, they just couldn’t cross that invisible line.

They called out to each other in panic, but only attracted the lurking hunter who reaped lives.

Tang watched the prey circling around him, unhurriedly putting on his weapon – a pair of black claw gauntlets with four extended blades that were razor-sharp, able to cut through the hard bones of human bodies with just a light slash.

So fast that the prey lost consciousness before even seeing the hunter.

The darkness quickly receded. When the old butler felt the wind and sand hitting his face, he silently breathed a sigh of relief. He inconspicuously wiped away the sweat that had formed on his forehead due to stress, and the first thing he did was look back at his young master.

It had to be said that every time he went out with the young master, it nearly cost him half his old life.

The old butler shook his head helplessly. Just as he was about to lift his foot to go back, his gaze suddenly focused intently.

Through the layers of guards, he saw that under the young master’s feet, there was a bulge in the sand dune that was wriggling. He immediately shouted sternly, “Watch your feet!”

The other dwarfs, after their brothers died one by one, had lost their rationality. The dwarfs’ inherent obsession and violence were fully triggered.

They fixed their hate-filled gazes on Brandon. In their view, this should have been a very simple task, but it was this young master who suddenly interfered, leading to total defeat.

In their rage, the remaining four scorpions unleashed unprecedented potential. They stirred up wind and sand, using various obstacles to make the movements of three people appear as four, while the last scorpion secretly burrowed to Brandon’s feet, preparing for a powerful strike.

The young master was startled by the old butler’s shout and reflexively looked down, immediately meeting a poisoned blade head-on.

Behind the blade was a dwarf’s face filled with ferocious anger.

Clang— The sound of clashing blades was piercingly sharp, making one’s scalp tingle. The blue-glowing poisoned blade was severed along with its handle and flew far away.

The dwarf slowly lowered his head and looked at the bare handle in his hand. He looked up in shock—

The girl who had originally been standing delicately and prettily in the distant sand was now right behind Brandon in an instant.

She held a black long sword horizontally in her right hand and gripped Brandon’s shoulder with her left hand. A familiar young man’s voice, tinged with anger, rang in the young master’s ear. “Didn’t I tell you not to take off your knee guards?”