Syl

Chapter 187: Scoundrels

Walking towards the gate, I looked for the potential contacts. I wondered if they would perhaps not approach me since I was a supposed elf, or was their greed enough to ignore that?

It didn’t take too long for a rather posh-looking dwarf to intercept me.

"Miss, might I have a moment of your time?" The dwarf asked.

"Ten silver slime cores," I responded.

"I beg your pardon?" The dwarf asked befuddled.

"That’s my price to not clear out the orichalcum mine."

The dwarf’s shock and surprise were so apparent that I thought his eyes would pop out or his jaw would hit the floor.

"Surely you’re joking?"

"Nope. That’s my price. Gold, jewels, or anything else has no value to me. If you want to bribe me, then that’s my price."

"Not good enough, sorry."

"Two! I meant two!"

I kept walking.

"Silver slime cores are rare. Even if they are trash ones killed. You can’t be serious!" The dwarf failed to reason with me. "Surely you don’t want to face The Terror!?"

"I’m completely serious. Sorry, we couldn’t go do business. I’ve got a spider monster to deal with." I replied with a shrug.

The dwarf’s bafflement was soon replaced with rage.

"Don’t you know who I am?" He shouted in outrage.

"Should I? Any fool willing to stop a gold-rank adventurer with a fully legalized quest must not be worth knowing."

His face flipped through various emotions before he settled back on anger. "How dare you! You’ll regret not taking my offer."

"Maybe... Or you’ll regret not saying yes to my ten silver cores. Bye."

I walked off, leaving the dwarf once again utterly baffled and upset. I did throw a quick [Identify] his way just so I’d have a name to give back to Kaldrour.

<Skofith Ingotback; Dwarf LV 12; Distributer [II] LV 32.>

I hoped he bought the act enough to send his thugs to stop me; I wanted a perfectly legal reason to get my tendrils on a dwarf profile.

Surprisingly, someone else attempted to bribe me so I would not complete the quest, but I didn’t even bother talking to that one. I’d given my price, and they were still trying to throw useless things like gold coins at me.

I mean... If I wanted gold, I’d just make it myself. Well... Once I get a higher rank in [Metal Slime] anyway. I chuckled to myself.

The route to the mines differed from my previous exits, so I had to rely fully on [Mapping] to point the way.

I wonder what kind of spider it is. Trapweaver sounds very enticing. If it has some great trap-related traits, they could be combined nicely with [Nitro Slime]. I really need to look up if there’s a trapper class or something.

Leaving this gate, I was welcomed to extremely vast tunnels with dedicated walkways and tracks for transportation, as well as many, many dwarves. The majority were laborers accompanied by the occasional guard patrol.

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Wow, the dwarves really don’t half-arse anything... I think this is my first time seeing minecarts.

Seeing this many dwarves made me doubt if they would send any thugs my way, which was somewhat disappointing. However, that soon faded when [Mapping] started leading me towards tunnels with far fewer dwarves. That further emptied out when I began taking a tunnel that looked practically abandoned.

I guess this must lead to the Flintheart mine. They’ve really been suffering if it looks like this has already been abandoned. I wonder how he’s been meeting the quotas. Is he buying from someone else and passing it off as his own?

I started going down the tunnel at my own pace when I heard multiple footsteps rapidly approaching.

"It’s this way, right?"

"Must be. Look how abandoned it is."

"So, do we just rough her up?"

"I guess that depends on how cooperative she is or not."

"The boss was furious, but I don’t want to have the guild after me for killing one of their own..."

"Don’t worry, we’ve got the numbers, and that’ll scare her off."

Their voices echoed down the tunnel. I couldn’t help but silently laugh with glee.

Now the question is... Do I kill them all and reveal myself? I guess it depends on how much of a threat they are. I could maybe kill a few and send the rest off running, showing some leniency. A warning not to mess with me? Of course, that’s assuming I don’t need to resort to using my slime abilities; I’m not going to let cockiness be my downfall.

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I turned around to face the oncoming thugs and ensured [Arcane Armor] was up.

It was a group of around six dwarves of middling levels. I was honestly feeling a little insulted by the show of force. Two held heavy crossbows; one looked to be some sort of spellcaster, one had a massive mace, and the other two looked like typical tanks.

<Nuzzun; Dwarf LV 27; Spellbreaker [III] LV 16.>

<Kastramri; Dwarf LV 26; Mirror Knight LV 14.>

<Broudaen; Dwarf LV 22; Fortress Knight LV 4. Elemental Affinity: Earth, Water.>

<Lumret; Dwarf LV 23; Marksman [II] LV 29. Elemental Affinity: Earth, Fire.>

<Gotmela; Dwarf LV 25; Sniper [III] LV 12. Elemental Affinity: Earth, Air.>

<Khezmadeth; Dwarf LV 24; Geomancer [II] LV 33. Elemental Affinity: Earth.>

Interesting that my [Identify] only got the elemental affinities or class ranks for some of them. I guess I need to raise its level more?

"Well! Look who’s been waiting for us, boys!" one of the goons said, smirking.

"I’m here on official adventurer guild business. Are you really sure you want to interfere?"

"I don’t like this... She’s far too confident."

"Bah! False bravado. Those adventurer types know how to fight mindless monsters and think they’re hot shit."

"Last chance to back down, missy! Why don’t you go back to your forest and leave the orichalcum mine alone? It’s for everyone’s best interest."

I snorted a laugh. It was too absurd; they sounded almost worse than Stantondale brat’s thugs.

I gave a flourish of my hands with lightning crackling between them.

"I feel like I should be warning you. Last chance to turn around and run away?" I replied confidently.

"Oh, a bloody mage. Of course, that’s why she’s so confident." One of the thugs laughed triumphantly.

"Bet she’s never fought a spellbreaker before."

I actually have... Although I don’t remember him doing much other than screaming at me.

"Let’s see how good you can concentrate on your spells when we smack you around!"

Well... I guess there’s no reason to hold back.

I ordered my [Sub-Cores] to cast my debuffs on one of the dwarves; this was the perfect opportunity to spread them all. It took only mere moments, and then, with a confident grin, I cast [Contagion].

The dwarves had missed all the subtle afflictions being cast, but when I cast that spell, they had noticed and almost immediately reacted.

"Attack!" One of them shouted just as the transparent blackish cloud of Mana exploded from their debuffed companion.

From what I could tell, it appeared that none of them resisted the debuffs.

Oh, wait! I’m wearing my guild tag. Interface!

Suddenly, little bar indicators appeared in my vision. As I suspected, it seemed like [Affliction Tracker] was one of the skills that would integrate with the magic item as tiny pictures with a red border appeared next to each hostile dwarf.

The lightning bolt with a red border must be [Conductive]; likewise, the flame must be [Flammable]. This is very useful!

My thoughts were interrupted as two crossbow bolts were fired at me. The first bounced off my [Arcane Armor] while the second shattered it, but the bolt was still stopped.

I shifted to Lightning affinity and cast [Chain Lightning] at the mace dwarf. To my surprise, he swung his mace at the incoming bolt and smashed it!

How the hell? At least it should have shocked him through the mace!? I protested.

"Ha! I told you she’s never fought anything but monsters!" He sneered.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance and began "multicasting" with my [Sub-Cores]. [Arcane Armor] was reapplied, while two [Fireballs] were formed and launched at the backline, which was my first priority to takeout. To keep the spellbreaker occupied, I fired another [Lightning Bolt] at him, forcing him to smash it with his mace.

"Gods, so many spells!" The geomancer shouted in surprise. "Her [Multicast] must be an insane level!"

"Shut up and get the wall behind her, then get rid of her footing." The sniper shouted.

The fortress knight threw himself to block one of the [Fireballs] while the mirror knight’s shield glimmered brightly, and when the spell made contact, it was reflected directly back at me!

Okay, this is getting annoying! I grumbled angrily as I cast [Aegis] to block my returned spell.

Clearly, their strategy was for the two tanks to defend their backline. Then their spellbreaker could get up in my face while the three of them provided supporting fire.

An earthen wall was erected behind me, and the geomancer began casting [Sand Pit] to further trap me.

I had my Ice aligned [Sub-Cores] cast [Glacial Aura] while I began casting a [Waterjet] spell at the mirror knight. Surely there was a limit to what he could reflect?

The pressurized water beam struck his shield violently, sending him a few feet back. It looked like he had initiated the reflection but could only aim it to the side and not directly at me. I kept the spell going to see if he had a time limit on his reflection, but the way the dwarf smirked made me think otherwise.

"Keep wasting your Mana knife ears!"

While he was trapped, I began peppering the fortress knight with [Acid Dart] spells. While he was incredibly tanky and probably had various elemental resistances, I doubted he had something to protect him from the corrosive acid—especially if it destroyed his precious shield.

The spellbreaker had reached me by now, and even though he was well within the range of my aura, he seemed to be hardly affected by it. He swung his mace at me, and when it made contact with my protection spell, it caused it to instantly shatter. At the same time, my [Waterjet] spell abruptly ended, and my [Glacial Aura] winked out.

What!?

Two crossbow bolts were timed perfectly to coincide with my defense going down. I had no time for a spell, so I triggered [Tranquil Flow] to dodge. I dodged both of them, but then one of the bolts seemed to correct its trajectory, embedding itself into me.

"Got ya bitch!" The sniper jeered as fake blood oozed from the wound.

My feet had also sunk into the completed sand trap, and it looked like a rather unfortunate situation. The spellbreaker moniker seemed not just for show, as it quite literally broke or disrupted my spells.

I triggered [Thunder Step], abandoning the slime that made up my feet to avoid any potential hindrance.

"The hell!?"

"Bloody beards!"

"That’s not a spell!?"

The dwarves shouted in shock and surprise as I chained a few jumps until I ended right above the sniper.

"Got ya..." I muttered as I grabbed him moments before the [Thunder Step] backlash began.

Using him as a conduit and utilizing [Voltaic Slime], I channeled as much of the surging energy directly into him as possible. He screamed out in pain, and I watched the bar representing his life force plummet, but it wasn’t enough to kill such a high-level dwarf so easily.

The marksman and geomancer backed off while the two knights charged at me. Both used a skill intending to prevent me from dealing enough damage to kill their companion.

<You successfully resist [Taunt].>

<Failed to resist [Taunt].>

That was frustrating, as while I wasn’t mindless enough to be forced into attacking the mirror knight, it meant that everyone but him now took reduced damage.

I had made up my mind; no survivors. I instructed my [Sub-Cores] to cast [Rampart] to seal off the remaining tunnel entrance and kicked the rather limp and screaming sniper dwarf, sending him tumbling toward his two knight companions.

The fortress knight caught him while the mirror knight interceded between us.

"I got you, Gotmela!" The fortress knight said, reaching into his pouch, likely for a potion to administer. "What’s all this sticky gunk stuck on your chest?" He questioned while trying to pull at it, but it seemed far too slimy and adhesive for his gauntleted hands.

The mirror knight was glaring at me, waiting for me to make any indication of casting a spell.

I simply smiled. "Boom."

And an explosion echoed throughout the now sealed tunnel.