Chapter 100: The Young Fox Who Escaped the Trap

FFTA system, Shak Tribe Ranger. The most cost-effective trap specialist Venigo could think of.

Primary skill: Survival. Secondary skill: Plunder. Passive skill: Trap Evasion. Counter skill: Counterattack.

First enhancement: Accuracy up. Second enhancement: Speed up. Third enhancement: Skill Upgrade!

"Damn it, my quicksilver is almost gone." Complaining under his breath, Venigo finished the last step of his character build.

"Sophie, stay behind me and support me at any moment. Don’t get too close." Venigo gave his orders. "Shirley, you’re not familiar with us yet, so stay in reserve for now and handle anything unexpected. Honey, same as always. Big Cat, bring up the rear. Akana, keep an eye on Shirley."

"Why are you watching me?" Shirley asked in confusion.

"Because while I trust people, I still have to be responsible for their safety." Venigo spread his hands. "All right, good girl. Once you’re full, go get to work."

"I’m not some gluttonous alter ego!" Shirley pouted.

"And that’s exactly why someone like you, who keeps changing personalities, is such a pain to deal with," Venigo grumbled.

He took the lead, rounded a corner, and reached the stairway leading down that he had marked earlier.

"Look at my markings," Venigo said. "The blue marks indicate traps. Don’t step on them, or the stairs will turn into a slide and send you straight into the acid pool below."

On the staircase, every seventeenth step bore a blue dye mark made by Venigo using Nanoka’s ability, Graft Goods. Just as he had said, stepping on that stair would turn the entire staircase into a lethal trap.

"I haven’t marked the next section yet. Last time I was pressed for time, so I only explored this small stretch." Venigo said, then made a few gestures in the air and muttered softly, "Perception."

A Survival skill. Perception. It detected invisible enemies and traps. With his movement, pinpricks of light flickered one by one across the ground around him.

Venigo immediately marked the glowing spots with the prepared dye. The marks were not conspicuous, but their faint luminescence in the gloom was enough to warn him and his companions.

"I’m guessing that’s a trapdoor that throws intruders into the acid pool," Venigo said. "Right, later we’ll come back and refine some acid from here. No sense wasting free materials."

"You miser," Shirley spat.

"Honey, keep Akana in line. Don’t let her run wild," Venigo called.

The little wolf-girl turned her face aside, showing no embarrassment at having been exposed. With a giggle, she darted forward, snatched the small leather pouch from Venigo’s belt, and tossed it to Honey.

"Eat in moderation," Venigo said with a smile, then looked ahead.

In the darkness, clusters of green light drifted toward them from afar.

"Prepare yourselves." Venigo instinctively stepped back. "I’m weaker in this form, so I’ll be relying on all of you."

A Shak Tribe Ranger was actually very strong, but his role in this world was not exactly the same as in the game. Otherwise, with Survival: Potion Reversal and the passive skill Potion Knowledge, he could use an ordinary healing potion to inflict massive damage on enemies.

But in this world, that effect had been greatly weakened. After all, Venigo had no way to make his enemies drink his potion.

Even so, Venigo could still fight by setting traps and using weapons.

He drew out his compound bow and nocked an arrow.

Soon, Venigo lowered the bow and sighed. This was no longer his problem.

A group of puppet golems was approaching.

Their bodies seemed to be made of obsidian, and the dense lines of magical runes and spell arrays upon them remained clearly visible even in the dim underground. Their gem-set eyes were the source of the green glow.

These golems were not large, but they were nothing like the sluggish sort usually seen. Instead, they moved swiftly and nimbly. On all fours, they lunged forward in just a few bounds.

They were fast, their defenses seemed solid, and as for their attack power... the curved metal claws on their hands said enough.

Sophie stepped forward, drawing the Contest Blade from its scabbard with a clear ring, then holding it before her. At her side, Shirley stared feverishly at the golems, one hand supporting a massive ice sword in the air.

"Let me go first," Shirley said.

"What?" Venigo said in surprise. It was rare for him to see Shirley so eager.

"A beautiful opponent. I want to slice them apart and see how these masterpieces of ancient magical civilization work. If the Holy Leader had not stopped me, I would have gone to Brancada long ago to seek out the mages’ brass golems." Her eyes lit up. Gripping the seemingly weightless ice sword with both hands, she swung it forward.

"Fine. Sophie, hold the line for her," Venigo said.

Sophie gave a slight nod as she watched Shirley shout and charge ahead.

After the magical alteration of her body, and then Nuwa’s genetic modification, Shirley had suffered hardships she never spoke of. Yet Venigo knew what that fickle little girl had been through.

After all, in Nuwa’s eyes, humans and livestock were all the same: mere experimental material. His modifications were not nearly as gentle as Venigo’s.

But the results were remarkably obvious. Although Shirley was a mage, her physical strength was astonishing. Raising the gigantic ice sword that was absurdly large for her frame, she brought it crashing down.

The lead obsidian golem took the full force of the blow and was nearly split all the way through its back. It staggered, twisting its body as it tried to lunge at Shirley with its claws. But Shirley did not give it that chance. With a casual swing, she sent it flying with the huge sword, and in the same motion knocked two more golems away.

The remaining three golems roared and charged in. Their grating metallic voices were enough to make the weak and timid collapse on the spot. Shirley merely frowned and cursed in annoyance.

"All of you... shut up!"

The greatsword slammed into the ground and shattered into countless ice fragments, which sprayed in all directions like buckshot. Shirley took half a step back, her gaze blank, tilting her head as if pondering something.

The next second, the once-rampaging warrior suddenly became an innocent, carefree mage. Shirley raised both hands and swiftly traced countless magical arrays before her. Mana overflowed from her fingertips, precisely constructing one exquisite, rigorous array after another, linked together into a powerful magic circle.

"Snow spirits, gather. Ice blocks, stacked stones. Summon: Icicle Troll."

Shirley pointed into the air toward the acid pool at the side. Vast mana transformed into frost, instantly drawing up a huge mass of acid and freezing it into ice, forming a clearly greenish humanoid lump.

Seemingly surprised that the troll she had summoned had changed color, Shirley froze for a moment. But the Icicle Troll she had called forth hesitated not at all. Spreading its massive arms, it charged the nearest puppet golem.

The damaged obsidian golem, still in front, was seized by the Icicle Troll and crushed with a single powerful grip, bursting apart along the crack in its back. The Icicle Troll then treated the fragments as shells, hurling them hard and sending the golem that had been charging from afar flying again.

Now there were only two obsidian golems left before it.

Shirley began to chant softly. Blue-white magic glimmered through her hair, lifting her long tresses upward as though they were steam. The vast power quickly condensed into form, becoming clumps of snowballs that rained down upon the obsidian golems.

Snowballs were soft; being hit by them should not hurt much. But snowballs formed by magic were another matter. The greater Shirley’s mana and the stronger her affinity for ice and snow, the more force her condensed snowballs could unleash.

It made no scientific sense... then again, this was magic to begin with.

The whistling snowballs fell in volleys, and each one carried the impact of an iron sphere along with a biting chill that cut to the bone. The obsidian golems possessed formidable physical defense, but magic still interfered with the workings of the spells within them.

Especially magic as potent as Shirley’s.

"I remember that different golems have different weaknesses?" Venigo suddenly said. At some point, his right eye had turned into a golden-red dragon pupil, fixed on the obsidian golems as he spoke in a long, even voice.

"The weakness of obsidian golems is electricity. They are not afraid of flame or blades, and they can lessen the effects of frost and blunt force, but they cannot resist electricity," Venigo said.

"But all I know are water spells, and I’m only really good at ice and frost magic," Shirley said timidly.

"It’s fine. I can’t use it either." Venigo spread his hands.

Amid the howl of ice and snow, the Icicle Giant reached out again to seize the enemies, but failed. Clearly, the obsidian golems had already learned its movements, and with bodies far more agile, they easily evaded the Icicle Giant’s grasp.

Watching the battlefield, Venigo suddenly stepped forward and moved to Shirley’s side, crouching down.

A second later, one of the obsidian golems lunged forward, only to be swallowed by purple bubbles surging up from beneath its feet. It faltered, then suddenly threw itself at another golem beside it.

"Confusion Trap," Venigo explained to the stunned Shirley.

He stepped left and buried another trap beside her. "Don’t go left."

Shirley gave a small sound of understanding and once again drew lines with both hands, forming a wall of ice to block the right side. Venigo gave a soft laugh, stepped back half a pace, and pressed a hand to the ground again.

The golem, confused into mistaking friend for foe, soon recovered. It turned its head, its emotionless gemstone eyes locking onto Shirley.

"Snowblind."

Shirley pointed at the golem, and a piercing, dazzling white light shot straight into its eyes, instantly draining the brilliance from its gem pupils.

At the same time, the golem that had charged from Shirley’s left was also thrown into disarray by Venigo’s trap. Countless spikes erupted from the ground and hurled it into the air, slamming it heavily against the cave wall.

At that moment, the Icicle Troll seized it and used it as a weapon, swinging it wildly from side to side and forcing the remaining golems to retreat.

At last, an opening for a counterattack appeared!

Oops, I’m late today. Sorry, sorry.