22 Chapter 22 - Issue (1/2)
Everyone was dumbfounded. They barely had time to pay attention to the two stragglers as they were busy killing the monsters. All Gu Fei and the employer had to do was follow the path they had cleared, so there was no need to protect Gu Fei even if he was a weak Mage.
”Where is he?” Young Master Han stared at the employer.
”He went ahead and engaged the monster we accidentally attracted to let me escape,” he replied.
That was to be expected. Although considering how long it was, it was abnormal for him to not have caught up to them by now. Gu Fei would be in no way slower than their group who had to keep clearing the monsters in front.
”Perhaps the monsters along the way had respawned by the time he finished fending off the initial aggressor?” Brother Assist suggested.
The path, which required the concerted effort of five pros to clear, was not something a single Mage could handle alone.
”I'll send him a message!” Seeing that the exquisite face of Young Master Han had turned ashen, Sword Demon immediately sent a message to Gu Fei. If what Brother Assist said was true, the five had no choice but to turn back to get him. The experience they had thus far was already exhausting; turning back right now would only leave the team annoyed and filled with grievances. It would also make teaming up in the upcoming battles awkward and tense.
Everyone stared at Sword Demon disparagingly. They suddenly saw his eyes widened as he sent a series of messages before finally walking over to the lever on his accord and activating the stone door.
The stone door slowly lifted up with a grinding sound.
And there stood Gu Fei, slowly being revealed to everyone behind the door.
Gu Fei held on to a longsword not fit for a Mage in his left hand and a sack in his right hand. A light smile hung across his face as looked at the rest of the group and delightedly exclaimed, ”Took you guys long enough!”
They were speechless as they stared at him stupidly. Gu Fei walked out from the door as he threw the sack he was holding toward the employer's arms while saying, ”Here's what you wanted.”
The employer caught it and was taken aback as he looked into the sack.
Young Master Han and the rest were very surprised and speechless before Sword Demon broke the silence, ”What happened?”
”I found a secret passageway a while back. All of you had left without a trace, so I took that path which led me to the lair. I ended up killing Sooto, and now I brought his head here,” Gu Fei said.
”How did you kill him?” Young Master Han's face was still frozen in disbelief.
Gu Fei flourished his blade and pointed it at Young Master Han.
”How is that possible?!” Young Master Han said as he raised his hand and flicked the blade aside, heading inside as the rest of them followed closely.
The body of the now headless Sooto lay on the ground. Young Master Han had encountered Sooto once, so he asked, ”Why is Sooto topless?”
Everyone looked at him oddly. To be honest, anyone would suspect Young Master Han's sexual orientation given how he looked.
Young Master Han did not bother addressing the group as he simply continued to mutter, ”He wasn't like this when I was here last time!”
Gu Fei shrugged to indicate he did not know the answer as well, only saying, ”Well, all I know is that he wasn't wearing any armor.”
”Oh… So that's it!” Everyone gained some sort of understanding.
The way they saw it, a Mage's damage would be astonishingly high if the opponent had no armor of any sort. Mages excelled in long-ranged attacks and Sooto only possessed close-combat capabilities besides his special attack. Gu Fei must have used some unknown method to immobilize Sooto without him getting close and slowly whittled his health away.
Although they could see Sooto's body marred with slashes, they just assumed that Gu Fei might have inflicted all those wounds after Sooto had died. He even carried that longsword in order to maintain the charade and prevent others from learning his unique fighting style as a Mage.
They all had such thoughts except for Sword Demon who stared at Sooto's corpse in a trance.
”Where's the secret passage you mentioned?” Young Master Han asked. Since they thought Gu Fei was trying to hide his fighting style, these pros were polite enough to brush the matter aside.
”Over here,” Gu Fei beckoned them to a corner.
Fortunately, the stone door could be pushed aside by combining the strength of everyone. Gu Fei happily said, ”We should leave this way. We won't have to fight any monsters on the way again!”
These pros were a little morose at the moment, quietly following Gu Fei and using the secret passageway.
The Henchman with the key to the secret path from before did not respawn when they got to the exit and pushed open the iron plate covering the surface. They were not far from the cave entrance so they exited the cave in no time.
”Quest complete!” Young Master Han declared.
The employer nodded his head and proceeded to retrieve the money pouch from his pocket without another word.
Young Master Han received it and took a peek before nodding his head, ”It's the right amount. As for what you promised before, I hope you will honor the agreement.”
The employer nodded as his face expressed immense excitement, ”Of course, I will. Your mercenary group's strength is truly remarkable! It wasn't till now that I made sense of the entire situation.”
”What do you mean?” Young Master Han asked.