Claude crawled up. He had fallen in the alleyway after being forced to retreat by the knife-wielding Blacksnake thug.
Fortunately, he was at the end of the alleyway and the place was more spacious, giving Claude room to maneuver and dodge.
He really couldn't underestimate his opponent. He didn't think that a normal guard from Blacksnake would be able to force him into such a pathetic state.
Had he not taken the risk to cast Magic Missile, it would have been hard to say who would have won. He might even have failed miserably.
He wasn't a true battlemage, after all, and the only combat spell he knew was Magic Missile.
It wouldn't be a problem for him to deal with the thugs of Blacksnake, but he didn't know if it would be effective against a true magus.
The bearded magus who ambushed him in the forest was able to render him helpless with just an energy barrier.
Had it not been for the fact that he didn't have any reliable combat spells, he wouldn't have been the one standing in the end.
Claude would always reflect on himself after every incident. That was his greatest strength.
Now was no exception. He felt that he was too reliant on Magic Missile and thought that he would be invincible against the Black Snake Gang with it. That was why he was too careless and brazenly came up to rob them.
If he had cast a long-range arrow protection spell on himself before he came, he wouldn't have to drop his hatchet even if he was being targeted by two ballistae and hunting crossbows.
That way, even if the knife-wielding fellow pounced on him, he could use his hatchet to block and knock him down.
At least that was better than being helpless against the knife-wielding fellow. At the very least, he wouldn't have to retreat so pathetically. Fortunately, the alleyway was wide and spacious, or he wouldn't have been able to dodge at all.
Currently, the six gangsters in the yard were all sprawled on the ground and at least four of them were no longer breathing.
What puzzled Claude was that there was no movement in the house despite the commotion in the yard. Nobody even came out to check. What was going on?
I have to be careful.
He cast another long-range arrow protection spell on himself and entered the yard again. He walked to the three Shark gangsters and easily found the guard who was feigning injury. He kicked him and said, "Get up, don't play dead. I know you're fine.
If you don't get up, then prepare to lie on the ground for the rest of your life. "
The guard crawled up from the ground and knelt on the ground. "Lord Mage, please spare my life. I'm not with them, I'm also a victim. Look at my face, it was also beaten by them …"
Alright, his face had been beaten quite badly. It was about to become a pig's head.
He didn't know which part of his head was scratched, but it was bleeding profusely. His head was bruised and swollen, and there were black stains on his face from being pressed against the ground. If he wanted to scare people in this alley in the middle of the night, he wouldn't even need to disguise himself.
Claude was shocked when he first saw his face. But when he took a closer look, he noticed that the guard spoke fluently and his movements were nimble. He could tell that the guard was a veteran. Despite his wretched appearance, he only had external injuries and there were no major problems with his body.
He pointed at the six corpses lying in the yard and alley. "Go and search their belongings for me."
The beaten up Shark guard didn't think that the masked magus was really there to rob him and he couldn't react for a long time.
Only when Claude let out an impatient whine, "Hum?"
Only then did he crawl towards the corpse of the Blacksnake Gang member who had a hole in his back and started searching his body.
Claude stood two meters away from the guard and watched him search from the top of the corpse's clothes all the way to his feet, not letting go of any hiding spot.
It was obvious that the pig-faced guard was an expert in searching bodies.
However, even though the pig-faced guard was skilled, he couldn't change the fact that the dead Blacksnake member was poor. He only found one riyas and four sunars on him, which were placed in the pockets of his shirt and pants.
The bastard didn't even have a pouch.
Claude raised his chin and gestured for the guard to continue.
Soon, the remaining two injured and three dead gangsters had all their belongings plundered and gathered in front of Claude.
What infuriated Claude the most was that the six gangsters in the yard were even poorer than the six in the alley. At the very least, the money they had on them and the gold rings on them could only amount to a crown.
The six of them didn't even have a silver ring, let alone a gold one. They didn't even have three thales on them.
Claude turned his gaze to the two moaning Shark guards on the ground. "There are two more over there."
The pig-faced guard exclaimed, "Sir Magus, they're from Shark, not Blacksnake. We're not your enemies."
"You're not my friends either," Claude said coldly, "Hurry up. Are you going to search or not?
If not, you can lie on the ground and rest. "
"I … I'll search …" The pig-faced guard had no choice but to move closer to the two Shark guards. He knew very well what Claude meant by rest.
"Don't forget to take out the money you have on you," Claude reminded, "I told you I was here to rob you, but you didn't believe me.
Be it the Blacksnake Gang or the Shark Gang, take out the money to buy your lives … "
The pig-faced guard staggered and almost fell to the ground. He finally believed that the mysterious magus behind him was really here to rob them and not just to save them.
Claude was finally satisfied. The three pouches he took from the three Shark guards had a total of six thales in them. Each pouch had at least one thale.
It seemed that Shark was richer. The one who was beaten up had the most money in his pouch. He had three thales and more than ten copper coins of various denominations. He didn't look like he was that rich.
"What are you looking at me for?
Can't bear to part with money? "
"N-no, Lord Magus …"
He tossed the three pouches into his backpack. There were about 14 thales in total now. Claude was in a much better mood and patiently consoled the pig-faced guard. "Think about it this way. If I didn't come to rob you, you would've ended up in a worse state. You would've continued to get beaten up and your money would've been taken away by these Blacksnake bastards. Your two companions wouldn't be an exception.
Now that I'm here, even though you lost your money, you won't have to get beaten up. You've still earned it.
Don't you think so? "
The pig-faced guard was dumbfounded. You can count on that?
But you're the one with the bigger fist. You're the one with the stronger fist.
"How many people are left in the house?" Claude asked.
The pig-faced guard couldn't react in time. "More than ten of them came … Ah, wait, a few of them went that way."
He pointed in the direction of the alley Claude came from.
"There are six lying there as well. Don't worry about them," Claude said impatiently, "I'm asking how many are left in the house."
"Oh, the house …" The pig-faced guard finally understood what Claude meant. "That … that second-in-command of Blacksnake, Fatbull Bowen, brought four guards in. There's also Catherine, Gerrard, and one of our companions, Abrak."
That meant there were nine people in the house. But why was there no sound?
Not a single sound could be heard. Had it not been for the sound of breathing, he would've thought there was no one in the house.
There weren't even any lit candles. Looking through the crack of the door, it was pitch black.
It seemed that the second-in-command of Blacksnake, Bowen, and the others had noticed the commotion in the yard and were waiting for him to fall into their trap.
"Is there a door at the back of the house?"
"No, there aren't any windows on the first floor. There are only two windows on the second floor, but it's five to six meters above the ground. It'll be difficult to climb down." The pig-faced guard immediately understood what Claude meant.
"Is there only one way to enter through this door?" Claude asked.
The pig-faced guard hurriedly nodded. "There's only this door to enter and exit. There aren't any side doors. The windows on the front and side of the first floor have metal bars. There's no way out."
Claude purposely raised his voice. "There aren't any lights inside. Do you think you'll be safe just by hiding? Watch as I go in and drag them out one by one.
No one will be able to escape when I come to rob you. "
Then, he pointed at the pig-headed guard, then at the fir door, indicating for him to open it.
The pig-faced guard was dumbfounded once more. He pointed at his own face as if to ask him to open the door.
Claude nodded with certainty and gave him an encouraging look. You're the one. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and open the door.
The hopeless pig-faced guard walked towards the door hesitantly.
But when he saw the corpse of a Blacksnake member with a hole in his back, his eyes lit up. He turned around and lifted the corpse to block his front before moving over to push the door open.
Claude couldn't help but give him a thumbs up. The old man really knew how to protect himself.
Creak. The door was pushed open. The moment the Blacksnake member's corpse was pushed in, it suffered a few blows.
The old man hiding behind the corpse couldn't hold on at all. He pushed the corpse forward and rolled twice on the ground. Only then did he get out of the danger zone.
The pitiful corpse fell to the ground with his back facing the sky. There was a sharp flying axe on his forehead, right in the middle of his forehead.
There was also a dagger in his chest. His left leg was chopped off by something and only his thigh was left dripping blood.
The room was still pitch-black, as if the violent attacks on the corpse were just an illusion.
However, Claude could still feel the breathing on both sides of the door getting hurried and anxious. The ambushers didn't expect to see a corpse when they opened the door. All their preparations were for naught.
Claude pointed into the room and a white light flashed in midair. Immediately after, it turned into a dazzling white ball of light that shone brilliantly.
This was the Pearl of Light, which was defined as a harmless spell. Its function was to illuminate, and its energy source was magic.
There were only useless magi and no useless spells.
Claude felt that it was the right thing to say.
The harmless Luminous Pearl spell was able to deal quite a bit of damage to the eyes of the ambushers in the dark room.
From darkness to light, no one's eyes could withstand such stimulation. Those who could move all covered their eyes at the same time and cried out in pain.
Claude dashed into the room and fired a Magic Missile at the person holding the weapon.
He would search the dead anyway, so he didn't care if the Blacksnake members were dead or alive.
One, two, three, four, five. Five Magic Missiles knocked down five people, exactly the number of Blacksnakes that entered the room.
There was one on each side of the door, one under the table, one on the chair and one standing behind the chair. There were five of them.
But where were the deputy chairman of Shark, Gerrard, and Kathlyn?
Claude turned around and saw that they were tied up in the corner of the room. The three of them were teary and had their eyes half-closed from the illumination of Luminous Pearl.
At this moment, they were looking at him in horror. There was another person lying in front of them. It should be the guard that the pig-faced man had mentioned. However, there were three wounds on his chest that were bleeding profusely, indicating that the owner of this body was already dead.
"You. Come in. Continue." Claude used short words to order.
The pig-faced man came in through the door and blinked his eyes. He couldn't stand the brightness of Luminous Pearl either.