BXBX NOVEL Chapter 372 372 – Ruined Fortress
"Sorry, boy. It seems that she\'s still as greedy as before."
"No, it\'s okay. 5000 Golds is nothing for me." I answered and wore the hood again, hiding my face. "We gained valuable information I couldn\'t get from the interrogation and saved time, so it was profitable for us."
"But it\'s still 5000 Golds, a big amount of money." Cecil looked at me with a strange gaze. "That can buy us a ship, a small wooden one."
"As I said, 5000 Golds are nothing," I repeated, looking at the minotaur girl with a smirk. "Eliza\'s dress cost me 200 thousand Golds because it was made from a rare material, and I got the best designer to make it. If you compare the two of them, then–"
Before I finished, she raised her hand in front of my face and interjected.
"Just stop; my sense of money is crumbling in front of you." A troubled expression crept onto her face, combined with a curious one, as she peered at my face, "Just for information… How much money do you have?"
"More than 30 Trillion? Probably."
"Yeah, I heard nothing. Nothing at all."
As a former pirate, Cecil knew large merchants and rich people\'s net worth. It was a piece of much-needed information if she wanted to attack them to gain the best result.
In fact, her treasure trove could be worth more than 100 thousand Golds, allowing her to live freely and comfortably for a few years. By the way, I still had her treasure in my inventory.
We began to walk toward the forest where the mentioned fortress was hidden. Because we would enter a dangerous area, I decided that it was time to use <Appraisal> on Cecil to give her the best weapon and armor that suited her.
Of course, I asked her permission first. She didn\'t mind at all. Rather, she seemed to be confident of her status and asked me to look at it.
When the blue window popped up, and I could see her status, I began to understand where her confidence came from.
---
Name: Cecil
Race: Minotaur Kin
Lv: 52
Sins: 0
Virtues: 0
Status:
HP: 100/100 (MAX 100)
MP: 50/50 (MAX 100)
STR: 62 (MAX 100)
VIT: 64 (MAX 100)
AGI: 44 (MAX 100)
DEX: 48 (MAX 100)
INT: 42 (MAX 100)
LUC: 49 (MAX 100)
---
Skills:
[Lv 4 Club Mastery] [Lv 2 Support Magic] [Lv 1 Minotaur Strength]
---
Titles:
[Paladin\'s Woman] [Dominated]
---
She was unexpectedly Level 52 now. Her status was the definition of min-maxing, probably due to her Race being a minotaur. Her STR and VIT were higher compared to the other statuses. That was why she was able to fight Tristan in Isabelle\'s form that day.
Although her skills were disappointing, as she probably never trained, she was still stronger than a lot of people in this world.
\'With this kind of status, I won\'t need to worry about her.\'
"Hey, isn\'t that the fortress?"
After walking inside the forest for a while, Cecil suddenly stopped and pointed in a certain direction between the trees. I lowered my hood and looked in the direction she pointed at. Indeed, there was a ruined structure in that way. A cliff was right behind it, creating a natural defense.
"Let\'s check it," I said, taking out an iron sword and strapping it to my waist.
Not only that, I took out an [Ogre Club], a giant spiked club with a Level 50 requirement to be equipped, and gave it to Cecil.
"You can use this one."
Cecil looked at what I held in my hand for a second before taking it. The giant spiked club looked like a normal weapon when she held it.
She stepped back and swung the club toward the nearby tree, knocking it down. A rustling sound and thunderous thud followed suit as the tree hit the ground, kicking up the dust.
"This is a good weapon, far better than the one I had before." She smiled widely, looking at the weapon with a satisfied gaze. "Thanks, I guess."
"You\'re welcome. Let\'s hope there are two [Teleportation Gems] so I don\'t need to teleport a few times."
"Yeah." She nodded, and we began to walk toward the fortress.
The structure looked more like a ruin than an actual building. According to <Presence Detection>, no sign of life was inside. We went straight to the eerie interior to the back of the fortress, where the said box was located.
Many rubble were in the way, but we managed to navigate it easily and reached a room with a hole leading to the back area, facing a large dirt wall.
And just right at the corner, hidden behind tall grass, was the box. It looked similar to a treasure box, a little too big to hide a little [Teleportation Gem].
"That must be it," Cecil said. Her club was slung behind her back in an easy-to-reach manner.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Back away slightly. There might be a trap set around the box. I don\'t want you to get injured if the assassins indeed prepare a trap to protect the box."
"Alright."
She followed my instructions without skipping a beat. After she took 3 steps back, I walked to the box and examined it. I found nothing strange, but it might be because I couldn\'t detect it.
\'Sadly, I have no <Trap Disarm> skill.\' I thought. \'But no matter what kind of trap it is, it won\'t do too much to me.\'
At most, they probably only had a Lv 5 or 6 <Trap> skill. It wouldn\'t be as fatal as a Max Lv one. And even if they combined it with poison, I wouldn\'t be injured.
\'Let\'s just open it.\'
Slowly, I opened the box. It was a bit heavy for a wooden box.
And at that moment, I heard a click, and white light filled my vision.
"Oh, a trap," I exclaimed calmly as I watched the trap get activated.
"Boy!" Cecil shouted worriedly from behind, trying to reach me. However, she was too late.
My vision blurred, and my vision twisted. The scenery around me suddenly changed from a dilapidated building into a large underground cave. The area in front of me was easily bigger than the two biggest football stadiums combined.
I slowly stood up and looked at my surroundings. It seemed like I stood on the edge of a steep cliff. Looking down, a large hole with a lot of smaller ones filled the clearing as if it were a mineshaft in the modern world.
However, a tiny light came out from those small holes around 2 meters in diameter. A shadow was moving inside, a sign that there was a person in that hole. And what caught my attention was the noise that was blaring loudly and rousing those people\'s attention.
One after another, people began to show up from those small holes and looked up in my direction. They all wore black clothes with black masks, not showing a tiny bit of skin or hair; only their eyes were visible.
My heightened sense caught their conversations.
"Intruder!"
"There is an intruder entering the den!"
"Catch him! Torture him and extract information from him!"
They began to run toward the top of the cliff where I stood, each holding dangerous weapons in their hands, at a speed that was even faster than a horse.
Hearing those kinds of conversations, I became sure of where I was. I was in the Assassin\'s Den because of an automatic teleportation.
There was no [Teleportation Gem] in that box. The emergency entry was a teleportation trap!
\'What a liar. I will file for a refund later.\'
Thinking so, I unsheathed my iron sword and jumped down, ready to face the assassins coming for me.