Synthesis-type adventurers

Chapter 23 The Only Way to Survive

Avira felt her stomach begin to spasm, and a nauseating feeling, originating from the high pressure of magic, rose to her throat, filled with a sour, bile-like taste.

She quickly turned around, her gaze fixed on Victor, her eyes filled with astonishment.

In the eyes of those lurking in the swamp, this man was no longer human.

He was a walking lump of meat, a treasure exuding a deadly sweetness that was irresistible.

Or to be more precise—the prey.

"Victor, what have you done?!" For the first time, Avira shouted a question at this usually unapproachable nobleman.

Victor panicked: "...I don't know...why is this sword so hot!"

He tried to fling the sword hilt away, but the mana-absorbing skin that Torin had deliberately wrapped around the hilt now revealed its grotesque nature.

As the magic continued to flow, the skin contracted like a living thing, biting into his gloves and even his flesh, impossible to shake off; the sword hilt seemed to have grown into his bones.

"Damn it! Let go—let go of me now!"

Victor frantically swung his arms, his movements contorting into a clumsy and comical clown dance.

But in the eyes of monsters, this is the most passionate courtship signal.

"Boom!"

The ground trembled, and mud flew everywhere.

The first giant swamp crocodile smashed through the withered reeds.

It carried a foul stench, completely ignoring Avira who was blocking its way, its murky yellow eyes fixed on Victor.

Immediately afterwards, the other giant crocodiles scrambled out of the mud.

The mud churned deep within, and decaying leeches as thick as an arm, highly venomous toads with venom sacs on their backs, and even several two-headed swamp pythons joined the frenzy.

They converged into a black torrent of scales and slime, with only one goal.

The man who held up the "divine sword" and was continuously broadcasting coordinates and fragrance.

"Avira! Help me—help me!" Victor's scream instantly changed tone, his noble arrogance torn to shreds by primal fear.

He turned and ran, his boots slipping on the wet moss, tumbling and crawling, but his luxurious, cumbersome attire meant he couldn't outrun the maddened herd.

What's more, he was also holding up that "lighthouse" that was constantly sending out signals.

Avira's hand gripping the sword trembled, and reason screamed in her mind—rushing in would be suicide.

That wasn't just a few lone monsters; it was an uprising of the entire swamp!

However, the knightly principle of not standing by and watching someone die was like a rusty nail driven into her heel.

Even if the other party was blackmailing her just days before, even if they planned to sell her into a dark, sunless mine to become a slave who would fight monsters to the death.

"Damn it!"

Avira gritted her teeth, her iron boots pounding through the mud, and was about to rush out.

"Are you crazy? Don't go."

In the shadows behind her, a familiar voice abruptly stopped her in her tracks.

Avira turned around quickly, her sword instinctively pointing towards the source of the sound.

When the figure emerging from behind the withered tree came into view, the color drained from her face instantly; the shock even overshadowed the fear she had felt while witnessing the beast tide.

Rhodes.

He was still wearing that hard leather trench coat with chainmail lining, the hem of which was stained with a few mud spots, and his face wore that harmless, signature smile.

However, there was no smile in those eyes, only a detached clarity.

"Rhodes?!" Avira's voice was slightly hoarse with shock. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gone long ago... those eight hundred gold coins..."

Her mind was in complete chaos.

The eight hundred gold coins Victor demanded were an astronomical sum.

In Avira's mind, Rhodes' only rational choice was to abandon this bad debt and flee this place of trouble overnight.

She had long since accepted that she was a discarded pawn.

"Leave?" Rod's smile deepened. "Why leave? Miss Avira, I've told you before, I never do business at a loss."

He tilted his head, pointing his chin at the distant figure that had been swallowed by the beasts but was still struggling to survive.

"Paying an idiot 800 gold coins to extort him is a losing proposition. But letting him spend 1200 gold coins to buy a 'divine weapon' and then hold such a grand funeral for himself, while also burying our troubles along with him—that's a fair trade."

Avira gripped her sword, her mind momentarily blank at those cold words.

Although she had been locked up in the cell for days, she had overheard the guards talking about the auction and the weapon in Victor's hand, which was said to be a divine weapon passed down from the era of demigods...

Just then, a blinding flame shot into the sky.

In desperation, Victor detonated all the magical amulets on his body.

However, in the face of the endless beast tide, that spark was nothing more than a spark thrown into the sea, which was instantly swallowed up by the black waves.

"Aaaaaah—!"

A piercing scream tore through the morning mist of the swamp, and the crisp sounds of flesh being torn apart and bones being chewed up were incessant.

"Listen," Rhodes said, as if listening to a grand performance, "he has finally awakened this sword with his own blood."

He turned to look at the pale-faced Avira, a bright smile on his face, and performed a proper gentlemanly bow: "Oh, I almost forgot my manners—good morning, Miss Avira. The air seems particularly fresh today?"

Victor's screams abruptly stopped.

The only sounds were the wet, sizzling noises of the beasts rolling and tearing at each other, vying for the last bit of fragrant scraps of meat.

That Crimson Star, worth 120 Orim, has probably been swallowed by some unknown monster and is now releasing its last trace of deadly lead poison as stomach acid corrodes it.

Clang.

The sword in Avira's hand fell to the ground, and she stared blankly at the blood-stained mud in the distance.

Just minutes before, that man was arrogantly flaunting his power.

Now, he doesn't even have a single intact finger bone left.

"Is this a trap you set?"

Avira is so upright, almost to the point of being wicked, but that doesn't mean she's stupid.

The sword's anomaly, the monsters' rampage, Rhodes' appearance, and his words just now... there were too many coincidences, enough to piece together an obvious fact.

"Who knows?" Rhodes spread his hands, looking innocent. "Maybe, as he said, only true noble blood can awaken this sword. It's just that the way it's awakened is a little... well, a little intense."

He walked up to Avira, bent down to pick up the fallen standard-issue longsword, wiped the mud off his sleeve, and put it back in her hand.

"Please take this, Miss Knight." Rhodes looked directly into her eyes, his expression suddenly serious. "This swamp has awakened. Those monsters, having finished their main meal, might want some dessert. We need to leave quickly."

Avira gripped the cold hilt of her sword tightly, looking at the logistics staff member who had once been virtually invisible, and a chill ran down her spine.

This chill was even greater than the fear I felt when facing the beast tide.

"Who...are you?"

"I?"

Rod smiled.

He turned and walked away from the swamp. His figure appeared somewhat frail in the morning mist, yet it gave the illusion of a sharp and ruthless presence.

"I'm just a logistics person passing by, and incidentally, your creditor. Don't forget, including interest and this 'problem-solving fee,' you owe me more than 2400 orim."

Instead of wasting your time thinking nonsense, you should think about how to repay this debt that you couldn't even afford to sell yourself.

He didn't turn around, he just waved casually.

"Keep up, Avira. If you don't want to become crocodile dung, and let your debts rot along the way, betraying your chivalrous code."

Avira stood frozen in place, staring at the retreating figure.

Creditor...

She remembered the IOU that the man had shown her in the basement that day.

And then there's the saying, "Not suffering a loss is the bottom line."

For some reason, the confusion I had felt earlier miraculously vanished at that moment.

Although the future is uncertain, and although I am burdened with huge debts.

But at least, she's still alive.

The nightmare that had suddenly loomed over her not long ago has, along with the melted lead seal, completely turned into dust of history.

Avira took a deep breath, adjusted her gear, and quickly followed.

In this ruin filled with lies and death, perhaps only such extreme scheming is the only way to survive.