Advent of the Archmage Chapter 42

-Chapter 42, DGM-

-Quiet Ore Mine-

Witt was still going through the files. He had not placed the intruders on his mind at all.

The files were many, and many of the documents signified profitable business transactions that were worth gold bars. He had no choice but to meticulously check every one of them.

“Ugh, Broughwell Manor’s taxes have already been dragged on for two weeks? Seems like it’s time they pay it in blood!”

“A month later, Princess Annie’s convoy will pass by river valley village? Oh, look at those numbers. Better not offend Princess Annie.”

“After the incident with Glaston city, many people emigrated to the south. Ehehe, what an opportunity. Time to earn big bucks…”

…

Witt was a master at his craft. His documents were handled deftly. Witt loved the feeling of being in control of another’s destiny. It was an addictive feeling.

Witt’s ears abruptly twitched as he picked up the urgent crunching of footsteps from outside his study. From the footsteps, he could easily deduce the state of mind the owner of the footsteps was in. ‘The footsteps are jumbled. This person’s in a mess, like he was jumped.’

As this thought passed by in his head, he heard raps on the door of his study. The voice of his assistant Collins came through from behind the door, “Boss, something’s happened!”

Witt’s eyebrows rose. No expression had appeared on his face yet. He had still not pieced together the ‘something’ with the intruders that had broke into the valley before.

How could those few people possibly be a threat? Unless they were all level 6 warriors, it would be impossible. But what level 6 warriors would expend their free time to find trouble with nobodies like them?

“Come in.”

Witt put down the documents in his hands, before opening the cabinet in his study. Inside, a pure black leather armour waited. The material of leather armour was unique. A faint layer of dark mist seemed to envelop the surface of the armour. If one left it in the darkness, it seemed like it would melt into it, never to be found again.

This was the ‘night feline leather armour’, a suit of armour. It was a magic equipment given to him as a present from the master.1Note that the black hooded guy is the master, and the boss of the black hooded guy is the overseer. Or at least that’s how im referring to them.

Witt quickly stripped off his clothing, and begin wearing the powerful leather armour. Collins also walked in, and quickly said, “Four intruders entered the valley, and there are no news from our people in the valley. We dispatched people in the ore mine, but none of them returned.”

“What about Green?” Witt asked.2typo, author wrote Collins instead of Witt

“Green, he…he’s also dead. It appears that there is a magician within the intruders.” There was a slight tremor in Collins’s voice.

The advancement of the intruders were too quick. Furthermore, not a single survivor had been spared, to the extent that even the information Collins gathered was hazy. Even the existence of a magician which could decide their victory or defeat was tentative.

“What? Magician?” Witt gulped. His first thought was to hotfoot it out of there immediately. Magicians were too mysterious, and he was not prepared for a fight against them.

He did not know why a magician would find trouble with him, as he had always been careful. He had never infringed or trespassed on eastern valley magic academy’s territory even once. How could a situation like that still arise?

He was unable to understand, but he knew that his best stratagem would be to flee now and avoid any vanguards of the enemy.

Fitting on the night feline leather armour, Witt quickly packed together the documents on the table. However, the documents were too many, and he could not possibly bring all of them. After deliberating for a while, he decided to only gather a few important documents.

Witt put the documents into a package and wrapped it up, before fastening it to his back. Witt then took out a box from a hidden corner of the room, taking out the black crystal the master had given to him. He needed to take this away with him.

The master was also a magician. He could delay other matters, but not this one.

Safely keeping the black crystal and his important documents, Witt held up a dagger that glinted with a sinister black. Similarly, this was a magic equipment that Witt had spent a huge sum for as his personal weapon.

He stabbed the dagger back in the leather sheath by his waist. He turned to Collins, “Move, we’re getting out of here.”

“What about our brothers?” Collins swallowed his saliva.

“Who cares?” They were just a bunch of rogues. If he was wealthy, he could quickly recruit more of them another time. And he was rich.

Collins nodded, mutely falling into step with Witt.

However, the two of them had still underestimated the speed of the intruders. Within a few seconds of them leaving the study, as they passed by a long tunnel in the ore mine, Witt halted.

At the opposite of the long tunnel, a giant shrouded with a glass-like radiance obstructed his road. Behind the giant followed four people — a female swordswoman, an archer, and two thin and weak persons that appeared like peas in a pod. (Author’s note: One is Link’s substitute, but Witt could not tell the difference.)

“Fuck! How did they so fast?” Witt glowered. Their path had actually been cut off.

-Opposite Witt-

The archer Greedin burst in hearty laughter the moment he spotted Witt. “Look — good thing we arrived quickly, or this rat would’ve fled safely.”

Witt carried a package, his appearance disheveled like he was in a hurry. One glance was all one needed to guess he was preparing to flee.

Witt did not reply. It was difficult just ensuring his life. How could he have the luxury of caring about others?

His two eyes locked on the intruders, looking out for any movements. He slowly inched back. The second he entered a shadow, the effect of the night feline leather armour triggered. His body blended into the darkness, and he practically turned invisible.

As Collins witnessed his boss was gone, he immediately knew he was discarded. Looking at the advancing intruders, his knees weakened like jelly and he collapsed to the floor, screaming shrilly, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I don’t want to die!”

“So fucking noisy.” Lucy looked at him with disdain.

Greedin nocked an arrow as he prepared to quell the coward, but was stopped by Link. “Let him live. He knows a lot of secrets about Witt.”

It was even better if they had cornered Witt. However, Witt was a difficult opponent to handle, and it was possible for him to be killed.

The three mercenaries blinked. Right, this guy was Witt’s assistant. He definitely knew where the crafty fox’s stash was hidden.

Hank walked to Collins, knocking Collins out with a knifehand-strike to his jugular.

“Witt’s gone.” Lucy knitted her brows.

“His black leather armour was pretty weird. He’s definitely hiding at some secret place. Everyone be careful, Witt is a powerful assassin.” Link reminded them.

Hank retreated to Link’s side.

“Protect mister Link.” He lowly said. As a mercenary, he knew that assassins were a magician’s greatest threat.

Lucy and Greedin crowded around Link, protecting Link and his substitute.

-In the darkness-

Witt lightly retreated as he watched the five people under the dusky lighting. He concentrated on the pair of twin magicians.

“The skill of these mercenaries are ordinary, and only that giant is somewhat difficult to handle. The reason for the speed of their advancement should only be because of those twin magicians’ powers. The twin magicians haven’t casted any defensive spells on their bodies…this is my chance!”

Witt’s path of escape had been blocked. Since he had no way to escape, his only choice was to stake his life on the line.

His strategy was simple: “As long as I kill the magicians, these three stupid mercenaries have no way of chasing after me, and I can escape. When I leave, hmph, I won’t forget you three!”

Once he escaped, he would just put a bounty on these three cretins, and he would not even need to raise a finger himself. Under the incentive of gold coins, these three stooges’ heads would be brought to him by other mercenaries.

Thoughts whirled in Witt’s head as he hunted for an opportunity.

Tragically, he had underestimated the magicians’ powers. More accurately, he underestimated Link himself. Link was not a pushover.

His frail and gaunt appearance was only his guise.

When Link saw that Witt had fled under the darkness, he immediately spent 1 free point to purchase a new magic spell.

Light

Level 0 magic spell

Use: Conjure a ball of light equivalent to the illumination of 5 candlelit lamps. Continues for an hour.

A level 0 magic spell used 2 mana points, and this was equivalent to 5 candles. Link did not have much mana remaining, but he still had a bottle of inferior mana potion.

Decisively gulping down the potion, he recovered his mana, before learning the magic spell ‘light’, and begin to cast it.

This magic spell was learnt through the free points and system, so the casting speed was around 0.1 second for each one. Link casted 10 ‘light’ spells without hesitation. In the tunnel, every 2 meters interval had a ball of light. For those especially dark nooks and crannies, Link would add one more.

In an instant, the dim tunnel was illuminated by the ‘light’ magic spell.

The darkness was every assassin’s domain. The second the darkness was dispelled, assassins would also lose their largest advantage.

One globe of light was cast at Witt’s concealed position. When the globes of light flooded his position with light, he stood there in a daze, bewildered at what to do.

How could an assassin not allowed to ambush fight?

The Witt now was like a young lady who had been stripped of her clothes in a bustling district of town — thoughts in a jumbled mess, with no idea what to do.

“Haha, what a rat!” Greedin guffawed, nocking an arrow and shooting decisively.

Hank simply charged while Lucy stood by Link’s side, protecting him from any uncertainties.

“Ding! Bang!…Ah~”

Chaotic sounds rang out. Against Hank and Greedin’s coordinated attack, Witt was hit by Hank’s large iron shield, and his heart was skewered by Lucy’s sword when she took the opportunity while he was fending off Greedin and Hank. A mortal blow!

Witt’s person dropped like a kite which string had been cut. As he flew in the air, he spat out blood. After flying for 5-6 meters, he slammed against the walls of the tunnel and slumped onto the ground.

He was no longer breathing.

Assassins were nothing like ordinary warriors. To begin with, their swords were not suited for front clashes. One was a lightweight dagger while the other was a heavy iron shield and a warhammer. Furthermore, it was 2 against 1. The fact that Witt was able to hold off two attacks before dying already spoke much of his skill.

The notification about the completion of the mission had already popped up in Link’s vision. He had already received the free points reward from the mission. His free points now were 13 points.

“It ended just like that?” The flamingo squad still found it inconceivable. The entire process had went too smoothly. Compared to their previous bounty mission, this mission was like an overseas vacation.

“No! It hasn’t ended!”

Just when Link had thought everything was over, he spotted a black crystal the size of a fist tumbling from Witt’s back. The crystal rested in Witt’s blood, black gas continuously pouring out from it.

The second the black gas came out, the temperature in the tunnel seemed to drop by a large degree. Link’s light globes seemed to dim, like a flickering candle-flame.

What was scarier was that the black gas seemed to be alive as it seemed to waft into Witt’s nostrils. Witt’s body begin to shiver.

“What demonic shit is this?” Greedin gaped.

A dead corpse had begun moving again. This was too strange.

At the same time, a new notification popped up in Link’s vision. It was a new mission.

Triggered mission: Demon elimination!

Mission description: Kill the demonised Witt!

Mission reward: 30 free points.

The higher the mission reward, the higher the trouble it brought. For 30 free points awarded for one kill, exactly what existence was this demonised Witt?

Link was somewhat apprehensive.

-Chapter 42, end-

Tler’s notes:

Chapter end