On the fourth floor of the management center.
Outside the entrance of the Architectural Design Center.
Anna waved her hand, fanning away the dust left behind by the explosion.
She turned to look at the knights and soldiers behind her, her tone indifferent. “Guard this spot.”
With that, she raised her wand and gave it a gentle flick.
A small orb radiating soft white light rose from the tip of her wand, slowly ascending into the air before hovering in the middle of the corridor, illuminating a ten-meter radius as bright as day.
“Yes, Lady Anna!” the knights and soldiers responded in unison.
Anna nodded and stepped into the blasted room.
The knights and soldiers fanned out on both sides of the doorway, gripping their weapons as they warily watched both ends of the corridor.
A moment later.
At the other end of the corridor, Rosie and the dwarf crept up along the wall.
The light from the orb shone from afar, allowing the two to see the situation at the entrance from a distance.
Rosie whispered, “I remember that should be the Architectural Design Center. What is she doing there?”
The dwarf pondered for a moment and replied in a low voice, “I think I know why.”
Rosie looked at him. “Why?”
“Because of portal technology,” the dwarf whispered.
“Portals were built during the Ancient Gnomish era, so maybe they fall under the category of architecture.”
Realization dawned on Rosie, and she nodded. “So that's how it is.”
“Do we make our move?” the dwarf asked.
“Of course. Let me shoot a few of them first to ease the pressure.”
Rosie unslung the shortbow from her back, nocked an arrow, and aimed at a soldier standing on the outer edge.
Swish!
The arrow sliced through the air, flying down the corridor and plunging precisely into the side of the soldier's neck.
Before he could even make a sound, he collapsed to the ground, twitching twice before going completely still.
【Throwing +1】
Rosie was dumbfounded for a second.
Shouldn't this be Archery +1?
Why was it Throwing?
Oh well, whatever. As long as her skill leveled up, it was a good thing. Throwing it is, then.
Without pausing, she drew her bow and nocked another arrow.
“Enemy attack!”
The other side reacted swiftly.
The moment the first soldier fell, they raised their shields and quickly circled up, forming a defensive formation.
But the shields in their hands weren't very large, unable to cover their entire bodies, leaving gaps exposed.
Moreover, Rosie was in the dark while they were in the light.
She specifically targeted the areas left unprotected by their shields.
Within moments, two more soldiers were struck in the legs, collapsing to their knees with agonizing screams.
Swish, swish, swish!
Several crossbow bolts shot back.
The soldiers were trying to retaliate with their crossbows.
But Rosie's position was shrouded in darkness, so they could only blind-fire in the direction the arrows had come from.
Rosie simply shifted her position slightly, and the bolts all missed.
One of the knights barked an order, “Raise shields! Tighten the formation!”
The soldiers overlapped their shields, forming a sealed, turtle-shell-like formation that completely covered them.
Rosie sneered as she stared at the tightly packed "turtle shell."
She whispered to the dwarf, “Let's turn up the heat on them.”
The dwarf caught on immediately. He pulled a spherical bomb from his bag, struck the fuse, and hurled it with all his might.
The small sphere traced a sparking arc through the air, landing right in the middle of the shield formation.
“It's an alchemical bomb! Scatter, quick!”
A terrified shout erupted from the formation, but it was already too late.
Boom!
A mist of blood erupted from the shield formation.
Several shields were blasted into the air by the shockwave, spinning a few times before clattering to the ground.
The once-impenetrable turtle shell collapsed instantly.
Seizing the opportunity, Rosie let loose two more arrows.
Two soldiers who had just struggled to their feet clutched their pierced necks and collapsed.
“Damn bastards!”
One of the knights roared in anger. Relying on his full plate armor, he charged out recklessly.
The moment he stepped out of the light orb's radius and entered the darkness, his vision went pitch-black.
He had forgotten that he did not possess darkvision.
“Hey!”
A low shout came from the side.
The knight instinctively unleashed a horizontal slash, but his blade sliced through empty air, hitting nothing.
In the next split second, a sharp axe swept across his knee joint.
The knight shrieked as he collapsed onto one knee, losing his support, and his longsword slipped from his grasp, clattering onto the floor.
The wind howled again as a second axe blow rained down ruthlessly, splitting straight into the top seam of the knight's helmet. Blood splattered, and the knight was killed on the spot.
“Retreat into the room!” the other knight yelled in terror.
No longer caring about any defensive formation, the remaining men scrambled and crawled to squeeze back into the blasted room.
Only a few wounded men were left groaning on the corridor floor.
Swish, swish, swish!
Arrows repeatedly whistled through the air, finishing off the survivors one by one, sealing their fates.
The men who had retreated into the room huddled together, their faces pale with sheer terror.
They had never expected their opponents to be so ruthless, leaving not even the wounded alive.
“Lady Anna!” a knight shouted toward the depths of the room.
Deep inside the room, Anna stood before a row of filing cabinets, rapidly flipping through the documents in her hands.
Hearing the shout, she looked up. “What is it?”
The knight's voice was dry. “We're in trouble.”
Anna frowned. “The Count's task for you was to handle trouble. Can't you even manage a minor issue like this? Do not disturb my work right now.”
With that, she lowered her head and resumed flipping through the documents, as if the agonizing screams outside weren't worth a single second of her attention.
Helpless, the knight could only grit his teeth and order the remaining soldiers to fan out, aiming their crossbows to blockade the blasted doorway.
The light orb was still glowing outside the door, meaning the enemies in the corridor could no longer use the cover of darkness to launch sneak attacks.
They only needed to hold the entrance and wait for Lady Anna to finish her work.
Just then, a hand flashed past the doorway, catching everyone's attention.
Immediately after, a small sparking sphere was tossed inside.
The knight went pale with fright. “Watch out, a bomb!”
Before the words could fully leave his mouth—Boom! The small sphere exploded inside the room.
Sparks and flames burst in all directions. The two soldiers closest to the bomb were blasted off their feet, slamming into the wall before sliding down.
The shockwave kicked up decades of accumulated dust in the room, filling the air with a thick haze.
The close-range explosion left everyone's ears ringing and their heads spinning. Some couldn't even stand, crouching in place while clutching their ears.
While the dust was still swirling, two figures charged inside.
Sword light and axe shadows clashed.
Screams and the clashing of metal rang out continuously.
Some tried to raise their crossbows to shoot, but they couldn't see their targets at all.
Others scrambled to draw their swords, only to be sent flying along with their weapons by a heavy swing of an axe.
Rosie and the dwarf coordinated perfectly—one tall, one short, one on the left, one on the right. Moving swiftly through the gray haze, every flash of the sword or swing of the axe was followed by a scream and the heavy thud of a body hitting the floor.
A moment later, the room fell silent.
The room was in complete disarray.
Blood stained the floor and walls red.
Broken crossbows, warped shields, and discarded longswords lay scattered everywhere.
The dust was still slowly settling, and a thick, metallic scent of blood filled the air.
Rosie pulled her meteoric iron sword from the last knight's helmet, bringing with it a trail of brain tissue and blood.
With a dull thud, the knight's corpse collapsed to the ground, kicking up another cloud of dust.
Deep inside the room, Anna was quickly stuffing the last few blueprints into her robes.
Then, she turned around, looked at the two figures standing by the doorway, and smiled faintly.
“Well, well! Long time no see, Miss Rosie.”
Rosie stared at her expressionless, a single drop of blood sliding down her blade.
“Hand over what you've hidden, and I might consider letting you off the hook.”
Anna shrugged and smiled. “I have no idea what you're talking about, Miss Rosie. Oh, and Master Ginli, I almost forgot about you.”
The dwarf raised his axe, pointing it at her. “Listen here, you witch! If you don't want to die, hand over the portal data right now!”
Anna's smile grew even wider. “Whether I hand it over or not, the young lady next to you won't let me go. I know her all too well.”
Rosie did not reply.
Her eyes swept quickly across the room, calculating the distance between herself and Anna.
Rosie's tone softened slightly. “After all, you are a disciple of Grand Mage Merlin. If I kill you, I won't be able to bear the consequences when the Grand Mage comes looking for answers later. Why don't you leave the portal data behind, and I'll let you go? How does that sound? A win-win for both of us.”
Anna laughed, seeing right through Rosie's intentions at a glance.
“That trick again? I'm not falling for it.”
With that, she raised her wand, pointing it directly at Rosie.
At the same moment, Rosie's left hand whipped forward.
A sphere spun through the air, tracing a fiery trail as it flew toward the figure in the blue robes.
Rate on N.U.
