Chapter 3: An impenetrable defense

Jack had the foresight to raise his round shield and easily block his opponent's sneak attack.

"Oh? To actually be able to block my crossbow arrows, you guys have some level."

With a flick of the male looter's wrist, the small crossbow disappeared as if by magic and was replaced by a sharp, short blade with a ghostly green hue.

"Against bulky shield guards, melee rush is the best option!"

The male looter bent his back low and scurried toward Ian like an agile bobcat.

Jack stepped forward and took the initiative to engage the enemy. The round shield in his hand was either swung, blocked, grasped, or topped, and he used it skillfully.

The shield kept clashing with the short sword; the latter's grade was obviously higher than the cheap round shield, and Jack's every block was accompanied by splinters of wood.

But spare me, the masked man's attack didn't have the slightest chance of breaking through Jack's defense.

"O earth elementals hoarded in the earth, heed my call ..." came the female looter's chant from the other end of the tunnel, "Quicksand spell!"

With a flash of earthy yellow light, the ground under Jack's several people's feet instantly turned from hard to soft, transforming into constantly descending quicksand, and in the blink of an eye, it had wrapped around the ankles of several people.

Seeing his companion's successful spell, the masked man stopped trying to break through Jack's defenses and swept backward with a stomp of his feet, avoiding the expanding quicksand terrain.

If it wasn't for the fact that this shield guard was too tricky, the throats of those two lower-level adventurers would have been slit by his blade long ago.

"Catherine, do you have a way to break the quicksand?" Ian shouted anxiously.

Now that their movements were blocked, there wasn't much difference between a few people and a lamb brought to the slaughter.

"I... I'll have to think about it ... Quicksand is an intermediate level magic, and I haven't mastered the corresponding breaking spells."

"Go back and remember to learn; there's no time for that now." Jack said as he took off the heavy traveling bag behind him dropping it on the ground.

Then he leaned down and voluntarily met the ever-descending sheet of quicksand.

As the contact area expanded, the speed at which the quicksand engulfed Jack slowed.

Jack braced one hand on the traveling bag for leverage, and the muscles in the back of his hip and leg tightened violently, fighting to pull his feet out of the quicksand he'd sunk into.

Ian's eyes lit up as he plunged his cross-sword into the ground that hadn't yet been quicksanded aside, following Jack's maneuver, and managed to get out of his quicksand bindings.

Compared to the two battle clerics, Catherine, who had not yet mastered the appropriate spells, was extremely passive.

By now, the quicksand was no longer above her knees, and the best time to save herself had been missed.

The female looter who had cast the quicksand spell had obviously not expected Jack and Ian to be free of the quicksand so quickly, either.

She immediately canceled her maintenance on the Quicksand spell and chanted once again, "O fire elementals that tumble in flames heed my call ... Fireball spell!"

With the fall of the incantation, it sketched out a miniature magic formation.

Head-sized fireballs shot out from the formation, wrapped in rolling waves of heat, and slammed viciously towards Ian, who had just gotten out of the trap.

"Shield block!"

Jack stepped on the ground, which had regained its compacted surface, and raised his shield to block the fireball.

Boom!

The fireball exploded, streaming flames in all directions.

The heat wave instantly scorched Ian's eyebrows and hair.

The accompanying shockwave was such that it caused Catherine, who was on the sidelines, to have a tight chest and almost faint.

"This is already ... already close to advanced fireball spell-casting ability!"

Catherine clearly understood the difference in strength between the two sides, and her heart was already half-cold.

The remaining semblance of hope dissipated completely when he looked at Jack again.

Facing the fireball burst directly in front of him, Jack took half a step back.

Only the small round shield in his hand had become charred and broken, with very little durability left.

How could a shield guard who had lost his shield withstand a fireball spell of this intensity?

The masked man laughed coldly and charged again, "Hmph, with the turtle shell broken, let's see how you can still resist!"

"Your opponent is me!" Ian droned out, taking the initiative to kill the masked man, never giving this person a chance to take advantage of the sneak attack.

Ian took a big step forward and slashed his sword horizontally, the flourishing sword light trailing a half-moon-shaped trajectory with the swing of the cross-sword, extending the range of the Slash even further.

Primary Half Moon Chop!

This was the strongest battle technique Ian currently had at his disposal.

Although it was only a beginner's skill, it was coupled with Ian's proficiency that he had polished day in and day out.

It gave his Half-Moon Slash a ranged killing power comparable to an intermediate skill!

In the face of such a chopping attack, there was no surprise in the masked man's eyes, and his speed did not decrease in the slightest.

He only saw his feet stomping, his waist and abdomen tightening, and he flipped over and leapt to avoid the half-moon chopping attack. It seemed that he knew the speed and range of this move in advance!

Being in mid-air, the masked man still had the ability to strike, and the poisoned shortsword took the opportunity to slash at Ian's throat.

The expected blood splatter did not appear; the masked man, who had not yet landed on the ground, only saw a rapidly enlarged shield slamming fiercely toward himself!

Bang!

The masked man flew backwards, tumbling all the way to his female companion before he managed to stabilize himself.

His short sword fell at Jack's feet, and his right arm, which held the weapon, sagged feebly, the arm bone having been broken!

Releasing his grip on the back of Ian's collar, Jack twisted his waist and flung his arms to ride out the attack, and the nearly obsolete small round shield whizzed out.

Shield Throw!

Hoo-bang!

A fireball the size of a man's head slammed into the round shield in the air, flames and wood shavings splattering in all directions at the same time.

"You guy, are you really just a lower level adventurer?" The masked man's eyes were icy cold, "But it doesn't matter, how tricky can a shield guard with insufficient output and not even a shield be?"

"Senpai!" Ian handed out his cross sword, "Use my weapon!"

He had escaped having his throat slit, but the poison-hardened blade had still cut through his skin, and the blood and flesh under the shallow wound was transforming towards black.

Jack kept his head down like he hadn't gotten over the blow of his shield being destroyed.

"Don't give him a chance to get his gear!" The masked man yelled, his intact left hand picking up the small crossbow once more and reloading the arrow.

His fellow law cleric also raised his hands and began chanting and casting spells!

"Equipment can still be repaired if it's broken, but it's completely gone if it's ruined ..." Jack took off his helmet, and underneath his half-length, slightly curled black hair was a pair of eyes so angry that they glowed red. "... . you guys can really do it!"

Without bothering to take Ian's crossed swords, Jack swept forward in stride, heading straight for the two looters.

Hardened arrows were the first to strike, and Jack swung his helmet, knocking them away.

The cheap, old-fashioned helmet was slipped over Jack's hand and used by him as a fist shield!

In the next second, Catherine's gain magic and the para cleric's fireball spell descended on Jack at the same time.

Jack swung his fist, and the helmet and the fireball exploded in tandem, revealing the shattered arm armor and the reddened skin beneath it.

Continuing to run forward, the agility-boosting magic granted by Catherine allowed Jack to gain a few more moments of speed.

His body seemed like a reef in the waves, and the shockwaves from the bursting of the fireball actually had no effect on him!

"Damn! What kind of monster is this?"

Faced with a shield guard like Jack, who couldn't fight or block, the female looter obviously panicked a bit.

With the distance between the two sides, she had originally had one last chance to unleash her fireball spell.

But as soon as the words were spoken, the female looter missed the opportunity, the retreat within her clearly overriding the desire to fight.

The masked man also looked grave.

His right arm was broken, and he was in more danger than his companions.

However, when his gaze swept over Ian's neck, the wound that gradually blackened and spread, his expression instantly loosened, and he said to his companions, "There is no need to fight him to the death; let's withdraw."

With that said, the masked man shot an arrow at Jack; while not looking back, he ran towards the exit of the dungeon.

Jack was about to go after him when Catherine's shout suddenly sounded behind him, "Ian what's wrong with you? Wake up."

Jack stopped to look, only to see that Ian, who had been alive and well half a minute ago, had now collapsed to the ground.

Foam flowed out from the corners of his mouth, and his throat continuously issued a "ho ho" sound, already unable to say a word.