Chapter 181: Boom, Boom, Boom
Chapter 181: Boom, Boom, Boom
Boom, boom, BOOM!
The explosions raged in the wretched wasteland.
A pillar of smoke rose high into the sky.
At the smoke, crimson-cloaked mercenaries threw their magick skills at the rock formation, causing explosions to echo through the desolate landscape.
A short distance away, Zahn checked the map and knew that this was the place where there should be some artifacts to be found.
This map was one of the rare treasures they had discovered during their time in the New World.
Digby found it a while back from a tomb of a deceased treasure hunter.
The treasure hunter had found a couple of spots where there should be some artifacts to be found, but fortunately for them, he had passed away before he could retrieve them.
At this moment, the rock formation fell apart, and once they removed the rocks, they found a shimmer of silver.
"We've found something!"
Zahn and the rest came over, and to their delight, they found a silver treasure chest!
With smiles on their faces, they immediately opened it and found a collection of jewels and gold coins.
It looked like those jewels were rare noble jewels of ancient civilization..
After seeing them, Zahn's breathing turned ragged as he realized they'd found something incredible.
Noble Jewels were the most beautiful kind of jewels, and he knew that the wealthy ladies of Imperium City would pay a fortune to get their hands on them.
This would not only fund the next couple of years; it could fund their operations for the next decade!
"Pack them up!" Zahn thought with a grin, but then felt some odd tingling sensation at the back of his head.
He turned around and looked around the valley.
Unfortunately, there were tall cliffs all around this location, so he couldn't see very far.
Nevertheless, he could almost swear that he felt someone watching them from above.
'My imagination?' Zahn frowned and turned to the thrilled-looking mercenaries. "Quickly, pack them and let's leave."
"There's most likely more treasures here; shouldn't we search for more?"
"I have a bad feeling about this place." Zahn stood up and came to fetch the horses.
This was already a very good haul, and he didn't want to lose it all by staying too long because of greed.
The others, though not happy about the decision, nodded and hopped on the saddles of their horses.
With that, they rode off the valley and headed straight back towards the wall.
They had been riding for three days to reach this place, so they couldn't return to Ebonreach today as it was still a few days away.
They rode through the afternoon orange skies until it turned night with stars sparkling across the skies.
Since it was already too late, they decided to set up camp and rest for the night.
The camp was on top of a cliff overlooking a vast valley below and the wall in the distance. It was on a good spot as there weren't many ways of getting there besides the way they came from, which was one-way uphill.
After the tents and campfire were set up, they gathered around the fire to eat their rations. "This place can be beautiful when it wants to."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
One of them said while looking ahead at the valley with the starry sky over it.
It looked like something straight from a painting with its rolling hills and the wall in the distance that added wonder to the landscape.
It was a rare moment of beauty in this miserable place.
"Indeed..." Zahn said with a long sigh.
While enjoying the serenity of the moment, a few members of the party started showing signs of getting tired with a few yawns escaping their mouths.
As they were about to kill the fire and get some sleep, they all heard a swooshing sound and then a sharp-edged arrow pierced through one of their hearts, causing chaos and panic to erupt among the group.
"We're under attack!"
Zahn's eyes narrowed into a deadly glare as he unsheathed his word.
'I knew it. Someone was really watching us and following us here!'
From the uphill, a group of black camel-looking creatures appeared, galloping towards them with riders that wore only clothes made out of animal hide and donned tattoos all over their bodies.
"Wildlifers!"
The crimson cloaks huddled together with their weapons pointed at the crude-looking players that looked like they were straight out of a historical reenactment.
'These lunatics...' Zahn had an ugly expression on his face.
There was a breed of players that willingly only lived outside the safety of the walls-they were called Wildlifers-they were often feral and dangerous.
At that moment, one of the Wildlifers hopped off the saddle and slowly walked up the hill towards the camp. The look on his face was like that of a feral animal.
He had a bald head, even though it didn't look like he was old enough to be balding, and had a face that could only be described as someone abandoned by the god.
After reaching the campfire, the man looked at their shiny, clean-looking weapons and just
scoffed.
"What do you want, Wildlifer?" Zahn took a step forward as the leader of the group.
"I do have a name," the Wildlifer said. "You can call me Victor-Victor Vash." "What do you want, Victor?" Zahn repeated the question with a stern look on his face.
"A friend of mine..." Victor pointed at one of the Wildlifers that had a bow on his back. "Saw you guys bombing a place. Boom, boom, boom. You guys found something, apparently, and I
want it."
"Your guy must be mistaken." Zahn said. "We found nothing."
"I hate liars!" Victor exploded out, which frightened the group of players. "I left the so-called Human Sanctuary because all the liars! If you give me whatever you found there, I'll let all of
you go."
Zahn gritted his teeth and tightened the grip on his sword. "We found nothing. Please leave."
"Liar." Victor scoffed and walked back to his camel-looking creature; then it looked like he whispered something in the creature's ear.
At the same moment, all the Wildlifers pulled out their bows and rained the campfire with arrows.
The crimson cloaks, under the leadership of Zahn, built a shield wall and stopped the rain of
the arrows.
The Wildlifers took out their sharp, twisted-edged blades that looked like they were made out of some strange metal and rushed at the campfire.
With blades against the shields, the battle raged on, with blood spewing from the very first
moment of contact.
Victor looked at the campfire, but then one of the crimson cloaks fell over it and killed the fire
with a hiss.
It was a sad sight.
...
The first light of the morning shone over the valleys and the destroyed campsite.
Victor sat on top of a log, his legs crossed over each other, staring at the smoldering remains
of the once roaring campfire.
Next to his feet, Zahn, barely conscious, was lying with a pool of blood around him.
There were dozens of arrows sticking out of his back with both of his arms missing and his face frozen in a look of shock and disbelief.
Everyone else from his group was already killed, their crimson cloaks scattered across the smoldering remains of the campfire.
"Fuck... you..." Zahn spoke weakly, and then his health dropped to zero and he collapsed onto
the ground, lifeless.
Instantly after, the Noble Jewels and gold coins poured out into the ground like a waterfall of
riches.