**Chapter 41: The Conspiracy of Deepwater City**
Lightning came from the second floor. The one who plotted against the dim gem was particularly conspicuous, a figure in black who stood out among the short goblins. He was sturdy, wearing a hooded cloak, and holding a white bone staff made of whale bone, from which a wisp of green smoke was rising.
“I didn’t expect to really wait for you, Princess from Shalin City,” he spoke with a thick accent.
“An assassin from Deepwater City?” Liss panicked for a moment but forced herself to calm down, distancing herself a bit from the poet Dishar who hailed from Deepwater City. “Have you become that shameless already?”
“I’ve heard that your father is rather unyielding, and I hope you can cooperate. Now I give you two options: one, put down your weapons, and everyone can leave safely; two—”
“Whoosh!”
Poet Dishar, smiling, shot an arrow that interrupted his words. It was a successful sneak attack; the arrow accurately struck into the hood, and the figure in black let out a pained cry, covering his face where the arrow had struck, as a second arrow followed suit.
But this time, it was not so fortunate. A curtain of water surrounded the figure in black, causing the arrow to lose its aim and fall to the ground.
Everyone looked at poet Dishar in confusion. The latter merely shrugged, “Why should we listen to his speech until the end? It’s not a novel.”
“Kill them! Leave the woman with chestnut-colored hair!”
An angry male voice came from above.
“I’ll protect you.” The red-haired Strat looked at Liss affectionately, limping forward, continuing to chant, “For the one I cherish, I shall not yield, unless you step over my dead body.”
Jima shuddered with goosebumps at the words, while Liss remained expressionless. Poet Dishar put down his short bow and picked up the lute, playing a beautiful melody, saying, “We really should go perform, we would surely make a name for ourselves across the continent.”
Jima began to regret, wondering what kind of dramatic talent this was.
“Listen to me, stab them dead!”
A goblin with a black iron collar shouted.
“Shoot! Shoot!”
The goblins jumped around excitedly, drawing their bows and shooting arrows. For a moment, a chaotic flurry of arrows flew about.
Jima quickly hid behind a pillar as arrows struck the stone column, making a cracking sound.
The excited and high-spirited shouts of the goblins surged forward. These timid and despicable creatures, when they realized they had the numbers, became full of courage and insatiably bloodthirsty.
But Jima was not worried at all, as Toolman George was there.
Sure enough, after a short while, the excited screams faded. In their place were various wails. Jima peeked out from behind the pillar and saw George charging ahead, chasing after the fleeing goblins and chopping them down indiscriminately.
The great sword that Strat had mocked as “only useful for sword dancing” was incredibly nimble in George’s hands. When the sword fell, it easily split a goblin along with the small shield on its arm. The massive sword cleaved through the goblin horde, carving a path.
A goblin, crouching low, murmured, “Can’t see me, can’t see me.” It quietly approached George, thinking George, wearing a barrel helmet, wouldn’t see it.
But just as the goblin leaped towards George, he flicked his sword upward. The goblin’s tattered armor shattered, and a deep, bone-revealing wound was carved into its upper body, causing it to collapse lifelessly.
“Shoot! Shoot him dead!”
The goblins indiscriminately fired arrows.
The crude arrows hitting George’s armor made only a regrettable clink. He bathed in a rain of arrows, not a single scratch marring his armor.
The goblins besieging George scattered in a panic, running in all directions.
Liss watched with her blue eyes sparkling, fixated on George. Red-haired Strat realized he had been overshadowed, without even a single goblin to his name.
George chased after the fleeing goblins, seemingly forgetting how treacherous they were.
“Come fight me,” one goblin threw a stone that hit George’s helmet, then patted its bottom, running on the ground, its little feet making small imprints in the earth.
Strat, wanting to remind him, caught a glimpse of Liss’s admiring gaze. Jealousy surged, and he kept his mouth shut.
George pursued it; as he stepped on the ground, it suddenly caved in. It turned out this trap could only bear the weight of a goblin, but George didn’t fall in; he lifted his foot, retrieving it.
“Haha, come fight me.”
The goblin continued to taunt.
George directly kicked the goblin’s corpse on the ground, smashing it into the face of the taunting goblin, slamming it against the cave wall. As the goblin struggled back to its feet, George approached it, raising his sword.
“Impressive!”
Liss’s heart, which had been in suspense, finally settled. Red-haired Strat’s face turned even uglier.
Jima watched as George began to ascend to the second floor, killing fiercely, and muttered to herself, “What a boring way to slap faces.”
At that moment, a strange roar that sounded like a blend between a bird and a bear echoed.
Jima jumped, recalling her psychological trauma, “Yao Bear?”
A goblin beastmaster emerged from the cave with a giant bear. This bear was nearly as tall as George, over four meters long, as large as four warhorses. As it walked, it seemed like a mountain of meat moving; it reached the cave entrance.
The firelight illuminated its face, which was strange, resembling that of an owl, with a yellow beak that could easily snap a steel sword. It was a temperamental magical beast, a crossbreed created by an unknown mage, with tough skin and a strong body. A single slap could instantly kill an armored warhorse.
Jima had once experienced its strength firsthand, suffering a broken arm and thus carrying a psychological scar.
The battlefield fell silent for a moment, the five of them staring at the suddenly appeared Yao Bear. The goblin beastmaster, smug and pointing at the five, ordered, “Good baby, kill that group of cherubs, quickly, quickly!”
However, the beak larger than its head was aimed at the goblin beastmaster, who shouted, “You idiot, I meant them, not me! Uh… wrong, not me.”
The Yao Bear opened its mouth and crushed the goblin beastmaster’s skull with its hard beak. It tossed the headless corpse to the ground, charging directly at the five, with George at the forefront.
“Be careful!”
Liss raised her metal wand with one hand, its tip shimmering. She waved, and a blazing white star was hurled towards the Yao Bear, sinking into its brown fur, producing only a wisp of faint green smoke.
The Yao Bear grew even more agitated, roaring. Poet Dishar’s arrow lodged in its thick fur, but the Yao Bear ignored it, charging toward George as the arrow fell away.
Jima was frightened and quickly pulled her head back, glancing at the ground, contemplating how to blend into the pile of goblin corpses and play dead.
Didn’t they want to kidnap Liss? Was releasing a Yao Bear meant to silence them? Kidnappers should at least look like kidnappers!
“If that long-haired girl gets hurt, I’ll skin you alive!”
An angry male voice rang from above.
The roar of the Yao Bear was deafening; Jima peeked out and saw that the Yao Bear’s shoulder was already bleeding. Ignoring its defenses, it swiped at George, who could not stop it with his sword and was struck on his shoulder.
George was knocked aside as if hit by a small car, rolling on the ground several times before stopping.
Jima’s heart sank; that hit might have broken something.
George sprang up, somewhat disheveled. Miraculously, he was able to stand, and strangely, his shoulder armor left no visible dent.
It was likely another extraordinary ability of the Paladin class.
But relying solely on strength would be insufficient to defeat the Yao Bear. Using his extraordinary powers would expose his identity, meaning it would have to be lethal to silence him.
Jima instinctively distanced herself from her teammates, fearing she would be captured as a hostage when they turned to silence him.
The Yao Bear lunged at George, who, without hesitation, turned and fled.
Seriously, at this moment, just let him use that Supreme Holy Slash on me. What if the Yao Bear pursued me and gave me a slap?
Jima clenched her fists anxiously, hiding most of her body behind the pillar.
“I’m coming!”
Red-haired Strat rushed forward, wielding a spear. The Yao Bear swatted at him, hitting his shield with a terrifying “bang,” breaking the strap, and causing the wooden shield to splinter. Strat stumbled backward and fell.
The Yao Bear bellowed at Strat, ready to pounce.
Suddenly, a goblin’s corpse smashed into its face, causing the Yao Bear to turn and see George.
George gripped his sword with both hands, the sword hilt at the same level as his barrel helm, and prepared to face the Yao Bear. The bear roared, clearing away the corpses blocking its path.
With no escape behind him, George intended to confront the terrifying Yao Bear head-on. The Yao Bear stepped back and leaped, almost standing up straight, its head nearly reaching the second floor. It raised its heavy paw with sharp black claws and lunged at George.
But suddenly, the Yao Bear’s hind leg sank into the ground.
It was a goblin trap! George had maneuvered behind the goblin trap.
The Yao Bear lost its balance for a moment, allowing George to easily dodge the bear’s paw, stepping forward, driving the sword’s tip into the bear’s heart, and pulling with force. The Yao Bear let out a painful howl. Jima felt a twinge in her chest.
George kicked the Yao Bear, causing it to miss its fatal lunge, then he struck several fierce blows at its neck, brutally severing the head that even a strong man could not lift.
“Impressive!”
Liss exclaimed, clapping her hands against her sizable chest, sighing in relief, her blue eyes fixed on George. Completely ignoring Strat groggily getting up, George appeared even more valiant in her eyes, resembling a heroic dragon-slaying warrior from an oil painting.
The thought that such a brave knight Bartos was fighting for her made Liss’s heart swell with excitement.
Jima breathed a sigh of relief, watching the dazed Strat rising from the ground, mentally crafting some impressive lines.
Asking online, what could she say to both show off and not seem out of place?
At that moment, the ground began to tremble. Underfoot, it seemed as if the sea water was howling.
“Very brave…” the figure in black, exhausted, leaned against the railing, beads of cold sweat dripping from his chin, “but useless. I have a backup plan; just now, I—”
“Whoosh.”
Another arrow interrupted his words. It pierced through the water barrier, veered off a bit, and lodged in the figure’s shoulder.
“Damn, could you let me finish? Go die!”
Like an earthquake, the ground began to shake.
Liss’s high-pitched scream tortured Jima’s ears. Jima covered her ears and rushed towards the second floor, where she saw red-haired Strat trying to pull the dazed Liss. George was running toward her, but a fissure appeared between George and her.
One crack, ten cracks, hundreds of cracks; the ground was suddenly covered with spiderweb-like gaps, collapsing downward.
The sensation of weightlessness hit Jima, and she screamed in fright, covering her head with her hands as she fell downward along with rubble and dirt.
“Jima!”
Then, the thunderous sound of falling stones drowned out George’s voice.
