The brawny man's eyes glinted with cruelty, and he made no attempt to conceal his approach. He marched straight towards the night - watchman's dwelling.
He'd been trailing this kid all day. When he'd seen him chatting with the noble lady in the luxurious carriage on the street and then entering the temple, he'd almost abandoned his revenge plan. But he never expected the boy to venture out of the city alone at dusk. It was as if he was inviting death!
Kill him in the suburbs and then make a swift getaway. Even if he were the lord of Wildfire City, crossing him wouldn't end well, let alone this lowly night - watchman!
The brawny man was supremely confident in his martial skills. When he reached the wooden house, he kicked the flimsy door in and then squeezed through the doorway, filled with malice.
One sadistic torture plan after another raced through his mind. He wanted to choose the most excruciating and terrifying way to end this brat's life.
For instance, break his fingers one by one and stuff them down his throat until he choked to death, or use a wooden stick to impale him through the anus and make him howl in agony for three days and three nights before he finally expired.
But all these thoughts were brutally cut short the moment he stepped through the wooden door.
The brawny man only saw a flash of black light before his eyes. Before he could even react, a searing pain shot through his throat. Then he found himself staring into a pair of icy eyes, cold and emotionless.
With a dull thud, Robin yanked the hardwood sword from the man's throat, wiped the blood and bits of brain off on his body, and spat in disgust, "You're asking for it."
In a head - on fight, Robin might very well end up in a lose - lose situation. But when it came to a sneak attack, especially one on an opponent of similar level, the brawny man's earlier act of underestimating his foe was like signing his own death warrant.
Just moments ago, Robin, hidden in the shadows, had launched his attack at lightning speed. He'd thrust the sword into the man's throat, angling it upward and driving it straight into his brain without resistance, then ruthlessly stirred it around.
Even a legendary dragon would have perished instantly from such an injury.
Not wasting any more time on the brawny man, Robin spotted the thin accomplice in the all - seeing light of the Justice Rune Stone. He decided to take care of him as well.
He felt no mercy for the brawny man. The man had been ready to take a life at the slightest provocation. Such a person deserved to die. And since the thin man associated with him, he was no better.
Gripping the hardwood sword, Robin moved through the familiar cemetery with an almost ghostly dexterity.
Before long, Robin laid eyes on the thin man, who was hard at work digging a grave. This fellow was quite efficient. In a short time, he'd managed to fully expose the tomb and even unearthed several burial items.
Robin recognized the tomb's occupant. This unlucky soul had been a wizard apprentice of mediocre talent. He'd died in an alchemical accident seven years ago. Rumor had it that this wizard apprentice was also the city lord's illegitimate son!
Whether the accident was truly an accident or a result of foul play was unknown. But after the wizard apprentice's death, the enraged Wildfire City Lord had exacted revenge, killing many and cleansing Wildfire Town.
To placate the city lord's anger, the wizard from the Wizard Tower had made a concession and accepted the city lord's only daughter as an apprentice.
The tomb owner held a relatively high status in this civilian cemetery, and his tomb was the most ornate. Now, it had been desecrated by this wretched tomb - robber.
The thin man had sharp instincts. Not hearing the expected screams from the night - watchman's cabin, he grew instinctively wary.
He straightened up and soon caught some odd sounds amidst the howling wind, causing his body to tremble involuntarily and his heart to pound violently.
The thin man knew something was amiss. His boss hadn't made a sound yet, which meant he must have run into trouble. And if someone could silently kill his boss, who was far more powerful than him, then his own life was surely in danger today.
Although the thin man wasn't afraid of digging up graves, it was because he was dealing with defenseless corpses. But now, with death looming over him, he was completely unnerved.
It was a miracle that the thin man managed to stay on his feet and not collapse.
Footsteps sounded behind him, and the thin man's body shook uncontrollably. He tightly grasped the digging shovel in his hand and slowly turned around.
A young man approached steadily, the sword in his hand caked with dark red blood. There was no need to guess; his boss had been killed by this guy.
"Stay away, stay away," the thin man muttered incoherently as Robin advanced, retreating with each step.
"Pah!" He tripped while backing up and fell backward, flailing his hands desperately, trying to grab onto something.
Robin moved in an instant, releasing his pent - up physical energy. A black streak flashed as the hardwood sword plunged into the thin man's chest. The concentrated force shattered two of his ribs.
If Robin hadn't wanted to keep the thin man alive for the moment, that sword would have slipped between the ribs and pierced his heart.
The thin man felt a sharp pain in his chest, and coupled with his overwhelming fear, all his strength deserted him. The digging shovel fell from his hand, and he tumbled headfirst into the grave he'd dug.
In his final moments, he shrieked, "I'm dead, ah, I'm dead!"
"Tell me, why are you robbing graves in the cemetery? Aren't you afraid of being burned at the stake and having your soul destroyed?" Robin pointed the hardwood sword at the thin man's throat, his voice cold.
From Pastor Paul's strange reaction and the black aura on the robe and in the cemetery, Robin could easily deduce that in this world, burial items could be easily identified. Did these two have some way to get rid of the black aura on these things?
The thin man was stunned to find he was still alive and immediately began to babble, "Don't kill me, I'll tell you. The orcs in the Thunder Mountains are gathering. Wildfire City won't be able to defend itself. We just wanted to get some money and run. Don't kill me... waaa~" By the end of his plea, the man was sobbing and wiping his face on the clothes of the corpse beside him.
Afterward, he caught a whiff of the putrid smell and retched, his eyes rolling. He quickly tried to wipe his face with his sleeve, but it jostled the wound on his chest, and he let out a cry of pain.
He thrashed around, making a mess of the tomb, scattering corpses and bones everywhere.
This guy was truly hopeless. Robin couldn't help but be amused by his antics. This sorry excuse of a man made Robin lose his desire to kill.
Robin believed these two were genuinely broke; otherwise, the brawny man wouldn't have refused to pay for a glass of beer. What he said wasn't exactly earth - shattering news. The orcs went on their annual plundering sprees, and Wildfire City had always managed to stay standing. The Wildfire City mayor would handle those concerns. As a lowly night - watchman, Robin just needed to look out for himself.
"Fine, you can go," Robin said, sheathing his sword.
The thin man immediately scrambled out of the tomb and turned to flee.
"Wait. Drag the body in my room over here and rebury the grave before you leave."
The thin man was startled by Robin's voice, thinking he'd changed his mind. But upon hearing the request, he quickly set to work, gritting his teeth through the pain of his broken ribs.
This fellow was incredibly efficient at digging and reburying the grave, resembling a large groundhog. In just a few minutes, he restored the tomb of the city lord's illegitimate son to its former state. It was impossible to tell that there was an extra body stuffed inside.
After completing the task, the thin man pressed his hand against the wound on his chest, hunched his shoulders, and bowed repeatedly with a sickly smile, "Sir, may I leave now?"
"Go on, get out of here," Robin said, waving his hand impatiently.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the thin man vanished from sight. He ran so fast it was as if he had no injuries at all, as if he had an internal combustion engine powering him.
Robin was left feeling rather bewildered by the events of the night. He stood there for a moment, then turned to head back to the wooden house to spend the night.
But he was in for a surprise. As soon as he turned and took a few steps, his foot landed on a black wooden box. The wood was almost completely rotten, and at the impact, it shattered into pieces, revealing a water - stained and badly decayed book.
Robin picked it up and flipped through it. Most of the handwriting was illegible, and there were large yellow patches on the pages. He wasn't sure if it was the decomposed fluids of the corpse, and the sight made him queasy.
Most of the book was unreadable. It wasn't until he reached the middle pages that a complete sentence emerged.
But this simple sentence was like a divine revelation to Robin, as if he'd heard the music of the heavens.
"The resonance of spirit and elements is the path of the mage."
This sentence struck like a bolt of lightning, shattering the knowledge barrier imposed by the science of his previous life. A new world began to unfold before his eyes like a scroll.
Because of this sentence, the mysterious fluctuations he'd felt and the many phenomena that defied explanation by his previous - life knowledge now made perfect sense.
Spirit, in this world, was no longer the abstract concept he knew from the Milky Way. Here, spirit was a tangible power!
"Hahaha... I get it," Robin cackled maniacally, dancing about with wild abandon. The rotten book in his hand couldn't withstand the rough handling and disintegrated into a flurry of fragments.
In the middle - of - the - night cemetery, the silent dead bore witness to this moment.