[Snatch has leveled up after sufficient use: Increases strength of one arm by 5.5 times for 1.25 seconds and causes damage to the casting arm, while the other arm becomes slightly numb during that time.]
Riven's arms had recovered after sitting by the campfire long enough, but his mind was gradually losing its clarity as the poison seeped deeper.
Currently, the top priority was finding the antidote. Searching for a cure while someone was sabotaging them was not safe at all. If you cut the grass without digging up the roots, it will grow back when the spring breeze blows.
Riven's eyes turned cold. So what if his level was lower? If he risked his life now, there was still a way to survive. But if he let this worm slowly gnaw away at him, he would die sooner or later.
Behind Riven, Canis stumbled along, missing one arm. In his heart, he thought Sora, this bastard, couldn't possibly be a Scout. A Scout would never have such cowardly sneak-attack skills.
There was an extremely high probability that he was an Assassin, but that was even better. People say never duel a Swordsman, and if an Assassin's first strike fails, they lose.
Basically, a Swordsman is a class with extremely strong dueling capabilities; facing this class on equal footing is suicide. An Assassin is terrible at dueling; if their first strike isn't a guaranteed kill, it's over.
It was highly likely that Riven was prepared, so Canis raised his vigilance to the maximum. Traps couldn't be ruled out, even though Canis had monitored Riven the whole way and was sure he hadn't had a chance to set any.
But he couldn't rule out the possibility of skills that could set traps in the blink of an eye. Both were extremely wary of each other. Canis took out his magic amplifier and equipped it.
The atmosphere was eerie. Neither spoke, but everything seemed ready to explode at any moment; only a fuse was missing.
At first, Canis was just suspicious, but finally, he recognized the familiar path. This was right in front of the trap-filled path Riven had led everyone through.
Canis had already suspected Riven would use traps against him. Coincidentally, Riven stopped at a place with traps, making him connect these events.
Finally, Riven stopped and turned to look at Canis, his eyes looking at him like he was already dead.
"Canis, what exactly is your goal? Why do you want to harm me?"
"Do you feel I will answ..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a magic stone thrown by Riven with the power of [Snatch] flew straight at him. Canis was already prepared.
[Wind Wall: Creates an invisible wall of wind that pushes non-powerful projectile attacks aside.]
The magic stone hit the Wind Wall in front of Canis and flew to the right, cracking the floor and kicking up dust.
Immediately canceling the Wind Wall, he formed a hand seal.
[Variant Fireball: Multi-Fireball: Creates multiple small fireballs with a wider attack range and lower damage.]
In a 180-degree arc in front of Canis, 18 fireballs covered and destroyed everything before him. Riven had moved even before Canis could attack, dodging to the side.
The explosion spread, creating a cloud of smoke that obscured all vision. Canis immediately retreated far back to keep his distance from the smoke.
Habitually, he raised both hands to form a Y-shape, but then a sense of emptiness hit him, making Canis realize he only had one arm left.
[Divine Protection activated, effect weakened due to not raising two hands to show reverence to the gods.]
He stared at the wall of smoke. Immediately, three magic stones flew out from it, aiming straight at Canis. The moment the three stones flew out of the smoke, Canis fired another fireball at where they came from.
The fire and stones flew past each other. Because he didn't dodge immediately, a few stones grazed Canis's shoulder. The fireball flew in, created an explosion, and disappeared.
Canis pulled out a blue potion and gulped it down. The lost mana recovered instantly.
"Variant Fireball: Multi-Fireball."
Dozens of fireballs flew into the smoke, making the already thick dust even denser. Canis knew he was always in the active position. As long as Riven couldn't get close, he would definitely win.
Hide all you want. I'll see how long you can hide. On the surface, the smoke wall seemed to help Riven hide, but fire consumes oxygen. Inhaling too much toxic smoke could cause fainting, and an Assassin's stamina was inherently poor. How long could he hide in there?
Just as Canis predicted, Riven dashed out from the smoke. With his thinking and speed enhanced by [Divine Protection activated], the moment Riven ran out, a giant blue fireball rushed toward him.
His body, already exhausted from constant dodging and lack of oxygen, couldn't evade in time. The fireball exploded. Riven immediately slammed face-first into the ground, coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood.
Slowly lifting his face to look at Canis with a terrified expression, Riven spoke with a trembling voice.
"You can't kill me. If you kill me, Sylvie will die too."
Hearing this, Canis laughed loudly as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"Are you stupid? Why do you think I intentionally tried to kill you from the start even knowing you were linked to that girl?"
As if he couldn't believe his ears, Riven backed away in fear, asking in a panicked voice.
"Wh... wh... why? Why exactly?"
Seeing the person who caused him to lose an arm writhing in despair before him gave Canis a clear sense of pleasure. His "little brother" suddenly saluted at the sight. His face was flushed red as if boasting of his victory to the loser.
"Fine, I'll let you die knowing the truth. Dying in confusion wouldn't be right."
"Of course, it's to kill that stupid girl. Her brother, my friend Caesar de Azula, asked me to deal with her."
Riven seemed unable to believe his own ears.
"How can that be? That's his sister. How could he do that?"
As if waiting for this question, Canis calmly explained with smugness.
"Old man Azula is near death. If he dies, Caesar can smoothly succeed as the family head. I will also gain the favor of the future Azula patriarch."
"Yet that stupid little girl insists on playing the game of finding the Heavenly Heart Wood to save that old man. It's ridiculous."
"So Caesar asked me to handle her. However, the only daughter of the Azula patriarch has indispensable life-saving items, so killing her is a bit difficult."
"Luckily, her intelligence isn't very high, and she even met you. Thinking about it, I should thank you. If I had to face that guy Farrdin, it would be very troublesome."
"That's enough talk."
Finishing his words, a fireball appeared in his hand. He didn't feel a dying man was worth using much mana to create blue fire.
Seeing this, Riven laughed like a madman. Canis felt it was normal for a dying man to react like that.
"Damn it, I thought it was some good drama, but it turns out to be just a damn cliché story."
Ignoring the dying man's ramblings, Canis flicked his hand, sending the fireball flying straight at Riven.
Canis looked into Riven's eyes and felt something was very different. There was a terrifying calmness, as if he had predicted everything.
Just minutes ago, he was panicked and cowering, but now he was calm and indifferent. Perhaps it was the enlightenment of a dying man?
Just as the fireball flew toward Riven, a slash cut through.
Boom!
The explosion knocked the person who slashed the fireball back several meters. Riven smiled and stood up.
"You simp dog, why did you save me? Aren't we enemies?"
He extended a hand toward the person struggling on the ground.
Red hair like the flames of glowing embers, a bruised face but radiating an arrogant aura. A longsword hung at his waist, and his right hand tightly gripped a short sword.
The man saw Riven's hand in front of him, grasped it with difficulty, and slowly stood up.
"The Lady's enemy is my enemy."
[Side Quest: Gain the trust of any 4 members | Progress 4/4. Quest Completed.] [You have received: 15 RPG Coins, Invisibility Potion, 1 minute in a state of Flawless Perfection.]
[Generated Quest: Eliminate the person endangering you. Reward: Choose 1 of 3 Ultimate Skills | Progress 0/1]
What Riven told Baz after entering the gate with everyone was: "I have a way to prove Canis wants to harm Sylvie. Framing you is to help you separate from the group and act independently. In the meantime, follow my instructions."
The lines of instructions from Riven at the trap site were to help Baz pass through. Writing symbols on the ground was completely an excuse, and the phrase "wait here" was a code for Baz to wait there for the trap Riven had set.
Seeing this scene, Canis's eyes showed no sign of fluster.
[Clone: Summons a temporary clone with combat power equal to 70% of the original. Exists for 20 minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours. Cannot think independently; requires the owner's control. Requirement: Parallel Processing skill to control. The clone shares mana with the original body and requires mana to maintain existence.]
[Parallel Processing: Thinking about two things at once, like doing the work of two brains with one. Abusing it damages the brain, causing absent-mindedness and memory loss.]
Seeing this, both seemed to understand why Canis could attack them at the tent while being monitored by Farrdin. Canis's clone looked exactly like him, even simulating the severed arm; the only difference was its emotionless face.
A puppet crawled out of Canis's item bag. Its body was rotten, emitting the smell of death, with bones protruding in some places. It wore a knight's armor, and its right hand held a pitch-black greatsword. Mana threads emerged from the clone's fingers, connecting to the puppet to help it move.
Riven looked at Canis's puppet and praised in a sarcastic tone. "The kind priest has his own corpse puppet, huh? That man's face is so ugly, yet he has a lot in common with you. Who is that? Your mother, Canis?"
Ignoring Riven's provocation, Canis only looked coldly at Riven and Baz. The two sides stared at each other with killing intent.
"Simp, did you hear that? He wants to kill your beloved Lady but was afraid she had a life-saving item, so he targeted me. We have to cooperate well this time to beat that hypocrite as miserably as his father tortured his mother in bed."
Baz simply nodded slightly to signal he understood.