Kalis and Lia exchanged a glance, then strode forward together.
Denise sensed someone approaching. She immediately broke into an innocent, cherubic smile, hitched up her skirt, and bounced over to greet them. But the second she got a clear look at who it was, the smile dropped right off her face, and a flash of obvious disappointment flickered in her eyes.
"Oh, it's just you two," she muttered, sticking out her lower lip in a sulky pout. "Already scammed you guys once today. Fine, I'll let you off the hook."
Kalis's lips twitched violently.
Whoa. So this scam artist NPC actually had a code of conduct, no double-dipping on the same marks.
Lia, however, was so furious her pretty face turned bright red. She pointed an accusing finger at Denise and snapped: "You rotten swindler! Give me back my money!"
"What money?" Denise blinked her big, round blue eyes, tilting her head to the side and looking every bit the confused innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb with me!" Lia clenched her fists so tight her knuckles whitened, her chest heaving with rage. "A thousand gold coins! Not a single coin less! Hand it over now!"
This damned NPC hadn't just scammed her out of her money, she'd even beaten her up using her level advantage, and her attitude had been utterly despicable! As a player, Lia had swallowed this humiliation long enough. Today, she was getting her revenge!
"I didn't scam you! You gave me that money voluntarily for my medical bills!" Denise tossed her head defiantly, shooting back with full confidence.
"Hmph! Clearly, you won't cooperate until we teach you a lesson!" Lia shouted, instantly slapping all three of her buffs onto Kalis. "Kalis! Beat her up!"
"W-what do you two think you're doing?!"
Denise stared at Kalis advancing on her, and a wave of intense dread washed over her. She stumbled backward in terror, her face draining of all color.
"Meteor Descend!"
Kalis was more than happy to oblige his teammate. Without a second's hesitation, he unleashed his freshly recharged forbidden spell.
Hum—
Blazing fire elements swirled wildly high in the sky, painting half the heavens crimson. The faint outline of a colossal meteor took shape, and a 10-second cast countdown flickered into view.
"Not this move again! You're so mean!!"
Denise screamed in fright, spinning on her heel and making a break for the other end of the bridge.
"Run? Do you really think that'll help?" Kalis scoffed coldly.
The targeted blast radius of Meteor Descend was a full 100 meters, plus a shockwave that extended another 180 meters beyond that. Unless Denise could sprint 280 meters in 10 seconds flat, there was nowhere she could run to escape it.
And with her Level 73 movement speed, that was obviously impossible.
Boom—rumble—
More and more fire elements gathered overhead, superheating the air and dimming the daylight to an ominous gloom.
The players, leisurely grinding levels outside the city gates, spotted the spectacle, and chaos instantly erupted.
"It's happening again! That world-destroying meteor is back!"
"It looks like it's aimed at that scam artist NPC! Finally, someone's gonna take her down!"
"Blow her up! Blow her up! That NPC had it coming! This is so satisfying!"
Only 5 seconds remained on the Meteor Descend countdown. Denise stumbled out of the meteor's blast zone, her legs so wobbly with fear she could barely stand.
She whipped around on the spot, clasping her hands together and bowing frantically to Kalis, her voice thick with tears as she begged for mercy. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please spare me! Sniffle—"
"Return the money," Kalis's voice was colder than ice.
"I'll give it back! I'll give it back right now! Waaaah—" Denise sobbed uncontrollably, not an ounce of her earlier arrogance left in her.
"That's more like it."
Kalis let out a cold huff. In the final split second before the spell went off, he flicked his fingers, redirecting the meteor's impact zone to a wild hare nibbling on grass nearby.
The innocent hare: "..."
BOOM——!!
A deafening explosion shattered the air. The enormous meteor came crashing down, instantly vaporizing the poor hare into dust. A terrifying shockwave rippled outward in all directions, shaking the ground violently within a 200-meter radius and sending a huge spray of water soaring several meters high from the river beneath the bridge.
"Gasp—"
Lia stared at the string of astronomical damage numbers—over 200 million, then over 100 million—floating up from the meteor's impact site. She sucked in a sharp breath, her heart skipping a beat in shock.
As for Denise? She'd collapsed onto the ground in a heap, trembling violently all over and bawling her eyes out, snot and tears streaming down her face.
Watching her pitiful state, Lia felt no sympathy whatsoever. Instead, a wave of pure satisfaction washed over her, sweeping away all the frustration she'd been bottling up.
"Hand over the money," she stepped forward, holding out her pale, delicate hand and speaking in a frosty tone.
"O-okay..."
Denise sniffled miserably, reluctantly pulling a heavy pouch of gold coins out of her pocket—the very same thousand gold coins she'd scammed.
Lia bent down, reaching out to take it.
"Wait a second."
Just then, Kalis suddenly spoke up, stopping her.
"What is it?" Lia turned to him, confused.
Kalis looked down at the blonde girl huddled on the ground, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He twirled the pouch of a thousand gold coins in his hand, then shook his head, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"This is way too little. Far too little. Your little stunt today scared both me and my teammate twice. It's caused us severe psychological trauma. I'm now officially demanding 1000000 gold coins in mental damages. You can either pay up immediately, or... I'll send you to meet your Supreme God with a single Lightning Bolt and let them judge your crimes."
"Huh?"
Lia's head tilted to the side in complete bewilderment, a row of question marks popping up over her head.
She'd just wanted to get her thousand gold coins back. How had Kalis somehow flipped the script and started extorting the NPC instead?!
Denise was also completely dumbfounded. She stared at the man in front of her, who oozed nothing but ill intent, fresh tears welling up in her eyes as she panicked. "How can you do this? This is impossible! I only scammed a thousand gold coins from you two combined, and now you're asking for a million?!"
"Oh, is that so?" Kalis slowly raised his staff, cold lightning crackling at his fingertips. "You should know exactly how powerful I am by now. Even without using a forbidden spell, killing you would be as easy as breathing."
"Waaaah——"
Denise broke down into hysterical sobs on the ground. "You're bullying me! I'll never forgive you! I'm going to tell the Mother Goddess! She'll cast you into the Abyssal Realm! You'll never see the light of day again!"
"Mother Goddess?"
Lia froze for a second, glancing at Denise with newfound curiosity. Could this scam artist NPC actually have some kind of powerful backing?
Kalis, however, remained completely unmoved. He still held out his hand, his tone flat and unyielding. "Cut the crap. One million gold coins. Pay up, or die."
"You're threatening me! You're actually threatening me! Waaaaah—— Mother Goddess! Someone's bullying meeeee——!" Denise wailed at the top of her lungs, screaming at the sky, her voice shrill and ear-splitting.
"Save your breath. No one's coming to help you even if you scream your throat raw," Kalis rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Hurry up and pay!"
Crying, sniveling NPCs were the worst. If killing her wouldn't get him wanted by Galewind City and mess up their plans to enter the city later, he would've fried her with a Lightning Bolt already!
"Mother Goddess! Mother Goddess, save meeeee——!"
Denise's cries echoed across the wilderness, but no response came.
Thwack!
Kalis reached out and flicked her hard on the forehead, snapping at her sharply. "Are you done yet? Shut up and stay quiet!"
"Sniffle... sob..."
Denise realized her pleas for help were useless, and now she'd gotten herself slapped on top of it all. She cried even harder, her tear-streaked face looking so pitiful that anyone else would've taken pity on her.
Unfortunately for her, she was dealing with Kalis, a man with a heart of stone.
"I'll pay! I'll pay, okayyyyy——!"
Denise caved in with a miserable whimper. Clearly, playing the victim wasn't going to work on this guy. She had no choice but to surrender.
She slowly pulled another pouch out of her pocket, moving as slowly as possible, her face twisted with reluctance.
Gold pouches were special items in the game; no matter how many coins they held, they always looked exactly the same on the outside.
And the second pouch Denise pulled out contained a whopping 35000 gold coins, a pretty hefty sum!
When Lia saw the number, her eyes practically popped out of her head. She stared at Kalis with a newfound sense of awe.
Did extorting NPCs actually work? And he'd scored this much money doing it!
Thirty-five thousand gold coins. At the game's exchange rate, that translated to 350000 in real-world currency. That was practically overnight riches!
"That's it?" Kalis hefted the heavy pouch of gold coins in his hand, still looking thoroughly dissatisfied. "You scam people here every single day. You can't possibly be this poor."
When Denise heard that, she burst into even louder sobs, choking out her answer. "T-this is all my savings! I don't have any more money, even if you kill me!"
"Fine. I'll let you off the hook this time," Kalis finally conceded. He stashed both pouches away, then, right in front of Denise's eyes, split all the gold coins evenly into two new pouches and handed one to Lia. "Here. Split it 50-50. Eighteen thousand gold coins each."
Denise watched as the money she'd worked so hard to scam was divided between the two of them. Her heart ached so badly she burst into fresh tears, hugging her knees tightly and whimpering threats through her sobs. "You just wait! The Mother Goddess will avenge me!"
"We'll be waiting," Kalis dusted off his hands, replying with perfect calm. "Oh, and when your Mother Goddess comes, tell her to bring plenty of gold coins and artifacts. Me? I love watching my enemies drop all their loot."
Forget whatever so-called "Mother Goddess" Denise had backing her up. Even if a real god descended to earth, Kalis wouldn't be the least bit afraid.
At the end of the day, it would just take one Meteor Descend to deal with them!