...
[Cloak of Shadows (2nd Circle Expertise): When you are in a dimly lit or dark environment, you can use this expertise to enter the invisible state; the invisible state will continue until you launch an attack, cast a spell, or enter a brightly lit area.]
[Note: When you activate the Cloak of Shadows, you will enter a slow-motion state for 0.3 seconds, and the activation will fail if the slow-motion state is interrupted.]
...
Roger carefully examined the description of the Cloak of Shadows.
This expertise was extremely powerful.
Especially in the dark environment of the underground city, it could be used as strong stealth or escape technique.
Don't be fooled by how Koy's cloak of shadows was easily destructed by Roger just now.
That was because the distance between the two parties was too close, and Roger had been planning this for a long time.
If she were just a little further, the ending might be entirely different.
Roger, who was forced to promote by two consecutive levels, felt a little comforted by the acquisition of the [Cloak of Shadows].
At least, these two levels of experience were not entirely a waste.
He collected the Red Moon properly, then joyously started rummaging through the body of the drow girl.
...
In fact, from the first sight of Koy, Roger had been suspicious.
And the contact with her after that, made him even more alert.
Just like what he said to Koy while he was dragging out the time, everything that had happened was too much of a coincidence.
Roger was very aware.
When a series of coincidences happen together, it was very likely that they were intentionally arranged.
In fact, from his perspective, Koy's biggest flaw lied in her lack of "thinking"!
Think about it, as a drow who had been alone in the underground city all year round——
How could she let down her guard so quickly and actively invite a stranger to become her partner?
And when she learned that she had been cursed and could sense the position of the curse caster, would she just run to kill the caster without much thought put into it?
Wouldn't she worry that while she could sense the curse caster, the curse caster would also be able to sense her position?
Wouldn't she be suspicious that the sensing mechanism of the blood curse might also be a trap?
She didn't even think about how to escape after killing the curse caster!
Even if they succeeded in killing the Great Prophet on the gray dwarves' territory, then what do they do after that?
Do they just separate and escape on one's own?
...
The above was the most basic thought processes, but Koy never mentioned any of these.
Roger even hinted at these aspects in the conversation.
But she still said nothing.
If she really couldn't think of these things, then she couldn't have lived till now!
Therefore, there was only one possibility left—this girl was a spy!
Use "the amount of thinking" to catch the spy had been Roger's habit when playing "Werewolf" in his previous life.
Compared to the good people, the spies often needed to spend more effort to disguise themselves.
Since all their efforts were used in acting and disguise, then the amount of thinking they could use in other aspects would naturally become more limited.
...
After confirming that Koy was a spy, Roger chose to turn her tricks to his own advantage.
This not only could fool his enemy but also allowed the spy to lead him where he needed to go, saving a lot of trouble.
Sure enough, traveling all the way here, they had not run into any other group of gray dwarves, except for the two outposts at the beginning.
This was the bait that Koy threw at him.
Roger gladly accepted it.
He only needed to get rid of Koy before the opponents surround him.
And in this respect, his Qi Divination Technique gave him an exclusive advantage.
Even in the underground city, he still retained the ability to judge the number of monsters by the intensity of blood columns in front of him.
When passing through this cave, Roger noticed that the blood columns in front of him had expanded by more than tenfold.
He knew that it was almost time, so he chose to make a move in advance.
But actually, before the result became clear, all of this was merely Roger's speculation.
Roger was also pondering what to do if Koy was indeed really simple-minded and merely very familiar with the terrain.
Unfortunately...
His sudden questioning still made Koy, who had been very tense, mess up and completely expose her identity as the spy.
Thereafter, Roger had nothing more to say.
He would directly treat her with the Green Beetle Sword.
Koy was also alert enough to avoid Roger's first three strikes by instinct and fast reaction.
She indeed had some strength.
Although it might not be possible for her to beat Roger, it still would not be easy for Roger to take her down in a short time.
For this reason, Roger could only delay the time and allow the battle to enter a cool-down.
This was to accumulate the effect of [Ten Years One Sword].
Then, he decisively promoted himself by two consecutive levels and attacked Koy when she was off guard.
This was how he managed to cut the LV15 drow warrior into two halves.
In summary, Roger's fast killing of Koy seemed easy on the surface, but not in essence.
Every step of his was the result of careful calculation.
Any small mistake in the calculation may lead to a completely different result.
...
Koy didn't carry many items, but all of them were quite exquisite.
First was the sharp pair of scimitars.
Although they were merely low-level equipment, the material was excellent, most likely to be mixed with some rare metals.
Roger was not very proficient with using the scimitars.
His purpose of taking the pair of scimitars was to prepare the materials for the upcoming Hermit Ranger specialty weapons.
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After this was a butterfly knife.
Roger found this thing on the inner thigh of Koy——
This drow girl had weapons hidden all over her body. Taking off this butterfly knife took Roger great efforts, as he was afraid of activating hidden weapons that might be more deeply concealed.
The material of the butterfly knife was the same as the scimitars.
It was similarly a piece of low-level equipment, but it was more flexible and concealed and could be hidden in all kinds of strange places.
Roger played with it for a while.
Then hid it in——
His sleeve.
...
The third piece was a piece of defense equipment, [Mythril Chest Armor].
...
[Mithril Chest Armor (Fragment)]
[Rating: S+]
[Defense 9, Sturdiness 7, Material 6, Durability 1]
[Special Effect: Nullification of Critical Attack (Cannot be used)]
[Nullification of Critical Attack: When the Mithril Chest Armor was severely attacked, this special effect will be automatically triggered; the wearer will ignore the critical blow for the duration of the special effect.]
...
This Mithril Chest Armor was originally a supreme armor.
Unfortunately, this was only a small piece of a fragment that could barely protect the heart.
1 point of durability meant that it would automatically be destructed after just one attack, and the unusable special effect seemed to be telling Roger that this piece of chest armor had suffered too much damage in the past years.
Roger felt a little pity.
But thinking about it again, if this thing were to be complete, he wouldn't have been able to kill Koy.
He casually hung the Mithril Chest Armor on his chest.
Roger wasn't sure if it was just his illusion, but he seemed to faintly smell some strange fragrance.
...
The last item was a mysterious badge.
Compared with the craftsmanship of this era, the pattern on the badge was extremely delicate and advanced.
The badge was engraved with a volcano that was erupting.
Below the volcano, there were countless figures of people kneeling down.
Through the Qi Divination Technique, he only managed to identify that the name of the badge was called [Icadori's Believers Badge].
The rest of the columns were all a series of question marks.
This seemed to be a proof of identity given to the believers by a certain god.
Roger thought for a while and finally put it away.
In fact, in addition to the above items, there were still some hidden weapons on the body of the drow girl that piqued Roger's interests.
But he had no time to proceed further.
The Qi Divination Technique detected a large swarm of monsters coming in this direction. It might be that the Great Prophet of the Gray dwarves had discovered something was amiss.
He stayed where he was and waited for a while.
Until the first group of gray dwarves noticed him, Roger then plunged into the deep and complicated cave.
...