"No blessing: he's bluffing!" Instantly, Jack was seen through!
Doors? Closed! Enemies? Far too many! This was a hopeless situation, no matter how one looked at it! Was it wiser to fight or to bide their time instead?
"Old Ghost, if we get captured… will you be able to get us out?"
"Tch— Perhaps, but only if they don't take my vessel away…."
His vessel? He meant the picture book, right? Seeing the greed in their eyes, they'd strip him naked and grab everything! He'd not only be stuck… but his identity would be revealed…
Getting captured —> Possibly meant death!
Jack wasn't about to test the magnanimousness of whoever had put that bounty on their head. It said DEAD or alive on the posters, after all!
"Kid, I think we'll have to sacrifice this fox of yours and—"
"No, you don't sacrifice your pieces when everything seems doomed. There's only one thing to do: cause CHAOS!"
He was already analyzing the surroundings:
- Assailants greedily eying him... and each other as they lacked cohesion.
- Underground Soldiers pretending they hadn't seen anything
- Shopkeepers gleefully watching everything happen
- Innocent bystanders avoiding the violent mob
It was time to put everything on the line!
In mere instants, Jack had already come up with a plan so devilishly risky and ridiculous that even he feared executing it. He asked the crowd one last time:
"Say, is there no way we can resolve this peacefully?" He seemed so genuine as he glanced at all the parties in the room one after the other, but he was given the cold shoulder.
No, they looked at him as if a dead man walking! A few even sneered at the youngster's naivety. This was a business, not a daycare!
'I guess there's no choice, then. You guys brought this upon yourself!' Jack turned toward his allies, screaming, "NOW!"
Along with the mighty shout, so many things happened at once!
The cloak hiding Jack and Fox burst open as if an explosive Piñata. But instead of candies, Black Underground Coins came out, shooting toward the crowd!
The Fox had explosively dashed out, and Jack was hugging the ground as he crawled away as fast as he could… but to the external eye, it looked as if they had disappeared!
Cloaked Bounty Target —> Gone in a Rain of Coins?!
Before the assailants' brains could even register what the fuck was happening, their greedy hands unconsciously grasped the flying coins. MONEY!!! Many quarreled: "Bitch, back off. Those are mine!"
But this was but the start… Just as everyone was still shell-shocked, Jack's Fox got to work. It raised a furry paw and generated as many fireballs as its Mana could keep up with!
— WOOSH! WOOSH! BOOM! —
It was targeting anything that looked flammable!
The Underground Market would switch places whenever it came close to being discovered. This meant that the people selling here were always ready to move.
This came with one drawback —> Many of their mobile stalls were Flammable AF! The little Fox cackled as it threw fireball after fireball at the marketplace.
It didn't care about the reactions either.
"Monster! Stop! STOP!"
"Kill that madman!"
"Are you crazy?!"
Any normal being wouldn't have dared. They'd think of the repercussions and falter. Even if they did start, they'd give up after a few fireballs and escape!
But all the Fox could think about was its master's words: "Just count those stalls as rats... The more you destroy, the greater the rewards!" Rewards, rewards, REWARDS!
The scene had already devolved into utter chaos.
Stalls burned down, flames spread everywhere, bystanders ran for their survival, soldiers ran to intercept the crazy terrorist… and some people stopped to grab coins!
What had once looked like a masquerade party now looked nightmarish, with a couple of unfortunate charcoaled corpses lying on the floor.
Still, the Underground wasn't weak or new. It was only a matter of minutes before they had the situation under control, the terrorist suffering a fate worse than death!
But then something else happened…
Without anyone noticing, a baby crawled IN the flames toward the entrance! With his Anti-Heat Shield and his tiny body, he was near invisible!
He managed to reach the "confiscated gold table", the guards watching it not noticing him thanks to the chaos. His job here was done! "Your turn, Old Ghost!"
A semi-translucent Ghost suddenly appeared.
He instantly showcased the mastery of an Archmage, finishing his business before any of the guards could even understand what the heck was going on.
A distance away, angry soldiers had reached the strange orange terrorist blur! But just as they were about to capture it, an incredible buzzing resounded in the back. — BZZZZZZZ! —
As a few turned around to see, they turned ghastly pale. This was BAD! The gold coins they had isolated as problematic were shining like a beacon toward Heaven!
All the Old Ghost had done was amplify the Tracking Enchantment already on the coins and allow it to bypass the Underground's isolation barrier, but it was deadly!
"CRAP! Quick, evacuate! This place's compromised!"
"The Dawn Guard will be here any moment!"
"We capture that bastard, and we leave!"
The soldiers' panicked and angry shouts resonated across the marketplace. As for the target of their fury, it had just realized the situation it was in.
The poor Fox saw its master on the ground from afar, and it saw the soldiers. It seemed like it wouldn't be able to cash in those Headpats after all. This sucked!
"Woo!" (Take care, Master! Be safe!)
Then it charged toward the soldiers. They'd open the doors as soon as it was captured, and its master could evacuate. This was all that mattered!
Jack saw it all from afar, his heart bleeding. "What are you doing?! RUNNN!" then he saw the soldiers encircle his furry friend.
"Tch— So annoying, even during its last moments! Seize this thing, and let's leave!" A soldier ordered. But just as their blades and spells were about to reach their target…
— CLANG! —
A couple of masked individuals suddenly stood in their way. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to harm this one here," one of them said.
W-what?! The entire room gazed in shock. "You, who are you?! Why are you trying to save this bastard?! Are you trying to make an enemy of the Underground?!" A soldier barked.
"Why? All I'll say is that me being here is Fate."
"What the fuck are you going on about?!"
"I'm not sure myself, to be honest…."
What kind of answer was this?! But it wasn't that the saviors didn't want to answer; they really didn't know! They had come here because of a Divination, after all.
This Event had to be why Mister Immortal sent them here, right? It had to be! As scared as they were of offending the Underground, they feared Fate even more!
Jack stared in wonder.
A superstitious squad with more strength than common sense had come to the rescue?! Holy shit, was Fate that OP?! Either way, it was time to GTFO!
Thanks to the people he had scammed, Jack, Fox, and Teacher all made it out of the Underground alive. As for the aftermath… even he didn't want to think about it!
'I swear, I just wanted to buy some Magical Catalysts!' He couldn't help but sigh endlessly at how everything had turned. But now, he had something else to deal with.
A poor fox was surrounded by its "saviors" in a nearby alley. Except, they wanted answers, and now! What was it supposed to do?!
What lies should Jack feed them? How troublesome…
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Jack Bright (Classless)
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BODY 9 (STR 3 / AGI 3 / RES 3)
SOUL 44 ( MAGIC 8 / SENSE 17 / WILL 19)
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(NEW!)
- Scamming (F) 🆕
- Bane of the Underground 🆕
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[A/N]
Added a Status Chapter at the beginning. (It's already getting pretty long, so most of the time, only the abridged Status will be shown!)