Synthesis-type adventurers

Chapter 4 Teammates Worth Investing In

"--squeak!"

A mournful screech pierced the darkness.

A black-toothed rat, flung away by the sword energy, crashed heavily at Rhodes' feet.

This beast was incredibly resilient; even with half its spine broken, it struggled to raise its ugly head and try to bite his ankle.

Rhodes' expression remained unchanged as the entrenching tool in his hand traced an arc in the dim light.

"puff."

The shovel blade shattered the skull, splattering black, viscous blood mixed with brain matter all over the ground.

Rhodes silently murmured in his mind: "Strip away."

[Black-toothed rat carcass]

Peeling the target term: [Slightly toxic teeth (white, ordinary)]

Deep within my consciousness, a small ball emitting a faint white light quietly emerged.

Even the smallest mosquito leg is still meat.

If I save them up and combine them later, I might be able to create an enchantment with a [Highly Poisonous] attribute.

Rod casually kicked the rat carcass into the shadows, then hunched his shoulders again, skillfully reverting to his role as the timid and subservient logistics soldier.

Beneath that timid exterior, his analytical vision, like radar, sweeps across the surrounding darkness, searching for more valuable prey... or a safer escape route.

The encounter lasted less than five minutes.

Beside Avira, the rat carcasses had piled up into a foul-smelling hill.

The rats' simple wisdom finally realized that this "bone" was not only hard, but also prickly.

With a sharp signal to retreat, the black swarm of rats surged into the rock crevices like a receding tide and disappeared without a trace.

The female knight slowly straightened up, flicked her wrist, and shook off the bloodstains on the sword blade.

Her breathing was slightly rapid, but her cold and beautiful face remained firm and calm.

"Clear the battlefield and move on."

Kyle sat upright on his tall horse, his leather gloves spotless.

He didn't even bother to glance at the carnage on the ground, and impatiently cracked his whip: "Hurry up, we must reach the core area before midnight."

The team set off again.

As the team ventured deeper into the terrain, the landscape became increasingly treacherous and treacherous.

The sound of the underground river flowing echoed, and the damp air seemed to be able to be wrung out of.

Every breath carried the earthy smell and the musty stench of decay.

Ahead, the darkness was cut off by an ancient suspension bridge.

Or rather, it is the remains of some ancient relic.

Several thick, rusty iron chains spanned the bottomless fissure in the ground, sparsely covered with long-rotted and blackened wooden planks, swaying slightly in the air currents rising from the abyss.

Black mist surged beneath the fissure in the ground, and the faint sound of rushing water crashing against the rock walls could be heard.

Kelley pulled on the reins.

His scaly horse seemed to sense some kind of instinctive fear, snorting and refusing to take a single step forward.

"Rhodes, go ahead and scout ahead, see if this broken bridge is passable by horse."

Rhodes cursed inwardly, but a humble smile instantly appeared on his face: "Alright, Commander, please wait a moment, I'll be right there."

He carefully moved to the bridgehead, but did not immediately place his foot down. Instead, he quietly activated [Analysis Vision].

A pale blue cluster of information light instantly covered the decaying building in front of them.

The decaying suspension bridge

State: Critical Point

Entry:

[Structurally fragile (grayish, inferior quality)]: 80% of the core load-bearing cable has broken, and the wooden planks are severely fibrous. Maximum load capacity: 90 kg.

……

90 kilograms?

Rhodes narrowed his eyes.

If I add my backpack, I might be able to get through.

But if that heavily armored, scaled horse were to step on it... heh.

He was just thinking of turning back and reporting the truth, or simply concealing the information and letting Kyle suffer a great loss.

Suddenly, his ear twitched slightly.

"Thump...thump..."

A dull tremor, mixed with heavy breathing, was penetrating the roar of the underground river, approaching from the depths of the mist opposite the suspension bridge.

The sound was very faint, mostly masked by the sound of water and the howling wind in the crack, and was completely imperceptible to ordinary people.

But Rhodes was, after all, a Black Iron-level adventurer. Even as the lowest-ranking nobody, his senses far surpassed those of ordinary people who hadn't even awakened their professions.

It's a big guy.

The weight is at least 300 kilograms or more.

Rhodes's brain was working at lightning speed at that moment.

If a warning is issued now, that idiot Kyle will definitely order Avira to fight it out at the narrow bridgehead.

In that terrain, Avira might die in battle, and he, a mere logistics soldier, would be crushed into mincemeat by the aftershocks.

But if I cross the bridge now, I'll bump right into the monster on the other side.

Since that's the case... why not ask that thing for a small favor?

Rod took a deep breath and casually stepped onto the first plank with his right foot.

"Click."

The rotten plank made a sickeningly crisp sound.

"Ouch!" Rod exclaimed dramatically.

He seemed to suddenly lose his balance, slipped to the side, and crashed heavily onto the rocks at the bridgehead. The entrenching tool in his hand also clattered, nearly slipping into the abyss.

"Useless trash! Can't you even walk properly?" Kyle roared furiously from behind, his whip cracking in the air. "Get up and get over there! Don't fucking waste my time!"

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Captain... my leg... my leg cramped up..."

Rod was rolling on the ground in agony, clutching his knees, his face contorted in pain. His not-so-broad frame completely blocked the bridgehead, preventing anyone from getting through.

Just as Kyle was losing all patience and preparing to have Buck kick this piece of trash off the cliff, the fog on the other side was cleared away.

A huge black shadow suddenly emerged from the shadows.

It was a mutated cave troll, a very common cave-dwelling monster, with an intelligence far exceeding that of the ubiquitous goblins.

Its body was covered in long, grayish-white fur, and it dragged a huge animal bone stained with dried blood in its hand.

It was clearly drawn by the commotion earlier, its murky, savage little eyes fixed on the crowd at the bridgehead, a low, greedy roar escaping its throat.

Then, it raised its large, thick, pillar-like foot and stepped heavily onto the suspension bridge.

"roar--"

In the troll's mind, there was no concept of structural mechanics. It only saw living flesh and blood.

The moment that giant foot, weighing over 400 kilograms, landed on the rotten wooden plank—

"Splash!"

With a mournful metallic groan, the main load-bearing cable, already overburdened, snapped completely with a sharp, piercing explosion.

The entire suspension bridge, like a dead snake whose spine had been removed, snapped and collapsed in an instant.

The troll who had just stepped onto the bridge didn't even have time to let out a scream before its massive body plummeted down with the collapsing bridge and was instantly swallowed by the churning black mist below.

A few seconds later, a muffled echo came from the bottom of the abyss.

Apart from the surging of the underground river, the surrounding area was deathly silent.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the empty cliff.

Only Rod remained sitting on the ground, hugging his knees, his face displaying just the right amount of fear and bewilderment, as if he had been scared out of his wits.

"My God..." Buck swallowed hard, his face pale. "If Rod hadn't fallen, or if we had gone up with him..."

Kyle's scaly horse snorted restlessly and pawed at the ground.

The deputy commander's face was ashen as he stared intently at the broken bridgehead, his eyes filled with both the lingering fear of escaping death and the anger of having his plans disrupted.

Rod slowly got up, dusted himself off, picked up his things, limped over to Kelma, and bowed his head deeply.

"I'm sorry, Vice Commander... I really didn't mean to... I accidentally tripped and fell... but it's not a bad thing, right?"

His voice trembled, filled with self-blame and fear; his acting was impeccable.

It saved me the mental energy of stripping away junk entries, and I also took care of an elite monster.

That was a really skillful fall.

"Consider yourself lucky." Kyle frowned and glanced at Rhodes. "Get out of here."

He turned his horse around and instructed the group again, "Take a detour; we'll go through the abandoned mine tunnel to the east."

The group regrouped and headed towards the side path.

As Rhodes passed by Avira, the female knight, who had always been as aloof as a statue, suddenly turned her head, and for the first time, her emerald green eyes fell seriously on him.

There was no mockery or disdain in his eyes, only a thoughtful inquiry.

Luo Dechong smiled sheepishly, then quickly lowered his head and disappeared back into the shadows at the back of the line.

It seems that not everyone is as easily fooled as Kyle.

He mentally marked Avira.

This woman might be worth investing in.