Damon’s expression barely changed, except for the slight arch of his eyebrow, which conveyed pure disdain. "You know," he drawled, his tone dripping with mock amusent, "its not my fault if your ass is too weak to handle a few orc spears." He tilted his head, crimson eyes narrowing like twin embers. "I was the one cleaning out entire caverns of frost orcs. What exactly were you doing besides getting your ass handed to you?"
ndoza’s face contorted in fury. "Don’t lie to us!" he shouted. "We all know the truth already. There is no point in lying. You’re a coward who abandoned the team for your own gains!"
Damon’s grin was cold and sharp. "Abandoned the team?" He looked at Sylvara, who seed conflicted. She took a deep breath and responded. "I understand this is just a coincidence. You probably did not know there weren’t many orcs in the mountain before heading out here, but... You could have always co back to us sooner."
Kate’s ssage flashed on Damon’s screen. [Should we show them all the loot? Surely, the mountain of loot would be enough to convince these idiots?]
However, Damon did not respond to that. He simply gave an arrogant smile. . "Oh? So now it’s my responsibility to babysit the entire group?"
Sylvara’s lips pressed into a tight line, her ice sword trembling in her grip. "You—" she began, but the words caught in her throat.
Damon’s gaze cut to ndoza, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Coward, you say? You want to talk cowardice? You couldn’t even dodge a single fucking arrow the last ti I saw you. Where was your big hero mont then?" He laughed. "You want to stand here and call out? Fine. But what are you going to do about it? What are you really going to do about it?"
Seeing that things were about to escalate without being beneficial to anyone, Sylvara stepped forward between the two of them. "Let’s not fight. ndoza, we should really give Damon the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he truly did not expect the caverns to be empty. It was just a coincidence."
She then turned to Damon. "Damon, you should also know that we checked the bottom-most cavern, and it was empty. We rushed here thinking you were in danger. Everyone was just worried, and to see you here, casually sitting around... let’s just leave this and finish what we ca here to do."
Sylvara let out another sigh and asked again, "So all the caverns are empty? There is no threat here? Can we continue to proceed forward?"
Damon nodded. He did not bother explaining anything to anyone. Besides, these bastards might even ask for a share of the loot.
And talking about the loot, Damon noticed that everyone’s eyes were now on the chest.
"So what is that?" Sylvara asked. ndoza had already started walking closer to the chest. He hurriedly bent down and picked up a pearl, only to let out a painful yelp the next second, dropping the pearl back in the chest.
"This is definitely a precious item! A rare material!" He shouted. "Sylvara, co here and see if you can take it."
Sylvara approached the chest cautiously, her icy blue eyes narrowed as she examined the frosty pearls glistening inside. Her breath fogged the air as she reached out and hovered her hand above them, but she flinched back, feeling the biting chill radiating from the small spheres.
"It’s incredibly cold," she murmured, her fingers trembling from the proximity alone. "Definitely a rare resource. Sothing that holds concentrated elental ice." She looked at Damon, suspicion in her eyes. "You found all this by yourself?"
Damon’s smirk widened. "Of course, it’s mine by right of conquest. Unless you think you can pry it from ." He was deliberately provoking them.
ndoza’s lips twisted into an ugly sneer. "You selfish bastard!" he spat. "You think because you got here first, you can keep it all? We fought too! We suffered too!" His voice rose to a shriek.
Damon’s laughter was cold. "Suffered?" he echoed. "Your suffering doesn’t earn you the right to loot you didn’t bleed for. You want a share? Then co and take it. But you’d better be prepared to pay the price."
Sylvara again stepped in between them. "Damon, clearly these pearls are extrely valuable for our family, and we did contribute to the fight. Do you mind if I take these now? Patriarch will discuss the compensation with you a bit later."
She then directly placed all the pearls in her spatial ring without further discussion. A cold glint flashed past Damon’s eyes, but he did not say anything.
Kate’s and Mark’s faces also darkened. At the end of the day, this was what their cooperation had co to. They knew then and there that this partnership was probably not going to last long. Or even for the next five minutes. They quietly prepared for a battle.
However, the next mont, Damon silently started walking out.
"Where are you going?" Sylvara called after him.
"Isn’t it obvious?" Damon answered vaguely and then disappeared.
"This bastard!" ndoza growled in anger. The next mont, everyone quickly ran out, trying to follow him. It took them a couple of minutes, but finally, after seeing Aurora head back into the first cavern at the base of the mountain, the others also followed.
"What the hell is he doing here?" ndoza shouted in annoyance.
Nevin couldn’t stand it any longer. "ndoza, can you shut up. You are making things difficult for everyone."
"Am I kid?" ndoza growled again and only shut up when another man from the group gave him a stare. Robert was a quiet figure in the group, so Mark hadn’t noticed him before, but now he made a ntal note of the guy.
Mark did not know why, but for so reason, he had a bad feeling about the guy. He was calm and quiet at first glance. There was nothing special about him, and yet it was oddly weird.
Interrupting his thoughts, ndoza once again shouted. "I found that bastard. See, he went this way." He pointed to a hole in the wall of the base cavern. The group quickly went inside to take a look, only to instantly regret their decision. It was a literal freezing hell inside!
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