Who told you I am an NPC

Chapter : 100

After parting ways with Divik, I found a deserted corner and directly switched to my Joker outfit. The black and red mask once again covered my face.

I opened the minimap. After leaving the instance, the minimap function was re-enabled.

I directly highlighted the eleven members of the children's group and rushed towards the nearest one.

I encountered a few teams of red-named black-robed men on the way.

I showed no mercy, striking them down with my sword and piercing them through.

These people were rushing around. A dragon had appeared in the casino, yet only a few guards had come over.

I suspected that a major incident had occurred at the venue.

I just didn't know the specifics.

I found Kot, who was closest to me. At this moment, he was hiding under a gambling table.

The screams of the guests and gamblers in the hall were incessant. The moment I lifted the tablecloth, Kot trembled.

I extended my hand to him, “Let's go. Someone has entrusted me to take you out.”

I still remembered that I was currently in my Joker guise, and did not reveal that I was the previous Xavier.

Kot was so scared that he shrank back further into the table. He didn't relax his guard just because he heard someone was here to save him.

“Who... who are you talking about?”

“A very rich nobleman, Xavier,” I said. “He said he had promised someone before to take you out.

Now, something has come up on his end, so he asked me to take you out first.”

Hearing Xavier's name, Kot's expression softened a little.

When I had contacted them through Xiao Ai before, I had already told all of them the name Xavier.

“Is... is that so?” Kot was still a little scared. “Is Mr. Xavier's matter serious? Will he be in danger?”

“It's fine, you don't have to worry about him.” I beckoned to Kot. Seeing Kot come closer, I directly pulled him out from under the table.

“Let's go. Do you know where your other companions are? I have to send you out together.”

Kot's voice was soft and small. He didn't make a fuss even when I was carrying him. He nodded gently: "I know."

“Alright, let's go.”

It took me some time to find all nine children, excluding Inuo and Nana, and send them out of Mandiper in one go.

The bracelets on their bodies couldn't be removed for the time being, but Mandiper was in chaos right now, so they probably didn't have the time to care about the nine 'Pe'ers who had suddenly disappeared from the casino.

I tried to search for Isabelle's location, and not surprisingly, I couldn't find her.

The minimap hadn't shown Divik's dot before, so I knew the dragon race had a special way of blocking my minimap.

It was normal that I couldn't find Isabelle now either.

I also set Rocco to high-light and found the dots belonging to Rocco and Nana in the Free City area.

I confirmed that these two small dots were extremely close, so they should be together now.

I had handed Rocco and Nana over to Isabelle before, so Nana was probably still with Isabelle now.

Therefore, by locating Nana, I could locate Isabelle and the others.

Nana was my mission target. Even without enough favorability, I could still successfully locate her on the minimap.

As for Rocco, it was simply because I had raised his favorability.

I estimated the distance; it wasn't too far. I simply sent the nine children over.

The journey wasn't short, and since I was in a hurry, I walked very quickly. The children didn't complain a single word.

To be honest, when they realized they had left Mandiper, they were already bursting with excitement.

But they knew this wasn't over. The initial agreement with me was that after I became a Midas Touch, I would spend gold coins to buy them and then take them out.

This complied with Mandiper's rules, and they wouldn't have to worry about being troubled by Mandiper later.

However, it was obvious that an accident had occurred now.

Xavier, who had an appointment with them, was nowhere to be found.

Instead, this chestnut-haired man had brought them out. It was clear from his methods that they did not comply with Mandiper's rules.

This was tantamount to sneaking out. If they were caught by Mandiper again, what awaited them would be horrific torture.

But their desire for freedom still suppressed their hesitation.

Besides, Mandiper was obviously in chaos now. It was more dangerous to stay inside, so it was better to escape first.

Xiao Ai secretly peeked at the chestnut-haired man walking at the front, her heart still filled with unease.

This person seems so dangerous...

Fortunately, this journey wasn't too long. Soon, I found myself in front of Merlin's shop.

I had wasted some time in the instance, so it was already night. There weren't many people in the city, so I just knocked on the shop door.

No response.

I glanced at the minimap and found that Rocco's position had changed slightly. It seemed he had come to the door and was carefully observing them.

Were Isabelle and Merlin not here?

I immediately made a judgment. If Isabelle and Merlin were here, Rocco wouldn't be hiding behind the door, peeking out without making a sound. This was clearly a defensive action.

I knew that I had blocked all the children behind me, so even if Rocco wanted to observe, he couldn't see the people behind me.

Anyway, Rocco was inside. He should open the door when he saw his companions. I simply stepped aside, allowing Rocco to clearly see Xiao Ai and the others.

“Your other companion is also inside, that kid named Nana.” I glanced at the time displayed on the system.

“You guys wait for the person inside to open the door. I have to leave now. You guys hide here for now and don't run out.

Wait... wait for Xavier to come back. After you're sure it's not dangerous, you can go, understand?”

The nine of them nodded in unison. Fresh chapters posted on novel✶fire.net

Seeing that I was about to leave, Xiao Ai couldn't help but ask, “Um, we have another companion... Inuo. He's still inside Mandiper.”

“I know. I'll bring him back later, don't worry.”

I waved my hand, turned, and left. Not long after I left, I heard the creaking sound of a door opening behind me, and some of the nine children let out a small gasp of surprise.

“Rocco, you're here too?”

***

When I returned to Mandiper, I found that the arena on the ground had also become a ruin.

A huge opening had been smashed in the middle, revealing the hall on the next floor.

It looked like someone had broken through this ground with brute force.

I looked at the hole left in the ground and the corners of my mouth twitched.

I had been wondering before if someone would dig their way up directly instead of going through Mandiper's maze-like passages. And today, I saw the violent demolition team.

This violent method, this powerful strength, the person who did this violent demolition could be no one else but Isabelle.

So the chaos in Mandiper was caused by Isabelle?

I couldn't help but facepalm. Between going back to Mandiper through the opening and using the substitute doll's active skill to teleport me back to that previous room, I chose the substitute doll.

It was still more cost-effective to swap places in one go.

The moment I returned to Mandiper, a prompt box popped up in front of my eyes again.

『Detected that exploration instance [Mandiper·Golden Factory] has been changed to a limited-time challenge instance [Mandiper·Morgan the False God]. You are qualified to challenge the instance. Do you wish to enter?』

『Instance has been opened. Teammates have already joined the instance. Do you confirm to join the instance?』

『Countdown 10, 9, 8...』

A series of prompt boxes popped up. Before I could see them clearly, the countdown was already about to reach zero.

I subconsciously chose yes. The scene before my eyes changed, and I was back at the competition venue once again.

However, compared to the golden splendor during the previous competition, the venue was now a mess, with broken ruins everywhere, and ferocious plant vines could be seen everywhere.

A strange green gas filled the venue. The moment I saw this green gas, I immediately held my breath.

This gas was exactly the same as the poison gas in the exploration instance. Having suffered a loss once, I couldn't possibly suffer it again, could I?

The visibility in the venue was not high, and I couldn't see clearly what was in the center of the venue.

I took out my longsword from my backpack and watched out for enemies that might appear at any time.

Sure enough, the moment I took out my longsword, alarm bells rang in my heart. I subconsciously jumped to the side.

A sharp vine shot out from where I was originally standing, directly piercing through that piece of the floor.

I gasped. If my premonition hadn't been accurate and I hadn't felt the danger and jumped to the side, if I had been hit by this vine, I would have had to use up all my trump cards.

The vine seemed to have a mind of its own. After missing its first attack, it smashed towards me again. I countered with a sword strike.

The longsword scraped against the vine, creating a shower of sparks, and a piercing sound rang out.

Was this vine made of metal? Even my longsword couldn't cut it?

Seeing that physical attacks were ineffective, I took out my magic staff and threw a Fireball Spell at the vine. Flames immediately burst into flames.

The vine immediately writhed and struggled in the flames. It no longer cared about continuing its attack on me. It let out a silent scream.

Although I couldn't hear the vine's agonized wails, I could see the green misty gas being shaken away.

I held the magic staff tightly in my hand, not daring to relax for a moment.

Then I saw the vine struggle for a moment before spraying out a new green misty gas.

This poison gas was very strange. It actually began to devour the flames on the vine.

After a while, the flames were corroded away and extinguished.

The vine was also burned and shriveled a little, but it was still a great threat to me.

But it was fine. Since it was still a plant that was afraid of fire, no matter how hard its exterior was, or how impervious it was to swords and spears, I was not as nervous as I was at the beginning.

Seeing the vine glaring at me, ready to attack at any moment, the corners of my mouth curled up.

I took out a few [Fire Emblems], threw them near the vine, and detonated them instantly as I jumped away.

"Boom—"

Purplish-red flames soared into the sky. I dodged the attack of another vine, and in the same way, I threw a [Fire Emblem] over and detonated it.

Watching the purplish-red flames, which were different from ordinary flames, completely envelop the vines, and in turn devour the strange green poison gas, and the vines struggling in the newly born flames, trying to spray poison gas to consume the flames, the curve of my lips became even more pronounced.

“Surprise—”

At the same time, more [Fire Emblems] were thrown out by me. With a snap of my fingers, they exploded instantly, igniting even more vines.