Flashy Adventurer System : Show Off to Get Stronger! - Chapter 824

Chapter 824: Poor Cornered Purple-Skinned Rat
“EIIAAHHH!!”

A horrified scream, full of sheer disgust, echoed through the forest, reaching even Shye, who was inside the cave.

“A RAT!! THERE’S A HUGE PURPLE, SCRAWNY RAT HIDING IN THE VOID!!” the titled mage fell on her butt, pointing at the empty space in front of her.

Emily Ashford, also known as Thunder Lily in Deltra, only had one thing she was scared of, and it was not death but rats.

She absolutely despised rats due to a trauma when she was young.

Thus, anything that remotely resembled a rat morphs into one in her head, and in this case, Nookie indeed somewhat looked like an overgrown, bipedaled, purple, scrawny rat.

“Y-You dare call me a rat?!” Nookie protested, its voice echoing from the void.

Almost immediately, the party’s scout lunged at the source of the voice, stabbing at the void with his purple-glowing katar.

“Sh*t!” cursed the little necrollin. “You’ll pay for what you just said, dumb woman!”

The next moment, Nookie exited the void pocket he was hiding in, as it only slowed his movement speed and hid his existence.

It didn’t protect him from attacks.

Once discovered, he had to do what others of his kind do: flee in desperation.

Fortunately, the little imp was already near the cave entrance, and Shye, having heard Thunder Lily’s scream, was already on his way to see what was happening.

Nookie knew that the priority was to hide the cave’s location.

However, fear of death and being discovered from one’s safe hiding place was a different beast, and it prevented the little necrollin from thinking straight.

Before Nookie even realized it, he was already inside the cave with an entire party of champions and titled adventurers right on his tail.

The little necrollin could only watch as seven adventurers marveled at the wondrous blue walls of the cave, staring greedily at the gemstones, herbs, and crafting materials littered everywhere.

Sweating coldly at the realization that his master might be furious, Nookie panicked.

The little guy’s sharp mind, for the first time in a long while, failed to work, feeling as though he failed his master big time.

“Focus, everyone! The treasures can wait,” declared the party leader—a titled shielder-type warrior from Yon Augenn.

Ironguard was a middle-aged man with curly black hair, tanned skin, and a muscular build—his words snapping everyone back to reality.

“For now, we need to capture that creature and investigate the cave. Strauss, get ahead of it and block its path—don’t let it retreat deeper. It likely knows this area well, and if it uses the terrain to its advantage, pursuing it will become much harder.”

Ironguard’s words didn’t just snap the adventurers back to focus; they also jolted Nookie, who remained frozen in fear, torn between fleeing deeper into the cave or surrendering and allowing himself to be captured.

Summoning corpse puppets would take too long—it would likely be caught before managing to summon even a single one.

Fighting was not an option.

Fortunately, the little necrollin managed to grasp that, with the cave already exposed, there was no point in trying to conceal its existence any longer.

Nookie decided to flee as far as his small legs could carry him, fervently praying that his master would soon notice the commotion.

Sadly, he didn’t even manage to run for more than two hundred meters before Strauss overtook him, blocking his path with a cold smirk.

The little necrollin was infuriated, tired of people looking down on him.

Soon after, Nookie heard chuckles behind him, the rest of the adventurer party closing in—except for Thunder Lily, who stayed as far away from him as possible.

The little necrollin gritted his teeth in frustration at not being able to show the bastards his true capabilities.

Had he known that the cave would be discovered anyway, he wouldn’t have returned Firindroth and the Stygian Manticore to their containers.

In fact, he would’ve summoned more—the best of his corpse puppets—to take down this infuriating party of adventurers.

Nookie was sure he could’ve captured them in mere seconds had he opted to fight from the start.

Unfortunately, he didn’t, and he was now stuck in a situation that could be considered a nightmare for puppeteers like him.

Ironguard charged at the poor cornered necrollin the next moment, brandishing his shield to give the small monster a good old bash to the head.

However, midway through his charge, the warrior was forced to halt as he noticed they were being engulfed in a purple world, with hundreds of black sword silhouettes hovering above them.

“I-I can’t use my mana!” Thunder Lily exclaimed at her grim discovery, her instincts of harnessing her mana in preparation for casting a spell instantly kicking in.

Everyone in the party also tried to harness their mana after hearing the titled mage’s words.

Realizing that they were no exception, they all frowned, including Ironguard.

Although the warriors and scouts could still use skills that relied on stamina as a catalyst, the inability to access their mana was unsettling, prompting them to draw their weapons immediately in preparation for a sudden ambush.

Ironguard’s brows then rose in surprise as he felt warm energy course through his body after grabbing his shortsword.

He was confused as to why he suddenly got a power-up.

[Sword Realm] was an ancient unique skill, its skill book long lost to the passage of time.

Old Sanada was among the fortunate few who had obtained a copy before it vanished entirely—either buried in the ruins of fallen powers or locked away in the vaults of the most influential clans.

It was no surprise that none of the adventurers knew what the skill was.

However, its effectiveness slowly declined over time, especially due to the recent devices developed by Manasoft Corporation.

Activating their orb-like anti-mana disruption devices, an azure bubble covered each member of the investigation party.

They could now access their mana again, but escaping the purple world was still impossible without either destroying it, waiting for it to time out, or defeating its caster.

Moreover, due to the limitations of their devices, none of them could regenerate mana naturally and had to make do with only forty percent of the effectiveness of even peak-tier mana regeneration potions.

Still, it was better than being unable to fight at all.

The investigation party stood ready for battle, their expressions tense as they scanned their surroundings, eager to spot the ambusher before the person or creature could strike.

It wasn’t hard to spot the caster of the world of swords, however.

As they heard footsteps to their left, the members of the investigation party turned their heads to look, narrowing their eyes upon realizing that the ambusher was but a lone male human scratching the back of his head.

“Tch, how troublesome.” the man said.