Star Forge Titan

After the first killing, the other apprentices immediately fled in terror, but the murderer who broke into the gold shop chased them and killed them all on the spot without any hesitation, so these people collectively showed up with back injuries and their bodies falling forward to die.

During this process, the murderer still used the heavy long-handled weapon, so the wounds of these apprentices also showed the same bloody and torn appearance.

However, this also struck Ivan as somewhat odd. If the murderer had committed the crime so brazenly, the victim's final screams would surely have drawn the attention of those around them. However, the information Grippy had revealed indicated that the crime scene wasn't discovered until the following morning.

Did you use magic or enchanted equipment that can block the propagation of sound...

This is consistent with what I had guessed.

With his mind made up, Ivan stopped exploring the crime scene. Noticing his pause, the clueless Gripi couldn't help but ask:

"What do we do next?"

"Wait." Ai Wen uttered a word concisely.

The expression on Gripi's face became more and more confused. He thought that the other party was here to look for clues to find out the identity of the murderer. In the end, the two of them would probably be like the detective and his assistant in a mystery novel, after a battle of wits and courage, and then have a head-on battle with the murderer.

So, according to the plot of detective novels, the current situation should be to continue searching for clues and then move on to the deduction plot. As for whether the detective is himself or Ivan, Grippy doesn't care.

He just wanted to see the murderers brought to justice, and even better, he wanted to yell at them loudly.

If you have any problem, come to me! Don’t involve innocent people!!!

After a short silence, Gripi suddenly spoke:

"I know them." Pointing at the apprentices lying on the ground, the young dwarf Bloodsworn Avenger turned his gaze towards the second floor.

That was the bedroom of the goldsmith's family. The goldsmith, his wife and two children were also killed that day. Gripi didn't even dare to go upstairs to witness the tragic scene with his own eyes.

"Most dwarves who leave the Dwarven Kingdom are very united. They often welcome fellow dwarves from other places. If the other party is in difficult circumstances, the local dwarves will at least provide a hot dinner if they can."

"When I first arrived in Ismailia, I was penniless. It was the local dwarves who helped me through the most difficult times. Later, I became an adventurer and gradually earned some money. I was able to survive by working for others."

Greeppi forced a smile, but his expression was uglier than crying.

"Back home, I learned some skills. Although I'm far from qualified, I can at least make some small things. So, I also worked part-time in this gold shop. I know all these apprentices and we've even had meals together."

Pointing at the corpse lying by the door, the expression on Greeppi's face gradually disappeared, leaving only the fiery anger burning in his eyes.

"That's Kaka. His full name is too long for everyone to remember, so we simply call him Kaka. Although he's a human, his craftsmanship is no less than those lazy dwarf boys. He's even more creative than the other apprentices."

"We always believed that once Kaka finished his apprenticeship, he would become the best goldsmith in Ismailia. But, but now... he has no chance..."

Greeppi closed his eyes, his breathing became extremely heavy, and his five fingers tightly gripped the double-edged battle axe on his back.

Ivan patted the dwarf's shoulder and said slowly in a low voice:

"Don't worry, the chance for revenge will come soon."

As he said this, his eyes were always looking outside the door, which was shrouded in pitch-black night.

Gripi thought the two men were here to investigate a case, but Ivan had made preparations before arriving at the crime scene. Not preparations for investigating the case, but preparations for fighting.

As for the target, it certainly wouldn't be the ordinary city guards outside the door.

In Ivan's opinion, the murderer was obviously intending to find a specific target by indiscriminately attacking all the dwarves in the city of Ismailia.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have attacked the man without a word the moment he entered the room, neither pressing him for the whereabouts of the money nor seeking any other information. Clearly, his sole purpose was to kill.

Considering that the dwarves tend to stick together after leaving the kingdom, there is a high probability that the murderer intends to use this to lure out the target he wants to find.

Therefore, they would definitely conduct secret surveillance on the crime scene. This way, if the dwarf they were looking for dared to come and investigate, he would be like foolish prey walking into a trap and be easily captured by the murderer and his group.

However, a skilled hunter often appears as prey.

Ivan's plan wasn't complicated, and the information revealed by the traces at the scene only confirmed his suspicions. The possible presence of silent magic or props in particular suggested a group operation.

Then what we need to do next is to go with the flow, wait for the murderer to come to us, and then kill them all in one go.

Things have their priorities. Alvin knew that his main goal now was the Witch King's secret technique, but in the process of competing for a precious item that only existed in one, finding ways to hurt other competitors who dared to extend their hands was also an indispensable part of the competition.

In a sense, this is indeed a kind of reasoning, a correct reasoning based on one's own muscle strength.

Thus, the detective story collection of Marceau (Muscle) is serialized!

Chapter 92: There is Still One Person

From viewing the scene to completing the reasoning, the entire process only took Alvin a few minutes.

But then the murderer appeared, even faster than that.

Less than thirty seconds after Alvin deduced that the murderer might be lurking nearby, a figure in a black robe suddenly appeared outside the door.

The man didn't look tall, perhaps even a bit short, but he held several extremely thick metal chains in his hands. At the other end of the chains were several other figures, some taller and some shorter, also wearing black fighting robes.

"..." Gripi silently gripped the double-edged axe in his hand.

Click! The double-edged axe, meticulously crafted with dwarven craftsmanship, contained a secret mechanism. When the user turned the mechanism accurately, it split into two, becoming two single-edged short axes held in the left and right hands.

The young dwarf Bloodsworn Avenger was no fool. After listening to Ivan's inference and combining it with some information that only he knew, he naturally guessed the truth of the matter.

So, when he saw this group of mysterious people in black robes, his first reaction was to rush up and kill them all.

However, Greeppi's alertness as a soldier prevented him from acting on his own.

"Heh." The black-robed leader sneered mockingly.

"I was planning to kill a few more dwarves, but on the third day, the real enemy couldn't help but jump out. Should I say that I'm too lucky, or that my opponent is too stupid?"

"Why drag innocent people into this?" Gripi growled, suppressing his anger.

"Is this my fault? Why do I feel like you're wrong? Why do you have to get involved with someone you don't even know? As a result, we have to work so hard to find them and clean them up one by one, so that the thing won't fall into the hands of others." The man in black robe laughed shrilly and pretended to complain.

"So, the one who is wrong is you who is involved with them!!!" The man in black robe laughed loudly, but there was no echo from the narrow alleys around him.

"Damn it!" Gripi almost bit his teeth off in anger.

"Calm down." Alvin took a step forward.

"Have you forgotten what I told you before you came?"

Recalling what the black-haired boy beside him had said before, the dwarf who was about to rush out immediately calmed down.

"Oh, who is this? I don't remember seeing such a young person with the other His Majesties." The leading black-robed man jokingly said:

Alvin did not answer this indirect question, but silently put on the white hood behind him and tightened his cuffs.

Seeing the familiar white hooded cloak, the black-robed man's expression suddenly changed, and all his muscles tensed. As a member of the Witch King's staff responsible for intelligence and assassination, he naturally recognized the identity of this attire.

"Damn it, it's those damn fist fighters!" Dirty words kept spewing out of the black-robed man's mouth. At the same time, he suddenly pulled the chain in his hand and then loosened it.

"Kill him! Kill him now! Don't let him send out the signal!"

Those figures of different heights all roared like wild beasts, and then took out sickles, grappling hooks, long swords and other weapons from their black robes.

The narrow back door of the goldsmith shop prevented the group of people from rushing into the house at the same time, so the tallest figure among them simply picked up the mace in his hand and swung it hard, destroying the door frame and the wall at the same time.

Judging from the sound it made, it was actually a fat ogre. But how could an ogre, who was savage and unrestrained by nature, obey the orders of others?

As for the other fighters dressed in black robes, they were obviously also very skilled. Like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves, they rushed into the goldsmith's shop, growling.

Grippy also roared, but before he could rush up to fight him, he heard the cold voice of the black-haired boy beside him.

"The corpse is talking."

Ivan put the five fingers of his right hand together, and then seemingly casually cut a horizontal line from left to right.

At this moment, a group of black-robed men rushed into the house, and the closest one was at least three to five meters away from him.

But accompanied by a series of sounds of sharp blades cutting through the air, the opponent suddenly stopped moving...

One, two, three, four, five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine!!!

The strongest boxing technique in the alliance that has been silent for many years - Lan Dou Sheng Quan, reappears in the world at this moment!

Nine thin lines that are invisible to the naked eye run through the entire room. They are the power of boxing that is shaped and compressed by the force strings and transmitted through the air using space as the medium.

In the face of this force compressed to a thickness as thin as a piano wire, even the ground, walls, and even the strongest beams were easily split in two, and the group of black-robed men who had just been charging forward were all stunned on the spot.

At first glance, the entire scene looked like a video that had been suddenly paused. Everything came to a standstill, and the air was completely silent as death.

slap~

Ivan snapped his fingers lightly.

Immediately, the chains of the black-robed men clattered to the ground. Drops of red blood slowly oozed from their bodies along narrow wounds too thin to be seen with the naked eye. Then, parts of the black-robed men tilted and scattered to the ground, leaving only their mutilated lower halves standing.

This horrifying scene shocked both the enemy and our side. No matter whether it was Gripi or the black-robed leader who was left alive, they all stared at the scene in front of them with their eyes wide open and their mouths wide open.

"I was thinking of letting me deal with these guys..." Gripi muttered in confusion.

"Isn't there one left for you?" Alvin shrugged.

He never had any extra sympathy for evildoers. After all, when evildoers were committing their crimes, they probably didn't sympathize with their victims, right? Therefore, simply sending them to their deaths was his greatest mercy.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what did you do!?! Wait, could that be…” The short, black-robed man in the lead let out a sharp scream like a woman.

He was also holding a magic badge in his hand that was working. Judging from the unusually quiet background noise outside, it was most likely a magic prop used to block the spread of sound.

But this thing is now playing the opposite role, and in a sense it has helped Alvin and Gripi.

"Shut up!" Gripi stepped forward and swung his axe.

The heavy axe back struck the black-robed man's shin bone directly, causing his scream to rise an octave along with the sound of broken bones.

When he lifted the cloak, he saw a goblin with a pointed face and monkey cheeks. It was really surprising that this sub-human race with low average intelligence could be an intelligence officer.

After being stunned for a moment, Gripi did not hesitate. He raised his hand and slapped the goblin hard, causing the goblin to spit out half of its teeth on the spot.

"Tell me, whose are you?"

He didn't ask the other party why he did such a thing. After all, Gripi knew the answer to the question very well. He just wanted to know who was responsible for these tragedies?

The only thing left to do next is to bring the axe to the culprit's head!

"Ran Dou Sheng Quan! How could it be Ran Dou Sheng Quan! Master, I must tell this to the great master!" The dazed goblin shouted continuously in a shrill voice.

On the other side, Alvin suddenly frowned because he discovered something strange.

The black-robed people who launched the attack were of different races. Among them were humans, the most common species on the continent, as well as monsters like ogres that usually only appeared in the wilderness. The weapons they used were also different.

But what surprised Alvin was that there was only one person missing from this group who could use an axe...

According to his previous speculation based on his own experience.

The axe was the murder weapon in the goldsmith shop murder.

Bang!

The next moment, the window of the goldsmith shop was suddenly broken from the outside, and a figure rushed in brazenly!

Chapter 94: The Whipped

"Instead of running away, you attacked me?"

Ivan made a teasing sound and waved his hand to block the falling heavy axe blade.

Although it was a flesh and blood body, when it collided with the metal weapon, a large cluster of bright red sparks visible to the naked eye burst out.

A boxer who has reached the level of being able to kill with ease can activate the power of his boxing configuration at any time. At the moment he was blocked just now, Alvin activated the core configuration of the Flowing Stone Fist - Hard Rock.

The dark, crystalline skin that covered the front of his forearm possessed a hardness stronger than steel, yet possessed a toughness that steel lacked, making it even tougher than most armor. Of course, this was simply a disguise Ivan had created, considering his current identity.

Before encountering a truly difficult enemy, he always pretends to be a bit tough.

Otherwise, this ordinary metal weapon that doesn't even have any enchantment or enhancement, even if it is a fine product made by a dwarf craftsman himself, can't easily break through the passive protection that operates automatically around Ivan.

The virtual scale steel armor, formed by the resonance of the dual talents of 'Invisible Scales' and 'Blessing of Steel - Immortal Body', can easily block almost all weapons made of ordinary iron. At the same time, it can also roll up invisible force field sharp scales, which in turn can strangle the attacker into pieces.

This kind of fully automatic defense system that integrates offense and defense is a bug-level skill that is enough to make knowledgeable players curse the planner even in the virtual game world of Palladia that Ivan experienced before crossing over.

However, the person who was currently attacking Alvin obviously did not have the time to understand such things. After the failed surprise attack, he had already fallen into an extremely unfavorable situation.

After blocking the axe blade with his arm covered by the power of the boxing configuration, he raised his hand and grabbed it. The five fingers wrapped in black sharp crystals were like the claws of a roaring tiger, directly outlining five parallel thin lines in the air.

The distance between the two sides was almost close, and Alvin used the secret of the Storm Fighting Holy Fist - the force string control more and more skillfully, directly converting all the strength used in the process of swinging his hand into sharp slashes released by his fingers.

Five thin lines invisible to the naked eye were like a hot knife cutting through butter, cutting the heavy battle axe in the attacker's hand into several pieces out of thin air.

The difference between a boxer who has reached the realm of free-killing and an ordinary fighter is no longer something that can be bridged by a single metal weapon. This is one of the reasons why high-level fighters of the Free Fist continue to choose to fight with bare hands. They have fully adapted to this fighting style and can use it to exert even greater power.

What was somewhat surprising was that the attackers whose weapons were destroyed did not retreat. Instead, they took advantage of the gap when Ivan destroyed the weapons and rushed towards the black-robed goblin captured by Gripi.

"Get me out now, you stupid slave!" The goblin, who was missing half a row of teeth, gave an unclear command.