043: Richard, Devotee of the Goddess, Appears Once Again (Please Follow the Serial!)

"Drip, drip..."

In the dim cavern, water droplets echoed from the ceiling.

Mid-air, two floating crystal lanterns led the way forward alongside the five-member team of MI6.

Mary, the heavy-armored knight, took the lead, while Harden the scout remained concealed in the shadows.

It had been agreed that Richard was a newcomer and needed protection from his seniors.

Yet, since he was clad in armor for close combat, the words "fragile cannon fodder" were practically written across the faces of Falken the musketeer and Old Shuke the ice mage.

After much deliberation, Richard ended up being assigned as the protector of the two ranged damage dealers.

Suddenly—

A tattered figure lunged forward.

Falken raised his hand and, without even looking, blew the creature's head off with a single shot.

It was a rotting corpse with hollow eyes and a crooked gait—a quintessential low-tier undead creature.

Having lost its head, the corpse continued to stagger forward a few more steps out of sheer momentum before collapsing to the ground.

The battle was over.

The rotting corpse monster was finished.

Its already battered body turned to ash within ten seconds.

"Ding-dong!" ~

System Prompt: Team kill. Your EXP +1%.

......

Richard blinked.

"So this is what it feels like to leech EXP by sticking with a team."

Current status—

[Name: Richard]
[Class: None]
[Level: 9 (3%)]
[Attack Power: 138 (Focus, Composed, Chivalry)]
[Assets: 13 gold, 46 silver, 23 copper coins]
[Junior Adventurer, MI6 Private Second Class, Basic Swordsmanship LV0 (15/100), Sword Weapon Mastery LV0 (36/100), Riding Mastery LV0 (2/100)]

......

Unsurprisingly, Richard’s level had reached level 9.

His sword weapon mastery proficiency had also surpassed the one-third mark under daily training.

The most notable stat was his attack power—in two words, skyrocketing.

It felt like once Richard secured a class and advanced to level 18, without needing any extraordinary talent, he wouldn't lag far behind Sergeant Mary, the Flame Knight.

However, trailing behind the 138 attack power were three status traits—

[Focus]: Granted by the dwarf Falken's focus aura. Attack power +3%, hit rate +2%.
[Composed]: Granted by the scout Harden's composed aura. Agility +2, attack power +2.5%.
[Chivalry]: Granted by the Flame Knight Mary. Team attack power +5%, block rate +5%.

......

Stripping away all these extra attributes, Richard's base attack panel wasn't nearly as exaggerated.

"Ding-dong!" ~

System Prompt: Team kill. Your EXP +1.5%.

......

While Richard was momentarily dazed, another skeleton monster was poked to pieces by Mary with a single thrust.

Old Shuke asked, "Richard, once inside the cave, do you know which way to go?"

Richard shook his head. "I only know the treasure chest is further down. If we encounter any forks ahead, as long as we keep heading downward, it should be fine."

Just as he spoke,

a fork in the path truly appeared ahead.

Both routes led downward.

The others looked at Richard.

Richard: "......"

He said innocently, "I'm a newcomer, and this is my first time on an adventure. I think we should go left."

Mary: "Move out!"

With absolute strength on display, the lady Flame Knight was always this decisive and swift.

A few minutes later,

the five of them fled back in a panic.

There were no treasure chests on this path, only dozens of intertwined shadow serpents.

"It's a shadow serpent nest! The giant serpent in the very back is at least level thirty-something!"

Old Shuke frantically cast [Ice Orb] behind him.

Falken's gun barrel was glowing red.

If Richard hadn't been trailing right behind them the whole time, everyone would have suspected the kid was trying to get them killed.

"Hah, hah!... Who on earth said this was a beginner adventuring spot that had already been plowed through countless times?"

After putting some distance between themselves and the shadow serpent nest, Old Shuke collapsed onto the ground. "Harden, you better explain this to me!"

Harden the bearded scout emerged from the shadows, casting a lingering, fearful glance back toward the serpent nest. "How would I know? Back when I was an ordinary adventurer, I'd never even seen a shadow serpent that damn big!"

No one blamed Richard.

Because before they set off, Richard had explicitly stated he didn't know the way.

And it was precisely this incident that made Richard realize the benefits of being fast on one's feet.

The Shadow Serpent King was a level 35 elite creature; a single spit of its venom could wipe out an entire village.

For a mere level 9 adventurer, even the slightest brush with it would mean instant death.

At that moment, Mary rolled up her sleeve to inspect her armor, which had been heavily corroded by the venom, revealing an injured arm.

Old Shuke pulled out an antidote potion.

Mary took it and applied it to the wound.

Unfortunately, the effect didn't seem particularly good.

Among the five-member squad, Mary was the only one who had fought the Shadow Serpent head-on and failed to completely dodge its toxic breath.

That serpent's level was simply too high.

The grade of the antidote potion wasn't quite sufficient.

Mary furrowed her brow. She hadn't expected to encounter a monster of such a high level so soon after entering.

Judging by this, they should probably retreat now, gather more manpower, and then return to secure the [Saint's Relic] of the Black Fog Church.

As for her injury—

The relationship between MI6 and the Church of the Goddess of Light could never be described as harmonious.

Therefore, there was no cleric among the five of them.

They had to rely on themselves.

Mary finally spoke, "I'll use fire to cauterize the poison first, and we can deal with the rest once we get back."

Cauterization via high heat was a viable method.

Yet, pressing a flame directly against one's own arm—the pain involved was not something an ordinary person could endure.

"If you don't mind, let me give it a try."

Richard suddenly raised his hand.

"You know how to cure poison?"

Harden the bearded scout asked suspiciously.

Richard smiled. "You guys forgot, I'm a believer of the Goddess."

Right.

The others recalled that such a thing had indeed been mentioned.

However, Richard's talent definitely had nothing to do with being a believer of any goddess.

That day, he had claimed that whenever he encountered difficulties, he would pray to the Goddess, and she would help him through them.

He wasn't the Goddess's biological son; would mere prayers actually yield a response?

Without giving the others much time to question him, Richard placed a medical treatment agreement in front of Mary.

"Sign this, and leave the healing to me," Richard said.

Who on earth made their teammates sign an agreement just to cure poison?

Old Shuke scrutinized Richard in every possible way. "Young man, are you sure you're a believer of the Goddess and not an emissary of the abyss?"

Yet, without hesitation, Mary asked for a pen and signed her full name at the bottom right corner of the agreement.

Certain special talents were top-tier secrets among secrets; unless forced into a desperate situation, no one would expose them to outsiders.

Mary knew this well.

Coupled with the fact that half of her body was beginning to grow numb, Mary chose to place her trust in this young man.

"Ding-dong" ~

System Prompt: The transaction list has been updated. Please check it in time.

......

Richard smiled.

Today's version of the agreement had been meticulously prepared once again. Upon signing and agreeing to the treatment, all rights to Mary would temporarily belong to Richard.

Transaction List: [Mary's Time], [Mary's Stamina], [Mary's Long Legs], [Mary's Toxin]...... The good and the bad, everything was available.

[Mary's Toxin]: Venom from the Shadow Serpent, possessing corrosive and paralyzing effects. Valued at 2 silver coins.

......

Two silver coins were only enough to buy a few bottles of intermediate antidote potions.

However, Richard's transactions worked differently from standard antidote potions; items could be sold off and bought back later.

And since this was the exact moment to showcase his ability as a believer of the Goddess—

Richard resolutely clicked "Sell."