William didn't even flinch, even when the three old merchants gave him a threatening look. He knew they wouldn't let him go away from here without telling them everything about these materials.
But he wouldn't even do it, not without gaining the most, extorting these stingy and greedy merchants and others of the most gains he could get.
"This…" the faces of these three changed, while William stored the Bullet away.
"Why shall I do it with you when I can gain all the materials and items I need from Lara? Hell, I'll even get rewarded handsomely by her, without the need to pay anything!"
His words held a much deeper meaning. The three merchants couldn't help but exchange looks with each other. "Ok, let's consult with others and respond to you," the one who kept dealing with William said, before adding, "you won't move an inch from here, or else…"
"Try to stop me, I dare you!" William wasn't afraid of the three merchants. They might be at dark gold grade, but they lacked a lot in terms of fighting experience. Not to mention such merchants would focus totally on improving their trading techniques and abilities, neglect anything related to fighting and such.
So, William wasn't worried about them, but he was worried about the ones they'd bring with them later if he let them leave. He wasn't a fool to buy what they said. They needed to consult with others? What others? From the way Okland dealt with them, from how they were stationed just outside the most important place in their group, it told William they were big shots here. He'd not be surprised if they were owners as well.
And even if they didn't have the power to make such a call, they could have used their Bullets in front of him. Why the need to leave then except for going out, call all the guards they could get, and come here to surround him?
Using Lara's card was enough to scare these three. But if William got surrounded, if his life was on the line, he'd not be able to use Lara to get out from here.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Do you want to be the enemy of our group?"
"Enough!" the one who kept speaking with William shouted, "you do know you are tarnishing our reputation by what you imply, right?"
"Hmph! I didn't say a single word and you guessed it all! That's enough evidence of your evil intentions. Besides, trusting a merchant when my life is on the line? I'd better entrust my life to my deadliest enemy rather than to someone like you."
William's tongue was direct and harsh, didn't shy or back off and said everything he was thinking about. In the meantime, William took out his flying weapons, all of them, "if you didn't make up your mind or a way for me to go out, then I'll consider this as an act of hostility."
"Hey! Kid! We are your seniors…" before one of the three merchants would continue his words, William's weapons moved. He didn't hit a single one of them. But moving his weapons in the air was enough to force them back, even the one who just got interrupted stumbled and fell on the ground.
The look over their faces was priceless. They were terrified and afraid of William. And that made the latter more confident in his ability to get out of here unscathed.
"Don't try to follow me," William found at last a gap and hurriedly climbed the stairs to the surface. The three merchants followed suit, while Okland was left behind, totally feeling shocked and terrified of how things turned and escalated towards the worst.
William shouted back at the three merchants when he noticed they were following him. The three paused in their actions, exchanged looks of hesitation. William took this chance to move fast, move away from here, getting out from the arrays area.
Once he got out, he couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. Yet when he turned to look back at the three merchants, he was startled by what they were doing.
The one, who was like their leader, was outside the array by a few steps. He held some sort of a drum, a big drum. He had a big wooden stick in his other hand, and the look on his face was filled with enmity and dark intentions.
Without the need for William to ask, he could already imagine what was going to happen next.
The two merchants behind were inside the array. And with a smug look over their faces, they waved at William, as if they were saying their goodbye to him.
One look, one second was all it took William to grasp and realise what they wanted to do. "Sh*t!" He didn't even wait for the calamity to happen, turned around, and ran like crazy towards the direction of the big stairs.
*Gong!*
But he was too far away from the stairs to race that drum and its loud sound. When he looked back, he saw that merchant return inside the protection of the arrays, with an evil look over his face.
It was as if he saw this as just revenge against William. The latter couldn't help but inwardly curse, while praying that this loud sound would attract the scary creatures towards the direction of the arrays, not towards him.
He didn't want to use his technique, fearing to cause any noise, leading these creatures towards his spot. But the next few seconds, he could feel like something scary was setting its eyes over him, driving cold sweat over his back.
He didn't hesitate anymore. He didn't know how these creatures located him, but if so then there was no point in holding back.
*Roar!*
If the drum caused a loud noise in the middle of this deadly silent Lost City, then William's roar turned all the eyes towards here with fright.
William turned into his full fox form, took out a bottle of elixir, and gulped its content fully. He let his flying weapons move freely around, took out all of his three weapons, and started to use his dash technique madly.