692 Chapter 692

Once he was satisfied with his initial examination of the area Marcus set off and ran straight through the snowy forest.

His goal was much deeper in the dungeon, and he wanted to get there quickly.

Yet while he wanted to go into his ghost form the second he was out of view from anyone else, he currently had a problem.

‘They sure are persistent.’ Marcus thought as he continuously felt three presences tailing him with his life sense skill.

Not long after he entered the forest from the beginning of the area, a group of people had started following him and they showed no signs of giving up even as he entered into more dangerous areas.

Of course, Marcus had figured out that these adventurers were likely in league with the Marauders which is why he did not simply move at his full speed and lose them.

‘Now I just need to wait for them to make their move. If I am wrong, I do not want to attack them just in case they are normal adventurers that are suspicious of me being a Marauder.

Marcus continued on for nearly an hour, avoiding any sort of fight with beasts or monsters with his stealth skill, but making sure to never get too far ahead of the group that was tailing him.

He had noticed that they had increased the size of their number and were now at seven strong, which was quite a sizable amount.

‘Come on out. I am completely defenseless as I enjoy this meal.’ Marcus thought as he took out some rations and pretended to eat them.

Luckily, they did take the bait and target Marcus while his guard seemed to be down.

Two daggers and a bolt from a crossbow came rapidly flying towards him with all of them aimed to at nonvital areas.

The crossbow bolt was aimed at his left shoulder while one of the daggers was coming for his torso and the other his right leg.

Jumping out of the way Marcus made it seem like he had only just sensed the attacks when they were already closing in and made sure to make it look like he got hit by one of them.

The one that had been coming for his right leg sunk into his upper thigh as he purposefully let it hit him there.

Though while it was a sharp mithril dagger, it never could have even hoped to injure him from such a weak throw. So, to make it seem like he had actually been injured Marcus made that part of his leg intangible and caught the dagger inside his form.

Then came the theatrics.

He fell over onto the ground and began rolling around as if he was in immense pain.

This just as hoped lured in his assailants, and they came out from their hiding spots and approached him.

“See I told you she would be able to dodge if only one of us attacked. It was right to take the risk of seriously injuring her.”

“Yeah, you are right. But it still would have been a huge waste if you were wrong, and we ended up accidently killing a beauty like her.”

The group of seven attackers began talking leisurely amongst themselves as they slowly approached Marcus. Confident that they had already won.

‘The lowest is level twenty-three while the highest is thirty-one. They average around twenty-six. A strong group overall. I am sure they stay in this area and prey on weaker parties or soloists like me.’ Marcus thought as he appraised the group coming towards him.

They were made up of five men and two women, with all of them appearing to be pretty lithe and mobile.

No doubt they were geared towards stealth and surprise attacks than actually taking their opponents head on.

Continuing his act of being injured, Marcus wobbled to his feet and looked indignantly at those that were attacking him. Then he swiftly took out a mithril knife he often used for cooking to use as a weapon.

Yet as he did this, he received a far more serious reaction from his attackers than he expected, as the second he got up they became on edge and brought their guards up.

“I thought you said that paralyzing agent would be enough to prevent her from moving after just a few seconds” One of the attackers asked the one who had thrown the daggers.

“She must possess the poison or paralysis resistance skill. But she is still staggering and injured. The poison is definitely affecting her.”

As he listened to this conversation Marcus looked down at the dagger he was still making a show of sticking out of his leg, and saw that it had a slightly shiny coating on it.

‘Great, if I had known that it was poisoned, I would have acted more out of it and not gotten up as easily. But whatever, I will try to roll with it and see what answers I can get out of them.’

Tightening his guard and looking around wildly, Marcus tried to make it seem that he was trying to find a way to run away from a perilous situation.

“I do not recommend you try to escape. Just give up and you will not experience anymore pain. You have pretty good looks, and we would not want to mess up our merchandise.” The apparent leader of this group said as he took a step forward with his sword drawn.

Yet even as Marcus had a standoff with them, they made no move to attack him immediately and their group got into advantageous positions to surround him.

They were acting very carefully and were far more disciplined for criminals than Marcus had figured they would be.

Even though he was seemingly injured and acting weakened, they did not recklessly attack him and were making through preparations to make sure they won without and difficulties.

“What are you planning to do to me? Are you the Marauders I have heard about?” Marcus said with a frantic tone.

“Yes, we are part of the Marauders as you surmised, and we have plenty of associates that would like a slave like you. Now drop your weapon, get on your knees, and hold out both of your hands. If you do this and offer no resistance, I will make sure you are not harmed any more and end up with a nice master.” The leader said while trying to put on a kind smile.

Not getting the answer he wanted, Marcus tried asking a few more questions, but only got more orders to surrender or he was going to suffer.

‘Seems they are not the talkative type. I was hoping they would be the classic loose lipped criminals that spill all of their plans when they think they have the upper hand, but I guess not. Plan B it is.’

Sighing Marcus stood upright and the fake tension in his posture disappeared.

No longer was he acted like a cornered individual but instead like a confident hunter.

Then to the astonishment of all of the Marauders he pulled the dagger out of his leg and there was not a mark on him.

Not even Marcus’ clothes had taken any damage as he had also made them ethereal.

“Roxene, capture the two on the right, Inten, capture the two on the left. I will take the three in the middle.”