"The City of Sin, although still part of the Central Continent, has long since been corroded by the Forgotten Lands! Most who come here are wizards and other races who couldn't make it anywhere else, or simply wanted criminals!"
Leilin recalled the introduction he had read.
He then looked around.
Sure enough, most of the travelers disembarking here had grim expressions and an air about them that said they weren't to be trifled with, while others had simply covered their faces entirely.
Even the laborers and slaves carrying cargo below kept sizing up this group of travelers, hiding ferocity and bloodlust beneath docile gazes, as if waiting for them to show a single opening before swarming in to tear them apart and devour them—like wolves.
"Chaos, no order, strength is everything! Filled with all manner of sin! That's why this place was named the City of Sin!"
Leilin recalled the information he had read and, along with Robin and the others, quietly merged into the crowd.
The City of Sin had no city guards, and of course no entry fees, so there was a heavy flow of people—though none of them looked like good people. Those who had fallen low enough to end up here were naturally no good sorts themselves.
"Kid, what are you looking at?" A hulking man nearly two meters tall and covered in muscle glared menacingly at a small figure in front of him.
"Oh! Sorry! Sorry!"
The small man had a pair of narrow triangular eyes and a slit of a mouth, bowing and scraping with an apologetic grin.
Just as he bowed in apology, suddenly a cold light flashed from those triangular eyes. He whipped out a black dagger and stabbed it straight toward the big man's abdomen.
"You—!" The big man's face was full of rage and shock, but a thin ring of luminous defense had already risen from his body.
This big man was actually a Knight who had awakened his Life Energy! This kind of Life Energy defense had excellent protective effects against blunt strikes like clubs and staffs, and could even reduce most of the force behind a piercing attack like this one.
Fierce light blazed in the big man's eyes as he had already decided how he would slowly torture the little man once he blocked this attack.
Pfft!
But in the next instant, all the ferocity vanished from his face, replaced by an expression of sheer terror.
He saw his famed defense—the ultimate protection of a Knight—torn apart as easily as paper by that black dagger.
The black dagger continued without pause along its path, plunging into the big man's abdomen, then twisted savagely.
"You..." The big man collapsed with blood foaming at his mouth, writhing in agony on the ground, his shattered innards and intestines faintly visible through the wound. With injuries like these, unless a Wizard intervened, there was no saving him.
The small man pocketed his dagger, quickly pushed through the crowd, and vanished around a corner.
"What a waste for that big fellow! He was at least a Knight—in a real fight, ten little runts couldn't beat him!"
"What's there to waste? That little runt was carrying at least a weapon passed down from a Wizard! Against something like that, even a Great Knight could get hurt if they weren't careful!"
The passersby on either side showed no panic at all. On the contrary, they watched the fallen big man with considerable schadenfreude, and a few even exchanged glances before chasing after the little man's escape route.
Only after a long wait did a patrol squad arrive in no hurry at all, performing their roles as clean-up crew and body collectors admirably.
"What that little runt was carrying was a slightly enchanted item. It hadn't reached the rank of low-level Magical Items, but it was still quite impressive..."
Leilin watched this scene and quietly shook his head. Since entering the City of Sin, he had already witnessed no fewer than four or five such incidents, and nobody from the city's authorities had come forward to do anything about it.
The streets on both sides were covered in gashes from blades and axes, along with bloodstains that could never be washed away, having long turned a dark brownish-black.
All in all, this was a supremely chaotic city of criminals, where robbery, murder, and all manner of depravity were commonplace. Who knew what dark dealings lurked in the corners? A faint aura emanated from somewhere that even made Leilin feel somewhat uneasy.
Fortunately, Leilin and his group were all dressed as mercenaries, brimming with killing intent and carrying weapons, so they looked dangerous enough to ward off most trouble.
Even so, there had still been a few blind fools who coveted Kasha and the other female warlocks' beauty and brazenly blocked their path, making demands of Leilin and his group. And now? They had all become corpses, gone to repent before death.
"Robin, those dark auras seeping from the shadows—they're making me very uncomfortable!"