Walking in the dark alleyways, the food... Affection... Tomorrow... , messy and chaotic thoughts alternately wandered in Shogues's mind, unable to grasp the center.

Hughes was in a trance for a moment, and suddenly couldn't remember where the road under his feet that stretched forward, but he inexplicably remembered a sentence that he had heard or seen somewhere.

"Every road has an end. ”

A faint whisper came from the darkness ahead, forcing Shoggus out of his muddy thoughts.

He suddenly realized that he was very close to the voice, and the first thing he heard was what seemed to be a gnawing sound.

Meeting in the dark is like this, everyone's dark vision range is actually about the same, when you see me, in fact, I also see you.

Two black shadows that had been lying on the ground stood up at the same time with heavy gasps, one tall and one short. There was a faint dark shadow at their feet, and from the smell of wind and snow in their faces, Shogues could smell blood.

They were eating people, and it was just a matter of seconds for Shogues to have a conclusion in his mind.

This was not a conjecture, because the size of the black shadow on the ground was obviously not that of a dog or a mouse, and it was impossible for the tall and short black shadows to brave the bitter cold of the deep winter to run into this dark and dangerous alleyway to clean up.

Just as Shogues was considering whether to force his way through or turn around and choose a new alleyway, someone's footsteps sounded behind him.

With a quick glance back, Shogues realized that he seemed to be surrounded.

This way I was in a trance and neglected my guard.

Hughes leaned sideways against the wall, silently reflecting on the situation on both sides of the alleyway.

Judging by the height of the new arrival's footsteps, it may be an adult male, and it is not known if there are other helpers hiding in the shadows around him.

At this moment, two black shadows are in front and one black shadow is behind, blocking the passage in front and back of the alley on both sides, and at the same time maintaining a visual distance from themselves, the dangerous taste in this trend of encirclement is self-evident.

To live or to die, everyone has their own path to follow.

Shogues had no intention of reprimanding anyone for cannibalism, but that didn't mean he was willing to be someone else's meal.

The hands were crossed and sunk upwards from the leather scabbard of the waist loop.

"Sizzle!"

The grinding of the dagger out of its sheath was audible in the silent alleyway, but it didn't seem to intimidate the people in front of them.

It seems that he was underestimated by the other party because of the height of a child, and the three black shadows showed no sign of opening the way, and Xiugus felt a little more dignified in his heart.

These are obviously not the ordinary people who tremble, maybe they used to be, but now the extreme hunger has made them evil and detached from human nature.

Usually Shogues is reluctant to take the initiative to provoke outlaws and powerful factions, and these ordinary people with hungry and red eyes are also classified as dangerous by Shogues, because they have little oil and water, but they have the same madness.

There is no communication or inquiry between the two sides, and people who talk a lot usually don't live long.

Xiugues was the first to break the game, he didn't care about the back, but chose the two tall and short figures in front of him as the breakthrough. There was no specific reason, maybe it was just that one of the figures seemed to be shorter than himself.

As he moved, the two black shadows in front of him also assumed a posture of guard and blocking at the same time.

Shogues didn't sprint straight towards the target, as the snow on the ground would make his feet slip and he wouldn't be able to get up his speed.

His thief's stride started in a somewhat comical manner, looking like a wobbly drunk, but he landed extremely quickly, and the short distance of five steps was simply a flickering and roundabout feeling that Hughgoth had stepped out.

At the right distance, Shogues, who had adjusted his balance, held the dagger on the outside of his wrist with both hands, and suddenly burst towards the short figure like a bird with a wingspan.

The tall figure in the two dark shadows in front of him also left his position with judgment, and instantly rushed to the short figure and took the initiative to meet Xiugus.

"Tom!"

After a dull gust of wind, the sound of sticks smashing against walls sounded in the darkness.

The corners of Shogues's mouth curled up with a disdainful sneer.

Deftly traversing or abruptly changing direction diagonally is the essence of a thief's pace.

At the moment when the tall black shadow approached, Xiugus calmly raised his foot and gently kicked on the left wall, like a nimble flea, with the help of the rebound, a large leap towards the right space given by the tall black shadow.

As he completed the breakout, the dagger in his left hand slashed across the shoulder of the black shadow. Since the other party despises him, he has the obligation to leave some souvenirs for him.

"Hmm!" a hoarse grunt came from under the hood.

Woman?What surprised Shogues a little was not the gender of the other party or the wooden stick that he didn't know where to hide before, but the fierce aggression that this woman burst out in this short moment.

Then the short black shadow suddenly moved.

I don't know if he was stunned before or if he didn't react until now, but he cut into the fight just in time for the brief period when Shogues scratched the tall black shadow before it landed.

At an unbelievable speed, the dwarf flew like a cat and pounced on Shogues.

He stretched his arms forward to the extreme, and in that extremely short moment, he accurately grabbed Shogges's elbow, and then bit Shoggers on the arm with a fierce mouth.

The sudden weight of his arm and the inertia of the opponent's attack caused Shogoslav, who had not yet landed, to lose his balance in an instant, and at the same time rolled into the snow with the short figure, sliding out of a distance.

The thick winter clothes blocked the attack of the short black shadow, and did not do any substantial damage, but the terrifying bite still made Xiugus have some heart palpitations.

With a sudden fierceness on his face, Shoggs instantly reversed his right wrist, raised the dagger horizontally and stabbed at the dwarf who was still biting his left hand.

It is difficult to cut the throat because of the lack of angle, but a stab in the neck or the side of the forehead can also send the dwarf to meet his ancestors.

It's just that Shogues's dagger stiffened in the air when it was about to stab the opponent and did not slide into the intended trajectory.

A little girl?

Although Shogues himself was only a teenager in his early tens, he could indeed call the short dark shadow in front of him a child.

She was seven or eight years old at most, her clothes were ragged, there was no softness or innocence left on her immature face, and half of her face below the bridge of her nose looked a little hideous because it was covered with unknown blood.

She glared at Xiugus with a resolute gaze, and her whole body exuded an unending madness.

It was precisely because of her eyes that made Xiugus subconsciously stop attacking, although there was only coldness and cloudiness in that violent gaze, but at that moment it seemed to have some kind of inexplicable overlap with Kovier's eyes.

Struggling to get up quickly, the little girl still dangling from her arms and swinging in the wind like a hanged corpse.

Shogues cursed inwardly and bent his knee against the little girl's soft belly.

Feeling the fierce bite on his elbow loosen suddenly, Hughes quickly rolled forward, and then slammed out some distance by inertia.

The series of processes from the time Shogues launched his attack to the time he left the battlefield was actually only a few moments, and when Shogues looked back again, he and the three black shadows had once again opened a distance of vision.

The woman in the middle clutched her injured arm, and three figures of different heights supported each other, standing silently in a row as if they were seeing them off, before gradually receding after a while, fading out of Shogges's dark vision.

Shogues wasn't worried that they would come after him, running and chasing in the dark, the danger was the same for everyone. And even without themselves, their feast on the ground was not over.

I thought it was a gang of mobs, but a woman, a child, and the dark shadow of a suspected man who appeared at the end seemed to be a hunt for a family of three?

Picking up a handful of snow, Hughes wiped the blood on the dagger while silently summing up the gains and losses of the battle in his heart.

Strictly speaking, this sudden encounter wasn't even a battle, but Shogues still felt rewarded.

He began to understand what Isère had said more deeply than ever.

Isel is a middle-aged thief with a thin, low-key, and calm appearance, but everyone who knows him silently thinks in their hearts that it is a sharp blade hidden in a sheath.

He is not a native of Graycurtain Town, but a man who interprets the state of wandering to the extreme.

No one knows where he came from, he has no fixed residence, but he seems to be everywhere.

Isère fits all of Shogues' fantasies about the thief's profession and has always been a role model for himself.

He is the leader of Shogues' entry into the Thieves' Guild in Grey Curtain Town, but he knows that he is just an unlucky kid he meets while resting in the town, and he will not have a place for his little waste on his journey.

So Hughess has been observing, observing, carefully and profoundly, or learning Isère's every move and way of life.

There must be gains, and the only thing that Shogues can't tell is why Isère's calm and low-key ended up learning to be cynical himself. However, Huggers felt that this was not a big problem, so he firmly established his new style in the future.

Isère taught Hughgoth some truths and fighting techniques.

One of them, he said that the first hurdle that any professional must pass in the real sense is not to erect some distant and near goals, nor to work hard to hone combat skills, but to kill people.

There are so many adventurers on this continent, and there are actually a few who have actually killed people and are used to killing people. If you don't get past the killing level before the real battle comes, there's a good chance you'll end up being the one to be killed.

At that time, Shogues listened to it and was a little unimpressed.

He was full of confidence that as long as the development of the situation was necessary, and at the same time he had the first opportunity, he would eventually be able to do such a trivial thing as killing someone.

It wasn't until he recalled what had just happened to him, and the dagger he stabbed at the little girl subconsciously paused in the air, that Xiugus finally realized that cruelty could not be learned.

Maybe the persecution of the environment can make people temporarily overcome the obstacles in their hearts, but if they want to make this cruelty a part of their character, it takes the accumulation of experience, and it takes time to polish off the kindness and warmth in their hearts, so that their hearts can be as hard as iron.

Yourself, it seems that there is still a long way to go.

As for whether or not to go in that direction, Hughes wasn't too sure.

Calming down the turmoil caused by this brief encounter in his heart, Shogues continued down the main street towards the North End.

The flickering area of the North Side was still visible in the darkness ahead, but it didn't feel the slightest warmth. Hughes knew he had a bigger thing to do today, and that was his battlefield.