Chapter 74

“I can’t.” Then, in a trembling voice that was surprising for a veteran knight who had seen the worst of people. “Captain Boras will make us his playthings.”

Plaything… Hearing that word, I gritted my teeth, and my anger flared out inside me. I kicked him in the head again, taking my anger out on him because that must be what Boras is doing to Clare.

“Then tell me where Clare is.”

Approaching back to me again, Skis drags another of my family's black knights, whom I knock out.

“Talk, or this one is next.”

He bit his lips, seeing Skis throw the unconscious black knight in front of him, and he told him.

“Talk, we have more than just him as a bargaining chip.”

Skis then stabs the black knight I knock out in the back, through his lungs. Pulling out his sword, Skis threatens.

“He’ll bleed out if you don’t tell us.”

Showing him a health potion, Skis offered it to him if he would tell them. However…

“I refuse; we’re all dead men.”

Skis raises one of his eyebrows at his response, but for some reason, there was something more to it than being annoyed from getting his answer.

“I see then… Maybe this would convince you.”

Skis went back to get another of my family's Black Knights and threw another unconscious body in front of him, on top of the Black Knight that was bleeding out, he took out something.

“Do you know what this is?”

A yellow potion vial and a blue potion vial were held in Skis' hand. I wondered what it was, and from seeing the leader of the group of my family's Black Knights' lack of reaction, he didn’t know either.

Showing the yellow potion was, “This is a Stillshade venom, from a Stillshade toad, and this,” then showing the blue potion vial, “this is a high-grade antidote potion, and let me show you what happens when you use both of them at the same time.

He poured a couple of drops of the yellow vial, the Stillshade venom, on the back of the black knight he just dragged back, then a quarter of the antidote potion.

A second later, after he poured the antidote potion on the black knight, his eyes shot open, and he screamed in pain.

Skis let him scream in agony, and we watched for a while before Skis decided it was enough and lopped his head off, ending his misery.

“I know your boss, Boras or something, likes to toy with people, and this is not as bad as what your boss is going to do to you. Tell us, and if you do that, we will make it quick and painless. After all, he’ll be mad at you if Nyx doesn’t show up.”

He gulped, stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I could see he was giving thought to Skis’s suggestion.

Honestly, looking at Skis right now, I guess this was his goal after all: to put him in a state of mind where he is in extreme stress and then offer him an option when he is not thinking straight.

An extremely painful death, versus an even more painful death, versus a painless one, if he tells us, are his options.

“Fff– fine.”

With that, he told us where Clare was being held. As Skis promised, he killed him with one swift motion of his sword.

We made our way to their base, running there because our position had already been revealed and known; however, we didn’t encounter anyone on the way.

Even more strangely, when we reached the building, which we planned to storm in, there was nobody to greet us.

Is this a trap? There was no other explanation; they are probably regathering to deal with us.

When we were at the entrance to the building Clare was being held at, which was the biggest building in the slums, looking like a warehouse more than anything else, my thoughts were proven right because we were immediately attacked.

My family's black knights reveal themselves on the edge of the rooftops of the neighboring buildings, and a hail of arrows rains down on us, forcing Skis to kick down the door so we won’t get hit by it.

Entering the building, we were attacked immediately as we went in. The building was strange because there were too many doors and corners, and due to that, many of my family's Black Knights popped up out of nowhere, even behind us.

The hallways were unusually narrow and new-looking, like they were just built. This has to be Boras's doing, like he planned it, because it was like a small maze, and we didn’t know where we were going.

I stuck close to Skis, watching his back as he was focusing on the black knights ahead of us.

Hearing a door open, I immediately glance back and see a short spear was thrown behind us, in addition to a couple of knives.

Time slowed down, and I moved to deal with it; I’ll be it slowly since I didn’t have Sarah's support spell.

First, I parry the spear with Athrun’s sword, deflecting it away from Skis, then I move my sword to parry a throwing knife.

Simultaneously, I use my free hand that wasn’t holding Athrun’s sword to grab the last two throwing knives, one after another. Then, with the two throwing knives in my hand, I threw them back at the people who threw them at us.

They hit the two of them, and I turned back to Skis to continue running.

“Guild Master Skis, do you know where we’re going?”

“I don’t know, but…”

Skis suddenly stopped, and he then cut down the wall on his right.

“I know the direction where we need to go.”

Going through the wall he just cut down, he then said.

“This place isn’t a maze.”

“What?”

“Did you notice that we didn’t enter into a dead end yet? And the number of black knights we encountered when we were going in a certain direction?”

“No, actually.”

I was amazed that Skis noticed that, especially so quickly, which I’d guess was due to the difference in our experience and skills as adventurers.

I followed Skis’s lead, going through the walls inside the building, bypassing the confusing layout.

Fighting my family’s black knights, who seem surprised to see us bursting through the walls, we manage to deal with them easily and fast without much trouble.

Eventually, we reach a wall that was made out of stone bricks instead of wood. We examined the brick wall. I began looking around it in one direction while Skis looked the other, and I spotted a staircase that went up and down.

“Guild Master Skis, over here. There is a staircase.”

I looked at the staircase as Skis walked up to me, internally debating whether we should go up or down, or separate.

Seeing me look at the staircases, Skis said while taking out a potion.

“Nyx, go to the basement. I’ll go upstairs. Take this; if you find your friend, I hope you won’t need it. Be careful; if you can’t handle it, retreat and come find me.”

“I know, and thank you.”

Holding the full heal potion Skis lent me, I also hoped I didn’t need to use it.

We separated, and I went down the stairs to what I think is the basement.

I walk down the lightly lit staircase with my sword in hand, ready for any surprise attack coming my way.

Fortunately, no attack came, and I entered a dark hallway that was filled with doors.

Carefully, I place my hand on the closest door near me and open it quietly to see that it is empty.

I did the same thing with the next door and the one after that. Each room I checked was empty, nothing but stone walls.

However, one of the doors I opened and entered, for some reason, made me feel something was off because I felt the room was eerily too empty.

I don’t know why I felt like it was unnatural for some reason. My new sense to sense mana was picking something up, but I don’t know what it was because it was different from the mana being used to cast spells—something different.

In the end, I didn’t find anything in that room, so I left the room wearily and went to the last door at the end of the hallway.

I stop before the door, and taking a breath, I ready myself to enter.

Slowly entering the door, I immediately smelled blood, and I rushed in, and for a moment, I did not know what to do.

There were two people inside; one was mangled beyond recognition, and the other was…

“Clare!”

I ran up to Clare, who was covered in cuts, bruises, and numerous other injuries covering her body, ignoring the other person in the room because I did not care for him; only Clare mattered to me.

No, no, no, please be alive, please be alive.

“Clare, are you okay?!”

I shook her shoulder to wake her, but she did not respond. I quickly placed my fingers behind her ear, and I was immediately relieved to feel a very weak pulse.

Without a moment to lose, I immediately cut Clare’s restraints and took out the full heal potion until I heard someone clapping.

I looked back and saw nothing…

The only other person in the room was the guy who was also tied up and in a condition even worse than Clare's. I looked at that guy and realized he looked familiar… Isn’t he… Yulis?

What is he doing here? Don’t tell me…

“My, my, Lady Rita, you’ve arrived a bit early, if I may add. I do apologize for my tardiness with that fellow over there, but I can’t help playing with toys who think they are above everything. Don’t you think?”

That voice, Boras. That bastard.

“Show yourself!”

In a playful tone. “With pleasure, my lady.”

Pulling back like a folding curtain, Boras appears from the door I came in.

What was that? Is it a spell or maybe an artifact he has? I narrowed my eyes at Boras; I needed to find a way out of this. I’m cornered, and I need to carry Clare out. In addition, Skis is on the second floor, so I can’t get to him in time. The only way out is to fight.

“My, what is with that look? Before we start, I’m curious, my lady; may I ask what happened to your eyes and how you seem to sense my presence in the other room over there?”

He pointed with his thumb at the last room I’d entered.

“Why do you want to know?”

Anger filled my mind and body just from seeing him.

Shrugging his shoulder mockingly, “Just out of curiosity, my lady.”

“Then, no.” I gritted my teeth, and he responded.

“I see.”

Holding my sword tightly, my eyes darted around, trying to make a plan to get me and Clare out of here, and only one came to mind.

I immediately closed the distance between me and Boras, lunging at him with my sword. However, my swing was stopped as his hair glowed green, and a barrier made of green-colored wind was cast.

I felt my swing decelerate as it hit the barrier, and Boras gave me a disappointed look.

“My lady, you have to do something better than that.”

The wind that had woven itself into a barrier untwined and whipped toward me.

I used the sword Athrun gave me to block the attack, but I was sent flying from the blow.

I gasp for air, trying to recover from hitting the wall, but this was what I wanted for the most part because I guess he would use a barrier, since this is a game to him, meaning he didn’t want this to end. I saw as he dispelled his barrier and walked toward me, and I took that small opening and threw my engraved knife at him; however, the engraved knife I threw suddenly stopped because his barrier was still up.

“Lady Rita, do you think that it would be—”

Electricity started to be emitted, and it caught Boras off guard. Before Boras could react, the electricity started to be emitted and turned into lightning, fueled by the barrier Boras had put up.

A bright light filled the room, and I moved toward him, hopefully to end this in one blow. However, the bright light that filled the room suddenly stopped, and Boras was gone.

What the… where the hell is Boras? I scanned the room and saw he was not here, nor in the hallway ahead of me.

I tried sensing where he was, but I had the same feeling I felt in the last room I was in. From whatever spell or artifact Boras was using.

What is he planning? Either way, I can’t waste this opportunity. Running up to Clare, I quickly took out the full heal potion Skis gave me and poured half of it on Clare.

However, as I was about to let her drink the rest of the full heal potion, Boras suddenly appeared right next to me, like how he showed up out of nowhere earlier, catching me off guard. He kicked me away from Clare, spilling the full heal potion I was holding to the ground.

“Nuh-uh-huh, my lady, I can’t have that.”

I internally cursed and got up as quickly as I could, ready to fight Boras again, preparing to even lose an arm if I must. However, Boras then used his magic and threw me back to the wall again and restrained me with green-colored wind.

“I believe I’ll be confiscating these, my lady.”

Taking the pouch that held my potions, I said in an extremely frigid and cold voice as I tried to break free, “You bastard,” which made him smile a bit.

“In return, I’ll give this back, my lady.”

Holding the engraved knife, I threw it at him right up to my face.

“Quite the interesting tool you’ve created, my lady. If it were to hit me, I would have been heavily injured. Thankfully, I cut off the mana to it before it could get any bigger.”

I look at the knife, internally shocked that he could stop my engraved knife because the engraved magical circles looked to be intact, which I didn’t think could be done.

“Since my lady was gracious enough to play in my game, I will allow a 5-minute head start.”

Boras smiled and proceeded to walk out of the room and disappeared, just before his restraints on me released me.

Landing on my feet, I immediately scan the area for Boras to see that he was gone, until I heard an extremely faint whisper of my name.

“Clare, it’s me. Are you okay? Can you walk?”

“Lady… Rita.”

Clare, upon seeing me, spoke in an extremely weak voice, like it took all the energy she had to say my name. I quickly ran up to her.

Anger filled my entire being for what Boras did to Clare. I will… no, I will make him pay. That bastard has to pay, and so will my father and whoever is involved, but for now, we have to leave and get to Skis because I was in Boras’s twisted game, and I need to make the most of the head start since I severely doubt Boras would make it that easy to leave.

“Clare, don’t speak; we have to leave.”

She murmurs as I wrap her arm around my shoulders and lift her up from the chair.

Moving through the hallways and up the staircase and to the second floor, I called out for Skis, but no one responded. The second floor was like the first; of course, he would not hear me.

Should I look for him or try to find a way out on my own?

If I try leaving, I doubt I have much time to get out of the building and find a safe place for Clare to get some medical attention. So it leaves one option… find Skis.

“Clare, we’re going to have to find guild master Skis. Please bear it for a bit longer.”

She gave another weak murmur, and we went through the second floor.

We walked, and I thought of ways to find and get to Skis until I saw shallow cuts on the walls.

Seeing that, I thought as much. Skis must have left me some marks to find him. Good, at least I could find him since I knew where he was going.

Time was of the essence because I was on a time limit, and it had already been over 3 or 4 minutes.

I don’t know what Boras would do after the head start he gave me, but it’s very much not good. I have to protect Clare, and I could barely take on one of my family’s black knights, which means I have to find Skis fast.

We followed the markings on the walls, but our time was up, and I heard a set of footsteps.

I had to place Clare to the side because I needed to be free from being tied down to even win in this fight.

The footsteps seemed to be irregular, and I approached them and immediately made the first strike because I knew I was at a severe disadvantage.

However, when I turned around the corner to face them, I was caught off guard because they weren't one of my family's Black Knights, but a dirty man in rags.

He looked like he was from the slums, but why was he here, and why did he have lifeless eyes?

“Halt, don’t come closer.”

I pulled back my swing and warned him to stop coming toward me, but once he noticed me, he immediately lunged at me.

I took a step back, kicking him away because I didn’t want to hurt him, and I needed some answers.

However, he lunged again, and I took several steps back while trying to reason with him, but he did not stop, so I was forced to immobilize him. Taking a sideways step, dodging another lunge, I swung my sword, cutting apart the tendons on his legs, but… I saw no blood coming out of the wound I dealt him.

What is he? Even though I cut the tendons in his legs, he was relentless and used his arm to drag himself toward me.

The lack of blood reminded me of the undead mage I fought earlier… “Don’t tell me…”

“You are right, Lady Rita.”

Hearing Boras’s voice, I sensed a strange presence in my vicinity, and I spun around to where the voice was.