Chương 32: Chapter 31: Infiltration

After a bit of searching, they found a small ant hive, which was perfect to give them the last levels. While Jakob and Annie were killing ants, Thalion checked out the scroll to see if he could evolve while fighting. The scroll explained in the typical monotone voice, "You are evolving outside of time, so it is entirely possible to evolve while in battle." This was quite interesting.

If they got caught, they could trigger the evolution and because they were in the tutorial, automatically get teleported out of danger to the next stage. The only problem was if those people evolved too and followed them, but then they couldn't kill all the slaves anymore, so they probably wouldn't. Next, he planned what to do. If they attacked the guards, they would probably have to trigger the evolution, most likely getting nothing out of it.

The other thing was, there was no way they could free the slaves and escape or use them to fight the blue robes. The other path was to kill the slaves and at least not allow the blue robes to profit even more. It was a dark path and Thalion was not sure if he could pull through; but what were the consequences if he didn't do it? If they left them alive, the blue robes will kill them anyway, and would be rewarded with the experience and Credits.

Thalion just didn't see a path where the slaves would survive, maybe if they had more time, but now it was too late. He hated to even think about it, but at the moment they were just resources and he could do nothing to change that. If that woman with the staff killed the slaves, she would get even stronger which was something he couldn't allow. In the end it was just about who gets the exp and credits.

If he ever became a slave at some day, and had the choice of being killed by the enemy of his enslaver or by the guy who took away his freedom... For him the answer was clear. After two hours of ant-killing, Annie and Jakob had both reached level 25, and they started to discuss their plans for tonight. First, he told them about the safe way out, which they both liked a lot because without it, it would be a suicide mission.

Then the next topic was slaves, and after a long discussion, even Annie, who was strongly against killing any slaves, agreed that there was no other way. It was better for them to get the experience and credit than those blue-robe slavers. Those people would use the advantage to enslave even more people and fully dominate the tutorial. Well if that was even possible with elves and vampires around who most likely already were on the higher stages. The next topic was how to kill the nobles, but no one had an idea.

In the end, they went with the plan to sneakily kill as many people as they could and then start an all-out attack. When it didn't work, they would trigger the evolution. While Annie and Jakob were recovering from fighting all those ants, Thalion continued to kill the last ones and devour all the corpses, which were in the hundreds. He also ate the flowers from the last field they had raided.

While hidden behind a tree, he fed the five corpses to the sanguine thorn and discarded all the empty husks from his spatial ring into the empty ant hive. He still couldn't bring himself to devour humans with his shadowstalker form. It just felt so different than using Blood Harvest. Anyway, he surprisingly got 14 toughness out of eating all the ants, which brought his toughness in his human form up to 40, and as shadowstalker, up to 41.

He checked out some ants by acquiring their forms, but they didn't have any skills like most low rarity beasts and so they got discarded immediately. Since he didn't really feel full, he transformed back into shadowstalker and ate some plants in the surroundings until Jakob and Annie were fully recovered and ready to go. After half an hour passed, they were ready and on their way to the city of the blue robes.

<-- Lady Nerissa Selwyn moved through the dimly lit chambers beneath her estate, her cold gaze sweeping over the rows of caged slaves. The air was thick with despair, the stench of fear palpable as the prisoners huddled together in their cramped cells. They had been collected over the last few days and transported here under the guise of being relocated for easier management. In reality, they had been gathered for a final, brutal purpose.

This was not the only place where they kept the slaves; almost every house in this city had chambers like this, holding the slaves. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Nerissa had ordered the slaves to be kept in these underground cells until the early hours of the morning. Until then, they were fed special stuff from the alchemist to keep the calm. She had no intention of keeping them alive any longer than necessary.

Tomorrow, at dawn, she would systematically execute them, leaving their bodies to be harvested for the next grim phase of her plan. The corpses would be transported to the shore, where the final act of their utility would unfold. The bodies would be used as bait for the mirehunters, a terrifying species of alien fish native to this world.

These enormous aquatic predators, measuring over ten meters in length, resembled a grotesque fusion of a shark and an eel, with elongated, sinuous bodies covered in thick, armored scales. Their heads were massive, with jaws capable of unhinging to reveal rows upon rows of serrated teeth, perfect for ripping apart anything unfortunate enough to fall into their maw.

Mirehunters were not just dangerous for their sheer size and strength but also for their eerie, bioluminescent lures that dangled from their heads, emitting a soft, pulsing glow. This glow served to mesmerize prey, drawing them closer until it was too late to escape. Their eyes, small and jet-black, were perfectly adapted to the murky depths they inhabited, giving them an almost supernatural ability to detect movement in the water.

Despite their monstrous appearance, the mirehunters were revered by some for the rare, glowing pearls found deep within their bodies, which the crafters could use to build rings that greatly enhance the wearer's water-based skills. The bodies of the slaves would be dumped into the churning waters, their blood quickly attracting the mirehunters from the dark depths. As the enormous fish tore into the flesh, the nobles, with the aid of their strongest warriors, would have a chance of slaying the beasts.

For Nerissa, it was a fitting end for the slaves discarded waste, yet serving a final purpose in her ruthless pursuit of power. <-- Annie, Thalion, and Jakob had observed the city for hours. They spotted an entrance that was not the main gate. There were up to four doors in the walls where the people returning from the forest entered. They likely had field duty. They also experimented with how long the emblem would glow after a mana infusion, which was luckily up to two hours.

Before it got too dark, they approached the door most people had entered, all in their blue robes. The door opened before them, and a man with way too many muscles addressed them with a smile on his face.

"And how was it to harvest all day?"

"Annoying. It takes forever, and you don't even get levels," Thalion retorted while shrugging his shoulders, but someone has to do it.

"Yeah, true, true. Don't worry, my job is much worse. I must watch this door the whole day," the man laughed loudly. With that, they passed through a narrow way and entered the city, slowly walking through the alleys, listening to the conversations for clues. It was already in the late hours of the day, and there was barely any sunlight left. Then they heard two people speaking, standing in the front door of one of the smaller houses.

"This is so annoying, keeping the slaves in the basements. Why not just kill them and give the corpses tomorrow to the nobles for fishing?" the younger woman asked annoyed.

"So, the blood is fresh. The big ones don't come if the blood is older than a day, and secondly, until a few hours ago, there were still a lot of slaves on the streets, and it could have made things difficult," the elderly man reasoned.

"I don't really know what you're complaining about. Seven slaves are nothing. I have over twenty in my basement. Do you know how it stinks now? I'll probably have to purchase a new house tomorrow," the man continued in faint annoyance.

"What are we doing now? We can't start killing them too early, or they might notice something," Annie whispered, while they slowly kept walking into an area where the houses were at least 15 meters high, with multiple floors and the occasional wall decoration.

"Let's wait for a bit. There are not so many people in this city that we can walk freely without someone getting suspicious," Thalion concluded in a low voice. This was not really a city. It was more of a war camp. There were no shops, bars, or restaurants just living space, and that's it.

"Let's check out the docks. I wanna see those ships," Thalion whispered.

"It's crazy how many of these people live here. I haven't spotted any humans or trolls, but over 900 people have gathered here, and they've managed to capture hundreds of slaves," Jakob whispered.

"Maybe because they all have a high affinity for water and sooner or later ended up near a river or the lake," Thalion answered in a low voice. They exited the small alley from before and entered a big plaza, and on the other side, the lake began, with two giant metal ships and over twenty wooden ones that looked inferior in comparison. They all leaned against the house wall and watched the people come and go. From time to time, they saw one of the smaller ships enter the harbor.

They had caught mostly small fish or some crab-like creatures, and they swiftly unloaded their boats and brought their catch away.

"Okay, it's time," Thalion said.

"Let's split up into two groups and start the killing." That was a tactic they had decided on before entering the city. Since they all had an easy escape and Thalion was able to kill the blue robes off alone, splitting up was the best way to deal maximum damage. After Annie pushed some mana into his emblem and a last goodbye, they went their separate ways.