Chương 33: Chapter 32: Slaughter

Thalion followed one man from the docks, someone who looked wealthy, at least judging by his clothing. He wore the usual blue robe, but it was adorned with gold embroidery, and he carried himself with his head held high, not acknowledging the other citizens around him. A perfect target. Keeping a good distance, Thalion shadowed the man to one of the larger houses near the giant palace. A man, probably his butler, opened the door before the wealthy man could reach it. That could be problematic.

Thalion waited for another ten minutes at a safe distance, watching the house. When he was certain no one was watching him, he approached the door. He tried to mimic the hurried walk of an important businessman who knew exactly where he was going and didn't have time to waste. The door opened in front of him, and the butler greeted him, saying, "I am very sorry, but the master has no time for you."

In response, Thalion shot a blood thorn through the man's head, draining his blood and storing the remains in his spatial ring. Moving swiftly, he entered the house, trying to make no sounds. A corridor stretched in front of him, about ten meters long, which was surprising for a house of this size. There shouldn't be that much space. The walls were lined with portraits of the man he'd seen enter. Mimicking the butler's pace, Thalion walked to the only door at the end of the hallway.

He waited and listened, but hearing nothing, he opened the door, ready to strike. He briefly feared there might be children inside, but there was no way around it. He had to go through with it, even if it meant killing children. In this new reality, they could have powerful spells too. He couldn't allow his morals to impact him, or he might get killed. However, the room was empty. Well, "room" wasn't the right word. It was more of a grand living space, over thirty meters wide.

This wasn't the home of an ordinary survivor. In the middle of the room, a staircase split in two directions: one going up and one leading down. There had to be some spatial manipulation involved because the inside of the house was a lot bigger than the outside. He decided to check upstairs first. As he neared the stairs, he heard a door open and footsteps coming down. He quickly scanned the room and spotted a half-full glass on one of the many tables. Perfect.

He slowly stepped around the stairs so the person wouldn't see him. Moments later, the man entered the living room and walked toward the glass, completely relaxed. That's exactly how he died, with a blood thorn shot through his head. Thalion immediately drained the man's blood, feeding it to the sanguine thorn. Checking his spatial ring, he found it was full of scrolls and cuffs, one water sword, a blue pearl, and a bunch of flowers.

He stored the corpse, along with the man's belongings, in his spatial ring and quietly explored the rest of the house. There were several large rooms, a training room, a swimming pool, and a bedroom, but no one else was there. With that, he descended to the cellar. Opening a large metal door, he was stunned by what he saw: huge cages holding at least 20 slaves each. There must be at least 150 slaves down here. They almost looked more like corpses.

There was almost no flesh on the bones, and the empty look on their faces spoke volumes. This was way worse than he had expected. He had hoped that a scenario would appear in which he at least could give the stronger slaves the blue robes of the nobles and help them to find their way out... Well, that hope had died quickly as he observed the slaves in the cages. They weren't even strong enough to stand up.

Now came the hard part, but there was no way around it, he thought as he opened the first door and summoned his mana blade. A single mana slash killed all the slaves in one go. He moved to the next cell, repeating the process, his actions accompanied by the sound of screams. Some of the slaves cried, but there was nothing he could do. It took him some time to kill all the slaves, feeding every one of them to the sanguine thorn. He felt awful as he stepped out of the cellar, but what choice did he have?

Should he waste their blood? They certainly didn't need it anymore. Although he couldn't leave them alive. They would die tomorrow no matter what, and their deaths would empower the blue robes even more. Don't worry, I will put your gift to good use. Thalion mutterd to himself, looking down. They didn't give much experience, but the sanguine thorn was more than happy to get all that blood. Most important, those blue robes didn't get it.

They would probably have had a lot of fun killing the slaves, he thought, remembering his first encounter when those people laughed about slowly drowning the slaves. Shortly after, he exited the house, walking with the same business-like tone to the next house. This time, no butler opened the door, so he knocked twice. A man answered and almost screamed, "What are you doing here it is in the middle of night? Don't you know that tomorrow is an important day?"

In response, a blood thorn shot from Thalion's hand, piercing the man's head and killing him instantly. Thalion quickly caught the body and pulled him inside, closing the door behind him. He drained the blood, took everything the man owned, and stored it in his spatial ring. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The house was smaller than the last, but it definitely held more people. He heard voices behind a door from at least two people.

Thalion opened the door at a normal pace, as if the owner would have done, then exploded into action. Vines shot from his hands, piercing their hearts and killing them instantly before they could react. This was working very well so far. They never expected this kind of attack, which made his job easier. Why should anyone from a different planet be able to reach this far into the city without being noticed? After feeding their blood to the sanguine thorn, he stored their possessions in his spatial ring.

The other rooms were empty, so he moved downstairs, finding more people in cells hundreds this time. He was quicker this time, killing them all and making his way back to the living room. He sat down, needing a moment. The act of killing these helpless people was weighing on him, and he needed time to gather himself. He distracted himself by checking the spatial rings of the dead. One of them held several Midnight Sunflowers, which he immediately consumed as shadowstalker.

After feeding the sanguine thorn with the blood of so many people, he could feel the plant burning with power.

"Time for the next house," Thalion muttered, not looking forward to killing so many slaves again. Still, it was worth it. He had received 7, 500 credits from the tutorial quest and already had 10, 640 credits from monsters and the few humans he'd encountered in the field. Killing the slaves and nobles had brought him up to 51, 000 credits, which was absolutely insane. With that, he left the house and approached the one across the street. Only four of the large houses remained.

He was lucky to have come this far, but no one inside was expecting anything. Thalion knocked on the door, but no one answered. He tried the next house again, no answer. This wasn't good. Should he break in? But that would make it obvious from the outside that something was wrong. Deciding against it, he began moving toward the palace. When he neared the guards, he heard the loud sound of alarm bells echoing through the small city. The guards were talking, and one of them went inside.

Seeing his chance, Thalion approached the remaining guard. People were starting to pour out of their homes. He had to be fast.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked in an innocent tone.

"It can't be the alarm, can it?"

"Yes, it is the alarm! We're under attack! What are you doing? Weren't you informed of the procedures?" The guard responded harshly. Before the guard could say more, Thalion shot a blood thorn through his head. He caught the body with one arm, opened the door with the other, and slipped inside. Thalion stood in a massive entrance hall, much larger than the exterior of the palace suggested. Just this hall alone matched the size of the palace on the outside. Torches illuminated the space with flickering light.

He laid the guard behind one of the many pillars made of some kind of white marble and drained him and took his stuff, then placed his corpse in his spatial ring. Then he shot to the other side of the hall with his movement skill, where another giant door was. He opened the big door, and there was a great staircase, and he heard the other guard moving up the stairs far above him. He quickly used his movement skills to move down to the cellar.

He didn't see a chance at killing the people who lived here, but he was confident in killing the slaves fast and there must be many here. Thalion shot down the stairs and saw two more guards in front of the door, so he quickly reported, "we are getting attacked. There are vampires all over the city."

"What!" one of the guards exclaimed, but before he had the chance to say more, Thalion used the vine of the sanguine thorn to penetrate both their hearts and feed on their blood. The vines looked so much stronger now after being fed with so much blood. Thalion placed the remains of the two guards in his spatial ring and entered the prison. Just how many human slaves were in this city alone in this giant underground vault were easily up to 300 slaves.

The mana slash was very good at killing a group of people who were much weaker than him. Every kill weighed on him but there was no other way he had to do it. He tried to do it as fast and painlessly as possible. When he was at the fifth cell door, a slave asked him with a weak voice, "You are from earth right?"

"Yes, but I still can't get you out. I am too weak in the end," Thalion said in sorrow, having a hard time keeping it all together.

"Then it's fine," the old man spoke while closing his eyes, awaiting death, his head held high, or as high as was possible in his sitting position. Thalion responded with a manablade to end the suffering of the slaves as quickly as possible. It still took him longer, then he liked to kill them all and feed them to the sanguine thorn. The plant was now almost bursting with power. He felt disgusted, but he kept reminding himself that there was no way around it.

Thalion left the basement, opening the door very slowly, and he heard a lot of voices coming from the floor above him.

"They did kill over 35 slaves and then escaped by evolving, "he heard the voice of a man exclaiming.

"Search the city. I don't want any other surprises," a female voice said in a harsh tone.

"Shouldn't we chase them?" An old man exclaimed, with hate in his voice.

"If you want to miss out on the opportunities tomorrow and the better classes you are free to go, "the female voice retorted oddly calmly, you have two more stages after this one to hunt them down." After a little more conversation, the people left. Did they not notice there was no guard on the front door? Thalion wondered. He heard multiple steps going upward, most likely more nobles shared this palace as home.

This was the perfect hiding place, for now he had to choose to go up and fight the people or exit the palace and try out some more homes. There could be a new guard at the frontgate, or some people haven't left yet and he just didn't hear them from down here. For now, he waited on before the thick metal cellar door for his mana to fully be restored. Killing all those slaves did cost a lot, but for the most part he used the vine of the sanguine thorn, whose mana cost was lower than his natural recovery speed.

Otherwise, it would have taken him much longer. After feeding all the slaves to the sanguine thorn, his recovery speed had gone up by a lot, and he saw clearly in the dark and his hearing was also a lot better. The next hour he spent in front of the cellar, letting a scroll lecture him in swordsmanship, waiting for the right moment to emerge. Thalion had decided to kill some of the nobles who lived here. Partly because he just couldn't kill more slaves or something would break on the inside.

The other reason was that he wanted to kill the nobles very badly. It was time for the final standoff.