The place that they arrived was apparently near a human settlement. Once the guards noticed their group from far away, one of them ran towards them with great haste. Elodiaren stood between Emersyn and the unknown man with clear hostility.
"What do you want?"
"You...! Are you from another country? Anyway, since you are here, every slave is required to fight in the war right now. I see that you have one of them, and she's even beautiful. We will give her mercy and not put her in the frontlines."
Melody was aghast. She was never a beauty, as she thought, so she knew that the woman that man was talking about was their Lord. Her pupils trembled and she was about to speak up when Emersyn raised her hand in front of her. Her Lord asked her to stand down and she complied. She stepped back obediently and lowered her head. Meanwhile, the man that was watching their exchange became furious. He grabbed Emersyn by the arm and pulled her in.
"Woman, you're definitely coming with me," he said through gritted teeth with a chilling lopsided grin.
"My Lo-- I mean, I… mean… uhm…."
Chu Yubin stood there with his mouth agape. He knew that they already talked about how they would treat Emersyn and Melody once they arrived in this place, but it was still scary, and his conscience wouldn't allow it. He couldn't protect his Lord, and her eyes that stared at the man were cold. He shivered. He repeatedly reminded himself that his Lord permitted this, so he had to endure until their mission here would be over. His eyes remained on Emersyn's back, departing with grace as she was being pulled over.
The rest of them looked at each other with grim expressions. They passed through the guarded gate and went around to each inn, eateries, diners, and restaurants to look for the best monsters they could take to their home planet.
Meanwhile, Emersyn was thrown into a room with a stench that made her remember about the very first thing she woke up to as Maajidanashi. She looked around and saw skinny women with metals on their ankles. The item was emitting this black smoke through Emersyn's eyes, and it seemed to rob these women of their reasons. She stood there as she contemplated what was happening on the border. Her ears heard the loud clashes of metals and spells going off. This country indeed had a war, but against whom? The only monstrous she could hear were the cries of a wyvern.
… ah. Come to think of it, she could only hear the shout of the men in the enemy camp. Meanwhile, on the other side, there were women crying their hearts out as metals hit the ground.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the fighting was happening in all directions. From the distance she was hearing them, this land seemed to be a continent as the borders were far and wide.
It didn't make any sense at all. If these men were fighting to free the women, then why did the guards let her companions enter the city? Shouldn't these men be suspicious once they knew that they didn't come from here?
Maybe… the opposing army was another species?
"Damn these demons! Our meat shields are surrendering, so we couldn't even have the right opportunity to strike these monsters dead."
Ah… so, demons, huh?
"We have no choice… let's take out the exploding slaves."
… exploding…?
Emersyn's eyes suddenly went to the ankles of the women in the same room. She gradually put mana in her eyes, and she saw the intricate patterns engraved on it. She couldn't decipher it, but she would pay attention to this. Instead of escaping, she stayed until she was deployed to the border. They were thrown into a dirty wagon. They were so packed that there weren't any more spaces between them. The journey was also strenuous. However, these women could only express their exhaustion by passing out without as much as a groan. Emersyn was focusing her senses on the border, to the side where they were going, to monitor the changes in the battle since it momentarily ceased. When they were alighted from the wagon by force, without any consideration to the unconscious, they were immediately handed a crude sword. With her high-end clothes, Emersyn became the center of attention. The men sized her up from head to toe.
"Hey, woman. Are you from another country?"
Emersyn nodded her head meekly.
"Heh. I figured. You are dressed so finely and there isn't any dirt on you. HAHAHAHA! Must be nice, huh? Slaves like you tasted the best treatment and was soon plunged into despair. How was it? How was it?"
"... it wasn't–"
SLAP!
"..."
"How dare a lowly slave answer me without permission?! Just because you grew up in a great environment, you want to flap your opinions each time? Tough luck, woman. You are now ours. If you died, you served this country well. If you survive, serve this country more!"
Emersyn's arm was caught and the man pulled her into the battlefield with a malicious grin. He threw her there and Emersyn only looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes as he sauntered away, murmuring, "Tch. Women. Give them a bit of hope and they'll live for you."
For a moment, the man sensed a great foreboding that he couldn't identify. He whipped his head back and saw the same woman with a luxurious garb looking at him with a glint in her red eyes. Strangely, it felt ominous and his body began to tremble, unaware. However, when he shook his head with his eyes tightly closed, the woman was gone. He turned around, his body drenched in cold sweat, and saw that it was the same everywhere. They were petrified and peed their pants. Even their greatest fighters were afraid that they collapsed on the floor. It was unprecedented. This feeling was new to their lives. It wasn't that long since they fought and won against Calamity ranked monsters. Indeed, they were afraid and the aura the monster was emanating wasn't that heavy, but this was a different case. It was as if… as if… an evil god had descended on their land.
"Who was it?!" An archmage bellowed from the tower of their stronghold, his voice breaking.
As soon as they regained their focus, they paled when they realized that they didn't know who just gave that heavy pressure. The affected area was the entire stronghold; their fear seeping through every person's heart.
Meanwhile, Emersyn was marching forward with a crude sword in hand. She was seething in rage and the surrounding atmosphere was becoming harder to breathe. When she grew annoyed with the metal around her ankle, she grabbed it. When the men that were situated at the back saw what she was doing with bated breath, they sneered as cold sweat perspired from their bodies. The metal was made with a special alloy and was engraved with an explosive formula that could detonate whenever they wished. Seeing the woman attempt to break it was hilarious. However, their eyes widened when cracks appeared on the surface. They panicked and tried to stop Emersyn from further damaging the metal. However, that was their mistake. Emersyn encased them in a dome and amplified the explosive formula on the metal. Then, she destroyed it to pieces and the formula triggered. The men readied their metal shields. For some reason, the formula that was drawing in the air was too huge. The warriors didn't questioned it, but the mages were screaming in terror as soon as they saw the familiar intricate formula.
"Get out of the way!"
However, they were encased in a dome, so they had no retreat.
"NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!"
The dome lit up in flames as the sound of the explosion shook the earth.
***
There was a tremor and an explosion ahead. Alissandre Biren, who was on a small hill overseeing the battle, frowned as he put mana into his eyes and observed the explosion right in the enemy camp. It didn't spread unlike the other explosives and there seemed to be an invisible force that stopped the fire from spreading. He didn't understand why it had to go off in that location where they couldn't pierce through the formation of his opponents.
Fortunately, the surrendered women that were sent to fight were put to safety first. Alissandre ordered his men to tend to the women, and gave them shelters and rationed food.
The commotion ahead didn't die down as the enemies screamed in furor as they battled against someone.
"Sire… sire!" A man only wearing a breastplate ran towards Alissandre.
"What is happening?" Alissandre asked.
"The… one woman they sent out is suddenly rebelling! They are hellbent on killing her!"
Alissandre furrowed his brows as he slightly raised his hand.
"Observe more. If the woman is in mortal danger, do your best to save her."
"Yes, sire!"