The battle was raging in the middle of the mansion. The soldiers of the army are facing the mercenaries of Ennis. They broke through the front and divided their forces into several small groups. About a dozen small skirmishes were happening in the mansion.
The steel is hitting against steel, arrows flying in all directions. Butlers and maids hide under tables and furniture to not die in the intense conflict. The main force was advancing toward the secret entrance. Captain Cadoc was leading a few of the men with quickness and decisiveness.
No matter who tried to slow them down, Cadoc killed them with only a couple of swings of his sword. His beautiful sword play was unstoppable. They finally reached the hidden passageway behind a bookshelf.
They broke down the wood and continued descending toward the heart of the mansion.
"We are almost at the center of the place. Sergeant Silver, you will move to capture Ennis on your own. You should take the path that goes deeper into the underground. He probably has many escape routes. It will depend on your judgement to make the correct choice."
"Yes, Captain!" Silver responded at the same time that he was running a few steps behind.
They finally descended the stairs and entered an open room. The floor and walls were made of stone. There were six different paths to take. There wasn't any way to identify the correct path. The only thing they could do was split up.
"Remember, the priority is rescuing people. If you don't find any captives in your path, then take another one. Don't fight unnecessarily" Cadoc gave them his orders and started running down one of the paths.
Silver did the same. He moved quickly. His objective was secondary. That's why the captain only sent one person. He needed to capture Ennis as soon as he could to then help the other soldiers.
"DAMMIT THEY´RE HERE ALREADY, THOSE IDIOTS COULDN'T HOLD THEM." More mercenaries block the path with weapons ready to murder.
Silver drew his sword and cut the arm of a man. Next, he dodged an axe aimed at his head. He could tell these guys were strong mercenaries paid in gold to defend their master. It was only for a couple of days, but the training with Captain Cadoc had already made him a better swordsman.
A cut on the thigh and another in the chest, another mercenary defeated on the ground. He dodged more arrows as he reached the bowman, and with a thrust in the belly, he ended his life. It was not pleasant. Silver never found pleasure in the act of killing.
He often wonders about the people that choose to fight as a profession. He heard of histories of coliseums where not only slaves but other warriors volunteered to fight to the death. Did those people not feel any regret? Was taking a life such a trivial activity for them?
Another swing and the head of a woman went flying. She tried to kill him with a mace, but he still felt bad for her. Maybe he was soft; his master often told him that he needed to have a colder heart to not be swayed in the middle of battle.
He reached another intersection; one path went even deeper than the rest. Without hesitation, Silver descended.
Neo was killing mercenaries left and right as they advanced. The battle with the army had made them concentrate their numbers in the upper part of the labyrinth. They didn't expect someone to come out of the exits to fight them.
Adel and Eric were doing their part to fight, but Neo was devoted to the carnage. She didn't have any compassion for these people. They had destroyed so many tribes, and so many lives were sacrificed in the pursuit of something as irrational as slaves. One of the mercenaries spoke, and his words made Neo rage.
"You stupid half-woman, you should have stayed in your cage, Now I´m going to have some fun with you… Slurp" Neo's eyes turned even redder, and she broke the man's jaw with a punch. It wasn't over yet. She forced her hand inside his mouth and grabbed his tongue.
"SHUT UP SCUM!" She yanked at the tongue of the man, killing him in a very painful way. No mercy for this scum.
They continued advancing till the road separated in two different ways. The one on the left was noisy; the sounds of various animals were coming from there. Adel decided to investigate, and he separated from the others.
According to the map they had based on the information of the mercenary they tortured, he was probably entering some kind of Zoological Garden. The noises grew bigger and louder until he reached an enormous room. It was three stories high, and had multiple cages with different animals throughout the whole place. Some flowers and plants were there too.
A lot of different species of beasts were here. They were all exotic and from wild places. Adel wasn't an animal expert, so he could only recognize a few of them. He walked through the room, trying to see if anything of value was here. I don't think I can steal a beast or a plant, so I probably should look for the office.
His thoughts were interrupted when an arrow almost hit him in the back. He deflected the arrow just in time with his sword. He looked back at the attacker.
"Oh, we have an intruder who knows how to defend itself. Interesting, little mouse. This is a private place. Only my Master is allowed in here. Not even those dirty mercenaries or the annoying clown can come without permission." It was a man with a green bow; his clothes were also green, and a snake was hanging around his neck.
"You have entered this place without permission. Now this Garden would be your grave, your flesh will be fed to the beasts and your bones used as fertilizer for the plants. Any last words?"
"I have more to explore, so let's end this fast." He raised his sword and prepared himself for the battle.
In the deep tunnels that lead outside, a single mercenary was patrolling. He normally had a partner, but the sound of the alarm coming from above meant that something had happened. He was left alone to confirm the escape routes were safe for Ennis in case of running away. It was silent. Nothing had occurred this far below. Even if the battle above was fierce and destructive, he couldn't tell. Only the sound of water dropping from the tunnels interrupted his thoughts.
Suddenly, he looked into one of the tunnels. Something was there, a small red dot glowing in the darkness. He kept still for a moment that felt like minutes, until the one dot became two dots. The red was glowing with more intensity and a figure was discernible. A knight wearing black armor, whose shield and sword were also black.
The man took his sword out and readied himself. The figure got closer and closer. He finally saw what was inside the helmet: an empty skull with glowing eyes. At the same time, the Death Knight ran, and in a second, he was in front of the mercenary, cutting his head.
"You're really fast." Thanatos spoke from behind. The Death Knight was an undead that surpassed his current power. He could lose control of it at any moment. It was thanks to the sacrifice of so many dead bodies and a lot of mana that he could summon it. Thanatos didn't feel confident in his power to defeat him if he managed to break from his control. Even if I had all my mana, it would still be a difficult opponent.
The knight proceeded to destroy the entrance of the tunnels following his master's orders. There were a lot of tunnels, so Thanatos decided to send his servant to destroy one side, and he would take care of the other.
They worked on sealing the exits, leaving only one for Ennis to escape, just like they planned. Thanatos' ears picked up screams in the distance. He concentrated and also heard mumbling from above.
Since the exits were almost all sealed, he decided to leave the rest to his undead and investigated the screaming. He ran until he reached a hallway with a locked door. He kicked the door, breaking it. Inside there were slaves with weapons, about ten slaves in total.
"W-Who are you? You aren't one of the mercenaries?" One of the slaves pointed his axe at him. It was a half-rat, demi human.
"Don't worry. I'm not with the people that enslaved you. I came to free you. There's a group of carriages outside the mountain. They can take you back to the forest. I have more allies that are trying to rescue the rest of your people." The slaves were skeptical; maybe this was another trap from their captor.
Sensing the distrust, Thanatos looked at a man with a wound on his chest. It was bandaged but still open. He walked up to him. "Please let me help you. I'm going to touch you for a moment." He put his hand on his shoulder and cast the spell "[Heal]" The wound closed itself. Not only that, but the man noticed how his back pain felt better.
"You really came to save us?" They put down their weapons and listened to him.
He had to expend the last mana inside him, but they believed him. After sending the slaves down the path outside, he continued toward the screams.
Rak was talking with one of his men. The alarm had been activated, and the army was attacking. Normally, this would be the time when Ennis goes into one of the escape tunnels, but...
"Is that all, one measly captain and some soldiers? Rak, you aren't afraid of such a small threat, right? Go deal with that captain yourself. Kill them all. We can pay our contacts to make a false report saying they died fighting bandits or something" Ennis turned back to watch the massacre after he gave his orders.
"Of course, Master, I'll deal with that fool personally, but one of my men will stay behind, in the hallway, in case you need anything." Ennis dismissed him with a hand gesture.
The fight was over already. The Champion killed another batch of challengers. The clown woman, Alice, laughed at the sight of carnage.
"Hahahahaha, it's so sad. The poor slaves don't stand a chance against the champion no matter how many we send. But that is also sad because the Master doesn't have fun watching. Baw... baw... that makes me sad seeing the Master bored."
"Oh, don't cry Alice. I expected it to turn out like this. Finding worthy people like you is a hard endeavor"
"I'm sooooo happy to listen to the Master praising me." She did a pirouette with joy. "Then Master, should we release the next challengers?" He nodded while drinking wine.
"Then the new challengers come from-" The gate was broken from inside. "Yes, from that gate. How did they know?"
A lonely man appeared from inside. He was wearing some fine clothes combined with a bit of armor. He looked around. His eyes stopped at Ennis.
"Who are you?" Ennis asked him.
"My name is Thanatos. I have come to kidnap a crazy son of a bitch called Ennis. I'm guessing it's you."