"Lady Lana, our scouts seems to have found a large cave up ahead but there seems to be signs of large beast that inhabit it." a lizardman came to Lana and reported.
"For once again Khazikh! Don't call me a 'Lady'! I am not born noble so just call me by my name." Lana was not sure how this Gold ranked battle slave still gives her a respectful approach even when she was just barely an Iron rank fighter.
"That is not possible Lady Lana, we are all indebted to you for leading us so it is proper I call you as such." The Lizardman was quite adamant with how he address Lana.
"Okay, whatever. Just have some some small scouts sneak in and look for nest but if there are none then we could go inside for shelter." Lana has been taught by her father about simple animal behavior when they go out hunting small rabbits. She knew if there are any prolonged signs of stay inside a burrow then the rabbit might go through it so setting a trap nearby leads for a better chance of cathing prey.
"Yes Lady Lana!" The Lizardman then went to give the orders. Lana looked exasperated but she could do nothing about it, she then looked at the large Barbarian warrior besides her that acted as her personal guard. She was able to save him from getting stepped on by a large paw from battling beast and thus became a loyal follower. The guy never spoke but was quite intimidating as he was a peak Gold rank Barbarian.
The group had about a hundred battle slaves while the rest were servants, maids or sex slaves that escaped with her. She then looked at a glaring addition to their group as there was a Young Master of the Slavers that followed then after the escape. The slaves steered away from the guy but he shamelessly followed them because they have greater numbers for protection. But they can't fight him cause he has a single low Platinum ranked slave besides him that protects him all the time.
She had about 75 iron ranked battle slaves, 20 silver ranked and 5 gold ranked. But the Young Master had about ten slaves with him and two of them were Gold ranked. They didn't dare to fight as it might get some innocent ones to get harmed. She felt disgusted by the arrogant attitude of the wastrel when all he does is just cause trouble along the way.
Soon the Lizard man went back but before he did he flashed the out-of-place group with a face full of anger. This young master still brought trouble from time to time by acting like all of them were his slaves but when all the freed slaves took up their weapons he shrank back cursing. Only thing keeping him alive were the three strong slaves he has. They avoided confrontation cause they weren't sure if they could kill all of them without casualties.
"Lady Lana, we have scouted the caves and there seemed to be no sign of beast living there. But it looked more like a road, from the tracks it seems to be large herbivores going through the caves." The Lizard man gave a short concise report to Lana who ignore his respectful way of speaking. As Lana was pondering of the next course of action, a very annoying voice full of arrogance sounded out.
'Oi! You slave! How dare you assume that slave girls is the leader! I'm the one noble born here so you should follow me." They ignored it cause this wastrel would do this from time to time while hiding behind his slaves.
"Didn't you hear me?! Why are you following a slave anyways?! Are you all deaf? You all were born to serve me so follow my command you fools!! You Slave leader, come here and suck on mine hahaha!!" This made the others looked dangerously at the bastard.
"What? You want to fight? Come on!! I'll make you realize your still slaves that must follow my wishes!" The bastard was having a smug expression as he looked at the indignant faces of the slaves but Lana stopped them from doing anything rash.
"Ignore him, he's just a rabid dog. I think I saw the Beast Lord they enslave get decapitated and eaten. He's afraid to go back to a powerless clan that got kicked out of the contest for resources." Lana remembered that the Mantis Lord was the Enslaved Beast of this bastard's clan.
"Me afraid?! Say that again bitch! I'll have you bend on fours if you don't apologize!!" the wastrel got triggered at the mention of the Mantis Lord's death, which he had a part of cause he kept giving stupid commands that hindered the Beast Lord into doing it's best. That's why he ran to the forest to avoid the furious Clan Head who saw how he ordered the Mantis Lord to use a large move which became an opening for the Eagle lord to exploit. He escaped in fear as the Clan Head of his shouted he wanted to kill the idiot for being downright stupid.
Interfering in a battle of that level could lead to serious consequences that the wastrel didn't know of. This happened cause he wanted to impress the princess of the prominent Dukedom that had first used the Enslaving ritual. Now their Clan was kicked out early due to his blunder, so being insulted by a former slave that escaped during the chaos made him fume in anger.
"Yes, you are afraid, I saw you run away from a small rabbit in tears and your pants are still wet from you pissing yourself." Lana pointed out the obvious dark area on the Wastrel's pants which made him very embarrassed.
"YOU LOWLY BITCH!! I'LL HAVE YOU PAY FOR THAT!!" Just as he was about to order his slaves to capture the girl the rest of the freed people stood up and armed themselves immediately. This made him wake up and realized that even with a Platinum ranked slave, he could do nothing towards the Slave he loathed the most.
"Tsk, one day you'll be begging for mercy under my crotch stupid bitch!" the entitled piece of trash silently withdrew seeing the odds were not in his favor. He pulled his cloak closer as he felt colder as the stares of the freed people pierce through his bones. Lana breathed out which misted in front of her, she was scared inside but she knew she must not bend with the pressure cause deep inside she was still afraid of those Slavers.
But she must keep going as it gave the freed people behind her strength, she might not notice it but she is starting to take the responsibility handed to her seriously. The group then walked into the cave then went deeper as it became warmer. They found no danger nearby so they followed the tracks to see where these large herbivores have gone to.
The wastrel followed behind with his slaves as he was afraid of being left in the cold wilderness outside. Soon the group arrived in a pathway that led downward, this made Lana skeptical but she remembered that herbivores tend to have paths that are safe to follow and seeing the large tracks it seems no predator would dare follow a gigantic beast.
She led the group deeper but it didn't get darker as glow worms exist in the walls to give enough light to be able to make sense of their surroundings. But they then stopped as the Barbarian besides her took out the large axe it carried with him and looked above the ceiling. She looked up to and felt a shiver run her spine as there were hordes of Bats hanging on the ceiling.
She looked back and mande a gesture of silences as the group realized the large swathes of sleeping dog sized bats. They all closed their mouths and silently tiptoed but this was all broken by a discordant voice sounding all over the cave.
"Eww. that stinks!! Where the hell are you leading all of us here stupid bitch slave?!" The wastrel said loudly as he covered his nose but he too went silent seeing the pale faces of his slaves looking up. which he followed and saw the large group of red eyes opening all together.
"Aarghh!! Keep them away from me!!" the wastrel shouted which made the platinum ranked slave want to curse as he moved to cover his mouth but it was all too late as the Bats have now awoken.
"Run! Protect the weak ones and point your weapons up!" Lana knew it was too late so she led the others to run deeper and follow the tracks as the swathes of bats woke up and created noises around the cave.