Midas stood up and quickly grabbed as many useful but practical supplies that lay in the immediate area surrounding him as quickly as possible.
He grabbed his trusty stone knife and recently modified stone-tip spear. He would rather go with the minimal amount of supplies to ensure that he carries as little weight as possible.
He never went out looking for trouble, and now trouble came to find him…
The Slaver was probably exerting his influence on others in the Trial through Violent means. He may even be extorting AC from innocent factionless individuals.
The number of people that would get destabilised by having a lack of AC would lead to even more rampant crime and corruption, which would lead to even more people being destabilised. The cycle would repeat itself from then on, but like a blade that kept slashing at the same wound, it would create even deeper scars every single time it slashed.
Why was nobody doing anything against the Slaver? Do they not know he exists? Midas found that highly unlikely considering the Slaver's reaction the previous day.
Midas grabbed his water bottle and slung it around his back. He needed to focus.
Considering the fact that the last message stopped halfway through, Midas would have to assume that Julio had been rendered unconscious or someone used a Skill that made it impossible for him to send messages out.
If they rendered him unconscious, then there were two options, he would be taken somewhere less busy and gotten rid of, or he would be taken back to the Slaver Andrew to have possibly even worse things done to him.
Midas hoped for option two as it would mean that at least Julio would stay alive for slightly longer. With regards to Aydin not sending a message at all… Midas found that interesting. But he did not want to delve deeper into any ideas for now.
Midas, after grabbing weapons and supplies, now stood at the edge of the Camp calculating where to go to have the highest probability of finding the Slaves in the shortest time possible.
'Considering the possibility of Aydin telling them the position of the camp, then they would immediately make their way here while dragging or carrying them along', thought Midas.
If there could ever be a leak in his pipeline, it would be Aydin.
He joined the latest and thus had shallower bonds with Julio and Midas. Also, considering his Mental Characteristic of Paranoia, he seems to be the type to be able to betray someone at a moment's notice due to his internal conflicts and trust issues.
Midas did not even consider whether Julio was the leak.
Julio's Nature liked freedom the most, being a Chaotic Neutral person, just like Aydin. Chaotic Neutral people are people who follow their hearts and do things as long as their conscience is clear without any care for rules and traditions.
As he had already acknowledged Midas as a brother, abandoning Midas now would be unthinkable. It would go against his conscience.
Midas would make sure to factor in the possibility of Aydin's betrayal when planning where to go.
There was also another factor that affected where the Slaves could go. If other people see them engaging in these less than morally just acts, the judgment and possible repercussions they could bring unto themselves would be a lot.
Therefore, they would travel in a way that would make sure to encounter the least people as possible, regardless of travel time. Travel time would be made up for by being quick on their feet.
Midas calculated all these angles and decided on a direction he could go before taking off in the manner of half a sprint.
He chose to cover the distance of the radius of the 3 outer kilometre ring of the Northern part of the Trial field. He would cover the area in a triangular fashion, heading North East, and then heading back down to the South East in case they left towards the other side.
In case they really did not care about being seen or not, Midas would have to travel at a high speed. In this way, he would make sure that he at least would be able to pass them by at some point.
Midas kept his pace at a constant speed and kept checking and rechecking his Network for any messages. He also sent them messages to check whether they were okay, but none of the two responded, causing the frown on Midas' face to grow deeper and deeper.
After 10 minutes of running and cursing his pathetic little lungs, he saw a group of people going towards the South West, the direction he was coming from. It was a large group of men who were carrying large barrels and some even larger packages slung across their shoulders.
'[Hidden Divinity]' willed Midas and immediately, he disappeared from the world. He stood in place to calm his breathing and return to his optimum state. But his breathing would only get more and more ragged from now on due to the growing rage he began to feel.
The large package being carried like a sack of potatoes was of course Julio, who was currently bloodied and unconscious. Julio even seemed to have both his arms and legs broken in a terrifyingly brutal way that forced the limbs to bend at right angles to the normal fashion.
Aydin on the other hand was relatively unharmed and was not even tied up. He had a few swollen and discoloured areas on his face. That was it. Worst of all, he was walking around and conversing with the men with a pandering smile on his face.
Midas grit his teeth. Did Aydin betray them?
'That isn't important right now. And it may just be a coincidence that the Slaves chose this direction to hide from the centre. Focus,' thought Midas, before finally making his move. His plan was a three-step plan.
Inspire Fear. Inspire Chaos. Disappear.
He had figured out that he could use [Hidden Divinity] to hide portions of his body while showing others. What he wanted to do next would require this ability.
Midas paced forward, creating no sound in the process, as all sound was hidden inside the Cloak covering him that only he could see. Two men were walking a meter ahead of everyone else and they were also the strongest.
'[Eye of Judgement]'
These were the two A Rank Fighter types he wanted to get rid of, with one person having the Gift of Strength allowing him to exert multiple times his power, and another having the Gift of Destruction which allowed him to explode or implode whatever he touched.
Midas felt that if there was anyone who could defeat Julio in this group, it would be these two. They were also the ones responsible for Julio's Arms and Legs being the way they are. Now they were walking along leisurely while making merry among themselves?
Unforgivable.
He arrived in front of the bearer of the Gift of Strength and partially removed the Hidden attribution of his knife while slicing it across the man's throat. Then he immediately Hid the knife again and went on to stab the neck of the bearer of the Gift of Destruction before he could react to what was happening.
Midas watched as blood splashed out of the neck of the man while he reached out and touched the knife that seemed to have materialised out of thin air with his eyes popping out of their sockets.
"Kgh Kgh hhaah kgh" the Bearer of the Gift of Strength now started making noises, but he could only utter grunts while clutching at his throat. Too bad he could not make any major noises as Midas had made sure to strike in a manner which ruptured the airflow characteristics out of the trachea.
Midas then withdrew the knife and hid it while stepping back, letting both men fall to the floor with a thud.
Now, the others stopped in their tracks. The two strongest people had suddenly collapsed right in front of them and there was a sanguine fluid floating out from under the two's bodies while they were spasming and reaching out for help… Is this a joke?
Midas observed there were 14 people left excluding Aydin and Julio. He would not kill all of them, as he does not have enough time. To deal with them would be up to the second stage of his plan.
His [Hidden Divinity]'s full isolation could only last for what he estimated to be another 10 minutes at best. Because he had to make his getaway after this, that ten minutes is crucial for his and the duo's survival.
Midas also understood that he had just killed someone. Something he had never done before. This was his first time, and he would live in it for as long as possible. He would never forget these two nameless A Rankers for as long as he lived.
Midas also understood something else. What he was feeling right now was a blazing hot rage and a freezing cold apathy. This was what was allowing him to stay calm at this moment.
He also knew that his emotional state had gotten worse. The Trial must be affecting him more and more.
"Please, I don't want to die!"
"Hii!!"
He ignored that for now and focused on the other Slaves, who were now visibly panicking. They kept looking around for anyone who could do something like this. Aydin was confused at first, but then his face showed some visible excitement and some conflict.
One of the Slave stood forward a this moment to calm the situation, saying:
"Come out! We know you're here! We are people who are working for an S Ranker. Do you really want to go against an S Ranker?"
Midas merely stepped forward and popped the tip of his spear into his throat. He could not have the situation calm down. He needed more Fear. After doing this much he stepped back again, letting the body drop to the floor while coughing out blood.
"Ahh!!"
"Nooo!!"
"Please!! If we offended you, please let us go. We'll do anything!"
Midas was waiting for this. In the deepest hoarsest voice he could muster, he said, "I want those barrels. Drop everything you're carrying and leave."
"…"
There was silence for a time. Midas took this opportunity to slit someone else's throat. This immediately got them to let go of any ideas of resistance. They could get killed without even knowing how. Why risk death?
"We can give you the barrels, but these two people are something that belongs to our boss. So—"
"I said drop EVERYTHING and LEAVE!!" bellowed Midas while stepping forward and stabbing the man multiple times in his stomach with the spear. The man was terrified and screamed out in pain. He then fell on the floor, bleeding slowly to his death.
The rest, after seeing this much, did not hesitate anymore and dropped everything they had, thereafter dashing away in their quickest speed.
Aydin stood there, with hope that he knew who this way. Julio, however, was an unconscious bloody mess lying on the floor.
"Aydin, it's me… Don't resist," said Midas. He then applied [Hidden Divinity]'s Isolation on Julio and Aydin and then carried Julio on his shoulder.
"Mi-Midas. Where? How?" asked Aydin tentatively after seeing Midas appear right in front of him.
'How what? How did I know that you guys got attacked?' thought Midas while keeping a straight face and saying:
"Aydin we need to go, my [Memory of the World] won't last that long. Let's leave!"
"Where's Julio? Oh my god!" said Aydin after seeing the state of Julio who was currently lying on Midas' shoulder. If Julio wasn't occasionally letting out grunts and heavy breaths, Aydin would have thought he was staring at a bloodied corpse.
Aydin continued, "Midas, I'm so sorry, I… I tried fighting, but they beat me up and forced me to start walking to meet Andrew. I couldn't help Julio at all."
"It's okay, I'm sure you did your best. And both of you are alive right now, that's all that matters."
"We need to go. They may have called for reinforcements. I'll hide our tracks, I just hope that they don't know where our camp is."
"Yeah of course they don't know. I never told them anything, and I'm sure Julio is the same with the state he is in right now… Argh Julio…" said Aydin with some guilt and self-blame.
Midas watched Aydin calmly. What he had just said was a probe, and it seems like Aydin never actually told them anything.
At least, that is what a normal person would think, but Midas knew that Aydin had a Trait called Silver Tongue… He could only imagine what kinds of effects it had in his dealings with people.
If Aydin was conscious, why could he not send messages? Why did he not reply to Midas?
Midas' guard against Aydin increased to unprecedented levels at this moment. He could tell that Aydin's injuries were surface-level at best. How could there be such a disparity between their treatment?
With Midas leading the way, they made their way to the outer border before Midas' [Hidden Divinity] stopped working.
Midas felt an excruciating pain at the top of his head that caused waves of cold sweat down the rest of his body. He could not even care about Julio, as he placed him on the floor and sat down next to him, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.
Aydin tried speaking at this moment having spotted an opportunity to do so, crying and saying, "Midas, those guys, they just popped up. They tried to ask us questions about where you were. But we didn't want to tell them, so they attacked us… There were too many of them. We just couldn't cope with the attacks."
"I'm sorry… I knew the situation would get bad soon enough, but I underestimated how quickly it would turn bad. I'm sorry you had to go through that, Aydin."
Aydin sobbed and sobbed, while Midas comforted him from the side.
After a 10-minute break, Midas managed to placate Aydin enough to continue their journey to the Camp. After 20 minutes, Midas reached the camp and placed Julio in his Cabin, and then told Aydin to go rest in his own cabin while he went and took care of Julio's immediate injuries.
Aydin nodded, and Midas left to do his own stuff, leaving Aydin standing at the Camp fireplace, with all the previous sadness having vanished from his face, now replaced by reluctance and slight fear.
Aydin had seen the carnage Midas had caused. There were five people dead on the floor. Five!
Midas was a dangerous person. If Midas ever found out that he had abandoned Julio or that he had decided to lead them to the position of the Camp and told those two dead leaders everything he knew about Midas' abilities, wouldn't Midas kill him?
Aydin panicked in his heart after thinking this far… If he stayed here, he would die for sure once Julio woke up. If it wasn't because of Midas, then it would be because of Andrew.
Not hesitating anymore, he went towards one of the storage barrels that Midas had designed and grabbed a container filled with Cambium chips, a stone axe, and a stone knife. He then chose the direction towards the Shrine and left running.
After 30 seconds of running, Aydin heard a voice so grim that he felt like he had descended to the depths of hell itself.
"I knew you would leave in this direction..."