Rain's mind played through various scenarios of how to kill the two men without them making any noise that could draw attention. After much thought, Rain formed a plan. Using his soul power, he planted the thought of needing to go to the bathroom in the mind of one of the men.
Rain watched as the man struggled to contain himself, which the other man noticed.
Man 2: "What happened? Why are you jumping on your feet?"
Man 1: "I need a bathroom break."
Man 2: "Then go to the side and finish your business."
Man 1: "But the boss said not to leave our post."
Man 2: "I will keep watch for the tree spirit boy, and I guess the boy has already been killed and eaten by wild animals. We canvassed the entire ravine but found no sign of him."
Man 1 started walking behind a secluded bush. "Yeah, I think so too. The boy is probably already eaten to the bone, but the boss is determined to find him, even if it's just his dead body." As the man stopped to relieve himself, he muttered, "Why isn't it coming? I felt like I was going to wet my pants earlier."
Rain hearing the man muttering, prays the man does notice that he was not able to hold back his toilet because he was influenced by something, quickly and silently walks behind him and listens as the man struggles to relieve himself. "Ugh! Ugh!"
Rain thought he would have to kill the man before he finished what he was doing.
Rain crept up behind the man and, as with the other two men, plunged the tip of his sword into the man's throat. The man opened his mouth to shout, but Rain severed his vocal cords. Clutching at his neck to stop the pouring blood, the man fell to the ground.
Rain sighs in relief as he watches the life go out of the man without any noise and without alerting the other men as he dies.
As Rain was creeping closer to one of the men and killing him, the other man, oblivious and with his back turned, spoke, "I heard Boss is going to tell us to search the ravine again at dawn tomorrow. I conclude we should disagree with him, as we are only one day away from the territory of the Tree Spirits. With one of their race missing, they will certainly send a patrol to find us." The man remained silent for a few seconds, and when he received no reply from his companion, he began to turn around.
Rain hearing the man thinks is there conflict among the slavers? Are the slavers rejecting the decision of their boss?
Rain, seeing the other man turning around, cast a phantom illusion on himself to make him look like the man he had just killed. He also cast an illusion on the dead man to make him vanish so the other wouldn't notice.
Man 2: "Why are you silent? And why aren't you answering me?" Rain sighed in relief when the man didn't notice the illusion. He thought the cloudy sky helped him, as the clouds blocked the light of the two moons and the stars.
Rain's illusion made him look like the man, but it did not make him sound like him, so Rain kept quiet and only nodded his head.
The man must have interpreted his nod as agreement, for he continued speaking, "The second boss also agrees with my idea... To disagree with the boss's idea is the second boss's idea. You should also consider joining the second boss's command. The boss doesn't have many years left in his prime. I've heard gossip among the old men who started this business with him that the reason he's determined to capture the tree spirit boy is because, after this job, the boss plans to retire...."
As the man kept talking, Rain, disguised as the dead man, manipulated the illusion to nod and walked closer to him. The man only sees his companion nodding and walking toward him, not realizing that Rain is approaching with a drawn sword.
Rain thought while nearing the man, there is conflict among the slavers.
If he can influence the slaver's boss and second boss with his soul power to cause a conflict among them, the commotion of the two highest positions of the slavers fighting would create the perfect opportunity for him to rescue his friend.
If he can influence the slavers who are supporting the two leaders and also cause a conflict among them, Rain can only dream of this possibility.
When Rain was close enough, he angled his sword under the man's jaw and plunged it upward so it pierced through to the back of his neck. The man saw Rain only after the sword was already inside him. His eyes widened with confusion as he tried to lift his hands to grasp the sword but stopped midway as his body went limp. As Rain pulled the sword out, the man fell to the ground with a thud.
Rain felt the power of the soul against ordinary humans is a dimension reduction strike against them.
Rain felt more confident in rescuing his friend.
Rain began looting the two men, his soul power scanning and finding a pouch of jerky. In addition to their swords, the men also had two small knives. Rain took the pouch of jerky and the knives. He devoured the jerky, his stomach started to digest the jerky and tried throwing the small knives at a tree.
His injured wrist can not back much power behind the throw, and the knife, instead of embedding in the tree, fell limply to the ground midway.
Rain thought to use the small knives as throwing weapons to attack the rest of the slavers as it would be much safer for him, but with his injured wrist of both hands and left shoulder arrow wound, he cannot make full use of the small knives.
Rain decides to heal his right wrist as much as possible before he starts his attack on the slaver's camp.
Rain bent down to pick up the knife from the ground, during which he manipulated the energy produced from the jerky into his right wrist injury to speed up the healing process. He started walking to find the other slavers guarding the ravine to prevent his escape.
---
From a distance, Rain observed the slaver's camp. According to the soul chip, four hours have passed, since he began eliminating the guards outside the ravine. With the power of his soul, it is easy to eliminate them.
As he watched the camp for an opening, he rotated his right wrist and sensed with his soul power that the inner muscles of his wrist had mended, though the outer muscles and skin remained injured. Although he still had some jerky left, his stomach was full of jerky waste, preventing him from eating more until he emptied his stomach.
Rain felt he could use his full strength with his right hand for a limited period and breathed a sigh of relief. If the arrow wound had been on his right shoulder or if his right wrist hadn't healed, he wouldn't have been able to use his full strength.
From his vantage point, Rain saw no weak spots to enter or eliminate the guards. If he killed one, the others would notice. The slavers made elevated positions where they always observe the around the camp.
If he kills any slavers below he cannot hide the dead slavers with illusion as he can influence others or create a phantom illusion of 10 meters around him. He moves stealthily around the camp, looking for a weakness or a way to create one.
As time passed and Rain found no weakness, he noticed that the slavers' camp was organized like a military camp. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his stomach, reminding him he needed to relieve himself. This distraction made it difficult for him to focus on finding a weak point.
Rain decides to first clear his stomach, so he can further heal his right wrist and start healing both of his heels. Then he can move faster and he can fully display his sword skills.
He is certain with his sword skills and the power of his soul he can fight against the slavers in the camp alone and rescue his friends and other captured half-tree spirits like him. But first, he has to clear his stomach so he can eat the rest of the jerky.
He remembered a pond he had seen earlier and started walking toward it. On the way, he found a violet-leaf tree, which he recognized from Glenn's memories. The leaves of this tree were used for making soap and had disinfectant properties and a pleasant scent.
After some time, Rain washed himself after relieving himself. He thought about how, if he were still on Earth, he would have found a bathroom for such needs. However, he would have to adapt to this world, which was still in the pre-medieval era by Earth's standards. Rain tried to console himself with this thought.
As he was returning to spy on the slavers' camp, he heard a howl, followed by more howls. Rain thought, 'Wolves are out to hunt.' The word 'hunt' echoed in his mind, and a plan began to form as he muttered it repeatedly.
If he could hypnotize the alpha wolf, he could use them to attack the slaver's camp. While the slavers were distracted fighting the wolves, he could sneak into the camp and rescue his friend. The challenge now was to find the wolf pack quickly and figure out how to hypnotize the alpha wolf amidst its pack.