Ch 34: Freeing Captives [pt1]

Sneaking around the palace alone was a difficult task to do properly. Alex had no idea where he was going half the time but he knew that he was on the right track at least.

As he got closer to the inner palace, he could hear louder noises coming from the corridor. It sounded like chants to his ears and Alex took a quiet look inside the room.

The first thing he noticed was the tied-up form of Baron Luke. The man was conscious and he looked terrified as the undead people danced around him.

On the other side of the room, King Saar stood up with a firm hold on his body. He was the only one who looked human and his aura was still dyed with a full gold energy. On his side were the trio of Ashura, Mahiru and 21.

‘Ah, so they were caught in the end? I should have expected this to happen. But still, this is quite bad. I need to find a way to free them.’

Alex’s priority was Baron Luke and then his group. Since Baron Luke held Alex’s life in his hand, Alex had to save him at all costs.

“You all shall be sacrificed to God Plutus tonight. The night of the full moon, aka, tomorrow was supposed to be your sacrificial date but you were the ones who decided to head head-fist in here. Now you will not get to live an extra day.”

King Saar sounded irritated and it made sense when you thought about how their group had messed up his plans.

“You all really thought that you would get to run away from this city? Of course, that is not possible for you all. The second you ate the food in this city, you were bound by its power and became a citizen. Now, it’s time for you all to get inaugurated into our numbers.”

King Saar explained and Alex sighed in relief. He was lucky that he had never eaten that green-tinted food. He was lucky the food he had gotten from the goddess the first day had been untainted and Alex had stored it after that.

He was not bound by the city’s powers.

“E-Excuse me but is this some kind of joke? You never said that you would harm or kill us. Is this because of those precious gems I wanted to take from the cave? You can have 1/3rd of them, not even half of them if you want to. Just let me go.”

Baron Luke pleaded for his life. It was a big deal for him to give up so much of his gems to King Saar. But the king looked uninterested in that deal.

“What use are these useless gems to me? These things might fetch a pretty price outside the tower but they have no value inside it.”

King Saar explained and it caused the Baron to falter. He was suddenly at a loss for what to say. And that was when Mahiru came in with her suggestion.

“What about that blue gem? You want that, right? But you are not able to for some reason. If you let us go, then we will go and get you more of those gems.”

Mahiru offered and that made the king pause. Mahiru celebrated her victory inside her mind but it because evident soon enough that there was no need for her to look this happy.

“Ah, that thing? Well, it is a tempting offer from your side but I no longer need your held to get those gems.”

“You see, the biggest reason we needed someone else to get those gems was because we did not know where those came from and we did not want to lose more of our force while looking for them.”

“But now that we know where those gems come from, we no longer need your help. Although, we might use your help anyway once you cast your bodies and join us in our eternal abundance.”

Alex and the others realized the truth at that moment. Nothing they said would get through to this king. Not only were they being ignored by the king but he also had them at his mercy.

“Y-You can have my slaves and their lives. Just let me go once you are done with them. S-So, do we have a deal or not? I will even give you my other two slaves as well.”

Baron Luke was the lowest of the low. He was willing to doom anyone if it got him out of trouble. And that was what he tried to do with his slaves as well. He offered them as a bargaining chip to the person in front of him.

But contrary to his expectations, King Saar only laughed at his offer.

“You want to offer the lives of your slaves to me? What makes you think that you even have the right to do such a thing? And why would I even want to do that when I can have both you and your slaves for myself?”

King Saar asked and Baron Luke had no response for him. His last trump card had been snatched away from him by King Saar once he said those words.

“I-I…please let me live. I will give you more people in exchange. Yes, I will buy more slaves and send them to you. It will help you out, right?”

Baron Luke begged the king but the king only laughed lauder at his words.

“Oh, you poor little lost follower. Do you think you can leave the tower now? You have already ingested things made up of the tower’s energy into your body. It will no longer allow you to go out.”

This was news not only to the Baron but everyone else as well. They all wanted to go home but this sudden declaration meant that they would not be able to.

“W-What the hell? You are lying. I am sure you are lying. I know so many people who managed to come back from the tower and bring many good back as well. I will not fall for your lies.”

The Baron seemed adamant about not believing the king. He had seen the tower’s returnees outside the tower a few times so he was sure that it was possible to go back.

But King Saar just laughed at Baron Luke’s words.

“I am sure that you have heard of such ‘frauds.’ But once you enter this floor, there is no way for you to go back home. Not that you would want to return once I am done with you.”

Baron Luke and everyone else watched as the king raised his sword and brought it down on Baron Luke. the sword was going to pierce his body and kill him at this rate.

Baron Luke closed his eyes so that he would not have to see his death. But Alex’s body acted faster than his mind could.

He condensed his magic and somehow managed to stop the king’s sword from piercing the Baron’s body.

Everyone looked shocked to see Alex’s sudden entry. Heck, Alex was surprised himself at his actions, but he held his head up and faced the king in front of him.

“Ah, so you finally decided to show yourself as well. Do you know, out of all the people I’ve met so far, your aura is the one I found the weirdest? Once I sacrifice you to God Plutus, I will have so much energy that I will be able to advance this tower.”

King Saar looked happy as soon as Alex stopped him.

“Alex, help us out. No, get the Baron out first and then help us out. We all need to run away.”

“You bastard. Where did you leave Mahiru? Is she alright? I will kill you if anything happens to her.”

Alex ignored both his teammates who were trying to get him to speak. He was neither interested in answering Kurina, nor Ashura. He quickly helped Baron Luke out and the elder man almost collapsed.

“A-Alex, my dear slave. You must save me at all costs, alright? It doesn’t matter if anyone else survives or not. You just need to make sure I do not die.”

Baron Luke hid himself behind Alex’s back so that he would not be seen by the king in front of them.

It was a foolish decision since Baron Luke was twice the size of Alex and his bulky form could not be hidden easily. But he still tried his best.

“Baron, go and free everyone else. I will find a way to take to protect you somehow, do go.”

Alex yelled and Baron Luke followed his command unconsciously. A lot of undead ran toward him but Alex somehow managed to stop them and allow Baron Luke the time to run away.

“This is good. It has been a long time since I have felt this alive. So, entertain me more. Let me see how much you can handle.”

Alex looked at the king once more and he could sweat that the aura around the king looked fainter than before.

At this rate, the king would likely run out of power soon. Alex just needed to survive until then.