The Slave Cage (6)

All the people in the room froze in their tracks before turning their heads towards the door, from beyond which the sound of blasts echoed throughout the Cage.

Boom!

Badaam!

The man standing guard at the bar's entrance rushed into the slave cage, fear and panic plainly evident on his muddy face.

"T-the entire bar ex-exploded!" He shouted at the top of his voice, wailing his hands over his head, "The stairs that lead down here are completely exposed!"

A loud chatter spread throughout the slavers in the room as they stared at one another, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

A few men pushed the others back and sprinted towards the door, ready to leave their comrades behind.

Some men kept their eyes on the masked man, waiting eagerly for their boss's order to attack him.

"Shut up!!" Yelled Layla at the top of her voice, stomping her feet on the ground, making the entire ground shake.

The panic that had been once visible on the men's faces now transformed into an expression of fear. Fear of the superiority and strength the lady in front of them rightly possessed.

She glanced at the masked intruder before addressing her men, "This location has been compromised! Soon enough, the Golden Guards will be here!!"

Attentively, the goons listened to every word she said, too afraid to utter a single word.

Layla looked up at the roof, thinking hard about the best choice she could make, benefitting her entire group.

Even she and all her men together were hardly any match for the skilled troops that the Golden Guards consisted of. She was painfully aware of this fact.

"We'll abandon this place and disperse in different directions. I will contact all of you personally when the time is right!" she shouted, raising her sword in the air, "Disperse!"

A few of the gangsters stood in confusion, staring at their leader with bewildered eyes before finally joining the majority of the men who rushed out the door, not waiting an instant longer.

She calmly held her ground in the slave Cage, with a handful of her men, including Daniel, face to face with the intruder.

The masked man didn't bother to chase the people who had rushed out the door. He stood relaxed, his head raised towards the muscular woman and his dagger lightly gripped.

Boom!

The explosions continued outside the door, one louder than the other, with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Layla gritted her teeth, her eyes closed, and her palm tightly holding onto her sword. She thought back to the events of the day but couldn't figure out just how she arrived in the situation she was currently in.

"You need to die for me to live in peace," said a tanned dwarf with black hair and a rough, muscular physique, slowly making his way towards the masked man, simultaneously pulling out a black shortsword from the scabbard hung on his waist.

Sliding his right foot forward and bending his hips a little, the intruder took a firm stance, with his dagger pointed towards the approaching enemy.

"Miroth, forget it," whispered Layla, putting her palm on the dwarf's shoulder, "We don't have time for this."

He glanced at her momentarily before understanding why she ordered so and reluctantly took a few steps back before heading out the door.

Layla slashed the air ferociously with her sword, with a masterful and balanced grip, before sliding it back into the scabbard hanging on her back.

"I will not forget this, White mask…" she mumbled, controlled anger prominent in her low and husky tone.

Looking at the intruder one last time, she dashed out of the collapsing stairway, followed by the rest of her sidekicks, who had stayed back with her.

Daniel stopped at the door, letting the others pass through first. Slightly shifting his gaze, he looked at the intruder, standing still, unaffected by the commotion.

'How's he even going to get out?' doubted Daniel.

The intruder didn't have enough time left to run out through the collapsing staircase, nor could he make a hole in the ceiling to get out since it could make the entire roof collapse over the hundreds of people locked in the cages.

Even if he somehow got out, he would have to face not only the slavers but also the Golden Guards, who would arrive soon to inspect the commotion.

"Well, it's none of my business," Daniel mumbled before running up the long staircase.

The man wearing the white mask and the black cloak was now alone in the room, excluding the numerous unconscious slaves around him.

He stood still, staring at the staircase, which had now been locked off by the huge rocks that had fallen down due to the shockwave of the explosion.

Now alone, he removed his mask, revealing his fair skin, pointed nose and blue eyes, almost divine-like features.

"You did good," Nox mumbled, looking at the ground before him as shadows of the five elite goblins behind the assassin emerged from the ground, kneeling down and bowing their heads.

Nodding, he waved his hand, ordering them to return to his shadow, which they followed instantaneously.

Cracking his knuckles, he bent behind, stretching his back before bending his upper body to either side and performing various stretching exercises.

He looked around, examining the walls of the large hall.

The escape plan he had was an irritating one with an unknown outcome. But, it was the best thing to do to maintain his hidden identity.

He knew the fact that he was not yet powerful enough to face the Golden Guards all alone. Therefore, going through with his plan was the only option he had.

Finally, his head stopped moving, and his eyes stared at a specific point on the wall. It was one of the vents.

It was small but large enough to fit a scrawny young child who had been fasting for months and had nothing but thin skin glued over weak bones for a body.

It was high up on the brick wall, just beneath the ceiling. A thick wire grill made of some green metal was fixed in place over it.

Calmly walking towards the wall, Nox crouched down on the ground. He launched himself up into the air using his muscular legs as springs.

Unfortunately, he was just a metre short of reaching the rectangular vent level due to him being a bit tired after the long night.

Summoning the moon dagger into his right hand, he drove it into the thick rock wall before using it as a support and flinging himself upwards.

Finally reaching in front of the vent, he raised his right arm up in the air. His dagger unstuck itself from the wall, flying back into his hands.

He pierced the brick wall beside the vent, hanging in place with the support of his short blade.

With his other hand, he pulled on the metal grill with all his strength, but it refused to bulge. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull it out.

Letting go of the dagger, he gripped the green metal grill with both his hands. Firmly placing both his feet on the wall, he pulled the grill, wringing out every drop of strength in his entire body.

Hesitantly, the grill started to slowly pull away from the wall.

Baaam!!

The sound of a loud explosion erupted as it was launched away.

Nox was about to fall to the ground without any support, but numerous hands emerged from his shadow, tightly gripping his leg.

Regaining his balance, he jumped into the open vent, mumbling, "Anatomical Liberation."

His body twisted and turned itself in weird, unimaginable ways, allowing him to fit inside the small vent.

Even though it was neither painful nor harmful to him, his body doing unnatural things made him incredibly uncomfortable.

Nox sighed, slithering forward in a way that seemed almost natural to him.

'What's going on?' he thought, as the passage in front of him didn't seem to end even after minutes of moving forward.

With the help of his night vision skill, he could see the never-ending path forward, but even that had now started to dim.

He controlled his breathing, making it uniform so that he could focus better, but even that didn't stop his eyesight from dimming.

Slowly… all he could see was utter darkness, something which he hadn't seen in a long time due to his skills.

But that wasn't the end of it.

The numbing sensation in his arms and feet began to travel further away from him before he lost the sense of his entire body.

Even then, his body kept slithering forward before finally disappearing into the darkness.