Chapter 236

We didn't run into any more resistance before finding the cellblocks for the humans and elves. Unlike before, these ones were separated into lower-level and higher-level cellblocks like the beastfolk, probably because there were so many more female slaves than men. The elves and humans were still mingled together though, unlike the beastfolk we released. I wasn't sure why that was, it was like they didn't make much distinction between the two. I also didn't run into any other slaves that were deep enough into the negative karma to make me want to refuse releasing them. That lone person that escaped earlier was a bit of an anomaly, who was that guy?

Once we finished releasing the rest of the slaves we were ready to search for our exit strategy. We were in some kind of sublevel and needed to find a way up that wouldn't lead to the bazaar. There were so many people following us now that it had long become impossible to keep track of everyone, I just hoped that there wasn't too much infighting or personality clashes on the way out. So far everyone had been good but there was no more moving stealthily with this much chatter following us.

Which is what was so odd about this place. After our first run-in with some guards, we haven't run into anyone since. All of the slaves had been abandoned down here with the only hint of why being that there were demons up above. How much of the city was overrun at this point? Was the entire city lost or was the damage contained to only the bazaar? There was no way of knowing until we got back up there.

I stopped for a moment and cast the hostility scanning ritual spell I created. I really did need to come up with a proper name for it. I let out a pulse and it traveled through the crowd, luckily it didn't reveal anyone hostile within the range I could check. The ritual wasn't foolproof because it would only tell me if someone was currently hostile, not planning to be, but I was happy that I had something like this at all. The brief headache the spell gave me after scanning so many people at once though made me hesitant to use it in such a large crowd again.

"Does anyone know which way we should be headed to avoid the bazaar?" I asked aloud.

Quinn looked around before pointing in one direction. "I think we should be going that way if we want to avoid the... the bazaar."

I turned to Silva. "Do we know which way the records are kept? I would prefer not to stumble into high-level combatants."

"They're probably kept in the building up above, not down here with the 'merchandise,' so to speak. The only way we would come across them is if we're looking for trouble. I don't think it's worth the detour anymore," she replied.

"That's one less thing to worry about then. Let's head this way." I started leading the large group down through the hallway and away from where the bazaar should be.

As we walked, I tapped Morrigan on the shoulder. "Hey, we're going to need to tunnel upward to get out of here. When we find the spot we want to dig, I'll use a tremor sense ritual to see if there's anything in the way, or anything outside where we'll come out. Make sure to siphon off the wasted terra mana to make it easier for you to cast your tunneling magic."

"Got it, I'll have to break through some of their wards if we go out through the outside walls though," Morrigan said.

"Will that be hard?" I asked.

She nodded. "It will make the entire process more difficult, but as long as nothing breaks my concentration, I can do it."

"Good, I think it's our best option. We'll make sure nothing gets to you while you're working." I patted her on the shoulder.

After a while we came up to a blank wall as far away from the bazaar as we could find. Quinn pointed at the wall. "This seems like the best spot, mind if I check it out?"

"Sure," I agreed. "We'll both check it out to make sure it's safe."

I cast the tremor sense ritual magic spell using [Light Scribing]. I've only used this ritual a few times to test it out. It's not very good at looking into stone structures because the stone people use for building here does a good job of killing vibrations, but since I was trying to see the vibrations on the other side of the stone, it would work alright here for what I was trying to check. This ritual was a much more refined sensory spell than my rudimentary hostile sensing one so it was much more pleasant to cast. Once I had finished casting and had it activated, I pressed my other hand against the wall and closed my eyes to better focus on the odd sensation I was experiencing. There wasn't any movement outside near the wall that we were looking to dig through. Usually even the vibration of people walking would be enough for me to sense something. It was supposed to be the middle of the day still and there wasn't any activity outside. That seemed odd but at least there weren't a ton of demons there either... probably.

"I think it's as safe as we could hope for," I said with a frown.

Quinn wiped the sweat from his brow and opened his eyes. They were looking a little bloodshot after all the scouting he's been doing. "Yeah, I didn't see anyone out there either. Isn't that weird though? This building divides the upper market district from the southern quarter."

"I don't like it, but there's nowhere better to leave from," Lorriene said. "If there are monsters in the southern quarter, going through the market district would be the safest option. Like that time we went to the embassy from the southern quarter."

I furrowed my brow when I picked up something I hadn't expected from the tremor sense. I felt something reverberate behind me but it didn't travel well enough through the stone to pick up what it was. I turned around and cast my hostile detection spell again near a door on the opposite side of the hallway while tuning out the large group of people that we had already released. There were twelve people over there, none of them hostile. There were two rooms between us and them.

"It looks like we missed some people... There's another group through this room over here," I said pointing at the door.

Quinn rubbed his arm awkwardly. "Ah... well... That room is for the slaves that they... break. As kind as you've been to free all of us, freeing them would just slow us down. The slaves that they take down there are ones that are disfigured, missing limbs, or just mentally... gone. You probably shouldn't waste your time with them..."

His words made me seethe in a way I wasn't expecting. I had to bite back a remark that I thought wouldn't be constructive. This guy had been helpful but I wasn't going to leave people behind if I could help it... Especially if there are people there that I was uniquely qualified to help.

Torien met my eyes and nodded. "We'll go, but let's open this tunnel up first." She stepped away and addressed the group of former slaves who were waiting a short distance away from us. "Do any of you know where the elven embassy is?"

A few of the elves stepped forward.

Torien nodded and singled out the highest level one. "The elves will take all of you in, even the humans. Let them smuggle you out to the Northern Greens. If any of you would rather go to Sorsette's library, they may take you in as well. I would be wary of any other churches but I won't stop you from taking your chances elsewhere."

"You're not coming with us?" One of the nearby elves asked.

Torien glanced at me before looking back. "There's one more group that we need to go free but they might slow us down a lot and we've already started to prepare the spell we need to tunnel out of here. Now that the group has gotten this large and the higher levels can protect the weaker ones, it'll be better if we go take care of this last group while you make your way to the elven embassy without us. We freed you from your collars, time for you to fight for your own freedom."

Her words weren't as inspiring as you might hope them to be, lots of the people near us looked worried and afraid. The higher leveled people looked determined though, these were the soldiers and adventurers who had fallen on hard times and gotten wrapped up in debt or crime. They looked just as ready as ever to fight. I just hoped they would be altruistic enough to lead the weaker people there too.

"I'm about ready to cast. I don't want to wait much longer and lose control of the terra magic I've collected," Morrigan hurriedly told me.

"Get ready!" I called out to the group. There were whispers and chatter all along the train of people behind us as they told each other what was happening. I've already led them more directly than initially planned and I didn't want their eyes on the kind of help I was planning on offering the ones through that door if Quinn was right about what it was. I just hoped there weren't demons in this part of the city and that they made it there safe without us. Enough of the people here were high enough level that I felt pretty confident leaving them to their own fates though. I'm sure they would make it to the embassy without us.

Morrigan began to release her magic and the stone wall started being ripped apart as the terra magic she directed pushed into it. Once she made it through the stone, her magic began to tear its way faster through the packed dirt and angled upward as it made a person-sized tunnel. Morrigan was focused as she kept hold of the wild magic with extremely fine control. I could feel her reach a threshold of magic embedded into the wall and she efficiently began to break through the layers of the barrier as she continued digging. The tunnel wouldn't be carved instantly and it would take her constant concentration until she made it all the way through.

While she worked, Callik took a step toward me. "Thank you all for freeing us. What did you call your group again?"

"The Order of Lilith. If anyone claims that you were freed by the Cult of Amphores, that's a lie."

"Sounds complicated," the bearkin grunted.

I shrugged in response. "They're demon cultists and they're trying to use slaves as pawns. I would rather you trust neither of us, than for you to trust them."

"The Order of Lilith. I'll remember it." Callik said with a nod.

I could hear the name whispered and repeated through the crowd behind us. Nearly all of them had heard that we were the Order of Lilith when we released them, but now that escape was this close I could tell they were taking the name more seriously than before. I hoped that I was giving them the name of an Order as righteous as I was led to believe. It would be a stab in the gut if I found out that I had been tricked into aligning with a group that didn't deserve it. I needed to learn more about the Order as soon as possible.

"Almost there," Morrigan warned. Her words got everyone's attention and they prepared themselves for the next part of the escape. The tension in the air was thick with anticipation.

Callik took a step toward the group of former slaves and got their attention. "No running or pushing, everyone stay together in your groups. High levels will protect the tunnel on the other side just in case. That elf there will lead us to the embassy," he said indicating the one Torien had singled out.

The sound of Morrigan's tunneling changed as she reached the stone walkway of the city. With a final crack, the stone brick path collapsed inward, and with a final pull of the magic she was controlling, she pulled all of the excess dirt, stone, and debris, through the tunnel and out of the way.

The seven of us stepped away from the tunnel as Callik led the elf and several of the other higher-leveled people through Morrigan's tunnel and into the afternoon air. We watched as they signaled the all-clear and people began to pour through the tunnel and thank us on their way out.

Quinn however stood next to us. I looked him up and down for a moment. "You not going with the others?" I asked.

"I'd rather stay with you guys. Like I told you earlier, I have a feeling that I'll have better fortunes following your group," the cougar beastfolk replied. His wording made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I think any time luck came up it was going to make me uncomfortable now, at least until I confront Fortuna. "Besides, I think I've been helpful to you. If your little group are actually demon hunters then I'm safer sticking with you guys for now," he whispered.

"Even though I intend to rescue the slaves you said would only slow us down?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged. "We'll see when we get there. I've heard rumors but I don't know how bad it actually is. I'd rather stick with the seven of you regardless. You're interesting."

I didn't fully trust this guy but he had been helpful and his karma did imply that he wasn't a bad person. I was still somewhat miffed that he had been dismissive of the people we were going to rescue next, but I suppose he was trying to be pragmatic. I could understand that. I would be revealing some of my secrets in front of him but my gut told me that he was trustworthy. I think that it was going to be harder and harder to keep everything a secret as we added more people to our ranks anyway, especially as word about 'The Order of Lilith' became more widespread.

"Let's get going then," I said as I started walking toward the room I had discovered. This additional cell block was set up differently from the other ones based on how the people were clustered inside. It seemed more like one large room with several attached cells rather than the previous ones that were meant to be as space-efficient as possible.

I opened the first door and found a lounge of some kind. This place looked like a private VIP room or something. It was outfitted with nice furniture and carpets... but all of the tables, couches, and the small stage had restraint attachment points...

I didn't like where this was going.