Book One – Interlude – Part Four – Servi’s Nightly Stroll II – Attack on the Markets

Not wanting to ask any questions that he was afraid to learn the answer to, Kire led the group out from the boxes they were hiding behind and into the open. From there, they ran into the area of the market where it got narrower and crowded, making the group move nearly shoulder to shoulder.

They crept along, and Lurrgy had his weapon at the ready.

“Itarr, take all of the cages that we’re within range of as we walk.”

Got it.

One by one, the stack of filthy cages disappeared, startling and surprising Kire and the others. But that wouldn’t last long because they came upon the second patrol unit.

The market layout was like a funnel, wide at the beginning, and then it shrunk into one lane that snaked around the entirety of the market. Right now, Servi and her new friends had just entered the funnel, meaning that there was nothing to their left or right behind the cages to take cover. The coops themselves were the wall. Not to mention, the funnel-shaped tunnel didn’t even have a roof or anything covering the top. It was wide open as Servi glanced up for a quick moment to look at the awe-inspiring moon one more time.

Why was it like that? The only one who knew was the market’s designer.

“Wait, there are four guards this time instead of three. I guess it doesn't matter. You each take the one in front of you.”

Not waiting on any command, Servi used Telekinesis and yawned as she casually took yet another life. Kire, Rie, and Lurrgy all ran up and killed their respective enemies.

This is too slow.

“I agree.”

“You agree with what?” Kire said as he watched Servi absorb the bodies.

“Can we speed it up a bit?”

“Now now, don’t be hasty, Blue,” Rie said, smiling at the impatient girl. “We can’t rush something like this.”

“Fine,” Servi sighed again as Kire moved ahead, slowly creeping along and keeping an eye on the area in front of them.

The funnel-shaped lot had a total of five turns that Servi's group had to take before they reached the back middle.  The stairs that led to the underground where the slaves were being held were located there.

As they approached the second turn, Kire put his hand up. The second group of guards was approaching.

“The idiots have a torch. Here’s the plan: I’ll use a wind skill to blow out the fire. Their eyes are too used to the light it generates, so they’ll be blind in the darkness.”

Nodding, Servi waited for the fire to go out before she struck. Considering that this was a perfect moment to try out different ways to fight, Servi tried to combine skills and physical moves. She used Telekinesis to hold down her enemy and ran up with a sword drawn. With Soul Essence of Primal Combat, she knew the exact spot to slice.

Servi quickly absorbed her foe's head and body while gripping her blade. To her left and right were two more corpses. Lurrgy used his ice rope and Rie her fists.

Servi wanted to try out Lightning Smash and Combination Skill: Venti Aqua, but she felt like those would make too much noise.

The group made their way through the third and fourth turn, encountering no guards. Finally, they went through the last turn and saw eleven guards standing in front of a black iron fence that protected a set of spiral stairs descending downward.

“That’s our way in, but eleven? This is gonna be tough,” Kire said while racking his brain for ideas. It was four against eleven in an enclosed area, which theoretically meant they should have the advantage, but that necessarily wasn’t the case. It was possible the final eleven guards were the strongest the market had to offer. They were the last stand against any would-be intruders.

“Not really. Want me to take care of it?” Servi casually asked.

“If you think you can, then do it,” Kire said. “We’ll be right here, ready to rush in.”

“Itarr, can you do it?”

Yes, I can.

In an instant, eleven swords floated around Servi like a sentient shield. Itarr used Telekinesis to manipulate the weapons.  She effectively controlled them like a remote control airplane. It was something that had been stewing in Servi's mind for a while, and this was the perfect chance to test it out.

“Yer gonna fly the swords in?” Lurrgy asked, but Servi shook her head.

“No, Itarr is. Controlling and directing eleven items are too much for me.”

After she spoke, the eleven swords launched forward, like fighter jets taking off of a runway. They flew and danced through the air as the first sword reached its target, cutting off her head. The other blades did the same thing, and a concert of death and blood spontaneously occurred. Arms and legs and heads danced and spun in every direction, covering everything in a thick layer of blood. Before long, eleven souls floated over to Servi.

The bloody swords flew back to Servi before disappearing. Turning to look at her companions and their shocked expressions, she had to stifle a laugh.

“Come on, we gotta go” Servi jogged to the bodies and absorbed them. Since her back was turned, Servi wasn’t able to see their panic look shifting to absolute horror.

“Lurrgy?”

“Aye?”

“That human absolutely terrifies me,” Kire said with a quiver in his voice. What he just witnessed was a performance of murder and death, and the maestro didn’t even bat an eye. Hell, she almost giggled.

“Be thankful she’s on our side,” Rie added on. Her purple scales slowly shook from fear. Even though she should be happy that the damn Humans who enslaved her kin were dying, the way they passed from this world to the next was brutal.

“Rie, let’s go. We’re so close to our goal,” Kire held out his scaly hand, and she took as they walked through the bloody area.  It was surreal to watch the bodies disappear from existence. Lurrgy followed behind with his war hammer at the ready.

“Finally. Here, I got rid of the fence. All we gotta do is go down,” Servi said, descending the spiral stairs. The three companions followed her.

The stairs themselves were metallic and rusted, and Servi could spot a bit of dried blood that didn’t come from her victims. After descending for a few seconds, Servi found herself in a small square room. The door in front of her didn't have a handle, so it only opened from one side.

“Look, I’ll get rid of the door, and you three charge in. The bastards on the other side shouldn’t be expecting anything,” she waited for all three to nod before she got to work.

You know, you’ve really gotten better at this. If this was the first day, something like this door would’ve taken a few minutes, and now you can get it in thirty seconds. I’m proud of you.

“Thanks, Itarr,” Servi said.

“Do I even want to ask?” Kire pondered aloud as he took a stance.

“She said she’s proud of me. That’s all you need to know,” Servi replied. “Be ready. Three seconds.”

Lurrgy adjusted his grip on his weapon, and Rie took a deep breath.

The moment the door disappeared, the three rushed in.  The unexpected attack had caught everyone inside off guard.

It was a slaughter, but it wasn’t silent. A few guards managed to get a scream out right before a hammer crushed their skulls. While the massacre was happening, Servi stayed back and used Telekinesis to support the three fighting companions.  When she had the time, she played the janitor role by absorbing corpses.

Perhaps it was due to her inexperience, but Servi saw a half-dead Human with part of his head crushed reach up and press a button on the wall. She didn’t think anything of it because she thought he would be dead soon, and she didn’t know what that button did.

“Shit!” Kire yelled out as a nearby door opened up, and tens of armed slavers rushed into what they’d assume was an easy win. It was twenty of them versus four, but they didn’t realize that one of the four was a monster in human clothing.

Thanks to the numerous skill-capable souls Servi had absorbed since the raid started, her unique ability of Skill Stacking had grown dramatically.

“I’ll kill the reinforcements,” Servi said as she walked to the newly arrived group. They all had helmets. She couldn’t see their faces, but that didn’t matter. In a matter of seconds, all twenty of their necks instantly snapped to the right. Their bodies soon disappeared as twenty more souls flowed into her ring.

“Thanks for that!” Rie said with her fist in the chest of a man. She pulled out his heart and crushed it before moving on to the next enemy.  She completely ignored the crimson blood splashing about on her purple scales, dripping down while leaving long red streaks.

It didn't take long for Rie and the others to finish everything up. The room was silent except for the exasperated breathing of Kire, Rie, and Lurrgy. While they caught their breath, Servi walked around and absorbed the corpses and furniture that littered the room. She didn’t know when it would come in handy, but she had unlimited storage in her ring.  If there was even a fraction of a chance she could use them, she would go through the slight trouble to absorb it.

“Do ya…think that’s….all of them?” Lurrgy said in between breaths.

“Maybe?” Rie answered.

“Our scouts didn’t come this far in, so we’re blind from here on out. Our best bet is to go through the doors the reinforcements came from,” commanded Kire. He walked through the door without waiting to hear any replies.

Servi and the other two followed him, and they came to a large room filled with jail cells. They were on the top floor, and from over the guardrail, they could see at least one more rail and the bottom floor.

“Wait, so this is where the slaves are being held?! And there are three of these markets?!!" Servi yelled, her body surging with anger. Her loud voice got the attention of a set of guards standing at the ready nearby. Before they even opened their mouths, their heads were separated from their bodies as Servi lifted them up and tossed them over the rail. Cries of fear and sadness erupted from the unfortunate souls who were nearby when the bodies landed.

“Blue?” Rie exclaimed, but Servi was so upset she couldn’t hear.

“Itarr. Kill everyone except the slaves.”

As you wish.

Servi put her hand to the rusty railing and hopped over, her black hair fluttering as she fell. She landed with a heavy thump, and once her companions heard screaming, they rushed over.

“What the…???!!!!” they didn’t even know what to expect. Servi, the girl they know as Blue, stood perfectly still. Fifteen bodies, all broken and battered and twisted to half their size, laid around her in a somewhat symmetrical pattern.

“What’s the matter?!! Too fucking afraid when a real challenge comes around?!” though it might have looked like she was yelling to a crowd, it was only a single person. A young boy was all that was left alive after her slaughter.

“Do you think I'm gonna take it easy on you?!”

“Please, no!!! I—” the boy who couldn’t be older than fourteen or fifteen tragically tried to explain himself, but Servi would not have it. She didn’t bother using Telekinesis.  No, Servi wanted to make this personal.  She drew a blade from her ring and walked up to the boy.  He tried his best to move, but he was paralyzed by the poison known as fear.  In a swift motion, she cleaved his head from his shoulders.  Servi dropped her blade and absorbed it along with the parts of the boy she had just killed.

“Hey! That’s all of them! Come down here!” She yelled, covered in the blood that squirted out when Itarr twisted and contorted the bodies.

“Remind me to never, ever, ever, make her angry. I’m damn sure she’s strong enough to take on an army….” Lurrgy said, feeling a chill in his beard.

Kire agreed, and the two made their way down to Servi.  They saw her staring through the thin gaps of a jail cell.  Waste littered the stone floor, and it didn’t even have a bed. It was just a small rectangle, and if Servi laid down, she’d be too big for it by about 150 centimeters.

The three walked over to her and saw a young girl, not even older than five, cowering against the wall naked. Her little hands covered her private parts as tears filled her eyes. Bright red lines went down her arms and legs. Servi heard a sound, looked down, and saw yellow liquid running down the girl's leg before it intermingled with the brown excrement that littered the floor.

“Shit, we overdid it. Look, that little girl will never talk to me after she saw what I did, so I’ll take care of the gate and leave some clothes. It’s your job to convince them, alright?”

“Aye. We can handle that much.”

Servi took out another table she got from the Rude Crystal and placed clothes and blankets on it. Next, she went around to each jail cell on the bottom floor and absorbed the gatekeeping it shut.

“Aye, that’s a good lad. Come to Lurrgy. We’re here to rescue you,” Lurrgy did his best to wave over a little dwarf boy that was missing an eye, but he wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t until he saw the young girl of around five years old come out that he did.

He walked over to the table, and she had the biggest smile on her.

“Rwaky, you here?” she cutely mumbled her words as Rie did her best to put clothes on the girl. Due to the red marks on her arms, she couldn’t lift them above her neck. Nor could she even walk well – she had to slide her feet across the nasty floor.

“I am,” he turned to Lurrgy. “Are we really free?”

“Aye. You’re free now. We’re gonna take you out of here.”

He stared at the black bracelet around his arm.

“Aye, don’t worry about it. Blue over there can take em’ off.”

“She’s scary…” the red-marked girl said.

“She might be, but she means well,” Rie replied.

About this time, Servi walked back to the table with a crowd of little girls and boys following behind her.

“Wow!! Miss Lady made the mean bars and bad guys disappear,” one of them said.

“Umm…this isn’t a lie, is it? Are we gonna be punished? I can’t take any more pain….” the tallest one said. He was an Elf with one arm.  A section of his jaw wasn't there, revealing the whites of his teeth and pinks of his gum.

“Lad, it’s no joke, and it’s no lie. We’re gonna take all of ye to freedom, but you have to be silent and follow our directions, okay?”

They all silently nodded as Lurrgy directed them to the table of clothes. For some reason, all of the slaves in this market were naked and young, further upsetting Servi.

I can’t wait to burn this place to the ground. This whole area is making me sick. Itarr said. Servi would have to agree. The market believed the lives of certain people to be nothing more than property to buy and sell.

After making sure the children on the bottom floor were rescued and clothed, they moved to the second floor and repeated the same. Afterwards, they did the same with the third and final floor.

Servi and Itarr did one more final check before they came back up the stairs. The large group, probably around 60 or 70, were in a single file line.

“This is all of them,” Servi reported to Kire.  He was at the end of the line. He explained to Servi that she was to take the front while Rie and Lurrgy took the middle, and he’ll bring up the rear.

“Good. I’m sorry for the way I acted early. I just—” Kire was trying to apologize, something that was extremely difficult for him to do but couldn’t before he was interrupted.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get these kids to safety. I’ll take off their bracelets now.”

Servi started from the end and put her hand to each bracelet, absorbing them while using Remedium to heal any wounds. Though she tried her best, some injuries were just too old and gruesome that even she was unable to cure them. She apologized to those individuals, who only said they were grateful they were finally being rescued.

“Wow…. Are we really being free?”

“Look, sister! It’s gone!”

“Dolly……”

A vast array of emotions came out from each child when their explosive shackle disappeared. Some were angry and mad that their late friends weren’t here to be rescued, and others were ecstatic and bursting with joy.

“And there you go. I’m sorry you saw me at my worst. I swear I’m a good person,” Servi whispered to the girl with red marks. The fright in her heart disappeared when her black bracelet did.

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome! This might be scary, but bear with it, ok? I’m gonna pick you up now, ok?”

“Ok….” she flinched as Servi gently lifted the girl with Telekinesis.

“Itarr, keep her safe and don’t let her bump into anything.”

Of course.

With that, Servi, the floating girl, and the line of slaves all retraced her steps.  It didn't take long until they found themselves looking up at the moon high above.  Only this time, they weren't looking at it from within the disgusting and inhumane cages.

Unfortunately, the blood from the little massacre remained.

“That’s it, kiddies, don’t look down. Just stare straight ahead,” Lurrgy said, encouraging the kids to look ahead and not see the blood that they’re currently stepping in.

Reaching the entrance after following that ridiculously long narrow pathway, the clangs of blades clashing and people grunting could be heard. Servi saw Miu and Mii engaged in combat with three guards. Two had swords, and the last held a bow.

“Itarr, put her down gently and get ready. Rie, Lurrgy, stay here,” though she wasn’t the commander, Servi still ordered them as she ran over to the battle. The enemy with the bow launched an arrow at Mii, who flinched and cowered, but Servi managed to stop it just before it entered her body with Telekinesis.

Turning around, Mii smiled and thanked Servi before getting back to fighting.

Servi sent the arrow back to the shooter, piercing through his helmet's eyeholes and killing him instantly. She then used absorb to steal the armor of the two enemies Miu and Mii were fighting. The two Singi used that momentary confusion to charge forward and stab their daggers in their hearts.

Servi looked around. There were ten bodies littered with arrows lying around. Servi looked up. She saw Llara the Elf waving as she climbed down the building in a way only an Elf could do.

“Blue!” Miu said as they ran up to her.

“Thanks a lot for the save! I owe you my life!” Mii said.

“Lurrgy, Rie, Kire, come on!” Servi shouted. A moment later, Kire walked out in front of the line carrying the girl with red marks.

“Thank goodness!” Llara sighed in relief as she put a hand to her chest. Now that her mission was over, she could finally relax a little.

“It’s all of them. And the slavers are all dead. We have nothing to worry about,” Kire said.

Miu and Mii walked up to the line of slaves and crouched down.

“My name is Miu, and this is Mii. I’m sure you all had a bad time, but that’s all about to change! We’re here to guide you all to a better place.” They stood up, and Miu spoke to the adults. “Rie, Lurrgy, Kire, we’ll gonna go ahead and get moving.”

“That’s a fine idea. We’ll be along shortly after we destroy the market,” Kire said. Llara, along with Haq, Haqi, and Ziq, went with the two Singi. Along the way, those in the support group used healing skills to heal any injuries they could, but that was useless because Servi already healed them the best she could.

“Just curious,” Rie asked Servi after they were out of earshot. “Why didn’t you heal the girl with the red marks? I noticed that some of their wounds were gone, but you didn’t do anything to the girl.”

“I tried too. I used Remedium as many times as I could when I removed the bracelets, but the marks wouldn't go away.”

“Then maybe it’s a curse? Who would curse a slave?”

“Can you get rid of it?” asked Servi.

Rie shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe? It depends on the nature of the curse, but we have to wait until we’re back at the base.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to destroy the market,” Kire said.

“I got it. It’s a good thing the kids left,” Servi said as fifty fireballs, at least two meters in diameter, appeared overhead.  They materialized from nowhere, like an ethereal guardian who only showed up with their master needed them. The damage one could cause was substantial.  The damage fifty could cause was catastrophic.

“If they saw me do this, then they’d never stop being afraid…”

“Greater Fireball?!! And so many?!” Rie gasped as Servi sent the mental command to launch. Rie, Kire, and Lurrgy all ran away as far as they could, leaving Servi alone.

The intense light illuminated everything nearby, destroying  shadows while the heat began to vaporize the spilled blood inside the markets.

Though they were only two meters wide, they were so packed and infused with Skill Energy that the resulting explosion from a single one colliding with the ground was more than twenty meters big. The market was instantly destroyed in a sea of glorious fire that baptized the area, burning away the horrible sins that happened here. The moment it looked like the sea would spread over, fifty walls of fire appeared above Servi and formed the shape of a gigantic dome. It floated over to the burning market and enclosed it, allowing the fire inside to rage as hard and fierce as it wanted to.

I used Fire Wall to make an enclosed area. This way, we do not need to worry about it spreading like in the forest. In addition, the information about Greater Fireball appeared in our minds the moment you used it. I made sure to set it that it’ll burn out automatically in four hours. There's one more thing. I could do the same with the Fire Wall, so I configured it to expire at the same time.

“Thank you, Itarr,” Servi said as she jogged over to where her three companions stood.  Their mouths were wide in shock and fear.

“What in the goddamn?!?”

“Aye. It’s like looking at the devil’s home.”

“Blue?!!!”

The three cried out, showing their reactions in different ways. With a giant dome of fire spreading more than five city blocks, it was like a miniature sun formed on the ground. Even standing thirty meters away wasn't enough.  Well, it wouldn't be enough for Humans. The two Koena were alright because of their scaly skin, and Lurrgy was fine because a Dwarf was used to hot heat. Servi, immortal and not affected by anything that would discomfort her, was also fine.

“This is fine, right? The market is destroyed, the fire will draw attention, and the other two targets will probably be less defended. It’s a good distraction, yeah?”

“What are you? Who are you?” Kire said, feeling weak in his knees at such an overwhelming display of strength. He always thought humans were weak and pathetic, but he was wrong today.

“Can’t answer that. Now, I’m gonna need a favor. Where is the next market at?”

“I’ll take you myself, but I got one more question," Kire said.  He had to dig deep for a source of strength to continue in the face of such overwhelming firepower.

“Alright,” Servi simply replied.

“...If you wanted to, could you destroy the world?” Rie asked.

“No,” Servi said to a collective sigh of relief, but that soon faded when she continued.

“Not right now. Later? Yes. Very easy. But I have no desire to do that. I just want to live my life and try to be happy. I’ll help people if I want to, and I won’t kill the innocent.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What? I answered your question truthfully. I don’t want to destroy the world. My best friend is here, and they’ll be mad and disappointed if I did something stupid.”

“Your friend is the reason?” Rie asked.

“That's right,” Servi answered.

“I see.”

“Lads, I suggest ye hurry up,” Lurrgy said, putting his ear to the ground. “I feel the footsteps, and they’re awfully close by.”

“Alright, here’s the plan. I’ll take Blue to the next market. You and Rie will go to the hideout and make sure the tunnel is there. If you see the boss, tell them that the first is done, and Blue is on her way to the second with me.”

“Aye. I’ll do it. You ready, Rie?”

“I’m ready,” She walked over and embraced Kire before kissing him. “Please come back safe,” she turned to Servi. “I know he’s been rude, but please keep him safe. He’s all the family I have left.”

Servi used Protection on Lurrgy, Rie, Kire, and finally herself, making sure to stack it to her new limit before taking a sword and slamming it into Kire. He jumped back in fright and fear of being suddenly attacked. As she predicted, the blade not only bounced off but shattered into thousands of pieces.

“Not even I could get through my Protection with physical attacks. Kire only needs to watch out for skills," Servi said.  She had a slight smile on her face.

“What the hell was that for?! What if your Protection didn’t work?!” Rie lashed out at Servi for obvious reasons but, she just shrugged.

“Because I tested it on me yesterday with an enchanted dagger. It couldn’t get through 50 stacks, let alone 148. Trust me, there’s no weapon I have on me that could break through these barriers. It’d take something enormous, like a building dropping on him. Even then, that might not be enough.”

“You could’ve warned him!”

“Oh yeah, like I’m gonna say, ‘just stand still while I take this sword and stab you.’ Would you do it if I asked? A complete stranger? I didn’t think so.”

Rie growled angrily and grabbed Lurrgy by his beard as they walked away. “Ow!! Dammit, woman, that’s my beard!!” he complained.

“Look, let’s just go to the second site, alright?” Kire said.  He sighed.  What he had just went through, the power he had seen, and the sheer strength of something strange was enough to mentally drain him.

“You can thank me later,” Servi said, to which Kire asked what she meant by it. She just said the same thing, and they walked to the second slave market, making sure to take the back roads.