Chapter Thirty: Inescapable, Disaster. (2/2)

Beyond them there was a mess of human bodies, Waynev almost gasped but held it in when she saw Blake’s tearful face.

It wasn’t the time to be scared.

Recollecting herself in record time she motioned to Blake to stay quiet as she ‘thought’ (conversed) with her Shadow.

“It’s… alive isn’t it?” Waynev’s voice barely met her own ears but Shadow could hear it loud and clear.

Waiting a moment, Shadow replied hesitantly, “Back when we got the bone root, those three tree’s were the largest living being’s-or red outlines that I’ve seen...”

“But looking ahead, on every slave’s death bed. There are red treads, binding their legs and connected by a thread, to a large roothead clearly wanting bloodshed.” As Waynev looked again she noticed roots binding the slaves, all of them connected in a pattern.

Following the roots Waynev found the roothead.

In this case an altar.

Where before the altars were made of stone, this one was made from wood.

No, it was grown from it, there were no leaves or branches but the altar itself seemed to hunger for blood.

The sides smooth and seemingly sculpted contrasted roughly with the top of the slab, where thousands of small wooden spikes protruded from its surface.

Just looking at the freak of nature made the skin crawl on her neck, similar to a cold sweat however this time she knew it wasn’t her emotions playing games with her.

She knew it was no imposter, this was very real.

“...”

Shadow’s silence gave a small sense of foreboding.

Looking back at Blake Waynev could feel her heart fall before stopping herself.

This wasn’t time to get emotional, it was time to get focused.

“Shadow, we need a plan.”

Again the pause came however she wasn’t worried, she could feel Shadow’s uneasiness but she could also feel the familiar wanting.

“Right now there are only slaves here.” Shadow waited a moment before continuing.

“It’s strange, no guards despite the controls around the place and no demons around. Either they’re waiting for something or this is the perfect time to act.”

Noticing the discrepancy herself, Waynev gave a quick glance over the middle-sized clearing but could only see whipped, scarred and burnt bodies.

“We have to try then,” Giving one last moment for Shadow to refute-

Only for Blake’s breathing to fill the gap.

“Blake!” Waynev’s whisper made the young woman jump.

“We’re acting now. Grab a rock and start smashing their handcu-” Waynev’s orders interrupted by a confused look.

“W-what? I-I don’t think we can free slaves-the contract crystal stops them from acting against their slave masters.” Blake’s soft words stopped Waynev’s line of thought, Shadows on the other hand...

“Oh, the answer is simple then.” The neutral feminine voice rang in her head.

“Our new weapon won’t be tested on monsters first, but human slaves.”

Shadow’s message left Waynev feel her face contort before realising the solution.

Gripping the bone Waynev looked closely at the slaves arms, the majority of them seemed beat up, but the crystals all shone with not a single crack of hope in them.

She would change that.

Turning to Blake Waynev repeated her previous command but instead of the handcuffs being bashed, the crystals would do.

“Handle the ones closest to the forest, hide if you see or hear anyone. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.” Sprinting towards one of the slaves near the middle Waynev began dodging the roots and slaves to her side.

‘If anyone was watching she would be the main target.’ Waynev thought to herself as she got closer to the first slave to be freed.

“Hmm, they should survive a careful stab and rip, all the slaves I’ve seen are [Hollowed] at the minimum.” Shadow’s reassurance was the last she heard as the two went in the zone.

At her target, she met the man’s back before grabbing his shoulder with her left arm and right arm teleporting at the point of contact, cleaving the crystal straight out.

His screams along with her fist teleporting made Waynev flinch as she could feel the slaves emotions, pain and anxiety.

“Shado-”

“It’s the effects of the item, teleporting punch and we can feel what he’s experiencing-Now get him to help.” Her voice snapped her back into the action.

Still feeling his emotions Waynev shouted over him.

“Keep still and I’ll free you! Help the others escape if you want to outrun the demon horde!” Ripping the roots from his feet, the slave fell to the ground as Waynev jumped to the next sacrifice.

Repeating the process and trying her best to ignore the emotions, the woman held in the scream and weakly picked up a rock joining the other slave trying to free the others.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, now hurry.” Listening to the praise Waynev jumped to the next slave and continued repeating the process, slowly she could hear a stream of voices around her.

Quickly glancing around Blake was in the back with three slaves trying to break a fourth one free, she was slightly covered in blood but the slaves still looked grateful.

Getting to the edge of the circle formation Waynev nearly fell over a large root before hearing screaming.

“To your ri-”

Feeling a ripple Waynev’s body moved on reflex.

Dodging to her left, she could barely see the attacker’s form as it flowed around the roots and straight towards-

“Puuh,” thrown into a wall of bodies, Waynev’s body was mangled in a mess of limbs, winded before hearing a small clap ahead of her.

“Shit he’s above us, Waynev get out of the pile-”

Pulling her head up at the same time shoving herself out of the mess of bodies Waynev could see red boots, accentuated further by the sky along with a long robe hiding an armored figure beneath.

The clapping stopped as the figure pulled a small circular item in front of him.

“Intriguing.” Her coin pouch.

Hearing the slaves slowly back away from her she felt at her waist before glancing back at where Blake was last.

Instead the slaves behind blocked her vision.

“You’re the girl Kelt was looking for, enjoying your nighttime walks?” Laughing nobly the whole field was quiet.

“He’s going to kill everyone here if we die-he’s only [Hollowed] as well-alright refute him with…” Shadow quickly explained the escape plan Waynev could feel the milliseconds pass by as her mouth opened Shadow finished.

“As much as you enjoy sacrificing people, which after this. Won’t be happening anymore.” Opening her eyes wide she could feel Shadow’s power leaking, a red outline forming around him.

Giving a small laugh he looked squarely as Waynev as he put the pouch away.

“You’re misunderstanding something if you think any of these slaves will be escaping, and that includes you.”