The three men were charging at Sargon in unison. Meanwhile, Lee was standing behind and grinning.

“Where did that rogue go?” One of the spearmen asked the other.

“We will catch her later after we kill him.” Another one answered

The trio was getting awfully close. Sargon knew there is no way he can defeat all three at once, not if he played it fair and he had no plan to play it fair; his life was on the line after all. He took his battle stance pointing his coa in his right hand towards the running trio, his other hand was rummaging trough rucksack attached to his back.

Just as he was about to get hit by a longsword he jumped back and threw a small gland towards the attacker, it was one of the [Spitter Ant’s] glands. The warrior slashed at the monster organ with his sword instinctively only to get splashed by the acid. Droplets of corrosive liquid spread all around covering him all over, including his face.

The warriors face began to melt and he screamed in pain.

“What the hell!” Another spearman shouted before jabbing his spear at Sargon.

“[Confuse!]” Demi-Ura fired her spell out of the dark corner.

“It is her, the murderer. She can cast powerful magic. Get her before she blows you up!” Lee shouted from the distance.

One of the spearmen stumbled and completely missed Sargon. The other turned towards the space where the magic attack was launched and directed his charge there.

“I will take care of her. Go and heal Dee.” A man spoke to Lee.

Sargon wanted to help Demi-Ura but another spearman did not let him. The confusion lasted only a second or so, the spearman was clearly a lot stronger and intelligent than a mere ant.

The boy struggled to avoid the spear thurst completely, it has cut and grazed him here and there. The spearman, however, failed to land a decisive strike.

“You are good but you are not that good - [Flash Stab]” The spearman voiced out something that was clearly a melee skill.

His spear moved at lightning speed and Sargon failed to dodge it, but he was lucky since it hit him in a thigh and not his torso. He grimaced in pain, he could not give up, not yet. His thigh muscles tensed up keeping the spear wedged in.

The spearman pulled on his spear, of course. Sargon had never felt so much pain before but he had bought himself half a second, he so much needed.

“[Slap]!” He used his blunt damage type skill, the other one was not the option since he had no mobility to turn his body for a sweeping motion.

The spearman panicked and instead of releasing his spear to dodge he pulled stronger. He got his spear back ripping a good chunk of the meet with it but it was too late; the flat side of the coa hit his head. There was a ringing sound as Sargon’s blade vibrated from the impact and then another one; a thud of a falling body. The spearman was bleeding from his head but alive; he was knocked unconscious.

Sargon turned towards the corner where Demi-Ura was. She was not fearing good against another spearman, she was a caster after all. Demi-Ura did well to parry most of the spearman’s attacks with her tailblade, but her tail was too short to counterattack.

She had cuts and grazes all over her body. Sargon wanted to run and help her before the man landed a lucky hit. He couldn’t do that because of his injured thigh, but he had to do something. He pulled his dagger out of its sheath, straight from behind his back, and threw it at an unaware spearman.

The dagger flew through the air and hit the man straight in the back. The spearman wailed in pain losing his concentration completely. Demi-Ura slashed at his face with her tail blade leaving a nasty gash, kicked at his knee sending him to the ground and pulled the dagger out of the man's back as she ran towards Sargon.

When she was close enough, he put his arm around her shoulders for support and urged “Let's get out while we can.”

He didn't want to kill the men, because it was not their fault that Lee deceived them. He was not a thief and did not want to become a murderer either.

They grabbed their stuff and rushed past Lee who was still tending to the warrior. His face looked disfigured but he will live, the amount he got splashed by directly to the face was smaller compared to what had happened to that ranger girl who got full glob to the face.

The duo made to the first floor successfully without being molested by small insects too much.

Just before Sargon approached the exit Demi-Ura wriggled away from his grasp almost making him fall.

“What’s up?” Sargon asked out of confusion.

“Can’t go. Got reasons.”

“But you are injured. Both of us need healing as soon as possible.”

“I will be fine… You go.”

“Stop joking around! What if they come back?”

“I do this – [Shadow Cloak].” A thick layer of black smoke-like substance enveloped her body, she stepped into the shadow her figure blended in the environment almost completely.

“So that is how you do it? This is quite useful.”

Demi-Ura nodded but Sargon could not see that gesture.

“You go, get help.” She said out of the shadows.

“I will come back with some health potions or something as soon as I can. Do not stray too far and stay safe.”

Sargon limped hurriedly towards the exit leading to the surface. With all the bags full of loot he looked more like a mule and not a person. He has used his coa as a walking stick so he does not fall over. He was managing it somehow, albeit bleeding quite a lot.

He limped through the narrow streets, droplets of blood marked the path all the way back to the Babel Dungeon. Onlookers saw his sorry state but no one offered any sort of help. Sargon pressed his teeth together fighting the pain. He was considering dropping the loot so he can get to the temple quicker, but he was very hesitant to do that. After all, it was not just his reward he would be leaving but Demi-Ura’s too.

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“Hey!” A childlike voice was shouting in his general direction.

He assumed that it was not him who was being called.

“Hey, comrade!” It was the same voice but closer.

Sargon gazed over his shoulder to see who it was.

A small demi-human child was smiling at him, to be precise she was from beatsmen races. Like most batsmen she had animal-like ears atop her head, a short bushy tail and a lot of fur all over her body. Her fur was white on her belly, hands, and feet; the rest of it was brown. She had two thick black stripes on her shoulders and three on her thighs. She had almost no clothing asides from a tattered shirt which was made out of rough fabric, the same used for sacks.

“Me?” Sargon asked the small demi-human girl.

“Who else, comrade. I can see you are carrying a large burden, not to mention that you’re injured. I can help.”

Sargon was sceptical about what a peep-squeak like her could do for him, but he was hopeful.

“Don’t tell me you can heal my injury?”

“What?” The girl gave him a puzzled look before continuing. “No. I can carry it for you. Us people in [Burden] class need to stick together.”

It finally came to Sargon who this girl was, well actually what sort of job she did. There was a special support class called [Burden]. People in this class were often referred as ‘pack mules’ or ‘beasts of burden’, this was quite demeaning but there was a reason for that; most people in this class were poor demi-humans who had no other way of making money.

The class itself was highly useful and even essential in any advanced party. Pack people could carry huge amounts of stuff without getting tired or exhausted, a lot of them also were good at spotting and tracking.

Sargon was in [Warrior] class and not in the one the girl was thinking about that he was, [Burner]. His current appearance was at fault for this confusion, but it was beneficial for him so Sargon didn't correct the misunderstanding.

“Please do. The leg is killing me and I need to get to the temple quickly.” He just hoped that the girl won’t run away with his stuff. If she did, he had no way of catching her.

The girl took the load from his shoulders plus a few sacks in her hands. She was very small and there was the same amount of stuff as there was her. It looked funny, but she was managing it no problem.

“Tasha.” The girl said as they began to move again.

“Eh?”

“My name is Tasha, what is yours?”

“Oh, it is Sargon.”

The girl smiled at him again and Sargon wondered if she found his name funny.

“So Sargon, how come you’re alone? Did anything bad happened, to your party, I mean?” She was not referring to his injury.

Sargon thought about her leading question for a while. He understood that she was asking if his party companions were wiped out. Why else would a pack-mule be left with all the loot? To Sargon, Tasha seemed a tad bit insensitive.

Tasha misunderstood Sargon’s silent thinking as something else.

“You don’t need to tell, if you don’t want to.” She added, her smile was gone.

“It is fine. We got attacked, but we survived.”

“I see. What sort of monster it was?”

“…” Sargon paused for a moment then continued “It was not monsters.”

“I see… It happens, Babel is a lawless place. People get greedy and start robing or even killing out of spite. Humans kill demi-humans just because they can, and the other way around”. Tasha said with a deep scowl on her otherwise cute face.

“I didn't expect to hear that from a kid like you. It sounds like you had some bad experiences.”

Tasha waved her tail a few times and put a smile which seemed inappropriate to the current topic.

“That I did. There were times when I was almost dead or left with no money. However, our comrades helped me out so I do the same in turn. Us in [Burden] class are not very fortunate so we need each other to survive. Don’t you agree?”

“I do, helping others is a noble thing.”

The two made a turn on a corner and were met by a beautiful visage of a water temple and its lush gardens. The same gardens Sargon was taking care not too long ago.

“Before this, I was a gardener.” Sargon did not know himself why he even mentioned this, but talking helped to distract him from his pain.

Tasha’s ears perked up “Really? Why did you quit then?” she sounded surprised.

“I wanted to achieve something more… sometimes I wonder if I made the right desition.”

“Were you hoping for treasure and glory?”

It sounded stupid but this too was a part of why he became an adventurer.

Tasha gave him a knowing look and continued talking.

“Ha, that is how most of us get lured to that evil place. For me… Well, there is nothing else I can do to make money. My only family is my comrades.”

She just told him that she has no parents but she didn't seem sad about it at all.

They have finally arrived and Tasha set the bags for Sargon in one of the corners in the reception. It was a safe place since people generally didn't dare to steal from temples. Not only because it was immoral but they could get an actual curse. This would be done by the high priestess and only then she knew the culprit, but most didn't know that and assumed the curse came from gods.

“Carrying all of this sure made me hungry.” Tasha mentioned suggestively while rubbing her stomach.

Sargon already knew that her good deed was noble, to help a stranger, but not a charitable one. She expected something from him. He was happy that all she asked was just some food.