Neledia's hairy ears moved and immediately turned in the direction of the entrance to the place. Her somewhat calm expression was transfigured, showing one that reflected uneasiness and a lot of nervousness. "I hear footsteps, they are approaching very quickly. And the worst thing is that there are many."

For a moment she focused his gaze on the cells, where Christopher and the others continued to free the hostages. "We are too few to deal with so many mercenaries, lightning, we are in trouble."

"Surely they are mercenaries who have withdrawn from the battlefront?" she gave a sigh full of heaviness and unfathomable uneasiness, "if so, perhaps they plan to take as many slaves as they can with them."

Holding tightly the axes behind her and step by step he approached the entrance, "I will not let a single one of you interrupt my boys, nor even if you outnumber me to pass through me."

She was more than willing to be the only defensive line separating all the enemies and the boys who performed their corresponding part of the mission.

But the moment all the people came out of the darkness of the hallway, at that moment, Neledia breathed a calm sigh. Her battle axes, more than prepared to hit the enemies, she put them back behind her, she sighed again, grateful that these people were not her enemies.

"You have scared me to death, I was already preparing to fight against all of you." Neledia smiled and greeted the people in front of the entire formation "they have taken longer than necessary, has something happened, Marilio? What happened to Tadeo that I don't see you with you?"

In front of Neledia were a large group of people who, like Neledia's team, were on a mission to free all the people who were in captivity. All these people belonged to the rescue unit, there were so many that when they all entered, the area was filled with people.

And in front of Neledia was Marilio, who is Tadeo's right-hand man, a man with short hair, black eyes and a dark-haired Tes. His worked and marked muscles were adorned by endless scars.

Behind him you can see, with the naked eye, the handle of what is a powerful Claymore sword.

"Mr. Tadeo had to leave to lend a hand to Lady Valentina, Amber're and Espínetre in their fight against those who are the top leaders of VARANUS." He said, and his voice alone denoted an incomparable seriousness. His serious eyes looked at Neledia's. "In the meantime, he has left me in charge, the reason why we have delayed is because we interrogated a few mercenaries and discovered that, counting this area, there are two other areas where slaves were kept."

"I didn't expect that," Neledia replied somewhat worriedly, "we have been told that there is this zone and a zone of pleasure where they were abused."

"We've also been given the information regarding the pleasure zone, but apparently, there aren't many slaves in that area."

"Then, we should deal with the other zones first and then go to the pleasure zone." Neledia had a point, but Marilio denied and gave some good news.

"We have already gone ahead and acted quickly, we have already taken care of the other areas and freed all the slaves." Marilio looked at the entire area where they were currently and all the cells, there were many. "This is the last area left to be released, and from what I see, it's the area that's the largest."

"Answer me a question, Marilio," Neledia said, "were the other areas protected?"

"No." Marilio quickly replied, "Apparently, all those who should be guarding those areas have escaped or joined the battle."

"That's very good news, so we have fewer enemies to deal with." Neledia finished with a smile of victory on her face.

It was no longer necessary to explain so much or turn it around, now this man was in charge and has dispelled some doubts he had.

Both began to walk while Marilio dedicated himself to observing all the cells, and seeing inside them all the captives.

"Could you tell me how we will proceed from now on?" And with what Neledia said, it is clear that Marilio was in charge.

"First, we will release all the people, then we will all divide ourselves into three large groups." Marilio looked at everyone, watching as the slaves were leaving the cells that held them captive.

"We will advance towards the exit in this way: the first group will advance in front of us a few minutes apart, that way they will be able to take care of any enemy they encounter. They will be followed by the second group, where the slaves we have rescued will also go, so they can advance without worrying about someone attacking them."

Marilio took a moment of silence, watching as a small beast girl fell to the ground, mentioning that she was very tired. "The last group will go last; it will only be in case suddenly enemies appear in the rear and we must defend the teams located in front."

"I see, it makes a lot of sense." Neledia commented after analyzing the aforementioned plan "it is a good plan, Mr. Marilio."

"We will move forward with moderation because, as I see it, many of these people have a hard time standing. They've been through too much already, who knows how many atrocities they've been inflicted on, at least let's help them walk their way out of this place."

Marilio looked at the others again until within his field of vision appeared who were the Young Lord of the city next to the young Lady.

"Are they on your team?" asked Mrilio.

For obvious reasons, Neledia already knew that she was referring to those two, she only watched as Christopher carried a small half-human child in her arms and Diana carried a human child walking.

From afar you could already see how devastated those little children were.

Near them, Selestia was seen helping a human woman to walk while Sebastian carried a rather injured man on his back.

Finally, Mathias and Anita had just opened another cell and entered it to free all the captives again.

With a smile full of pride, Neledia nodded, "That's right, they're all part of my team, and they're the best."

"MR. MARILIO, PLEASE COME QUICKLY!"

A call was heard and echoed throughout the area.

This alerted everyone because the tone of the call was high and reflected too much concern. It was so obvious that something very important was discovered that immediately all those present who stayed to stand guard in case an enemy appeared, adopted a position and attitude of combat thinking that the enemies had finally appeared.

That was not the case.

"PLEASE HURRY!" They called him again, things didn't seem to look good. If they are calling it this way, it is because they discovered something that could be considered quite bad.

"Neledia, follow me!" Marilio exclaimed and the aforementioned nodded, there was a chain of command which could not be disobeyed.

"I hope it's nothing bad," Neledia mentioned with an air of nervousness taking over her, she immediately went after him.

With only a matter of seconds both arrived at the area where all the commotion was taking place, in truth it was a real uproar because many of them had their faces with surprise and a certain air of fear emanating from them. Their eyes wide open, as if they couldn't believe what they had just seen.

"What's going on there?" asked Christopher, looking at everything that happened around a specific cell.

"It looks like it's coming from the cell where Mathias and Anita are," Diana said.

"Don't tell me that something bad has happened?" Selestia advanced towards that area being followed by Sebastian.

"We just have to go and see." Sebastián finished by putting himself next to Selestia.

Marilio and Neledia were the first to arrive and quickly entered the cell. First, they saw Mathias and Anita holding a person, until they finally turned around with that person in their arms, showing them all.

And everyone was truly surprised, bewilderment made an appearance on the face of each one. None of them was indifferent to this, except for those who were arriving and when they better observed the little girl no older than ten years old that Anita was hugging in her arms, there they understood the reason for the commotion.

His eyes widened, his mouth parted unconsciously from the shock. And an unpleasant air escaped from them.

In front of them was a little girl with long whitish hair that reached to the joints of her knee. Although now, the girl's hair looked quite dirty and damaged.

Her skin was white but very dry, it seemed that the natural color of her nails should be white but due to the dirt that stained them it was difficult to know for sure.

She was barefoot, wearing only tattered sleeveless rags as a dress. Finally, the girl managed to open her eyes, revealing her beautiful mauve fantasy eyes, now dull and hopeless.

Her very look denoted so much sadness and melancholy.

It was a truth that seeing a girl in that state was very sad, it broke one's heart. She should not be waxed in a cage, but should be playing with her friends or perhaps doing homework, sleeping or being spoiled by her parents.

"It can't be!" Neledia exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the girl and a slight shudder down her spine. Her serious, duty-focused attitude took a complete turn, now all that was gone from being.

"This is bad, it's extremely bad," Marilio commented sweating heavily. "Lord Alexander and Lady Valentina must know about this as soon as possible, this could cause the already fragile relationship between the Hyuman Land empire and Beast Land to fall apart... As far as these slaveholders have gone, it has gone too far."

Christopher, Sebastian, Selestia and Diana arrived at the scene.

"Excuse me," asked the young Lord of Gignot, "my friend is here, let me see him." They lined up until they reached Mathias and Anita who were surrounded by the crowd "Mathias, Anita!" he called both of them and his friends behind him positioned themselves at his sides "what happened? Tell me you're okay..."

None of them could say a word when they noticed the girl, when they looked into her striking mauve eyes, when they saw her wearing rags, when they saw her long and dirty hair, her white and dirty nails.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But the girl had some other characteristics such as her ears and tail from the Equine clan.

Even so, there was still one last characteristic missing, which was the most important of all, and at the same time, what meant such bad news.

No one could believe their eyes, for many of them, including Christopher and his team, it was the first time they had seen this kind of existence.

"That spiral horn..." The only one who could speak was Diana, who observed in great detail the whitish horn that emerged from the forehead of that little girl, just where the scalp began. Even a little short due to age. "That girl..." she added again in real surprise.

"Yes," Christopher muttered under his breath. The pearly beads of sweat running down his face denoted surprise and a great deal of concern. His friends were in the same one and each of them knew what it meant.

Christopher couldn't believe his eyes, "That girl is a demi-human who belongs to the Mythological clan... she's a demihuman Unicorn."

"This is very serious..." Seletia's face reflected real concern while the pearly drops continued to descend from her forehead. "What the fuck are these slaveholders planning? Who in their right mind would buy this child knowing what could happen?"

"Many nobles of the empire are true monsters, Lady Selestia," Marilio very seriously but rather worried "you don't know what they are capable of in order to get and have everything they want, and that includes the demihumans or beastmen of the Mythological clan."

“But even buying a demi-human from the Mythological clan?” Selestia added again and Marilio nodded.

"Sebastian," Diana called very quietly, "Why is it so serious to find a demihuman unicorn here?"

"It's because of the covenants." Sebastian replied and continued to speak, "Although it may not seem like it, all empires except for Daemon Land, have a non-aggression pact between them, that is, no one can attack any of the empires that have signed the pact, and that includes their people."

"But... within Hyuman Land there are hundreds or thousands of people who own demihuman slaves, Elves and Beastmen among many others, doesn't that mean that the pact was never respected." And Diana was somewhat right, at least she seemed to be.

"You're wrong, young lady," Marilio who had overheard the conversation decided to give a better explanation so that there would be no doubts, "all those slaves have always lived within Hyuman Land, that is, in no way, they have always been citizens of the empire."

Diana's eyes widened to the limit.

Marilio added more to his explanation "because of that is why they have never reproached anything for the actions of humans, after all, those demihumans and beastmen were born in Hyuman Land. They are the inevitable gaps within the pacts and treaties."

"But what about those who live outside the empire?"

"You have said it yourself," Marilio added, "outside the empire, those people do not belong to any empire, perfect for slave hunters to hunt them, no one will cry for them."

"What I mean is that people who live outside of any empire are not considered as part of them, that is, like all of us, even though we are human we do not belong to Hyuman Land, because of that, if the empire wants to, they could attack us, even if we belong to the same race."

Diana and some there gritted their teeth tightly, they were very complex issues.

Diana still didn't understand the magnitude of the problem, "but then why is it so bad that they captured a demihuman from the Mythological clan? Isn't this girl supposed to belong to any empire?."

"And who said she doesn't belong to any empire?" Marilio answered one question with another question, although the tone of voice he used implied that the thing was too serious and complicated.

"That," Christopher joined the conversation, "is because all the demihumans and beastmen who live outside of any empire, are people who have escaped from Hyuman Land or maybe Daemon Land or Elf Land, but none of them try to escape from Beast Land, from their own empires."

"What does that mean?" asked Diana again, shedding a drop of sweat.

"Demihumans like her, those belonging to the Mythological clan are not found scattered throughout Kosmos, but only within the territory of their empire."

Diana opened her mouth listening to Marilio's words.

"That just means that all these bastards have violated the non-aggression pact between empires, and have conducted their stupid slave hunt within the territory of Beast Land..."

"So that...” Diana joining the threads and the result of this union made her blood run cold.

"Yes," Selestia muttered joining in at the end, "that could lead to a war between Hyuman Land and Beast Land... even more so considering that relations between the two empires have always been bad..."

"Beast Land could use this as an excuse to attack Hyuman Land." Neledia was also sweating heavily.

"These wretches," Christopher remarked, clenching his fists tightly, "have crossed the line that they shouldn't have crossed... provoking a war." Again his green eyes emitted a glow "in order to fill their pockets they are capable of even causing a war, thousands of lives could be lost if a war is declared."

The veins marked his forehead and for a moment magic particles began to emanate from him "I'm fed up..." and when he seemed to lose his mind, he could hear him being called.

"Christopher" Selestia called out to him and everything around him and his bright eyes disappeared, no one had noticed, "calm down, this is not the time to turn the matter around, our hands are too full to carry any longer."

"You know we must continue with the mission, and then we will take care of this matter." And Sebastian was too right.

"You're right," he nodded, looking at Marilio, "I'm sorry I caused you inconvenience, sir."

"Don't worry," Marilio addressed everyone, "now it doesn't matter to keep the demihuman unicorn a secret, we'll just take her out like the rest and then inform Lord Alexander and Lady Valentina, so let's not waste any more time and continue with the mission."

"Yes sir."

"And since we are running out of time, I will set a one-hour limit to finish the process of releasing all the hostages."

"Yes, sir."

…

They picked up their pace.

Christopher and Diana could be seen again helping in any way they could, also the same with Selestia and Sebastian, Anita and Mathias.

All of them rescued many people of different races who were actually on their last legs.

"This is very sad," Mathias commented with his ears falling as he carried a demihuman cat that almost died of thirst. If it weren't for the fact that he invited all the water that child had, he would die before dawn. "Why do they treat demihumans like this? What's wrong with humans?" narrowly misses and sheds a tear, who would blame him?

His race was being mistreated in unspeakable ways and all to satisfy the lives of human beings: "It is too hard to see my own race in this state."

Who wouldn't think bad things about humans instead, "how much damage have they already done to us?" he clenched his fangs, sharpening his "damned..." eyes.

"I'm human and I would never treat you that way." Mathias opened his eyes again, diverting all his attention to that person, his beloved and fiancée, to Anita. "I don't care that we're of different races, you're the man I want by my side, and I'll never do anything to hurt you and you know it, I just want to spend my life with you, next to my cute demihuman."

Mathias put aside the anger and frustration that for a few moments attacked his integrity "I know, among all the humans that exist, you will always be the best... I love you."

"I know, Mathias, this is not the time for that," she complained somewhat blushing.

"No moment is bad if it is about expressing my feelings to who will become my wife" the demihuman winked at him but just the sound of his voice already made it clear that he was feeling much better.

He managed to push away those bad thoughts about how badly they treat his race "thank you, Anita" this he said very quietly without her being able to hear him, even so Anita is able to understand how she feels just by looking at him, after all, they are just like each other.

The cells were emptying, little by little, but at a fairly fast pace everyone was releasing the people who had been in captivity all this time and who knows how long they had already been living this way.

It might even be years, these slavers had recently moved into the place, but the slaves had surely been suffering at the hands of VARANUS for a long time.

The old scars marked on their skins was clear evidence that could lend plausibility to the idea.

All the people who were destined to be sold into slavery had very dull eyes. They reflected a total lack of hope, all ignoring the fact that they were just steps away from freedom.

Apparently, they were so used to this horrible life that there was no room in their heads for the idea that they were about to be free, that was a simple fantasy story.

"We are progressing well," said Marilio, observing how all the teams were freeing people. On the outside it was clear that all his attention was directed to the liberation of people, but inside he was extremely concerned about the latest event.

"Why did it occur to them to kidnap a demihuman from the mythological clan that dwells within Beast Land?" he thought between sighs, "a war would be fatal not only for both sides, but also for all cities outside of any empire... what we should do?..."

He shook his head and cleared something from his clouded mind. Or it was time to think about it, so he looked at the subordinates "QUICKEN YOUR PACE, THE MERCENARIES MIGHT BE GROUPING UP AND PREPARING A COUNTER-ATTACK, WE MUST DO OUR BEST NOT TO GET INVOLVED IN THAT OPERATION, RELEASE EVERYONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND GET OUT OF THIS PLACE."

"The pleasure zone... Marilio waits," Neledia said, stopping the leader of this entire unit, because there were still a few more things to be done “we are forgetting about the other area, a very important area."

Marilio raised his eyebrow as Neledia continued "going towards that place" pointed to what in the distance seemed to be another entrance which at all times went unnoticed "and reaching the end of that corridor is what these mercenaries know as ''the pleasure zone''. According to a slave we rescued, in that area there are a large number of slaves who could not be sold and because of that they use them to satisfy all the needs they have... We cannot leave them behind.

Marilio touched his chin quite thoughtfully as he moved his gaze towards the corridor "is True, the pleasure zone. Don't worry, we won't put them aside, we'll divide our forces, although many of our enemies may be fighting outside, nothing indicates or confirms that the whole is doing so."

Neledia and a few others nodded, "There is a huge possibility that this place, being ''important to them'', is heavily guarded by some pretty capable guards. I can't leave this position, so I can leave that to you, Neledia?"

“Of course, sir," Neledia replied.

"But, keep in mind that we will probably no longer be in this place by the time you return, as you know, we must fulfill the mission and unfortunately investigating the slave detention areas has taken up too much of our time, so I trust you to guide everyone to the exit, Neledia."

"I understand sir, this is how it will be done."

"It's not that I don't want to wait for them, but there are too many people here that we must get out of this place as soon as possible and the longer we take the less chance they have of being free."

"Don't worry sir, you can count on me," Neledia concluded.

"Perfect!" added Marilio again, "then, take a few, from here, include your team if you want." Marilio sharpened his gaze "get rid of all the scum and free ours."

-Yes, sir!-.

…

“Water Elemental Magic: Water Bomb”

“Fire Elemental Magic: Fire Bomb”

“Earth Elemental Magic: Earth Bomb”

“Air Elemental Magic: Wind Bomb”

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM

A loud explosion occurred again, which again made all the trees tremble. These shook and the leaves fell. The people surrounding this fierce battle lost their balance and tried to hold on to whatever it took to avoid falling or being thrown away.

The explosion caused by the collision of powerful magic attacks was not long in coming. It was brutal, dangerous, and astonishing. The explosive dome grew, gaining ground and destroying everything in its path.

The relentless force of the winds was such that many trees were uprooted and thrown into the distance, forever abandoning the place where it had grown.

The winds blew so strongly that they were able to reach the city, blowing hard and raising a lot of dust and they arrived already exhausted by the distance they had to travel.

The tremors that already looked like earthquakes hit and assaulted the entire area once again, the earth was splitting, the beautiful ecosystem of the forest was dying little by little.

You can see how many animals and small magical beasts run through their lives trying to escape from this war zone.

"KEEP ATTACKING!"

A furious scream was emitted and heard by many people, no one knows which side he belongs to and no one could see him due to all the dust that has settled in the place and made the area a safe house.

But that scream alerted all the participants of the cruel conflict who retook their guard, prepared more spells, tightened the handle of their swords, blades, katanas among many other weapons and returned to the attack.

The swords pierced the bodies from one side to the other, cutting through the flesh of the enemy at the end of the blade.

It was not at all uncommon to see bodies lacking limbs, arms and legs lying in the distance, decapitated heads and a lot of blood splattering everywhere.

Battles are cruel and when these types of missions take place, this is the result, a massacre.

…

*Snif* *Snif*

It was hard to hear a girl as small and tender as Macky still sobbing in Roger's arms even late at night. Just before the operation began and Christopher left with his sister, he had said goodbye to Roger and the little girl.

Macky did nothing but cry loudly and not want to leave his side, he didn't know anything about the mission but he felt that something bad would happen.

“DON'T GO!."

Macky screamed, over and over again.

"I WILL BE GOOD! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US."

It was really pains for both of them, older brother and for Christopher. Even so, he had to separate from the girl promising that he would return and that together they would go on a trip.

"Don't worry" was a very low whisper, enough not to wake up his beloved sister who had finally fallen asleep "everything will be fine, you'll see, when you open your eyes, Christopher will be here and I'm sure he'll spoil you a lot or else you'll start crying... since he cannot win against a crying girl."

Roger kissed her forehead with his face denoting nothing but concern "if something happens... you will protect us, Christopher."

…

A beautiful magical creature looked into the distance with its beautiful eyes radiating concern.

Worry suffocated her and ugly, disgusting, repulsive, abominable and nauseating presences suffocated her with the pressure that their intrinsic existences emanated.

Dry was really worried "they are still far from beating the DAIMONAS, while they are starting to get tired..."

The beautiful magical creature looked up and looked up at the beautiful sky adorned by an endless sea of stars and a huge moon observing the earthly world "do not give up, it depends on you that our city continues to exist."