Congratulations! You have successfully defeated a Rift Summoner and closed an F-Class anomaly!
You have been awarded one [Enhanced] grade item upgrade token and one Ring of Holding!
As Lucius escaped the Abyss realm, stepping through the portal back toward earth, the sun had already set over the forest. The only light he could see was coming from the campfire Sarah and the others had lit to stay warm while they waited. The three prisoners stood in front of the watery veil, waiting anxiously for their sentence to be carried out. When they saw Lucius returning unharmed from the other side, they knew their last hope was gone. If only he had been slain by the summoner, then they might have had a chance to escape.
Ashtray was the only one who seemed to have accepted his fate, though that might have been a consequence of the traumatic injury affecting the man's ability to think straight. One of the prisoner's, the one with the punctured leg, suddenly attempted to run away for the second time that day when he saw Lucius returning. Unfortunately for him a rope of shadows swiftly rose up from the ground, wrapping around his body and shoving him forward, where it held him in place as he struggled violently to escape.
"Let me go! I'll do whatever you want! Please! It's not my fault, she's a liar!"
Lucius ignored the man's desperate begging. Waving his arm, he removed the bindings tying the two men's hands, as well as the leash from Ashtray's neck. At the same time, he tossed three sets of [Crude] machetes through the anomaly, speaking swiftly to ensure the portal did not close before they were finished.
"You three acted like monsters, so it is a fitting punishment that you should be banished from this world and forced to spend the short time you have left struggling to survive against the vicious nightmares of the Abyss. You are more similar to those creatures than to decent human beings."
The event horizon of the anomaly began to flicker, so Lucius didn't hesitate to give the signal to Whisper. Three thick tentacles of shadow rose from the ground, dragging the men into the portal. The sound of screaming and begging came from the two underlings, but Ashtray just stared at Lucius with a grimacing snarl stretched across his ruined face. He had been silent since the moment his men turned on him earlier in the day, but now, as his body was about to pass through the event horizon of the anomaly, he began to scream.
"The Leader is gonna make you beg for death! You fucking wannabe hero!"
Ashtray hurled his last words at Lucius with the viciousness of a rabid dog, his scarred face turning beet red as spit flew from his mouth. He struggled against the shadows in a final burst of defiance the moment before he entered the anomaly. Whisper responded by wrapping a second shadow around his neck, turning his screams into a gurgle as he was forced through the anomaly.
Only seconds after the three men disappeared, the watery veil collapsed, rapidly shrinking down on itself until it formed the shape of a ring, just as it had the first time Lucius closed an anomaly. He caught the falling ring midair with his telekinesis, but when he attempted to pull it into his storage ring, it felt like he was pulling on an immovable mountain. No amount of strength could push the item into his storage dimension.
Lucius relented when he discovered what he already suspected, that storage rings could not be stored inside one another, and slid the second ring over the index finger of his right hand. It was only a regular [Magical] grade Ring of Holding, so he intended to hand it over to Jack the next time he returned to the farm. When Lucius turned back toward the remaining group, the atmosphere was clearly solemn. None of the men would meet Lucius' eyes, and only Sarah was brave enough to speak to him.
She walked up to the spot where the anomaly had once stood, nodding firmly as she looked toward Lucius. When she saw the solemn expression on his face, she decided to voice her support for his actions.
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"It's rare for someone so young to be capable of making decisions like the one you just made."
Sarah’s expression hardened as her eyes glanced over toward the other men in the group, who refused to look at Lucius after he sent three of their recent comrades to their deaths.
"I hope you won’t begin to doubt yourself because of the way weak people react when they witness hard things. You made the right choice, those men were demons. People who are too scared to do the right thing will often pretend they are against it morally, when really, they are just cowards."
Lucius raised an eyebrow as he listened to Sarah's bold remarks. The petite woman was loudly and fearlessly berating the group of men before her as cowards. As if to confirm her words, the men around the fire lowered their heads. Not a single one spoke up to say it wasn't true.
"Uh, thank you for your support?"
Lucius rubbed the back of his head as he responded to Sarah's blunt statements. He wasn’t used to being the center of attention and felt awkward after being talked about that way. Clearing his throat, he changed the subject to hide his embarrassment.
"Let’s get moving. I want to find the Leader and finish this before daybreak."
Lucius glanced over at the group around the fire. He didn’t like the idea of heading into battle with people he couldn’t trust, but he needed someone to show him the way to the Leader's camp. He also didn’t think it was wise to leave Sarah behind with them.
"Here’s your chance to redeem yourselves. Who knows how to get to the Leader’s campsite from here?"
The men exchanged anxious glances, but none of them spoke up right away. Only after a few long moments of silence did the youngest-looking man in the group finally stand up. He appeared to be around the same age as Jack, maybe a few years older. He was short, only an inch taller than Sarah, and noticeably overweight, with a shaved head and uneven patches of facial hair growing on his face.
"I can s-show you."
Lucius nodded firmly when he saw the young man step forward, taking note of the heavy Eastern European accent in his voice.
"Good."
He sized the young man up, chuckling to himself before continuing.
"I forgot to mention, whoever volunteers to put themselves in harm’s way to help me will get their sentence cut in half. Looks like that’ll be you. What’s your name?"
The new revelation sparked a swift reaction from the group, who all shot looks of envy and disgust at the young volunteer.
"My name is N-Nikolai."
"Okay, Nikolai. Mind if I call you Nick?"
"This... is not a problem."
Lucius motioned for Nick to join him and Sarah, waiting for him to finish moving over before addressing the rest of the group.
"I'm taking Nick and Sarah with me. The rest of you will wait here for our return. You can try to run away if you want—my tracking talent could use some practice. Just know that anyone who tries to escape their sentence will earn an extra year of labor."
The men seemed to get the message, and none of them voiced any objections. Only one of the group spoke up to ask an unrelated question.
"What if we get attacked while you aren't here? Ashtray was the strongest member of the group, and the other two you banished were probably the second- and third-best fighters. Without them, we can’t protect ourselves."
Lucius and his two companions had already begun walking away when they heard the man’s complaint. Lucius didn’t bother to slow down or turn around as he responded.
"Well... I guess you’d better stay real quiet while I’m gone then."
The group of men exchanged anxious glances, visibly disturbed by Lucius’ parting words, as they watched the three walk off into the night.
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When they reached the main road and the distant firelight was barely visible, Nick, who was leading the way, kept glancing back at Lucius as if he had something to say but couldn’t muster the courage. When Lucius grew bored of waiting for him to spit it out, he spoke up to hasten the process.
"Just say it already."
Nick jerked his head back toward the road in surprise, stumbling over his own feet and almost falling. Lucius stopped walking, waiting for Nick to steady himself and share whatever was on his mind. Nick looked up at Lucius with a nervous expression, wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve as he took a deep breath before finally opening his mouth.
"Before I show you the way to the Leader’s camp, there’s something you should know."
"Oh yeah? What’s that?"
Nick struggled to get the words out, his eyes squeezing shut as he clenched his sausage-like fingers. His fearful shivering made his puffy cheeks jiggle as he forced himself to speak.
"T-The Leader... is my uncle."