Chapter 51: As Danger Approaches (3)

Early in the Morning.

As I observe for the past months, I conclude that these monsters are all asleep during this time, no one is around, no one is patrolling as they do at night.

*click*

'Ha! I unlocked it!'

I almost yelled in excitement but fortunately I did not. As I carefully trail the hallway, some prisoners like me, called me out quietly, asking me for help.

*click*

Before the lock fell on the ground, I caught it, heaving a small sigh. Four men with the same clothing fashion but of a different style come out of the cell. My clothes are really different from theirs. Ahh, nevermind, this isn't the time to think about outfits and styles.

"Mister, is it fine if I lead the way? I've been captured by them several times now that I already memorized the way." One of the guys I helped stated. He told us to follow him after I nod.

"These Vamps are all asleep during day time, but be careful not to make any noise as their senses are 50x stronger than normal. After we passed that pillar over there, never ever make a noise. Watch over the ground as you walk, you might step on the creaking wooden floor, only they would know if someone is trying to get in and get out. Alright, brace yourselves." The dude instructed us as he breathed silently and never spoke again after.

Just like the dude said, there are wooden planks among the stone floor. Though it is dark because there are thick curtains everywhere, only the candles are lit, that gives us light while we escape.

There's a strong stench of rotten blood from one of the doors that made my stomach flip, just what the heck is this place?

*farttttssss*

'…the heck?!'

"……" - all of us.

'Whoever farted should be embarrassed! God damn it! It smells!'

"Who goes there?"

'…shit!'

A bulky guy at the end of the hallway behind him is a monster guy who was the guard of our cell.

"Everyone, open the curtains…!" The guy leading us urgently whispered, including him and the three other guys separately ran towards the curtain.

A bright light from the sun comes in and all of us are covered in the sunrays. The leading guy smirks as he runs to the bulky guard who got stupefied on his ground. As he is running, the guy also pulls open the curtains on his way to him, while the guard who got stupefied regains himself and runs back to where he came from avoiding the approaching sunlight.

"Why did he run away…?" I asked the man who was beside me.

"I guess this is your first time you got captured by the Vamps…" he answered and gave me a weird look after he examined me from head to foot, "Right. Vampires have two weaknesses, silver and sunlight. That's why they are asleep during the day and awake during the night."

The guy that poses as our leader comes back after he scares away the guard. He has a wide grin on his face… I almost thought he's a psycho.

"He died cowering in the corner. We better leave this place as fast as possible, because of the noises we created, I assume there are some Vamps who have awakened around here." He said as he walked as fast and as carefully as before, I barely caught up.

'…died? vampires…?'

-----

By this guy’s leadership, we finally got out of this stuffy and stinky place, not to mention it took us 5 hours to find the exit out of that dungeon alone. I breathe the fresh air as soon as we reach the door outside, just like this guy has said, no one is awake as no one is guarding the door. I'm so glad that I finally get to see the sky after months of being locked up.

'Mom, Dad, Brother… I got ou-'

"Don't let your guards down just yet, we need to get out of Eclipsorian's territory as fast as possible or they can hunt us at any moment after the sun goes down. There are no carriages or horses here so our only choice is to run out of here." The leader said. He tries to measure the sun's position… "about 7 hours before it goes down, we're going to need to run at full speed if we want to reach the border before our time runs out."

‘....??!’

"Wait… what?!" I asked in alarm, "Are you seriously saying we're going to run for 7 hours at full speed?! Do you want to die from exhaustion or dehydration?" I hysterically ask because I really am shocked by his nonsense.

'Imagine… 7 hours of running without rest will be the death of us!'

"Huh? It was easy for us adventurers- wait, aren't you an adventurer? How did you even end up here? Vampires only capture humans who try to intrude in their territory, they won't even spare a glance at you if you never step inside their territory, unless you kill one of their kinds, especially the high rankers."

'What the heck is he saying?!'

"Arghh! No, no, no! Wait, you've all been talking about vampires and whatnot, I don't understand a thing about what you're saying. Adventurers? Vampires? Why won't you let the government handle this instead? And call the authorities for kidnapping, they've imprisoned and tortured us by extracting our bloods without consent, those mad scientists must've been experimenting on something illegal using our bloods and the result must be those monsters"

"…huh?" - Everyone

'What?! I didn't say anything wrong, I just stated the facts!'

"Mister, you must've confused yourself for a moment but Eclipsorian Dukedom is an independent country, they are the law here, the royal families and even the Empire won't move against the Vampire Lord for the sake of few men like us unless your a Royalty or an important noble, even so they're afraid to provoke the Vampire Lord." The leader tries to explain the situation with a bit of confusion.

"Yes, and you seem to be from a different country based on your clothes, I don’t know if it is natural for you to have no knowledge about Eclipsorian Territory though unless you are from the other continent." The man I talked to earlier spoke.

"Aren't we going now? Time is ticking guys!" Says one of the guys and then he starts running away.

"Alright, if you happen to get tired, tell us right away and we'll help support you." The leader said as he ran on the frontline.

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'Haaa… What is this place even… Empire? I don't know, I don't know anything… Is this even Earth?'

Four hours later.

"Hey! Are you tired? Need some assistance?" The leader asked.

We've been running for four hours straight without resting… I'm too thirsty and exhausted, just why the hell are we on the wide plains? The sun made our throats dry and I doubt they have brought water in this situation. My legs are strained already but we have to get out of this Eclipsorian Territory as soon as possible… We only got three hours left before the sun down.

"*ha* *ha* So… *ha* …tired…" I said between my breaths.

"This is bad…" the guy muttered. "But for someone who's not an adventurer or an ability user, you quite have a lot more stamina than you look… and the others seem to be starting to feel exhausted too, maybe we should rest here for a while to catch our breaths."

The others were a bit thankful but worried at the same time, while I am very very thankful they agreed with the leader… I think my body is about to collapse if we continue to move on in this condition. And just as we needed water, the clouds started to form a dark color and the rain fell down for us to drink, though it's also bad luck since the sun got covered in less than five minutes.

"…bad luck. We need to move now." The leader slid his hand across his face.

"B-But… *sigh* nevermind." I was conflicted because we're not yet recovered from the exhaustion but what can we do? …Our lives are at stake here, "Anyways, what should I call you and the others? We've been escaping and helping each other yet we don't know how we should address each other, I'm Warren Carter by the way."

"…I'm Ruben, and this is my cousin, Kintad. That is Hugo, and the one over there is Marko. Glad to be your ally, Warren. We should move now or th-" his words were cut off due to a sudden sound coming from his pocket.

*tap* … *tap* … *tap* … *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*

"…Shit! Run! Run or else we'll get eradicated here!" Ruben yelled as he pull us as fast as possible to run. "No time to explain! 9 of them. Incoming!"

"It's time… Everyone! Hold on tight!" Hugo said in a serious and urgent way, I have no idea what he meant but it was Ruben who pulled me by the collar while holding on tightly to Hugo's arm, same position with Kintad and Marko while holding on Hugo's other arm.

Hugo breathed very deeply through his nose, closing his mouth and putting on a running stance. Then I, who was not prepared, almost got my soul separated from my body because Hugo suddenly ran as fast as a missile. Neither I knew how it was possible nor had an idea of what was happening… Am I dead? If not, then I think I finally went crazy.

*ughh*

'Shit! I think I'll puke…'

I fought myself from doing so even though my throat is about to give out. Maybe about a few seconds, Hugo's starting to slow down and the moment we stop… I let out the lump accumulating in my throat.

*blergh* *cough-* blergh*

"Hugo! Warren!" The remaining three exclaimed when Hugo collapsed while I took my time to puke everything out.

*hah* *hah* *hah*

Hugo is out of breath but he is still awake, it's just that… I can see his legs are smoking like they were roasted.

"*hah*…I'm sor…ry *hah* everyone… *hah* 10 seconds was… *hah* all I could buy… *hah* so you could escape… *hah* …please tell my Father to take care of himself well. *hah* And I'm… sorry. Please give him this" Hugo flashed a very sad smile after handing Ruben his sealed dagger, "With my legs like this, I could no longer… run… There's no time… Please leave me here, I'll try to stop them as long as I can."

"W-w-what are you saying?! We can still carry you!" I said after I wiped my mouth using my polo shirt.

"…" Ruben didn't say anything but just looks down quietly.

"…*hic*" Kintad tried to cover his eyes with his arm, while Marko just looked away…

"What… Why are you acting like this…? We're all men and with our body built we could carry Hug-"

"…It's alright Warren… I'll only be a burden if you do that and there's a high chance everyone will be caught with me. Ahh, I haven't thanked you yet for letting us out of that cell earlier… you're so cool unlocking that complicated lock." Hugo tries to smile brightly then he turns to Ruben, while I'm left speechless… this man…

'…he already accepted his end…'

"Ruben, in those 10 seconds, I've already passed about 8.8 km… It's only 200 meters away from the border… Quick. Go on your way." He told Ruben with a smile. I can feel my blood rising due to frustration. All I could do was mess up my hair and grab it. I notice Kintad and Marko wipe their eyes.

"…Alright. We respect your decision, thank you very much for carrying us this far. Antaire kaise* (salutes)"

The three of them put their three fingers on the shoulder opposite of it before bowing. It's like a form of respect equivalent to soldiers saluting to their fellow soldiers and commander.

"Take care… Now, go." Hugo said. Then Ruben pulls me with them when I try to approach Hugo, all four of us are now running away from him.

*whoosh*

*Shwaaaah~*

Silence, there was only the sound of rain. None of us said anything but we kept on running, there's still 100m to reach the border. What's more, we don't have enough rest because sooner or later our pursuers could appear behind us- no, maybe they’re ahead of us. I'm just an ordinary citizen… I don't do workouts or exercise regularly, the strain on my body is doubled, maybe triple compared to these adventures. I lack stamina.

'I wanna quit… I don't think I can keep up… I'm too exhausted and my legs are screaming in pain already… I was so confident in suggesting to carry Hugo along but now I'm like this…'

*tap* … *tap*

"Shit! There are two of them on our tail! Warren!" Ruben cussed after hearing the detector, he must've noticed my momentum slowed down a bit…

"Ruben… please take Marko and Warren with you, I think it's time to use my final attack with those two bastards behind us…" Kintad said then he showed us his first that suddenly became grey in color and as hard as a rock.

"No! Don't do that. Just keep running. Hugo's sacrifice is enough!" Ruben looked pissed and troubled at the same time.

"Right. Ruben… I'm sorry, but I can't let Hugo's sacrifice be in vain, his limit is only 5 seconds but he overexerted his skill up to 10. There should be at least one of us to survive and carry our memorabilias to our families. Go now Ruben, Marko, Warren… Do not look back." Kintad looks serious and then he finally stops on his tracks before he turns his back.

*Shwaaaah~*

Ruben then stop with a dead gaze.

"…Ruben, don’t tell me you'll…" Marko's desperate expression becomes white and pale.

"…Y-You too…?" I asked in hopelessness.

"I'm so sorry… I can't let my cousin face those vampires alone. …I think there's only 100m left to escape… I trust you can do it right?" Ruben looked at us with a soft gaze while removing his watch where the detector was, then Hugo's sealed dagger, and lastly, Kintad's crystal ring. "Please tell our families after you escape from here, that these are the only things we could leave with them and sorry for not coming back alive. It's the only way to let them know about us. Please… be safe."

"Ruben!/Hey!" Marko and I tried to call him back but Ruben already joined Kintad facing the two opponents.

Marko shut his eyes tightly before running while yelling his curses… I don't know what to do… I want to help but I don't know how to fight, I'll only be a burden for them… If I stop here, I won't be able to deliver their memorabilia with Marko… even though I don't want to go, I had no choice but to follow Marko.

Both of us swallow our pride and run like mad men chased by death itself, quite literally. We squeeze every bit of our energy just to reach the border…

*tap*

"Warren! That's the Paramus border!" Marko informed me after seeing the danger sign outside the border. "Hurr- AHH!"

Marko cried in pain after we saw his leg fly in slow motion past our sight. Blood spills everywhere, I tremble in fear after seeing a silhouette walking slowly to our direction from behind.

"AHHH! W-Warren! N-No! Take these! Ughhh! Run to the border! Hurry!" Instead of asking for help, Marko threw me the bag containing their items…

'I am scared to move… I'm scared… blood… b-brother…what should I do?'

"WARREN! GO!" Marko shouted that made me come back to reality.

I bit my lip as I pulled all my remaining stamina, I don't want to survive alone… I pull Marko… even drag him with all my might, 10 steps… There's only ten steps! For god damn sake!

"I-It's alright… just remember Fierypiez Guild… deliver our memorabilia… we're counting on you… now go! Leave m- ACKK!" A dagger hit Marko's back that caused Marko to cough blood… My tears flow down my face as I witness Marko's eyes slowly closing. At least one… At least one of their bodies I could take with me to bury and offer prayer...

But before breathing his last breath… Marko's hands are covered in green light, he pushes me with his last full strength with the help of his ability that turns out to be wind. I flew past the border and at the same time his body finally dropped on the ground, now lifeless.

In the blink of an eye, a man is standing next to Marko's body. He look at me with the coldest and murderous eyes I've ever seen. I did pass the border thanks to Marko but I'm still facing death.

"…Aren't you lucky enough? I found you alone lying on this same spot as your friend, and now you escaped with several people but you still ended up alone after your little friends' sacrifices." The man said without changing his expression.

'…I'm mad… I want to curse him! Attack him!'

"WHAT'S SO LUCKY ON SEEING YOUR ALLIES DIE ONE BY ONE?! YOU MURDER!" I angrily shouted, I want to attack him… but I know the moment I do that, I could see my head flying in just his snap of a finger.

"There's a rule. There's a rule in every territory that the moment you pass another's border, you cannot hurt nor kill a prey. That's why I'm saying you are lucky, even if I want to kill you, I can't do so as long as you are over there." The man eyed the spot where I'm standing. "…What a shame." He said, then he dragged Marko's lifeless body away.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM! LET GO OF HIS BODY!" I shout angrily, I want to snatch his body but if I go in, all of their efforts and sacrifices will be useless

"Then get him from me if you dare." He said and continued to drag the body. "I entrust the monsters of that territory to deal with you."

'…I couldn't… I couldn't even do anything at all… Fuck! …Again, I'm left alone.'