Eric and Neo were resting in a room inside the base of Underworld. They were out of danger, but they would be out of commission for a few days. Not everyone had the same healing capability as Thanatos, who was beside them.
"You guys did a good job, rest easy." He praised them one last time before leaving them to rest. After that, he went toward the back of the building, going down the stairs beside a room with ingredients for potions and drugs. A small room with no light, only a chair was in there with a person sitting down, naked with his arms tied.
He was the only survivor of a slaver’s incursion in the Great Forest. His face was damaged from several punches and kicks. The people that brought him here didn’t have any compassion for this foe.
Thanatos and Adel entered the small room. The interrogation was about to begin.
"Well, you know exactly what's going to happen, don’t you? There are two ways to do this: Number one, you answer all of our questions and save yourself a lot of pain. Number two, you try to keep your mouth shut for as long as possible and fail after being put through a lot of suffering and pain. Which alternative do you want to choose?" He asked with honesty.
"You can kill me already. I'm not going to talk, no matter how much you torture me." The man looked down. His eyes were telling the truth. He was a hired mercenary but still loyal to his employer.
"First one then. Adel, please bring the instruments." From a dark corner of the room, Adel brought a small table with wheels. On top of the table, a number of small instruments used for cutting, piercing, stabbing, and crushing were resting, ready to fulfill their purpose.
Adel took a small knife and put it behind the back of the man. The cold metal made him nervous about what was about to happen.
"Tell me who you work for?"
He remained in silence for a moment that felt like an eternity. The silence was broken by the screams of the man as the knife began to peel his skin. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
"Why do you guys keep kidnapping demi humans?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
"Where is the base of your group?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGG. I WON'T TALK, NO MATTER WHAT."
"You say that, but you're screaming a lot when this is only the beginning. Adel, flay the top half of his back. Maybe that would change his mind."
The torture continued for a few more hours. Skin flaying, nail removing, finger cutting, teeth pulling and so much more. The miserable man was at his limit, but his will didn’t break. He still refused to talk. He had hoped that he would die soon from his injuries. Even if they tried to give him a potion of healing, that would only heal some of the injuries. They were amateurs at torture techniques, they caused too much damage in a short period of time.
When torturing someone, you must monitor the damage being inflicted on the person. If it is too much, then you can't use potions or healing magic to reverse it. Unless you had a lot of potions in a stockpile or a doctor with a lot of mana. Then your prisoner would end up dying in your hands.
That thought was the only relief the man had, until it was broken too.
"Master, it looks like this is the limit. We should leave it here today." Adel spoke to Thanatos to stop the torture.
"You think so? Well, you are the one with more experience, so…" Thanatos put his hand on the head of the man. "[Heal]"
The missing fingers appeared, the teeth grew back, and the skin was healed. The man was surprised; he only knew a few doctors that could use the spell [Heal]. It was an advanced spell, only for the most adept at magic. How can this person use such a powerful spell?
"How do you feel, Master?"
"It's fine. It consumes a lot of mana, but I think I can cast it two times in a day. Using one every day for this guy is not a problem."
The man looked at Thanatos and began to sweat.
"Oh, you finally understand your position? I'm not letting you die until you tell me everything." He left the man alone with those ominous words.
It was a stroke of luck that the black book had a healing spell. Thanatos spent his limited free time studying the glyphs in the book. He managed to learn a bit more. new words like ‘Death Knight', 'Heal', and ‘Zombie’, etc.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
[Level obtained: Glyph decoder 3]
Sadly, at the same time, he also learned that was the limit of his abilities. The rest of the glyphs in the book were completely different. The difference in the writing and shapes made it impossible to read. About one third of the book was still a mystery.
He was grateful. Thanks to this spell, he could save the lives of his people and get information on the people responsible for this attack.
He chuckled at a small note written beside the only healing spell. It was probably Zek who wrote it: [Heal] is useless on undead. I will not waste more time trying to learn new healing spells.
I can't blame him for that. I would probably have done the same. I wonder what other things I can do that you don't, Zek. He thought about the difference between them as he fell asleep.
Five days had passed, and Neo and Eric were back in good health. Potions combined with plenty of rest had made them as good as new. They were waiting inside Thanatos's office as they talked with Lia.
"I’m glad you two are healthy again, but maybe you should take another day to rest just in case."
"No way! I'm tired of being in bed. I need to move and do something about those bastards." Neo was getting fired up.
"Man, I still feel pathetic for losing to that pink bastard. If my boys hadn't made it in time, we would have been done for." Eric was still bitter over the defeat.
"What do you mean with 'we'? I was about to kill that bastard. If the arrows hadn't arrived, I would have bit his neck and be done with him, but you were in pretty bad shape, so I can see why you feel useless."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT DUMB WOMAN. Without me, you would not have lasted a minute against the pink bastard."
"YOU WANT TO FIGHT IDIOT"
The bickering continued for a while. Lia could tell behind the yelling and insults that they were both sorry for almost letting the other die. Both wanted to get stronger. I would prefer it if they were more honest, but for some reason, they have trouble thanking one another.
The door opened and Thanatos and Adel entered the room. Thanatos was the first to speak.
"We got all the information available. The guy that has been kidnapping demi humans to use as slaves is a noble of the kingdom. His name is Ennis Elwin Damos."
After five long days of continuous torture, the man had lost all hope and broke down. He wasn’t going to die until he revealed all the information he had.
"It is not worth suffering this much for a rich psychopath." A shell of a man who only wanted to rest.
Ennis Elwin Damos was a very powerful noble in the kingdom of Axes. He controlled a large amount of territory in the east of the nation. To the common folk he was just another noble that spend his time in parties or in reunions in the Capital when the king summoned him. In reality, Ennis was a perverse man who enjoyed inflicting pain on others.
He had secret slave barracks where he kept people and demi humans to use in his sadistic games. He even organized parties where he invited other nobles to spectate the torture and murder. The raids in the forest in the last few months were his mercenaries' way of collecting more innocents for his sick pleasures.
The man also told them that Ennis is a collector of people. He enjoyed having rare species or people with abilities captured in cells for his private viewing. He didn’t know exactly why only the ones closest to Ennis were allowed to see his private games.
Neo was clutching her fist with rage. "That bastard is the one that kidnapped all those people for some sick games and torture. Why is that the kingdom is letting that monster do such terrible things?"
"Bribes Ennis has spent a lot of his fortune on keeping the soldiers' mouths shut. He even knows when the soldiers from the capital are passing through his territory, doing patrols. That is why no one is aware of his activities."
"Unforgivable. I'm going to kill that bastard and free all the tribes he has captured" Neo was serious.
"Calm down, Neo. I promised to help you, but we can't go without a plan. The guy told us more. Apparently, Ennis is going to have one of his parties in about two weeks. We're going to strike that night. All of us will attack Ennis Mansion. Our objective is to free the demi humans and steal anything of value." Thanatos announced his plan.
Eric and Neo were on board with the plan. Lia was thoughtful. Only Adel raised his hand.
"Are you sure we can do that, Master? You heard what the mercenary said? Ennis has at least 60 mercenaries working for him, possibly more. He also seemed to have dangerous animals and beasts hidden in his mansion. I'm not sure we have the power to fight against so many people." It was correct. Neo and Eric noticed in their previous fight that the hooded people were strong.
If they put the average member of Underworld against the average mercenary, they probably would lose. That, plus the numerical disadvantage, was a big obstacle.
"You correct Adel. For that reason, I'm going to spend the next few days gathering the corpses of animals to bolster our numbers. It will take-"
"Excuse me, but I have an idea." Lia raised her hand, and everyone turned to her. "If instead of using undead animals, we call for someone else's help"
They were at a loss for words. Who could be willing to help them on this mission? Everyone tried to think of some allies, but no one knew the answer. Seeing the confusion, Lia continued.
"I'm not talking about fighting with an ally, but instead, what if we attack at the same time as someone else?"
"You know someone that wants to take down that bastard too?" Neo asked excitedly.
"I´m not an expert on the inside politics of the kingdom, but I know that slavery has been prohibited since the current King, Gabriel Lothar The III, assumed the throne more than forty years ago. Even if Ennis is bribing soldiers, rumors of his activities must have reached the King. They probably had made inspections that found nothing because some corrupt soldier warned Ennis."
"But if we warned them directly about the party, they could arrest Ennis and the rest of the corrupt nobles." Lia said with security, she believed this plan could work.
"You're saying that if we attack at the same time as the army, then our chances of victory will increase. There is some risk we could be captured by the army, but before that, we don’t know anyone in the army who would believe us…" Thanatos stopped. "Wait, you aren’t talking about..."
"Yes, I can write a letter to Silver directly. He can gather a force of soldiers to attack on the night of the party at the same time."