We were on guard, sense sharper than ever, ready to act on demand, prepared for everything.

Earlier in the day, half an hour ago to be exact, the goods rose to rebellion and succeeded in freeing themselves from their prison. We're still unsure about all the ins and outs, but after a short inspection, it would appear that the root of the problem was a human mistake, or rather, lust.

Some retarded lucky bastards infiltrated the forbidden zone, which was left with almost no supervision. By doing so, they get themselves annihilated in a truly butchery way while giving the women the occasion to escape. As to whether it was planned and to what extent, this had yet to be determined with confidence, but in all likelihood, the women were harboring hopes of escaping, and the opportunity was seized.

The goods then succeeded in storming out and went deeper into the galleries instead of trying to exit. They must’ve become aware of the men’s place of work one way or another because they directly rushed to their location.

I don’t know what were the reasons behind such an endeavor. Was it to increase their chances of success, thinking that they alone were not enough to guarantee the most vulnerable one’s safety? Or perhaps they simply didn’t want to leave the captive men behind out of kindness. It was probably both.

Well, anyway, they knew what they were doing and had some sort of plan in mind because upon freeing their fellow, they barricaded themselves into the dead end without further ado, showing a clear intent to hold a siege against us.

They must have understood that they would not be allowed to leave as freely as they had come here. Moreover, they should’ve realized there were quite a few of us scattered around. Considering our potential number, they presumably feared we would give them chase soon enough after gathering together if they were to depart hastily.

Knowing that with their sheer number, they were still seriously posing a threat to the few of us and that we could only wait for reinforcement, it was a clever move. And they were right on this point. We were indeed waiting for our main force to arrive.

The person guiding them must be intelligent. But she had failed to understand the situation they were in completely. She had made a grave error while betting on something uncertain and should’ve better fled without qualms and even left behind those who could have slowed her down.

Now that I think of it, wasn’t there a special one in the lot? Ale-something? A girl with blazing hair who was somewhat strong and clever even for an adventurer? She could very well have been the one leading.

Anyway, by now, she should begin to apprehend her grave mistake. Even outnumbered and taken by surprise, we still managed to follow them closely to the end and didn’t allow them the slightest time to rest. Doing so, we forced them to maintain their frantic pace, and they were undoubtedly exhausted after such a race.

Furthermore, since our employer provided us with mainly enslaved women, we had to improvise to reduce our workload, and every single captured man was used as a labor force. They were in an even worse state than the girls who had been kept in jail and suddenly asked for their bodies to run for their lives. I don’t think they would be of any help, and the strongest would barely pose a threat at most.

Or perhaps had she foreseen that much? That wouldn’t be impossible. Indeed, their defensive position would be demanding to attack, and we wouldn’t be able to overwhelm them. Perhaps she had thought this far and hoped the girls would rest while we would’ve strived to get past their defense, returning everyone to equal arms.

But they were made like rats. How could they know, pitiful things, that we were over a hundred, dooming their vain attempt to inevitable failure?

Well, their leader deserved some respect, at least. She was an idiot, thinking she could emerge victorious, but she made the right decision according to her knowledge. The situation probably didn’t match her dream situation, forcing her to improv, but she still had hope and kept her calm.

May God have mercy on them, for we only had to wait patiently for our reinforcements before teaching them about their error and the consequences of their act.

It would take them another ten to twenty minutes to get there since the underground part was rather big and difficult to navigate. Luckily for us, and unfortunately for our ex-prisoners, the warning could be sent quickly due to the blood-curdling screams of despair that could be heard almost in the entire ruins.

May our stupid and lusting pervert rest in peace. No wonder the women knew very well about the gallery layout and the men’s location. No one could’ve possibly bear such torture, and I can personally testify to what they had to suffer. It had been impossible to look straight at them without fainting or throwing out our guts, especially Ricky.

One word was enough to describe it, as much for the result as for the act itself, Inhuman…

Anyway, here we were, waiting in a medium cave in front of a gallery entrance leading directly to the escapees' new prison. During this long and frustrating moment of anxiety, we were trying our best to keep our spirits up while doing absolutely nothing.

I mean, we were the ones in an advantageous position, for sure. On the lookout, we were paying attention to any suspicious movement or traces of a possible fleeing second attempt. But this was in no way to prevent them from doing so. Our behavior's sole purpose was to flee ourselves on time.

In the first place, our presence had no meaning. Trying to stop them would be pointless and only put our lives at risk. We were too few to pose any danger to them at the moment. Moreover, it was only by remaining alive that our presence could have proved useful, and this would only occur if we were lucky enough.

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In a natural underground maze like this one, it would’ve been easy if not for the fact that we were commanded to stay here on this one-way path without many hiding spots and not a single intersection nearby.

Well, maybe I'm being narrow-minded here because our presence actually had its own purpose, which was to serve as mere cannon fodder, a sacrifice to cover our superior cowardice.

Officially, it was to serve as a vanguard responsible for giving the alert and gathering any helpful info. But this was only an excuse for the team leader to distance himself from the danger and drop all the responsibility on our shoulders if the captive escaped again.

That hateful man was gone with half of our team before the girls even started barricading themselves, leaving us completely at our own devices, pretexting the need to regroup with the other and provide our main force with fresh details as soon as possible.

But we all knew it was fake. He was merely afraid, and he wasn’t alone in his torment…

How so, would you ask? We were hardened and fearless criminals, currently waiting for our force to teach some rebellious minds a rough lesson and take the opportunity to have some ‘fun’.

Well, there were two main reasons for such a fearful attitude.

One, the girls' ferociousness and bloody way of acting made us feel terribly ill. Even if everyone is joking about what we would make them suffer in exchange, this wouldn’t change the fact that they had succeeded in demoralizing us. Their little vengeance on Ricky was one thing, but the ones guarding their back and making the front were fierce and seemed ready to exterminate us to the last one to get on their nerves.

Two, the terrain was not in our favor. I’d rather say it was the worst possible one.

We were accustomed to open spaces, forests, hills, and small mountains. But gloomy grottos and narrow galleries were generally off the chart. Only a portion of our men usually worked there, and most did not do it eagerly. We managed a few excavation teams, putting the captured men to work digging and conducting some research. But even there, the orders were almost always sent via slaves.

In definitive, only the guards that were watching after the men were accustomed to the environment, and at most, the underground part was used as a shortcut between our two encampments by the bravest and most daring of us.

We were goddamn bandits!! Not professional miners or workers! And those were not just mere mine galleries. It would’ve been much more supportable. Those were where infamous human experimentation took place, and dreadful acts were done.

Especially the underground part. Legends surrounding this place even said you could hear the cry of some deceased and plead of the guinea pig.

Pretty much every single one of us hated this place, and some even refused to enter it. Furthermore, we were in the deepest part at an equal distance between each exit.

We were where the worst things happened, and, of all things, the gallery structures were left mostly intact and unmaintained, so much so that several rockfalls dating from the previous period of occupation could be found. Why do you think we were looking for this place, among so many others?

It was because it was also one of the most likely to have remaining traces or artifacts that were missed during the cleaning period.

Perhaps those girls didn’t care since they became accustomed to living in captivity and identify with them. Or maybe they were just ignorant of such stories. But they were much less sensitive to these things. Besides, they probably weren’t short of worries to occupy their minds.

…

The wait was getting long and oppressive, and I didn’t know about the other, but I was getting on my nerves.

Sitting on the damped floor, I was lost in my thoughts, trying to deceive my emotions while looking at the dark gut that sank into the rock. Once again, I was amazed at how dark it was. Mana lamps were much more efficient than simple torches, but that didn’t mean everything was well-lit in this underground environment. Moreover, we had to ration them to save on the cost and avoid buying back mana cristal because we were near our departure. As a result, some lamps were missing crystal cores or lacked energy within it.

This was the case for this whole section. Moreover, the last gallery separating us from the rebellious girls had been seemingly sabotaged and was now almost completely dark. It was making us even more nervous and prone to fear since we were already unable to rely on hearing.

The sound of the fighting and the footsteps of hundreds of fleeing women had stopped for a while, and they were clever enough, and quite strong-minded, to stay more or less quiet until now.

All that was left were the unknown surrounding noises gradually draining our force. Not being able to identify their origin or cover them up was unsustainable.

The only recognizable ones were no less stressful thoughts. Droplets of water were falling punctually without warning, and the ground sometimes made some muffled cracking sound. And there was the wind... Perhaps the worst of all.

Deep as we were, one could think there would be none, but somehow, airflow was made possible thanks to a system put in place by the previous occupant. And for god knows why, this one did not work on a loop but instead made the flow pretty much inconsistent and unpredictable.

But hey, we were ordered to stay still and silent, so we were forced to bear with it, using all our mental strength not to be surprised every time a new sound occurred. Two by two, my buddy and I took turns examining the shadows for any singularity possible before returning to the only occupation available, staying sane.

When we were not in search of a possible hiding spot or way to conceal our presence, out of fear they would attack, we were waiting in fear of the unknown. Sitting while twiddling our thumbs and listening to our heart race was the only thing we could do to stop mindless thoughts, and there was no other way around. From time to time, we would pray inwardly so that nothing would happen to us.

…

Trying hard to pierce the darkness with my gaze, I was starting to wonder what I was doing here. This wasn’t the life I had wished for. Even for a criminal like myself, this was too much to ask.

At the risk of repeating myself, we were forest bandits, for god sake! Becoming a mercenary was still acceptable, but working on some ancient ruins and besieging a group of helpless girls underground was definitely not what we had signed up for!

The pay was good, and we could enjoy tremendous benefits such as the girl and a protectorship from some corrupted noble, so there weren’t many complaints. But sometimes, like in those moments, I wondered if it wasn't a little too much.

Being stuck in my thoughts, I failed my monitoring duty and kept complaining instead, even regretting not having had a more honest and peaceful life.

As if to remind me and answer all my questions, this was the very moment God chose to send us a vision, a divine messenger carrier of reproach, yet giving us a glimpse of hope of redemption.