Knock. Knock.

A man in steel armor knocked on the door a few times, then opened it without hearing the reply of the person behind the door.

"Boss! We have a problem—" man froze instantly when he saw that his leader was in the midst of wrapping his arms with a piece of cloth.

'Shit!' The man cursed in his head because his leader was very sensitive about showing his skin, and for a good reason. The man saw that the skin of his leader's arm could only be described as 'rotten.' An Undead corpse would have much healthier skin than his leader

Maxwell, the leader of the Rats faction, immediately turned to his subordinate with furious eyes.

The man was smart enough to instantly close his eyes the moment he saw Maxwell's skin because his leader would kill anyone who saw it. He was that sensitive about his skin. But that didn't mean that he would go unpunished.

In the very next moment, Maxwell raised his finger, shooting a green liquid of some kind right in his subordinate's face, hitting his face. The green liquid moved like a living thing and rapidly entered the man's nose.

"Cough! Cough!" The man immediately fell to his knees, coughing blood, and his skin began to turn green.

"P-Please, sir."

"Silence! This is your punishment for entering my room without my permission."

"The poison will remain in your system for three days. You should be grateful that I didn't melt your organs."

"!!!" The man's face instantly darkened. Enduring pain for three days was much better than having his organs melted.

"Now, what do you want?" Maxwell ordered as he finished covering his arms.

Not just his arms were covered, but everything—every part of his skin—was covered with bandages and pieces of clothing. He even wore a hood to hide his hair. The only thing that wasn't covered were his eyes, which were black in color, but his sclera was red instead of the healthy white.

The man painfully raised his head and answered with a mouth full of blood.

"...Cough... I came here to tell you, Boss... Cough... that we are under attack."

Maxwell narrowed his eyes. "Under attack? By whom?" Maxwell asked, his voice filled with annoyance.

"W-We don't... Cough... know, sir, but they are killing our iron ranks. The report says that there are two attackers... Cough..." The man found it hard to answer, and half of his face was now completely green.

Maxwell's eyes flickered with anger as he processed the information. He clenched his bandaged fists.

"Two attackers? Killing our iron ranks?" Maxwell growled, his voice dripping with venom. "How dare they? No one threatens the Rats and gets away with it."

"...Send my lieutenants at once," Maxwell commanded, his voice cold and commanding. "I want these attackers dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly."

The man nodded, trying his best to hold himself up despite the pain. He crawled out of the room, leaving Maxwell sitting in silence with his thoughts.

"Damn it! Why today of all days?" Then he glanced at his hand and saw small drops of blood coming out of the same finger that he used to cast his magic with earlier.

"My condition is getting worse every day. I need to prepare the healing bath immediately."

…

"This is way too easy," Pethra commented.

It had been a while since the girls and Raum began sneaking around, passing by the ruined buildings and narrow roads. With the help of Ruam and Scarlett's skills, they were able to avoid being seen by the Rats.

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions could be heard in the distance, accompanied by the sound of crumbling structures. Pethra and the others exchanged glances, knowing that the source of the explosions must be Aron's doing.

"I guess Boss is having some fun," Scarlett said with a smirk.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

BOOM!

"HAHAHA~" a loud woman's laugh was heard all over the place.

"Oh! I forgot the wet dog too! I'm sure she's having fun after more than a year in a cell."

"..." The rest of the girls couldn't help but feel bad for the Rats, as they were now just a punching bag for Freya to let out her frustration on them.

"Let's go. We need to quickly free the slaves so that we can go and help them."

Kasumi suddenly spoke. The two-tailed fox was worried about her Master, and she wanted to return to his side quickly.

This feeling was shared by all the girls beside her, even the silent and shy Luna, who felt nervous being away from Aron. She didn't know why, but she felt safe being close to him, despite not interacting with him much.

The group made their way through the ruins, moving swiftly and silently. Scarlett led the way, utilizing her 'Scout' skill with the help of Raum from above.

Finally, they reached the entrance of the large castle. The chambers that contained the slaves were supposed to be on the lower floor, but to enter the castle, they needed to pass the two guards who stood at the entrance.

"We need a plan," Kasumi whispered. "We can't just charge in blindly."

"I agree," Scarlett added. "We need to create a distraction to draw the guards away."

The girls were lost in their thoughts, and Pethra, from the corner of her eyes, glanced at Raum. Then she displayed a wicked smile.

"!!!" Raum felt something cold down his spine. He turned around and saw nothing.

'Is it just my imagination?' he wondered.

"I have a plan!" Pethra suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention to her.

All eyes turned to Pethra as she explained her plan. She wore a mischievous smile, and her eyes sparkled with excitement.

Soon, all the girls nodded in agreement to her plan, and Raum just cursed his bad luck.

…

At the entrance of the castle, one guard turned to his friend and spoke.

"Hey, man, did you hear? We are under attack."

"Yes, I heard! But don't worry, my friend. Our leaders are on their way to eliminate the intruders," he said confidently.

"Phew! What a relief! And what about the Boss? Is he going to fight?" he asked again.

"Naaah! The Boss is in no shape for fighting. I heard from the slave maid that his condition is only getting worse."

"Dammit! Didn't the healing water cure him?"

"Only temporarily. I overheard the leaders speaking about it. It seems that the Boss rushed the process. However, this time he prepared a special healing bath, gathering all the healing water."

"Good," the guard nodded. "I hope it works because I can't stand another six months in this place. If not for the healing water that runs under this castle and the leader's condition, I'd be long gone."

The other guard was about to slap his friend in the mouth for speaking such words when suddenly...

Kaaaahhh!.

A sound came from the side, and when they turned around, they saw a black bird.

"W-What! How did this raven get in here?"

And before the other guard got the chance to answer, the raven suddenly approached them and then started flapping its wings and jumping around in circles in a strange and funny way.

The two guards watched in confusion as the raven continued its peculiar display. It hopped and flapped its wings, creating an amusing spectacle.

"What's wrong with that bird?" one guard asked, chuckling at the raven's antics.

"I have no idea," the other guard replied, shaking his head. "Maybe it wants to play?" Then he approached the raven, trying to capture it. However, the raven moved slightly away from him.

"What are you doing? Get back here!" the guard yelled at his friend.

"What? This is a strange bird. If we can capture it and sell it to some nobles, we can make a fortune."

The guard's eyes opened wide at the word "fortune," and he followed his friend's example, slowly approaching the little raven. Completely unaware that behind them were two women, one with red hair and the other with long black hair, slowly approaching them with daggers in their hands.

Suddenly, Raum stopped running away, and he allowed one of the guards to capture him. The guard held him with both hands and turned to his friend with a smile.

"We're going to become rich."

Raum saw that Scarlett and Kasumi were about to reach the two guards. He flashed a smile and faced the two guards.

"Stupid humans!"

"...Eh?" The two guards were confused. Did this bird just talk? But they couldn't confirm it, as two daggers slit their throats instantly and with a clean cut.

The guards fell to the ground, lifeless, as Scarlett and Kasumi swiftly eliminated them. Pethra and Luna, who had been hiding in the shadows, emerged to join the group.

"I'm actually surprised that it worked!" Pethra said in disbelief. This was her plan, and honestly, she didn't think that the guards were dumb enough to fall for it, but they did.

"HEY! Number 2! Don't you dare ask me again to act like that. It's... It's embarrassing," Raum mumbled his last words, but everyone heard them.

All the girls laughed at his reaction. Raum was about to shout at them to stop when suddenly Luna approached him.

She raised a thumb up to Raum and spoke.

"Nice, Raum is talented…Want to see again"

"Ouch!" Raum felt an arrow piercing his heart as he looked at the beautiful blue-haired elf.

"Ahem... Sure, I can dance for you later."

He couldn't resist the cuteness of Luna.

"..." The girls opened their eyes in shock at how easily Luna calmed Raum, and she even got him to agree to perform a dance for her.

'Sometimes cuteness is a scary thing,' they thought while looking at the cute elf in a white dress.

Luna was the only one who wore white-colored clothes. All the other women wore either black or dark blue. The reason for this is Kasumi and Pethra.

Kasumi was trained to be an assassin in a Clan that used Shadow as their power. Because of this, she only wore black or dark blue clothes her entire life.

Pethra, on the other hand, only bought clothes in black, gray, or brown because she was poor and had a debt to pay. She chose those colors because they are more resistant to dirt and filth, and she didn't have the luxury to buy the clothes she wanted.

So when the two girls went shopping with Aron, they didn't know what to buy, resulting in black, gray, or dark blue clothes for the women in the warehouse.

"The entrance is clear. Let's go," Scarlett suddenly spoke, shifting everyone's attention to the entrance.

Soon, Scarlett led Raum, Pethra, Kasumi, and Luna into the castle, their mission to free the slaves and reunite with Aron burning in their hearts.