Dominik had removed the collars, but the women were still bound by Fran’s magic. They weren’t impaled anymore either, and he had healed their wounds. But now he had a choice. He’d made rooms to hold people as some sort of prisoners. To make sure they weren’t enslaved as soon as they reached the surface, and to make sure they didn’t warn the other slave owners about his intentions, he should probably keep them here until the grand opening is over.
It might seem hypocritical to imprison them after freeing them, but it wouldn’t be fair to the other slaves if he let someone with some sort of misplaced loyalty run to the surface and warn the others. Whether they mean to warn them, just showing themselves as freed slaves and telling the story would be enough. If that circulated around camp, there might be a problem.
“For now, you’ll be given your own rooms, with a larger living area you can all stay together in, but you won’t be allowed to leave for at least a few days. Not until the other slaves have been freed. I won’t have one of you warning the others in camp. Food and water will be provided.”
After he said this, one woman tried protesting, but the rest remained quiet. Dominik had Fran let them go and finished healing them. None of them were foolish enough to try fighting or running however. He led them to one of the holding areas he’d made ahead of time and sealed them in.
After this, he watched for more adventurers, and he listened. The crows observed everything for him. But for quite some time, no one else was coming. Hours later, word spread that the hero most likely died in the dungeon. This seemed to kill the spirit of many adventurers. Only a few of the most heroic, or the most desperately poor among them finally came into the dungeon. Even then, they didn’t delve too far, no one went past the troglodytes. Even with an open invitation, they simply turned back.
Information had spread throughout the camp, that didn’t bother him. But most of the other slave owners had clearly decided not to enter. They had enough wealth to avoid risking going into the dungeon, and not enough virtue to adventure into the depths of the dungeon despite the risk. That’s why they had waited to begin with. Some were already packing up to leave in the morning.
This angered Dominik. To let them slip away when they were so close, and for what? Just to avoid getting too much attention from the kingdom? It wasn’t something he could tolerate. So instead of letting them go, or hoping they changed their minds in the morning, Dominik decided to wipe them out tonight.
After all, their numbers gave them the courage to camp anywhere near the dungeon. He could at least show them the error of their ways. Dominik called Fran and the golems to the training room. The two of them could help the golems practice not crushing their targets every time with their magic. They would help him restrain the slaves and anyone else not worth killing.
He told Fran the plan of course, and after night began to fall, Dominik, Fran, the two small golems, and an honor guard of troglodytes and larger golems proceeded up to the top floor, and under the cover of night using the secret entrance he had created when he freed the other slaves just the other night.
—-
Earlier that day, Fran was surprised when Dominik came to her with the little golems and explained his plans for the night. “Wouldn’t that draw unwanted attention Dominik? I thought we didn’t want them to worry about the dungeon?”
Dominik seemed to consider this, though she had guessed his mind was already made up. “It will, but I doubt it will be enough for the kingdom to send more squads into the dungeon. The idea of letting them live is too sickening. We’ll try to keep the damage to a minimum.”
Fran sighed and accepted this decision, she was getting a bit tired of being cooped up in the dungeon anyway. “All right, but after this, we should let things relax a bit, and maybe balance things out with our other identities. That might calm the powers that be if the waters seem to settle for a while.”
“You’re right.” Dominik said. “The guild manager’s mentioned something about goblin attacks recently, we could help with that and calm things down for a bit after this.”
“But first.” He continued. “Let’s help the golems practice holding people without killing them. Can you make something out of ice about as breakable as a human, and about the size of a human too?”
For a time, they helped the golems learn to control their earth magic better, grabbing and moving ice dummies without breaking them. When they seemed to have the hang of it, Dominik made sure a group of troglodytes that had been resting would be ready for battle. Fran gathered her golems and met him at the first floor, then they continued through the passage to the secret entrance.
Dominik had seen through his crows’ eyes that the entrance was clear, and they made their way through it. The troglodytes and golems tried their best to follow after Dominik and Fran through the forest, but their pace had to slow down a bit.
Finally, in the middle of the night, they had come upon their targets. The camp where most of the slave owners were. Wealthier adventurers and merchants staying near each other. Those of lower status, or higher moral fiber, were kept away, or chose to stay away.
They had to keep the slaves alive, who weren’t hard to tell apart because of their collars, and ideally they would avoid killing hired help. But after having the golems and troglodytes spread out around the camp, to catch anyone who managed to get past the main force, this would be a great killing field.
Dominik sprang on the last few slave owners and guards staying up around a campfire. He’d taken his hammer and crushed their skulls in seconds. He’d decided not to spare the guards for slave owners this time.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Fran gave the command and the golems created a wall of earth around the camp, just past the troglodytes, as the walls hardened, Fran added a layer of ice and formed spikes all around it. Dominik went tent by tent killing the uncollared, until eventually, one of the slaves who had shared a tent with the owner woke up and screamed.
Soon, others began to exit their tents, or to wake up on their own and discover the grisly execution of their owners. A series of screams continued, and people began running out of their tents. Fran and the golems held everyone in place. It would be up to Dominik to execute the owners.
As they ran out, Dominik quickly followed and began slaughtering people after scanning them with his eyes. He only spared those with collars, and those he recognized as servants from the crows’ eyes during the daytime.
Oftentimes the golems captured corpses, but many more were slaves and servants, terrified of what was going on. Soon the killing was done, and Dominik checked each of the tents for anyone who might be hiding. He would kill or bring out anyone who was left.
When he was finished, he made his announcement, speaking louder than any of the screams. “Those of you who are slaves will be released from your collars and let go. You may choose to take refuge in the dungeon until the others have left, or you may flee to wherever you may choose. Any hired help may also go wherever they please. After I’ve removed all of the collars.”
After this, the screaming didn’t stop, but Dominik went to each slave, one by one, and broke the seal on their collars. Fran added ice over each person’s mouth. It was likely too late to avoid being heard by anyone near enough to hear it, but she did it for the sake of her hearing at least.
Dominik had become quite good at breaking the seals, it only took him a few moments to break each of them, but there were dozens of slaves at least. Any of the slave owners that had been captured alive, he quickly executed.
Before he had finished with the last of the slaves though, a man jumped over the wall, some kind of rogue in worn leather armor. The man threw a knife at Dominik’s back. But as he was standing in front of a slave, he chose not to dodge. Just in case the knife went through the earth, or pierced their exposed skin. He could heal them, but not if it killed them immediately of course.
The knife went into his back and pierced his heart. It was a well placed throw. Dominik turned to face his attacker after he finished breaking the seal, and twisted his arm behind his back to remove the knife.
The attacker looked somewhat surprised, he stood with two more knives ready, and Dominik could hear the man’s companions trying to break down the wall. “There’s no point, you can’t kill me, certainly not by attacking my heart. And I’ve already dealt with the poison. If you want to live, take your friends and leave before you anger me.”
“And let you slaughter these people?” The rogue said, glancing to the place on the wall his companions were trying to break through, waiting for backup before he attacked again.
“I’ve already slaughtered them, the slave owners and their guards. The slaves are all nearly free, and the hired help I’ve already promised to set free. Your death won’t serve any purpose, and your companions won’t be able to save you either.”
“I’m not going to take the word of some dungeon core’s servants.” He said, glancing at Fran as well. “You shouldn’t have come out here, you’re just making it easier for us to kill you.”
Dominik sighed. “The hero said something similar, and now he’s food for the spiders. If that’s what you’ve decided, then you’ll die like the rest. Just know that you cannot kill me.”
Dominik leapt at the rogue just before the wall broke. He gave the golems the mental command to kill anyone who came into the camp now, and command the golems and troglodytes to form up and protect Fran.
The rogue was fast, and agile enough, to avoid most of the hammer blow from Dominik. But it still clipped his shoulder as he dodged. Dominik’s speed and inhuman movements were hard to avoid even for a well trained adventurer.
As the wall broke and their forces ran to her, Fran finished casting a spell she had been preparing, and a long spear of ice shot out toward the rogue’s party. The spear destroyed the warrior’s armor and tore through it, piercing his chest and stomach. The sorcerer and healer behind him avoided the brunt of the impact from their team member, but earthen spikes were already poised to spring up at them.
The sorcerer cast a spell and blocked the spikes with an arcane shield briefly conjured in front of him, but the healer was impaled. He had been focused entirely on the warrior and failed to notice the spikes soon enough.
One of the golems made sure they had finished off the healer and continued crushing and impaling them, while the other kept up their assault on the sorcerer.
Dominik’s fight with the rogue continued. With all of the spells he’d cast on himself, and all of the enhancements he’d made to his body, he had avoided most of the major blows from the rogue, though he allowed a few hits if he could return a major blow to the rogue. The rogue was batter, and one of his arms hung limp, it had been broken in several places.
The few cuts and stabs that had landed on Dominik had already been healed. The poison had been nullified, and by now it had been protected against with another spell. Finally the rogue’s speed failed them and Dominik crushed their skull with the hammer.
The sorcerer had cast a large fireball spell quickly in between casts of the arcane shield. His target was Fran. She quickly cast a frost shield around herself, a half circle in front of herself at least. The fireball only managed to break through the outer layer of the shield. A thick layer of ice remained. Fran laughed and stepped to the side of her shield to cast another ice bolt, but the sorcerer had already been impaled by the golems’ magic. Casting that fireball had left him too open to their attacks. Perhaps this was his last ditch effort. Perhaps he thought she was the one controlling the golems directly. Either way it was futile.
Just as quickly as it had started, the fight had ended, and Dominik returned to breaking the seals of the last few slaves that were left. Afterward, he walked back to Fran and the others and said. “You can release them.”
Soon, slaves and servants were let loose from the earth and frost that bound them. Domik cast a final healing spell over them for any minor injuries, and he had already cast spells to enhance their stamina as he passed by each of them, to give them the opportunity to escape any slavers should they attempt to run.
Most did. They ran through the entrance created by the adventurers, before the golems could fully remove the wall surrounding them all. A few looked back between the group and those fleeing, but they all ultimately ran.
Dominik had thought a few of them might stay, but perhaps they would change their minds later. The offer was still open, and he had already tagged them for the spiders should they try to enter the dungeon seeking shelter. He’d done what he could. And most importantly, he hadn’t let any of the slavers escape.
Dominik and the others made their way back to the secret dungeon entrance. He could already imagine the long letter he’d be reading from the guild manager. He imagined the dungeon wouldn’t be getting attacked much for a while, so he thought he’d have time to leave the dungeon with Fran soon. But first, he wanted to check on the previous slaves he’d freed to see if they needed anything.
He doubted they wanted to stay in the dungeon forever.