One moment Lucius was happily doing labor work. The next moment consisted of explosions.

Hm? Did something go wrong with the construction? Lucius wondered as he put down a mallet that he was working with.

Something was clearly amiss. There was a moment of confusion as people began to stop working and look around.

Then, there was lots of shouting.

“There’s a fire at the main house!” someone yelled. Lucius whipped his head in the direction of his house.

“Let’s go!” Balos yelled and yanked Lucius to his feet. “Something is wrong! That is not an ordinary fire!”

“Magic?” Lucius said as they sprinted back to the house.

“I’m pretty sure,” Balos said. He held a big, rudimentary metal hammer that the slimes put together quick. “However, I’m not exactly sure what happened. Someone trying to sabotage?”

When they arrived at the big house, Luna was already there, putting out the fire.

“Luna! What happened?!” Balos said as he observed his surroundings.

When she turned to face them, she was clearly injured. Cuts ran along her body, and her breaths were ragged. She collapsed to the floor, panting hard. Lucius rushed over and helped her up.

“People... people somehow snuck into here and set it on fire...” She feebly said. “I was taken by surprised. The best I could do was lock them in the basement and cover it with heavy stuff.

The basement... that’s where my fruits are! “Are they still in there?!” Mute asked.

“They should be...” Luna winced.

“Balos! Get the Royal Slimes to me A.S.A.P.!”

“I cannot leave you two alone!” Balos argued.

“Hurry! I can defend myself!” Lucius said. “If they break out of the basement, it will become much harder!”

“...Understood,” Balos said and rushed off.

A few moments later, a large group of Royal Slimes came rushing up the hill.

“I need you guys to rush into Sorus Bay and find these indents in the wall in this are in around this area,” Lucius said as he gestured to the bay. “Swim in, and push on these things that stop the water from going in. Then swim the hell out before you get sucked in. Got it?”

“Yes!” The Royal Slimes collectively said before they rushed off.

Other beastmen were running toward Lucius. He waved them over. “Help me get everything out of the house! We need to hurry!”

They all jumped to it. They pulled out chairs, tables, beds, and anything else that wasn’t attached to the floor. Within minutes, everything was pulled out.

Then, Balos dropped a whole bookcase on top of another bookcase that covered up the entrance to the basement. “This should stop them from coming out. Are you going to let them drown?”

“I don’t know...” Lucius said. “It seems so inhumane to do that.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Then what else do you propose?”

“Um... how about letting them go unconscious then getting them up here?”

“That’s still technically drowning,” Balos said and raised an eyebrow.

“Well, at least they won't die from that,” Lucius said.

There was loud pounding that could be heard from the basement.

“Lucius! Get away from the basement!” Eza urgently yelled in his head.

“Get away from the basement!” Lucius screamed and jumped back along with several beastmen.

There was a high-pitched whistle in the air—and the bookcases exploded.

Balos thrust Lucius behind him. “Where are your weapons?”

“In the workshop,” Lucius shakily replied.

“Go get them,” Balos said. “We’ll hold them off, but they are magic users. Luna is injured. We need your help.”

“Got it,” Lucius said. “Just... please don’t die.”

“Oh, I don’t plan to,” Balos smirked.

Lucius sprinted off. His workshop seemed untouched, as it was a quite a distance from his house.

He burst the door open and grabbed his katana. He quickly strapped it to his back. He grabbed his two handguns in their holsters and belted them on. He was about to leave when he remembered something.

His newest weapon. The metaphorical “Fist of Death.”

Lucius fitted his hand into it, then ran out.

He could hear fighting. Loud clangs rang out that pierced the air, and wails were heard. He doubled his pace.

He approached the house quickly, but at the same time a figure crashed through the wall and collapsed on top of Lucius.

It was Balos. He had cuts and injuries throughout his body.

“Balos!” Lucius screamed. “Are you okay?!”

His eyes cracked open. “They are strong... you must run...”

“Shh, don’t waste your energy speaking,” Lucius said.

“Oh, there you are,” a voice said from the house. Lucius looked up.

“What the hell did you do?” Lucius yelled at them.

“Oh, nothing much,” the voice said as they stepped out of the shadows. They wore black cloaks that concealed their whole body. “We’ve been ordered not to kill anyone, but to bring you back. If you come with us peacefully, you probably won’t get killed.”

“Like hell I will,” Lucius growled. He stood up, gently rested Balos on the ground, and aimed his fist at them.

“Hm? What does tha--”

Lucius pulled the trigger. There was a quick hum, then a barrage of wind bullets appeared.

It immediately shredded three of the people to bits. The last two had quick reflexes and put up a magic shield that was able to block the wind bullets but immobilized them from using any other magic.

With his free hand, he pulled the katana from his back and pressed both of the buttons on the hilt. The top of the katana began to glow red and it unlatched.

I need to finish this up quick before my gauntlet breaks again! Lucius thought.

He began to swing the katana in a circular motion to get as much momentum as he could. Then, he whipped his arm back and lashed it forward.

The sword whipped forward and smashed right through one of the magic shields and stabbed someone. With another press of a button, he tried retracting the blade. However, it was firmly lodged inside the person.

The person was yanked forward by the sword and collided into the leader’s shield. It disrupted it for the slightest second, but that’s what Lucius needed.

A couple bullets collided into his body, but none of them were fatal.

“Guh...!” He collapsed on the ground while clutching his chest. “What... what the hell is that?!”

“Why should I answer you?” Lucius said. “You come here and try to take me. Who sent you?”

“Heh... you won’t get any information from me!” he said and crunched on something. He began to foam at the mouth, convulsed on the ground, then fell unconscious.

Cyanide pill? Or something like it? Lucius thought.

“Lucius? Are you alright?” A voice said from inside the house. A figure hobbled out.

Luna looked even more injured than before. She had a multitude of additional cuts and bruises, as well as a long gash down her arm.

Lucius shook his head in disbelief. “Never mind about me; are you alright?!”

“Not really, but I’ll recover,” Luna said. Lucius scavenged for some bandages and wrapped up the injuries the best he could. Then, he found a small potion and made Luna drank it.

“What happened?” Lucius said as he was fixing up the unconscious Balos.

“They somehow slipped inside Baylight and started looking for you...” Luna said. “They caught me by surprise and hit me really hard with magic, so I had no time to defend myself.”

“Yeah, and we don’t even know where they came from,” Lucius bitterly said. “At least that we know that we are being targeted somewhere. We need to finish construction quickly.”

“A lot of people actually don’t know what happened. Most of them resumed construction, so a good chunk of the wall is going up.”

“Well, they need to know,” Lucius said. “Later though. Maybe sometime tomorrow, but today is just about rebuilding. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future."