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“Time’s almost up. It’s best if you stop now.”

Luke said towards Merethyl who quickly shut off the magic flow towards her currently cast magic. Her glowing eyes lost their shimmer as the surroundings turned a shade darker. Luke then proceeded to approach Merethyl holding the map, to take a good look at the sketch.

“Not bad. Remind me to take up scanning magic once we return to the Dungeon.”

Merethyl nodded at his remark as she gave the map to Luke, feeling that it was better in his hands than hers. She may be a little bit good at sketching, but she is not qualified to hold a map. That job was for her sister, or their leader.

She still did not know where those two human couples were. Were they still imprisoned? Did they escape? Or were they already dead at the hands of these bastard zealots?

Questions that can be answered once they return.

Luke stared at the map for a few seconds before deciding on a course of movement.

“Alright, based on this map, we can enter the Town Lord’s Estate through the well and into the storage area if we take this path right here, and turn left after the first three turns.” Luke pointed in the direction while Merethyl took a glance at the darkness looming overhead.

She nodded curtly and the two of them continued on their trek towards the estate while ignoring the smell, the sound of squeaking rats, droplets of water, and some other distracting noises.

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Grunts of anguish, yells of pain, and screams of rage littered the underground dungeon that kept all of the tortured demi-humans.

“Kill all of those damned animals! Let none escape alive!” A common guard yelled as her blade unsheathed itself from a young demi-human, the sound of squelching flesh bringing anger out of the supposed ‘animals.’

“Kill the bastards who dare take away our freedom!” A demi-human adult grabbed a sword lying on the ground before thrusting it at the female guard who was shouting with a manic expression on her face.

The female soldier crashed to the ground as she trembled a bit before going completely still. The demi-human roared out loud and proceeded to kill more guards that were doing their best to kill the prisoners.

While all of this was happening, four figures could be seen running away from the heated scene.

“That information you got better be true, otherwise, I’mma skin you alive once we’re in the afterlife!”

“Relax, Lara, the info I got is legit. And let’s be honest, we were all gonna die if we stayed any longer in this damned hellhole.”

“And I’m not letting yond befall to our young one ov’r h’re.”

“…”

The four of them had distinct appearances, what with all of them being in different categories of demi-humans.

The first is their leader, a male gnome that was an outlier in terms of height. The reason being that he was as tall as an average human male.

His name is Krag.

The second is a female gnome, an ordinary gnome at that. That said, gnomes in this world look like human children, even if they are in their thirties.

Her name is Lara.

The third is an elf male, piggybacking their fourth member, who was naught but a human child.

The elf’s name is Anduin, while the human child’s is Alice.

The three adults are members of their own Hunter party, while the child was someone they picked up on the streets in the past. After that, they adopted the child and cared for her like they would their own child.

“I see the place!” Krag yelled at his party members, garnering their attention to his lonesome.

“What place!? That’s a goddamn dead end!” Lara fumed as she got ready to kick her leader’s ass into the moon. Hey, if she died because of her leader, then at least she would like to kick him in the balls before kicking her bucket.

“Wast the inf’rmation a forswear?” Anduin asked while glaring at his leader, his grip tightening on the unconscious child with middle-grade injuries.

“Hey, calm your tits down, midget! You as well, old-timer!” Krag snarked back while focusing on the wall. “Now, if I’m correct… zigzag… then a square… There!”

Following the instructions, Krag used his fingers to draw a zigzag pattern, encased in a square on the wall, and waited with bated breath. The group waited in silence, before a noise made Krag flinch.

“… That’s it. Before I die, I’m pulverizing your dick and balls…” Lara said with extreme maliciousness, while Anduin watched the scene with trepidation, his hands clutching the unconscious child tighter.

It was then that the wall shifted slightly, and a staircase formed right where the wall was supposed to be. This got Krag to beam a smile on his face uncontrollably, while his hands were covering his crotch.

“See! I told you that info was legit!”

“… Well then, at least we ain’t gonna die yet.”

“Forsooth, a chance at life w’rth taking.”

The four of them descended the steps and into darkness, leaving the chaotic fighting behind as they took a chance at escape.

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“Something is wrong.” Luke said underneath the thick silence. Merethyl perked her ears at that statement, forcing her senses into overdrive as she tried to sense something amiss.

It was then they heard it, footsteps. The both of them readied themselves for conflict, Luke unsheathing his sword, and Merethyl readying a serrated dirk.

They tense up as the footsteps approached closer and closer, until they saw the offenders.

Three demi-humans, and an injured child. Merethyl gasped at the horrible state of the child, while Luke stared grimly at the four figures.

The demi-human prisoners, however, quickly came to a halt once they saw the two cloaked silhouettes in front of them. They were on guard in case these two robed figures decided to attack,

Fortunately, the right figure, a female most likely due to her body figure, raised her hands up in an attempt of peace.

“We have no quarrel with you.” Merethyl declared with her hands up.

“… What are you two doing here?” Krag narrowed his eyes at the cloaked female. Merethyl did the only thing that could garner their trust, however small it may be.

She lowered her hood, and showed her features.

“Fellow elf, didst thee escapeth the dungeon?” Anduin asked with a softening gaze. Merethyl nodded as she glanced at Luke who was staying silent.

“Indeed, I have.” Merethyl said before approaching the group of demi-humans plus a human child. “I am on a mission to free all captive demi-humans in the area if possible.”

Luke said nothing, but he did understand why she said that.

Jionni must’ve put her up to this. For what reason, he didn’t know, but somehow, he got a feeling that if he got those demi-humans, his Dungeon would only get stronger.

And quite frankly, if they stayed on friendly terms, who cares? Hell, they might be permanent residents of his Dungeon right now, and the stronger the Dungeon, the better.

Luke approached the group with slow strides, gathering attention to himself once the female gnome noticed his approach.

“Merethyl.” He tapped Merethyl’s shoulder, getting her attention. “It’s probably best if we split up. I can get the Town Lord by myself, while you can focus on the other objective Jionni gave us.”

Merethyl nodded at his claims and glanced back at the three demi-humans who had a confused look on their faces.

“Lead me to the dungeon where you were held in.”