“We’ll help you find out more about these Slumdon people,” Marlene reaffirmed her earlier offer.
Broken gave a slow nod. “Is there a chance they’ll be killed if we’re late in rescuing them?”
Marlene paused for a moment, considering the question. “Slaves taken from Yunatea… most of them are forced into labor, like the oppressed slaves we all know.
“However, some of them, those with unique traits-like rare beast-kin hybrids or members of one of Yunatea’s major races, like elves-are often sold off at auctions. If they manage to capture High-Elves, for example, they’re usually put on display at these auctions. So, if you’re asking whether they’ll be killed… I can say with some confidence that they’ll likely still be… alive,” she explained.
Broken tried to take comfort in her words, at least for now, while also considering his own options for dealing with the situation. Marlene’s offer would serve as a backup plan. And if there was a good chance that the captives wouldn’t be killed right away, it would give him more time to split his focus-between hatching the demon egg and dealing with the slave situation.
He still had other questions, like whether it would even be possible to return them to Yunatea if he managed to free them. But Broken didn’t want to appear too reliant on Marlene and the Shadow Wolves, so he decided to approach this problem more cautiously, gathering as much information as he could on his own.
Subaru watched the agreement between Marlene and Broken, feeling a bit more at ease and finally able to breathe easier. “Hehe,” he laughed awkwardly.
“What about the raid?” Broken asked, shifting the topic of their conversation.
“A little bad,” Marlene said.
“Really bad,” Subaru added at almost the same time.
Marlene then went on, “We lost three people, and I think missing that one key member for the raid strategy hit us pretty hard in terms of what we had planned.”
Broken nodded slowly. “I’ve been part of a raid boss hunt before, so I know how tough this can be.”
“It’s a demon with a fire element, Broken. Hehe,” Subaru said with a nervous laugh. Broken turned to him.
Subaru continued, “Yeah, our missing tanker has a water element affinity, and his skill set was crucial for dealing with a fire element monster. That’s why we’ve been struggling so much-without him, we couldn’t exploit the demon’s weakness, which is water element
skills.”
From Subaru’s explanation, it was clear that they hadn’t just lost a tanker; they had lost the key to their entire strategy for defeating the raid boss. Yet, despite the setback, they kept pushing forward, even though the odds were stacked against them.
“This was a raid boss hunt we planned so carefully… ugh…” Subaru trailed off, disappointment evident on his face.
“I wonder…” he added, sounding hesitant as he glanced toward Marlene.
“I can help if you’re okay with it. I’ve got some water element skills,” Broken chimed in quickly.
But Subaru, still uncertain, kept looking at Marlene, as if silently asking her to explain further.
“Broken,” Marlene finally spoke. “If I were to ask for your help, would you prefer payment in gold, or would you want some of the equipment drops from the raid boss? I mean, there’s something very important we need from this boss, so we can’t really split everything evenly.” “Monster Cores, Monster Soul Stones, equipment drops-those always carry great value,” Broken replied. “I’m pretty versatile, so I can make good use of different items, and if not, I can always sell them.”
Marlene seemed to be considering his offer.
“Marlene…” Subaru added. “We really need Broken’s help here.”
“I understand,” Marlene nodded. “I think we can give this another shot, if Broken is okay with the arrangement. And if the drops aren’t enough for you, I’ll compensate with gold equal to their worth.”
“You’ve already helped me a lot,” Broken responded. “So I feel like it’s only fair that I return the favor. Besides, you’ve already lost so much in this battle.”
After the agreement was made, Marlene explained that the raid boss hunt would be attempted again in one week, as several members of the team needed time to recover from the previous defeat. Their levels had been affected by the deaths, so they needed time to restore themselves.
Since Marlene and the others still had things to do-mainly waiting for the revival of their fallen comrades from the last raid-they decided to stay in the area for a while. Broken, on the other hand, chose to return to the cave ahead of them after assuring them that he could handle it on his own.
***
Marlene, Subaru, and the rest of the team made their way back to the location where the raid boss hunt had taken place, preparing to secure their three comrades who were set to revive soon in the vicinity of the boss. The situation was going to be challenging partly because the three would revive at slightly different times, and they needed to get them to safety as quickly as possible before another disaster struck.
Leading the group, Subaru went over their strategy once more to ensure everything went smoothly.
“Alright, everyone, here’s the plan,” Subaru said. “Our tank will bait the boss, while the rest of us provide cover from a distance. The moment each of our teammates revives, we grab them and pull back as fast as we can. We can’t afford any major mistakes, okay? Heh.” He gave a small, nervous laugh at the end, trying to lighten the mood.
“This damn demon is sneaky as hell!” one of them cursed. “It’s such a pain-its damage
output is insane. We really need to teach this thing a serious lesson.”
They continued on their journey until they reached their destination. But what they found was nothing like what they had prepared for.
“Where’s Infernak?” one of them asked, confused.
“Could it have wandered off? That would make things easier for us! Ha ha ha.”
“Marlene, is it possible that Infernak wandered off from his spot?” Subaru asked, turning to
her for an explanation.
“Someone killed the demon,” Marlene replied flatly. “I think someone’s been following us, waiting for the right moment while we were off guard.”
“What? They took down Infernak? Who could’ve done that? People from the city? Other
demons?”
“Could it be someone who snuck into this expedition?”
“Damn, how strong would someone have to be to take down Infernak solo?”
“We need to settle this. After all the effort we put into weakening that demon, someone else
swoops in and takes it from us. Damn!”
They all voiced their frustration, anger boiling over.
“Even though Infernak was weakened, killing that demon alone isn’t an easy feat, right? Especially if it was an assassin who did it?”
“Ugh, seriously…,” Subaru groaned in frustration. “This is so annoying! Now we have to wait for that demon to respawn? This whole expedition is really screwing us over!” he shouted
angrily.
“Yeah, and bringing Broken along for this raid only made things worse. Now we’re going to miss out on a chance to grab a piece of armor or a weapon that might’ve dropped from that
stupid demon.”
“I feel like we’re losing big time here,” another teammate chimed in.
Marlene let out a quiet sigh. “Just make sure everything’s taken care of… I’m exhausted,” she
said, her tone resigned.