BXBX NOVEL Chapter 59: Opportunity!
As the slave-merchants saw Ark on the floor, they couldn\'t help but laugh, did this kid seriously think he could just kill them like that? He was way too naive! Since they had nothing better to do, both of them went back to their card game once more, with this assassin around, it didn\'t matter if they acted a little carefree.
If this youth had reinforcements, then it didn\'t matter if they went up to look since that wouldn\'t change anything, the city guards would arrive soon, and they wouldn\'t have to worry when that happened. They\'d be in a lot of trouble if the city guards found out about their slave-trading, but this basement was easy to hide since it was normally hidden anyway.
The only reason it wasn\'t hidden when Ark went downstair was that they didn\'t see a reason to bother to hide it in the first place.
Seeing as Ark\'s body was quite unsightly to look at, the two slave-merchants ordered the assassin to take care of the body.
"Oi, get rid of this body for us, it\'s making my mood worse, it\'s not like you have anything else to do anyway!" The older one of the two ordered.
The assassin, albeit a little annoyed at their attitude, followed his orders. Walking up to Ark\'s corpse, he bent down to pick him up. But just when he was about to pick Ark up, a ray of light erupted from Ark. The single ray of light zoomed at a speed inconceivable for most eyes and went straight between the assassin\'s eyes.
The assassin didn\'t get the chance to react before a finger-sized hole appeared between his eyes, oozing blood.
As the assassin slowly fell backward, Ark picked himself up from the ground and dusted off his clothes a little. The wound on his stomach had shrunk considerably, and it was not that noticeable anymore. Around his wound was a mass of light mana, revolving around it, meticulously tending to the wound, afraid of letting their master lose too much blood.
Even though the wound was actually quite serious from the beginning, it served as a perfect distraction. Ark knew that he wouldn\'t stand a chance against this assassin, therefore this was the only makeshift plan he could come up with.
Ark wasn\'t stupid, and as soon as he saw one of the slave-merchants smiling and taunting him, he knew that they had another guard laying in wait somewhere, but since Ark couldn\'t sense him, he knew it was someone out of his league.
Even though his move seemed like a huge gamble, Ark\'s strongest element was technically the light element, meaning that his survivability was out of this world, and unless he was instantly killed, he would be hard to get rid of.
It took about a second the slave-merchants to notice what was going on, and when they did, they were instantly terrified, this assassin was the last of their defense, and he had passed away just like that! One of the slave-merchants quickly fell off his chair scared for his life, while the other got on his knees to beg for his life.
Ark didn\'t give them any chance though as he sent two arrows conjured out of wind flying toward them. The slave-merchants didn\'t have enough time to be scared before their heads exploded into a mess of brain matter and blood.
Even though he had killed before, Ark still felt a little out of it after killing five people, he had gotten a little used to it, but the feeling of killing someone was still... weird. He quickly let go of all his negative thoughts though as he looked around him.
All of the slaves around him were currently watching him with both horror and expectation, but most importantly, their eyes shone with hope, something they hadn\'t had in a long time. As Ark saw their haggard bodies, riddled with injuries and scars, Ark\'s heart couldn\'t help but tremble.
He didn\'t hesitate to activate his [Envoy Of Holiness] skill, making his body burst with a splendid but gentle golden glow. The slaves looked at this young man like he was a deity that had descended from the heavens, blessing them with his radiance. Ark didn\'t want to see these people suffer anymore, and didn\'t hesitate to go all out.
With his newfound magic power and light affinity, he immediately enveloped every single person in the room with light mana, and mended their broken bodies, slowly but surely. It didn\'t even take a minute before everyone in the room was in good condition, ready to flee from this nightmare of a life they had been living.
Most people present couldn\'t hold their tears from running down their cheeks, and all Ark did was smile, as he continued to let the light element embrace everyone present. He also commanded the ice mana in the surroundings to freeze the locks on all the cages, before ordering the wind to break them all apart.
As the slaves were now in good condition and set free from their captivity, Ark simply smiled and gave them a few words.
"Don\'t worry, you\'re all okay. No one will hurt you like this ever again from this day on, and you\'re all free. Don\'t let this setback break you down, stay strong! If you follow me out of this place, I guarantee your safety, as well as a place to call home!" As he said this, Ark smiled gently and looked toward the people present.
Almost everyone present gulped as they heard this, and looked at Ark with determination. There were two exceptions though. The two demons that had been here all along, were very hesitant at the moment. They didn\'t think that this human\'s words applied to them as well, they were demons after all.
The problem was, they had nowhere else to go, and if they were left here, they didn\'t know if they would be able to survive. As this thought crossed their minds, the demons looked at each other in dismay.
Since doing nothing wouldn\'t help them in any way, the female demon decided to take a step forward and grit her teeth, before asking a simple question.
"Do this apply to us as well?" She asked, lips trembling as she did.
The rest of the slaves looked at Ark with expectation, they all had a certain understanding of each other, and these demons were not bad people by any means, and no one present wanted to see them left behind. Ark didn\'t even consider this since he felt like it was obvious, why wouldn\'t hey be allowed to come with them? He knew why, but he felt like it was just way too wrong to even consider.
"Of course it applies to you as well! It\'s not like you\'re any different from the rest are you?" Ark asked as he gave them a reassuring smile
As the two demons heard this, they were overcome with joy! Their legs were a little wobbly, but they still decided to follow this young man in front of them! The two demons were actually a kind of fire demon. Whilst out adventuring in a forest close to their village one day, they had been ambushed by humans.
As they were on the brink of death, the humans had taken them away, before selling them off as slaves, and thus, their journey in hell began.
A lot of people present had similar stories, while others were kidnapped, and some were sold off as slaves due to not being able to pay back a debt.
After Ark made sure everyone was ready, he started leading them up to the stairs to the ground floor. As they ascended the stairs, the rest of team one appeared from the shadows. As they saw a large number of people following Ark, as well as his current state, they were all very astonished. The young man in front of them almost resembled a deity, paving a path for the common people.
"What about the slave-merchants?" Gilpin quickly asked as he wasn\'t aware of the current situation.
"Don\'t worry, I killed them, they won\'t be bothering anyone ever again!" Ark responded, a small amount of killing intent still in his eyes.
The fact that there were similar people out there roaming about doing whatever they wanted made his blood boil with rage, but there was nothing he could do about it unless he confronted them by himself, then he would make sure to teach them what the meaning of death was.
The group wasn\'t really surprised hearing that Ark had killed the slave-merchants since he had freed all of the slaves, which would be almost impossible without killing them. But the fact that he was able to get past the slave-merchants\' guards spoke volumes about his current strength, making them see him from a new light, figuratively and literally as well, since Ark was currently shining.
"Since we\'ve accomplished the mission, let\'s get out of here!" Eliryll said as she flashed Ark a thumbs-up, before ascending the stairs along with them. The group of people quickly made their way out and was soon outside of the mansion. As they approached the gate of the estate, they could see team two quietly standing their ground, waiting for their arrival.
As team two saw Ark\'s team return with a bunch of people in tow, they all let out a collective sigh of relief. If it had taken any longer, then the situation might have taken a turn for the worse.
"Since everyone is here, I\'ll take this opportunity to say this, you\'re all in safe hands now! We\'ll make sure you all get to where you belong, and that you can live your life normally from now on!" As Ulfig said this, he started walking toward the gates of the city, with everyone following behind him. He had noticed Ark\'s abnormality, but he decided to ask about it later.
Now wasn\'t the time after all. As they approached the gate of the city, they ran into a problem. The city-guards we\'re quickly catching up with them, and at his rate, they would have to fight it out with them as well, complicating things.
Ark had just the measure for this situation, however, and he didn\'t want these slaves to have it anymore rough right now.
"Captain, leave it to me! I\'ll stall them!" Ark shouted. He was pretty far behind the front, making sure the slaves were all okay. Hearing his shout, Ulfig was a little surprised, but he guessed that Ark had a plan up his sleeve, and decided to leave it to him.
"Okay, just make sure you catch up with us!" He shouted back, before telling everyone to walk a little faster. Ark just immediately stopped and left the large group of people behind him. The city-guards were quickly approaching, and there wasn\'t that much he could do, but he knew a pretty good way to stall them, as long as it worked of course.
Ark\'s [Envoy Of Holiness] skill was still activated, and he, therefore, started to accumulate all of the light mana he could muster. As the city-guards came into view, Ark released all of the light mana he had gathered straight up into the air in front of him. This wasn\'t a lethal attack at all. The blinding light of the light mana quickly shot straight up into the air.
As it made it\'s way straight up, it parted the clouds, as if trying to prove something. The city-guards couldn\'t do a thing, currently blinded by this heavenly light that had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night...