Novel Full Chapter 1144: Betrayal?
Chapter 1144: Betrayal?
I was expecting the slaves to make a fuss and demand we rescue them first but surprisingly, all of them did not complain when I said I had to comply with that guy’s demands.
My assumption was that they knew we were in the forest of Nekinumi Kingdom and without a guide, they would be screwed on their own anyway.
I led the way to the centre of the camp and I realised that the sounds of fighting had stopped.
Not liking the ramifications of such a thing, I hurried towards the centre of the camp with the others running to keep up with me.
When I got there, I found the reason why all of them had stopped fighting.
That stupid Franco guy was also showing the other girls Carrey who was still held by the neck in his hand.
My girls were currently surrounded by all the slavers and beside that Franco guy with three other men standing beside him.
I’m assuming those three were the other executives of this slaver group but I don’t see anyone who might be the leader.
Just by looking at the executives, I could already sort of guess what exactly they were good at.
Franco was probably their sword expert or something. Then there’s a really big sized, muscled guy who was even bigger than Odeta and undoubtedly their tank or berserker.
Next to the big guy was a bespectacled and lanky guy which I assumed was a mage or maybe some kind of guy specialised in the business aspect of their operation. And finally, the last guy was a guy in a hooded cloak with two swords on his waist with a bow on his back, outing him as a ranger or a rogue type.
Franco smirked at me, “There you are. Seems like everyone is here. That’s good.”
“Let her go,” I growled at him.
“Hmm… If you want her to be safe, you’re going to need to do exactly what I say. Otherwise, I’m going to shove this sword through her side.”
I tilted my head at him, “Ok? Do it then?”
Everyone froze and turned to look at me in shock, especially Carrey.
Franco furrowed his brows, “What? You think I don’t dare to do it?”
“Oh, I do believe you dare to. The only thing is that the moment you do, you lose all your leverage on us so it’s not in my interest that she’s safe, it’s yours.”
The guy with the glasses gestured around him, “Please… Are you not aware of your current situation right now? You are not only outnumbered but also outclassed. Do you really think you can take us all on?”
I huffed at him, “Actually, we are neither outnumbered nor outclassed.”
“Hmph. You can’t bluff your way out of this. We already know your capabilities and also the number of people you have in your party. We know this is everyone you have.”
“If you want to test that theory out, you are welcome to try.”
“You really think we wouldn’t dare to kill her?”
“Weren’t you listening at all? I already said I do believe you, just that it’s better for you that she remains alive instead of dead because once she’s dead, you have nothing holding us back anymore.”
Franco shifted his sword to Carrey’s neck, “And what about her? She would still be dead?”
I shrugged, “I’ll just go and find a priest to revive her. We have the money.”
Actually, I’m not even sure if I can do this… But maybe I could just ask Srii to just bring her back. And if she can’t do it without payment, then I’m also prepared to pay her to bring her back as well. We’ve earned quite a lot of money so I believe we have enough for one revive at least.
Franco clucked his tongue at me and I thought he was annoyed at my answer when I noticed movement behind me.
That was meant to be a signal!
I spun around right as one of the slaves we rescued lunged towards me.
He didn’t get to go very far as Katsuki had intercepted him and perfectly executed an over the shoulder throw, smashing him onto the ground on his back.
The other slaves then spread out to join the encirclement and the slavers passed them weapons which they distributed amongst themselves.
Tsk… No wonder they didn’t complain about being brought back to the slavers…
I scowled, “So it’s a trap from the start huh?”
The muscled guy punched his fists together, “That’s right! We already know you’re coming and set this trap just for you! You should be honoured!”
“I don’t see how your position has changed though? In fact, I would say that your position got worse because we don’t have them as a liability anymore. And we even have a hostage now.”
Katsuki pulled the guy she just threw over her shoulder up on his feet and pressed her dagger against his neck.
The muscled man laughed aloud, “Hahaha! We can say the same thing to you then! Except that we really don’t care if he lives or dies! You can just go ahead and kill him! A failure like him isn’t worth keeping around!”
“Well, then it seems like we are at a stalemate, aren’t we?”
The Franco guy moved his sword away from Carrey’s neck, “Indeed. How about this then? I let her go, you leave us be and we just pretend we never saw each other?
I narrowed my eyes, “You mean you want us to let you escape.”
“If you want to put it that way, then yes.”
“Not a chance. We’re here to deal with your group so we’re not letting you guys go.”
“Tsk… Then what do you want?”
“Best I can do is you let go of Carrey and then turn yourselves in. Otherwise, we’ll just beat you guys and some of you might die, possibly even all of you.”
“You’re not serious?”
“I assure you I am.”
I stared at Franco and he held my gaze for a minute before he let out a sigh and released his grip on Carrey, letting her drop onto her feet.
She quickly scrambled away from him and ran towards me with her arms outstretched, “Mistress!”
Huh… He actually let her go? I was fully prepared to get the two Shadow Guards in Carrey’s shadow to jump out and cut him down.
She reached me and hugged me tightly, her body trembling, “Mistress! I’m sorry! They… They had been following us the entire time! When you left… They immediately grabbed me and I found myself teleported here before I could do anything!”
Hmm? Wait a minute…
If that happened… Then my Shadow Guards would–
Carrey placed her palm on my chest and shoved me, causing me to take a few steps back in surprise.
A burning sensation came from my chest and I looked down to realise there was a sort of marking placed on my chest that was imprinted on my clothes.
The bespectacled executive then let out a shout, “Do it now!”
The four stone pillars that I thought were there to protect the camp from monsters lit up and the mark on my chest lit up in response as well before balls of light shot out from it.
Those balls of light went straight towards my girls and made a mark on where they had touched them as well.
Before I could even wonder what the marking was, I suddenly felt drained, like all the energy I had was sucked out of me and lethargy washed over me.
I instantly realised what had happened since I usually experience this on a nightly basis when I made new Shadow Guards… All my mana had been sucked dry.
Looking around, I realised my girls including Katsuki had fallen to the ground, all of them looking like they had their energy drained from them too.
Realisation struck me as I turned to glare at Carrey who was standing a distance away with the slavers still surrounding us.
“You… Betrayed us?”
Carrey smirked, “Correction, mistress~ I can’t betray you because I was never on your side to begin with~”
“This doesn’t make any sense… That slave collar should have prevented you from doing this to me?”
“Incorrect, it prevents me from directly harming you, not plotting against you. And now that we have reached this stage, allow me to introduce myself~ I am Carrey, the last executive of the Merai Slave group~”
I narrowed my eyes at her before turning to look at the hooded figure.
She chuckled, “Oh, he’s not the fourth executive~ He’s just a mook we dressed up to act the part of the fourth member so you would not have suspected a thing and it worked~”
Then that means the leader is missing…
“What did you do to us?” I growled.
“Keke~ It’s very simple, mistress~ The past few days I have been collecting information about your party for this very moment. This is a trap designed specifically to neutralise all of you, you see. You and Lisa are spellcasters so it drains all of your mana away. The rest are physical fighters so we just sucked their stamina away to the point they aren’t able to stand on their own~ Then we can easily get to you for big profits~”
This damned bitch….