The kids were covered with thick blankets to protect them from the cold, since they were completely naked. Looking at the bloodstains on the sheets and the pavement, Solus felt aghast realizing the kids were left “ready to use.”
Lith approached the man without emitting a sound. He used his Hush spell to make sure no one would disturb them. The guy was tall, at least 1.78 meters, wearing warm fur clothes and a broadsword on his side.
Lith smirked noticing the blade was not enchanted. He was eager to put his new body to test.
“Good evening, sir. What is the name of this village?” Lith asked with the casual tone he would use to converse about the weather.
The man turned around while unsheathing his sword. His pale skin became even whiter for the surprise, but his movements were smooth. The slash missed Lith’s nose by a whisker.
“I’ll overlook your rudeness this once.” Lith was having a hard time keeping a straight face. The sword moved like in slow motion to his eyes. “Put down your weapon and tell me what I want to know. Otherwise, I’ll sheathe it up your a*s.”
The man swept his unkempt blonde hair off his eyes, unable to believe he had missed such an easy target from so close. His nervousness turned into panic when the man noticed the Ranger badge over the foreigner’s heart.
“The Ranger! The Ranger is here already!” The man screamed on the top of his lungs before blowing a bone whistle which produced an ear piercing sound.
“What do you mean by ‘already?'”Lith asked while grabbing the blade that was still pointed at his face with his bare hand. The man was surprised no one had responded to the alarm, but grinned before twisting an pulling away his sword.
He had expected the Ranger’s fingers to fall off, yet the blade didn’t move an inch. No matter how much strength he used. Even grabbing the hilt with two hands proved useless, it was like the broadsword was stuck in a vice.
Lith suddenly let go of the sword to appreciate his own unscathed skin.
“Seems that normal weapons can’t hurt me anymore, not even those razor sharp like yours. What’s this?” His palm was covered with a greasy substance that smelled like sulfur. Lith’s skin tingled while his immune system neutralized the substance.
“Rot oil? Do even goons use poison now?” As the name implied, rot oil was a toxin that would make any open wound fester and difficult to treat. Without the help of a Healer, a single cut could lead to the death of even a magical beast.
The man was terrified. He couldn’t understand how neither the sword or the poison was effective. He struck at Lith with all of his strength, only to almost lose the grip on the weapon.
It felt like hitting a rock. Lith was tired of playing. The nameless man’s actions spoke volumes about what kind of village this was and how it went unnoticed until that moment.
Lith disarmed the man with spirit magic and fulfilled his promise. The nameless man gargled blood while the pain from growing a steel tail ravaged his body. Solus returned to Lith’s hand, sharing with him the visions from the house.
‘Please, save them.’ Was the only thing she said before seeking comfort in their telepathic bond. The sight of the youths’ miserable state had shocked her. Solus wanted that horror to disappear forever.
‘As you wish, milady.’ Lith raised the nameless man as a Death Knight and armed it with the poisoned blade. A Death Knight was an undead whose well preserved body retained the dexterity it had in life.
Also, by mixing spirit magic while creating the blood core, Lith was able to impart some basic notions of fencing to it. Master and servant took their time, killing everyone who walked outside the main building or lived in the middle rim without being a prisoner.
With each corpse, Lith’s small army grew in numbers.
“Surround the zone. Kill whoever tries to escape.” The Death Knights obeyed in silence. They formed groups of three covering each door and window.
Lith could hear joyful music coming from inside the huge building that occupied most of the town square. He could almost distinguish several voices laughing and bantering.
“Open up! Ranger corps!” He screamed a second before kicking down the entrance. Its metal hinges broke like they were aluminum foil while the huge wooden door crashed on the ground with a booming sound.
The room inside was well lit, its temperature warm. Braziers were evenly placed to provide comfort and allow cooking to one heart’s content. The place reminded Lith of Lutia’s arrangements for the Spring Festival, making him nauseous.
On his left, along the wall, there was a long table filled with all kinds of delicacies. Sitting behind it were four people that he assumed were the rulers of the village. On his right, there were several smaller tables that could accommodate two people at most.
Between the tables, there was enough space to allow the slaves to satisfy each of their masters’ wishes. All those present were skimpily clothed, some stark naked. It was easy for Lith to distinguish the victims from the tormentors.
The former were thin, with dead eyes that had lost hope. The latter were annoyed by his appearance and unsheathed their weapons.
“The door was open.” Said a red haired woman with a seductive smile. She was one of the leaders. Until a moment prior she had been enjoying the attentions of a couple of boys that could be at best the same age as Lith.
She raised a hand to calm her underlings, her eyes never leaving Lith’s.
“I’m sure we can find a compromise. If you weren’t interested in your share of the fun, you would have already called for backup and we would be surrounded. Instead, here you are, all alone.
We aren’t unreasonable people. All we ask you is to stay out of our business and we’ll make your permanence in the north as pleasant as profitable. We do not discriminate, to each their own.”
Lith had already noticed that the slavers were both males and females. According to Solus, the females had stronger mana cores, but aside from the one speaking, none was above the yellow.
“I have a counter offer.” He replied. “Those who want to live will go down on their knees, with their face against the wall. All the others can consider their lives forfeited.”
Single-handedly taking down a village of marauding slavers would fetch him a lot of merits. Yet even if he would gain nothing from it, he would do it anyway. Solus had never asked anything of him before. Lith wasn’t going to let her down.
A woman sitting at one of the front tables weaved a tier three spell, unleashing a lightning bolt against Lith’s back. He simply extended his right hand capturing the energy and forcing it to assume the form of a sphere.
“You call that a lightning?” He said with a disgusted expression. “This is a lightning.” He pointed his index finger releasing a stream of electricity that turned the mage and her table companion into charred corpses.
Marauders and slaves were now covered in cold sweat. Lith wasn’t releasing any killing intent but they couldn’t shrug off the feeling that something was wrong. Everyone knew magic, either because they used it or they had endured its effect to be disciplined.
Whatever the Ranger was using, it wasn’t magic.
