All slaves lowered their heads, listening to Kael's words. The old man's wrinkled lips curled upwards as he vanished with an audible Swish!

Four knights, noticing what had happened to their friends, sprinted at Sasha and Kael with pure bloodlust, but they couldn't make it very far before their faces paled.

Each of them felt the weight of a human over their back, then two short legs with incredible strength wrapped around their waists. Before they could turn around, an elbow put their necks in a suffocating chokehold.

They looked at each other and finally realised what was happening, their pupils dilating with the realization. Four identical short old men were choking the lives out of them coldly, one on each.

Tears streamed down their faces as they saw the old men tilting their heads sideways. They could feel the wrinkly textured hands doing the same to them. Looking at their partners was like looking in a mirror. Before they could even consider resisting, their necks snapped, twisting a complete 180.

Tap! Tap!

The old man nonchalantly walked towards Kael as four loud thuds! rang behind him. The other three identical versions of him vanished in beams of light, returning to his body instantaneously.

"Hm… Why haven't you killed yourself?" the old man asked in a rough voice to the young bandit who had suggested the idea first.

He bit his lip. The dagger he had placed on his wrist, already tearing through part of it, fell on the bricked ground with a Clank.

Streaks of tears flowed from his eyes on his brown face as he spoke hesitantly, "I–I… I want to kiss my wife again… I want to get out in the sunlight, eat meat… Get rich… Live like a normal human."

His voice began rising, growing more certain by the second. "I want to have children with her. Bicker with her in the evening, apologize to her at night, laugh about it in the morning…"

His face was fully wet with tears and snot. "I want to live!"

The old man shook his head with a small smile. "I too prefer living."

Kael's eyes widened at how much effect his words had as his gaze traveled between the old man and the bandit.

The other slaves forced their battered bodies to stand, pointing daggers, swords, spears, all stolen from the dead bodies of Mari Swan guards and holy knights.

With wobbly steps, they broke into a sprint toward Kael. Kael's shock vanished, replaced by a determined smile, fire burning in his obsidian eyes.

All hundred holy knights charged toward them together. Some had violent thunder surrounding their bodies, while others had long swords glowing violently bright.

The slave group also activated all their abilities as they clashed with the holy knights.

"I want to try my hand at piano again! Let's get out!" a grey-haired beautiful woman yelled, leaping into the air, landing a solid kick on one knight's helmet, which instantly shattered on impact.

"Hell with it! I am not dying! I am still a virgin. I want to visit a brothel first, at least!" a malnourished, average-looking guy yelled, stabbing the head of the knight the grey-haired woman had exposed.

"I want to meet my mother again!" another slave with a muscular build and a four-feet-wide, thick silver shield in hand yelled as he blocked the knight about to stab the grey-haired girl.

Other slaves worked together similarly, suddenly overwhelming the holy knights completely.

Their teamwork had improved significantly.

Kael knew why. They were fighting for the same purpose: freedom. He was familiar with it; he had felt it in every mission back in the hero organization. He missed this feeling very much.

Kael dodged three swords slashing at him at blinding speed precisely, tapping their thick armor lightly when closing in.

All three instantly caught fire as Kael rushed toward a group of ten knights about to ambush slaves already engaged with four knights.

His pupils suddenly dilated mid-movement. Before he could even turn, he felt burning pain in his arm.

A strong spray of blood hit his face as he finally saw what had happened. His arm, below the elbow, was gone.

He instantly fell to the ground, his jaw hitting hard enough to crack bricks. I was careless!

With a bleeding mouth, he saw a knight towering over him, the knight's sword glowing bright white, falling toward him at unavoidable speed, about to cut him in half.

I need to use it now!! Soul Flame! It's over! But I can't die right now! His eyes shut tight as his bones began shaking deep inside his body. When his eyes opened again, the obsidian color had been replaced by actual fire.

But before he could set his entire body ablaze, his broken jaw widened. The sword froze on its own. The next second, the towering figure shot like a cannonball, smashing hard against the wall.

The sword was still frozen in place, held by its blade in two wrinkled palms.

The old man glanced at Kael with a soft smile. "Lost an arm, huh… I guess you could use some teamwork as well."

"Th—Thank you… You saved my life. Please help me…" Kael muttered weakly before forcing his body to stand again, his elbow still spraying blood across the narrow hallway.

He had already turned away from the old man toward the ten knights ambushing the slaves. He rushed forward on wobbly legs, lighting his left fist on fire.

"No need for all that. Sorry for doubting you, lad… Call me Shen." Shen said with a mused smile. It took a different breed of man to ignore an injury like that.

"Shen." Kael repeated the name as they both leapt with all their strength.

Shen's body trembled. Six exact replicas appeared over the knights, instantly snapping their necks as Kael managed to touch the knights from behind without them realizing. The moment they did, they were already melting from the inside.

Kael coughed out a mouthful of blood. "Seventy-eight more to go…"

Kael instantly located his next group as Shen leaned on Kael's right.

"Let's do this…"

The next ten minutes were the slowest ten minutes of everyone who had escaped's life.

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