The old guard, still dazed, took hold of Zion's arm. Refusing a madman wouldn't end well. He discarded any thought of dismissing his offer. Unlike the ten other prisoners, Zion was roaming free, and combined with his reputation, that was a terrifying prospect.
The old guard hadn't lived his life in vain,his brain raced with all its might. The shocking conclusion he came to was a shocking action. He started slapping himself nonstop, totally twenty slaps. Since he had slapped Zion twice, ten times per slap should count as an apology, right?
Zion simply didn't know what was going through the old man's head as he started beating himself. He shouldn't expect anything normal in this prison,everybody was weird. The slaps he'd received? Zion had already forgotten such petty actions. It wasn't like his hand had been cut off. Should he kill the old man for slapping him? Please, he wasn't that crazy for blood.
Zion retracted his hand and looked toward the red haired man. Yeap. This guy would kill for anything, let alone over a slap.
The red haired man was too busy staring at the monster in front of him. He slowly lifted his arm and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, fifteen men appeared, surrounding everyone.
"You monster!" he snarled. "I know you aren't alone. Where is your other monster friend?"
Amilios looked at him strangely. How did he know there was someone else? Was there someone who could see through their disguise? Amilios leaned forward, his voice dropping into a dangerously threatening tone. "How did you know there was someone else?"
"Of course, I know. Don't tell me you thought this island had no defense system,that you could just walk in whenever you wanted? Impossible, I tell you! We have a net around the whole island. The moment someone stepped in, we knew it immediately. There were two unidentified people… or should I call you monsters?" The man snarled. He didn't know their specific location, but that wasn't something he needed to reveal.
Skele, who heard this, looked at the 15 men surrounding him. He was 100% certain all of them were stronger than him. Their pressure rained down on his poor bones. He could stay out and try to last, but with this number of enemies, it was better for Amilios to save as much mana as possible. The moment Skele dropped his invisibility, every eye turned to him, making him unbearably uncomfortable.
"A human? Is he perhaps controlling this monster?"
"Invading this prison with a pet monster like this… just how strong is he?"
"Indeed, you would need to have that much strength to even consider coming here."
Hearing the murmurs and whispers, the red haired man gave Skele a more meaningful look. Skele wasn't too skinny or fat. He didn't have bulging muscles, but you could tell he was toned. He was a man who looked utterly unconcerned by the situation. Was he really that strong?
"Attack!"
When everybody heard the command, they put strength into their legs, ready to jump toward the invaders. The moment Skele heard the order, he put his hands up. "I surrender!"
This immediately threw the attackers into an awkward position. Comically, the moment he surrendered, the momentum broke and they all stumbled. One of them even accused him, "Arent you supposed to be the strongest here? You even have such a powerful monster! You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"That's right, that's right!"
"Exactly!"
"Where is your pride as a man?"
Everyone felt unsatisfied, especially after working up their fighting spirit. These 15 strong men would be respected anywhere in the kingdom. Unfortunately for them, they ended up working in this secondary prison.
It would have been bearable if it was connected to the mainland. But, unfortunately again, this despicable prison was built on a damned island. Every day, just before they slept, they would curse the designer of this prison.
Back in the present, they had been about to engage in a once in a lifetime action. Once again, they were unfortunate, as they weren't able to take out their frustration on the man. This time, they looked to the red haired man for one last hope.
The red haired man, who was seriously adorned in all red, stood before them. A red jacket, red pants… everything was red. He even named himself as a red man. They just needed him to be himself, hotheaded that is.
Skele looked at the idiots who all wanted to beat him up. These fellows were up to no good. What do you mean, I'm better than Amilios? A monster pet? These brain dead morons were spewing nonsense.
Just as he was about to clarify the situation, the red haired man simply laughed. He was genuinely happy about this development. Who would have thought there would be such interesting people coming today?
"Cuff both of them and follow me. They will be included in the main event."
The reason Skele had given up so quickly was that he was sure something was wrong. Moon and the others, who should have arrived hours ago, were nowhere to be seen.
This was a true emergency where no mistakes were allowed, as there would be no second chances. He whispered this conclusion to Amilios and Zion.
They shared the same thought. Amilios could take on a few of these men, but he didn't know Zion's current strength. With Skele, who wouldn't be much help.Skele could be in mortal danger. Amilios concurred that it was better to be imprisoned. In the worst case, Moon would retrieve them at a later time.
They were taken to another boat. It seemed there was another island close by . This island was more lively. For the unlucky 15 man, this was simply a torture . To have island close by but never able to leave the prison island . They could only sleep with bitter pill.
This island was named Markur after its founder, a mere mortal merchant. It was a lively place where all kinds of expensive treasures were sold. The concepts of legal or illegal held no weight here. The more important question was whether you could afford something or not. To be poor on this island was a fate worse than being a commoner elsewhere,a bitter pill the nobility would never swallow.
They would inflict all kinds of damage upon their own territories and people just to amass more wealth. Because of this, some commoners had chosen to flee and live in the mountains.
The fat man explained all of this to the party. Skele knew the world could be bad, but he was realizing ,it was almost evil everywhere. In his mind's eye, he could see the nobles laughing and giggling atop mountains made of people. How many had to suffer for their luxury?
On the other hand, Zion was utterly disgusted. The carefree attitude these nobles held placed the deaths of commoners beneath the value of livestock. They were truly vile creatures wearing human skin.
The nobles looked at the chain and were laughing until their eyes caught sight of Amilios.
"What is that creature?"
"They have finally caught something to my liking!"
"Look at its gaze! This beast looks to be in good condition."
The noblemen and noblewomen were delighted by this monster. Whether they wanted to keep him for their strange fetishes or mount his head in their mansions, it all came down to individual personality. Either way, Amilios would be nothing more than a toy to them.
"Amilios, you are quite loved here. You're almost making me jealous," Skele teased.
"You can have their love," Amilios replied apathetically. Instead of feeling dissatisfaction or disappointment toward these humans, Amilios simply reverted to the basics: the strongest rule, and the weak are taken advantage of.
"This is the principle of the universe. These humans, who call themselves intelligent, only use their words to cover the truth so they can live in the so called civilized world," Amilios said.
"There are good humans too, but this place just brings out the worst in people, hehe," Skele laughed nervously. What if Amilios starts hating all humans? The most important thing to remember was that He was human.
"I thought maybe we could live in a better world if we just kept trying. I didn't even know places like this existed," Zion said. His eyes fell on a young slave girl being dragged by a chain attached to her collar.
In a movement too fast to see, Zion ran and shattered the chains with his bare hands. The ugly man dragging her didn't even process what had happened.
"You should treat another living being with some respect," Zion demanded.
The ugly man glared at Zion. "What's it to you, boy? Run along. This isn't a child's game. Or what, do you want to take her place?" The man licked his blade. "Put this collar on yourself, and I'll let her go."
He threw the collar to the ground just a few feet from Zion. This idiot. The moment he puts it on, I'll beat the crap out of him and sell them both. The more he thought about the benefits, the wider his greedy smile became.
The red haired man finally couldn't take it anymore and clamped cuffs on Zion. Zion could have easily dodged, but he knew this wasn't the right time. He looked at the little girl. "Don't worry. This place won't exist much longer," he smiled at her one last time before being dragged away.
"He talked big, but he's just a slave in the end. What a waste of my time," the man vented, grabbing the girl by the collar again and dragging her so roughly she could barely breathe.
"I hope you are right," were the last words Zion heard from the girl that day.