Despair and Hope

"Captain, these skeletons are wrong!"

At first, the Slave Hunter Group thought these were just sewer skeletons, good only for ambushes, and that once they got their bearings, they could smash them to pieces.

But after a short fight, Urgot and the other Slave Hunter knights wore grim expressions.

These skeletons were far too strong—each one was equivalent to an apprentice knight, with bones as hard as iron, butchering the battle-hardened warriors of the Slave Hunter Group like pigs.

When a first-tier knight stepped in to hold the line, he was cut down by a Transcendental Skeleton before he could even score a kill.

These skeletons defied everything they knew, and the group felt the threat closing in.

"Urgot, can you kill them all?"

The slave trader couldn't bear to abandon the slaves in the camp. He looked expectantly at Vice-Captain Urgot, hoping this second-tier low-rank knight could give him an encouraging answer.

"Captain, there are too many first-tier skeletons. I'm not sure I can win."

Urgot's heart wavered; he had no confidence.

Outside the makeshift camp were over a hundred first-tier skeletons. With their bone density, they could tire him to death.

"But one thing is certain—while I'm fighting them, I can't spare the focus to protect you, Captain."

Urgot didn't want to risk his life. He tactfully persuaded the slave trader from a merchant's perspective: it was best to abandon the slaves and break out.

"Retreat!"

Money could be earned again, but life only came once.

The slave trader took Urgot's advice and ordered the knights and elite warriors of the Slave Hunter Group to cover his escape.

"Damn it, where did all these skeletons come from?"

They thought that bursting out of the temporary camp would let them shake off the encirclement and escape.

Instead, they only moved from one ring of siege into another carefully laid trap.

Outside the camp, dozens of Minotaur Skeleton Warriors were waiting for them.

"Charge with me!"

With skeletons closing in from behind, Urgot knew they couldn't stop now.

He ignited his Battle Qi and took the lead, trying to tear through the net of Minotaur Warriors.

Whoosh!

The Minotaur Warrior swung its hammer, the air screaming with urgency.

Urgot raised his sword to block, but the terrifying force startled him. He quickly deflected the blow and leaped backward.

He dodged, but his horse didn't—its head was crushed into a bloody pulp by the Bone Hammer.

If even a second-tier knight had to avoid the brunt of that attack, the first-tier knights of the Slave Hunter Group stood no chance against those heavy hammers.

Some were silenced instantly, their skulls caved in by a single blow. Others were maimed, screaming in agony.

Seeing the situation turn dire, Urgot abandoned the slave trader and tried to flee alone.

Their bond was only one of profit—share the wealth, scatter when danger comes.

"Urgot, you coward!"

"Don't kill me! I'll pay a high ransom!"

The abandoned slave trader cursed loudly, then dropped to his knees begging for mercy.

The Minotaur Skeleton didn't bother smashing his head in. Several Bone Spirit Assassins rushed over, bound him, and dragged him away.

One Slave Hunter Group passing through here was coincidence. A second one coming this way meant there had to be a reason.

Medivh had been planning to cross the Winter Mountains and slip into the Gewalt Federation for trade. Lately, Skeleton Assassins had been roaming the mountain passes, searching for a route.

If the Slave Hunter Group wasn't taking the Winter Fortress and was heading this way instead, they definitely knew the mountain path into the Gewalt Federation.

Medivh kept the slave trader alive not for his ransom, but to ask for directions.

Besides the slave trader, a few other Slave Hunter warriors were also captured.

"Taunt! Divine Shield! Earth! Heal..."

"Weakness! Bleed! Dim! Sleep!"

Only Urgot, the second-tier knight, remained. The Minotaur Shaman, experienced in battle, cast a Taunt Totem to pull him back into the fight.

Then various buff totems landed, layering enhancements on the Minotaur Warriors facing him head-on.

Unlike the last hunt against the Blood Crow Captain, Kurd City now had Orc Skeleton Prophets.

Four curse spells struck Urgot, piling debuffs onto him.

The Orc Skeleton Prophet didn't cast Curse of Pain—that curse conflicted with Sleep and the Taunt Totem, since pain could, to some extent, keep the mind alert.

Urgot was even more hopeless than the Blood Crow Captain had been. He couldn't kill the Minotaur Skeleton Warriors, couldn't escape, and the curses kept disrupting his combat state.

He didn't last long. Amid his pleas for mercy, the Minotaur Skeleton Warrior cut him down.

Medivh didn't take prisoners to recruit them. With the slave trader and the other captives, he already had enough to extract the information he wanted. There was no need to keep a troublesome second-tier knight under guard.

After clearing the enemies from the temporary camp, the skeletons uncovered the tarps over the cages while cleaning the battlefield.

All the cages held Cat-men. When they heard the commotion in the camp, hope flickered in their eyes, but the sight of skeletons silhouetted against the firelight made that hope vanish.

The heroes they had been waiting for never came. Given the current state of the Cat-man tribe, they really couldn't afford to expect much.

Whether falling into the hands of a Necromancer skilled in defiling flesh and soul, or being toyed with as slaves, both were utterly hopeless endings.

"Queling, what happened to the tribe? How did you all get captured by the Slave Hunter Group?"

Upon learning that the Slave Hunter Group had captured only Cat-men, Suixiang and Suixin hurried over.

Many of their companions were locked in the cages. Suixiang grabbed one of the Cat-girls and asked.

That Cat-girl had once been her teammate, an apprentice Spirit Rune Warrior.

"Suixiang, how are you here?"

Hearing a familiar voice, the Cat-girl warrior named Queling tried to stand up excitedly, only to be yanked back by the clanking iron chains binding her hands and feet.

To prevent the Cat-men from harming themselves or each other, the slave trader had shackled their limbs with chains.

At the sound of Suixiang's voice, the despairing Cat-men who had hung their heads reignited with hope and looked over.

Suixiang and Suixin could move freely among the skeletons, so they must be connected to the Necromancer behind this undead army.

"Suixiang..."

Queling, her voice choked with tears, recounted what had happened to the tribe after Suixiang and Suixin were taken by the Slave Hunter Group.

During the great famine brought by the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm, the old chieftain had been gravely wounded while fighting other tribes for food, and died shortly after.

The Cat-man tribe's Riddle had always been in poor health.

Riddle was the Cat-men's honorific for their shaman leader, meaning the guide of the clan.

Afraid that no one would protect the tribe after her death, she had been clinging to life, hoping some young one would take up the heavy burden she and the old chieftain had carried.

After the old chieftain's death, the Riddle could barely hold things together alone.

While the Cat-man tribe was engaged in battle with their enemies, this Slave Hunter Group seized the opportunity to raid Cat-man territory, capturing a large number of Cat-men.

"They should be torn to pieces!"

Hearing that some Cat-girls had been taken away, Suixiang and Suixin searched the tents.

When they emerged from the slave trader's tent, their faces were icy with fury as they stared at the slave trader, sending chills down his spine.

Because they had caught so many Cat-men, this Slave Hunter Group—unlike the previous one that treasured its goods—had the slave trader take a dozen Cat-girls for himself and his trusted underlings to enjoy.

Those Cat-girls, after suffering such abuse, broke free from their restraints during the fight between the skeletons and the slavers, but unable to bear the humiliation, they took their own lives.