Ethan tied the six corpses together with a rope and secured the other end to his waist. Grabbing Isu and the tall man in each hand, he strode out of the mine.
As the sunlight hit him again, he squinted and dragged the long string of "spoils" toward the clearing in front of the castle.
Behind him, the trail of corpses left dark red streaks of blood across the gravel.
Isu and the tall man's heads hung limp, swaying with every step like broken ragdolls.
In the clearing, the bodies of Raymond and the other three remained in the same positions as when they died.
Ethan released his captives, tossed the six corpses to the side, and knelt beside Raymond.
The charred body was still curled up, and the stench of burnt flesh lingered in the air.
Ethan gently turned him over, pulled a piece of white cloth from his storage ring, and covered his face.
Leah was still pinned to the stone wall by the ice spike.
Ethan gripped the end of the spike and pulled hard. It slid out of her chest, followed by a spurt of blackened blood.
He supported her body and gently laid her on the ground, brushing her scattered black hair aside and closing her staring eyes.
Carl's body lay near the edge of the teleportation array, his head held onto his neck by only a thin strip of flesh.
Ethan carefully straightened his body, set the severed head back in its proper place, and wrapped it in cloth.
Cedric was slumped against a low wall, his body scorched black, with tiny electrical arcs still crackling across his skin.
Ethan swiped the residual arcs away with his hand and dragged him from the wall, placing him alongside the other three.
The four of them lay there, side by side in a neat row.
Ethan stood up and remained silent for a long moment.
He pulled more white cloth from his storage ring and covered each of them, one by one.
"When it's time to leave, I'll take you home," he whispered.
He turned and walked back to Isu and the tall man.
Ethan knelt down and delivered a sharp slap to Isu's face.
Slap!
The crisp sound echoed across the mine's clearing. Isu's head snapped to the side, and a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, but he didn't wake.
Ethan frowned and slapped him again with his backhand.
Slap!
This time he used more force. Isu's entire body was knocked onto its side, and his face began to swell. He finally let out a groggy groan, his eyelids fluttering open just a crack.
"What's your name?"
Isu's eyes hadn't fully focused yet. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
Ethan slapped him again.
"Name!"
"I... Isu..." his voice was slurred, thick with obvious terror.
"Where are you from, and what was your objective?"
Isu's pupils constricted. His lips trembled as his gaze fell upon the six corpses tied together behind Ethan, then scanned his other mangled companions. He swallowed hard.
"Lost... Lost Forest Academy," he rasped. "Our mission was to... intercept and kill Blood Bone Tower apprentices... to weaken your strength."
"Why?"
"I don't know!" Isu's voice suddenly spiked. "I really don't know! It was an order from above. We were just following it!"
Ethan stared into his eyes for two breaths before nodding.
Then, he slammed a fist into the man's temple.
Isu's eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious once more.
Ethan stood up, walked over to the tall man, and repeated the process.
Slap!
The tall man didn't wake.
Slap! Slap!
Still nothing.
Ethan clicked his tongue. He grabbed the man by the hair, pulled his face close, and began slapping him left and right.
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
After five slaps, the man's face was swollen like a pig's head, and two teeth flew out of his mouth. He finally groaned and woke up.
"Name?"
The man's eyes were swollen to mere slits. When he saw Ethan's face, he shuddered so violently he nearly fainted again.
Ethan squeezed his throat, keeping him awake.
"Faint again and I'll twist your head off. Name?"
"Ma... Marcus..." the tall man's voice was tearful.
"Where are you from, and what was your objective?"
"Lost Forest Academy!" Marcus almost screamed. "Our mission was to kill Blood Bone Tower apprentices! I don't know anything else, we just took the mission! That's all I know! I swear!"
Ethan stared into his eyes.
Tears and snot streamed down Marcus's face, making him look utterly pathetic.
Ethan said nothing and punched him in the temple.
Marcus didn't even let out a whimper before losing consciousness.
Ethan secured his four classmates' bodies to his back with rope, picked up Isu and Marcus in each hand, and dragged the long string of six corpses at his waist as he headed for the teleportation array at the top of the castle.
...
Blood Bone Tower Academy, Teleportation Array 18.
The moment Ethan stepped out of the array, the hollow eye sockets of the two Spirit Bone Guards stationed nearby turned toward him simultaneously, their eerie green soul fire scanning him.
The sight of a blood-drenched figure with four cloth-covered corpses tied to his back, six mangled bodies trailing from his waist, and two half-dead captives in his hands was enough to make anyone freeze.
The soul fire in one guard's eye sockets flickered violently, its skeletal hand already gripping the hilt of the bone blade at its waist.
"Sir, we were ambushed."
The Spirit Bone Guard's movements froze for a split second. Then, the soul fire in its eyes flared, nearly erupting from the sockets.
"Stay right there. The relevant departments will be here immediately."
The other Spirit Bone Guard reacted even more intensely. It spun around, its hollow gaze sweeping over the corpses on Ethan's person. Its soul fire surged with rage, and its finger joints cracked as it clenched its fists.
"Dammit! Brothers, get ready! Someone's picking a fight with us!"
Its voice echoed through the entire teleportation area, carrying a sense of suppressed, extreme fury.
As soon as the words fell, the other Spirit Bone Guards who had been standing guard nearby moved at once.
One, two, three... Ethan's gaze swept across the area as at least a dozen Spirit Bone Guards converged from all directions, skeletal hands gripping various weapons, the soul fire in their eyes blindingly bright.
"What exactly happened?" The first Spirit Bone Guard walked up to Ethan, its hollow eyes scanning the four cloth-covered bodies on his back before looking at the two captives and the six corpses at his waist.
Ethan dropped Isu and Marcus onto the ground. "We took a mission to clear out a pack of Human-Faced Wolves at the Sgor Mountains mine in Gold and Silver County. When we arrived, the intelligence was completely wrong. It wasn't a hundred wolves; there were over four hundred."
The soul fire in the guard's eye sockets flickered, but it didn't speak.
"The five of us had just finished off the pack when these eight jumped us from the shadows." Ethan kicked Isu in the side. "They claimed to be from Lost Forest Academy. Their mission was to intercept and kill Blood Bone Tower apprentices. All four of my teammates are dead. I'm the only survivor."
The soul fire in the guard's eyes exploded outward.
"Lost Forest." Its voice was a low rasp, sounding like it was squeezed from the depths of its throat. Its knuckles cracked as it tightened its grip.
The other Spirit Bone Guard turned and began walking out of the teleportation area, shouting as it went, "Seal off Teleportation Area 18! No one in or out! The Master is away, but Wizard Blood Fury has been notified!"
Before the guard could finish, Ethan's vision suddenly blurred.
The sensation was entirely different from when a teleportation array activated.
There was no light, no feeling of weightlessness. In the blink of an eye, his surroundings changed completely.
The stone slabs beneath his feet were replaced by a dark gray metallic floor, polished to a mirror-like sheen that faintly showed his reflection.
The crystals overhead emitted a cold white light, illuminating the space so thoroughly that there wasn't a single shadow.
The four corpses on his back were gone, as were the six at his waist and the two captives in his hands.
Ethan's gaze quickly swept the room.
It was a small room, about thirty square meters.
Aside from the metal bed he was sitting on, there was only a table and a chair in the corner. The table was bare, and the chair was empty.
There were no windows, only a single closed door.
The door was made of metal, its surface so smooth it reflected like a mirror, without any handle or keyhole.
Rate on N.U.
