Slaves

Rowen gritted his teeth and cursed the entire lineage of these bastards.

It was more than two hours since he was kidnapped and taken to the foot of a mountain, a quarry with the entrance to a dark cave.

And he was not the only one.

He saw some familiar faces from the same group of awakenings he came from.

Most who fought were chained, while others, like him, who "accepted" their fate, were free from the currents.

He and the others were being held by a group of more than 100 people, some of them using weapons such as swords, spears, bows, axes, and even RPG-like armor.

Rowen and the kidnappers would be used as cannon fodder. They would enter the cave, the nest of some kind of monster and would fight the minions while the hijackers would fight the boss and get the treasure or whatever they wanted.

Some extra passed by handing them secondhand weapons - the idiots who were kidnapped and would risk their lives with no chance to stop them.

Rowen picked up a medieval-style sword and looked as if he could still stand a war.

Across the clearing, Rowen saw the damn man who caught him, Marcel, next to the leader, a man in his early thirties.

He had goose bumps and short black hair. Blue and cold eyes. Goatee. He wore a black wolfskin coat. In his hands he wore black leather gloves. At his waist he looked like he had a sword - it looked like the Excalibur copy or something.

Did he look… German? Rowen wasn't sure, all he knew was that the leader seemed to have come out of a movie whose villain is from some cold country over to England.

And he was strong, if the fear and apprehension he saw in most of the faces around were any suggestion.

A few minutes later, they were all gathered at the cave entrance. He saw fear and dread on the faces of many. Some, whether men or women, had tears on their faces, while others seemed indifferent, and some seemed to be treating this foray as a golden opportunity.

Already Rowen? He kept the facade cold, but in fact he was terrified.

"I should have gotten rid of fear when I had the chance." He thought bitterly.

The clapping sound drew everyone's attention to the cave entrance. The one who clapped his hands was the same bastard who captured Rowen and brought him to this hell.

"Attention you all. Now you will be entering an anthill and will fight for your lives, but honestly? Your lives are not important, because the moment you try something strange, you will be killed without question. In the end, those who survive will be free to leave. Any question? No? Then let's go!"

Rowen was almost at the end of the group. There were over 200 of them, but none of them were trying to create a rebellion anymore, not after seeing how powerful some members of this criminal organization were, or whatever they call themselves.

Entering the cave for the first time in her life doing something like that, Rowen felt a little claustrophobic.

The dim lighting was due to some rocks in the walls and ceiling that emanated light of their own, or ... whatever they did. Rowen didn't care, he just wanted to get out of this place and never come back.

Gradually, the group began to divide into corridors as they continued to advance.

Some corridors were narrower than others, and so far, after going through 3 different intersections into which the group split, had Rowen not yet seen any monsters, and honestly? He hoped it would stay that way.

The march continued for a few more minutes until they came out into a "clearing", full of caves and "three" stories high.

The ceiling was full of glittering stones that mimicked a starry sky.

And unfortunately, they find the residents of this infernal lair.

Black ants over 1 meter tall.

"This is hell." he murmured with shock and disgust.

Before he came to this world, he was never really afraid of insects, but now? After seeing the grasshopper and these ants?

It was a miracle he had not had a mental breakdown.

One thing is to find monsters. They are ugly but at the same time bestial, but another is to find insects.

These bugs were just that, bugs, but magnified and that was what scared him the most and he wasn't the only one.

Many present there seemed to feel the same as him.

There was an explosion of flame and the fight began.

With the arm that held the sword trembling, he swallowed hard and stepped back.

There were over 200 ants there, about 10 times more than they were, and unfortunately, even more ants were coming out of the caves.

He wanted to turn and run, but the way they came was sealed by one of the damn criminals.

His stomach clenched as he saw people begin to die brutally.

"I will die. I will die. I'm going to die… If… I need to do something…" he muttered, almost losing control of his already-mentally strung state.

Rowen swallowed hard and took a deep breath trying to calm her heart.

He took a deep breath three times before finally being able to calm down and start thinking rationally.

"I need not die. I can survive. I can fight. It's all up to me." He sang the mantra and his eyes had a certain sparkle of determination.

(.....)

Mission Alert!

… *…

Mission: A Question of Survival!

Conclusion: 0%

Description: You were unlucky enough to be captured by a group of dangerous and powerful Paragons with a secret purpose. This probably would not have happened if his luck had been greater. Maybe you should raise her? Just friendly advice.

Objective: To survive and escape from the mysterious group.

Reward: +5,000 EXP, + 100% in-store discount for a single purchase for the next 10 days after completing this quest.

Additional Reward: +1 Skill Points for every 100 dead ants.

Count: 0 dead ants.

Punishment: 99.99999% of you die.

(.....)

Like the previous quest, this one also had no choice to accept or deny, but even if it had, it would have accepted, because the goal was the same.

He focused his vision on an ant. He held out his hand and when he felt ready, he threw a fireball to deconcentrate the ant and perhaps do some damage.

The fireball exploded in the ant's face that made it stop the advance it was making against someone lying on the ground and about to be killed by it.

Blink was activated and Rowen appeared a few inches in the air holding the sword in both hands and lifting it with its pointed point down and pierced the ant's head causing green blood to drip.

The ant screamed and died shortly after.

[You leveled!]

He ignored the notification. Heart pounding, he felt some of his fatigue and pain disappeared as he leveled. He took the sword and pulled it from the ant skull.

His strength had increased a little, he knew, as well as his stamina and agility. Swallowing hard, he sprang sideways as he dodged a brutal ant attack and rolled across the floor and pierced the sword into the belly of an ant that did not notice him in time.

[You leveled!]

Green blood fell on him and as much as throwing up seemed like a great idea, he had no time and no luxury to do such a thing. He needed to stay focused and not stop, because when he stopped, he was pretty sure he would fall to the ground and lose control of himself.

So instead he remembered the countless anime and movies he watched and slowly, whenever the situation asked, he would try to replicate certain actions, because the more he fought, the stronger he got and all thanks to his fraudulent skill.

Once the cooldown was over, Rowen used Blink decisively and efficiently. The sword pierced once again the skull of another ant.

This time he had to kill 3 ants to level. And the next time, 5 ants, and that kept increasing.

Rowen could only keep her body working because with each leveling, some of the fatigue and injuries are healed.

Whenever possible, every 9 seconds, he used Blink to appear before an ant and puncture his skulls, and gradually it was getting easier and more efficient.

Rowen was beginning to adapt satisfactorily.

About two hours later, the group finally managed to kill all ants. They faced about 10,000 ants and now, from more than 50 members, including slaves and bandits, there are 10 slaves and 7 bandits left. Only a single bad guy died, and it was Marcel, who was bored facing the ants when one of the bad guys annoyed him and only then had his head severed in the blink of an eye, literally.

Yes, unfortunately, Rowen was in Marcel's group, one of the most powerful bandits, from what he noticed.

With a tired sigh, and because they allowed time to compose themselves and allocate whatever point they had earned, Rowen sat in a corner after pushing an ant body aside.

He was exhausted as he was fighting for over 15 minutes, killed 40 ants, and had not leveled since the last time.

He let out a tired breath and looked around for a moment. Marcel was sitting under the body of some ants casually and eating something, it looked like some fruit.

Their footmen were around, and although they looked like they were resting, they were on the alert, either for a sudden ant attack, or for one of the slaves doing something strange.

Deciding to take care of his own business, he opened his status window.

(.....)

Name: Rowen Lahey | Age : 16 years

Race: Human/Paragon | Level: 17 | EXP: 83%

Type: Colorless

HP: 295/380

MP: 150/270

Strength: 37

Resistance: 34

Agility: 39

Vitality: 38

Intelligence: 27

Wisdom: 25

Lucky: 6

Attribute Points: 130

Skill Points : 261

Buffs: None

Quests: Solo Leveling (2/5), A Question of Survival (In Progress…)

Shop Skills: Open Store >>

Soul Skills: Cosmic Force - Level-10, Solomon's Wisdom - Level-MAX

Passive Skills: None

Active Skills: Fireball - Level-13, Blink - Level-10

(.....)

His decision was swift and absolute. He used 214 Skill Points to level Blink to level 40. He used 43 Skill Points to level Cosmic Force to level 20, leaving only 4 Skill Points.

(.....)

Cosmic Force (Passive/Active) - Level: 20 | EXP: 0/200 (-97%)

Type: Gene/Spirit/Fight/Magic/Primal/Cosmic/Arcane

Passive Effect: Leveling permanently +3 increases Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Stamina. Updated only when level ends at 5 (5, 15, 25… etc.).

Active Effect: Convert 3% MP to Strength, Agility, Vitality, or Endurance for 22 seconds. Cooldown: 1000 seconds.

-MP Conversion: Updated only at levels ending in 2.

-Duration: Updated only at levels ending in 4, 6 and 8.

-Cooldown: Updated only at levels ending in 0.

(.....)

Blink (Active) - Level 40 | EXP: 0/400 (-97%)

Type: Psychic/Magic

Description: Anywhere you can see within a certain area, teleport instantly without taking up the same space.

Range: 83 meters

Release: 0.1 second

Cooldown: 6.1 seconds

Cost: 30 MP

(.....)

He then put 70 Attribute Points on Intelligence, 30 points on Wisdom, 10 points on Strength, 10 points on Endurance, and 10 points on Agility.

With it all over, Rowen breathed a sigh of relief.

"My chances of surviving have increased even more… I hope so."