7. Rescue (1)
Very useful rumor from the whore. Namely, that a silver-haired newbie had arrived just last evening, and she'd been immediately carted off to Igor's private underground lair.
"Good. Here's your tip." I tucked a silver coin right into her cleavage. In sync, Lumentar whipped out a handkerchief from his bosom and clamped it over her nose and mouth.
"Guhk?!?"
She didn't even last five seconds before her eyes fluttered shut and she slipped into unconsciousness. With her starting to snore softly through her nose, Lumentar and I slipped out of the room as quietly as we could.
We scanned our surroundings and headed in the direction she'd indicated. But right in front of the one entrance leading underground stood a hulking brute blocking the way. Towering a full head above Lumentar, with a body twice my size, the meat slab even had a whistle dangling from his neck.
That guy's gonna be tough to take down without a sound.
If this were a battlefield where I could swing my sword freely, dropping a dull-looking oaf like that would've been child's play. But right now, until we found Selene, we couldn't afford any commotion. So I nudged Lumentar's thick forearm and whispered low.
"Got anything besides a sleep agent that can paralyze a guy like that outright?"
"I have a neurotoxin with a similar effect."
"Can you fire it from range with a poison needle?"
"Possible. But it takes about ten seconds for the toxin to spread. If he blows that whistle in the meantime..."
"Don't worry about that. We'll wait around this corner. When I give the signal, just nail him with the needle."
"Understood."
We settled on a signal for the shot, and I rounded the corner, striding straight toward the brute. The guy, who looked bored out of his skull, spotted me and waved me off lazily, like I was a minor annoyance.
"Fuck off. This area's off-limits."
"Nah, I'm just looking for the shitter..."
"There's a bucket in your room. Piss in that and beat it. Or if you've already shit yourself, go handle it at home."
I put on a slightly cowed expression, insisting I needed the toilet. The brute relaxed his guard even more, looking down on me with utter contempt. Seizing the moment, I stepped closer—while thrusting my right thumb up behind my back as the signal. Of course, I kept his attention diverted.
"Come on, I can't fuck pussy while smelling my own piss stink."
"Fuck, you're really pissing me off. You gonna fuck off, or do I have to beat your ass firs—guhk?!"
Mid-threat, the brute twitched violently, spasms rippling across the left side of his face. A thin black metal needle was embedded in the side of his neck.
Lumentar and I yanked the whistle from the brute's neck. We straightened his paralyzed body and propped him up neatly against the door. Then we descended the stairs leading underground.
Tak... tak...
Relying on the flickering torchlight, we proceeded cautiously, eyes peeled into the murky shadows beyond. After countless steps, the stairs finally leveled out onto flat ground—and a wooden door smeared with dark red stains loomed before us.
Shing.
Without a word, we each slowly drew our weapons and approached the door. Lumentar took point, flinging it open as we charged inside...
It was nothing like I'd imagined. Or rather, it shattered every limit of my imagination, freezing both Lumentar and me in our tracks.
"Ah..."
Nine women, all their limbs hacked off, suspended by harnesses linked to hooks. Every one had their eyes gouged out, and gags like ring-spreads clamped their mouths wide. Inside those forced-open maws... no white teeth, no red tongues—just pitch-black voids.
"Pssshhh... pssshhh..."
Only the sound of escaping air leaked from those revolting holes.
Igor, you fucking psycho bastard...
There was a world of difference between knowing something and seeing it firsthand. Confronting Igor's depraved fetish up close made bile rise in my throat, nausea churning in my gut.
Even so, my eyes scanned the nine women dangling from the hooks in detail. And I felt a sliver of relief.
At least she's not among them.
No silver-haired, copper-skinned dark elf among the nine.
A moment later.
"Hoo..."
Lumentar let out a quiet breath, visibly relieved that none of them were his kin. That's when a thin male voice drifted from the right passageway, leading to another room. Sly and oozing with slimy servility.
"Master Igor?"
We instantly silenced our footsteps and plastered ourselves to either side of the passage entrance. The footsteps and voice from within grew clearer.
"You said you'd enjoy one from upstairs today, so I was prepping the bitch you mentioned yesterday, hehe... If you've changed your mind, I can set her up right now for your pleasure."
Soon, a figure in a slaughterhouse apron emerged into the torchlight, followed by a rat-faced man with only a few scraggly hairs left on his head.
"Hehe, but why no answer—guhkk?!"
Wearing a fawning smile, searching for the absent Igor—until Lumentar's blade pressed against his throat from the blind spot. The man froze in terror, eyes darting frantically left and right like a cornered rat.
Lumentar stepped to his side, face twisted in rage.
"Are you the only one down here?"
"Y-yes, that's right. Just me, aside from the 'pigs.'"
"Pigs?"
"Ah, I-I call those things on the hooks pigs. In that state, all they can do is eat, shit, and get fucked—"
"Grrk!"
"Eek!"
Lumentar, emotions boiling over at the explanation of the 'pigs,' ground the blade harder against the man's throat, breathing raggedly. I understood his fury—his abducted kin locked away here—but we still needed this rat alive. I was about to intervene when his next words changed my mind.
"Selene! Where is my sister?!"
Family gets a pass.
Lumentar's rage and killing intent were so intense—even watching from the side, it put me on edge—that the self-proclaimed Ram, a half-blood mix of human and ratkin, stammered, "Th-this way."
He led us deeper into the basement.
"I-I'm just the manager here. The actual work is done by others."
Along the way, Ram kept insisting he'd been captured and forced into this role. But Lumentar and I ignored every word. Because as we passed certain rooms...
The gruesome process of turning women into those 'pigs' Ram had described was laid bare.
A guy who claims he was captured, left alone to manage the underground with no oversight? At least make your bullshit convincing.
Ignoring Ram's drivel, we navigated the branching passageways for about three minutes. Finally, we reached the deepest part of the basement—the room holding Lumentar's sister, Selene.
A lavish bed on the left, an array of saws and hammers on the right—a bizarre setup. In the center stood an iron cage barely big enough for one person.
Dim light illuminated a naked dark elf woman imprisoned inside. Fortunately, all her limbs were still attached, and her silver eyes intact.
The moment we spotted Selene huddled on the floor, trembling intermittently.
"Selene!"
Lumentar shoved Ram aside and bolted to the cage. I grabbed the rat in his place as—
Kaching!
A sharp metallic snap—the lock sheared off, the cage door swinging open. Then, for the first time, bewilderment crept into Lumentar's voice as he tended to his collapsed sister.
"Selene! Pull yourself together, I say!"
Her eyes were open, but those silver irises held no spark of life. Lumentar hugged her tight, shaking her desperately and calling out—but limp as a ragdoll, Selene offered no response, not even a murmur.
For a moment, anxiety, worry, and even a hint of fear flickered across Lumentar's profile. Then his expression hardened with realization, his glare turning murderous toward me—or rather, the rat I held fast.
"What drug did you give my sister, you filthy mongrel bastard?"