Mastery Is Earned

Seeing that Raymond stayed crouched several paces away, the terror on the woman's face eased slightly.

Keeping his voice low, he asked, “How many people are being held with you?”

“Thirteen, including me. Four of them are children.” The woman took a deep breath and spoke softly.

Raymond's heart sank. He had not expected so many people to be imprisoned in this camp.

“What about the half-orc they dragged in just now?”

“He's inside too, but they didn't lock him up with us. He's being held at the very back.”

“Are there any other guards in the cave?”

“No. Usually, only that man from before guards the entrance.” The woman shook her head.

Raymond relaxed slightly at her answer. Until the next patrol or change of guard arrived, the man's death would not be discovered. The bandit had plainly acted on a sudden impulse and taken the woman from the cell without permission. In doing so, he had given Raymond an opportunity to enter the cave.

“All right. Take me inside,” Raymond said quickly with a nod.

The woman braced herself against the rock wall and stood, then led Raymond toward the cave.

A torch burned beside the entrance, barely illuminating the passage within. A few steps inside, Raymond came to a crude wooden door fitted between the rock walls on either side. Raymond moved closer. Through the gaps in the door, he could make out the interior of the cell.

Many women were imprisoned inside. Most wore disheveled clothing and sat numbly on the ground. There were also several children who looked no more than eight or nine years old, huddled in a corner and quietly sobbing.

Raymond soon found Sarah among them. She still wore the same coarse linen clothes and did not appear to have been injured, but she sat with her legs drawn to her chest, her expression dazed.

Raymond unlocked the cell door and let the woman return to her companions first. Once inside, the woman immediately gestured for the others to remain silent, then whispered a few words of explanation.

Raymond pulled the wooden door closed again but did not lock it. “Stay inside for now and don't make a sound. I'm going to check on the half-orc.”

He took the torch hanging on the rock wall and carefully made his way deeper into the cave. The cave was not deep. After only a few steps, he saw Henk bound in heavy iron chains.

Henk sat on the ground with his back against the rock wall. Separate chains bound his wrists, waist, and ankles.

His head hung low, and he showed no response to Raymond's arrival. Raymond hurried forward, set the torch aside, and called softly, “Henk, wake up.” But Henk remained unresponsive, making Raymond increasingly worried.

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A grim thought struck him.

Had they drugged him?

At the thought, he seized Henk by the shoulder and shook him hard, then slapped his cheeks several times. Henk finally opened his eyes blearily.

At the sight of Raymond, Henk still seemed dazed. His eyes were unfocused. “Raymond?”

“Yes, it's me.” Raymond shook him again. “Are you with me?”

Henk squinted at him for a moment, his expression gradually shifting from confusion to surprise. “Why are you here?”

In the firelight, his exposed skin was abnormally flushed, and his dark golden eyes were bloodshot. He tried to push himself upright. The chains immediately pulled taut, shaking the iron rings anchored in the rock wall and sending several chips of stone pattering down.

“Don't move yet. I have the keys.” Raymond hurriedly stopped him and held up the key ring.

“I followed the trail you left. Let's get you free first!”

Henk did not answer. Breathing heavily, he merely nodded. His breathing was unusually labored, and sweat constantly ran down his reddish-brown skin.

Although Raymond vaguely sensed that something was wrong, he could not possibly leave Henk there. Trying several keys in succession, Raymond unlocked the chain binding Henk's wrists, then the one around his waist.

Just as he prepared to open the final lock, Henk suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Those women and children... Where are they?”

Raymond paused, then answered, “They're still in the cell, but I've unlocked the door. Once we fight our way out, we'll bring them with us.”

“No. Lock them in. I... I...” Henk gasped for breath.

“What's happening to you?” Henk's appearance startled Raymond.

Henk seemed even more massive than before. The muscles across his body bulged and tightened, splitting his already tight linen clothes in several places.

“I'm afraid I'll lose control and hurt them...” Henk's hand tightened around Raymond's shoulder, his knuckles trembling faintly. “Lock them in. And you—stay away from me!”

“I understand.” Raymond nodded. “I'll lock them inside the cell and make sure they don't come out.”

“Th-thank you!” Henk managed.

Raymond clenched the ring of keys and immediately hurried back to the cell at the front. When he pushed open the wooden door, the people inside instinctively recoiled. The woman he had rescued earlier quickly gestured for them to remain silent.

Sarah recognized Raymond at that moment. “You... You're Raymond?”

“It's me.” Raymond nodded. “Henk is alive too.”

“You shouldn't have come. It's too dangerous here...” Sarah said softly.

“There's no time to wait any longer.” Raymond glanced at the others in the cell. “I'll find a way to get all of you out.”

He had everyone retreat to the back of the cell, then stepped outside and locked the wooden door again from the outside. Unlike Sarah, the other women had plainly endured a great deal of abuse. Raymond turned his gaze away from their ashen, despairing faces and the slightly swollen bellies of some among them, then clenched his fist.

“ROAR!”

A thunderous roar reverberated throughout the cave. It startled not only the others in the cell, but Raymond as well. Heavy footsteps came from deep within the cave, while grit and small stones continually fell from cracks in the rock.

Raymond looked through a gap in the cell door. Henk was approaching barehanded, the chain at his ankles dragging behind him after he had torn it free from the iron ring.

As he passed the cell, he even paused and turned his head toward it. Their eyes met briefly, and Raymond's breath caught. Henk's dark golden eyes were webbed with blood vessels, while his gaze overflowed with nearly uncontrollable violence and madness.

Fortunately, Henk only glanced over before walking straight out of the cave. He paid no attention to the others in the cell, allowing Raymond to breathe a sigh of relief.

Before long, a terrified scream rang out, followed by the sound of flesh being violently torn apart and then a succession of screams and pleas for mercy. The entire camp instantly erupted in alarm. Curses, shouts, and chaotic footsteps rose one after another. The whole camp descended into chaos.

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