Despite the number of enslaved humans, Jack managed to get through them in just a bit over an hour and a half, leaving him with around another thirty minutes before the beastmen began trickling in, all in hopes to get their hands on the supplies left here and perhaps regrouping with their fellow deserters so they could try and return back home, as well as making sure their story was the same. Like it or not, they had run from the battlefield once their leaders were dead, abandoning their comrades to save their own skin. It would most definitely not be looked upon favourably if they managed to return.

  Not that they would get the chance mind you, with most of them guaranteed to die here. Why should Jack take the chance and allow many of them to escape and likely warn their fellow beastmen of a possible, likely even, existential threat level human civilization having suddenly developed deeper within this particular zone, with extreme likelihood of rousing undesired crusade of sorts from the beastmen side. Selin's tribe still needed some time to push themselves past that oh so important threshold, stepping within the ranks of second awakening experts.

  No, with Jack's actions here, the chances of any of these deserters successfully returning back home was just low enough for his liking. And, the chances that, in the unlikely scenario some do manage to return, anyone will believe the tale about advanced human settlement having sprouted out of nowhere like some sort of a mushroom colony after a rain was just as low, perhaps even lower. Such a thing had never happened before, not with humans at the very least, so how could such an anomaly ever exist.

  No, the more likely scenario would be that said deserters would be viewed as crazy, likely having lost their sanity after a particularly brutal encounter with one of the insanely rare apex predators that stalked the outer steppe after somehow managing to depart from the Deadlands. Or they had deserted their own raiding party due to one of several possible reasons. And sure, there might be a couple of beastmen actually buying their story, but those would be few and far between and nowhere near enough to get a proper crusade going. And by the time the season of conflict would come to an end, human army would be ready for their own rebellion to begin. And by that time, Jack was quite sure he would already be gone, traveling through the Deadlands in search of the coastline of this continent, all prepared to finally set sail towards home.

  Jack might have paid no attention to the couple of stares that were almost glued to his form, but that did not mean one bit he was not aware of them all the same. Not that it mattered much either. His sudden bout of fancy for a good deed had been satisfied, with the humans not only released but also allowed to rummage through the supplies to both feed, clothe and re-arm themselves. He had then warned them to run and turned his attention back to the direction beastmen wer coming from.

  "Might as well engage them now." Jack came to a decision, sensing the first group of the approaching beastmen no further than a couple of kilometers away. His energy wings burst forth from his back, flapped a couple of times and propelled him skyward, leaving the freed human captives behind as his form shrunk and disappeared from their sights within moments of his lift off. He did leave a warning behind, one that blanketed their forms.

  "Don't think about taking all the supplies, or the same fate awaits you as the beastmen I have already slain."

  In the short time it took Jack to reach this new combat zone, he considered, and was quite tempted, to drop down to the ground, pull out his trusty sword and once again get close and personal as he executed the beastmen in his path. And as tempting as it was, he had to admit that it would be a rather inefficient way to achieve his desired result. He knew he was fast, quite spectacularly so, but not to the point that he could outrun arrows he himself would shoot. Furthermore, his form as the cloaked archer from the city walls, now raining down hell right atop the heads of the retreating beastmen would no doubt sow even more panic, desperation and chaos, resulting in a much greater reaping of lives.

  "Let the second act begin!" Jack laughed as he stopped midair, his wings now slowly flapping to maintain altitude. He looked like some ethereal agent of death, his energy wings slowly flapping as he drew his bowstring, an arrow already notched and ready to be released. And mere moments later, it flew, creating a quiet, just barely audible whistling sound for a split second before it collided with its target, exploding into raging ball of scorching death, devouring not only the beastman in the epicenter of the collision, but also those several meters around him.

  Another explosion followed the first one mere seconds later, burning to a crisp another group of retreating beastmen, their faces frozen in mortified fear and despair before getting engulfed by flame and melted a single blink later. Jack could have lowered the heat and force of the explosions, ensuring the ones caught in said explosions would suffer longer, but he deemed it not necessary at the moment. Sure, the raiders were utter scum one and all, but he himself had not lost anyone dear to their kind, so his personal enmity was limited, thus sparing his targets any extra suffering he would have otherwise deemed necessary. What Spartacus and his army did to those captured later was not for Jack to judge however. And so arrow followed after arrow as Jack rained down destruction upon the beastmen deserters.

  Zena's gaze remained on the direction their cloaked savior had disappeared to for quite some time, her hands still moving occasionally to bring either the jerky, the bread or the water flask to her lips as she continued her own, admittedly humble- though almost divine like when compared to the time she had spent in capture- meal, all while the sound of the rest of the freed prisoners rummaged through the supplies, searching and dividing food, clothes and weapons.

  She was glad to know that sanity had prevailed and the cloaked man's warning had been taken to heart. A few of the rougher looking surviving men stood by the supply carts, seemingly maintaining order, all the while several women, and a number of younger boys sorted said supplies, splitting them equally in two parts before one of them was then distributed among the former slaves. And once her head turned their way, she could also see the first signs of several groups forming, no doubt each groups core consisting of same tribe members,

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Her gaze did not linger on said groups however, slowly turning back towards the direction the cloaked figure left, her mind racing with several choices she herself felt she had to make if she wanted not only to survive, barely scraping by, but to thrive and honor the memory of her parents- none of whom survived the beastmen raid. It had to be said, both fought to the last, even taking a beastman along to the other side with them, and that was not a feat many could boast.

  "Ehm, Zena?" a light, slightly shy and a bit childlike voice called back her attention to the present, her head turning towards the speaker in a slow motion, moments later revealing to her a somewhat expected sight.

  There, a few meters away from her stood four girls and two boys. Aki, the girl who spoke had just turned sixteen a few months ago and was quite the shy girl, but one with the heart of gold if anyone asked Zena's thoughts. The other three girls were younger, ranging anywhere from thirteen to ten year old, though Zena did not know their names. The boys seemed even younger, about eight years old or so.

  They all looked worried, frightened even, and Zena seriously doubted that the fear they felt at this moment was connected to either the uncertainty of their near future, or to the beastmen raiders that had left not all that long ago.

  "What is it Aki?" she replied, her tone as calm as possible, even adding an attempt at a joke to make the atmosphere a bit lighter "That's a rare sight for you to begin a conversation."

  Noticing that her attempt had fallen face first to the ground, she sighed. "Can't blame a girl for trying. So what brings you here to me, with such an entourage no less?"

  "Umm, what will you do now?" Aki half whispered, her usual timidness doing its damn best to push through.

  "Don't know yet." Zena honestly replied, her eyes once more darting towards the same way the cloaked man had left some time ago.

  "What about those groups?" she half whispered, her eyes darting visibly to the side, seemingly pointing towards the rest of the released prisoners.

  Zena tilted her body to the side, her gaze going past the group standing right before her, momentarily observing the slowly separating groups. 'A lot of women and children.' she immediately noted, her mind slipping into old habits as she tried to observe each of the group closer. It was then that her instincts and class kicked in, revealing to her a very concerning string of seemingly unrelated coincidences. Upon closer inspection, and with the understanding of the darkness all humans inherently possessed however, she realized a rather horrifying truth.

  Each group was clearly led by a small number of men. That in and of itself was not that surprising. Men were inherently physically stronger when compared, but the chilling truth of the matter was that all the great men of the tribes captured had perished during the raids themselves, doing their utmost to stall and slow down the beastmen raiders in an attempt to allow their families to escape. Those that surrendered were the most sleazy, cowardly men with rather shifty reputations. It would not have mattered when they were all enslaved to the beastmen, for they would all suffer the same, but with that particular fate now defunct, their inner darkness was starting to leak.

  Slight smirks creeping on their faces. Their eyes lingering on the forms of women within their groups when they believed no one was looking for a bit too long as they creepily licked their lips. Zena saw traps in each and every group formed. And she further grew sure of her assumption as she watched interactions between those formed groups and the still lone humans in desperate search for a place to join.

  Boys and older women were often rejected, no doubt finding excuses about lack of strength or already too large a group to hep, while younger girls and decent or better looking women- at least by human standards- were quite readily accepted. Most people failed to notice that at the moment however, either too worried about their now murky future or still half dazed from the recent events.

  "I think I'll pass. You know I have never been one for large groups." she finally replied to Aki "Why ask?"

  "I don't feel good about either of them." Aki whispered a reply, her hands fidgeting as she sneaked glances at Zena, as if trying to both build her courage to ask and searching for the correct moment to do so. Still, she did finally ask what was on her mind.

  "Would you let us come with you?" she then looked towards Zena with hope filled eyes, clearly waiting for her reply, though when it was clear Zena would not speak just yet, Aki tried her best to prove they would not only be a burden. "I-I know we are not much help right now, but we are all young, more than ready to listen and obey. And w-we possess no danger whatsoever. A-and I am a healer as you well know, young as I might be, and Uni is a herbalist, even if only level three at the moment. We could be of great use to you."

  As Aki spoke, she also looked at Zena with hopeful, pleading doe eyes that made her look impossibly adorable- a trait she had held ever since just a child- and did, in fact, pulled on Zena's heartstrings a fair bit. That too reminded her of the fate Aki would no doubt face if she were to fall in the hands of any of the groups formed behind their backs. Zena was tomboyish looking, with short dark hair and extremely lithe figure, with very little gifts in the form of feminine charm. She would be looked at for her ability and youth more than anything.

  Aki, on the other hand, was very much a desirable young girl, igniting lust in all men who gazed upon her form, with voluptuous figure, cute face and very, very tantalizing lips. So much so that even as a girl herself, Zena could understand her allure. Unlike the rest of the groups however, Zena found Aki's healer class more important, at least in the scenario they all had found themselves in. And sure, she could likely last for a while all on her own, scraping by as she tried to escape the no doubt incoming beastmen pursuit, it it was also true that her fate was still sealed. With a group of her own, she might just get lucky enough. Still, their numbers were too small for the latter, so there had to be some changes made.

  "Fine. You all can come with me, but you also must do as I tell you, and when I say so." She replied.

  "Mhm. Of course." Aki frantically nodded, quickly demanding agreement from the rest of the children with her. "Any orders to fulfill right now?" she then gazed towards Zena once more, her voice still quite and slightly shy.

  "Mhm." Zena nodded in agreement, her eyes going past Aki's shoulder, prompting the latter to turn around and look towards the remaining humans nearby.

  "See the lone women with blank faces further to the outer side, as well as the lone boys?" Zena asked.

  "Yes."

  "Have the girls walk around and offer them a place with us. And avoid the grown men and large groups. Like you, I do not trust them."

  "Okay." Aki whispered.

  "Off you all go and do your tasks. Gather here when done with those that agreed. I have something to do in the meantime. I will be back soon." Zena added, grabbed her bow and walked towards the direction the cloaked man had left. Her nose picked up slight smell of singed flesh, miniscule as it was. There was fighting going on in that direction, and she had a strong feeling that the cloaked man was at the very heart of it.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 37

  Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +14

  Attributes:

  Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))

  Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))

  Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))

  Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)

  Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX). Destroyers presence(unique legendary).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster, Eldritch garbage disposal(legendary).

  Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.