I take out the spear and flick away the blood. CZ had stunned the lizardman and Gareth had perfectly shot its eyes out, but I was too slow. The lizardman had a chance to mutter out some words before I could kill it. If there were other lizardmen around, that split second of delay could mean someone getting injured. I still need to become stronger.

“H-help is here!!!”

“I-I can’t believe it. We’re going to be saved!!!”

“Please help me find my wife and daughter!”

The miners were celebrating in joy but one of them was on his knees begging me in tears to find his wife and daughter. His body was basically skin and bones, I don’t know his circumstances but I lift him off of the ground.

“Do you know where they are? I’ll save them if I can.”

“I do. Thank you! Thank you so much!”

The man begins crying and I feel a weight put onto my shoulder. What if I couldn’t save this man’s family? Was it foolish of me to say that I’ll save them? 

“Everyone calm down, we don’t want those lizardmen to be alerted.”

“W-william, is that you?”

William and the rest of the group come down from the stairs built into the wall. Two men from the group of ten miners seemed to recognize William. The two men who were from Unit I begins conversing with William as we hand out the rest of our rations to the starving men. Once they got their hands on the rations, they didn’t hesitate to scarf it down.

The two men from Unit I explain their situation and it was similar to ours. Just like us, they were attacked in the fog but out of the three cars, only there’s fell down a hole. Each car had 10 members and the one that fell down the hole wasn’t the one Kayla was in. From my peripheral, I could see Gareth breathe a sigh of relief that Kayla was safe.

Luckily or unluckily, when their car made an impact with the ground, only one member had died. That explains the blood splatter that CZ and I had seen. Although the rest survived the fall, many of them were injured so they spent the entire day resting, and by the second day, they went exploring. Most of the monsters weren’t a problem for their team because each of them had special abilities geared towards fighting. 

It was only when they met a group of 6 lizardmen did they have trouble. Thinking that the lizardmen were going to be like the rest of the monsters, they immediately faced a crisis. They underestimated the lizardmen’s speed and strength and quickly lost the battle. They tried to run away but they were all captured by the lizardmen. Instead of being eaten as they had thought, they were captured by the lizardmen.

Their team of 9 which consisted of 4 girls and 5 guys were separated into groups based on gender. The men were forced into physical labor while what happened to the females was unknown. They hadn’t seen the women ever since they were separated.

Not knowing when they were going to die, the men decided to risk their lives to find an exit. Three men, Gusco, Tran, and Rack escaped into the dungeon to find an exit but they were likely dead. We had met one of them but we didn’t know their name.

“I see, they didn’t make it but they fulfilled their mission in bringing help. Now that your Unit is here, we have a chance to escape. Where are the others? Have they not made it here yet?”

“We’re the only Unit that came to the rescue.”

“What!?”

The two were shocked but William explains the situation to them. He explains how the other Units couldn’t send reinforcement because they were trying to deal with a disaster level city and how we were sent by Madam Justice. They were outraged that FUUI and Unit I hadn’t sent any more reinforcement but they eventually calm down.

The discussion headed towards how they were going to escape from this place. Their first goal was to find the other members of Unit I in the village and then head towards the pillar in the center of the village. 

The more I listened to their plans the more I realized that neither William or the other two were thinking of saving the other captives. Even the other captives who were joyfully eating realized the situation and the atmosphere became depressive. Their only hope of survival wasn’t thinking of saving them.

“I can’t go along with that plan, William.”

I look at the man who was begging me to save his family as I reject William’s plan. I told this man that I would save his family if I can, and I can. Maybe it’s hypocritical of me since I didn’t save those people in Ostempal but things have changed. I have the power to save them.

“What’s this rookie talking about? Don’t you understand that our lives are more important than theirs? A member of FUUI outweighs the lives of a few citizens.”

I stare at William as I await his answer. I’m just a member of Unit K and I can’t do anything by myself. I need the support of everyone if I really wanted to save that man’s family.

“Now, now, calm down. Let’s hear out your plan, Jude. If it’s feasible then we’ll see if we can incorporate it.”

“I know it’s impossible to save all the captives but I think we should save as many as we can. As members of FUUI, isn’t it our responsibility to save as many citizens as we can from monsters.”

“Yes, you are correct but can you bear that responsibility, Jude? If you decide to save more captives, the higher the risks we are discovered. In the worst-case scenario, we all die. Can you bear that responsibility?”

William stares at me as he waits for my answer. His eyes held wisdom and insight that I couldn’t understand, but he wasn’t rejecting my plan outright. I have to choose my words carefully if I want to convince him.

“I’ll bear the responsibility of saving the captives. If they die then I’ll bear the burden that I was the one that killed them, but if they survive then I’ll bear the burden of taking care of them until they can take care of themselves. I won’t let this mission end in failure.”

“Good, then it’ll be your responsibility to save and care for those captives.”

“Thank you!”

William smiles as he goes back to discussing our plans with the two members of Unit I. They were reluctant to go along with my plan of bringing along the other captives but William was able to convince them. Gorou and the others encourage me as they also agree with saving the captives.

“Hmm, he’s not that bad of a leader.”

I agree with Fifi, William is a great leader. He’s gone along with my selfish plans even when it could put us in danger. He seemed cold-hearted in Ostempal but the more I get to know him, he’s a great and kind leader. He even took the time to teach me that saving people is a heavy burden. 

Saving these captives doesn’t just end when we escape from here. If I really want to save them, I have to give them the stability to live life. Thinking about these things makes me realize that I haven’t saved Karla at all. She has a place to sleep and eat, but other than that she’s been living life like a deadman. It was only when Justina came into her life was their energy in her body.

“Does anyone know the layout of the village and how many captives there are?”

“I do. I’ve been here for the past two months and I know the village like the back of my hand.”

The man who begged me to save his family spoke up. His name was Donnel and his information about the village was incredibly detailed. From his information, there were around 200 human captives and 1500 lizardmen in the village. Besides the population, he knew the guards’ schedule and was even able to draw an extremely detailed map of the village. His map made Jill’s mapping skill look like a child’s drawing so she couldn’t help but be amazed.

“A guard will come to replace the lizardman you just killed in about an hour. So if we want to rescue captives and escape, we must do it within an hour before they notice that a guard is missing.”

Everyone was impressed with Donnel’s memory, including Fifi. William dismisses us and gives us ten minutes to rest up. Our plan is to split up into two different teams. Team A will follow Donnel’s map and secure the route leading to the pillar while Team B will head towards the location where the female captives are being held. Team B’s second objective will be to rescue any other captives along the way. 

Given time to rest, Gorou and I go assist the injured captives. Gorou heals their injuries while I give them water to drink and clean their bodies. 

“You’re a hero, dude. They would have abandoned us if it wasn’t for you.”

“No, I can’t do anything without my group’s help. You should be thanking them.”

“Thank you, young man. Just knowing that there’s a chance of escaping from this hellhole is a miracle.”

“Yeah, I’m going to escape here and finally find a girlfriend.”

“Hahaha, shut up, Quam. Like you’ll ever find a girlfriend.”

Even after all the suffering they’ve gone through, I’m surprised that they are all so energetic. I smile as I watch them horse around and think about what they’re going to do after they escape. Although the atmosphere was joyful, the burden on my shoulders increases even more. It’s up to me to save all of them. 

Suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder and as I turn around I see Donnel. He was taller than me and had short reddish-brown hair. Even though his body was malnourished, I could tell that his body was well built.

“Did you need something, Donnel?”

“I just wanted to say thank you. All of us have been living life not knowing whether we could escape but with your arrival, you’ve brought hope into all of our lives. Even if we don’t make it, I want to say thank you for giving us hope.”

Donnel was trying to cheer me up even though I’m the one who’s trying to save them. It should be the other way around, I should be the one trying to encourage them. I’m a failure of a hero if its the other way around.

“Thanks, Donnel. I’m going to help you find your family and once we get back to the city, I’ll throw all of you a welcoming party.”

“Yeah, thank you.”

Ten minutes quickly pass by and we separate into our teams. Team B consists of Mako, Fifi, Gareth, Donnel, me, and half of the miners while Team A consists of William, Gorou, Jill, Ken, Rachel, CZ, those two men from Unit I, and the rest of the miners. Team B had Donnel to lead us while Team A also had someone who knows the terrain relatively well. Team A heads through the forest that leads towards the village while Team B goes around the outskirts.

The entire village was decently large and the terrain was quite different compared to the dirt and brick passageways. At the center around the pillar were wooden huts and around those huts was a forest. The forest took up most of the space in this cavern but on the outskirts is rocky terrain where Donnel and they had been forced to mine.

We carefully walk through the rocks as Gareth keeps watch of our surroundings. Without CZ, it was up to Gareth and Fifi to be our scouts. We follow Donnel’s instructions and we meet our first group of captives. Like them, these captives were also mining away at the rockface.

“There are two lizardmen.”

“Ok. Mako, we’ll work together and kill one of the lizardmen while Fifi and Gareth handle the other.”

The malnourished men in our group are in no shape to fight so I have them hide behind a boulder as the four of us sneak behind the lizardmen. The lizardmen were screeching at the men and whipping them to work harder. The sound of pickaxes picking at the rock hides our footsteps as we approach.

I signal to Gareth and we begin our attack. The lizardman Mako and I were heading for wasn’t paying attention to their surroundings so it was easy to ambush them. Mako uses dark magic and the lizardman’s shadow begins to attack him. His eyes and mouth were wrapped by the shadow which causes him to wildly swing his whip. The lizardman was panicking so I was able to dodge his attacks and pierce through his leather armor. 

My spear pierces through and blood comes out, but I know I missed my target. I repeatedly stab and I finally felt the sensation of the lizardman’s heart being pierced. The lizardman struggles a little bit but his body limply falls to the ground due to blood loss. I look over at Fifi and Gareth but they had already killed their lizardman. There were arrows in both of the lizardman’s eyes and an earth spike that had penetrated through the lizardman’s chest.

“Amazing!”

“We might actually have a chance to escape.”

There was chatter from Donnel and them, while the other miners were staring at us in disbelief. We quickly explain the situation and after a bit of celebration, our group of 10 had turned into 22. Our numbers quickly grew as we encounter more captures and by the third group our numbers had reached 46. It was getting harder to move around with how many people we were leading. 

We’ve been lucky that the most lizardmen we’ve seen at one time have only been three. Even Donnel had been surprised because it was common to see groups of 5 or more lizardmen patrolling and watching over the captives. It made me uneasy that our luck was this good but I put that in the back of my head as we reached our final destination.

Inside of the forest away from the other wooden huts, there was a single large building. It was built sturdier than every other building we had seen from a distance. According to Donnel, this was the building where the female captives were being held.

“The rest of you hide in the forest. I’ll send out a signal if we need your help.”

Gareth, Mako, Fifi, and I head for the building, but it was heavily guarded by lizardmen. There are four guarding the entrance, six walking around the perimeter, and there were probably more inside. It was shocking to hear but this building was used as a breeding ground for the king of the lizardman.

With a grim look on his face, Donnel explained that he learned of this location because he somewhat understood the lizardman language. Fifi was surprised to hear this because the lizardmen weren’t known to actively breed but from Donnel’s information, the current lizardman king was lustful. The previous king had suddenly disappeared and the current king’s brother was next in line to inherit the throne, but he was suddenly demoted to a mere guard because of treason.

Once in power, the lizardman king gathered females from all over the dungeon to try and breed with. Whether it was female humans, lizardmen, rats, bugs, hyenas, undead creatures, bats, or those moving rocks, the king was trying trying to breed with all of them. No one knew the lizardman king’s goal but our goal was simple. We were going to save the humans being kept captive in the building.

We run past the guards and send ourselves onto the roof with wind magic. There were too many lizardmen for us to handle so we decided to stealthily sneak in and then get out. A hole was cut through the roof and we enter the building. We stood atop a wooden beam but couldn’t see anything. The room was pitch black and there was a foul odor invading our nostrils. It was the smell of rotting corpses.

“Fifi…”

“Mom! Wake up! Don’t leave me by myself! MOM!!!”

Before I could even ask Fifi to scout the room, I hear a girl screaming. A lizardman’s screeches quickly follow, but now I know where the captives are. We jump down the beam and follow the sounds of a girl’s sobs.