It was almost sundown and the prisoners were still outside their cells, resting and trying to recover from their traumatizing experience. They have pressed farther into the forest than they did the previous day, and many prisoners and a few guards died. Those that went to the north encountered larger variants of the slimes, called Evolved Acid Slime F+, Evolved Sticky Slimes F+ and Evolved Earth Slimes E-. Each variant was stronger and larger than the previous ones and stones didn't work against them anymore. But what made it even worse, was the fact that they could now use long ranged attacks, shooting a jet of acid, sticky green liquid or a volley of hardened brown material that could easily pierce into someones body.
To the south, a new variant of savage wolves were discovered called the Iron Fanged Wolf E-. They were faster than their weaker variant and they could use a howl ability that seem to demoralize and intimidate most people, leaving them unable to attack or even move most of the time.
To the East, they discovered Goblin Scouts F+, a variant that were faster than the others and seemed focused on intelligent gathering. They also discovered Goblin Warriors E- and Goblin Archers E-. These variants were not powerful on their own, but together, it was like fighting a well trained group of bandits as they ambushed and used combat tactics to drive them back.
Many of the prisoners have lost their friends and barely escaped with their lives, making it back to the Sanctuary. But they knew, they knew that they would have to repeat this hell the next day. A strange rumour was spreading around amongst everyone about a prisoner who went deep into the forest alone to hunt monsters. The group that went to the west to face the imps, the group of monsters that have been acknowledged as the strongest due to them causing the highest casualty rate, said that a prisoner made a deal with the guards, that he would kill ten of the monsters and bring back their monster stones, inexchange, they would spare his friends life.
This has even caught the attention of the warden, who were standing at the west gate, along with Leo and a few other guards. None of the other guards, including Leo, thought that Xavier would succeed and wanted to put a bullet in Mickey's head and be done with the matter, but the Warden stopped them.
"No, we will wait. You made a deal, so you will wait until sundown." The Warden said sternly, and none of them dared to retort. So they waited. Mickey for his part was wondering if he could somehow slip past the guards and escape into the forest, but quickly put the idea out of his head, because even if he did manage to flee into the forest, only a gruesome death awaited.
'Come on you bastard, if you aren't dead, then hurry back before these assholes put a bullet in my skull.' Mickey thought frustratedly, not holding any real hope of Xavier returning. He had seen just how hard it was to kill just one of those little monsters, much less ten of them. The surviving prisoners were also near the gate as well, preparing to watch Mickey's execution, but soon, they could see a vaguely human shape walking towards them and within a few minutes, they could make out what it was.
A skinny man with black hair, wearing worn out clothes covered in blue blood. He had two copper daggers strapped to his legs and two copper swords on his back. As he got closer, they could see a few slash marks on his body, including his face and make out the black bag on his back.
"Good evening." Xavier said with a smirk as he looked at the astonished guards, but they quickly collected themselves, and their faces donned a neutral expression once more. The Warden stepped forward and stood before Xavier, inspecting the young man before nodding his head.
"The monster stones?" The Warden said and Xavier placed the bag on the ground, making the guard realized that it was filled. Opening the back, he took out the ten monster stones and handed them to the Warden, and he smiled.
'This scum had the time to kill ten powerful monsters that managed to kill over forty of my men, who were armed with guns and even collected a bag full of fruits. I believe he was also the one who figured out how to kill the slimes as well. He will be useful to have around.' The Warden thought
"I've fulfilled my end of the bargain, will you fulfill yours?" Xavier asked and the Warden frowned
"Are you questioning my integrity scum?" The Warden asked with a furious expression.
"Not yours." He replied, looking at Leo who was clutching his gun while glaring at Xavier. The Warden looked at Leo, and motioned with his head for him to back away from Mickey.
"Take him." The Warden said and Xavier helped Mickey up, and both of them walked back to their cell. As they did, the prisoners and guards watched them, the prisoners whispering among themselves.
"You're fucking crazy you know that. You risked your life to save a dead man." Mickey said, clutching his wound. The bleeding has stopped, but the wound burned like hell and he was sure it was infected.
"Being a little crazy here isn't a bad thing. And stop being a little bitch, you aren't going to die...yet." Xavier said
"That's reassuring." Mickey said with a groan. They soon arrived at their cell, Maria was already inside, weeping silently in a corner, but she lifted her head up when she heard both of them enter. Both of them fell to the ground and she got up to help, but she backed away when she saw how injured they were.
"A-are the two of you a-alright?" Maria asked, looking at them with fear and worry in her voice.
"Peachy." Xavier said as he propped Mickey up against the wall, he closed the iron cell door and looked around to see if there were any guards nearby, and sighed when there weren't any. He opened his bag and both he and Mickey started eating the fruits inside.
"You can have some if you want." Xavier said, offering Maria a fruit, which she gladly accepted. The three of them ate their fill, which brought the mood up a bit.
"What the-" Mickey said as he picked up one of three monster stones in the back. After a few seconds, his eyes widened as he realized what they were and Maria soon realized as well.
"You-" Mickey tried to say, but Xavier covered his lips. Catching the signal, Mickey didn't say anything and they looked at Maria and she nervously nodded her head. Xavier then took up one of the copper daggers, and started trying to pry the stone floor tiles up, which was a lot easier than he thought. The space inside was deep enough to store a few monster stones, and Xavier quickly stored them inside.
"But how did you get so many?" Maria asked surprise and Xavier stared at her for a moment. He didn't trust her, hell he didn't really trust Mickey much either, but she would eventually find out about his little stash of monster stones eventually considering they were sharing a cell. Besides, who was she gonna tell, the guards, they would execute all of them on the spot.
"I was lucky." He said, and Mickey snorted.