Chris laid on the cold, hard floor.

As a punishment for attempting to flee, Chris and his followers were sent to the deepest and darkest caves of the mines. They barely had any food or opportunity to see the sun. Liam intended on exhausting whatever value they had and simply getting rid of them.

Chris’ entire body burned, but he didn't mind that too much. Over several days, the guards that watched over them gladly tortured them with any chance they got. His most several injuries were on his chest, where the Sullivans burned him at the pole two days ago. It still hurt like hell, and every contact made him feel like his skin was falling off. Then again, at this point, he just didn't care anymore.

All hope was lost. All he had left was hatred and rage.

Footsteps occurred behind him. Chris turned over and found three guards walking over. They were holding whips.

The teenager sighed. He should’ve known he wouldn’t be allowed to get a good night of sleep. Still, he worked to hold a straight face. There was nothing else he could do.

The three guards looked at Chris mockingly. As the infantrymen of the lowest level, these guards didn't have much opportunity to get some fun. Being granted the opportunity to mutilate someone was rare. They knew they would enjoy this.

One of the guards took out a piece of paper wrapped object from his pocket. He peeled off the paper to reveal a piece of baked meat. The smell immediately filled the tunnel.

Chris’ eyes twitched. He hasn’t eaten well for days, and he was working hard almost every minute he was awake. He was starving. The piece of meat attracted him more than a mountain of gold right now.

His expression changed when the soldier dropped the piece of meat on the floor.

“Oops.” The soldier smirked viciously. “Sorry. I guess you’ll just have to eat it from the ground. Then again, this won’t make a difference for a rat like you.”

Chris’ fist tightened. He glanced at the meat but didn't move.

“I’m going to kill you.” He merely stated.

“Well, good luck on that. Speaking of kill...”

The guards exchanged a look before approaching Chris. Just as they were about to do something, they suddenly heard footsteps from behind. They turned around and found a fellow guard walking over with his back facing the trio.

“John? What is it?”

One of the guards frowned. When there was no answer, he walked over and tapped the guard.

As if the tap led to a domino effect, the guard collapsed onto the ground. A deep wound was in his chest.

The other guard’s eyes widened as multiple figures approached around the corner. He dropped his whip and reached for his blade, but before he could do that, a spear went through his neck and ended his life.

The other two had the time to drew their blades. Just as they were about to strike back, Chris leaped onto one of them from the back. He wrapped one arm around the guard’s neck and pulled out his sword with the other. He easily slit the man’s throat and held him still as he struggled for breath.

“I told you so.” He whispered before completely beheading the guard, partly for just in case and partly because he enjoyed it.

The other guard survived two seconds longer before being dissected by the militias.

Chris finally let go of the body and turned to the teen that came to rescue him, whose militias have already secured the tunnels.

“Can you still fight?” Chris’ rescuer was a tall redhead. She flipped two daggers in her hands. The third guard’s corpse was still twitching, and the girl casually stepped on the corpse’s neck and pushed down, causing a series of cracking sound.

Chris smiled coldly. The way he executed that guard painted his face full of blood, but he didn't seem to be bothered at all. He picked up the sword from the other fallen guard.

“Always.”

“Get this wagon loaded!” Jonah screamed as his servants loaded up a large, horse-drawn wagon. The content of the cart was covered by pieces of clothes, but from time to time, when the wind blew by and lifted the curtain, anyone could see the cart was filled with minerals.

When he heard the situation wasn’t going well, Jonah didn't hesitate to run. If Liam fled, he would be executed for abandoning his duty. But Jonah wasn’t a soldier. He was an advisor. There was simply nothing he could do here. Plus, if it comes to it, Jonah could always just take these minerals, trade them for gold, and hide somewhere. Almost anything could beat being ripped apart by angry slaves in rebellion.

All the minerals on the cart were results of years of corruption.

Sophia walked behind him. A chain was around her neck and her wrists. She scanned the surrounding, looking for a way to escape. But when Jonah turned around and caught her glancing around, he didn't hesitate to whip her.

As the girl screamed, Jonah couldn’t help but feel a sickening sense of pleasure. He didn't enjoy having to run away one bit, but if anything could make him feel better, it was the scream of his victims.

Suddenly, a figure appeared behind a line of now empty tents. Jonah tensed up at first, but he relaxed when he realized it was Raymond, the slave that betrayed his own people.

Truth to be told, Jonah was mostly afraid of seeing rebels or soldiers. Rebels would obviously want to feast on his flesh, and soldiers wouldn’t be too happy that he was fleeing when they were fighting to the last moment. During the heat of the battle, the rule of law might be weakened. Any soldier could suddenly decide to kill Jonah and his servants and take the minerals for themselves.

Raymond was different. He was alone. Also, judging from what he did, he was a coward. He would never risk his own life by making an attempt on the wagon.

Jonah took a breath of relief and turned back to the wagons, ignoring Raymond. Sophia looked at Raymond in disappointment. Suddenly, she saw multiple figures moving from behind Raymond.

“My lord!” One of the servants saw it as well. Under his horrified eyes, dozens of militias in purple clothes charged out. They immediately charged forward and executed the servants. Servants weren’t soldiers. They had neither the number nor the strength to resist. When they tried to flee, they realized the enemies have them completely surrounded and were coming in from all directions. They were quickly slaughtered to the last.

When the screams died down, only Jonah and Sophia were standing.

“Raymond? What are you doing?” Jonah demanded while nervously glancing at the shiny spears of the militias. “Vice Commander Liam treated you well...no no no!”

Raymond stuck his knife into the advisor’s left eye. As the man collapsed, a satisfied grin appeared on Raymond’s face. However, his grin changed when he turned back to Sophia.

“Sophia,” He paused and lowered his head. “I’m sorry for what I did.”

“You betrayed Chris!” Sophia remembered what she saw several days ago. “They were captured and tortured because of you!”

“I had to do what was necessary to survive.” The man replied. “I don’t enjoy what I had to do. Just like you don’t enjoy being the personal toy of this pathetic sack of meat, I don’t enjoy being a traitor either.”

“I didn't choose to be enslaved!”

“And I didn't choose to be a tattle-teller either.” Raymond sighed. “When I was brought to Liam, I either had to strike a deal with him or I was dead. I was too weak to try to escape with Chris. If they made it out, Liam will no doubt unleash his frustration on me, especially if I made a deal with him but failed to tell him about the escape.”

He turned around and glanced at the militias. “But that’s changed now. Liam gave me a chest of gold. How stupid of him. I used the gold to summon soldiers. Now I have an army. We can join forces with the others and take down these Sullivans. This nightmare will be over soon.”

“You just realized we’re going to win, so you decided to join us.” Sophia suddenly realized where Raymond’s sudden change of heart came from. “You’re a turncoat! You joined the Sullivans because they were the victors then, and now they’ve lost you’re joining us!”

Raymond tapped his head and changed the topic. “Do you want to win this battle or not? I have a hundred men. Give me your word, and I will lead them into battle.”

“What word?”

“You have to promise me that you’ll tell the others I had no choice. Tell them to accept me back into the group.”

While Sophia spent most of the time in the camp being enslaved, she used to be the leader in the class, along with Patel. She was seen as the smartest girl in the class. People listened to and trusted her. Circumstances changed, but her influence remained. Raymond knew he would likely be untouchable with an army behind his back, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

Sophia frowned. A part of her wanted Raymond to pay for his betrayal, but she knew that was impossible. Plus, the screams from the middle of the camp, where the two sides were clashing, wasn’t quieting down anytime soon. Sophia couldn’t see how the battle was going. All she knew was a hundred fresh troops could certainly change the field of battle.

“Deal.”

Sullivan forces and militias were at each other's throat all across the center of the camp. At this point, the formations have been shattered, and men were simply wandering around the field, attacking any enemy they met. Countless were stabbed in the back by one enemy while facing another. Commanders from both sides were fighting in the field, and there was little coordination. The entire thing was a mess.

The two reinforcements quickly turned the tide of the battle.

Chris, his followers, and the girl that rescued him, Isabella, charged into the field with two dozen militias. The man was a beast. Days of torture only seemed to have made him more zealous. The fear he once had while facing Sullivan soldiers was turned to rage, and this rage allowed him to move faster and strike harder.

A Sullivan soldier was in his way. Chris jumped on top of him with reddened eyes and struck down repeatedly with his double blades. The soldier tried to protect himself by raising his weapon to meet Chris’ blades, but the man’s attacks were relentless. Eventually, the soldier’s arm was numbed and he failed to recover from one of the strikes quick enough. The follow up hit almost severed him into two. It was almost because there was still a string of skin attaching the two parts.

His followers were equally violent. They attacked fearlessly and quickly mauled down multiple Sullivan soldiers.

Isabella was more agile. She seemed to be dancing rather than fighting. Whenever a Sullivan soldier tried to strike her down, she would get out of the weapon’s way as delicate as a ballerina before slicing down on the hand holding the sword. When the soldier dropped his weapon and was defenseless, Isabella would go for the neck.

Of course, none of the teens were really experienced, but the Sullivan soldiers were uncoordinated and confused. Several of them were struck in the back while others mostly engaged the teens one by one. They were also exhausted after fighting the militias. If they were still fresh troops in a tight formation, Chris and Isabella would find themselves decimated.

When Raymond and his men entered the field, it was the last breaking straw. The additional men was great, but the reinforcement did the most damage to the morale of the Sullivan soldiers. The soldiers held their ground expecting reinforcement. At the very least they hoped their foes would lose this war of attrition first. The new troops shattered that dream and sent them fleeing.

Liam was killed. It was anticlimactic. One of the militias managed to jam a spear into his leg. When Liam collapsed, a teen was able to stick a sword into his neck, practically taking his head off. Without his head, the Vice Commander died just like any other one of his underlings.

When the smoke finally cleared, over a hundred militias laid dead in the field. Out of the three hundred Sullivan guards, two hundred and eleven perished. The rest were all taken prisoners.

The teens have successfully taken over the mine.

But just as they dropped their weapons and sat down on the blood-soaked ground, ready to take a breath of relief, they found a young man running toward them.

“Guys?” Jerry announced as he came closer. “We have a problem.”