Alien Knights

The convoy escorting the slaves traveled for a whole day and night, and arrived at the capital of the Kingdom of Ulster—Ama City in the morning of the next day.

Todd, who jumped out of the carriage, tightened the cloak on his body, looked at the army commander who was in charge of escorting the slaves, and led the mighty convoy into the city through the drawbridge, and whispered to Rachel: "On the way, the guards in charge of guarding the slaves are heavily guarded and sentry. I don't understand why Ulster cares so much about escorting the slaves, even at the expense of using a large number of regular troops."

The woman stepped down from the carriage and said in a low voice: "In the history of the Ulster Kingdom, there was once a very serious slave defection incident. The leader of the defecting slaves organized a mighty army. At the peak of the military power, he even besieged the capital of the kingdom."

Todd nodded, and asked with interest: "What happened to these uprising slaves?"

Rachel didn't speak, and motioned him to follow her.

Walking to the gate of the city, Rachel talked with the guard for a while in her proficient northern dialect, then handed over two silver coins, and immediately obtained the right of way.

Leading Todd into the bustling city, Rachel led the way, turned a few intersections, and walked across a bridge. The two came to a sparsely populated and uneven bluestone avenue.

Rachel pointed to the road under her feet and said to Todd, "This road is called the 'Path of Sighs'."

The latter was a little puzzled: "Why did you choose such a name?"

Rachel stepped on the stone slabs on the road and gave Todd a look, motioning him to observe carefully.

Curiously, Todd squatted down and looked carefully along the gap between the bluestones. Then, he poked some dirt away with his fingers, picked up a small piece of white "tile", and said, "This looks a bit like a bone..."

"That's right." Rachel looked at the road that stretched for hundreds of meters, and said softly: "Didn't you just want to ask about the fate of those slaves? Our feet are their final destination."

Todd's eyes were wide open, and he used the ability of "perspective" to look towards the ground, and was taken aback by the sight in front of him.

Densely packed bones and hair filled between the stone slabs and under the soil. If you look deeper, you can even see the corpses standing and buried under the ground.

"Thousands of captured slaves were thrown into the vertical earth holes dug in advance, and then buried here alive." Rachel looked around, and after confirming that there was no one there, she turned her face to Todd: "Your Majesty, this is not the Muxi Kingdom, this is the barbarian country in the north. Crazy, bloodthirsty, promiscuity, and killing are common here."

Todd stood up, looked at the land under his feet, and sighed softly: "Is this the so-called 'tradition' of the North?"

"That's right. I've seen your world in your soul space. It's beautiful and rich, with a stable life. This is the place I'm most yearning for." Rachel continued to walk forward, while turning her head and said, "If I can live there for a day, even if I pay the price of my life, I will not hesitate."

Todd put the bone fragment in his hand on the ground, looked at Rachel, and said with firm eyes: "Trust me, everything will come true, I promise you!"

———————————————

They found a hotel in the city to stay temporarily. After having lunch, Todd and Rachel came to the busiest and most crowded place in Ama City - the arena "Red Circle".

The "Red Circle" is the most famous building on the entire northern continent. It is located at the westernmost end of the city and covers an area of ​​more than 60,000 square meters. Speaking of the origin of the name, there is not much connotation. The soil in the venue was originally brown soil, but after the blood spattered by the long-term battle gradually became red soil, the name "Red Circle" spread.

In this place, battles between gladiators, or between gladiators and powerful enemies are staged every day. Corpses are the most common display here.

The building is designed in the shape of a ring, with the arena in the middle and stands around it. The entire venue can accommodate up to 7,000 people to watch the competition at the same time.

The building structure is divided into four floors from bottom to top.

The second basement floor (the lowest floor) is the cleaning area, where the corpses of the losers and scattered debris will be transported here for centralized processing.

The basement level is the personnel area. The daily life of gladiators, including functional areas such as dining, training, and sleeping, is concentrated here.

The ground floor is the gladiatorial area. Including the circular area as the battlefield, and the surrounding audience area.

The second floor above the ground (the uppermost floor) is the viewing area. This includes areas such as watchtowers, guard passages, and VIP stands.

After paying some local currency used in the northern border (converted into parish currency, about 16 copper stars), Todd and Rachel smoothly entered the "Red Circle" arena.

Before stepping into the stands, the tsunami-like cheers from the auditorium surprised the two of them.

Without any shading equipment, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the hottest day of the day, there were thousands of people sitting in the huge arena.

Most of them are from the Kingdom of Ulster, but there are also many travelers from other countries in the north who come here for fame.

In the arena, a duel is going on.

A heavily armored warrior confronted five disheveled slaves.

In the hands of the latter, there was only a rusty and dull weapon, which hit the warrior's armor, leaving only white scratches.

The duel didn't last long, and ended in just fifteen minutes.

The duel ended with the victory of the heavily armored warriors. The five slaves were decapitated, and the head of one of them was hung on a long knife by the warriors for display.

Looking at the bloody scene in front of him, Todd thought of the so-called "tradition" in the north, and was speechless for a long time.

Rachel nudged him, and turned her gaze to a huge iron fence at the end of the arena: "Behind that iron gate is the prison where slave gladiators are held."

Todd used "Eagle Eye" and "Perspective" to observe the structure of the arena, looking for a suitable infiltration route.

Rachel looked at the center of the arena, where a group of corpse collectors brought shovels and rammers, and shoveled the broken corpses scattered on the ground, together with the soil, onto the cart. She leaned her body and said to Todd, "Boyle's gladiatorial fight should be tomorrow morning. The Kingdom of Ulster will definitely prepare this traitor for the cruelest and most desperate battle. If you can't rescue him tonight, he will definitely die tomorrow."

Todd nodded, and put down his cloak to cover his face.

Late that night, relying on the mutated monster body, Todd walked on the almost vertical wall like a gecko.

With his feet kicking on the wall, his whole body was like a spring. He jumped more than ten meters into the air and grabbed the corners under the high platform of the arena.

[Night Vision], [Eagle Eye] and [Perspective] are all activated.

The distribution of personnel, stair corridors, and secret door mechanisms in the entire building are like a three-dimensional vector map on a computer, presented clearly and in detail.

Carefully passed through many difficulties, avoiding patrolling guards, Todd, who was lying on his limbs on the roof, entered the slave prison at the right time.

The pungent musty smell and rancid stench permeated the entire underground prison.

Looking over from cell to cell, Todd finally found Boyle in the innermost room.

This strong and tough northern man in his impression is now tied to a wooden frame. There is not a single piece of intact skin on his body, and he is so thin that he can almost see every rib.

Todd carefully lifts Boyle's head so that he can look at him.

"You are...with Rachel..." Boyle's cloudy eyes were filled with blood and impurities, but the moment he saw Todd, there was a gleam of clarity in his pupils.

Todd untied the ropes that bound his hands and feet, and whispered to Boyle, "I'm here to save you."

Boyle, who lost his restraint, fell on Todd's shoulder. The wound that had already scabbed ruptured again due to the large movement, and blood dripped on the ground.

Seeing that the other party's injury was too serious, Todd began to look for cloth in the room, planning to bandage Boyle's wound first.

"My people..."

Lying on the ground, Boyle stretched out his hand to Todd and shouted hoarsely.

Todd frowned, walked to Boyle's side, shook his head and said, "I can only rescue you alone, I can't do anything for your people."

Not knowing where the power came from, Boyle suddenly grabbed Todd's wrist tightly and shouted again: "My people!"

Todd closed his eyes, assessing the current situation and all possibilities, but after a while, with a helpless expression, he shook his head again.

Faced with all kinds of torture, Boyle, who had never yielded, now had tears in his red eyes.

"Fried saved my life from the bear's paw...Minnie raised me with goat's milk...Evans is always behind me...They are all my people..." Boyle looked at the roof of the cell and murmured unconsciously: "Leave them alone and escape alone, I can't do it..."

Todd was stunned, the scene in front of him was so similar to his experience.

On the night before the defense of Muxi, facing the three-pronged attack from the Yinhuan coalition forces, North Island pirates, and barbarian tribes, he also categorically rejected the idea of ​​surviving alone, and stayed in Muxi Town after the interruption to buy time for the people to retreat.

With trembling palms, Boyle grabbed Todd's lapel tightly, with only helplessness and begging in his eyes: "My people... help me, help me!"

Before he finished speaking, Boyle's hand suddenly dropped powerlessly.

Todd was shocked, and quickly leaned over, leaning his ear on the other's chest.

The heartbeat of the other party slowly returned to dead silence.

Boyle... is dead...