Hacking the Game Didn't Go as Intended [Part Two]

CHAPTER 234: The Carnage that Followed

"This whole event," Reneal cut in, "it wasn't charity. It was planned. All of it. An inhumane way to get rid of the slaves and slum folk in one fell swoop."

He stared ahead, unmoving, his gaze pinned to the spot where his sister's precious friend had vanished into the ether. "But what happened to Sophia...?"

Neville's jaw flexed. He felt sorry that their companion had been spirited away, but his duty, as always, came first. He reached for the flustered boy, fingers curling firmly around his arm. "We have to go. Your safety takes precedence."

"I..." Reneal faltered, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him. But he nodded. He couldn't fall apart now—not here. Not if it meant putting Neville in danger.

Together, they ran toward the barricades.

The crowd had swelled, now a writhing sea of panicked bodies. People pressed against the erected blockade, some pounding their fists against the wooden beams, others pleading, sobbing, even threatening. The guards held the line, unmoved, spears and swords raised—not at the monsters, but at the people.

Neville shoved through the crowd, one arm around Reneal's wrist as he pushed toward a nearby soldier. "Let us through!" he barked. "This boy is Prince Reneal Ainsworth!"

The guard turned. He was young, sweat glistening on his brow beneath his helm, but the look in his eyes was hardened steel. He gave the boy one glance and scoffed. "You expect me to believe the prince would be out here with the vermin?" He spat on the ground. "Nice try, old man."

Both Neville and Reneal stiffened.

Before they could recover, the crowd behind them surged forward in another desperate wave. The two were shoved to the side as more men and women shouted and clawed at the guards.

"Please, I have children!"

"We're not slaves, dammit, let us out!"

"You bastards! Open the damn gate!"

One of the guards, face twisted in disgust and panic, snarled and thrust his blade through a gap in the wooden barricade. The scream that followed was sharp and short—a man fell to the ground, clutching his stomach, blood pooling beneath him.

Neville's grip on Reneal tightened as he pulled him back. "They're not holding the people in to protect them," he muttered. "They're planning to use them... to distract the coming monsters."

Reneal looked up at him, eyes wide and brimming with helplessness. His lips trembled. "You mean... they're bait."

Neville didn't answer.

The roar of the approaching horde rumbled faintly in the distance, a sound like rolling thunder echoing through the stone outcrop. The monsters were coming.

And the people?

The people had already been fed to the wolves.

***

Daisuke's eyes gleamed a liquid gold, the light from his irises casting a faint glow as he took in their surroundings. Cold, moss-slick walls loomed around them. One glance told him everything.

They'd been teleported to the lowest floor of the dungeon. He could feel it. The air was heavy, saturated with stagnant mana and the coppery tang of blood.

This was the boss's lair.

It's actually a pretty low-level boss, he thought, recalling the fiend's Status Window. But it makes up for its weakness with a space-time manipulation skill, which is annoying as hell.