Chapter 8 - Slaves

The farms around the city made for a terrible first impression. There were hundreds of slaves being worked till death, with guards beating them for even looking at me while passing.

At the gate of the city the guards look more like bandits than guards. His shifty eyes and sly look immediately sounded an alarm in my head. They were Lizard looking, two meters tall men.

Noticing that in the line to get into the city were only people of this species, and they were all looking at me from the side of their vision, I quickly turned around and started to head away from the city.

"Halt, you there!!" The guards yelled at me.

Not waiting to see why they were halting me for, I sprint down the way I came with all my might.

"Capture this criminal!' The guard yelled.

All the guards in front of me stopped hitting the slaves and looked at me.

Taking my sword out of the ring, I turn its array on, and keep running forward, cutting everyone trying to stop me.

Given that they were so smaller than me, they could only aim at my legs, but the few that managed to get close only managed to leave marks on my scales.

After killing some dozen of guards, I finally make it out of the farms, and immediately head into the forest.

Seeing the line of corpses I left in my path, the rest of the guards stop chasing me and run back into the city.

~Inside the mayor's house of Zeher city~

"Mayor, we have great news!" Says the leader of the guards as he enters the room the mayor is in.

Sitted on a big sofa is the mayor. His round body makes waves as his head moved up too rapidly from the lap of the female servant. "What is it?"

"We just had an encounter with a Durkan, in the east gate." The guard said.

"Where is it, take me to it now!" Says the mayor as he tries to move his round body to get up. 

"He managed to flee into the mountains, i"ve already created a team of guards to go after him." The guard said.

"Ok, mobilize every unit you need, do not let him escape. Last time we auctioned a Durkan we made more money than five years of hard work." Said the mayor.

~Ragurr~

Sprinting with all my might, even sending ki into all of my muscles, to help run faster, i run uphill to the mountain.

Even so, I hear the sound of dozens of steps behind me. Looking back, I see three groups of four armed guards getting closer with every second.

I turn the Flame Armor Array on, I set it up to two thousand degrees, setting everything around me on fire, in the hope of hindering their path.

The extreme heat manages to put even these giants of trees on fire. 

The guards are taken aback, and I manage to put some more meters between us.

But it doesn't take long for the fastest of them to pass me and make a four man line in front of me.

As I get ten meters apart from the four, I send more ki to the array in my chest and forearms. turning it to the maximum of seven thousand degrees for just one second.

The four guards were with swords in their hands, and silvery armor covering their body. As I get close with the heat that even most forges can't take, the metal of their armor and swords start to melt in their bodies. But even before they've already started screaming, for their skin is melting away.

As I run over them, after turning the array back to the normal two thousand degrees, their bodies are reduced to charcoal.

Seeing this, the two remaining groups chasing me were shocked, and tried to stop giving this chase their all. But as the first did so. He immediately fell convulsing, and died.

The slave marks in their souls require complete obedience, even the slightest movement against their owner's will can kill them.

With their will renovated by the death of their comrade. They get to my sides, and start sending chains from one side to the other, hoping to tie me up.

But, even though the metal of the chain is made of a strong alloy, it melts easily as it gets near my body.

With a single swing of my hands, and the bracelet set to max, I send two tongues of fire to each side, burning them alive. 

Burning my way up and down the mountain. I stop the flame armor array, and enter another mountain, trying my best to hide my path.

After running for two days, using my ki to renew my body's energy, I need to stop for a while to catch my breath and fill up my dantian. I quickly sat on my four knees, and started the breathing technique my mom taught me.

Not even two hours after, I feel a group of eyes lock onto me. Getting up, I take my sword out of the ring, and try to find a path that I can take.

"You are surrounded, puny durkan. Stop with this useless banter and surrender yourself. We will find some good owners for you." Says guard in a clear leadership uniform. His sword and armor has runes covering it.

From all the sides comes out forty men, all clad in armor and with runic swords.

I immediately turn the flame armor array on, and jump backwards. With a quick look back I found two targets, with a strong kick back, with both legs, I sunk in the chest of two guards, smashing their insides, lighting them on fire and sending them out of the circle.

Seeing that my kick made all guards start sprinting in my direction. I take a deep breath and turn the flame armor to the max, the guards closest to me immediately fell to the ground contorting in pain as their skin and armor started to melt.

The other half try their best to stop the momentum of their sprint, but I take two steps forward, getting close to them and letting the heat do its job for me.

Dimming down the heat, I look at the only one remaining. The leader.

clap, clap, clap

"That was impressive. But this punny flame of yours is useless against me." He says with disdain on his face. "Let's see if you have any other trick."

As the reptilian man sprints in my direction, I send a wave of flames at him, only to see it getting pushed to both sides, and leaving him untouched in the middle.

Knowing that this array can't redirect the heat as well, I send all my ki into the flame armor, raising the temperature to four thousand degrees, and wield my sword with both hands.

Swinging the sword downward, into his head, I miss as he takes a step to the side and swings his own sword up, having to jump to hit my arm.

The scale on my arm protects me from getting cut, but it is cracked by the force. Thankfully the contact of the mental sword with the heart of the heat leaves it red hot.

As he brings the sword down and falls back to the ground, he rolls out of the way of my hoof stomp, leaving a crater in the ground.

Swinging my sword, with one arm, from one side to his waist, horizontally, he jumps into the air to dodge.

Taking a quick step forward, I hug him into my chest, hold my breath, and turn the array to the max.

He tries stabbing his sword into my abdomen, but the metal is so hot that the force of his thrust only distorts the metal into a bow.

His armor is trying its best to redirect the fire, but the heat is so much that his reptilian body can't take it, he is being cooked alive into the armor, and can't do anything.

Stopping the heat as I see his eyes almost becoming lifeless, I grab his head with one hand and slap him with the other.

"Hey, wake up! I know you're not dead, wake up!" I say, slapping him into wakefulness again.

"Tell me, who is the strongest one in that city?" I say, as his eyes lock onto me.

"Go to hell!" is his only answer.

Throwing him on the ground, I place my front hooves on top of his legs, and let the wait of my giant body smash it into paste. 

"Tell me, and I'll make your death painless." I say, looking into his eyes.

Seeing his unwillingness, I place my big hands on his waist, but the heart of the array on his groin and start to heat up the fire slowly.

As I take my time to get to one thousand degrees, he finally starts to scream in pain.

"I'll say it, please stop, i'll say it." he screams in pain. And I stopped the fire.

"It is just me and two others. I am the guard leader, the other one is the leader of finances, that is as strong as me, and the most powerful one is the leader of slaves." The reptile says in one breath.

"How much stronger is the leader?" I ask.

"He is in the middle of ki condensing." He answers,

"Is there anyone stronger in the city? I ask my final question.

"No, everyone else are slaves." As I hear his answer, I stomp my hooves into his head and cut his abdomen open, to get his dantian.

It has fewer ki than mine, but at least will help me get back to tip top form.