The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 103 Evacuation Route

"This is indeed Dain Frostbeard's Holy Relic," Vito declared, his eyes filled with fervor. "Give us more time, and perhaps we could uncover some clues that tell us the whereabouts of this Platinum Guard. The Father God would surely be pleased!"

"Sorry to interrupt," Old Reap, the werewolf, spoke up impatiently. "It's enough to confirm that the thing is alright. When you return to Twin Bridges Town, you'll have plenty of time to study it slowly, but right now, we have worse things to worry about."

"When I flew up into the sky just now, I saw the demons fiercely attacking the city," Lancelot said with a frown. "You're the local leader here, have you heard anything?"

"No more than anyone else," the werewolf shrugged. "There was absolutely no warning. The Demon Legion just appeared like that, probably using some kind of concealment magic. Wait, no wonder some of the scouting teams went missing; they must have stumbled upon some traces and then got caught by the demons."

"At least Molo has boosted the guard's strength, so this still doesn't count as a successful surprise attack," Lancelot nodded. "But why would the demons attack Oasis Fort? Just a month ago, I heard that Volcano Fortress was fiercely battling the Demon Legion. Could it be that Volcano Fortress has fallen?"

"That's unlikely," Old Reap shook his head. "'Destruction Flame' Visuvius might be a temperamental tyrant, but breaking through his defenses would require one of the Eight Demon Generals in person. However, it would not be difficult for a small troop to bypass the fortified zone of Volcano Fortress."

"What's bad is, once Oasis Fort falls, Twin Bridges Town will not only have its supply routes cut off but will also have to face the edge of the Demon Legion directly," Phil said, his face looking extremely grim as his deep green skin nearly turned black with worry.

"Anyway, we must let Lady Tijana know about this as soon as possible," Old Reap shook his head. "I definitely don't want to stay in a place that's about to be conquered by demons."

"Why don't we try to help defend Oasis Fort?" Lancelot cautiously suggested. "We're not short of hands, and these ordinary demon soldiers don't seem too hard to deal with."

"Help Molo, that backstabbing scum, protect his house?" Old Reap looked at Lancelot incredulously, trying to make his words sound less harsh. "If we succeed, that male Succubus won't be grateful in the slightest, highly likely he'll even round up all the impressive performers as spies and torture them for interrogation, I definitely don't want to attract any of his attention."

"If we fail, and unfortunately don't die on the spot in battle but get captured by the demons," the Goblin added rarely, his face full of intimidating expressions. "Those Bartez from the Nine Hells will pull out a thick stack of contracts for you to sign to become their eternal slave, and in the corner, it's especially noted that even your soul after death belongs to them.

If you say no, no worries, after experiencing seventy-two tortures from the demons, you get to choose again."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Lancelot shrugged helplessly. "I guess you guys happen to know some secret passage that allows us to slip quietly out of the city?"

The Goblin and the werewolf exchanged glances, Old Reap twitched his eyebrows, and Phil cracked a smile and spoke:

"Thanks to Molo's insane Entry Tax, there isn't just one secret passage like this. Old Reap, tell us."

"As an agent lurking in a hostile town, well, not quite, since Oasis Fort and Twin Bridges Town aren't openly hostile. Anyway, I do know several passages like this." The werewolf bartender spoke somewhat incoherently, "The first is the aqueduct under the workshop district. It was built by dwarf slaves, and smugglers dug a little path at a small corner, leading all the way to a cave outside the city.

But I guess it's already crowded with people now, so I wouldn't recommend that route."

"Then why mention it?" Bruto muttered grudgingly, "Why not just tell us the usable route?"

"I'm just giving you plenty of options." The werewolf shrugged, "The second passage is the drainage ditch of Oasis Fort, and there's an entrance to the main channel right in my pub's basement. The smell of this route might not be very pleasant, and its exit is right under the city wall.

Emerging there, we'd be in the middle of the battlefield, where both sides wouldn't mind crushing a bunch of rats crawling out of the hole."

"Sorry, if you were alone, this passage would actually be quite good. You could linger around the exit for a while, waiting for the right opportunity to slip out," Lancelot nodded to the werewolf, "But it's too conspicuous for all of us together, so this route won't work either."

"Well, I hadn't really thought that much about it." Old Reap looked very sincere, "That leaves only the third route. There's always been a legend in Oasis Fort about a secret passage under the slave pens that the slaves used to escape.

The passage does exist, but the legend isn't entirely accurate, because it was actually dug by hyena-men studying Necromancy to steal bodies, and now it's filled with packs of undead creatures, and something even worse. Indeed, some slaves discovered this passage and thus disappeared from Oasis Fort, but the fate awaiting them was not escape but becoming part of those undead creatures."

"Undead creatures? You mean like zombies and skeletons?" Lancelot asked curiously, "Weapons still hurt them, right? I mean, considering they've already died once…"

"Chopping off the head of an undead can surely quiet them, but you have to be careful, undead won't lose their combat ability just because their kidney is hit or an arm is chopped off," Old Reap explained, "But my main concern was thinking about our two priests; their Divine Arts are a bane to undead creatures."

"Good." Lancelot nodded, "Where's the entrance and exit of this secret passage?"

"The entrance is in the corpse pit at the bottom of the slave pens, not a very pleasant place. The exit leads to a hyena-man den underground in a small grove outside the city, from where we can find many exits, and of course, a bunch of hyena-men eagerly welcoming us at home, though they won't be tougher to handle than the Demon Legion."

While they were talking, fireballs streaked across the sky, and one fell on a street not far from them, smashing into the ground creating a large crater. The massive tremor caused everyone to stumble and fall to the ground.

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"That grove is also precisely the rally point we arranged with Iados," Phil said while dusting off his clothes, "The Demon's assault seems to be getting stronger. Let's use the passage beneath the slave pens and leave now."

"Is he here too?" The werewolf raised an eyebrow and looked up to determine the direction, "Seems like the choice is quite clear now, follow me."