“Ah!!!” Those two thugs screamed miserably, their entire bodies covered with flame. What’s more, these flames burned much hotter than ordinary, fire-stoked flames. The two thugs quickly had their skin turned into char. Soon, they stopped breathing.
Immediately after casting the spell, Reynolds charged outside.
But just then…
“Bam!” A sudden hole appeared in the ceiling of the room, and a one-eyed man wearing a red robe descended into the middle of the room. With a flash, he reached Reynolds, and then kicked Reynolds with his leg.
“Bam!” Reynolds was knocked into a corner of the cabin, hard. Blood spewed from his mouth.
The one-eyed, red-robed man glanced back at the two charred corpses, then stared coldly at Reynolds. “You are asking for death!” Reynolds stared back at the red-haired and red-robed one-eyed man.
“No wonder the organization insists on three months of special training. All of you are miserable wretches.” The one-eyed man cursed. Simply capturing an expert such as a magus of the seventh rank was not enough. To make them feel, in the deepest parts of their hearts, unable to resist any orders, was extremely difficult. If they were angered, they would go all out.
Moments later…
Multiple thugs grabbed Reynolds by his limbs, making sure he couldn’t move. The red-haired one-eyed man and two bald men stared coldly at Reynolds.
“Pretty-boy, I’ve reminded you that you need to be a good boy on my boat. But you, you make me very angry.” The red-haired one-eyed man said in a cold voice. “Peel, help him improve his memory.”
Reynolds’ face immediately turned pale.
He remembered the threat which the one-eyed man had previously made to him. The terror-stricken Reynolds stared with bulging eyes, but the bald man named Peel only laughed as he walked over. “Hold one of his hands down for me.” Immediately, the thugs grabbed Reynolds’ hands and pressed them against the deck.
From the deck, Peel retrieved a pair of steel pincers that were used for cutting through iron chains. He pressed the steel pincers around two of Reynolds’ fingers. Sensing the cold feeling from his fingers, Reynolds’ heart trembled.
“Hrmph. Squeeze.” The one-eyed man sneered coldly.
The steel pincers clamped down, and as easily as cutting through cloth, Reynolds’ two fingers were cut off. Fresh blood flowed out as piercing pain wracked Reynolds’ body.
The pain of losing two fingers was far worse than even when he had received a blade chop on his body.
Hearing Reynolds agonized moans, the nearby thugs began to grow excited. The one-eyed man sneered coldly, “Pretty-boy, remember this. Today, all I did was teach you a little lesson. If you forget this lesson again, I guarantee…you will never forget the next lesson again.” After speaking, the one-eyed man turned and walked away.
Dark night.
Reynolds was curled into the icy cold corner of the room, his body still trembling slightly. His severed finger-stubs had already clotted. The two nearby thugs occasionally looked at him, their eyes filled with madness.
Reynolds had killed two of their friends. These thugs naturally were filled with hatred towards him.
“Motherf*cker. Pretty-boy.”
A whip suddenly flashed out, aimed at Reynolds’ wounded hand. Reynolds tried his best to hide his injured hand behind his back, but part of that whip still clipped his hand. An extreme wave of pain and agony came from his hand…the wound burst open yet again. In particular, the pain of the whip striking his finger bones was especially agonizing. It was as though his fingers had been chopped off yet again.
“Enough. Stop hitting him.” The nearby thug said.
Actually, the two thugs were also afraid that Reynolds would go crazy once more and cast magic at them. However, the thug which had just hit Reynolds was on extremely good terms with one of the two thugs that had been killed. Naturally, he wanted revenge.
“I can’t do this. I have to escape.” Curled into a ball in the icy corner, Reynolds secretly thought to himself, “If this sort of life continues, I really will go insane.”
Reynolds knew that even if he was able to persevere and hold on to his sanity, the only thing which would welcome him was the life of a slave.
“Tomorrow. Tomorrow, when the ship reaches the shore, I’ll make my move.” Reynolds had no time for any misgivings. Actually, every day this ship would stop at the shore. One reason was to replenish their food supplies; the other was because the one-eyed man didn’t like to eat dry food. He preferred eating fresh delicacies. Thus, they had to go ashore to do so.
However, the one-eyed man was very careful. Whenever he went ashore to eat, the other two experts of the seventh rank would watch Reynolds.
Time passed very slowly. Lying on the floor late at night, Reynolds felt even colder. What’s more, throbbing pain continued to come in waves from his severed fingers. He gritted his teeth and endured.
Slowly, the sky began to turn bright.
Those two thugs whipped Reynolds a few more times, but Reynolds only huddled in the corner, quietly accepting the blows. He knew that he couldn’t resist. The first time he resisted, he had lost two fingers. The next time he resisted…then perhaps, like the one-eyed man had threatened, the next ‘lesson’ would be one he would never forget!
Reynolds quietly waited for the boat to near the shore.
After a long, long time…
“We’ve reached the shore.” Ringing sounds could be heard from the deck above. Soon afterwards, the sound of footsteps could be heard. Clearly, the two experts had walked down.
“Peel, you two stand watch. I’ll go rest for a bit, and then I’ll come and change places with you two.” The one-eyed man’s voice could be heard.
“Milord, don’t worry.” Peel’s voice rang out as well.
Hearing the footsteps head away from the ship, Reynolds let out a silent sigh of relief, and then he shut his eyes, once more mentally going through his escape plan.
The plan was very dangerous, but he had to give it a try.
Glancing at the two nearby thugs, Reynolds curled into a corner and lowered his head, and his lips began to slightly move…