Like any slime that was actually an reincarnated human, Jack had to understand his battlefield. In front of him, was Marcus; behind him was Ingelton. Between his opponents and Jack, there were 25 cages of different sizes, spread out in a star-like pattern across the polished marble floor.
Being in the middle of the room, Jack had multiple directions to flee.
Also the cages were not made of glass like the one of Aria, they were made like regular cells with gaps between the bars, perfect for a slime to slip into.
"Alright I know what to do," Jack whispered to himself.
Marcus dashed to the left with impressive speed, a veteran of monster hunts that made him a blur of motion. He intended to force Jack into a corner. To trap him between himself and the wall.
"Demon!" Ingelton said.
A fireball, barely the size of Jack's core, shot from Ingelton's wand. It wobbled in the air, a pathetic glob of crackling energy that veered slightly off course, slamming harmlessly against the far wall and leaving a scorch mark the size of a coin.
"What?"
Jack couldn't believe he was this terrible at magic but Marcus was closer than before and he was not as terrible with his weapons. He was less than 10 meters away.
The slime bounced away. Yet Marcus was catching up. Jack didn't want to die yet, so he slithered into the closest cage, passing through the bars. The mercenary tried to slice him with his sword but the blade hit the bar and created sparks that illuminated the room for a brief second.
A merman inside the cage was aghast by the sight.
The cage had a big enough gap to let a slime through but a human's arm? No chance. This was his temporary sanctuary. Or so he thought.
Marcus bent the bars like they were dough. The metal creaked and screamed under the strain. Each bent bar allowed the mercenary's body to enter.
"Shit." Jack bounced to the other side.
A sword strike landed right next to him, casting flying sparks. He had to jump onto the merman's tail to escape another attack. Marcus was smarter and had anticipated his path.
One sword slice came straight for the tail. Jack jumped to the left, rolling as soon as he hit the floor. He made the merman get hit by the sword.
Its tail was severed.
"You fool don't damage the merchandise!" Ingelton yelled.
The merman, despite the pain, wasn't crying; it had accepted its fate a long time ago.
Slime and Mercenary both entered cages all around them like it was a dance of hide and seek with deadly blades. Only the merman died, the other hybrids were spared. While Ingelton didn't move. He'd keep throwing fireballs.
What no one else noticed was: Jack was not entering cages randomly.
Ingelton, whose face was getting paler by the minute from mana exhaustion, had not yet realized the clever slime's plan.
Until, the last dance took place on the vulture-snake hybrid, a cage that was hung from the ceiling. This cage was Jack's safe haven for the last 30 seconds. He managed to get the Mercenary to climb up and make a fool out of himself.
As soon as Marcus got close, Jack jumped. Not to another cage, no to Ingelton. The fireball slinger was not ready for it.
Jack landed on Ingelton's face, a wet, sudden slap that made the lord stumble back, tripping over a gilded footstool. With a loud crash, the pompous nobleman and the tiny slime crashed onto the floor.
One second later, a dagger was held up to the Lord's neck. Everything went quiet.
"Marcus one step and your money bag dies."
The mercenary paused. His expression changed from a predator's glee to grim frustration. His knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword, but he lowered the blade.
Even while his heart was pounding in his core, Jack stayed on the Lord, who started to cry and wimper. A pathetic lord.
"Drop your weapon."
Glancing at his Lord, Marcus hesitated.
"Do it fool," Ingelton squeaked.
Steel blade and steel dagger were dropped with a thud.
"What else?" Jack asked to himself.
A plan formed. He was a step away from victory, but the memory of the collar pulsed in his mind.
"Ingelton grab those slave collars," he said while drawing a drop of blood from his neck. "Now."
The noble's eyes darted between the dagger and Jack, who was still on top of him.
"Understood!"
Marcus watched as the two went into the door in the back. When they returned, two collars were in the Lord's hand and 1 key. That's all he had.
"Put them on," Jack said.
Ingelton froze. Fear was controlling his mind. He trembled as he placed one collar on himself, the metal snapping shut with a final, heavy click. Without hesitation, he locked a second collar around Marcus's neck.
"Good." Jack said.
"How do I activate the pain function?" the slime squeaked in the Lord's ear. He had a guess that it had to be some kind of spell.
"Just say 'Kneel'," Ingelton said. "I'm not lying."
The fear in the nobleman's voice was enough for Jack.
"Kneel," Jack commanded.
Simultaneously, agonized shrieks erupted from the throats of Ingelton and Marcus. Figuring that was enough safety, Jack returned to Aria. Her breathing was shallow, her body limp on the glass shards.
Using the key, he had unlocked her collar and the color was slowly returning to her face.
"You came back..." she whispered, her crimson eyes filled with tears of disbelief.
[Quest Complete: Free Aria from the magical collar.]
[New skill learned: Ghost Hand.]
"Let's get out of here."
He didn't want to stay any longer here with these two. Aria pushed herself up to follow him but her eyes kept darting to the slavers. Her expression changed to something colder, more vicious.
"They deserve more than this," she said, her voice low and dangerous. A feral gleam appeared in her eyes, the look of a predator who had found her cornered prey.
"Aria. We should focus on survival," Jack said. He tried to pull her away but she held her ground. Then she turned to him and for a brief moment he could see a ghostly phantom of her fangs.
In all rational sense, killing a noble would lead to even bigger trouble than escaping. In all pragmatic sense, they would lose precious minutes they needed to escape before the whole mansion was on high alert. Not to mention Lorena and Charles were wildcards.
But as he looked into her trembling eyes, he didn't see simple revenge, he saw a catharsis he couldn't deny.
"Only the mercenary."
Aria eyes widened.
"Both!" she snarled and dashed towards them. The feral speed was back in her legs. She clawed the face off of Marcus. Blood was trickling from her claws.
Then she turned to Ingelton. The screaming noble pleaded for his life but Aria didn't care. She went for his throat but an invincible hand held her claw just inches away.
"I said no."