Kai had shot him mid air. It only struck him in the shoulder, yet that was enough. That was the power of his special mana rifle.
The Goblin was tumbling back down, blood already spurting out of his wound. Just as he was about to crash into the ground, I sent a snare at him, wrapping it around him and softening his fall.
The Force Bindings crackled as it came into contact with the ground, but it absorbed the impact. He struggled on the floor, cursing, but he couldn’t dispel it. I did not allow him.
I started in the Goblin’s direction, reaching for my belt. I uncorked a healing potion as I reached him. I was about to pour it but was cut off by Kai.
"What are you doing?" he asked me, frowning.
"Keeping him alive," I said, gesturing at the Goblin. "He’s a Dark Acolyte. If we kill him, the Dark Crusaders will not be happy."
"We’ve already killed the rest. Keeping him alive is a risk. He killed Vinnie— and he could’ve killed Braz and Elda too."
I glanced over the two other pirates. Jack was dragging himself over to them, pulling out his own healing potion. I turned back to Kai.
"I know." I shook my head. "But that doesn’t matter. If—"
"Keep me alive?" the Goblin spoke over me. He glared up at me. "You’ve killed my apprentice. You killed Li Min. We’ll never forgive you for this!"
I stared back down at the Goblin— at his large yellow eyes. He was bleeding out. It was slow, not a danger to his life right now, but I probably should administer a healing potion to him soon if I wanted to keep him alive.
Kai spoke up as I debated on whether to let him live or kill him. "He’s a liability, Melas. If we keep him alive and he escapes, the Dark Crusaders will know more than they would if we just kill him and leave now."
"But—" I was about to argue, but was stopped as the Goblin’s eyes snapped towards me.
"Melas?" he said, disbelieving at first. Then his tone shifted to that of anger, holding no hidden fury in his voice. "You’re the F—"
The Goblin stopped talking. He collapsed to the ground, grasping weakly at his throat before he fell dead. I lowered my hand, as the spell circle for Wind Blade dissipated.
Kai cocked a brow. "What was that about? You sure made your decision quick."
I sighed. "You made a really convincing argument," I said. "Anyway, let’s help the others and find this enuim."
Once Jack, Braz, and Elda recovered, we took a moment to pay our respects to the dead Vinnie. Well, Jack and I just stood there awkwardly as Kai, Braz, and Elda did. The two of us barely knew the man, and had nothing to add to the scene.
After that, Braz suggested we bring the body back with us, which prompted a discussion whether that was a good idea. I had already paid my respects, so I walked away from the conversation, choosing to enter the now blown-open storage room.
I stepped over the dead bodies of a few Goblins, and paused for a moment.
They were all dead. The Dark Crusaders were dead, and so were the members of the Elise. I stared down at the corpses of the Goblins hesitatingly. I thought I would have seen the face of Karna or Ihsan overlaid on top of them, but I did not.
And I felt the same thing about the Dog Beastkin. I did not one think of Shang or the other Beastkin slaves when I fought him. They were just… people.
People who were trying to kill me, just as I was trying to kill them. It was a terrible situation I found myself in, but I could not just allow them to do what they were doing. Or perhaps I could.
However, would I want to live knowing I allowed such atrocities to happen when I could prevent it? And it was not like I had nothing to gain from doing this— I was getting myself a free boat ride straight to the Taw Kingdom. I was in no rush, and I saved my money this way. It was for the best… if I thought lives were worth less than gold.
Shaking my head, I stepped away from the bodies. My biggest concern right now should not be the morality of my actions, but it should be whether or not the Dark Crusaders would somehow know that I did this. I knew not of one, but there probably was a spell that could link this all back to me. And if they did...
I felt my lips drawing into a thin line. Suffice to say, they probably want me as dead as the Church does now.
I glanced around the room, letting those feelings of dread sink to the back of my mind. I searched around behind broken crates and barrels for a minute, before I found what I was looking for.
"Guys," I called out once they had finished their discussion. "There’s a trapdoor here."
They came quickly towards me, with Braz carrying the dead Vinnie around his shoulders. "This the entrance to their enuim production lab?" he asked.
"I don’t know. Maybe?" I shrugged.
"Only one way to find out," Kai said, pulling the door open.
He was the first one to enter, followed by myself and the others. We walked down a short stairway, before finding ourselves in a large room
It was a laboratory; there were beakers, vials, test tubes— all full of liquid— spread throughout the room. It was even more massive and colorful than the Alchemist shop I broke into back in the Free Lands. I had never seen
