CHAPTER 56: I CAME BACK FOR PAYMENT.

Bash!

Hapia charged out of the building, running down the tunnel with guards following right behind him, matching his pace.

They were constantly looking behind them, checking to see if anyone was chasing them.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! How did they know this place? Who in their right mind would dare launch an attack on me?!" Hapia cursed as he ran, sweat dripping down his face as he moved.

If he could just get away from the tunnel and find a way to the upper city, he could finally be free and think of a way to get back at the attackers.

Thinking about the huge amount of money he must have lost from this stunt caused him to rage even more, gritting his teeth angrily at the thought.

But then, from nowhere—

"Boss, someone is heading here!"

"What?!" Hapia quickly turned around, though he didn’t stop running.

He could see Aisha charging straight at him, her blade drawn to the side as she began to close the distance at an alarming rate.

Was that the elf girl?

Hapia thought to himself.

Other than the fact she was an elf dressed in the beautiful, humiliating dress he had made for the slaves, she was also alone.

This made him grin before he suddenly stopped, the five guards around him doing the exact same.

Assuming Aisha would stop as well, Hapia laughed.

His laugh died just as quickly when he noticed she was still sprinting towards him, her speed unhaltered.

"Grab her. But don’t damage her too much," Hapia whispered into the ear of one of his guards.

Taking Hapia’s command to heart, the guard charged forward, refusing to even touch the blade strapped to his waist.

However, just as he got close to Aisha, readying to grab her by the throat so he could pin her to the ground, Aisha leaped up, doing a perfect flip right over his head.

Before she could land on the ground, she stretched her hand forward, sending an invisible slash at the man that ripped him into multiple pieces in a matter of seconds.

Blood and flesh fell to the ground, landing at Aisha’s feet.

The death was so fast that Hapia was left speechless, unable to comprehend how to react. How could an elf move like that? One that had been his slave, no less.

Hapia, now understanding the situation, glared at Aisha as she turned around to look at him.

"You’re no slave, are you?" he asked with utmost confidence.

Aisha’s eyes were fully red, devoid of all life and replaced with an undying urge to quench the revenge she had sought for years. The death of Hapia.

"It’s no surprise that you don’t remember me. Perhaps this will jog your memory a bit."

She covered the left side of her face, not a single hint of warmth there as she uttered in a calm, childlike voice, "Mummy, where is my mummy? Don’t kill her, she is all I have..."

Hapia’s eyes widened at the realization. He remembered.

Years ago, he had stolen a silver-haired elf from her parents after killing them.

But to think that brat would have survived this long... he was sure she would have been killed by the selfish adventurers he sold her to.

Now that I think about it, didn’t she scream out for her ’master’ or something like that?

Hapia managed to chuckle, an evil glint in his eyes.

"Hahah, did you come here for some kind of revenge? Uhn? You came here to kill me because you feel I am the reason for your misfortune?! Haha, how pathetic. I knew not to expect anything from demi-humans, but this is quite funny."

"..."

"If you want to blame anyone, blame your parents for birthing you as a damn elf. Hey, let me tell you something. Did I ever mention how your mother was willing to suck my cock just for a chance to free you from my grasp? I bet I didn’t, hahaha!"

For some reason, the guards began laughing as well, since they also seemed to have remembered who Hapia was referring to.

Still, Aisha kept her mouth shut.

All she did was stare them down, knowing whatever they said did not matter.

They were all going to die by her blade.

"How stupid of you to come walking all the way back to me after your mother did all that, uhn? Do elves even have brains to think? If you go on your kne—"

Slash!

Aisha barely moved her hand, and another guard fell to the ground after his head was sliced clean off his shoulders.

The blood splattered against the tunnel wall, the momentum of the severed head causing it to roll a short distance before coming to a stop, eyes wide in a final, silent terror.

Hapia’s maniacal laughter immediately died in his throat.

The three remaining guards staggered backward, their faces paling dramatically. T

he ease and speed with which Aisha had dispatched two of their number—one ripped apart, the other decapitated—shattered their confidence.

"A-a monster!" one of them stammered, raising his blade, though his hands shook. "Don’t just stand there! Kill her! Don’t let her touch you!"

Hapia swallowed hard, bile rising in his throat.

This wasn’t a slave.

This was a harbinger of death, cloaked in the dress he’d mockingly forced upon her.

Aisha took a slow, deliberate step forward, the sound of her small boot connecting with the slick, bloody floor echoing in the confined space.

Her red eyes, burning like embers, fixed solely on Hapia.

"I didn’t come back for misfortune." Aisha’s voice was low, yet perfectly clear, slicing through the terror in the air. "I came back for payment. And i intent on taking back every penny."

The first guard, spurred on by the fear of Hapia’s wrath or the sheer survival instinct, roared and charged.

He swung his heavy, two-handed sword in a wide, sweeping arc aimed at Aisha’s waist.

Aisha didn’t dodge. She simply raised her forearm.

Clang!

The heavy steel sword struck her arm with the force of a battering ram, but instead of cutting through, the blade bounced off with a screech of metal on metal, as if hitting solid iron.

The guard’s eyes widened in disbelief and pain, the shockwave of the impact vibrating through his arms.

Before he could process the impossible resistance, Aisha’s free hand shot out, not toward his body, but toward the sword’s hilt. Her fingers wrapped around the guard’s wrist with inhuman strength.

Snap!

The sound of bone breaking was sickeningly loud.

The guard cried out, dropping his sword and clutching his mangled wrist. Aisha didn’t stop. She used his momentum, twisting his arm and pulling him in, then slammed her knee upward into his chin.

The guard went limp instantly, his neck snapping like a twig. She tossed his lifeless body aside like a ragdoll.

Now only two guards stood between her and Hapia.

They looked at the pile of dead bodies, then at the single, delicate-looking elf who had executed their companions with less effort than swatting flies.

Hapia’s bravado had completely evaporated. He finally understood the gravity of his situation, the terror of facing true power.

"Run! All of you! Just get me out of here!" Hapia shrieked, turning on his heel to flee further down the tunnel.

The two remaining guards looked at their retreating boss, then back at Aisha, who was now calmly walking towards them.

They made a split-second decision: loyalty was less valuable than life. They dropped their weapons and bolted in the opposite direction from Hapia, disappearing around the bend.

Aisha ignored them. Her prey was Hapia, and Hapia alone.

She didn’t run. She didn’t have to. With a focused gaze, she extended her hand again, and the air around Hapia, who was just reaching a turn in the tunnel, seemed to distort and ripple.

"No! Stay back, you filthy demi-human!" Hapia screamed, scrambling faster.

Fzzt.

An invisible force, a silent, razor-sharp edge, slammed into Hapia’s legs just above the knee.

Hapia pitched forward with a guttural cry, landing hard on the ground. A torrent of pain washed over him as he realized his knees were completely severed from his thighs, leaving two bloody stumps behind.

His legs, still in their boots, skidded a few feet further down the tunnel, leaving twin streaks of crimson on the stone floor.

Aisha finally arrived where Hapia lay writhing, gripping his bleeding stumps and howling in agony.

She stepped over his discarded legs and stood above him, casting a cold, tall shadow.

"Did I ever mention how you would scream like a pig when I finally caught you?" she murmured, mimicking his earlier cruel tone. "I bet I didn’t. Hahaha."

Hapia looked up at her, the terror in his eyes complete. He couldn’t even crawl away.

"Please... I-I’ll give you anything! Money! Slaves! Power! Just... just let me live!" he begged, spitting blood onto the floor.

Aisha merely tilted her head, a ghost of a cruel smile touching her lips as she raised her hand, the invisible blade already forming.

"Why would I disappoint my master for the likes of you?"

"You can pay with your life."