The Red Hand

"Ya know, I thought my first trip to an Isekai world would encompass some monster slaying, sightseeing, and maybe a bit of adventuring, but here I am hunting down slavers." Eris sighed. She'd crossed over along with Ayame and Mixu to help rescue the remaining Spirits from their enslavement at Akagi's request. They'd been working alongside Sakura and Hikari, who'd been primarily responsible for tracking down the Spirits in question, and they were staking out a large mine where intel suggested at least half of the workforce were Spirits. Originally Akagi hadn't wanted any of the former players involved, but due to manpower shortages she had no choice but to ask, and was surprised by their enthusiasm.

"Meh, it could be worse." Ayame chuckled as the two of them looked down at the mine with pairs of night vision binoculars. "At least this Quest involves us actually doing something good and helping people, plus the reward is nice." She smirked as she imagined using the new pair of blades Akagi promised her.

{She even said they had features to store up damage to use later! I can't wait to use those to hunt monsters after those Gods get their ass kicked.} (Ayame)

"Yeah, at least Akagi knows how to make things interesting." Eris agreed. They'd been promised unique items and other interesting items if they helped find Spirits, and the two jumped at some of the more interesting rewards Akagi offered.

"Such wonderful people you two are." Mixu's voice crackled over their earpieces. "You're telling me that the 'Great Hero Eris' doesn't rescue innocent slaves for free and requires a reward? Foreshame, Eris. Foreshame."She laughed.

"That remark might hit a bit closer to home if you hadn't done this in exchange for that sniper you're using." Ayame retorted.

"Hey, this is a sniper that will free the oppressed masses. That it can be used for personal tasks is completely incidental to its primary use." Mixu said with a chuckle.

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<Sakura POV>

"Why did we have to bring those three with us?" Sakura sighed as she and Hikari leaped from tree to tree as they scouted out the mines. They'd been staking this place out for days and were finally ready to break in and free the captive Spirits. "We can handle this ourselves."

"They're not so bad." Hikari said with a wry smile. "Just chatty, and their power isn't anything to sneeze at." She figured having two raging barbarians would be useful, and Mixu was a powerful ranged ally.

"I still don't see why Lady Akagi assigned them to us." Sakura said as the two landed on a large tree branch and began surveying the mine's outer walls with night vision goggles. There were plenty of guard patrols, and the entire site was crawling with Demon soldiers. Sakura had tracked this place down after interrogating a few local merchants, and they'd uncovered that the Spirits were being forced to mine heavily toxic metals due to their resistance to poison.

"I count, one, two, three, four... five heavily armored guards with what looks like magic-resistant armor and heavy clubs." Hikari said as she scanned over the mine. "I don't see any Spirits though."

"They must've been taken into the mine for the night." Sakura commented. They'd been watching this place out a few times to get a feel for how many guards there were, as well as how many Spirits were being held prisoner, and they both figured this would be an easy and straightforward job since it didn't look especially well defended. "One of the guys I beat info out of last night said they keep them in cells below ground. So I'd hazard a guess that's where they are."

"Makes sense. Some have wings, and others are large enough to be annoying to fight in an open space. The best thing would be keeping them below ground all day, but then they'd probably die from fumes and lack of sunlight." Hikari agreed as the appearance of a larger Demon wearing golden armor caught her eye. "Ooop. We got the warden on deck tonight." She laughed. "That idiot probably thinks that armor makes him look cool, but all it does is paint a nice target on his back."

{Flashy armor is so lame!} (Hikari)

"Yeah, he reminds me of that idiot General we took out north of Pyongyang. The dumbass had so many medals on that uniform that he practically glowed in the moonlight." Sakura laughed. "But enough joking at our enemy's' expense, you ready?"

"As always." Sakura replied as she put her goggles in her pack.

"What about you two lovebirds?" Hikari asked over the radio.

"We're getting paid to smash up a bunch of guards and save people, so yeah we're ready." Eris said.

"Just tell me which ones you want to die without knowing they were even hit." Mixu commented. She was sitting on a perch several miles away and had a clear view of the entire mine. There was a bit of worry that the former players would hesitate to kill actual people, even if they were Demons rather than Humans, but surprisingly when the time came none had any qualms with putting someone down. A fact that Akagi attributed to their minds being influenced, at least partially, by their new bodies.

"Then, let's begin." Hikari said as her lips curled into a nasty grin.

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*YAWN*

"Man, it's fucking boring out here..." One guard said as he yawned loudly. "Why'd we have to get stuck on guard duty for a bunch of Spirits? I'd much rather be part of that big Army the Princess is gathering."

"I don't know, man. Sitting here is boring, and the food and pay aren't great, but at least we're not going to get killed in a war." Another guard said, disagreeing. The two were standing atop a large metal gate that formed the only connection between the camp that surrounded the mine and the forest surrounding it. Neither had seen anything of note during the weeks they were deployed here, and guard duty was usually regarded as boring, if safe, work. "I'll take an easy paycheck over getting maimed or killed any day of the week."

"Fair, and it'd be even easier if we didn't have that wannabe General as our Warden." The guard retorted as he took out his water skin and took a drink. "That bastard thinks he's hot shit when he's just the jailer of a bunch of slaves in a mine in the middle of bumfuck nowhere."

{He even wears that gaudy armor!} (Guard)

"Hey, keep it down. Or said idiot will hear us and make us clean the toilets again." The other guard hissed. “I'd rather not be on cleaning duty for another week!”

"I'm just sayin man, I'm just sayin." The guard laughed. "He's definitely the kind of man to kiss his superior's-" He paused as he noticed two women, one with long red hair and the other with short blue hair appear from the tree line. "We weren't expecting visitors, right?"

"No, and especially not human ones." The other guard said as the two women approached the gate. "Halt! I don't know who you are but turn around! This is a secure facility and only those approved by Duke Regezold! Come one step closer and I'll-" His words came to an abrupt stop as a bullet went through his temple and came out the other side, his body slumping to the ground.

"Grem!" The other guard screamed before being dropped in a similar manner.

"Did you have to ruin the fun, Mix?" Eris sighed as she and Ayame approached the metal gate. The Vampire's shots were nearly silent and it seemed that the mine's other guards weren't aware that two of their own just died. “I would've liked to tear them apart myself.”

"I'm aware that you did, but I didn't want them activating that signal flare next to them. The last thing we need is them summoning reinforcements from any of the nearby towns." Mixu chastised them for being reckless, which they retorted was part of their identity.

"Oh well, it's not like there isn't plenty more where that came from." Ayame smirked as she nodded to her wife. "Ready?"

"Oh fuck yeah." Eris snickered as the two activated their rage and kicked down the massive doors sending them flying into a group of guards on the other side, crushing them into paste.

"Last place pays for dinner?" Eris said as they leaped onto the destroyed door.

"I hope you brought enough coin because I got a feeling that I'm going to work out an appetite." Ayame grinned as she eyed up the terrified guards.

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"Well... At least they got everyone's attention." Sakura said as she and Hikari leaped between shadows. The mines were in an uproar as guards flooded out of their barracks, and due to the sudden attack, many were unprepared for combat. The Ninja were largely undetectable by mundane means anyway, but there was concern that magical barriers or alarms would be present due to the Spirits and detect them.

"That's what you get when you point Barbarians at a location and tell them to go wild." Hikari said as they slipped past a group of guards, entering the mine through large double doors as they rushed out. "Now we just need to find the slaves, and once we do that then we can clean this place out."

"They should be down a few floors based on what that merchant said, come on." Sakura motioned for her to follow and the two silently slipped between the floors of the mine. It was large, dark, and open within and it was easy enough to slip past guards or assassinate and drag their bodies off if they were in the way. They were worried that the slaves would have some kind of device implanted in or on them that could kill them, and so wanted to keep their presence within the mine hidden until they secured them. Most of the guards that patrolled the mine had exited to deal with the rampaging Barbarians, and the few that remained were either eliminated or bypassed.

"Where are they keeping the slaves?" Hikari said as she slit a man's throat before tossing him down the mine shaft into the darkness below. "This place is big, but why can't we find them?"

{We should be able to sense their magical energy even if its restrained by collars, so where are they?} (Hikari)

"I was told they're kept in cages, and I can't imagine they'd keep them in an out-of-the-way place since that would be a hassle." Sakura hadn't seen any sign of the Spirits either. "They're still here, I know that. We never saw them take any Spirits away, so they're inside the mine, somewhere."

“Split up and get looking.” Hikari said to Sakura, and after searching for a bit longer, Hikari called her partner back over to her via the radio. "You hear that?" She put her finger to her lips, and Sakura used her big ears to listen. It took a moment but she could hear the faint sound of wind whistling through the mine.

{Wind? This deep?} (Sakura)

"It's coming from over there." Hikari pointed to what looked like a supply storage area. There were boxes with food and other useful items, and it looked completely ordinary.

"Is there some kind of connection to the outside down here?" Sakura asked as Hikari began feeling the back wall.

"No, but I think. Ah." Hikari smirked as her hand went through a portion of the wall. "No wonder we couldn't find it." She stepped through the wall, followed closely by Sakura, into a large room with dozens of Spirits in cages.

"An illusion that blocked our senses. I see." Sakura felt a light breeze wash across her face as she looked around.

{Ah, that wind magic is probably to keep the air in here from growing stale. This deep in the mine you run the risk of toxic particles kicking up and poisoning people, plus the general lack of oxygen.} (Sakura)

"Let's get them free." Hikari said as she slowly moved into the center of the room. "It will take a few trips, but we should be able to-" Before she could finish her sentence the Ninja reacted to an attack and leaped out of the way just in time to avoid a massive halberd that slammed down onto the ground where she was a moment prior.

"Ah, I was wondering where he was." Sakura said as the golden-clad Demon Warden lifted and spun his halberd.

“Yeah, it was wishful thinking that the lovebirds were dealing with him.” Hikari said as she landed in front of Sakura.

"I had a feeling that this was a rescue attempt." The Warden's gruff voice was distorted by his helmet. "Though it's surprising to see Beastkin being the ones to do it. Did the Empire send you? Who are you working for?"

"I see no reason to answer any of your questions." Hikari said as she drew one of her daggers.

"Well, it doesn't matter if the Empire or Northwind sent you." The Warden said as she spun his halberd. "I'll kill you all the same."

"You want me to help?" Sakura asked sarcastically. "He seems really tough, and I'd love to test out my new swords." She said as she pat the two katana at her waist.

"Just stand there and look pretty, I'll be done with this in a flash." Hikari said as she took a stance, flipping her dagger into a reverse grip.

"I don't know whether you're brave or stupid to face me alone." The Warden laughed. “But I shall honor your death wish.”

"Funny, I could say the same thing to you." Hikari smirked as the two leaped toward each other, clashing.

*BANG*

The two clashed with Hikari easily blocking his large weapon with her small dagger, deflecting it and knocking him off balance.

"Bastard! I'll get you for-" The Warden paused as he looked down to where Hikari was a moment prior. "Where did you-"

*STAB*

"You dropped your guard." Hikari said as she drove her blade into the side of his head, easily piercing his helmet and killing him in one swift blow.

"Well, that went about as quickly as I expected." Sakura said as Hikari kicked the Warden's body to the side. "He really was all bark and no bite, too bad."

"He wasn't important enough to warrant our time." Hikari said as she cleaned his blood off her dagger. "Though it looks like our little clash woke the prisoners up." She scanned over the, now awake, slaves. "Let's get them to the surface. Eris and Co should be done clearing out the rest by now."

{More like they've burned the entire base to the ground...} (Sakura)