Nora's whole body wouldn't stop trembling as she clutched what was left of her wedding gown. The last hour of her life had been a brutal, dizzying roller coaster.

She had started to come to terms with what everyone around her was saying: There are no heroes. We will not be saved. This is it. We are property now.

She had raged against them in her head, whispering prayers and bargains into the dark. She had pleaded with the system itself, begging for help. At one point she even thought the world had stopped — for the briefest heartbeat — to listen to her. But no saviour had come. Her husband hadn't returned. Despair had taken root, heavy and cold, growing deeper with every step of their forced march.

Then the screaming had begun.

At first, she thought it was rage. But no — the brute, the monster of a man who led their captors, was in pain. Arrows had hissed from the dark, and for the first time, hope bloomed in her chest.

It was fragile, trembling. Only arrows… that won't be enough, she told herself. But then a girl appeared — young, beautiful, her movements like a dance of water and light. Where she stepped, men fell. Hope grew.

Others emerged, all clad in strange black armour, wielding strange weapons. Prisoners cheered, screamed, clutched at the bars. Hope! Hope! Nora's heart soared.

Until the giant stepped forward.

The brute who had leered at the younger girls, the one whose smile had made her skin crawl. The rescuers faltered. They pushed back against him, but he was too strong, too relentless. Hope withered and died.

And then—he found the potion.

Nora's eyes locked on it instantly. Something deep inside her whispered: If only he would drink it.

A rescuer shouted, voice dramatic, almost ridiculous: "NO! He's got the SUPER Health Potion!"

The words helped her focus. Her hand shot out, trembling, as she cast the only skill she had — a silly one, meant for cooking, not fighting: (This flavour really stands out. Enhance one ingredient: +300%).

The bottle pulsed. She had no idea what it would do. Maybe poison him a little. Maybe give him hiccups. Hope stirred.

And then she watched, horrified, as the brute grew stronger. Faster. Deadlier. Her stomach twisted. I've doomed them, she thought. She turned her face away, unable to watch as those who had come to save her were slaughtered by the monster she herself had just "power-busted."

But hands grabbed her shoulders. Voices urged her to look. She lifted her eyes to see the impossible: the brute was dead, twitching and broken on the ground. And the rescuers still stood.

Hope erupted in her chest, bright and blinding.

Until the voice beside her whispered, almost afraid: "They look more evil than the slavers."

Nora followed the man's gaze. The five figures stood in black armour, blood and shadow clinging to them as they caught their breath. Weapons still in hand. Their faces unreadable.

For one fragile, beautiful moment, she had believed they were heroes.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

Hope died.

Zane dropped to one knee, gasping, the weight of his Machete dragging at his arm as if it were made of stone. His chest heaved, every breath a rasp. Sweat and blood slicked his face — some of it his own, most of it not. He spat copper onto the dirt.

They had won.

But it hadn't felt like victory.

Bell lowered her bow slowly, her hands still trembling. The string burned against her fingers; she'd drawn it back so many times she could hardly feel them anymore. She wanted to cheer, to feel relief… but the moment she looked at the mangled corpse of Blake, bile rose in her throat. That could have been one of us. What had Tarni made?

Kai leaned heavily on his Bat, his breath ragged, prayers whispered under his breath. "Protect the weak," he muttered, almost a mantra to convince himself. His armour was torn, his side bleeding where the brute's fist had found a gap. But he was still standing. Barely.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Tarni groaned from the ground where Zane had hauled him back. His face was bruised, his body aching from being slammed like a ragdoll, but his grin flickered anyway. "Well… that went bettera than I expected."

"Better?" Lily snapped. She was shaking, though whether from exhaustion or rage none of them could tell. "We nearly died! If that potion hadn't—" She cut herself off, looking at Blake's ruined body, her face pale. "I don't even know what happened."

No one answered.

For a long, heavy moment, the only sound was their breathing — and the whispers of the captives behind the bars. Not cheers. Not thanks. Just… whispers. Fearful ones.

Zane finally forced himself to his feet, glaring at the caged villagers. Their eyes darted away. He realised, with a cold weight in his stomach, that they weren't looking at him like a hero.

They were looking at him the same way they'd looked at the guy they had just killed.

Bell was the first to recover from the shock. She straightened, voice firm even though her hands still shook.

"Kai, can you heal?"

He nodded weakly. "A little."

"Okay. Then let's triage. Check who needs healing most — including the ones in the cages."

She turned toward the others. "Zane, Tarni — sit down. You two have done enough. Lily, help me search for the key."

She had to call Lily's name twice more before the girl finally mumbled back, "Yeah… I'll check the wounded first."

Bell exhaled, choosing not to argue. "Fine. I'll cover with my bow in case any of them still have any fight left in them."

In the end, the key wasn't found on the fallen near the wagons, but on one survivor dragging himself toward the trees. A bleeding hole in his lower back, his legs useless, he clawed the dirt with his hands, leaving furrows behind him. Lily balked, refusing to get close, so Zane hauled himself to his feet with a grunt and walked over. He planted his boot on the man's back, forcing him down, and rummaged through his pockets until he found a ring of keys. Without another word, he left the man squirming there and trudged back to the cages.

At the first set of bars, Zane reached for the lock — until Bell's sharp voice stopped him.

"Wait. Talk to them first."

Zane's eyes flicked up. Among the haggard faces pressed to the bars, only one met his gaze directly — a young woman in the tattered remains of a wedding dress, eyes too wide, expression caught between madness and desperation. He drew a breath and raised his voice so both wagons could hear.

"We had a quest to save you. We're opening these cages. After that… you decide what to do with your captors."

Nora's heart surged at the words, nearly bursting from her chest — but the memory of her husband's death in the town struck her just as quickly, and her joy withered.

The other prisoners murmured excitedly, disbelief turning to hope.

Satisfied they understood, Zane unlocked the first cage. One by one, the captives stumbled free, immediately seizing weapons from the downed slavers. Arguments flared over what to do: drag the slavers back to town for punishment, or kill them where they lay. The party stayed clear of it, focusing instead on tending wounds.

By the time the first light of dawn bled into the sky, Kai was kneeling beside his father, trying to channel the last dregs of healing magic after patching up Tarni. That was when the woman in the ruined wedding dress approached. Her shoulders slumped, her face hollow, she looked far older than she was.

In a monotone, she said, "My name is Nora. I just wanted to thank you for saving us. And… I'm sorry for what I did to that potion."

She bowed her head and turned to leave, but Tarni called after her.

"Potion?"

She paused, nodded, and gestured toward Blake's broken corpse. "The one he drank. I used a skill on it. I was only hoping to give him a stomach ache or hiccups. I didn't expect… that." She gave a thin, almost guilty smile. "I'm just glad you finished him."

Silence hung heavy until Tarni spoke again, softer this time. "It was your husband, wasn't it? Back in town? He wanted to come save you himself. We promised him we'd get you."

Nora's head snapped up, eyes searching his face. "He's alive? He's… okay?"

Tarni nodded. "Yeah. We found him just in time. Kai here healed him four times over."

Tears welled in Nora's eyes, spilling freely down her cheeks as her trembling hands came to her lips. For the first time since her capture, her voice was full of light. "You are true heroes. Thank you."

Before anyone could reply, glowing text unfurled across their vision.

Quest Completed Be the Heroes, Save the Day 20 XP granted.

Quality-of-life improvements to the System interface will be implemented upon return.

(You really want to accept the completion of your quest. Like, right NOW.)

Tarni opened his mouth, but before he could quip, a second notification slammed into their vision.

Congratulations! You have levelled up! Level 9 achieved.

+3 Stat Points (to be allocated upon return to Earth).

Quest Complete: Reach Level 9 within 24 Hours

Would you like to return to your world? 5 of 5 party members have completed this quest.

Yes / No

(You have 3 seconds before quest failure.)

Nora staggered back, her mouth falling open.

One moment, the five heroes stood before her — battered, bloodied, but still shining with the weight of their deeds. The next, their bodies dissolved into motes of light, drifting upward like fireflies caught in a morning breeze.

And then… they were gone.

Not slain. Not vanished into the woods. Simply gone, as though the world itself had swallowed them.

Nora stared at the empty air where they had stood. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She had never seen such a thing, never even heard stories of it in all the tales of heroes and wanderers.

Slowly, her knees buckled, and she sank to the dirt.

"Were they real?" she whispered, clutching the tattered folds of her ruined wedding dress. Her tears still wet her cheeks, but her hands shook with something else entirely. "Or… were they just another dream?"

All around her, the freed captives muttered and argued, their voices rising as the slavers' fates were decided. But Nora barely heard them. Her gaze stayed fixed on the rising sun and the place where her saviours had vanished into light.

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