Limitless: New Dawn (Book II Complete)

The heavy iron door creaked faintly as Arthur slowly pushed it open, just enough for him to slip through. He double-checked his 'Map' to see if there were any guards inside, then he entered the dim underground chamber still cloaked in invisibility and finally saw people kept inside multiple cages.

The moment the door parted, all heads inside the room instinctively turned toward it.

But the slaves not seeing anyone coming inside after the door opened were confused, they were even more bewildered when the door closed again, seemingly on its own.

A confused murmur began to rise inside the dark chamber. A few of the captives even shrank away from the front of their cages with scared expressions.

"Did you see that?"

"The door… opened by itself."

"Is…Is it a spirit?"

Huddled in rusted cages, the captives grew tense, clutching at their clothes. Their wide eyes scanned the slightly dark chamber for anything visible.

The moment Arthur deactivated his invisibility cloak, the people inside the cages gasped seeing something appear out of nowhere.

From a corner, a scraggly man with sunken cheeks and a long beard muttered, "Is that a golem?" Arthur was clad in a sleek black armor, it wasn't shaped like any normal knight's armor. So they mistook him for a golem.

Arthur raised his hands slowly, then tapped the sides of his helmet. With a soft hiss, the helmet unlocked and retracted, revealing his human face underneath.

"Don't worry I'm not a golem," he said calmly, his voice echoing through the chamber. "And I'm not with the people who captured you, in fact I'm here to save you all."

The people inside the cages stopped their murmur after hearing Arthur.

Then a soft and trembling voice broke the silence.

"C-Can you really take us out of here?"

It came from a girl no older than twelve eagerly looking at Arthur, her eyes round and hopeful despite the grime on her face.

Arthur turned to her and offered a gentle smile.

But before he could respond, a bitter voice interrupted them.

"It's useless," someone said. A man in the middle row of cages sat slumped against the bars. His shoulders were hunched and defeated. "Even if you get us out of this place… we're already marked by slave seals."

Arthur's gaze swept the room again, and saw red slave seals were stamped into various parts of their body.

The man continued, "Even if you rescue us, they will catch us before we even step out of this place. And it's already too late…" His voice lowered. "They are going to auction us tonight anyway."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Do you know who holds the control plates for your seals?" he asked in a sharp voice.

It was Sylas who replied to Arthur's question, "It might be with the auction house manager."

Arthur turned to find the source. He saw it was a young man with hard eyes, he stood slightly in front of a woman who looked a few years older, shielding her unconsciously.

He didn't blink as he met Arthur's gaze.

Arthur gave a single nod. Then, without another word, he started to walk out of the chamber, he turned his head back for one last time and said, "I will be back." and slipped out through the iron door.

After Arthur left the chamber the people inside started to discuss amongst themselves.

"Will he really come back to rescue us?"

"I don't know… but let's just hope that he is powerful enough to do so."

"We don't even know who he is."

"Maybe he's some rogue knight?"

"Or maybe he's insane…"

At the back, in their own cage, Syara turned to her brother.

"Brother," she said gently, "What are you thinking?"

Sylas frowned, his eyes still fixed on the door. "It's nothing. I was just thinking… why would anyone risk their life for a bunch of strangers?"

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"You don't trust him?" she said, stating the obvious.

"I don't trust anyone anymore."

Syara sighed, brushing some hair behind her ear, she can understand his skepticism towards a stranger. She looked down at the seal on her wrist. "Still… he's our only chance. If he can get rid of the seals… then maybe… just maybe we can be free again."

Sylas didn't respond. But his fingers curled tightly around the bars, his knuckles whitening.

…

Arthur exited the chamber and closed the door behind him quietly, his 'Map' appeared before his vision again.

He identified the closest guard and sneakily approached him and hit him with a neurotoxin coated needle.

The guard didn't even see him coming. A tiny needle emerged from Arthur's armored finger and jabbed into the man's neck. The guard finally felt the attack and tried to struggle, but Arthur covered his mouth from his back and held him in place, his body finally seizing up and he collapsed silently, completely paralyzed.

Arthur caught him before his body could hit the floor. And with a quick gesture, he stashed the unconscious guard inside one of the cells inside the Spear of Heaven.

Then, he removed his armor. And the nanobots on his clothes reconfigured itself into a perfect replica of the guard's uniform. His face also morphed into the guard's face, down to the stubble and scar on his brow.

Arthur rolled his shoulders and adjusted the collar.

He glanced at his map, and started to walk towards where he can sense the strongest life signature.

…

Arthur had disguised as a guard for several reasons, one among them is because even with his camouflage ability and Chi concealment, there was always the risk of his position being found out. He wouldn't be surprised if there were some extremely sensitive mages or trained Chi users walking these halls.

He didn't want to take his chances as he was not aware of the abilities the guards possess and the more he went deeper in the auction house the stronger the guards appeared.

So he thought it was better not to test it, and just blend in with the guards.

He passed by a few guards as he moved through the corridors, while pretending to be patrolling the place. The uniform and disguise helped, but what truly kept him hidden was the constant change in his disguise.

Every few turns, his appearance shifted into a different guard. If he was not constantly changing his disguise the guards would have easily found him out, as each guard was designated a separate position to patrol.

After more than ten minutes of avoiding most of the patrolling guards, he finally reached where he figured the main office of the auction house was.

According to his map, the room ahead had two life signatures, and he can even hear them talk from outside the door.

From the strong life signature he can sense one was probably a 7th circle Mage and another probably a Peak level Martial artist, both on a similar power level.

Although they were no pushovers, he can easily take them out, but that would cause a lot of commotion and he does not want that.

Arthur stood outside the large double-door, pressed against the wall. Through the gap at the bottom, muffled voices slipped through.

"Make sure the duke's agent gets the front-row seat. He's already offered five platinum for that pair of sisters."

Arthur frowned. They were already discussing buyers for the slaves inside, he needed to act fast.

He looked around and silently released a cluster of nanobots carrying extremely strong neurotoxin with them.

Arthur guided the swarm gently toward the base of the door. The nanobots flowed through the gaps on the door, dispersing silently into the room and invading the body of the two present there through the air.

He really wanted a spell that can create a domain of silence for situations like this, it would have been much easier that way, but you can't have everything handed to you.

After the nanobots invaded their bodies they started to release doses of neurotoxins. The auction house manager finally realized something was wrong with his body and tried to call for the guards in a slightly slurred speech, "...what the hell is… ngh… happening…? G..Guar…"

But before he could shout, Arthur pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The manager, a tall man in a lavish red robe, was clutching his desk, and eyes fogging over. Beside him, a muscular woman with short grey hair, who appeared to be the guard captain, was already slumped halfway out of her chair, trying to drag herself toward the door.

The manager, seeing a guard enter the room, said while trying desperately to stay awake, "Help...me..."

But Arthur shut his mouth and raised both of them off the ground using telekinesis. Seeing the guard attacking him, he realized the situation and started struggling.

Arthur walked up to him, now fully in view, "Let's not wake the whole building, shall we?"

He continued. "I'm going to ask once, where are the control plates for the slave seals?"

The manager's eyes widened with a mix of panic and realization. This man was after the slaves, but he didn't want to give them away as they cost a lot of money to buy and they were going to auction them away tonight. If they were unable to deliver them, they would have no credibility left in the market.

Arthur sighed and said. "So it's the hard way then."

He raised his hand, golden lightning gathering around his palm. And just as he was going to place it on the head of the manager, he paused and retracted his hand.

Instead, Arthur reached for the manager's hand and yanked off his spatial ring. The man immediately tried to shout through the grip Arthur held on him, but he was unable to move even a single muscle.

Arthur broke the ring's seal in a second, and mentally sifted through the contents. There were a few artifacts, mana stones, and currency of this kingdom. Finally he noticed the palm sized control plates that are used to control the slaves.

He pulled them out of the ring, along with the artifacts and the mana stones, and then tossed the ring casually onto the desk.

"Thanks for your contribution," Arthur said flatly.

And injected a higher dose of neurotoxin through the nanobots already inside their systems, which completely knocked them out. But before he left the room, he controlled the nanobots inside their bodies to damage some of their neurons, this would lead them to become brain dead but not actually die, or at least they would become idiots. This way they would be unable to run their slave business ever again.

Arthur lowered them to their seats, then turned and slipped back out the door as silently as he'd come in.

He adjusted the disguise again and vanished into the corridors, the control plates now secured in his dimensional storage.

***