His hand pressed against a sheet of paper on the ground, Ashton began to enchant a small section of the floor. But since this was meant to be a trap, Ashton couldn't just make the effect happen right away. No, instead, he made the enchantment unstable in a controlled way. Like perfectly balancing an explosive on a stick. With just a single push, chaos would ensue. And in this case, the 'push' that the enchantment needed was a particular pattern of mana.

  Immediately, the enchantment's pattern would collapse, topple into place, and would be activated.

  This wasn't exactly a powerful enchantment, though. Ashton wasn't trying to blow this place up. It would, however, make things a lot easier for Ashton once everything was activated.

  The enchantments were placed in regular intervals throughout the space, linked up with a special array. By enchanting a magic stone with a particular pattern and then shattering it into pieces along the walls of mana within that pattern, it was possible to force magic stones to let out a small, synchronised pulse of mana that could be noticed over a small distance, one or two hundred metres.

  It wasn't enough to activate any normal enchantments, and only worked once, but it was the perfect thing to topple that unstable enchantment.

  With just a single splinter of that magic stone, Ashton would be able to activate all of the enchantments at once.

  The moment Ashton finished the enchantment, he jumped up and climbed onto one of the shelves, hiding in the darkness as a pair of lizardmen walked past him. They stepped over the enchantment, not knowing a thing.

  Rolling out of his hiding spot, Ashton jumped to the next shelf over. These tall, metal shelves were really the perfect thing to use and get around this place. Or they would be, if they hadn't been either broken down by the lizardmen or used to make nests.

  He had to be especially careful around the walls, because that was where most of the lizardmen settled down. But as long as he was careful enough and took it slow, with his current stats and the items at his disposal, it was easy enough to get where he needed to. At least here. Closer to the place where the people seemed to be held, the shelves had all been torn down, so everything was a bit flatter and more open.

  But for the time being, Ashton still had to finish looking around. He reached the electronics section in time. This place was surrounded by a wall, too, though it was much lower than the other one in the far corner. It was like this was a small village, so he figured this was a special place.

  And when he got closer and started hearing the sound of metal hitting metal, of wood cracking and tape being torn, it became more obvious what this area actually was.

  Here, they were making things. This lizardman tribe had a massive amount of combatants, as most monster tribes did, but such a place could not sustain itself just off of fighting. They needed craftsmen. Monsters to make weapons, to prepare food, to care for the injured, or get rid of corpses.

  There were a couple more of these small 'villages' around the store, and from the look of it, each had its own purpose. Since they were relatively closed-off, maybe Ashton could have an easier time by taking down these places first. While they didn't have much influence on combat ability, it wasn't like the monsters here couldn't fight at all.

  Even the weakest of lizardmen here had sharp teeth and claws, and fought with intense desperation. The toughest thing about this place was the amount of monsters Ashton had to deal with anyway, and not necessarily the individual strength of each of them. Poison was deadly whether it got in you through an axe or a needle.

  Ashton continued to count each of the lizardmen so that he had a rough headcount. He kept track of the species, their locations, their roles in the tribe, and, to some degree, what items they were carrying around. The trinkets they had adorning their bodies, like the bone necklaces worn by the warriors, were a good way to figure out the overall strength of this tribe.

  If he had been given coins by killing that lizardman upstairs, he could gauge it even more precisely, but that was lost through the Daughter's quest. Even so, he had a rough idea.

  But most of all, he noticed the 'special' individuals, the elite monsters of this tribe. There were a handful of them here, but three stuck out the most.

  A komodian poison mage, an iguanidan healer, and a crocodilian warrior. Each one of those three seemed to completely personify one of their god's domains. Ashton had to try and take them down individually, if at all possible. First the healer; that was a given. After that, the poison mage. The longer that thing stuck around, the more likely it was for Ashton to fall victim to it.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  And at last, the crocodilian. While they were strong and one of the largest species under the 'lizardman' umbrella, they were also the most set in their ways. They were loyal and intelligent, but always did whatever their role demanded of them.

  In this case, it seemed like the crocodilian's role was to guard the boss monster. At the very back of the store, right in the centre of the mana well that filled this place with an almost sickening amount of mana, there was something sitting there. Ashton couldn't see it well from anywhere in the store, and it was too risky to get close and check it out. Crocodilians had sharp senses and tuned instincts. A single mistake could lead to him being found out, and that was just too risky before the people had been rescued.

  However, Ashton still made sure to watch all three of the elites for a bit to make sure he had a good idea of what tools and weapons they were using, and figure out their personality.

  Whether they were lethargic, paranoid, calm, or focused. Things like that were actually surprisingly easy to tell if you knew what traits to look for. It would also tell Ashton a lot about the way they would fight, and what tactics to employ against them.

  But at this point, Ashton was basically done. He snuck along a pile of discarded cans, torn clothes, and shattered electronics over to the wall keeping the people in. He could hear their voices as they spoke to each other. As they cried and cheered each other up.

  He jumped up and grabbed the side of the shelf, practically throwing himself up to the next section, jumping and leaping over the wall in no time. Ashton landed on the ground, barely making any sound as he dropped into a squat.

  There were around sixty or seventy people in here. Teenagers, young adults, middle-aged folk. Basically the entire range you could expect to have survived the first main quest. They lived in absolute squalor.

  They were dirty, and there were just a few buckets at the edge of the space for people to relieve themselves in. Food had been thrown onto the ground, and in the far corner, the corpses of some people that didn't survive their injuries were starting to rot.

  Even the people in here took a moment to notice Ashton, but as he began to walk through to get a headcount, they stared at him confused. A man like him would have definitely drawn attention. Compared to everyone else who was scared, cowering, and injured, Ashton was walking around with his head held high.

  "Who are you..? Is the next batch of people already here?" one of them asked, an older woman. She seemed absolutely terrified. But Ashton smiled and shook his head.

  "No, not yet."

  They didn't even have the energy to openly show their confusion to Ashton. With a click of his finger, the Backpacker showed up and gave Ashton the summoner's staff and the cloak. People pulled back, startled, but Ashton placed his hand in front of his mouth and shushed them, trying to get people to stay quiet.

  Taking a deep breath, Ashton swung the staff around. Taking advantage of the mass amount of mana in here, he drew a spell circle in the air that was much more powerful than when he made this one earlier today.

  But before long, the 'silence' spell was activated, and Ashton could feel the entire 'prison', but not a step beyond it, be contained within the spell.

  Then, he cleared his throat, and spoke loudly.

  "Everyone! Don't worry, but the lizardmen won't be able to hear us! I placed a spell on this area, so you can speak freely!" he yelled, and at first, people were startled and scared. They placed their hands in front of their mouths and stared at the entrance with fear, but soon, the first of them realised that they couldn't hear all that noise from just outside anymore, either. "I'm here to save you all!"

  Ashton glanced over at the spirit next to him, and was quickly given a bottle of whiskey he nicked earlier. He threw it into the air, and the Drunken Bear appeared. "Everyone that can walk, please come over and grab some water for yourselves! People that haven't eaten in a few days, please come by and grab some porridge or yoghurt! Take it easy and don't eat too much! Everyone who has eaten within the last day or two, but is also hungry, grab your pick of whatever else you see here, but make sure to leave enough for others!"

  The Backpacker quickly pulled out all the food and water that Ashton had collected in the store on the way here. The Drunken Bear picked up particularly the water and started handing out the bottles. Though, obviously, people were scared.

  Maybe it was because Ashton had dealt with people that mostly already knew him before introducing this guy, but he didn't expect what happened next.

  The Drunken Bear dropped the water and growled in pain, as the bottle of whiskey fell to the ground and shattered. Ashton snapped his head around and closed the distance instantly, stepping in front of the bear.

  "Are you okay?" Ashton asked, looking up at the bear. They were holding their arm, slowly nodding. With a smile, Ashton ran a hand over the spot that was hit. This was one of the reasons why the Drunken Bear didn't like fighting. They absolutely couldn't stand any sort of pain.

  With a sad expression, the bear spirit looked down at the shattered bottle, so Ashton quickly gave them another one. "Here, have this one. Take a break, okay?"

  The spirit slowly nodded, and Ashton turned around to the person that had caused all of this.

  "Sorry about that, I shouldn't have sprung them on you right away. I know that this is scary, but..." he said, staring at the young woman in front of him.

  Pale white skin and a face hidden by freckles and wavy, ginger, dirty hair. She was holding a metal leg that had fallen off the improvised wall in her hand, which she had just used to hit the drunken bear.

  But her expression, which had been fierce and defensive of the injured people behind her up until now, immediately softened into a tearful shock.

  "Ash...?" she let out, as if she couldn't quite believe it.

  Quite the same, Ashton stared at the woman in disbelief. Just like when he first heard Sam's voice through that phone call right when this all began, a myriad of memories flooded his head.

  The first day they met. All the hangouts between her, Sam, and Ashton. That time Ashton threw up on the shoes of a creep that was hitting on her at a club. And of course, the huge fight that they had just before she moved to London, leading to them not talking in a few months.

  "Clementine?"