Barton and Stanley looked up, and their pupils shrank instantly.
John!
They hadn't expected to encounter him here again!
A trace of panic immediately surfaced on their faces.
"John, we had no idea! We never leaked a single word about you!"
"As soon as we saw you last time, we left Winterhold and came here!"
The fact that John had survived despite the massive bounty placed on him by the Killer Guild proved he was indeed as terrifyingly deep and unfathomable as they had suspected.
A person like him was far beyond their ability to provoke.
Barton, standing next to Stanley, quickly nodded in agreement:
"I can vouch for that! We left Winterhold together!"
John smiled faintly, giving their shoulders a reassuring pat.
"Relax. I know you two weren't involved with those who tried to assassinate me.
If you were, you wouldn't be standing here alive."
Only then did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief.
"But why did you join the City Lord's Guard?" John asked, narrowing his eyes as he noted the uniforms they were wearing.
"That's not exactly a wise choice."
Stanley's eyelid twitched slightly, and after thinking for a moment, he hurriedly explained:
"We were fooled by their false promises!
We thought joining the Lord's Manor would at least give us a steady living, but we didn't know the City Lord's Guard was this dark—
worse than any gang—and they treat us like slaves!"
John's appearance here, and the way he obviously understood what was going on, made Stanley feel that this was their best chance to escape alive.
Barton reacted just as quickly, and thinking of John's unfathomable strength, he added hastily:
"Captain Stanley's right! The City Lord's Guard is full of vicious monsters!
We boarded a pirate ship, and now we can't get off..."
"John, if you plan to take down the Lord's Manor guards, Barton and I know the place well. We can guide you!"
Stanley said decisively.
The opportunity was right in front of him—a chance to cling to a powerhouse like John!
And thinking of the secret rooms within the City Lord's Guard where countless beautiful women were imprisoned like slaves, Stanley's emotions surged with even greater urgency.
"Exactly! They're absolute demons!" Barton echoed furiously, eager to assist John.
Seeing their sincerity, John nodded slightly.
He knew these two fairly well.
Neither was fundamentally evil; the fact that they despised the City Lord's Guard so deeply showed that reality was likely even worse than the rumors suggested.
Deep within the City Lord's Guard's territory.
A series of cold iron cages lined the dim, oppressive space.
Inside each cage was a naked woman, each with an alluring, breathtaking figure—beauties who could easily rival celebrities.
But now, every one of them stared blankly ahead, their eyes devoid of light, as if they were already dead.
The cages contained only simple wooden beds—designed solely to make the assaults of the guards more convenient.
In this dim and oppressive place, a member of the City Lord's Guard was already "working" atop one of the helpless women.
The woman's broken cries for help and desperate screams only seemed to excite the fat, greasy guard even more.
"Keep screaming, beautiful!
Even if you scream your lungs out, no one will come to save you!"
he laughed wildly, thrusting cruelly.
"This is the Guard's base camp!
Who'd dare break in here?!"
He laughed maniacally, his disgusting body writhing in pleasure, nearing his climax.
But just as he was about to reach his peak, his vision suddenly exploded with stars, and he collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, a massive bump swelling on the back of his head.
Standing over him was John.
John slipped into the opened cage, gently draping a cloak over the naked, broken woman.
"Put on some clothes and leave.
You're free now.
No one will hurt you again,"
John said softly, trying to offer comfort.
But the woman only stared at him with dead, hollow eyes.
It was as if she wished John would simply kill her right then and there.
The endless days of repeated violation had already killed her spirit.
Even when given a second chance at life, she was unresponsive, more like a walking corpse than a living person.
Seeing this, John let out a heavy sigh.
A searing rage burned in his chest, making it hard to breathe.
These women—
They should have been like angels, full of laughter, dreams, and hope.
Yet they had been turned into hollow shells by monstrous cruelty.
John swept his gaze around the room.
Every single cage contained a woman with the same dead, lifeless expression.
"Since I've encountered this…"
John murmured, voice cold and resolute,
"The pain you've suffered... I'll make them repay it—twice over."
His voice fell like a solemn vow.
And somehow, the women, despite their broken spirits, seemed to find a sliver of comfort and hope in his words.
The woman nearest to John suddenly tore herself free from her shackles and threw herself against the iron bars—killing herself instantly, blood flowing like a river.
There was no pain on her face, only a trace of relief.
John's heart clenched painfully.
He carried the unconscious guard by the collar and dragged him out of the dungeon.
At that same moment—
A City Lord's Guard member named Gray swaggered toward the central chamber, eager for his turn to "relax."
As he entered the dungeon, he suddenly spotted a woman at the door, her hands chained, completely naked.
She was unfamiliar—a fresh face.
Her looks were average, but for Gray, who had already sampled every woman in the dungeons, she was an irresistible temptation.
"Nice, nice!
Harry's still got some brains, bringing in fresh meat for me!"
Gray cackled.
Without hesitation, he pounced on the figure at the door, beginning to vent his lust right there.
Under Gray's violent thrusting, the unconscious guard that John had dragged in slowly began to awaken.
His memories flooded back—
Right before he passed out, he had been struck hard in the head...
But before he could process it, he caught sight of something that shattered his very soul:
His squad captain—Gray—was... pressing down on him, moving rhythmically.
Wait... what?!
Gray hated male-on-male contact more than anything.
This didn't make sense!
As he stared more closely—
his mind exploded into chaos.
Because—
He had become a she.
He could see the soft, round peaks of breasts, the pale snow-white skin, the delicate curves—
He was now a woman!
The absurdity overwhelmed him.
He wanted to believe it was a nightmare.
But the burning, tearing pain from below was like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head.
The disbelief on his face twisted into pure, soul-crushing terror.
He wanted to scream, to resist—
But his throat was hoarse.
His mana patterns were shattered and scrambled—
he couldn't even activate his class abilities.
All he could do was helplessly endure Gray's brutal violation.
In that moment,
a terror deeper than any abyss swallowed him whole.