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Ch 74 Inky Crush Part 1
🕑 Added 2024-11-28 12:35:35 +0000 UTC"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! How the hell did it all come to this!" Ravager cursed frustratedly as he trudged through the damp dark tunnel under the light of a small torch held by the guard leading the way.
His neck was aching fiercely from having to lower his head so much, as whoever made this secret tunnel didn't seem to have a man his size in mind.
After seeing no hope for his pirate crew to win the battle, Ravager didn't waste any time and left immediately.
He picked up two of his most loyal guards, and after ordering his lackeys to hold the enemy for as long as they could, he disappeared into the underground passage hidden inside his treasury that even his most loyal subordinate didn't know about.
Of course, he had to make sacrifices in his haste and had to leave all the treasures in the treasury, that he had spent so long to accumulate, for his enemies to take advantage of.
But while he felt regretful about it... he didn't hesitate for a second because he knew that he had to be very quick if he wanted to survive, and if those superficial things bought him even a little bit of time, then it was worth it.
Ravager was the most vulnerable that he had been since he made his own pirate crew after stabbing his previous captain in the back more than a decade ago.
Nothing mattered more to him at the moment than his own safety...
He didn't care how much money he had to sacrifice or how many of his men died for him to survive because, at this moment, he couldn't trust anyone other than himself.
In fact, he wouldn't have even brought his two guards with him if he didn't know that they wouldn't be able to betray him no matter what...
'After all, the Unsullied are one of the most expensive slaves in the world for a reason...'
About thirty minutes after they had climbed down that fifty-meter-long ladder into the ground and walked along the winding secret cave, they finally reached the end of the tunnel where laid another ladder going up.
Sighing at the long climb ahead, Ravager turned to the unsullied guards standing behind him silently, "White Worm, give him your luggage and climb up to the top to see if there are any enemies out there,"
The unsullied on his right nodded his head with a frozen expression on his face as he gave the sack on his back to his fellow guard and after tying his spear on his back he slowly began climbing the ladder... uncaring if death was waiting for him up there.
'Ugh! How did it all come to this...' Ravager thought frustrately, for the thousandth time since he had seen the army at his gates.
It had been going so well...
He had gone up against the mighty warships of Braavos and won one of the biggest victories of his life.
He had looted a big haul from those merchant ships and made enough money from it that he could have bought himself a small slave army and even then he wouldn't have to worry about money for years.
And it wasn't like he had been arrogant and reckless after that...
No, he knew that it was going to be dangerous after offending Braavos like that so his vigilance had been the highest and he had been keeping a close eye on Braavos to watch their every single move.
He had even made plans to go to the Slaver's Bay and stay low for a few years to be on the safe side.
But then... in a single night, it had all been destroyed.
'But this is not the end of Ravager...'
Thankfully, he had always been a prudent man who believed in never having all his eggs in a single basket.
So while most people, including his own pirates, assumed that most of his wealth lay in that vault inside the castle... that was just for the show as his real funds lay inside a secret stash that only he and two of his personal guards knew about.
He had deposited a massive amount of wealth in there and as long as that cache was available to him, then it wouldn't be too long before he was able to make a resurgence once again.
'I will definitely come back... and make all of them pay in blood,' he swore to himself with gritted teeth, 'Especially that damn Advisor and whoever was behind him,'
At that moment, a circle of bright light appeared above his head and Ravager looked through the shade of his hand to see that the Unsullied guard had opened the cover to the exit and was now climbing out.
There was a tense silence for a few minutes before the guard came back and looked down into the hole.
"It is safe, no one is here," The guard replied in a heavily accented voice, instantly putting Ravager's worst fears to rest.
"Good," Ravager replied with a sigh of relief as he immediately put his legs on the ladder and began climbing up, "Follow after me," he ordered the other guard who was carrying the small sack that contained their ration and water for the next few days.
As long as he managed to reach one of the nearby pirate-friendly islands, Ravager could jump on one of their transfer ships and easily sail to the mainland with just a few gold coins.
From there he could start anew, and he was sure that with all his experience, it wouldn't be too long before he managed to reach his previous height... and perhaps he may even surpass that.
Ravager's daydream halted when he finally reached the top of the ladder after an exhausting climb, and the moment he rose out of the hole, he was hit with the full force of the sun... which after the lengthy walk in the dark, seemed particularly glaring.
"Ugh!" He groaned as he shielded his eyes, "Help me up, you idiot," he barked at the guard who was just standing there with a dumb look on his face.
"Yes," the unsullied nodded as he put down his spear and knelt down to pull his master out of the hole.
The opening of the secret passage had led them out into a small clearing filled with swaying grass.
In front of them, a mile away was the forest of tall trees that led one towards the centre of the island where his castle was, and behind him laid a tall slanting cliff that ended on a hundred meters drop into the ocean.
They were at the northernmost part of the island at the moment, and with both the ports located simultaneously on the east and west side, and with the ocean nearby being incredibly treacherous, there was very little chance that any ship could reach here.
But still, on the off chance that they managed to somehow find the secret path in the Treasury, and then reach all the way here in time, Ravager decided to take some precautions...
"Close the hole and place that rock on it!" Ravager ordered his two guards while pointing towards a massive rock almost half his height.
It took them about five minutes of back-breaking labour but the guards eventually managed to roll the rock over the exit and completely cover it.
"Good. Now, come," Ravager grunted and then without giving them any time to rest, he took off along the side of the cliff towards the east.
The three of them ambled for at least fifteen minutes on rocky ground before they came across a small naturally formed cave burrowed into the side of the cliff.
The cave was unnaturally dark and slanting downwards.
Its entrance was barely enough for an adult man to crawl through and if one wasn't specifically looking for it, it would be almost impossible for someone to notice it.
"Go, get the chest. Hurry!" Ravager ordered Whiteworm while jerking his head towards the cave.
The guard nodded and, after placing down everything he was carrying including his spear, he laid down on the ground and then without any hesitation began crawling into the dark smelly cave.
The unsullied could not even see his own hands a few seconds after entering the cave, and he could feel all kinds of worms and critters crawling all over his arms and his face.
Any normal man would have screamed and bolted by now, but the Unsullied guard never even flinched and continued going down.
It was only after he was almost two meters deep that the guard finally reached the end of the cave, and the only reason he even knew that was because his hands were touching a cold metal box at the moment.
After fumbling around for a few moments, the unsullied finally managed to catch a latch with his right hand, and from there began the gruelling process of slowly crawling backwards while dragging the very heavy metal chest with his hand.
It took him almost thrice the time to crawl out than it had taken him to crawl in, but eventually, his legs felt the air and from there his fellow guard was quick to pull him out of the cave.
"At last," Ravager sighed with a hint of impatience in his voice as he finally saw his precious dark metal chest being pulled out of the cave.
He wasted no moment snatching the chest from his guards and then kneeled down beside it.
"Go! Keep a lookout." he barked at the unsullied while hastily wiping any soil and dirt that had accumulated over the surface of the chest as well as inside the small keyhole.
It had only been a few weeks since his last visit to this place when he came to add another piece of treasure to this small chest, so he knew that everything in it was definitely safe, but he still wanted to check one more time for his own mental peace...
He took off a thin thread necklace wrapped around his neck, which had a small key attached to the end of it.
He slowly inserted the iron key into the keyhole and then turned it clockwise two times before he heard a loud click signifying that the chest was unlocked.
