My Servant System

"Things just got a whole lot more interesting..."

Jahi looked around the uniform path, taking in the equidistant center and cavern wall.

"Well, I guess we pick a direction and travel for a little bit. Anput, mark a wall of a building with a deep scratch please."

The Jackalkin nodded, unsheathing the blade on her back and swinging it towards one of the buildings beside us, scouring a deep gash into the black rock.

Observing the gash, I made sure that it wasn't going to heal or anything crazy like that, nodding to myself moments later as it remained the same.

"Alright, let's keep going forwards. Again, keep the person in front of you in your line of sight. We don't know what we're dealing with, nor how it works. Come on."

Seeing all of us nod, Jahi readied her blade as she walked forwards, her head on a swivel as she took in our surroundings.

Bringing up the rear, I made sure to keep Leone's curvy figure in my vision, not wanting to find myself lost in a maze-like city.

As we walked I felt something staring back at us, making me frown.

"Wait!"

Everyone else stopped, turning to look at me.

"What's wrong?"

Jahi stepped forwards, titling her head as she glanced around warily.

"I think something it watching us..."

We had only been walking for a few minutes, but the cavern wall and center buildings were at the same distance, making my frown deepen.

Observing each doorframe and window, my eyes widened as I saw a dark shadow dip away under a windowsill.

"Did you see that?!"

Jahi nodded, staring intently at the window.

"Let's check it out..."

The city was still silent, and as we stepped onto the gravelly road, we all shivered slightly at the eery feeling of this desolate city.

Approaching the small house, we all readied our weapons, Jahi taking the lead as she peered in through the window.

"What in the..."

Slipping beside her, I peeked inside, stifling a gasp as I saw a solitary jar lying in the center of the empty room, nestled into the sand floor.

"Take a step back..."

Nodding, I took a few steps away from the Demoness, who wound up her fist.

Slamming it into the side of the building, we all coughed as a rolling cloud of dust hit us before stepping into the room.

Crouching beside the jar, Leone and I gasped when we saw the contents of the glass jar, making Jahi peek behind her shoulder, asking "What is it?"

Leaning forwards, I stared into the clear pale green liquid, watching as two large orbs floated inside.

Rotating slightly inside, Leone and I gagged slightly as two crimson iris' looked our way, the pupil dilated and almost consuming the entirety of the iris.

"Are those the Orc's..?"

Leone nodded, finally looking away in mild disgust.

"Yes... those are that Orc's eyes..."

"What? That Orc from earlier; those are his eyes?!"

Hearing Anput we nodded, before I leaned further forwards.

There was something on...

"Wait, Leone... Is that an inscription?"

"Where?"

She leaned forwards beside me, peering at the jar with narrowed eyes.

"On the eyes..."

Engraved on the edge of the Orc's crimson iris' were a few runes, and as Leone and I tried to read them we let out a shout, falling backwards as the eyes turned to stared directly at us, the pupil constricting.

"Nope..!"

Raising a hand, I encased the small jar in a thick layer of ice, only stopping when the eyes stopped moving around.

Leone took a deep breath beside me, while both Anput and Jahi turned around, worry on their faces.

"What happened?"

"The eyes..."

Pursing my lips, I kept my gaze fixed on the jar, making sure they really weren't moving anymore.

"They were still... working... Someone engraved an inscription on the eyes of that Orc..."

"Working? You mean like... someone was able to USE those eyes to see us?"

I nodded, getting to my feet.

Helping Leone up, we all stared down at the jar with worry, before Jahi said "Lets keep going... If you see something, say something. We need to figure out what we're dealing with..."

She walked out of the hole she created, leading us back onto the street.

The city was still deathly silent, and after looking towards the cavern wall we started our journey again, hoping to make some progress.

Walking down the desolate, empty paths, we found ourselves back at the building Anpu had slashed, making us frown.

"So we're walking in circles somehow..."

Looking around, Jahi just shrugged before pointing to the left.

"Since we can't go straight, let's just travel to the side."

Saying so, the tall Demoness approached a wall, rapidly leveling the small building with a single well placed punch.

Once the dust cleared we moved to the street beside us, Jahi leveling another building before saying "Let's see what happens now..."

Walking towards the cavern wall, Leone and I were side by side, the Vampire taking hold of my hand as she looked about, biting her lip in slight worry.

"You okay?"

Keeping my voice low, I glanced briefly at the pale woman, before returning my eyes to Anput and Jahi in front of us.

Clenching my hand, Leone muttered "N... No... I... I really dislike being in an unknown situation... It scares me. What if we-"

"Leone. We'll be fine; trust in Anput, Jahi and I. Really. We'll figure this out. Though I do have to admit that this whole city maze is really worrying..."

She nodded, saying "T-Thank you, Kat..."

Smiling over at her, I gave her cheek a quick peck, squeezing her hand slightly before speeding up, making sure Anput was just a few steps ahead of us.

Jahi glanced back, a small smile on her lips as she saw Leone and I, giving me a quick nod before returning her gaze forwards.

The journey was still eerily quiet, none of us feeling anything watching us as we walked.

Reaching the two collapsed buildings again, Jahi sighed in annoyance, before tuning to stare at the center.

"What if we can't leave..."

Following her crimson gaze, I sighed in annoyance as well, finishing her line of thought.

"Because something wants us to go back to the center! Hah..."

Really, it was so basic it was kind of annoying that I didn't think about it; the center of a maze usually holds something to help lead you back out, or dispel the maze altogether.

"Maybe if it's a ritual circle in the center of the city... it would be possible for it to cover the entire area. But something like that would take an enormous amount of energy to not only set up, but to maintain as well..."

Anput stepped forwards, a grin on her face as she said "Then that means whoever put it in place, or is guarding it, is strong!"

Leone nodded, however she said "They might be stronger than us though... I mean, to place an entire CITY into some kind of spell..."

I nodded as well, before sighing as Jahi grinned, shrugging her broad shoulders.

"Eh, we'll be fine~ Besides, we have a decently rounded team here."

Saying so, she gestured to the center of the city, where that building with the ineligible runes lay.

Something definitely resided in the center, but what?

Every step we took towards that building was nerve wracking, each of us warily scanning the uniform buildings on either side.

Still holding Leone's hand, I checked each of the openings, looking for any more of those shadows we had seen earlier.

Thankfully enough, I saw nothing, and to my surprise we managed to reach central square quickly.

Seeing the decrepit building looming before us, I frowned as I muttered "So we're being kept inside, not allowed to leave..."

"Yes, that seems to be the case. But why? Why would you keep people in? There has to be something we missed..."

Leone let go of my hand, returning to the inscribed wall, muttering to herself as she tried to reread everything.

Joining her, I started scouring over the runes, double and triple checking every rune that I could read.

There had to be something here...

Maybe this... Lord Pele?

Hmm...

And what about the entire thing about the dead?

Frowning, I continued to read the runes, before...

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So this is the first full week of the contract (I'm pretty sure...), and we've hit 700+ Powerstones, which places the novel in the top ~150, and somehow, someway you all managed to donate 158 Golden Tickets as of this being published, which puts this book at top 100 of ALL contracted works, or top 40 of all contracted Female Lead works...

Thank you all so much!

There's been such a huge increase in views and people interacting with the novel, be it comments, voting, or gifts! Seriously, thank you all so much!

Oh, I also have a few of the backup chapters done, which means that I should be able to release daily, but the focus of those chapters are all about Julie, Chordeva, and Ria, so no real story implications other than learning about them.

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