They don't want me to try anymore.

Richard immediately thought of the Alien movies he had seen in his previous life, where humans were captured by the alien and trapped on the wall with secretions.

Good heavens, what is this?!

The giant fungal beast approached the city, and the soldiers on the city walls fired bullets in terror, but to no avail.

[Then the fungal beast trembled, and larger and larger pustules grew on its body. Finally, it sprayed out human limbs and severed parts, which exploded into the city, turning into small, frozen fungal beasts that devoured the residents.]

At the same time, hundreds of people wearing red masks suddenly rushed into the streets of the city, shouting that all spirits were empty, and attacked the city's residents together with the little fungus beast.

In this chaotic moment, you escaped with Zoe and Katyusha.

[You are trying to eliminate the fungal beasts and cultists wreaking havoc on the streets. The former are easy to deal with, but the latter, when near death, will produce a sticky substance similar to the fungal beast's body, allowing them to stand up again like zombies, making them extremely difficult to kill.]

You were quickly trapped on the streets.

[At this point, you encounter a knight who is also resisting. He finds you and asks expectantly if you are a silver-rank mage, but you can only shake your head regretfully.]

The knight was in despair. Urged on by you, he explained that the monsters outside possessed strength approaching that of a gold-level being. Your only hope was to activate the magic circle left behind by the legendary mage in Nion, but that circle required at least silver-level beings to be effective, and the only silver-level being in the city had perished in an ambush while accompanying Baron Follett on his campaign…

A loud boom interrupted the knight's words. You turned around and saw the giant fungal beast breach the city wall.

Ah this...

The sudden turn of events left Richard somewhat bewildered.

Am I about to die?

Will this be the shortest simulation I've ever had since I time-traveled?

Just then, a cold glint flashed across the horizon.

A sword light swept across the mountains and forests, covering a distance of thousands of meters, and struck the giant fungal beast heavily, splitting it in two.

Before Richard could even feel relieved to have a skilled fighter, another unexpected event occurred!

The fungal beast, split in two, did not die. Instead, it used the sticky threads on its body to lift up hundreds of human corpses, piecing them together in mid-air to form a bizarre, inverted, clasped-hands pattern.

The surrounding magical elements instantly vibrated, and dozens of crackling spatial rifts appeared all around.

As a summoner, Richard is very familiar with this phenomenon.

Is the monster trying to escape across realms because a powerful being has arrived? Or is it trying to overlap a certain illusory realm with the main plane to gather more monsters to help?

Unfortunately, he will not live to see the outcome.

The giant fungal beast's magic was quite crude; the surging magical energy blasted you away, sending you crashing into a nearby, opened portal.

You fainted.

When you wake up, you are lying on a deserted beach.

Have I left the battlefield?

Phew... We're safe for now.

But what about Zoe and Katyusha?

Richard's expression turned serious.

This simulation started off incredibly close!

Moreover, in terms of timing, unlike before when it would take several days or even years for an incident to occur, he and the people he cares about will face a life-or-death crisis within a few hours!

Therefore, the remaining simulation time must not be wasted.

He had to find out what that giant fungal beast was, what those guys shouting about the emptiness of all spirits were all about, and how to prevent this tragedy...

Only in this way, when the simulation ends and he returns to reality, will he have a chance to fight for his life!

You strengthened your resolve and began to examine your own situation.

[The unprotected interdimensional travel and the uncontrolled magic from the fungal beast have severely damaged your body, causing fractures in both legs and temporarily reducing your strength to the initial stage of Black Iron. You will need a long period of recuperation to recover.]

You look around and vaguely see the silhouette of a ship. You frantically wave for help.

The ship pulled up, and several filthy sailors carrying weapons came ashore, grinning maliciously as they saw you.

[You realize the visitors have ill intentions, so you pretend to be defenseless, claiming to be a stranded sailor, asking where you are and hoping to get help.]

However, the response from the other side was nothing more than a pair of shackles.

[Once you're brought back to the ship and see a cabin full of people in shackles, you realize... you're on the Divine Grace Islands, and you've been captured by a slave ship.]

Richard's lips twitched; he was speechless.

Oh well, bad luck is bad luck. At least I didn't encounter cannibals on a deserted island.

You were transported by a slave ship to a large island in the south, to a dirty but bustling port city, home to the largest slave exchange in the vicinity.

[And it is here that you are surprised to discover that slave traders are the true egalitarians and pioneers against racial discrimination of this era—whether they are imperial people or Vanderbilts, or red-brown-skinned natives, or elves, dwarves, orcs, or even a four-meter-tall swamp giant, they are all put up for sale here.]

Richard chuckled inwardly.

Is this some kind of black humor?

But despite his complaints, he didn't intend to cause any trouble under these circumstances.

For him, the most urgent task was to recover from his injuries, regain his strength, and stay alive to investigate the matter of Nyon City.

As long as this goal can be achieved, being a slave for a while is fine...

Because of your outstanding looks, you were immediately reserved by a local female pirate known for her cruelty and killing on the very day you were sent there.

what?

Don’t do that kind of thing!

Upon seeing this description, Richard immediately recalled the extreme stories he had learned about on e-site and p-site in his previous life.

I retract my previous statement; I cannot be a slave!

I want to run, I want it for free!

[You sensed your internal magic power and found it was still severely depleted, but you could still exert the strength of a mid-level Black Iron cultivator. And because you had been hiding all along, the slave traders didn't know you were a summoner.]

You then tried to communicate with the slaves on your left and right to obtain information, including the terrain of the exchange and the pattern of the guards' shift changes.

[Because of your brief study in St. Goethe, you can speak Elvish and a few words of Giant's language, and successfully established contact with the slaves in the vicinity.]

The following evening, a commotion was heard outside the exchange, apparently caused by drunken sailors who had lost a lot of money gambling.

[You realize your opportunity has arrived, and summon the smallest water elementals you can imagine, causing them to change shape, freeze parts of their bodies, and insert them into the keyhole.]

Soon, you will have removed the shackles and cages from yourself and your previously contacted friends.

Then you ambushed the guards, stole the equipment, and secretly freed all the slaves in the trading post.

Most of the slaves rushed out joyfully, heading straight for the inland areas of the island—which awakened the slave traders, who summoned their henchmen to capture them.

Under your command, your group failed to integrate into the main force.

[You secretly took a considerable amount of money from the exchange and headed towards the harbor—based on previous intelligence analysis, you concluded that the island was tightly controlled by slave traders, and hiding in the island's forests would inevitably lead to your capture sooner or later; your only chance of survival was to find a boat and sail out to sea.]

[Because the other escaped slaves drew the fire, your journey was relatively smooth, and you only encountered one pursuit. However, you cleverly had your companions scatter half of the money, and the pursuers, busy picking up the money, let you go.]

That's right, you only get a few coins for capturing slaves, it's much more convenient to just pick them up from the ground!

Richard was glad he remembered a few tricks and quickened his pace toward the port.

Our group has mages and giants; if we can't beat the fully armed mercenaries and slave trader guards, wouldn't it be easy to seize a larger fishing boat?

Victory is at hand!

Suddenly, countless bloody hands emerged from the ground, grabbing your ankles. You felt your limbs go weak and collapsed to the ground. You realized you had been targeted by a Silver-rank expert.

The clicking of high heels sounded, and a seductive figure appeared before her.

"Oh my, isn't this the slave guy I ordered? He's caused such a commotion, that's amazing~ Well, this way he can save on the final payment~"

What, saving on the final payment... Ah, I've run into that cruel female pirate who bought me?

This isn't the kind of free service I want!

and many more……

Does this pirate captain also have a character illustration?

…………

……

Here's another hypothetical image of Alice~

Chapter Sixty-One: What is it like to be bread?

What appeared before Richard was a woman who was both alluring and dashing.

She was about twenty years old, very tall, only slightly shorter than Luvia. She wore a captain's hat, a very short beige blouse that exposed her shoulders and navel, and fitted men's trousers and shiny black leggings, which perfectly accentuated her long, shapely legs.

She had long, wavy, light purple hair and fair skin, looking nothing like someone who made a living at sea. She had a high nose bridge, full lips that seemed to be smiling, and phoenix eyes with red pupils, giving her a subtle sense of pressure.

But what caught Richard's attention most was the white light emanating from the female pirate's lips when she spoke—those long, sharp canine teeth were definitely not something a normal human should have.

This is a female vampire, literally.