Men swarmed out from every corner of the room. In the blink of an eye, we were surrounded by dozens of them. I figured most were little more than common thugs, though a few looked reasonably capable. That said, I didn't see any way for us to lose.
For the time being, I secretly slipped Allen and the others out of my pocket. I had a little job I wanted them to handle.
"You brat! What do you think you're doing?" one of them barked.
"Oh, nothing much," I replied casually. "So, what's the plan? What do you intend to do now?"
"Heh, isn't it obvious? We’re going to sell every last one of you into slavery! We only kept things civil because covering up a mess is a pain in the ass, you hear? If we felt like it, slapping collars on the lot of you wouldn't be hard at all!"
A collar appeared in the man's hand as if by magic. It was a Collar of Subjugation. Essentially, it was a threat: he was going to treat us as illegal slaves rather than legitimate debt slaves. Of course, not a single one of us—twins included—was the type to flinch at a threat like that.
Perhaps because he didn't get the terrified reaction he expected, the man looked a bit miffed.
"Fine then. You lot, get them! Try not to kill 'em, though! Especially the girls—they're meant to be tributes. Watch yourselves!"
At the man's command, his subordinates began to close the circle.
Now, how to handle this? With so many opponents, neutralizing them without accidental fatalities was actually quite tricky. I wondered if I could manage it by activating Shredding Storm at its absolute minimum power. They won't die, right...?
Since I didn't have much experience fighting people, I found myself hesitating, unable to judge the right amount of force. While I was debating my options, several men stepped forward from the crowd. These ones looked a bit more formidable than the surrounding thugs.
"Big brother, take 'em down!"
"Leave it to me!"
I see. It was a classic formation: use the thugs to block our escape, then send in the 'elites' to crush us. In that case, I should probably focus on taking out their heavy hitters first. That might break the rest of their morale.
"I, Leo of the Gale Sword, shall be your opponent," one of them declared. "If you must resent someone, resent your own recklessness."
This Leo person was attempting the impressive feat of looking menacing while maintaining a smug smirk. He was clearly underestimating us, likely because we looked like children. We were wearing fairly high-quality equipment, so he should have been able to gauge our strength if he’d actually bothered to look.
Whatever. Just because they were careless didn't mean I had any obligation to show mercy. Whispering the chant for Shadow Leap under my breath, I slipped behind him.
"Wha—?! Where’d he go?!"
As the man spun around in a panic, I kicked him hard in the back of the knee. Caught off-guard, his stance buckled. Seizing the opening, I cast Create Golem, targeting the floor. The wooden planks warped and shifted under my magic, forming massive hands that pinned the man to the ground.
"B-Big brother?!"
"What the hell?! Let me go!"
"You're awfully energetic. Let's add a few more."
Worried that the man might thrash his way out of the restraint, I used Create Golem again to sprout more arms from the floor. This was enough to hold him down by brute force and serve as a deterrent if any of the other thugs tried to help him.
"Take this! Storm Flash!"
Before I could move on to the next one, another opponent charged in. This was the "Storm Flash" guy. For the record, sword skills with names like "Gale Sword" or "Storm Flash" didn't actually exist in this world as far as I knew. They were just names these guys had made up for themselves. Maybe they were techniques from some obscure school, but there was certainly no requirement to shout them out.
The Storm Flash guy was fast, and his bladework was sharp. He was definitely skilled.
However, I was used to watching Lowell. Compared to him, this man was hopelessly outclassed. There was no way I was going to let an attack like that land. I waited for a gap, tripped him, and watched him sprawl across the floor. A moment later, he was pinned by golem arms just like his friend.
I kept an eye on the rest of the party while fending off someone shouting about a "Lightning Thrust."
Spira was the MVP so far, using her Ice Vines to snatch up anyone who dared get close. Given her specialty in restraint-type magic, she was in her element.
Shiroru had successfully used Giantization, but her horns were scraping the ceiling, making it hard for her to move. It seemed her growth multiplier had increased again. She eventually settled for a more moderate size and continued to rampage through the crowd.
Halfa looked like she was struggling a bit. Her signature Shock Voice was far too destructive to use against humans. Instead, she was venting her frustration on the ceiling. I suspected she was trying to drop rubble on them as an indirect attack. The plan wasn't working perfectly, but the men targeting her were definitely becoming hesitant.
The battle was overwhelmingly in our favor. However, the enemy leader proved to be unexpectedly shrewd.
"You've done it now! But the tables have turned!"
"Aura! Kira!"
"Demuad!"
"I'm sorry, Demuad..."
The man with the villainous face had circled around behind the twins. I'd assumed he was just a manager, but it seemed he had more up his sleeve.
Collars of Subjugation were already locked around the twins' necks. This was the source of the man's confidence. Normally, once a Collar of Subjugation was locked, it couldn't be removed without the specific Incantation of Release.
"Kehehe. If you value their lives, you'll stay quiet and—gaff?!"
The man tried to issue his demands, but unfortunately, he didn't get to finish his sentence. That was my doing. I used Shadow Leap to get behind him and sent him flying with a kick.
"Hey! You! Don't you know what a Collar of Subjugation is?! This thing is—wait, what?!"
He tried to give me a helpful lecture on the mechanics of the collar, but there was no need. I had already snapped them off with Rune Breaker.
"So..." I said, looking around. "Are we still doing this?"
"...W-We surrender!"
With his trump card neutralized, the villainous leader finally threw in the towel. I managed to end the fight without a single death. As for the state of the building... well, that couldn't be helped.