Maybe she'd been looking down on the game with a player's mentality. She didn't expect the stupid title to be so effective. As soon as she mentally donned the title and pretended to flirt with her captor, the big oaf acted like he'd gone mad. She could hear his heavy breathing as he inched closer to her step by step. The feeling of revulsion was so strong she could barely keep a straight face.
Thankfully, it seems the strange title only influenced one of the men. Her other captor still managed to keep his wits about him, rushing to stand in front of her and blocking his companion's line of sight. His actions weren't due to chivalry or some last shred of a guilty conscience.
"Number 5 what the hell do you think you're doing right now. We're on a big job, if you screw things up because of that loose lower half of yours, I'll be the first to neuter you!"
"But she said it was okay, why can't I play with her a bit. Just look at her, such flawless creamy skin and large chest. I bet you've never had a pampered miss like her in your life." The feeling of being ogled by the drooling idiot made her skin crawl. His words awakened a sense of crisis in her heart, forcing her to take drastic measures.
At first, her intention was just to start a fight between them, giving Riell a distraction to run but that doesn't seem to be enough. Now she can only grit her teeth and bear the headache.
[Appraisal]
[Debuff: Prisoner's shackles]
[Restriction: level 20 and below. Use: restrains a spell caster's ability to cast a spell by consuming their mana. Consumption 50/150].
As expected, even with her eyes blindfolded, her appraisal skill is still useable for items on her person. Since her captors are running on outdated data of how Ariellia used to be, they don't have a clue about her current magical capacity. It's eat or be eaten, who can drain who faster, these shackles or her dark drain skill?
She painstakingly focuses on overloading her restraints with all her might. By her calculations with her current reserves, she could overload the shackles and still have enough mana to cast dark hands. That should give Riell the chance he needs to escape. Their captors never intended to capture Riell, so they were more careless with his bindings. His sharp claws made fast work of the rope tying his feet but to avoid suspicion he remained in place, pretending to still be bound.
[Consumption 215/350]
'Come on! I feel like my head's gonna crack open at this rate' She grimaced at the intense pain drilling into her skull, feeling something wet trailing down her nose.
"I just want to touch her a bit, I swear not to break her. How will he even know I did anything? All we need is for the prince to come, right?"
"Shut your silly mouth before I cut off that loose tongue of yours. I swear your brain is full of nothing but lard and wine. Take a good look at yourself, you gigantic imbecile and compare that to her. She'd be lucky if she isn't black and blue by the time you're done!"
"That's not true, I can be very gentle. My lovers tell me all the time that I'm the best they've ever had."
"As if those broken dolls of yours can even compare to her. I'm telling you again don't fuck this up for us!"
"But look she's already bleeding and I didn't even do anything."
'Shit!' of all times for the big oaf to notice her nose bleeding, it had to be now. Knowing she only has a split second before the other one catches on that she's been up to no good, Ariellia pushes through the last of her mana with brute force.
[Consumption 350/350. These shackles can no longer be used]
"Dark hands!"
It's fortunate that it just so happens that the two were positioned right in front of her while they were arguing. She doesn't hesitate to cast the spell using their voices as a relative location.
"This stupid bitch!"
"Ah, what's this dark stuff. Number 2 they keep pulling at me!" The big oaf cried, randomly stomping at the ground to avoid the numerous hands coming out from beneath him.
"Stop moving!" Number 2 knows it's likely a spell, but he can't focus on nullifying it while his companion is causing a fuss and shaking up the entire cave.
"Riell take my hairpin and run!" She didn't bother to look back at the fox, straining her ears to hear every little thing to better understand their situation.
"I promise to come back for you!" Seeing the blood freely flowing from her nose must have shocked him into submission. Riell meekly follows her orders without protest, rushing for the cave exit as fast as possible. Even if their captors wanted to chase after him, with the moon pearl hairpin they could hardly catch his after shadow let alone the person. Fuming, they could only turn back to her.
Ariellia licked her dry lips, tasting a bit of copper in the process as she feels the heavy weight of their glares.
"Don't get mad, I just thought a bit of privacy would be nice. I'm still a noble you know, reputation is important."
"Is that so?" Number 2's grating voice instantly takes on a menacing tone. It's clear he's very pissed by this stunt. "Since you want to play hero so much, I do believe every good deed deserves a reward, don't you?"
"Of course not, I was just performing my good deed of the day. Please don't feel troubled at all." She must look wretched, grinning with blood all over her face. She feels it in her hands first, a familiar tingling sensation.
'I guess I overdid it, huh.' She's already experienced this once before, this time she can spot the warning signs immediately. After pouring all her mana into breaking her bonds and casting dark hands to keep their attackers in place long enough for Riell to escape, her tank is on empty.
"Hey number 2 what's wrong with her?" The foolish oaf seems scared by the sight of her convulsing body. He even puts aside his lecherous thoughts for the moment.
"Damn it, she's going through mana withdrawals! Why does this shit keep happening to me." The self-centered number 2 isn't lamenting about the situation out of concern for her health but rather for his mission. He's worried she'll kick the bucket long before Rei gets here. For once, they can both agree on something.
'Where are you Rei… feel so cold…I don't know how long I can keep this up…'
She prays with tears soaking through her blindfold, as she continues to convulse on the hard cave floor.