Chapter 77: Prison Break (Patreon)

My dismay is interrupted by the system.

[   Primary Objective: Sa-

Danger burns through my spine.

I jerk to the side, and a man passes through where I just was, thrusting forward with a scimitar.

Alarm is suppressed by the command.

“Wait! I’m not here to fight!” I yell.

Regardless, my fists come up and gauntlets expand over them.

The bald man covered in scars doesn’t respond, eyes narrowing and flickering to my gauntlets.

When his eyes meet mine, fear spears into my heart.

Stepping backward, I reach for the door behind me, freezing right before I touch the handle.

Clarity comes crashing back like a truck, the odd sense of fear evaporating.

What? Why was I-

More danger burns in my side.

I flip on my heels and slip around the next thrust from the man.

Elbow yanking back, I return with a punch of my own.

Companion’s Assistance

The ethereal gauntlet has no delay, reaching out and joining me.

Out of position, the man glides to the side unnaturally, feet not moving.

The command guides my movements, never letting me lose track of him.

His eyes widen as both my fist and its ethereal counterpart make contact simultaneously.

They meet no resistance.

Bones snap.

His chest caves in.

The man is blown backward, slamming into the wall a dozen feet away with a bloody splatter and a sickening crunch.

Chime

Holy shit!

My gaze shifts to my gauntlet in wonder.

Haha! I chose the right skill!

Wait! No!

I scramble over to the man’s body, but slow to a stop on the way there.

No point in checking on him.

There’s no surviving that.

Please don’t let this be a misunderstanding.

That guy looks evil as hell, but appearances can be deceiving.

Maybe he thought I was an intruder?

Memory clicks, and I call the system.

[   Primary Objective: Help the slaves escape the territory of Baron Yetislak   ]

[   Secondary Objective: Prevent the death of a single slave   ]

[   Time remaining: 0.198 Cycles   ]

Another baron already!?

Dang it!

I scan the room.

One large cell with slaves in it. 

Well, I assume they’re the slaves from the objective.

Two doors, wooden with a small metal grate at eye level are on each side of the room. The room itself is only fifteen feet on all sides.

A single desk and chair sit on one corner, probably where the man I killed sat.

Which probably means he was the warden.

Relief floods my veins.

I didn’t kill some random guy.

Three of the slaves kneel at the front of the cell, watching curiously.

At my gaze, they slink to the back.

I rush over.

Three men, four women.

A kid peeks out from behind one of the men, watching curiously.

“Hey! Hi! I’m Kevin. Please say something so I can talk with you!”

They stare at me, uncomprehending.

I stick my hand up and mimic a talking mouth.

“Speak! Say anything!”

Still, nothing.

Anxiously, I point at the woman who looks the least lifeless.

“You! Speak! Please!”

She whimpers and shrinks back, fear coating her face.

My heart drops at the sight.

“No, I didn’t- I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Gah!

This time, I point at one of the men, the one that looks the most alive.

“You! Tell me your name! Anything! Please!”

Shakily, he bows his head and speaks a single word. “Cours”

Chime

[   Intelligent Universal Translator   ]

[   Language deciphered: Candstoven   ]

YES! Finally!

“Hey! My name is Kevin! I’m here to help you escape!” I give a smile and a couple of thumbs-ups.

This time, they perk up at my words.

The man with the child behind him steps forward. “Are you from the Foundation?”

“Uh… yes!”

Hope spreads through their eyes as they get to their feet and gravitate toward the cell door.

“Did Satri send you?”

“My son, Orthas! Please, tell me he’s alive!”

“Does Tandrum still stand? Have they attacked yet?”

Dozens of questions bubble from the previously devastated group, stunning me.

“Whoa, woah!”

“We can talk later, but we need to get you out of here for now.”

Gauntlets deform as I place one hand on the cell door and the other on the wall beside it.

My teeth clench, and I pull.

Metal groans and deforms.

The group steps back as one, watching with wide eyes.

The door reaches its breaking point, hinges screaming and snapping.

God, that’s satisfying.

Even in moments like these, I can’t stop a grin from spreading across my face.

I gently lift the door and place it to the side before walking inside.

The group nervously steps back again, but I don’t stop.

All of them have shackles chained to their legs against the wall.

My fingers are too small to fit between the cuffs and their ankles, but there’s another option.

Reforming my gauntlet, I lift my arm.

The woman whose ankle I’m holding yelps and flinches as the chain shatters under my fist, braced against the stone.

It only takes a couple of minutes before all the chains lie broken.

“Where are the rest of the people from the foundation?” A man asks, reaching out, but stopping himself before he touches my shoulder.

“Uh, it’s just me.” I rub my neck sheepishly.

They all stare at me.

“How did you get in?” He asks.

Before I can answer, the kid who hid behind him speaks up. “I saw him! There was nothing, then BOOM! He was there! He didn’t even make a sound!”

Looking twelve, with short brown hair and clothes like the others, the kid flinches and ducks back to cover when he senses my gaze.

I chuckle. “That’s right, I was teleported here.”

The kid smiles.

Stars appear in the man’s eyes. “You’re from the capital?”

What? Do all capitals have teleporters?

“Uh, yes! The foundation hired me, but I need your help.”

I sweep my gaze around the group. “Do any of you know the path out of here? The mages at the capital told me they could take me close to you, but I’d have to find my own way out.”

Silence.

“I do,” the kid pipes up.

I raise an eyebrow. “Only you?”

He nods. “Everyone was asleep when we were being carted in.”

My gaze shifts to the man, who nods sadly alongside the kid. “We were knocked out by Yetislak’s men.”

Yetislak.

That’s the guy mentioned in the objective.

“I wasn’t!” The kid smiles.

Infected by his mood, I smile as well, holding out my hand.

“Like I said before, my name’s Kevin. What’s yours?”

“Y-yugo.” He seems nervous to go near me, but the man pats him on the back and pushes him toward me.

Identify Living Being

[   Unintegrated (Yugo Brand)   ]

Dang, no highest or lowest stats?

Is this what all kids who don’t have system access look like?

Yugo places his hand in mine.

I make extra sure not to accidentally crush his hand as we shake.

“Looks like we’ll be relying on you, Yugo.”

With barely contained excitement, he nods.

Standing, I face the full group.

“Do any of you know how to fight?”

…

Damn.

Sighing, I ask again. “Do any of you know how to use mana well?”

One woman at the back raises a hand after a short delay.

With dirty blonde hair and bags under her eyes, she speaks with a nervous voice. “I can do a little.”

Identify Living Being

[   Mana Weaver (Dendra Shikks) lv. 21   ]

[   Highest stat: Intelligence   ]

[   Lowest stat: Strength   ]

Wow, that class sounds cool as hell.

I reach behind my back and pull out the staff, holding it out to her. “It casts a simple fireball. Just fill it up and cut the connection to activate it.”

With wonder in her eyes, she reaches out as if touching a priceless artifact.

“Okay,” she says meekly, taking it in both hands.

With everything figured out, I slap my hands together. “Alright! No reason to waste any time! Let's get moving!”

Those who were sitting stand, and the man I was speaking to before picks up Yugo.

Everyone walks out of the cell.

I turn to Yugo. “Where to first?”

He points to the door to the right of the cell, and I nod.

Leading the way, I push the door open and step out into a new corridor.

Doors scatter around the hallway, and I look to Yugo.

Reliably, Yugo doesn’t seem to make any mistakes or look too indecisive when directing me.

Several hallways pass, the group taking several bends.

“Forward.” Yugo says.

Nodding, I push the door open.

Tables spread over a massive room the size of a gymnasium.

Filled with dozens of soldiers sitting and eating.

Jerking back, I close the door with a slam, turning to the group. 

“I think we need to take a different path.”

“What? Why?” The man holding Yugo asks.

“It’s…” My voice trails off as I see a door behind the group open.

The command thrusts me forward, slipping around the group.

“Forty gold pieces! Just for that! Can you believe it?” A voice says from behind the door.

A soldier covered in plate armor walks through the doorway, talking to another who wears the same thing.

The white metal melts and covers my fist, with the ethereal fist extending out of my elbow copying it.

One man’s eyes widen as he watches me approach, the other oblivious.

He reaches for his weapon, yelling at his comrade at the same time.

“Behind-”

My arm curves and slams into the man facing away, caving in the back of his armor and sending him crashing into the other.

I don’t stop as they tumble back into the room they came from, chasing after them.

Just as one pushes the other off him, my fist comes down.

Metal impacts bone.

The man’s head explodes from the strike, arms going limp.

Chime

I flick my arm to the right, colliding with the other man’s head and sending it snapping sideways.

Chime

He, too, goes limp.

My gauntlet deforms, and the blood falls off and splatters against the ground as the metal becomes liquid.

Nifty.

Behind me, a gasp.

Dendra, the one I gave the staff to, watches with horror in her eyes.

The rest of the group shuffles in behind her.

I wave them on. “This way.”

They hesitate, staring at the bodies, until the man holding Yugo steps forward.

Their hesitation makes me do the same, reexamining the state of the bodies.

The system said the objectives would be based on my desires.

If ‌the objective is to help these people escape, then they probably weren’t being held by anyone good.

Thus, these people are bad.

It’s that simple.

With my conscience resolved and the group caught up, I continue moving through wherever we are.

It only takes half a minute before hidden, red lights start blinking in crevices near the ceiling.

They continue down the corridor, coating the ceiling in the same color.

All of us stop to look.

“Ah, that can’t be good.” A man speaks for the first time.

All of us turn to him.

A woman behind him slaps him on the back of the head.

The scene would have gotten a chuckle out of me if it weren’t for the circumstances.

A door slams open behind us, a group of more than five soldiers crowding it.

“They’re here!” A soldier yells, looking over his shoulder at presumably more reinforcements.

“Alright! Time to move!” I goad the group past me as I pull my fist back.

Before I can throw a punch, orange grows and envelops the corridor.

Next to me, Dendra stands, staff in hand.

The beautiful ball of fire grows past the size of a beach ball.

The soldiers’ eyes widen as they flip on their heels and run back where they came.

An angry ball of roiling fire follows them, splashing against the stone and metal of their armor.

Napalm sticks to them as they roll around and scream in pain.

Despite knowing that they probably aren’t the best people, the sounds send shivers down my spine.

Dendra’s probably doing even worse.

Turning, I see her nervousness gone, replaced by an unerring gaze and a budding smile.