Chapter 2511 Dungeon <TOC> Chapter 2513 Sybil
Translator: SumTLMan
Angel glanced at the few transcendents threatened, mostly first or second level apprentices, and all quite elderly. If they truly possessed anything valuable, they wouldn’t be languishing at this level at their age.
Indeed, the situation was as expected; the fat guard continued to brandish his mace threateningly and even drew blood from a few, yet he likely obtained only trivial items of no significant use from them.
Though it looked like a pile, the total value probably didn’t even amount to a single magic crystal.
However, the fat guard didn’t mind. The prison’s transcendents were like a flowing stream, with him as the steadfast rock, constantly at his post. With time and more batches of prisoners, even the small trinkets could accumulate to a substantial amount.
Although he only extorted some unimportant trinkets this time, the fat guard seemed in a good mood, humming a dirty ditty he picked up somewhere, and prepared to continue to the next cell for another ‘inspection’.
Angel followed behind him.
It wasn’t specifically to accompany him; it was just that there was only one path ahead. The cells here were one after another, with no forks in the middle.
The fat guard took out a key to open the grand door to the new cell. Upon entering, his expression began to change, a mix of frustration tinged with resentment.
Under this look, his teeth also started to grind left and right, making a hissing noise like a snake ready to strike.
At first, Angel didn’t understand why the fat guard was showing such a change until after witnessing a ‘extortion performance’. He finally got a hint.
Because——
There were a few apprentices in this cell that even the fat guard couldn’t chew through.
No matter how he threatened, even with the mace added to his assault, leaving their bodies full of bloody holes, these threatened apprentices simply held their breath and gave nothing.
From their old wounds, it was apparent that this wasn’t the fat guard’s first time here, and each time, he had failed to extort anything, which is why his expression was so peculiar earlier.
Clearly, the fat guard was immensely irritated by these uncooperative individuals.
As the fat guard threatened these transcendents over and over again, Angel also took an interest in these silent tough nuts.
None of their faces were familiar. However, from their tattered robes, there seemed to be a cross emblem.
Seeing this, Angel sent a message to Daus using the mental connection: “I’ve seen a few wizard apprentices with cross emblems on their robes imprisoned in the dungeon, likely wandering wizards from your Cross organization.”
Daus replied quickly: “There have been rumors that many wandering wizards have been secretly arrested in the Guman Kingdom; it seems they were true.”
After a pause, Daus added: “You’re telling me this because you’re wondering if I should rescue them, right? Actually, the so-called Cross organization of wandering wizards is quite loose. Just like you, anyone could change their face, don a cross robe, and claim to be a wandering wizard.”
Angel: “So, you’re not planning to rescue?”
Daus: “I could rescue, stirring trouble for that princess might not be so bad. But, let’s wait until I’ve finished watching the show.”
“Watching the show?” Angel was curious about what Daus was seeing.
However, Daus did not transmit any message, instead, he sent a somewhat lewd chuckle through the mental connection.
Since Daus wasn’t willing to talk, Angel didn’t ask any further.
The fat guard didn’t get what he wanted and had no intention of leaving; it seemed he was prepared to stay here and wear down the hard-headed ones.
Seeing that the fat guard had no intention of leaving, Angel decided not to stay to watch the show either and prepared to bypass him, continuing towards the deeper parts of the dungeon.
However, just as Angel was about to leave, there was a loud bang.
A young apprentice was thrown against the dungeon wall by the fat guard, instantly spewing fresh blood from his mouth.
After he slowly slid down to the floor, an older man from the same cell walked over and gently helped him up: “Are you okay?”
“I won’t die.” The young apprentice said this while still spitting out blood.
After thanking the older man, the young apprentice, with some effort, raised his head to look at the nearby fat guard, and said in a defiant tone: “If you have the guts, kill me! Do you dare to kill? Do you dare!”
The continuous questioning, coupled with his defiant tone despite his physical degradation, made the fat guard’s expression increasingly ugly.
He indeed did not dare to kill him.
The higher-ups had instructed that none of these transcendents should die. Why exactly, the fat guard didn’t know, but it was clear that over this period of observation, the young apprentice had discovered this hidden rule.
“Hahaha!” After a burst of laughter, the young apprentice continued: “I was right, you really don’t dare to kill me. You don’t even dare to kill anyone here. In this little place, having a bit of trivial power has made you think you are someone, but in reality, you are just a dog that has to obey a little brat!”
After being insulted, the fat guard’s face grew even darker.
He spoke in a cold, gloomy voice: “Even if I can’t kill, crippling you is definitely possible. Guess which part of you I will chop off first?”
While saying this, the fat guard pulled a slender knife from his waist.
This type of knife wasn’t ideal for cutting bones, and the fat guard indeed wasn’t aiming to cut bones; his grim gaze slowly moved downward, fixating below the young apprentice’s waist.
The implication was clear.
The young apprentice’s face also changed at this point, but still, he clenched his teeth, defiantly refusing to beg for mercy.
Next to him, a middle-aged man suddenly said: “We’re just wandering apprentices; everything useful we had has already been used up. You won’t be able to scrape much off us.”
His words caught the attention of the fat guard.
“Weren’t there some apprentices from the Savage Grottoes locked up here recently? I heard there was even a senior apprentice among them, those are the types who have good stuff. Instead of hassling us, you should go look for that apprentice.”
The middle-aged man’s comment left the young apprentice nearby puzzled. When were apprentices from the Savage Grottoes imprisoned? They shared the same cell, how could he not know? And what about that cruel princess, now daring to capture members of such a super organization as the Savage Grottoes?
Initially, the fat guard wondered how the middle-aged man knew about this, but somehow, his train of thought shifted, and he forgot what he had intended to question.
Instead, he said: “What group? It’s just one guide with a few mortals with talents. Those few are right behind in the cells, cleaned out, nothing on them. As for that guide, they’re on The Fourth Level, out of my jurisdiction.”
After finishing his statement, the fat guard grumbled: “I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let you off. Watch how I’ll deal with you next time, especially the one with the sharp tongue.”
Then, under the puzzled looks of the others, the fat guard just walked away.
Everyone was clearly prepared for him to draw his knife, why did he suddenly refrain?
Moreover, when did his mood improve? After being verbally abused like a dog, he was still able to hold back?
These doubts remained unresolved for now, as they didn’t realize that not only was the fat guard in the corridor of the dungeon at that moment, but so was Angel.
Whether it was the middle-aged man suddenly speaking up, or the fat guard’s explanations and departure, it was all controlled by Angel’s Nightmare illusions behind the scenes. They themselves wouldn’t feel anything wrong; even if they did notice something, they could rationalize it otherwise. It was the bystanders who might find it a bit odd.
But strange things were plenty, and given the guard’s unpredictable mood swings, maybe he just liked being cursed at?
So, after the fat guard left, there was a rustle of conversation in the nearby cells for a while, then everyone continued as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, using the mouth of the fat guard, Angel learned that Ms. Melo was on the fourth level and naturally had no intention of staying on the second level.
Although according to the fat guard, the second level housed the talents Ms. Melo had sought, he didn’t know which ones were the talents found by Ms. Melo, and thus couldn’t help them. It would be better to wait for Ms. Melo herself to identify them.
Without lingering, Angel sped up, even surpassing the “patrolling” fat guard.
Unbeknownst to the guard.
The first few corridors had locked doors, but this was no obstacle for Angel, who didn’t even bother to break the locks but instead turned into a sheet of paper and flew right through them.
Finally, after passing through several doors in succession, Angel reached the last corridor of the second level of the dungeon.
At the corridor’s end, the descending staircase was visible.
Angel hurried along, and halfway there, a peculiar intuition struck him.
He turned to glance at a nearby cell.
Within the cell sat a slender young woman, her black hair draped over a slightly tattered dress. Her features were not strikingly beautiful, but an innate aura of indifference exuded from her.
This strange intuition emerged from the indifferent girl.
The exact nature of this intuition was unclear to Angel at the moment.
Angel took a deep look at the young woman, deciding to momentarily set aside this intuition and focus primarily on rescuing Ms. Melo.
Continuing downward, the third level’s guard was an old woman with a visage of malevolence. She seemed disinterested in patrolling and simply stayed in the guardroom, her gaze ominously scanning the corridor.
This guard’s abilities were likely that of a second level apprentice, somewhat more powerful than the fat guard above.
Nevertheless, Angel remained unnoticed.
Angel swiftly navigated the third level, not paying much attention to the prisoners and hurried to the fourth level!
Upon reaching the fourth level, Angel immediately sensed a confining force, absent on the other levels.
This force stemmed from a magic formation inscribed on the level.
It could somewhat restrict the internal magic source, preventing it from interacting with the mental model. It was akin to a magic suppression effect, though much weaker than true magic suppression.
Moreover, it was ineffective against a formal wizard, whose body contained a magic vortex, which couldn’t be bound in the same way.
However, the presence of the magic formation indicated high vigilance, even for prisoners on this level guarded by the princess.
The guard situation on the fourth level was also different.
No one was in the guardroom; instead, a gargoyle stood on each side of the corridor entrance.
These two gargoyles were evidently the guards for the fourth level.
Different from the first level’s gargoyles, one of these by the entrance subtly emitted an orange-red glow from within, while the other was entirely pitch-black.
One was a fire stone gargoyle, and the other a dark stone gargoyle.
Among the gargoyle species, these two were well-known; one could manipulate fire, and the other symbolized darkness.
Angel recalled encountering a dark stone gargoyle with Lord Night in La Sutherland.
However, the dark stone gargoyle fighting against Lord Night was quite powerful, and the dark stone gargoyle before him was merely in the realm of a first level apprentice.
Another fire stone gargoyle was also around the realm of a first level apprentice, but in a real fight, even a peak first level apprentice might not be able to defeat it.
However, Angel was not afraid of the fire stone gargoyle, as it could not detect him.
But the dark stone gargoyle, Angel remembered its talent, which made it extremely sensitive to all living beings that approached it. Even if a living being used methods to conceal their presence, they would still be detected by it.
And since the entrance to the corridor was so narrow, one would definitely have to pass by the dark stone gargoyle to enter.
Angel did not know if his use of the Nightmare Illusions to conceal himself would be detected by the stone gargoyle, but to be safe, he summoned Eremy.
He had Eremy transform into a shadow to envelop him.
The most difficult thing to detect in the dark is a shadow, and Eremy was a master of manipulating shadows.
Under Eremy’s cover, Angel easily entered the corridor. Both stone gargoyles remained in their statue states, clearly not detecting Angel.
After entering the corridor, he did not immediately see the prison, but rather a long tunnel.
It looked ordinary, but a magic formation hidden beneath the stone tiles was emitting a faint aura.
There was a large mechanism in this tunnel, and one needed a certain level of clearance to pass through. Even the fat guard he had encountered before could not enter this place.
However, this mechanism had no effect on Angel; he did not destroy the magic formation, but instantly found the energy output conduit of the formation and accurately identified the conduit leading to the input core among hundreds of conduits.
He casually took a playing card, which lightly floated over and was inserted into the middle of the conduit of the magic formation.
Silently, the entire tunnel’s mechanism was shut down.
Angel leisurely walked through the tunnel and finally saw the fourth level dungeon. Perhaps because this was the last level, there were significantly fewer prison cells.
There were only about twenty cells, and more than half of them were unoccupied.
Because there were few prisoners, Angel immediately spotted Ms. Melo, who had a worried expression on her face.