The darkness of night had a silence that had never been disrupted as much as it was tonight.

The sirens around the prison rang non stop.

Several guards were found dead.

Alric and his team of only four others ran through prison pulling cell after cell. Alric had to be particularly careful in this prison.

No one in the prison could gather mana while inside the walls of this prison. The most he could do was use the kludde contract to enhance his senses and physical prowess.

Eventually Alric had accumulated a large herd of prisoners running behind him. They had no idea who he was but they were sure if he came in he must have had a way out.

The guards mounted blockades and tried to slow them down. But with an army of inmates who had all been promised their freedom it was merely a speed bump.

They rushed at the blockades tearing each of them down as quickly as they were erected.

The escaping prisoners had a savagery in them that even shook Alric and the hardened street thugs. Even they were a little taken aback by how ruthless the inmates dealt with the security guards when given the chance.

Even worse this was without magic, Alric really had to wonder what the guards had been doing to them to make them so vindictive.

The descent to the lower levels of the prison was slowed when the horde of inmates crossed paths with the warden.

The warden was a paladin, and while he did not have any outstanding skill he wore a bright green ring, which he fondled as he flashed his sword. He created an imaginary line on the floor and any prisoner who crossed it was slashed in half.

“Take another step and I will cut everyone of you down.

Now, tell me where you pests came from and where you think you are all going?”

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As the warden spoke Alric felt the mana in the air gather around the sword of the warden, he furrowed his brow in frustration.

This was the hardest part of his plan. He had to fight the warden at the disadvantage of the mana deprived walls.

“The warden's ring allows him to be the only one in the entire complex able to use magic.”

Alric was told this by an inmate as they all lined up looking at the warden who held off the horde of criminals. Alric activated the enhancement from his kludde contract converting his raw mana into physical strength and speed.

He gripped his sword and lunged forward.

The warden met Alric’s attack with his own.

Alric initially thought his own brute strength was enough to over run the warden however after seeing him still standing after the first sword strike he knew this would not be easy.

The warden was baffled, no magic could be used within the prison walls except his, so how could a human match his strength and speed.

It had to be noted that the warden was still a knight ranked warrior, so his brute strength was on par with that of orcs and ogres.

The warden swung his sword and a blast of mana erupted from its blade. Alric rolled forward to dodge but the mana blast continued until it cut through the escaped criminals behind him.

Alric needed as many of the criminals as he could release, so watching them get cut in half angered him.

The warden used his sword skills and fired off multiple slashes. The slashes kept the intruder at a distance and also allowed him to cut down the defenseless escapees.

By now the majority of the prisoners had scattered out of fear but he was still not pleased.

This was because the ringleader of the escape attempt, although having the build of a fifteen year old pubescent runt, his strength and speed were monstrous.

But the warden's goal was not to win, he only needed to draw out the battle until the military arrived. Regardless of how strong he was the sheer numbers would be enough to suppress him, not to mention the equally monstrous commanders that were in the army.

The warden pushed Alric back with a swing, then raised his sword and shouted.

“First Degree, Paladin’s Armour!”

Instantly The warden was bathing in a lush rainbow like aura. The warden smirked and clenched his fist feeling the mana flowing freely within himself.

It goes without saying that if before his strength was only a few folds more than a normal human now he had ascended to the realm of beasts. Just from the energy flowing he was at the minimum standard of an archknight.

“Let’s try this for real this time!”

The warden pounced at Alric at an unrecognizable speed. The sheer power from his pounce was enough to leave a creator behind his step.

Alirc wanted to dodge but before he could react the warden had already appeared in front of him.

All of the danger signals in Alric’s head were firing off on rapid.

Looking at the sword already above his head Alric gulped feeling the sting of despair.