– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 32 –

“Do we finally get to look behind the mystery door?” quipped one soldier grumpily.

“I hope there are some useful supplies hidden behind it,” added another. “Otherwise, this is a tremendous waste of time. What in bloody—”

“Enough.” Yujin cut off the mouthy soldiers and watched Claude unlock the magically reinforced door with a plain metal key.

“This leads to the prison,” explained Claude and gestured for Yujin and her soldiers to move through.

“We still need to link up with the others,” reminded Yujin.

“The prison area is connected to several tunnels,” assured Claude. “All of them are sealed with similar doors, usually more than one.”

“Could we get the others and hide here?” injected a soldier. “These gates seem sturdy enough.”

Yujin frowned, but did not reject the idea outright.

“That plan will fall apart once the champions arrive here,” said Claude. “These gates were designed to block dungeon creatures. Hellspawn with sufficient intelligence for spellweaving or with devouring-enhancing mutations won’t be blocked for long.”

Yujin nodded slightly. “But we could use the time to gather everyone and fortify our position.”

“Maybe, but I would suggest another approach,” said Claude.

“The ‘Savage’?” Yujin asked with a raised eyebrow. “You still haven’t explained that one.”

“The prisoner here,” said Claude.

Yujin’s eyes narrowed at the way Claude phrased his statement. “‘The’ prisoner? A single person?”

Claude had already walked forward without caring to give a reply. They walked on top of a narrow stone bridge over an orange lake of acidic water.

“Explain.” Yujin lost her patience when Claude refused to elaborate of his own accord. “Now. I must brief the soldiers in order to coordinate.”

“We can make use of the gates to redirect the hellspawn towards the Savage,” said Claude coldly. “Keep this gate open to attract the hellspawn’s attention here and then have them fight each other.”

“And a single prisoner is supposed to hold out for how long exactly?” asked Yujin skeptically. “What could a single prisoner even do?”

“Fight,” replied Claude.

“Do you keep your prisoners armed and in fighting condition?” retorted Yujin with sarcasm. She was beginning to regret losing valuable time to Claude’s harebrained idea.

“The prisoner has unexpectedly managed to maintain a fighting condition, yes,” replied Claude unperturbed. “Not armed, but this is not a problem. Still, we will first have to release the Savage’s restraints and shackles.”

A vein was pulsating on Yujin’s forehead from constantly having to read between the lines to get an idea of what Claude refused to say outright. She was wondering whether he did this on purpose or if it had become a subconscious habit that was hard to shake off for the prison guard.

“So this prisoner is really that powerful?” murmured Yujin. She frowned deeply. “That may suit your plan, but how do you know the prisoner isn’t simply going to use that strength to kill us and bail?”

“Not the type for it,” replied Claude calmly. “And while I don’t know for sure at this point, I will know before we decide to release the prisoner or not.” He motioned for one of the other prison guards to unlock the next gate. Behind the gate, a similar room with a high ceiling and another stone bridge appeared, only this bridge looked even more fragile than the previous one.

Yujin furrowed her brow. She was tempted to kick the reticent Claude from the bridge and have him dissolve in the acid below. She clicked her tongue. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed one soldier whirling his head around to watch the ceiling. Yujin followed the soldier’s gaze and tensed when she spotted some slight movement in a dark corner.

Yujin relaxed when she realized it was just a small vampire bat with no mana core. Slight mana signature, so likely an extremely minor mana corruption. Nothing to worry about.

“We’re here,” said Claude. “This is the containment cell. I’ll do the talking. Your soldiers stay back.” He motioned for two other prison guards to join him. “In the meantime, you should prepare to lure the hellspawn.”

***

In the dark cell, an emaciated and feral-looking elven woman raised her head. Between long, grey streaks of unruly hair, fierce eyes that glowed with mana turned towards the approaching prison guards. “It’s been a while.” Her voice was hoarse and carried a biting undertone. “If he has come to visit again, you can tell him to leave right away. My answer has not changed. My answer will never change.” Her arms twitched and the mana-suppressing shackles noisily moved on the ground.

“He has not come again,” said Claude flatly. “The reason he has stopped visiting is also the reason why I am now forced to speak to you.”

The prisoner held his gaze without blinking.

“I have come with an offer,” continued Claude.

The elven woman snorted dismissively.

“A different offer this time,” stressed Claude. “This dungeon has been invaded by hellspawn. I’m sure you’re itching to move your muscles in battle after all this time. How about using that accumulated mana for the sake of the realm once more?”

The feral woman tilted her head. “Is Tivius still king?”

“The reigning king is Tivius’s son,” replied Claude.

The prisoner’s eyes narrowed. “Is Tivius still alive?”

“...” Claude clicked his tongue. “Why?”

“Because if Tivius is alive, then once you undo these shackles.” The elf moved her arms to elicit clanging noises from the chains that bound her. “He won’t be alive for much longer.”

“Traitor,” spat one of the prison guards.

“Putting personal grievances over public duty,” rebuked another.

Meanwhile, Claude was scowling silently.

“That face tells me that Tivius has lived to this day,” observed the feral woman. “Every offer comes with terms. I will see that man dead. That is non-negotiable. If you expect me to promise differently, you can leave right away. Don’t waste your precious time.”

Claude took a deep breath and clicked his tongue once more. “I only require a promise that you won’t lash out against the present guards or soldiers once we release your shackles.”

“To be clear: If I am attacked, then I will retaliate.” The elven woman tilted her head. “These terms only apply to the current situation. If your actions invite death in the future, then my promise of today won’t bind me. Beyond that, I can agree to your terms.”

“Very well.” Claude nodded and then ordered the prison guards next to him. “Undo the restraints.”

“Are— Are we sure this is a good idea?” One of the prison guards hesitated.

“Do as I say,” ordered Claude. “Without her assistance, we will all die in this place.” Claude left the cell and the two other guards went to liberate the prisoner from her shackles.

“Where are the hellspawn?” asked Claude.

“Approaching from the room down the disconnected tunnel,” replied Yujin. “If your plan does not work out, then they’ll be coming our way. We need to engage them on the narrow bridge if possible.”

“Not ‘we’, she will engage them,” emphasized Claude. “In that exact chamber.” A strange glint entered his eyes.

After a while, the mana-suppression shackles were finally removed and an audible gasp exclaimed from the soldiers in the tunnel bordering the prison cell. The amount of mana that was being emitted from the released prisoner was overwhelming.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What…” Yujin questioned her assent to Claude’s idea once more.

The thin, elderly elf was slowly walking forward on bare feet. The soldiers stared at the woman as if she was a monster in disguise. That such a frail old body could contain so much mana was beyond belief.

Claude cleared his throat. “Our current plan is to…” His voice trailed off when the savage-looking elf passed by him without paying the slightest attention to his words.

“We can give you a detailed briefing,” offered Yujin. She creased her brows when she realized that the woman’s vast amount of mana carried only a single aspect. A particular aspect that made her recall all the previous information they had learned about this secret prison dungeon. Her eyes opened wide and her words became stuck in her throat.

The elf moved her hands to the back of her head without interrupting her stride. Mana flashed and long strands of grey hair fell down. The hair had been cut short cleanly with practiced but long-unused spellwork.

Another breath later, the elven woman had already reached the end of the disconnected tunnel and she jumped without the slightest hesitation.

The Savage arrived in the middle of the bridge with a bang. A torrent of mana condensed into spellwork, and the bridge behind her collapsed loudly.

With her back turned towards the sharp cliff, the elderly elf faced the charging hellspawn from the front. Her breathing was calm. Her eyes were sharp.

A large juggernaut made up the vanguard for the hellspawn. A savage grin appeared on the wrinkly elven face. Her force-aspected mana flared fiercely, and entire chains of spells ignited all around her.

The thin elven figure burst forward and her forceful charge smashed the juggernaut into a pulp. Kinetic blades rushed forth and cleaved the next line of hellspawn apart. Powerful pushing and pulling forces were created from different casting centers all around the room.

A shrunk behemoth enlarged, but before it could unleash a devouring attack, it had been torn apart by several pulling forces at once. Widowmakers charged with skull domes ahead, only to find the incoming force too much to bear with their protective plates, despite their sturdiness.

The hellspawn fell by the dozens at the hands of the ferocious elven woman with her fragile appearance.

“This…” Yujin gulped. She was shocked – in part because of the astonishing performance, but even more by the realization that forced itself upon her.

“Alright, prepare to collapse the cavern,” ordered Claude. “While they are entangled here, we can make our escape and make sure they all get buried together.”

“…what?!” Yujin’s eyes turned bloodshot. She stared fiercely at Claude and pointed at the savage prisoner, who was tearing through hellspawn as if they were made of wet paper. “A force-aspected elven woman with that kind of mana pool? When has there ever been another one like her? Don’t you realize who she is? ”

“Of course, I know who she is,” spat Claude and his gaze turned frigid. “Everyone that guards this place knows who she is. We also know that her existence is a threat to the Tiv Empire. Even today, she has sworn to see the Founding King dead. If that woman escapes, there will be a regicide at best and a civil war at worst. She has destroyed the alliance in the past. She must pay the price for her sins.”

“How dare you?!” Yujin gripped her sword. Her trusted subordinates behind her did the same.

“You have your orders,” barked Claude. He and the prison guards unsheathed their own weapons. “The Savage must not escape this prison. Remember that if we fight here, then we may all lose this chance and we will all die.”

“Commander, he may have a point.” One soldier spoke up. Fear was clear on her face. “I don’t want to die in this place.”

“No.” Yujin shook her head with a trace of madness in her eyes. “This can’t be. NO! I won’t!”

“We don’t have time for this nonsense,” spat Claude. “Soldiers, if you want to live, stand with me. As some of you have correctly pointed out before, there is no need to die here. It is impossible to salvage the prison. We only need to kill the prisoner and escape.”

“What are you doing?!” The soldiers quarreled with each other.

“The commander is in charge here!”

“I still have reasons to live for. I can’t die in this place!”

“If you betray the commander, I’ll personally put an ice spike through your brain.”

Yujin felt sick to her stomach. Her previous plan to keep everyone in line and working together was falling apart in front of her eyes. Previously, she could appeal to the soldiers’ sense of self-preservation and reinterpret orders to pressure Claude.

Now, Claude was using a similar approach to force her on a path she decidedly did not want to walk. A path that she would never forgive herself for. Yujin wanted nothing more than to tear Claude’s face apart this instant.

While Yujin and the soldiers were irresolute, a concealed figure near the ceiling above them felt a lot less conflicted. Terry’s brain was barely registering the current words that the nearby soldiers were shouting at each other. His ears were already ringing from thoughts, not sounds.

Terry stared at the force-aspected elven woman with eyes ablaze. It wasn't just because of the insanely large mana pool that made Terry's seem like a tiger in front of an elephant.

‘That’s my kind of hero.’ The scene of Sigille talking admiringly about the Valkyrie of Hope flickered through Terry’s mind.

‘Things would have been different if the Valkyrie had not died shortly after the retreat.’ All the different encounters Terry had had in Tiv ran through his mind. All the struggles. All the pain.

Terry saw red.

Without being fully aware of it, Terry was already dropping down from the ceiling with his barrier spears in hand. During his fall, he transfixed some of the pearls in his armor, which caused him to rotate into an upside down position. All the force of his fall combined with his thrust…

One of the stronger prison guards had their skull pierced from above.

Terry spun again and began slashing ferociously at every prison guard in sight. He had already killed three before anyone could react.

“Ambush!” shouted Claude. Magic disruption discharges and anti-magic spells were hurled everywhere.

Terry noticed one spell taking effect when he sensed the enchantment from his concealment ring weakening. One of their spells had drained the enchantment, which caused it to expire.

Terry did not stop and only channeled his mana into his helmet to create the protective barrier. He thrust his spear at one more prison guard and then left it transfixed in the air to block another guard that was trying to intervene from the side.

“All with me!” Yujin made up her own mind after seeing Terry in action. “Protect the Valkyrie!”

Terry felt strangely calm at this moment. It was probably the most danger he had ever been in and yet, his mind was calm. He did not hold on to any thought except to fight. Battle was all that was left in his mind.

He jumped, transfixed his mid-bracer pearl and pulled himself up while smashing his knee into a prison guard’s chin from below. He deactivated the immovable pearl and then combined his own weight with a double-stomp onto the downed guard’s head.

“Who is this?!” demanded Claude. “Wait…” He spotted the insignia at the bag on Terry’s waist and paled. “Arcana?”

“C-could he be one of the people here to avenge the barrier?” A prison guard next to Claude stammered. “Was it him that brought the hellspawn? There must be others…”

“Damn it!” cursed Claude. “Fight! Kill them! Both the deserters and the Arcanian!”

Terry transfixed his shoulder pearls and unpredictably changed trajectory to avoid an incoming attack. He used his bidirectional attraction glove to pull the spear he had left behind towards himself.

*Clang* “Huh?” The spear hit a prison guard in the back, which distracted the guard just enough for Terry to arrive with a drawn keen dagger in hand and slash the mana blade over the man’s exposed side and then thrust his spear through a gap in the guard’s armor.

All around, fights broke out between the two opposing soldier factions.

Terry punched out an intense disruption discharge to slice several shaped spell structures apart before the mages could even ignite them.

Among the spell structures, Terry recognized a Shadow Bind spell, which could be troublesome in a dungeon. He channeled mana into the divine hammer inscription and used the foothold to jump towards the offending mage.

A barrage of ice spikes traveled through the air towards Terry. His training reflexes kicked in and, without thinking, he transfixed two spikes and dodged the rest.

Terry left behind a number of transfixed throwing needles to obstruct any pursuers. In the dark and strange luminescence inside the dungeon, the needles were difficult to detect when moving fast and more than one hostile soldier injured themselves by charging at Terry or trying to follow him.

With his mana sense, Terry subconsciously observed all mana movements in the vicinity. Shortly before he arrived near his target, he unleashed a prepared spherical disruption discharge that freed his path and bought him time.

The man next to the target mage attacked Terry with a mace, only to smash face-first into his own weapon that had been transfixed in the air.

Terry recognized the structure for Shadow Step – a spell that allowed a mage to step into the shadow plane, which was mostly used to dodge or scout. Terry circulated a burst technique and sped up. When the mage attempted to flee into the shadows, he discovered in horror that he could not move. Parts of his armor were holding him in place.

Terry arrived with two tightly grasped spears. An instant later, the spears pierced through the mage’s armor. Simultaneously, Terry deactivated the Immovable Object spell and summoned his spear barriers. He sped up and forced the man towards the end of the disconnected tunnel. Another channeling of mana later, the barriers had pushed the mage over the spears, over the ledge, and into the acidic water below.

“Bastard!” The mage’s friend was furiously charging with his brandished mace towards Terry.

Terry had already known that the man was right behind him. As soon as Terry reached the cliff himself, he transfixed his wrist pearls and swung himself up into the air.

The soldier was not prepared to suddenly lose his target in this manner and scrambled to stop before falling over the cliff. Unfortunately for him, Terry’s bidirectional attraction gloves were tugging at him, and then Terry’s feet came stomping down to ensure that the prison guard would follow his friend into his orange death.

Terry shot one more glance towards the Valkyrie, who was decimating the hellspawn. He thought he could see her fleetingly glance back to him, but he did not pay it much attention.

Terry returned to the disconnected tunnel, where prison guards and a minority of the other soldiers were facing off against Yujin and the rest. Several soldiers and guards from Claude’s faction warily turned their attention to Terry, whose threat level they could not determine.

Terry gripped his barrier spear tightly and held their gazes.

These people!

“Hrrrmm…” A low growl escaped from Terry’s throat.

Two hundred years…

Blood was rushing from Terry’s exhausted body to his head.

Two wasted centuries…

A savage glint entered Terry’s eyes.

All of it!

Terry charged forward with his barrier raised.

***