Lian looked around. His eyes were still indifferent, and it was unclear what was going on in his mind.
’Everyone probably thinks I’ve gone crazy now, huh?’ He almost laughed. From the outside, maybe all the things he had done really seemed insane.
But he himself knew that wasn’t the case, and behind every action he took, there was a purpose.
And right now, his purpose was to get into the prison.
Rootspire had reacted completely.
Rootbound Wardens came out from the side gates.
The towers around the bridge activated, and large bows aimed at Lian from several directions.
Further back, soldiers were dragging thick chains on the ground.
The golden veins inside the chains showed that these tools were not made for restraining ordinary people.
They were Mana suppression equipment. They knew they weren’t dealing with an ordinary enemy, so they had brought their best tools.
The Warden commander stepped forward. He was another commander, but almost equal in power to Kael.
His armor was covered in golden patterns, and a half-open helmet was on his face.
This gave Lian a general understanding of this city’s power. Contrary to his initial impression, this place was weaker than he had thought.
He doubted anyone above level 35 could be found here. Maybe not even that level existed.
"The encirclement is complete." His voice echoed across the entire bridge.
"Any further resistance will be recorded as a direct attack on Rootspire, and the punishment will be execution!"
Lian scanned his surroundings. More than forty soldiers, Kael in front of him.
Three Barriers behind him, archers on the towers, and probably more forces waiting inside Rootspire.
He could still fight. He could use a larger Cataclysm Pulse and destroy part of the bridge.
He could try Thunder Step to get past the first ring. Maybe even find a way to reach one of the side entrances.
And even if he pushed forward with all his power, defeating this army wasn’t impossible. By killing each of them, he would immediately receive stat points and add them to his stats.
In short, fighting and winning wasn’t impossible... but his goal wasn’t to get past these forces silently.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps was heard from behind the Barrier.
Seraphina, Liana, Seris, and Rindo finally reached the central bridge.
A few guards tried to stop them, but their Guest Sigils and Rindo’s presence allowed them to reach the edge of the security ring.
Seraphina was the first to see the dried blood on Lian’s side. Her expression changed in an instant.
Anger, worry, and disbelief appeared in her eyes simultaneously.
She drew her sword. A transparent layer formed on the blade, and prismatic light moved through it for a moment.
The Rootbound Wardens immediately turned some of the bows toward her.
"Sheath your sword!" Kael shouted angrily.
"First, move your spears away from him." Seraphina stepped forward.
Liana summoned the Shadow Wolf beside her.
The wolf’s body rose from the bridge’s shadow, and its red eyes moved over the soldiers.
"Lian, get back here! Right now!" Rindo looked angrier than both of them.
His face wasn’t red, and he wasn’t shouting aimlessly, but his clenched jaw and closed fists showed just how close he was to losing control.
"You haven’t even been in the city for an hour!" His voice echoed across the entire bridge.
"Do you understand what you’ve done to Ashfall Ward?"
Lian looked at them. He knew his decision had put them in danger without preparation.
If the Cindari decided to besiege Ashfall Ward again, Rindo would have to bear the consequences of Lian’s decision.
Seraphina and Liana were now also standing among dozens of weapons, simply because they didn’t want to leave him alone.
But if he had explained the plan from the start, none of them would have let him enter Rootspire alone.
Rindo would have definitely stopped him.
Seraphina would have come with him. Liana would have sent the Shadow Wolf ahead. And Seris, even if she thought the plan was logical, wouldn’t have let him move without support.
The presence of all four would have turned the plan from a deliberate infiltration by a prisoner into a war between humans and Vhalaris.
Seraphina stepped forward again.
"If you thought we’d let you get yourself killed alone—"
"No one attack." Lian cut her off.
"You’re saying this after what you did?" Seraphina stared at him in disbelief.
Her anger was no longer just directed at the Cindari soldiers. A large part of it was directly aimed at Lian.
"You crossed through the middle of the city without a word of explanation, attacked Rootspire, and now you’re telling us not to attack?"
"Couldn’t you have said something before doing something insane for once?" Liana also said in a sharp tone.
"They might execute you right here!" Rindo shouted.
Lian glanced briefly at Seris.
She was the only one who hadn’t drawn her sword.
Her hand was near the hilt, but her expression showed she understood Lian’s goal.
Still, her cold, narrowed gaze confirmed she wasn’t happy with his method... more like she was dissatisfied that she wasn’t part of the plan too.
"He wanted to throw himself into that prison. I said it before." Seris whispered quietly.
"Was there no better way to get arrested?" Liana whispered angrily.
"If he had surrendered in Ashfall Ward, they would have taken him to a regular holding cell." Rindo answered.
Now he too fully understood Lian’s goal, but this understanding didn’t reduce his anger in the slightest.
"This madman deliberately entered the military zone so they would be forced to take him to the prison under the tower."
The Warden commander had also heard part of the conversation, but that didn’t make him care. He probably felt this fool just wanted to enter the prison to see if his friends were safe or not.
A foolish and somewhat brave decision.
"Kneel and deactivate your Skills." Golden light spread across his armor.
"This is your final warning."
Lian assessed the situation again. Everything had reached the point he wanted, and there was no need to continue.
He raised his hands. The Glacial Reaper Claw disappeared from around his fingers.
The pressure of Iron Fortress subsided, and the remaining lightning from Thunder Step on his armor went out.
"You did all of this just to surrender now?" Kael looked at him as if he were facing an idiot.
"Tell Maelor that I can translate the language of the person you’ve imprisoned." Lian kept his gaze on Kael.
The expressions of several Cindari clearly changed.
Not the ordinary soldiers, but mostly the Rootbound Wardens and commanders standing near the tower’s entrance.
One of them glanced briefly at another.
Kael also lowered his spear slightly, but his eyes fixed on Lian more carefully.
"Who are you talking about?"
"If you don’t know, then you don’t need to worry." Lian smiled faintly, and then brought his hands forward.
"But until I see the prisoner myself, I won’t translate another word."
He wasn’t sure that native was still alive. He didn’t even know if the person who wrote the message was the same one who had transported the night caravan.
But the eavesdropping reaction and the change in the Rootspire commanders’ expressions showed that the matter was not unknown to the Cindari.
Kael was silent for a few seconds, then placed his fingers on the metal seal beside his neck.
A golden thread entered Rootspire from the seal.
He had probably sent an urgent report to someone inside the tower. A few seconds later, the seal’s light changed. He had received orders.
"Chains."
Four soldiers stepped forward, each holding part of the chains.
Lian didn’t resist. The first chain wrapped around his wrists.
The golden veins lit up and locked both hands in front of his body. The second chain wrapped around his right arm and shoulder.
Two more chains took hold of his chest, waist, and legs.
Mana pressure from the metal entered his body. His energy channels became heavy for a moment.
[External Mana Suppression Detected.]
[Skill Activation Efficiency Reduced by 46%.]
[High-output Mana Skills Temporarily Destabilized.]
Lian could have resisted the chains by releasing Cataclysm Pulse or the full power of Glacial Reaper Claw.
But he let all the locks be completed.
"Lian!" Seraphina stepped forward upon seeing the last chain locked.
Four spears blocked her path. The prismatic light on her sword grew more intense.
"Go see One." Lian looked at her without struggling.
This sentence only made Seraphina angrier.
"Your concern right now is One?"
"No. I’m not worried about anything."
"When you come out of there, you’ll answer to me before anyone else." She said with narrowed eyes.
"You should have let me come too." Seris looked at him without speaking for a few seconds, then said.
Lian nodded.
Seris was the only one who, instead of trying to stop the plan, was thinking about its next stage.
Still, she was even crazier and more illogical than Lian, and might do something stupid.
Besides, he didn’t plan to stay in the prison long and would be out soon.
"Move the prisoner. Temporary charges will be recorded." Then Kael said in a formal voice.