"Getting out of here isn’t that hard." Lian shrugged. He didn’t understand why they were making it so difficult.
Of course, with a second thought, it was clear. They didn’t know his real power and didn’t know what he was capable of.
But he preferred not to say anything for now. He could show his power later through his actions.
"Our powers are limited." Marcus pointed at the black walls.
Then he raised his own chains.
"There are at least three seals on each of us. This level has dozens of guards, and we don’t even know which way the exit is."
"I do."
"How?" Cassian asked.
"Don’t worry. I have my own plan." Lian shrugged.
In truth, there was no precise multi-stage plan.
The World Memory Map had recorded the path.
The chains restricted his Skills, but his physical strength was still high enough to break one of the locks by finding the right point.
After freeing his hands, Glacial Reaper Claw or Cataclysm Pulse could destroy the rest of the seals.
Then he would have to free the other three, and then they would force their way out of the prison.
That was the extent of the plan.
Lian usually analyzed more details before entering danger, but this time, the simpler way was exactly what he had told Ethan.
Using power.
If Seris were here, she would love this plan. It’s exactly her style.
"You really don’t have any other plan, do you?" Marcus looked at his calm face.
"The result is what matters."
"It seems another madman has joined us." Ethan laughed with a laugh sadder than crying.
"Is there another reason you came here?" Cassian, unlike him, remained calm. He felt that seeing them was not the only reason this boy had come.
"If you only wanted to see us, you could have found a less risky way."
"You’re right. Before leaving, I need to see the person Marcus saw in the caravan." Lian said.
"That Human? We couldn’t find any information about him." He paused briefly and then added.
"Honestly, after everything that happened, I even thought maybe I was mistaken. It was dark, and the caravan was far away."
"You weren’t mistaken." Lian answered.
Then he explained about the metal piece.
He said there was only one word on it in the old Ruined Realm language.
Help.
The script was similar to the pillars of the Temple of the Divine of Light ruins.
The writer was not one of Earth’s Humans.
It was probably a native of the Ruined Realm who had been imprisoned and had hoped that one day his message would reach one of his own people.
All of them listened with focus. They didn’t expect to hear such things, especially that the person was probably a native of the Ruined Realm, which was beyond their expectations.
"So the person in the caravan was one of the Ruined Realm natives?"
"Most likely."
"Do you want to free him?"
"It depends." Lian answered.
"On what?"
"First, we need to talk to him."
"If these Cindari imprisoned him, that’s reason enough to free him." Ethan said.
Cassian gave him a brief look.
"He might actually be a criminal."
"It doesn’t matter."
"Maybe for you."
Ethan pointed at the guards behind the door.
"For me, anyone these bastards imprison is on our side for now."
Marcus frowned.
"God knows why they took one of the Ruined Realm natives."
Then he looked at Lian.
"What is he even doing here?"
"We’ll find out soon." Lian answered calmly and then turned his attention to Cassian.
"By the way, you didn’t kill that archivist, right?"
"Of course not." Cassian answered without the slightest pause.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
"We entered the Archive to find information about that same prisoner."
"No one was supposed to know we were there."
"I found the caravan’s route. Cassian also managed to find a way past two security checkpoints." Marcus said.
"Ethan was waiting outside the main path. I entered the archivist’s room to check the records of caravans and classified prisoners."
His face became colder.
"But when I arrived, the archivist was already on the ground."
"Dead?"
"Already." Cassian curled his fingers around the table’s edge.
"One of my daggers was inside his chest. One of the daggers I bought before entering the Special Area."
"The alarm was triggered right at that moment." Marcus said.
"The guards seemed to know exactly where to go. They didn’t check other paths or search for the real attacker. They went straight for us." Ethan continued with anger.
"So someone stole your dagger before you entered?" Lian said, but a question arose for him. How exactly?
Aren’t their weapons supposed to be in their Storage space? And as far as he knows, no one but themselves should have access to it.
"Well, during one of the battles in the first few days, its edge was damaged, so I gave it to Rindo to repair."
"Hmph, I say Rindo is a traitorous bastard, and you don’t believe me." Ethan said mockingly.
But everyone ignored him.
Someone had known about their plan. Someone had gained access to Cassian’s dagger.
They had killed the archivist before their entry and sent the guards exactly when Cassian was next to the body.
This plan would not have been possible without hearing those three’s decision, and Lian had a good understanding of how these fools had fallen into such a trap.
"Before you decided to secretly enter the Archive, where did you talk about it?" He then asked.
If his guess was correct, he had no doubt they had discussed the plan in the same office where he had found the listening device.
All three looked at each other for a moment.
Marcus frowned. Cassian’s expression changed.
He also immediately understood the connection between Lian’s question and the setup.
"We were inside—" Cassian opened his mouth.
But at that same moment, the door’s lock opened with a loud sound. The door moved to both sides.
Four soldiers entered.
Two went directly toward Marcus, Ethan, and Cassian.
"Meeting time is over." said the small officer standing in front.
Lian looked at the wall. Fifteen minutes were up. Time had passed sooner than he thought.
Of course, Lian was willing to bet that the prison head was extremely angry.
That fool had wanted to listen to their conversation to understand what they were talking about.
But he and the others, by turning off the translators, had made sure that none of their words were translated, and the Cindari couldn’t understand anything they said.
In fact, the prison head had shown good patience.
Lian had guessed that he might end the meeting time earlier than 15 minutes.
One of the soldiers grabbed the ring around his neck.
Cassian stood up.
Before the guards could take him out of the room, he gave a brief and meaningful look at Lian.
Marcus, Ethan, and Cassian were taken out of the room.
The door remained open for a few seconds, and the sound of their chains faded in the corridor. Then two soldiers stood beside Lian.
"Get up."
"Where?" Lian stood up without rushing.
"The prison head says it’s time for you to see that one." the first guard answered.