"Him?" Lian asked with a blank face.
"The prisoner you claimed to understand the language of."
The chains were checked again, and then he was taken out of the meeting room.
This time, the path was different from the route he had taken to enter.
Instead of returning to the main elevator, they passed through a narrow corridor behind an unmarked door.
Two other guards were waiting there, each wearing black armor with no Vhalaris insignia at all.
Neither the flaming root on their chests nor any military rank could be seen.
The first guard placed his hand seal on the door. A strand of orange energy entered it.
The door opened, and a smaller elevator was behind it.
Lian and the four guards entered, and the platform began to descend.
’So that person is so important to them that they’re protecting him in such a secure location? What did he do? Or... what does he know?’ He frowned.
A completely hidden elevator existed to take them even lower! This itself showed how strange the situation was.
The World Memory Map recorded a new line.
The path separated from the prison’s normal section and moved toward that same fourth line that extended from beneath the Rootspire into the roots’ depths.
They descended two more levels. At each level, the pressure increased.
The Suppression seals on Lian’s chains also reacted, becoming warmer.
The elevator stopped in front of the first gate. The guards had to activate three separate seals to pass through it.
After passing, the roots behind them twisted back together and closed the path.
The second gate required the Mana reaction of each guard. The third gate checked their heartbeat and blood flow.
The fourth gate only opened after sending a message to an unknown part of the Rootspire.
The fifth was made of pure metal and had no visible physical lock.
The lower they went, the more obvious the Cindari’s sensitivity became.
Multiple listening devices were on the walls.
Artifacts resembling black eyes were placed inside the roots, recording all movements.
Lian’s conversation with the prisoner would not only be heard, but probably every facial change, hand movement, and Mana fluctuation would also be stored.
This level did not exist on any public list.
Not even the prisoner’s name was recorded. Before the last checkpoint, one of the soldiers’ communication seals lit up.
Tharos’s voice came from it.
"You will not ask any questions about the prison’s location, the duration of detention, or the Rootspire’s structure."
"Then I’ll probably ask those questions first." Lian gave a faint smile.
The guard beside him placed his hand on his weapon, and Tharos’s voice became colder.
"You will translate every word."
"That wasn’t part of our agreement."
"If you don’t cooperate, the meeting ends."
"Then you’ll have to find another translator." Lian said lazily.
Tharos did not answer, and the seal went silent. The guards continued moving. The last gate was in front of them.
Unlike all the previous structures, this gate did not look new.
Behind the metal layers, dark stone with worn patterns could be seen. This stone did not belong to Vhalaris’s architecture.
It was even different from the Glassthorn ruins’ structure.
Perhaps the lower part of the Rootspire had existed long before the city was built.
The gate was closed with several separate locks.
Thick chains were stretched over its surface, and five Mana-suppression Artifacts were installed around it.
The guards stopped in front of it.
One activated the first seal. The sound of a metal lock opening echoed in the corridor.
The second seal went silent.
Then the third.
The chains on the door loosened one after another and fell to the ground.
The Suppression Artifacts released more intense light for a moment, and then their output decreased.
The thick door slowly moved aside. Cold, stagnant air came out of the cell. This cold contrasted with Emberroot’s natural heat.
The red light of the corridor entered the darkness behind the door.
Lian stood at the threshold. The cell was larger than he had expected, but it looked almost empty.
Chains from the ceiling and walls extended to its center, and someone was sitting among them.
His body could not be seen in the complete darkness, only the lines of chains on his arms and shoulders were visible.
After all the path Lian had traveled, he had finally reached the prisoner he was looking for: a native of the Ruined Realm who had lived here for years!
Four Cindari guards took positions around him. Two behind him and two at the cell’s entrance.
Their hands were near their weapons’ hilts, and their gazes did not separate from the darkness in front even for a moment.
The Mana Suppression chains were still around Lian’s wrists, arms, chest, and legs.
The golden seal installed on the central lock had weighed down his Mana channels and limited access to his storage space.
But the pressure of these restraints occupied only a small part of his attention at that moment.
Someone was sitting in the cell’s center. At first, only his silhouette could be seen.
Thick chains from the ceiling and walls were attached to his body. Some were wrapped around his wrists and ankles.
One of the chains was around his neck, and another from behind was directly connected to a metal seal on his spine.
As light entered, more details became clear.
A man who appeared to be in his thirties.
His long hair, a mixture of black and gray, had fallen to his shoulders and covered much of his face.
An unkempt beard had grown on his chin and cheeks. His body was extremely thin.
The bones of his shoulders and ribcage were visible under his skin, but even the weakness from years of imprisonment could not completely hide his past physical structure.
His arms were still muscular.
Old scars on his chest, neck, and stomach showed that before captivity, he had participated in real battles many times.
Several Suppression seals were carved directly into his skin.
Black and orange patterns extended from above his chest to his shoulders and the back of his neck. Every time the slightest Mana flow formed in his body, the seals would light up, and the chains would apply more pressure.
Nevertheless, something in him was still not broken. His head was down, but his posture did not resemble a defeated man.
More like a wounded animal that had been kept in a cage for years but had still not forgotten the first opportunity to tear the guards’ throats.
One of the Cindari struck the cell floor with the end of his spear.
"Raise your head."
The prisoner showed no reaction.
The guard raised his spear for the second time, but before he could strike, the man slowly raised his head.
His long hair moved away from his face. His eyes were dark gray.
Tired and worn, but still alive and alert.
His gaze first moved over the guards’ armor, then examined the chains bound around Lian’s body.
Finally, it fixed on his face. For a few seconds, he did not move. His expression gradually changed.
First doubt, then disbelief, and finally, a shock so deep that even years of imprisonment could not hide it.
His dry lips parted slightly.
"Human?"
The word was spoken in a language that for the Cindari guards was only a collection of unknown sounds.
But the moment it reached Lian’s ears, the System reacted. The concept of the word formed in his mind without the need for conscious translation.
[Ancient Ruined Realm Language Detected.]
[Contextual Translation Active.]
Lian said nothing. The chained man leaned forward slightly.
The ring around his neck stretched, and the seals on his chest glowed with orange light, but he didn’t even notice the pain.
His eyes remained fixed on Lian.
"I thought I was the only human left in this damn world." His voice was weak, but the tremor in it did not come from bodily weakness.
His chained hands moved slightly.
"How did you survive?"
"What did he say?" one of the guards turned to Lian.
Lian did not take his gaze off the prisoner. In those few sentences, he had understood something important.
This man did not imagine that Lian had come from another world. He had no knowledge of Earth.
For him, "human" only referred to the people of his own world. A world that, before being trapped in this Special Area, was probably the only home of the humans he knew.
This meant the Ruined Realm native thought Lian belonged to the Ruined Realm as well... and this was going to make things much easier for him.
An incomprehensible grin appeared on his face...