But Lian’s method was different. He didn’t fight like someone who intended to show off his Skills.
Every move was only for moving forward. If a shield blocked the path, he would push both the shield and its owner aside, sending them straight to the world after death.
If there was fire in the way, he would walk through it. If the number of enemies was large, he would throw the strongest one at the rest.
In the simplest sense, he would destroy as much as needed until he reached his goal, and this made Aren’s body shiver.
Aren thought to himself, had the way of fighting in his world changed during the time he had been in this world?
A few minutes later, the corridor was filled with dead guards.
Lian reached the last gate. The cell’s marker was on the wall beside it.
"Open it." He pulled Tharos forward.
The prison head still resisted. He understood that all ways to stop this monster were closed, and his escape was imminent.
He still wanted to try to buy time for more forces to arrive.
But Lian pulled the chain tighter, and the prison head angrily placed his hand on the seal.
The outer gate opened. Behind it was another short corridor.
Three cells could be seen at its end.
Marcus, Ethan, and Cassian were being held in a shared cell; probably after the meeting, they had been temporarily placed together to prepare for transfer or further interrogation.
Lian approached the cell. Inside, all three were ready for a fight upon hearing the alarms.
Ethan had wrapped his chains around his forearm.
Marcus stood by the door, and Cassian was a little further back, examining the situation.
When the corridor gate moved aside, all three expected a group of guards to enter.
But first they saw Lian. Blood had dried on his face, side, and wrists.
Broken chains were wrapped around his hands. Behind him, Aren stood with a weak body, and Tharos, wounded and chained, was being dragged on the ground.
Ethan just looked for a few seconds.
"So when you said what your plan was, you weren’t joking, were you?" He then asked.
"No."
Cassian looked through the bars at the corridor behind him. Dozens of guards’ bodies lay on the ground.
Parts of the wall were burned or broken.
"But you said you had a plan."
"I do." Lian pushed Tharos against the cell’s seal.
"What is the plan?" Marcus asked.
"We go out through the main gate." And then he pushed Tharos toward the door with his foot.
A few seconds of silence followed.
Marcus looked at Cassian.
Cassian looked at Lian.
Ethan suddenly started laughing, his laugh echoing in the prison corridor.
"So your plan really was just force?"
"Yeah." Lian looked at their chains’ seals.
Ethan was still laughing.
"Finally, someone crazier than me has appeared."
"This isn’t funny." Cassian said under his breath.
"A little bit." Marcus added.
"Open them." Lian pulled the chain around Tharos’s neck.
"If I open these seals, we’ll all die."
"If you don’t open them, you’ll die sooner."
Tharos looked into Lian’s eyes, then placed his bloody hand on the cell’s seal.
The first lock opened, and the gate moved aside. Then he was forced to deactivate the Suppression seals on Marcus, Ethan, and Cassian one by one.
Marcus’s chains opened. He moved his wounded shoulder and endured the pain.
After being freed, Cassian quickly checked the fallen guards’ weapons and equipment.
Ethan immediately picked up one of the heavy Cindari swords.
When the last chain was opened, the entire Rootspire shook.
Not a small tremor. The entire floor, walls, and ceiling moved like the body of a massive creature.
The red veins inside the roots changed to a glowing white.
The corridor’s heat rose. A deep and powerful voice spread from all the walls.
"All gates of Vhalaris have been closed." Maelor’s voice.
The glowing veins on the walls pulsed.
"The bridges have been cut."
"All military units have entered siege status." His voice became colder.
"No one will leave this city."
For a moment, silence fell among the group, and everyone looked at each other’s condition.
The sentences they just heard made them understand that the situation was probably worse than they thought, and escape was not going to be easy.
And then everyone’s gaze fell on the group’s thinker.
"Now what?" Cassian asked.
Lian raised his head. Between them and the exit from Vhalaris were the Rootspire’s levels, hundreds of soldiers, Rootbound Wardens, city commanders, Kael, and Maelor.
He wrapped the broken chain tighter around his fist.
"Now we go to the others."
He had no plan to get through Vhalaris’s army. But as long as his fists moved, he didn’t need a plan either.
And then they walked.
The sound of the Rootspire’s alarms could still be heard behind them.
The red veins inside the massive tower’s trunk pulsed with a fast rhythm, spreading the warning light through the surrounding streets.
The military gates were closing one after another, and groups of soldiers were moving from the main paths toward the city center.
But contrary to what Vhalaris’s commanders expected, the escapees had not headed toward the exit gates.
After freeing Marcus, Ethan, and Cassian, Lian had used Tharos to pass through the last security sections.
The prison head was valuable to them as long as his seals could open doors and elevators.
When they reached the service corridor near the city’s surface, Cassian had removed one of the security seals from Tharos’s belt and chained the prison head to the wall with his own chains.
Ethan had suggested breaking his neck so he couldn’t guide the forces, but Marcus had disagreed.
Tharos was now alive, wounded, and angry, left in one of the Rootspire’s service rooms.
This action had probably only bought them a few minutes, but those few minutes were enough to leave the tower.
Now Lian, Marcus, Ethan, Cassian, and Aren were passing through one of Vhalaris’s side streets.
"Are we really going to the first place they’d look for us?" Marcus felt he had to ask this question.
"Everyone is there."
"I know that. The Cindari also know everyone is there." Ethan turned his head slightly toward him.
Cassian, who was moving behind them, listened to the city’s warning sounds.
"And the entire city’s army will be there in a few minutes."
"Then we don’t have to look for them." Lian said without worry.
Ethan stared at him for a moment and then gave a short laugh.
"At least your thinking is consistent."
"Returning to Ashfall is dangerous, but we have no other choice." He looked at the surrounding buildings.
The Cindari people were watching the escapees from windows and higher bridges.
Some stepped aside in fear, and others ran inside buildings to alert the guards.
"If we go directly to one of the city’s gates, the main forces will surround us before we arrive." Cassian continued.
"Ashfall at least has walls, a few limited entrances, and dozens of Awakeners."
"So we’re trapping ourselves in a district." Ethan said.
"We’re going somewhere with forces and support. Fighting an army alone isn’t easy." Lian answered. Even he wasn’t sure he could defeat all of them alone.
But with the help of the other Awakeners, defeating this city’s army shouldn’t be a problem.
Aren, who understood part of their conversation through the System’s translation, raised his head for a moment and looked at Lian.
Escaping from the lowest prison of the Rootspire apparently wasn’t the end of his insane behavior.
Lian wasn’t only not fleeing to a safe place, but he was heading toward an area where all his companions were gathered, and the enemy could easily surround them.
However, after seeing how Lian had broken through five security gates and captured the prison Warden with his own chains, Aren could no longer confidently say this decision was wrong.
Perhaps this young human really knew what he was doing, or perhaps his power allowed him to move forward even without knowing.
But he didn’t care either. Just being free again was enough for him. Besides, he could see more humans after a long time.
At the same time, inside Ashfall Ward’s temporary council building, a heavy atmosphere prevailed.
Several maps were open on the main table.
One was the general map of Emberroot that the Cindari had given Rindo upon entering the city.
Another map only showed the streets, bridges, and defensive paths of Ashfall.
The list of hunting groups, potion inventory, food amounts, and the wounded were also beside them.
Rindo stood at the head of the table.
He had placed both his hands on the wooden surface and was thinking about the Main Quest panel.
Thousands of problems had occurred all at once, and he had no idea which one to deal with first...