Chapter 76
Seong-Hwi rusted all the cells and restraints using Rust of Ruin. As a result, hundreds of prisoners were freed from the west wing. They touched their wrists in disbelief.
“Friend Seong-Hwi! I knew you’d come! I never had a doubt!” Thumper shouted.
“Wha... This alloy shouldn’t rust this easily,” Muka mumbled.
“Chwik! We’re free!” Qwee remarked.
“Hohoho. I feel much better without these restraints,” Sayo said.
As the prisoners rejoiced, Seong-Hwi said calmly, “The goblins must’ve already realized there’s an issue with the cells. Let’s go over the plan one last time.”
“Okay. The first step is complete thanks to you, Friend Seong-Hwi. Step two is to free as many prisoners as possible as we head to the northern plain and secure it,” Thumper said so that every freed prisoner could hear.
“Growl! I know!” Tigrinus answered.
“Chwik. Tigrinus and I will take the lead!” Qwee added.
Tigrinus was a tiger beastfolk with orange, black, and white stripes. His feline muscles allowed him to be agile and elastic. Qwee was an orc with grey skin and scars everywhere. Tusks grew from his mandible, reaching his cheek. He was a war chief, and his imprisonment on the second floor despite orcs being an inferior race attested to his strength.
“Alright. Free the prisoners in the east, south, and north wings first, and head upstairs to free everyone else!”
“Growl! Leave it to us!”
“Chwik. Come with us, human friend Seong-Hwi. You’re the only one who can free the prisoners.”
Seong-Hwi nodded and replied, “Okay, but you should know that steps three and four have slightly changed.”
“What?” Thumper asked, his eyes widening. “Changed? What do you mean?”
“I closed the dungeon.”
“W-what?” Thumper asked, his mouth agape.
The original plan was to keep the goblins’ attention on the northern plain as the negotiation team met with the fairy to have them open a warp gate in exchange for information about the dungeon, Forgotten Fairy’s Hideout.
“You... closed the dungeon? Is that even possible? You’re kidding, right?” Thumper asked.
“No, I’m serious,” Seong-Hwi answered.
“You’re serious? Are you insane?!”
Thumper despaired as he pulled on his ears.
Seong-Hwi showed his palms to calm Thumper down and replied, “Don’t worry. I have a better plan.”
“What? Is it better than the fairies’ obsession over their home dimension dungeons?”
Seong-Hwi nodded. “It is. Trust me. Negotiation team, stop by the seventh torture chamber before you meet with the fairy. You’ll find a human man in there. Take him and...”
***
“Krrrk! Illechebra! Why... is there no answer? You lied to me!” Tutobure, with no right arm and left eye, shouted at Illechebra, a child dragon imprisoned on the sub-third floor.
“Hmph. Almighty dragons do not lie, filthy goblin.”
“Then why is there no answer?! I did exactly as you said!”
“How should I know? My noble father must not have even wanted to converse with a mere goblin,” Illechebra remarked arrogantly.
“Kreeeh!”
Tutobure’s face reddened with rage.
Why isn’t it going through?! I need the help of a superior race, someone who’s at least a World Ranker!
He knew better than anyone that his predicament was getting worse with each passing day. Not only had Chanagita sided with Homaruba, but even Mitasra, whom he trusted, wasn’t helping him.
I have to regain my strength!
In such a situation, Tutobure could only trust in his combat abilities. He needed to restore his arm and eye to regain his powers. He had to find either the mystical art of Chimera production or an Elixir, and he needed the help of World Ranker Biphatogenes to do either.
Biphatogenes might have an Elixir in his secret storage! If not... Tutobure trailed off as he stared at the horned dragon boy with blue hair and eyes before him.
“Illechebra. Kerek. If you’re going to be like this... You give me no choice but to hand you over to Abyete and ask him to guarantee my safety.”
“Hmph, do as you like. If anything happens to me, my father will wipe out the goblins.”
“Krrrk! You arrogant dragon! Humilitas will not fall so easily! Kerek! Even Biphatogenes would be reluctant to face the World Ranker Abyete!” Tutobure threatened.
Illechebrta laughed confidently and replied, “Haha! That’s funny. Humilitas? Abyete? Are you saying that while knowing which faction Nivalis, led by my father, belongs to?”
Tutobure’s expression crumpled. He knew all too well, since it was the main reason he was trying to get in contact with Biphatogenes.
“Krrrk! Echion!”
“That’s right. The great Echion! The strongest faction, named after our home, and one led by our absolute ruler, Regnator!” Illechebra shouted.
Tutobure had no choice but to remain silent. The dragons’ society was divided into two factions. The Third Lord led Echion while the Fifth Lord led Redeo. Nivalis, run by Biphatogenes, was a part of Echion. Biphatogenes was well-known as Regnator’s spearhead.
Nivalis aside, Echion would undoubtedly have a way to get my body parts back! Tutobure shouted inwardly.
Tutobure glared at the unyielding Illechebra when he felt vibrations from above.
“Krek? What was that?”
***
An alarm blared throughout the Tin Can.
“Kerek! The prisoners have escaped!”
“Krrrk! Defense and maintenance unit, assemble!”
“Where is the warden?!”
Most prisoners of the sub-second floor had broken out of their cells and restraints. The goblins quickly blocked off the passages.
“Chwik! Clear a path!” The orc Qwee charged at the goblins, holding steel bars in each hand. “Graaah! Father! Give me strength!”
[Activating Unique Skill: Ren’s Heroic Soul.]
A red energy exuded from behind Qwee once he activated a skill, manifesting into an orc who resembled Qwee but with more wrinkles. The red energy was Battle Force, the secondary force of orcs, and the orc manifested behind Qwee was the heroic soul of his father, Ren.
Qwee swung the steel bar, and Ren’s Heroic Soul matched his movement, significantly boosting Qwee’s power. The goblins struck by the steel bar turned into lumps of flesh.
“Growl! Leave some for me, Qwee!”
Tigrinus charged on all fours from behind Qwee and jumped. Sharp claws protruded from his thick hands.
[Activating Race Skill: Tiger Pressure.]
“Graaah!” Tigrinus’s roar, mixed with Tiger Pressure, distorted the goblins’ sense of direction.
Tigrinus ecstatically tore the goblins apart with his claws in an instant.
“Their formation is destroyed!”
“Keep pushing!”
“Kill the damn goblins!”
Qwee’s and Tigrinus’s attacks made a gap in the goblins’ formation, and the prisoners took the chance to widen it. The sound of clashing weapons, slicing flesh, and breaking bones echoed throughout the hall like an orchestra on the battlefield.
“Kreeek! Stop them! Stop—Kurgh!”
“Call for reinforcements! Call the defense and maintenance unit—Argh!”
The goblins couldn’t stop the prisoners who attacked them with a resolve to die. The formation was instantly destroyed, and the hall was covered in blood.
“Growl! Weak! They’re so weak! I want to kill more goblins!” Tigrinus turned red as he roared.
His yellow eyes exuded bloodlust as he strangled a goblin with his tail.
“Kerek!”
“Grrr!”
He broke the goblin’s neck and threw the corpse aside like garbage, growling as he looked for his next prey.
The calm Qwee remarked, “Chwik. Calm down, cat. We still have to climb to the sub-first floor.”
“Grrr! I know! I’m not an idiot!”
Tigrinus looked backward. The enraged prisoners killed the collapsed goblins as revenge for what the goblins had done to them. Behind them, a human man with black hair and eyes was corroding a cell.
“Done,” Seong-Hwi remarked after corroding the cell with Rust of Ruin.
“Okay. Hup!” The dwarf Muka broke the cell using a hammer he stole from a goblin.
Seong-Hwi entered the cell and corroded the restraints around a monkey beastfolk’s limbs.
“Hah, I can’t believe it,” Muka said as he stared with mixed feelings at the restraints that corroded all too easily. “They’re pieces of shit, but they’re still dwarves. How could their products rust so easily?’
“Do you find it a shame?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“Keh, not at all. I couldn’t be happier.”
“T-thank you very much. I will make sure to repay this favor!” the monkey beastfolk said as they quickly jumped out of the cell and rummaged through the goblins’ corpses for a weapon.
Seeing that, Muka asked Seong-Hwi, “Would you like to work on a job with me?”
“A job?”
“Yeah. Iron that doesn’t rust from that skill could be considered the strongest iron.”
“Hah, why don’t we talk about that once we escape?” Seong-Hwi remarked dumbfoundedly.
Muka smiled and said, “Heh, an artisan hammers iron at all times of their life! Even while imprisoned, I’ve never let go of the hammer in my heart. What do you say? It’s a plus for you to build a relationship with someone like me.”
Seong-Hwi shook his head at the shameless Muka, saying, “Let’s talk later. That aside, is it true that Tutobure went down through the large door in the west wing?”
“Yeah. He practically lives there nowadays, but only he can open the door.”
“I see,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as his eyes gleamed red.
***
A giant city was between the first and second zones in the northwest region of the Mirror World. A building resembling a ziggurat, an architecture of Mesopotamia, was in the city's center. It looked like seven flat white rectangles stacked on each other, the one on top smaller than the one directly under it, from afar. Some said it also resembled the tiers of a wedding cake.
The city was Yappa, the base of Humilitas, which was no different from the goblin society. The building, which resembled a ziggurat, was a castle in which the World Ranker Abyete lived.
“Krrrk. You’re here.”
The seventh floor of the building was as large as a temple hall. Various eccentric statues filled the hall, and at the end of the hall was a bronze statue of a giant goblin with a thousand arms, a hundred legs, ten eyes, five mouths, and three noses. A sacrificial altar stood before the statue, and in front of that was a golden throne.
A roughly 160-centimeter goblin, built like a brick, with a bushy beard and a crown, sat on the throne. He was ranked 90th on the World Ranking, the king of Humilitas, Abyete. Two elf women with lifeless eyes were at his sides, fanning palm tree leaves.
“Kerek. O Great Abyete. I, Natojax, have answered your summons.”
A goblin with distinctively sharp canine teeth knelt before the throne. He was Natojax, ranked eleventh among the goblins.
“I’ve heard Tutobure has become crippled,” Abyete remarked.
“Yes, that is what I have heard as well.”
“Krrrk. That idiot... if he was going to pull something like this, he should have at least not gotten caught doing it. I have to negotiate with Lee Kang-San of the Union because of him.”
Abyete irritatedly tapped on the armrest of his throne with his finger and continued, “Information about the undeveloped cities Yeouido, Da Nang, and Sapporo in the fourth zone, huh? Krrrk, they’re all hub cities. What do you think I should do?”
“Kerek. If I may express my insignificant opinion... the humans should not be left to spread their wings any further.”
“I agree. They are heading too far into the deeper zones lately... what should we do about them?”
“We must not give them the information! Much goblin blood was shed to earn that information!”
“Kerek! You imbecile!” Abyete slammed a scepter with a fist-sized diamond embedded in it into the ground and clicked his tongue. “And what if that results in a war against Lee Kang-San?”
“Krrrk. It has to be a bluff. Even Lee Kang-San would be reluctant to wage war against you, Your Majesty. Your rank is higher than his,” Natojax said.
Abyete shook his head. “Kerek. Lee Kang-San did not shy away from a fight against Remus. Such an act is like indirectly challenging the angels. That man will not hesitate to wage war if things do not go his way.”
Abyete knew what Kang-San was like. Kang-San knew that in the Mirror World, one’s life was over once they were looked down on. Hence, he never avoided, ran away, hid, or went back on his word. He would never shy away because he was the face of the human race.
I have a seventy percent chance of winning if I lure him here somehow. If I can’t, fighting him is a bad idea, Abyete thought.
Abyete was highly cautious. Although Kang-San was ranked 93rd in the World Ranking, three ranks below Abyete, powerful individuals usually had a card up their sleeve.
“Kerek. On top of that, Humilitas is at an important crossroads. We obtained the golden opportunity to gain a connection to Cadaver!” Abyete shouted.
“Oh! Whoa!” Natojax expressed amazement as his eyes widened.
Cadaver was a force led by the demon Gula, ranked 66th in the World Ranking. On top of that, Cadaver was a faction of the massive power Necrophilia, led by the Sixth Fiend.
“Kererek! The demons have finally acknowledged our sorcery!” Abyete’s laughs filled the hall. Just then, he immediately stopped and continued, “Krrrk. A war in such an important period is out of the question.”
Natojax remarked, “Then I suppose we have no choice but to negotiate—”
“We cannot. Who knows how much Gula will look down on me if I negotiate with Lee Kang-San?”
“Then what should we do?” Natojax stared at Abyete in confusion.
Abyete smiled and replied, “The Union only had one demand: for us to extradite Tutobure.”
“Krek? Do you intend to hand over Tutobure to the humans? Even if he has been crippled, doing that will...” Natojax trailed off worryingly.
Tutobure was a fellow goblin, whether they liked it or not. Public opinion would worsen if they handed him over to the humans who were considered to be inferior.
“Krrrk. That is why I summoned you, Natojax.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t you want to become a High Ranker?”
“Kerek!”
Natojax’s eyes shone once he realized Abyete’s intention. He was eleventh in the goblin ranking. To raise one’s ranking, one required irrefutable feats and accomplishments. The most surefire way to boost one’s ranking was to kill someone of a higher rank and take their place.
“Krrrk. They demanded that we hand over Tutobure. They never specified dead or alive,” Abyete remarked.
“Kerek! That is correct!” Natojax shouted.
Abyete planned to eliminate a thorn in his side by using Natojax. He had no qualms about handing the useless Tutobure to the humans, but would receive criticism if he did it personally. However, Natojax would be justified in killing Tutobure if he challenged Tutobure to a ranking battle.
“Kerek! I will head to Trophy right away!” Natojax shouted.