Prison Cell
Cries and howls sounded.
Indescribable noises echoed past Leylin’s ears as he stepped foot into the passageway. The secret that Robin had kept so tightly was about to be revealed to him.
‘There must’ve been something more to that expedition we did.’ Leylin thought about other matters as he took note of his surroundings.
‘Robin was evidently impatient when we last explored the Quicksand pocket dimension. And the information he held about the dimension was definitely not possible for someone who only worked internally. He’d probably known all the secrets within Quicksand Castle long ago, and went there specifically for it...’
Leylin’s guess was confirmed by the mural.
‘Robin’s family clearly inherited something important, and it might even be linked to the Quicksand Organisation.’
As his journey in the long passageway came to an end, he found himself between two rows of small prison-like cells.
The walls in these cells were covered in complex runes—many of which were familiar to Leylin—that were identical to the bindings of his own Magus Tower.
“The number of cells is crazy,” Leylin sized up the rows of cells that seemed to have no end to them, and caught glimpses of shadows within.
‘Exactly how many people is he planning to imprison?’ he thought as he came in front of a cell.
“Outsider detected, warning dispatched! Destroy!”
A deep voice masculine voice sounded as Leylin entered Shadow Stealth mode, the man was a formation genie in charge of this area, holding a position similar to that of his own tower genie.
“A.I. Chip,” Leylin lightly called out.
[Spiritual force interface discovered, forcefully manipulating data!] The A.I. Chip replied mechanically, without an ounce of emotion.
The voice started to change in an instant, becoming hoarse.
“Invasion by outsider’s spiritual force! Activating first layer of defences!”
“Defence broken, activating level 2 firewall and alarms! Beginning self-destruction!”
“Invasion of outsider’s spiritual force into centre formation genie. Warning! Warning!”
“Destruction imminent in T minus 3, 2... Warning dispersed! Operation normal! Outsider’s spiritual force intercepted. No information has been leaked.”
Its voice that was initially submersed in fright and hoarseness became choppy. Light shone everywhere, illuminating the surroundings distinctly as it turned into a unique robotic one, that of the A.I. Chip.
An intelligence of this standard was nothing in front of Leylin’s A.I. Chip, it was only a matter of time before it was breached.
The administrator of this region had already changed from the formation genie to Leylin’s A.I. Chip.
After he successfully took it over, the place had become Leylin’s backyard. Even Robin would fail to detect him.
Of course, he had to thank his luck that he took care of the formation genie in a short time. Most formation genies would have self-destructed in time, and alerted their owners, landing Leylin in a heap of trouble.
Thankfully, Robin’s formation genie was of a lower rank. If it were a core formation genie set up by a Morning Star Magus, the A.I. Chip would have faced a lot of difficulties.
Now, Leylin was in control.
“Activate the observation window of cell 0023!” Following Leylin’s command, a white ray of light shone in the cell, ridding it of the darkness, the prisoner appearing in front of Leylin.
And the prisoner appeared in front of Leylin.
“Huh?! This is...” Leylin’s pupils dilated. “I’ve seen him somewhere...”
It was a Warlock; more accurately, a Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock.
This sense of familiarity between bloodlines was always accurate. The Warlock in front of him looked plaintive; not only was he almost naked—only clothed in pathetic rags—his whole body was riddled with large wounds.
Some granulation tissue could be seen squirming on the wounds, they were repairing themselves. It looked revolting.
“Don’t... Don’t come any nearer. You monster!” A low voice rumbled from the Warlock’s mouth.
“I’m not Robin!” Leylin cleared his throat and said.
“...” The Warlock raised his head and Leylin could see his goblin-like face. As if on cue, hope filled his eyes, replacing the dread and despair that existed before he saw Leylin.
“Sa- Save me! Please save me, Lord Leylin!”
He was like a drowning man that was grasping at the last straw as he crawled to the middle of the cell,
It was then that Leylin realised that both the legs of the Warlock were missing. He was completely disabled.
Though it could be healed using limb regeneration spells or other high-grade potions, Robin wouldn’t have been so nice.
“Tell me, what happened? Why are you here?” Leylin looked dreadfully displeased, and his voice was low as ever.
“It’s Robin! He captured me, my wife and my children and caged us here right after he attacked my family! He- He’s a demon!”
He seemed to have undergone an overly traumatic experience that caused him to stumble over his words.
“Master! Master! Take me away please, I’m begging you!” He shouted himself hoarse as his eyes watered.
Leylin could only shake his head at this scene. Though the advancements of Warlock were largely a result of their bloodlines, making moving up the ranks easier, to see such low willpower from a Warlock was still very rare.
High-ranking Magi usually had tenacious spirits, and could compose themselves quickly even in huge events.
“Tell me, what exactly did he do?” Two rays of lights shot from Leylin’s eyes, and made the Warlock speechless.
“He- He-” The Warlock sobbed and hugged his knees close, coiling into himself as he trembled endlessly.
“He- How dare he eat my Gwen! Oh Lord, she was only 7...”
“And Hugo, and Ron...” He could not stop listing name after name and looked absent-minded. He ended up wrapping his arms around his head, refusing to think anymore.
“A drastic change in temperament, imprisoning people, rumours of cannibalism, a mural to Beelzebub, the prince of gluttony!” Leylin let out a long sigh. The pieces came together to form a complete picture in his head.
“Wow, this is...” He did not know what to say. Robin’s desire for power had already reached such sick levels.
Though Leylin didn’t label himself a good guy, he would never go as far as Robin had.
Just then, the A.I. Chip relayed a piece of information to Leylin.
[Beep! Scan of underground laboratory completed! 341 prisoners: 34 Giant Kemoyin Warlocks, 22 Rank 3 Warlocks...]
“Other matters aside, things will be over for Robin the moment he gets exposed...” As Leylin went further, he saw that the cells on both sides were full of all kinds of Warlocks. Most of them had portions of their bodies missing, and he even saw a few elders from Robin’s own family.
It seemed like the elders who disappeared were all captured by Robin and locked up here.
Upon seeing Leylin, all the Warlocks went mad; some were wailing, some were bellowing in fury demanding that Leylin punish Robin for his sins. Even the eyes of the elders from Robin’s own family were filled with hatred and rage; they had evidently given up on Robin long ago.
“These Warlocks, most of them should be from the families that Robin eliminated...” Leylin sighed. Who would know that Robin would have the guts to seize his enemies and lock them up in a secret cellar like this?
And judging from their faces, Leylin bet they would rather have died on the battlefield.
Though Leylin pitied them, he didn’t order the A.I. Chip to deactivate the defence in the cells and allow them out.
After all, there were still many prisoners here that could cause chaos if let out.
Furthermore, Leylin still had more tasks to be performed that needed to be hidden from Robin.
“The core cell! Who is the one imprisoned there?” At the end of the passageway was a large cell. A few sparks could be seen jumping along the blood red electrified cage every now and then, firmly caging a Magus inside.
[No information found within the formation genie’s data, this place is marked top secret!] The A.I. Chip sent back.
“Who are you?”
Standing beside the cage, Leylin was curious about the shadow inside. As the criminal who was under the tightest form of imprisonment in the entire cellar, this person could not be simple.
The prisoner raised his head after hearing Leylin’s voice, and Leylin’s pupils constricted in an instant before he broke out in cold sweat.
“Ro– Senior Robin?”
The person in the cage possessed a face that was bewitching, but malnourished beyond recognition. It was as though all flesh and blood had been drained from him. Robin could only force a smile before calling out for Leylin.
“Leylin, you’re here?”
“What is going on? Who is that ‘Robin’ out there?” Leylin’s expression was dark.
He felt an unusually familiar aura from this Robin who was in front of him, his smile unforgettable.
When he’d first entered Phosphorescence Swamp, Robin wore this exact same smile when welcoming Leylin as he stood by the entrance to the Ouroboros Clan headquarters.
“You should be able to guess by now,” Robin was very weak and had to pause after every other word.
All muscles seemed to have disappeared, leaving Robin a sack of bones.
If not for his features, Leylin would have thought the person in front of him was a skeleton.