Chapter 292: Seventy-Fourth Floor, Prison Break (10)

[Overcome the conditions presented and escape. Time remaining: 77 hours 34 minutes.]

I thought back to the conversation from thirty minutes ago.

“What do you mean?”

“If I go with your plan, you will get dragged into this, too, Phiri.”

“Huh?”

Phiri’s dumbfounded expression had been oddly endearing. She had tried to argue that escaping alone was impossible, but after hearing me out, she had relented.

Her cheeks had flushed faintly before she quietly stepped away, looking somewhat moved.

What lingered most in my memory, however, were her parting words.

“Thank you. I won’t forget this.”

“Don’t.”

My reply had been genuine. Even a small connection like this would one day strengthen my divinity. After all, even the greatest had to start small, and the gods who now commanded the faith of countless beings were no different.

Of course, the boost to my divinity was an added bonus; I just wanted to help Phiri.

Hmm, she should be arriving soon.

I glanced upward.

The lower-ranked guards typically performed routine patrols every hour and a half. Now that Phiri had told me where the key was, I had no reason to stay here any longer. The longer I waited, the longer she would suffer, and her timing after two days of silence couldn’t be unintentional.

Although it is possible she only made up her mind recently, I bet the warden started making things worse.

Given what I had gleaned from the trial, that would make sense.

Bastards.

Knowing she had been deliberately set up to suffer harassment made my blood boil. The tower always worked that way, with trials constantly in motion, never waiting for the climber to catch up.

Breathe. That is enough.

I had already spent enough time stewing over the circumstances, and I was powerless to handle it now.

Once I freed myself, I could handle it, so there was no point getting buried in frustration. As always, I reminded myself that I had resolved to focus only on what I could control.

Anyway, turning down Phiri’s offer hadn’t been a spur-of-the-moment decision. I had weighed the possibilities.

Even if she spent only a few minutes actively helping me, it would make my escape easier. She knew the facility’s layout and inner workings, after all.

She didn’t deserve to be dragged with me, though.

I don’t belong here.

I was just a passerby, a fleeting occurrence. I couldn’t take responsibility for what would happen after the tower returned me to the waiting room. She would be left high and dry to shoulder all the consequences.

A traitor who helped an inmate escape.

Even though I had Two-Way Portal, I didn’t know how far away I could place a portal. Moreover, I couldn’t be sure it connected to the right place, nor if it would be a safe space for her. There was also the question of whether it would be comfortable or suitable for her in the first place.

Phiri was a victim. It was the perpetrator—the warden—who needed to disappear, not her.

That was why I chose not to accept her help.

She has been showing a bit too much interest in me lately, though. That’s bound to raise suspicion.

Anyone paying attention had probably noticed that she was treating me differently. The inmate in the next cell had mentioned that guards who normally patrolled the upper floors had been coming down more frequently as of late.

Still, judging by the last two days, it should be fine. Maybe she had deliberately distanced herself from me to avoid suspicion after coming to a decision.

That could be part of the trial, too. From all of my experiences, I knew that the tower didn’t like to make things easy. If I had taken her up on her offer earlier, someone could have seen us together and grown suspicious.

Footsteps echoed from the stairwell, snapping me out of my thoughts. Thankfully, it was a routine patrol.

I shut my eyes and waited. The guard passed by at a sluggish pace, scribbled something on a clipboard while in front of my cell, then disappeared.

Patrol complete. T-minus ten minutes.

I was only holding back because of Phiri. Although the guards spent most of their time on the upper floors, it wasn’t guaranteed that her actions had gone unnoticed.

Even if someone had just been watching her quietly, waiting.

However, if she has already passed by and the routine patrol goes without incident, it will take a bit of the heat off her.

That was why I wanted to move only after the patrol had ended.

I sat quietly for ten minutes, watching the floor’s timer count down. Once I had confirmed the time, I rose to my feet.

Time to cut the noise.

At this hour, the prison’s silence felt... different. Somehow, the whole place was designed to amplify even the smallest noise.

It was impossible to tell just how far the sound generated by bending the bars would travel. The other inmates on this floor would definitely notice, and maybe even the guards upstairs would. I had to be careful if I wanted to escape—until the cuffs were off at least.

After forming a thin barrier of mana around the cell bars, I bolstered myself before gripping them.

I should keep my mana usage to a minimum.

Burning more strength than necessary would limit me in scenarios where things didn’t go to plan.

Creak—

Thankfully, bending a single horizontal bar gave me enough space to escape. I squeezed through and slipped into the hallway.

“

Phew.

”

There was always the slim chance an inmate could be awake, so I moved as silently as possible, but everyone seemed to be asleep. These prisoners had given up long ago.

I made it through the corridor in moments and reached the stairs.

Now that I had gotten to this point, I could comfortably extend my sense to the third floor.

There isn’t anyone awake on the next floor, but there is definitely someone on the floor after that.

On the third-floor landing, a guard fidgeted out of boredom.

Everything was just as Phiri had said. A watcher was always stationed at the entrance to the guards-only floor, and routine patrols covered everything below that.

The strongest inmates were jailed on the first floor, but since every single one wore cuffs, they could afford to be lax about patrols.

They do seem confident that we can’t escape.

Unfortunately, stealing a key would be pretty convoluted.

The weaker inmates on higher levels didn’t wear cuffs, and the ones below rarely had any use for keys. Even though the key was stored on the second floor, I had to deal with the guard on the third floor first.

The rest of the guards were usually gathered in one place, so this would be the easiest route.

Careful now.

I crept up the stairs.

Back when I could use Shadow Veil to move safely, I hadn’t realized how nerve-wracking sneaking around was. Maybe it was because of the stat restrictions, but my heart was pounding a little faster.

Now on the second floor, I paused and scanned my quiet surroundings.

Just like Phiri said, they are probably in the break room.

I continued creeping upward.

Right before the third-floor hallway, a guard sat in a chair, nervously bouncing one leg.

He was positioned to have a clear view of the stairs coming up and the hallway. If I rose even two steps further, I would be in plain sight.

No big deal.

I could use mana, after all. I dashed forward two steps and immediately silenced the area as I simultaneously shot out a burst of lightning.

The guard let out a dumbfounded exclamation as he stood reflexively from his chair.

“Eh?”

Pzzzzt!

The lightning struck him directly, causing him to tremble for a second before stiffening.

I didn’t intend to kill him, so I rushed forward to catch him. When I stopped electrifying him, the guard’s eyes turned towards me.

“

Huh?

”

Upon closer inspection, I realized that this was the trashy guard who had badmouthed Phiri a few days ago.

What a coincidence.

I grinned and covered the asshole’s mouth before he could scream. Electricity sparked at my fingertips.

“It’s useless. I’ve deafened the area with mana. If you scream, you die.”

The trash blinked.

Encountering him felt like a stroke of luck. As is always the case in organizations, someone has to be held responsible, even if a leader dies. I had been a bit worried about who would take the blame, but it felt comforting that the first person I caught was such a shitty person.

I slightly raised my hand, still surrounding it with crackling lightning.

“You-you bastard. H-how?”

“Where are the keys to the cuffs?”

The trash quietly watched me, his calculating mind almost audible in the silence.

I generated a bit more lightning, letting it near him, and the crackling streaks stopped only a short distance from his eyes.

He shivered in fear. “Upstairs. At the end of the hallway.”

“Don’t give me that crap.” I already knew it was nonsense, although of course, he wasn’t aware of how much I had learned.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he squealed. “It’s true!”

“Are you only going to talk once I hurt you?”

I upped the lightning’s power, shocking him just enough to avoid knocking him out.

“Krrk, krrk.”

The trash groaned oddly and drooled.

“One last time. Where are the restraint cuff keys?”

***

[Overcome the conditions presented and escape. Time remaining: 77 hours 21 minutes.]

After extracting the same information Phiri had shared with me earlier, I rendered him unconscious.

Concerned that guards from the upper floors would run an inspection, I dragged the trash downstairs. Not even two minutes had passed since I escaped my cell, but my palms were already sweaty.

The future looked grim since I didn’t have a safety net, making me nervous.

Simulating this mentally was way less stressful.

I placed the guard on the stairs leading to the previous floor, before taking his identification card and a baton from his belt. The identification cards were allegedly required to enter the room that held the cuff keys.

They have physical keys for the cell doors and cuffs, but a card system for the storage doors? That is strange.

Shaking off the idle thought, I entered the corridor leading to the cuff keys.

First thing, unlock the cuffs quickly.

Interestingly, the interrogation room was in this corridor, although toward the end and on the left; the keys were stored in the last room on the right.

I cautiously moved forward.

Last time, Phiri overheard a conversation in the guards’ lounge.

The guards liked to go there to relax between shifts or patrols. I usually sensed around four people in the lounge at dawn, so I had to be cautious. This floor was predominantly meant for the guards, so it was impossible to predict from which door they would appear next.

I deployed my mana fully, sensing dozens of guards.

They won’t come out on high alert since it is their space.

If someone appeared, I would have to shock them quickly and move on.

I walked forward quietly. Amid the tense silence, I neared the end of the hallway—and the lounge. Laughter and chatter emanated from inside it.

“

Pfft!

You lost again.”

“Hey, are you guys conspiring?”

“Quit the nonsense and fetch some booze.”

It seemed they were betting.

“Really? Sending me to fetch it?”

“Are you joking?”

“No, Runkeur is on duty today.”

On duty?

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

This was valuable information. I continued listening while moving.

“You’re the newbie, right? Runkeur is nicknamed the ‘Gatekeeper.’ He’s too rigid to come downstairs. Everyone can enjoy this time off because of that. Except for you, though, since you have to report to the fifth floor later.”

Runkeur is on the fifth floor and is the “Gatekeeper.”

I repeated this information mentally to ensure it stuck.

So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the situation escalated quickly.

Just as I was about to pass the door, a guard suddenly shouted, “

Ah

, get outta here and grab the booze! Make sure to come back quickly! If not, we’ll play another round without you.”

“Wait a sec.”

Shit, is the alcohol out here?

I sensed someone rushing toward me and quickly weighed my options.

There were two clear options available to me: I could either knock everyone out or dash forward and try to evade him.

I didn’t have much time to decide, though. The latter option was riskier, as even using Flash Strike would leave a trace of mana.

I will knock them out.

As I reached the door and summoned my mana, it burst open, revealing three figures. Without thinking, I released a wave of lightning.

That quickly turned out to be a mistake.

Fuck. I sensed four presences, didn’t I?

Just then, a whistle began to screech. There was one more guard hidden in a blind spot.

Damn it!

I couldn’t think under the pressure. I cursed under my breath and ran.

Suddenly, chaos erupted around me.

“What? What’s happening?”

I activated Flash Strike without hesitation. Though I preferred not using it, the situation necessitated swift action. I sprinted away.

Now it was truly a battle against time.

Reaching the end of the corridor, I turned right, swiped the card, and opened the door. Guard uniforms and equipment were scattered everywhere.

Where is it?

It took some time, but I located the key Phiri had shown me. Thankfully, Flash Strike made the long search reasonable. The guards hadn’t emerged from their rooms yet.

I quickly grabbed the key, bringing it to the cuffs.

When I turned the key in the hole of my left cuff—

Click!

It unlocked and fell to the ground.

In that moment, power surged through me, though I could tell that only half of my power had been restored.

Next, my right wrist.

Click!

As the cuffs fell to the floor, my full, unbridled power seemed to relish its newfound freedom. I deactivated Flash Strike.

“There he is!”

The guards gathered at the door, giving me enough time to circulate my power. I readjusted my grip on the baton.

Well, the situation had evolved quite differently from what I had initially envisioned.

“

Haaa

, who knows?”

This wasn’t the first time such an event had occurred. Just like when I had to masquerade as an operative, if there were no witnesses, it was an assassination. If nothing was recorded, it was espionage. If everything was destroyed, it was an escape.

I flicked my baton at the guards. “Come on.”