Season 1 Side Story Chapter 5. A Strange Rescue (2)

The guard who had been sitting and trying to suppress his boiling rage cursed non-stop as he looked at his superior dozing off.

"I can probably take him on in a fight. Should I just blow him up…"

Boom!

Had his wish come true? Something really exploded.

"What was that?!"

The junior guard jumped in surprise.

The senior guard was nowhere to be seen, obscured by the white smoke.

What just happened?

"Was it magic?"

It seemed too low-quality to be an explosion caused by magic. It was no more than a puff of flour that was thrown improperly.

"Cough… Cough…"

Was it really just flour? He heard his superior choking.

"Cough…!"

"?"

However, the noises started to become more and more alarming.

"Gag!"

"Robid, sir!"

He tried to approach the senior guard, Robid, but stopped in his tracks.

An unknown silhouette could be seen through the smoke.

"Who is that?!"

Instead, he gripped his halberd and swung it forward.

"Who are you?!"

The silhouette turned out to be strangling his superior, Robid.

"Urrrrk!"

“Kill him before asking questions!” Robid shouted with bloodshot eyes.

"Wha-What?!"

Whether or not Robid's message was conveyed, the junior guard simply stood there and awkwardly held his spear.

Thanks to this, Almond easily subdued Robid.

“… Arrrgh! You idiot!” Robid left those last words as he lifelessly fell.

Afterward, a naked boy could be seen.

"Is that a sprite…?"

The guard mistook the innocent-looking boy for a sprite, especially since the boy's skin seemed to glow. Whether or not the boy appeared as a sprite to him, the guard was an enemy to the boy.

The sound of an arrow being nocked could be heard.

"!?"

Suddenly, the boy aimed the arrow at him.

"Hey, why are you doing this? Speak—"

Whizz!

The arrow flashed past the torch and drew blood. It had pierced the guard’s arm.

"Urrrghh…"

He dropped his halberd loudly onto the ground. He tried to pick it up again, but…

Before he could retrieve it, another arrow struck his left shoulder. Warm blood streamed down both his arms.

The boy warned, “If you shout or resist again, I will shoot your tongue out.”

Saying this, the boy fired another arrow.

Whiz!

An arrow grazed right past the guard’s ear. The boy intended to intimidate him with this. Chills ran down his spine.

"What… what…"

It wasn't because of the sudden sound, but because of the boy's accuracy. The boy precisely shot the arrows wherever and whenever he wanted. The bow didn’t even belong to him, but to the senior guard Robid.

The guard sensed that the boy in front of him was not ordinary.

Thus, he asked with a more cautious demeanor that could even be seen as polite, "What do you want?"

"Where's Ran?"

"Ran…?"

"Yes, Ran. The one being disciplined from the school."

After a brief hesitation, the man pointed downward.

"You need to go one floor down. Ran is trapped in the deepest darkness."

Creak.

When Almond silently pulled his bowstring, the man quickly added, "It's true! I'm not speaking metaphorically. That's all I know. Ran, the one with pale and delicate features, right?"

Ding.

[One step closer to the secret.]

A notification appeared, indicating truth in the man's words.

"That's enough. Now, run to the edge of the forest. If you come back, I'll find a way to kill you."

"… Yes, yes."

Without hesitation, the guard rushed out of the cave and into the forest.

— He ran without looking back, haha.

— Did that guy aggro the senior until his death?? LOL. Such loyalty.

— Seeing Almond's archery skills, I'd run without looking back.

***

Almond changed into the guard's clothes and immediately sought the way down to the basement.

Fortunately, the clothes almost fit him. It wasn't like wearing his father's clothes, but more like borrowing clothes from an older brother. After searching for about twenty minutes, he finally spotted the stairs leading down.

'Why is no one here?'

For a full twenty minutes, he hadn't encountered any other guards. Perhaps this area, being a student disciplinary space, had lax security.

However, it also seemed unusually large considering it was just a space for disciplining students. If it wasn't located within a school, one would believe it was a facility for confining dangerous criminals.

'What is this place?' Almond pondered as he descended the stairs.

This story mode required the player to deduce many things. Acting without thinking would be a waste of time. He saw numerous doors upon reaching the second basement floor.

It wasn't a simple prison facility. They would've simply used metal bars for easy monitoring if it were a prison, but these were solid wooden doors.

He quietly approached one door and listened.

"No, I mean…"

"… Yeah, you think?"

"Maybe that person in the white dress today…"

"No one?"

He heard a conversation inside.

'Are these the guards?'

It seemed like more guards like the ones from earlier. This room appeared to be a break room for them.

Opening this door wouldn't be beneficial.

He quickly moved to a darker area.

'There it is.'

Finally, he spotted prison bars.

He carefully tiptoed forward.

Thud!

"!?"

A sudden noise rang out.

Thump.

Almond froze as if he had been electrocuted.

'The floor…'

The floor was made of metal and produced a loud sound with every step. Was this intentional?

— Look at that expression, LOL.

— He was startled, haha.

— Did he get electrocuted? LOL.

— Roasted nuts;

"Sigh."

He switched the microphone channel to streaming mode and grumbled, "This is a bit too intense for a prison holding kids."

— Seriously.

— It's too much.

— Is this some special school?

The audience seemed to agree. Clearly, this place was like a facility used for real prisoners and not just for disciplining students.

"Anyway, moving forward."

Almond took out his bow and cautiously crawled forward, minimizing the noise.

— I'm getting tense.

— Why is it so dark?

— I can't see anything.

The light was gradually fading. No matter how much he searched, he couldn't find the cell where Ran was imprisoned.

All the cells were empty. Even the doors were wide open. No guards had been seen yet either.

Gulp.

Was it just a feeling? Even the sound of swallowing felt deafening.

Almond slowly moved forward again. Ahead was total darkness. Among his senses, it felt like his vision was losing its function.

"How could anyone be in such a place?"

‘Even if there was something beyond here, would it matter?’ Almond wondered. Even if there was, would anyone discover anything?

— Did we come to the wrong place?

— Is this the right place?

— Shivers.

Almond agreed.

It felt like they had made a wrong turn. However, the ground ahead continued to be visible. As his eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, he could see about thirty centimeters ahead.

There was always a way forward. It wasn't a cliff or a dead end. Given the circumstances, he had no choice but to keep moving.

Thud.

"!?"

Suddenly, someone's clothing brushed against him from behind. Not from the front, but from the back!

"What's this?" the person who noticed Almond growled in a low voice. "What prison number are you? You shouldn't be here right now. Is it broken again?"

"I'm number one."

"Huh? How can you answer…?"

Whoosh!

Before Almond could think, he instinctively fired an arrow.

Thump.

The sound of something falling could be heard. Judging by the absence of a scream, it was an instant death.

"Ah. Damn it."

— LOL.

— Oh no, he's dead ^^

— Wait, is he really dead?

— Insane, LOL.

"I was in a hurry and shot. He's dead. Why is anyone else wandering around in such a dark place…?"

Honestly, he hadn't expected anyone to appear. If someone did come to this abyss, he would first see a torch.

However, that enemy had moved silently in the pitch black like a ghost. Of course, he wasn't a ghost since he died from the arrow.

"When the enemy approached, there was no sound and he wasn’t visible."

— For real, it was so shocking.

— I'm watching this at work and just slammed the keyboard.

— Yeah, there were no signs.

The enemy appeared without any signs. If the enemy hadn’t foolishly asked for his number, he could’ve been ambushed.

"It seemed like he didn't know I was here until we met. Maybe they can't see either?"

There was hope if the potential enemies couldn’t see Almond either.

— Maybe that's the case.

— Considering he asked for your number.

— He didn't even notice the fallen body LOL.

— If they can't see, why are they moving like that LOL.

"Let's think…"

If he were to guess, these people couldn’t see in the dark. They knew the way in this place very well and could even walk in the darkness. Their hearing could also be very sharp.

'Why don't their footsteps make any sounds?'

What about their footsteps? Did they wear soft shoes?

The only certain thing was that their approach couldn’t be predicted by sound.

"For now, I'll keep going forward since this happened."

After all, he could possibly die here if he kept confronting enemies when he couldn’t even notice their approach.

Almond charged forward with all his might thinking it would be better to fight after escaping this place.

Boom! Boom!

The metal floor loudly clattered.

— LOL.

— So dramatic.

— Charge!

Moments later…

Boom!

Almond ran into something and stopped. The thing he ran into vibrated.

'Metal bars?'

They were metal bars.

Boom!

A drum sound echoed.

[You've discovered Ran!]

"Who… are you?"

Ran spoke hastily before Almond could answer, "Are you the guard? Hasn't it been a while since my mealtime? I'm so hungry and weak. Please… at least give me some water."

Ran continued to ask in a voice filled with fear.

"… Don't tell me. Do you intend to starve me to death here?"