“This is another new path... are you sure we should go here?” Liesl asked.

“Yeah,” the Otherworlder gave her a curt reply and continued onward.

He had gone back to every room that Liesl had fired a spell in. Though two of the sculptures had already disappeared completely, he could still catch the remaining three before they went away. Since then, they had been going on and on ahead by flipping coins.

Only the sounds of their footsteps sounded in the air as they walked through the tunnels in the underground channels. As the quietness of the tunnels increased, the sounds of their breaths started reaching their ears, followed by the feeling of the stale air on their skins. The lengthy and quiet walk was unsettling and discomforting.

It was after a fairly long amount of time had passed did they reach the end of the tunnel. Poking their heads out of it, a thin and dimly lit room greeted them on the other side. Puddles of sewer water collected on the uneven floor while algae and fungi the Otherworlder had never seen, even in his wildest dreams, spread over the walls.

The Otherworlder pushed his head further out to see a bloodied wall on one side of the room. He could barely make out long beams of iron replacing the bloodied wall further ahead. It was hard to say just yet, but when the Otherworlder saw the man at the corner of the place, he was sure.

They had stumbled in front of the makeshift prison made by these snake cultists.

┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ ⟨ ⏣ ⟩ ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈

The Otherworlder stepped out from the tunnel with aloof steps. He bravely got out and went right towards the man sitting in the corner of the place. His eyes shuffled to his side, towards the bars on the wall.

‘The fuck.’

He almost cursed out loud when he saw the futuristic automatic gates right behind the frame of the cells, blocking everything inside from the view. He spun back to the man in front of him to avoid any suspicion.

“{Diadosi} {Kapnos}”

The man sat sprawled out on the chair, an unkempt stubble covering his strangely long face. A dirty white vest and jeans torn from the bottom adorned the man’s grimy body as he shifted his gaze towards the Otherworlder.

“Who are you?” the man asked, still with only his eyes facing him.

“Open the cells. We are taking these guys out. Holy Water’s orders,” the Otherworlder avoided showing any expression on his face as he coldly commanded the man.

“Fuck off, I don’t trust you.”

“Radish... open it.”

The man finally turned his head towards the Otherworlder. His chin stayed afloat the whole time while his eyes seemed fierce, like those of a threatened panther’s. The Otherworlder maintained the indifferent look on his face, wondering if he got the codename right.

“Tsk.” The long-faced man clicked his tongue and got off the chair. He continued to stare at the Otherworlder with a dissatisfied look while sticking his chin up and grumbling around as he gestured at him to come closer.

The Otherworlder came next to the man. He was close enough to smell the unpleasant breath and witness the more unpleasant state of his teeth. Clicking his tongue again, the man shook his head and put out one hand through the iron bars and touched the metallic door, while his other hand remained behind his back.

With a touch, a part of the metallic door skewed open and revealed a numeric keypad with a small screen. The man entered a passcode on the keypad.

-Beep.

-Beep.

-BEEEP.

A green light flashed from the small screen. A tick mark appeared inside it. Small smoke erupted from between the doors, followed by a loud sound. The Otherworlder stared at the metallic doors slowly open up.

A dark object flashed in front of his eyes. The Otherworlder dropped to the floor on his back in a breath's time as a powerful swing went above where he was standing.

The long-faced man stood right there with a hammer in his hands. “Fucker!” he cursed out loud as he finally let his chin down to look at the Otherworlder.

-KRRR

The door was still opening up when the man noticed a layer of smoke covering the floor of the room.

“What the fuck?” he spat out as he lifted his hammer again. It wasn’t clear, but he could see the silhouette of the Otherworlder leaning against the ground.

A kick landed on the man’s shin, followed by another in the exact same spot. He lost his footing and almost tumbled from the pain when another kick landed on the knee of his other leg.

The man keeled over to his front. The Otherworlder grabbed his head with his hand and used him to get back up while pushing him to the ground. The man fell face-first as the Otherworlder stepped on his wrist.

“Argh!” the man grunted.

-KRRR

The door had almost opened up.

Bending down, the Otherworlder snatched the hammer from the man’s hand. The smoke was thick enough to not let him be fully visible, but a silhouette was enough.

The Otherworlder placed the hammer in both his arms and raised them high up.

“You should start brushing your teeth.”

The Otherworlder brought his hands down on his head, and the door finally opened up.

Again, the Otherworlder smashed the man’s head with the hammer another time for good measure before pocketing the hammer and standing back up.

“Wizard girl,” he called out. Liesl rushed out of the tunnel and towards him. She had done a good job with the smokescreen.

The two of them turned towards the prison cell, placing their hands on the bars of iron.

A group of three was huddled in there. They all slowly turned towards the door when they heard it opening up. Slowly, a young man in white garbs crawled over to the bars of the cell. His lips trembled under his messy hair as he saw the two people outside.

“L-Liesl? Sir, Iatra? Is... is it you?”

“EILHARD!” Liesl shouted out loud as she saw the young priest crawling towards them. “Oh, my god! Vollrath! Aida! Are you guys alright? What happened?”

The Otherworlder ignored the shaken Liesl as he bent down with his hands on the bars to level heads with Eilhard.

“Sir Iatra... I can’t believe it...” Sweat dripped from Eilhard’s face, streaking down his neck and wetting his bloodstained clothes. “Please... get us out of here... please.”

The Otherworlder kept his hands clenched to the bar as he heard Eilhard’s words. His face remained unmoving, expressionless.

Only his eyes stared deep into Eilhard’s own. He looked into the eyes and could see his own reflection. His wheat hair, his brown eyes...

... and the hundreds of dark figures inching closer to him.

The figures of those he couldn’t save...