<610 – Tasty Linked Quest (34)>
Burte Glass couldn’t contain his shock as he looked at the completely open cell, the guard rolling on the floor in the nude, and the damaged facilities.
“Isthar, how could a so-called hero ally with the Dark Princess to commit such merciless acts? Has the Emperor also become complacent, thinking that being imprisoned in the Great Prison is nothing to fear?”
Throughout the long history of the Gift Academy, it wasn’t the first time the Great Prison had been invaded.
Since the hundreds of years ago when forgotten secret societies existed, many have tried to invade the Great Prison for various reasons: to rescue members, for the Demon King’s Army or powerful organizations looking to recruit new allies, or talented villains aiming to make a name for themselves by striking the academy.
Despite various motivations, there’s one unchanging fact.
Those who invaded the Great Prison ultimately ended up imprisoned there themselves or saw their organization perish.
“Or maybe the foundation has finally drawn a blade against the academy, preparing for its own ruin?!”
Neither outcome is good.
If the damage escalates, the responsibility to manage the situation will snowball for the student council.
Please let the high-level prisoners be safe.
With that prayer, the result was only special cells that looked as if the walls had been scratched apart and glimpses of prisoners and guards found in half-death states.
“Y-you all… are the student council…?”
“Guard! Director! There’s someone wearing a guard outfit!”
“Just a moment.”
Burte Glass adjusted his glasses, which shone with reflections, and placed a hand on his sword.
━━━
Level 5 Ejection Magic
[Hyper Chronicle]
Linked Technique
[Island War, Sword Draw]
━━━
Magic and swordsmanship.
The ultimate blow that can only be executed by a Magic Swordsman who has mastered both cleaved the guard’s body.
“Ugh, you cut me…”
The guard began to crumble.
Looking down at the babbling guard, Burte Glass pushed his sliding glasses up with his index finger.
“A real guard would be able to withstand this level of a strike.”
“You… crazy…”
“Consider it a crime to impersonate a guard without knowing your place.”
Taking advantage of the chaos, the prisoner who tried to snatch the guard’s outfit and escape met his end.
“Impressive, Director! How did you notice?”
“If a prisoner lacks skill, they would die. If they had skill, they would reveal themselves after being attacked. The only one left alive is the guard.”
Skill and response.
The man from earlier was a prisoner in every sense of the word.
“What if they weren’t a prisoner but really a weak guard?”
Burte Glass scoffed at the inspector’s words.
“This is Level 3 of the Great Prison. A guard doesn’t have to be stronger than a prisoner, but all guards grow quickly here. Also, to my knowledge, the newest guard on Level 3 joined over three years ago.”
Weaker ones are easily intoxicated by the power they gain.
Once a guard has obtained their position on Level 3, they seldom let it go.
Unless they realize there’s a wall they can’t overcome just by having plenty of mana and either get disillusioned and quit or show up to use their accumulated power, there will be no replacements.
“So, if another guard appears, we just attack first, right?”
“Don’t you dare go out there.”
“Eh?”
“This ahead is Level 4. Whether prisoner or guard, there’s no one you can defeat.”
Even within the academy, only those with extraordinary skill can get imprisoned in the Great Prison.
Most prisoners here are serious offenders transferred from outside the academy on Level 4.
If a guard disguised as a prisoner were to encounter them, they would be instantly sliced apart by powerful individuals who would slice and dice right past the student council’s enforcer.
━━━
[Level 4 Prisoner Panel]
Out Today: 17 Individuals
Currently Imprisoned: 5 Individuals
━━━
“Oh? What’s this, Director?”
“These are individuals who have received sentence reductions by cooperating with professors as teaching aids or being test subjects in exchange for reduced sentences.”
“Wow. You’re incredible, just as expected from the firstborn of the intelligent Glass family!”
“Do you think our captured students are going anywhere? They’re all going to end up imprisoned at the Great Prison. This should be common knowledge by now.”
“You’re truly perfect, even in your humility!”
While the excited members rejoiced, Burte Glass quickened his pace.
Now that all the observation magic tools in the prison were producing only fake footage under infused magic, the freed prisoners would head below.
‘If they descend all the way to the bottom of the underground…’
They were beings that must never be unleashed upon the world.
The seeds of the Great Evil, comparable to the Three Great Evils, would be freed.
“Are you reinforcements from the surface?!”
“Director.”
“I know.”
A second guard appeared.
Once again, he struck with a definitive blow, but the opponent withstood it only with the defensive power of the [Mana Shield].
A skill level unable to react to the attack.
An unexpectedly massive amount of mana.
As the guards stammered, adding an imbalanced level of defense, he shouted.
“What are you doing? You… surely… you’re criminals disguised as prisoners trying to break out!”
Seeing the guard suspecting them instead of attacking, the student council inspectors nodded.
“It definitely seems like a guard.”
“Alright then. Apologies, guard. A guard dressed as a prisoner appearing in the prison must undergo verification, just to check skills. I am Burte Glass, director of the student council.”
“How would you expect me to believe that!”
“I’ll show you my badge. It’s a [Graduation Badge] given to upperclassmen by the professors at the academy. Professor Diablo, who awarded me this badge, certifies my qualifications.”
The guard, looking at the graduation badge, felt a dreadful aura coming from it and jumped back in surprise.
“You’ve already… obtained one of the three badges required for upperclassmen within the first semester…?!”
“To hold the position of director of the student council, I have to demonstrate at least this much skill.”
“I can acknowledge that. It would indeed be unrealistic to consider someone of your skill level a prisoner leading so many student council members.”
The guard pulled out a mana disk from his pouch.
“What is this?”
“This is the memory device of the observation magic tool. Most of the magical tools have already fallen under their mana manipulation, but this one I managed to extract before they could react.”
“Did it capture the intruders?!”
The guard nodded.
Burte Glass hurriedly inserted the mana disk into the mana board he was carrying.
A recording device holding visual and audio at a fixed viewpoint.
It contained images of many prisoners.
“We couldn’t have done anything without Velocasio.”
“He’s really dependable.”
“If there had been such a reliable leader outside, I wouldn’t have ever been dragged into the Great Prison in the first place.”
From the mouths of countless prisoners came a shared name.
Velocasio.
The praises for him were not only coming from the common prisoners.
“Senior, you’re incredibly popular!”
“…I’m not in the mood for jokes. Hurry up and finish your business.”
“Yes, senior!”
The Orcnodi, calling him ‘senior’ with utmost respect.
And beside Velocasio stood a woman with brilliant blonde hair clad in a guard’s outfit, Isthar.
“!!!”
Burte Glass noticed that even Isthar, whom he believed to be the mastermind of this incident, stood closely by him to protect him.
Watching this scene, a terrifying intuition suddenly struck him.
This was something anyone could think of, yet no one had realized.
Orcnodi must have a ‘senior’ too.
That didn’t apply only to the Gift Academy.
It could also exist within the Wahyhiemhai Foundation.
A senior of the foundation.
A concealed powerhouse.
The secret of being able to open all different secured cells in a short time was explained by the existence of a powerful scholarship student who had come to scout prior.
The reason all those prisoners obediently followed.
All these elements were clarified by Berte Glass’s realization of Velocasio being the hidden elite higher scholarship student of the foundation and Orcnodi’s superior. ‘Velocasio is, in fact, a dangerously high-ranking individual raised with purpose by the Wahyhiemhai Foundation!’
The direction these people were heading—was it toward Level 5?
There was no need to rush the guard.
Thud thud.
A strange wave of mana reverberated along the walls and floor of the hallway.
An unleashed realm of mana density from another dimension began to agitate, producing phenomena.
In an instant, it became hard to breathe, and the members staggered, touching the wall or falling to one knee, groaning in pain.
“Guard, show us to the sealing door quickly!”
“This way.”
A wide-open door to Level 5.
Not a single guard necessary to unlock the door was in sight.
It wasn’t surprising, given they had ripped through the Great Prison’s outer barrier.
“Who is currently imprisoned on Level 5?!”
The guard hurriedly called on the prisoner panel.
━━━
[Level 5 Prisoner Panel]
1. (Out Today)
2. Alpha
3. (Out Today)
4. Cruel
5. Jonnas Wahyhiemhai
━━━
Only three prisoners locked up.
Enormous isolation areas divided in various directions.
Burte Glass realized that these prisoners had breached the emergency evacuation magic circle set up for the guards’ escape.
He also recognized that the only guard defending Level 5 was the Chief Guard.
And lastly.
He perceived that amidst all that energy, only the Dark Princess and Velocasio stood completely under the radar.
They were attempting to unleash the most heinous criminals that must never roam free in the world by tossing all those prisoners as bait and breaking into the isolation area on Level 5, Orcnodi and Velocasio, along with the foundation’s scholarship students were on the move.
“You all guard the magic barrier of the teleportation magic circle. I’ll go stop Orcnodi.”
Compared to Orcnodi, whose power was somewhat known, Velocasio’s true strength as a Contract Scammer was still completely unknown.
Burte Glass couldn’t ascertain just how far his power could reach against him.
*
“Phew, how can you be exhausted just from a bit of mana wave?”
“You’re the weird ones, still standing after being exposed to such monstrous power…”
So weak that just being hit by the mana wave left Velocasio gasping for air as he strained to hurry his steps.
Even as a sentenced individual, he had been brought by Orcnodi under the promise of sparing his life, so if he strayed from her side, he could be caught by the Chief Guard at any moment.
‘But why do I keep feeling this ominous sense?’
It felt like he was in a worse position just being next to Orcnodi.
This was the whisper of an instinct, a survival instinct possessed by all creatures…
‘Well, it must just be my imagination.’
The man Velocasio who didn’t heed his instinct.
His misfortune was already sealed.
