Putting away his wand, Li Xiuman slipped deeper into the basement, following the map in his mind.
The two carefully controlled their footsteps to avoid the guards patrolling the basement, quickly arriving in its deepest depths.
It was dark and damp, the air thick with a rancid stench.
Rows of iron bars divided the space into various cells.
Within these cells, slaves and criminals were imprisoned.
But in front of the iron bars stood guards on duty, making it impossible to bypass them unnoticed.
“Looks like we have to make a move.”
“Rorona, the two in front are yours.”
“Yes, Master.”
Darkness wrapped around Rorona like a physical liquid, and then he merged into the shadows.
It looked as if Rorona had turned into a black fluid creeping toward the outermost guards.
The two guards yawned drowsily, completely unaware of the shadow spreading beneath their feet.
Until the black shadow suddenly surged up like a beast baring its fangs in the dark.
In an instant, the two guards were swallowed and submerged by the shadow, unable to move and standing rigidly in place.
Rorona bit directly into the first guard's neck, sucking his blood.
By the time the blood of both guards had been drained dry, they had turned into shriveled, zombie-like corpses, standing perfectly still in place.
Seeing this, Li Xiuman swiftly rushed behind the guards.
Before the other guards could even react, they only saw a dark figure suddenly dart in.
Meanwhile, the two guards on watch duty showed no reaction whatsoever.
Closing in rapidly on the nearest guard, he plunged his skeleton sword straight into his throat.
[Killed Human Lv 9, Experience +10]
He raised his wand immediately after.
“Tier 2 Magic, Water Prison!”
A magic circle expanded at the tip of Li Xiuman's wand.
Water rapidly condensed out of thin air, surging to engulf the remaining guards and turning into floating spherical water globes in mid-air.
Within the globes, the guards drowned in the water, struggling in vain.
“Tier 1 Magic, Water Burst!”
Without a moment's pause, he quickly followed up with a second spell.
The bubble-like water prisons imploded one by one with a soft pop, blowing the guards inside into a mess of bloody water.
The ceiling and power of a Tier 2 Elementalist were truly far superior to those of Tier 1.
Li Xiuman sighed inwardly and quickly rushed toward the prison-like cells.
Seemingly having heard the noise, the slaves inside the cells shrank into the corners in terror, clutching their heads and trembling.
Yet not all the prisoners reacted this way.
Some grabbed the iron bars, looking outside with excitement.
“Brother, are you here to rescue me?!”
“I used to be a noble! I have a lot of gold coins hidden away. Rescue me, and I'll give you all of them!”
“My lord, please save me! I was only imprisoned because I offended that noble. I'm innocent!”
“...”
The vast majority of those speaking seemed to be human prisoners who were locked up.
Or people who had offended Fantes and ended up locked in here.
Li Xiuman had no interest in playing the hero who rescued innocent civilians.
The more prisoners he released, the higher the chance of being discovered.
That would lead to trouble.
“Shut the hell up, all of you!”
Li Xiuman shouted menacingly.
In any case, the guards were all dead, and this place was in the deepest part of the basement. Even if someone outside heard a little noise, they would just assume it was the wails of a slave.
With a shout from Li Xiuman, who had just engaged in a slaughter, his monstrous aura instantly silenced everyone who was clamoring.
“Vampires, get out here.”
Li Xiuman commanded.
After a moment of silence, Li Xiuman noticed that all the slaves were casting their gazes toward several cells in the very back.
Without hesitation, Li Xiuman walked over to the deepest cells.
Deep within the pitch-black cell, huddled in the darkest shadows, were several short figures. Barely clothed, they faced the outside of the cell in fear.
Their eyes, without exception, had been filled with silver water.
The iron bars of this particular cell also seemed to contain silver; compared to the other iron bars, they had a faint, bright silver sheen.
Li Xiuman gripped his bone sword and slashed at the iron bars.
The iron bars were severed one after another.
“All of you, come out. Rorona and I are here to rescue you.”
“...”
There was a brief silence.
“My lord... are you saying Rorona is still alive?”
One of the vampires asked timidly.
“Rorona, come over and explain the situation to them. Make it quick.”
Li Xiuman called out to Rorona in the darkness.
Rorona quickly walked over to the group of vampires and began explaining things to them.
Those vampires were clearly far less wary of Rorona.
Meanwhile, Li Xiuman shifted his gaze away from the group of vampires and looked toward the absolute deepest cell.
The layout of these cells seemed to increase in danger the deeper they went.
And the vampires' cell was not at the very end.
Past the vampires' cell, deep in the darkest corners, stood yet another cell separated by iron bars.
“My friend, could you rescue me as well?”
The entity inside the iron bars seemed to have sensed Li Xiuman's gaze and spoke from the darkness on the other side of the bars.
“...Who are you?”
Li Xiuman asked.
“Come a little closer, and I'll tell you.”
The voice continued.
Li Xiuman stepped slightly closer, while maintaining his vigilance.
“I am...”
“You are?”
“I'm your father.”
“...”
Li Xiuman abruptly opened his eyes, feeling as though nothing had happened.
In that deepest depth, there was no cell to be found.
And Rorona was still talking with those vampires.
Li Xiuman still stood in his original spot, as if he had merely experienced an illusion.
[Ding! Control of your body is being invaded and usurped.]
[Scanning invading target...]
[Scan complete. Invading target is the remnant soul of a Tier 6 Elementalist.]
[98.6% Fragmented]
What was going on?
Possession?
He was being possessed.
Li Xiuman was greatly shocked.
Having died once before, he cherished his small life more than anyone.
However, once he calmed down, he didn't feel like he was being possessed at all.
“...?”
[The possessing target is too weak and has been intercepted by the first layer of the panel's firewall.]
A new pop-up window appeared before him.
Upon it was a button: [Click to Expand, View Details].
He clicked it.
[The target has invaded the first layer of the first firewall among the ninety-nine firewalls.]
[Based on the current speed of invasion, the target will require 1 trillion years to invade the second layer of the first firewall.]
[Would you like to initiate the panel's defense mechanism to eliminate the invading target?]
“Yes.”
[Elimination successful.]
[Obtained items: Memory Crystal (Fragment) x 1, Tier 6 Elementalist Mana Crystal (Fragment) x 1.]
That was it?
And it seemed to have gifted him something quite incredible.
But why would there be the remnant soul of a Tier 6 Elementalist here, and why was he the only one who noticed it?
Was it because he was a skeleton?
“Master, I have explained the situation to them.”
“We can begin our retreat.”
Rorona shouted toward Li Xiuman.
“Alright.”
“Wait, brother! Save me!”
“I have money! I can give you plenty of money!”
“My lord, save me! Please! I'll kowtow to you, kowtow!”
“...”
Seeing Li Xiuman turning to leave with the vampires, the remaining prisoners quickly began to scream desperately.
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