19 – In the Cells

Night falls. While holding the bars, Alan whispered to the guard. "Sir, please listen to me. This is very important."

"What's wrong, Mr. Aldrych?" James still smiled.

Alan looked at Paul, already lying on the bed, and closed his eyes. "I don't want the old man to hear this, so could you come closer to me."

"What is it?"

"This is about the whereabouts of other chosen ones. I will let you know where they are, as long as I can get out of here…. I mean, I'm not leaving the village. I want a nicer room. I don't mean to offend, but this place sucks."

"How quickly you change your mind." James got up and approached the young man. "Well, Madame Hilda did say she would get you guys out, as long as…. Hmph!"

This time, James' smile vanished. Trembling violently, he looked down to check his left chest, which had a black hole instead of bleeding.

Alan just shot the earthen needle into the guard's heart, using the same principle as the ground bullet.

James' body then evaporated into black smoke, leaving behind his bones and clothes.

"As I said, their heart beats. They breathe the air, too." Paul got up from his bed. "But they are dead. You don't kill an innocent, kid. He shouldn't have been here in the first place. You just set him free."

"What the heck happened!?" Celia, having just seen James' bones, almost screamed. ""Why are there so many bones?"

"I'll explain it later. What matters is that we are free." Alan rummaged through the bones, then picked up a bracelet with keys.

Even though that person was already dead when Alan 'killed' him, the young man's hands trembled, and his stomach churned. In a moment, he might vomit hard.

After Alan opened his cell door and Celia's, they rushed to get out of that place.

"Follow me," Paul said. "I know where our weapons and belongings are kept."

After running for a while, they were intercepted by a man coming down the stairs. However, he didn't have time to react because Paul banged his head against the wall.

That man passed out, and like the guard earlier, his head was covered in black holes instead of bleeding.

"What's that? Why?" Celia was even more confused.

"Just like Paul said." Alan continued to follow the scarred man. "The people here are dead."

Celia's mouth fell open, but she decided not to ask any further questions.

Once out of the dungeons, they went to another room in that small castle. Several times Paul fought the guards with his bare hands.

"What exactly is this place?" Celia glanced around at the stone walls around her. "Why does it look a bit creepy?"

"Village chief's residence." Paul broke through the large wooden door of a room. "I don't know why they built it like a castle."

They immediately took their weapons and bags, then continued their escape. Alan also took one of the torches for lighting. After all, he relied on ranged attacks and only needed one hand to do it.

Just a few yards out through the village streets, they were ambushed by several people. Paul and Celia immediately attacked with their respective weapons.

"Sh*t!" Paul cursed. "Why are they still awake?"

The fight begins. Paul manages to kill three people at once, while Celia stabs a woman in the neck. Previously, Alan knocked the woman down with an earth projectile and a water blast.

"S-sorry." Celia took a few steps back as that person's body evaporated into black smoke.

Alan patted his friend's shoulder hard, startling her. "I know it feels so scary after doing this. I also felt it earlier. But we have to keep running."

The young lady took a deep breath, then nodded, though her eyes were filled with tears.

They kept running, and person after person kept blocking them. Although those people were easier to beat because most weren't fighters, Alan and the others were starting to get overwhelmed.

"Why are there so many of them!?" Paul swung his sword at a man who had just come out of a house.

"Is the meeting held regularly by Hilda, sir?" Alan asked while firing the umpteenth earthen projectile. Mana is almost gone. So, he drank one of his mana potions.

"Does that have anything to do with all of this!?" Paul replied. "The answer is no! Such meetings are rare!"

"Did Hilda give an announcement or something for them to assemble?"

Paul fell silent but continued to fight. "No."

"Hilda's thoughts are probably connected to the villagers. So that she can establish telepathic communication with them." Alan made a hypothesis. "And it's possible that their minds are connected to each other, forming a hive mind."

Paul let out a bitter chuckle as he took down the last opponent. "You're smart to come to such a conclusion, but this also means we're screwed. We waited for night to fall so there would be few people, but in the end, many still got in our way."

And sure enough, a mob of people appeared from a distance, even children. Those people were still smiling but definitely not coming in peace.

"Earlier, when we were about to be caught, I said we should wait for the big thing, right?" Alan flashed a smile. "She will come. I asked her to check on the village if we don't visit her by the second day."

A loud roar echoed from above, triggering everyone to look up. Brunch then landed near Celia and Alan.

"Brunch!" The female fighter hugged the wyvern's neck. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"You really are thinking far ahead." Paul nodded in appreciation. "You're going to be big, kid."

"Thanks for the compliment, sir." Alan glanced at the villagers, who refocused on him and the others. "Ah, I really want to erase those hideous smiles."

"Me too." Paul raised his sword.

"Come on, Brunch." Alan made a hand signal to the wyvern. "We destroy them."

The beast let out a thunderous roar again.