Chapter 104: Extraction In Astro

The door didn’t have a doorknob. Instead, there was a lock pin panel beside it that anyone trying to gain access had to input correctly before the door would open.

Shit… didn’t expect to find this.

Sandra stared at the scanner like it was some living enemy she needed to annihilate. And honestly, who could blame her? That thing was the last obstacle standing between her and whatever she had come here to do inside those cells. And judging by the way her eyes kept darting around the corridor, checking every angle to make sure nobody was coming, it was obvious this wasn’t something she was supposed to be doing with anyone’s approval. This was completely off the books.

Then, just like one of those hackers in movies, Sandra infused magic into her eyes and activated a technique called After Eyes.

After Eyes was a technique the elves used whenever hunters entered their sacred forests to poach magical beasts. It allowed them to see where a person had stepped, what they had touched, and in some cases, even how recently they had done it. But it hadn’t always been with her.

Back in Midworld, she had lost the technique.

The rules of Midworld had stripped anyone of any magical abilities they previously had, forcing all players to start from zero. But those rules no longer applied.

She was back in the world of the living now.

And so was her magic.

The moment the technique activated, her vision shifted. The lock panel lit up differently in her eyes. Faint traces. Finger residue. Heat memory. The ghostly remains of repeated contact.

She scanned the pad once, then again, and after a few more focused glances, she started catching onto the pattern. The most frequently touched numbers. The pressure marks. The sequence rhythm.

Then without wasting another second, she quickly punched them in.

3… 8… 2… 6… 4.

The five coordinates that stood between her and whatever insane thing she was risking all of this for.

Then just like that—

Slide!!

The door finally opened, so silently that even someone standing in the next room probably wouldn’t hear a thing.

Sandra immediately looked inside, and what she saw made her pause for a second.

Six cages.

Each pair built side by side like twins, stretching deeper into the room in neat consecutive rows.

The sight alone was enough to startle her a little, but there was no time to stand around and admire prison architecture. This was a secret mission. So she quickly stepped inside, dragging the two unconscious guards in with her before the door slid shut behind her again.

The lighting inside wasn’t great, and the cooling system was nowhere near as comfortable as the one in the meeting room either. But this was a jail compartment. It wasn’t supposed to feel like some hotel.

Sandra knelt beside the guards and searched through their pockets until she found what she was looking for.

The prison cell keys.

She took a deep breath, then started walking down the narrow space between the cages, heading straight toward the last one.

The one that had someone familiar inside.

The Captain of the Blue Jaguars.

He was asleep in the cage, lying on his back with one leg slightly raised. He looked strangely at peace. Too at peace. Like he had already accepted that being inside enemy territory meant any random thing that happened around him would probably end in disaster anyway.

“How are you holding up, Captain?”

The voice pulled him out of his sleep. It was too gentle to belong to one of his enemies and too respectful to belong to someone who didn’t know who he was. So he slowly opened his eyes, then turned his head toward the figure standing in front of his cell.

Sandra.

“What the fuck are you doing here? I thought they kidnapped you.”

“They didn’t. I saw an opportunity and joined them. I wanted to destroy them from the inside out, so I played along with their act.”

“Mehn… for a Grid kind, you’re actually a smart ass.”

“I need to get you out of here. I talked to their Commander, and I think she already suspects me. This might be your only chance to escape.”

Using the keys she had taken from the guards, Sandra unlocked the cell and opened it.

And just like that, the once-captured Captain was free.

A direct contradiction to everything the demons wanted.

Suddenly, the Captain started chuckling. Low at first, then louder, like some evil villain in a movie finally getting his hands back on his powers.

“Oho… now I can use my powers.”

He clenched and unclenched his fists as he spoke, sparks of magic flickering all around him.

The cage he had been held in was specifically designed for beings who could use magic. The metal used to forge the bars naturally canceled out any power within its radius. Any magic used from inside the cell would be suppressed, and even if someone from outside tried to blast it open using abilities, that would be canceled too. That was, of course, if you ignored the alarms that would immediately go off the second anyone tried forcing the cells open. Something Sandra had somehow already figured out just from observing how the demons structured and operated their systems.

She tapped on the watch for a bit, then removed the navigation device from her wrist and handed it to the Captain.

“Take this. I already marked the pathway out of here. Beat up one guard and take his suit. That way you’ll blend in long enough to get out.”

She explained quickly.

It was a simple plan.

But simple was good.

Simple increased the odds of survival.

So the Captain immediately got to work. He spent the next two minutes changing. He didn’t remove his old red clothes though, probably because he didn’t want Sandra seeing him standing there in just his boxers. So he kept them on and wore the demon suit over them instead.

Then together, the two of them dragged the unconscious guards and shoved them into one of the cells.

An ironic end for the very people assigned to keep this place secure in the first place.

With no more time to waste, they rushed back to the main prison door. Sandra quickly input the numbers again into the lock screen.

3… 8… 2… 6… 4.

Slide!!

The door opened.

“I would’ve gone with you,” Sandra said, her voice lower now, “but I need to stay behind and delay them if they realize you’re gone. It’s better for a common being like me to get imprisoned than a Captain.”

The Captain looked at her for a moment, then sighed.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this to a Grid Lions member… but your deed will be acknowledged by the Goddess and all of Grid Jaguars.”

The teleportation device Brains had given them suddenly materialized in his hand.

“If everything works out… you’ll be saved.”

Those were the Captain’s final words before he turned and walked off, moving like one of the demon soldiers.

The same kind he hated.

Hiding among them.

Just like the demons once had to hide among humans so they wouldn’t be butchered.

As he kept going, Sandra’s eyes followed him all the way until he finally made a turn and disappeared from her line of sight.

Then suddenly, Sandra lifted her forefinger to her ear, tapping it lightly like she was pressing against an invisible earpiece.

“It’s done.”

She muttered quietly to whoever was listening on the other end.

And then, just like that, she turned and continued on her way.

As if nothing had happened at all.

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