Chapter 202: Curse You, Valor!

I just noticed that we hit 200 Chapters recently… that’s my first time hitting the 200 Chapters line and I didn’t even notice!

Anyway, like the 100 Chapters one, you can suggest spells or techniques or anything. The Shadow Swap ability was what I got the latest time. It turned out to be something better than what I originally planned for how he and Fafnir would switch places and the original Rank 2 shadow ability.”

Regardless, thank you for following the story for 200 Chapters. Another 100 Chapters closer to the end.

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“Freedom! Hahahaha!” Kael emerged from the entrance of a cave, finally reaching the surface.

Without slowing himself down, he continued running toward the main building of the prison, swinging his chainsaw brutally to clean it of most of the blood.

Only one second after that, Anastasia emerged from the same entrance, followed by Braham, who kept focusing on her.

As they ran, Braham subconsciously looked at another series of caves.

But unlike this one, not many people were going toward them, and those who did weren’t normal prisoners.

The people who went to that series of caves were either the slaves or official miners working for Uldor without needing a collar.

From what Braham had heard, those caves were extremely dangerous places where Rank 3 beasts had their nests.

In other words, this prison sent prisoners to collect minerals from dangerous underground caves, and sent their own workers to an even more dangerous series of underground caves.

At the end of the day, the main purpose of this place was collecting and protecting the abyssal gate that was connected to Uldor.

The gate was understandable. Valor and many others could use it to travel through the Abyss so as not to get detected in Terra. It was dangerous, but someone like Valor could do it.

However… There was something strange about the minerals.

’Why do they need all those minerals?’

They made a whole prison and used the prisoners to collect as many as possible.

If it were only about protecting the abyssal gate, they’d have needed to use a smaller number of guards and waste fewer resources.

That prison wasn’t to punish people or hold hostages. A lot of hostages had already died in the caves because of some monsters.

The real purpose of this prison was just making free high-ranked slaves! And those minerals were the reason.

Braham held one gem for a moment while running. It was glowing with green light and was worth a lot of points.

He wasn’t an artificer or someone who knew so much about the Abyss. He lacked knowledge. He wanted to say that the minerals would be used only for some good artifacts, but was that really the case?

’Unless they’re artifacts that can make a Rank 2 defeat a master, it’s just a waste. There are masters from Uldor too who die in the caves and never return. The only difference between us and them is that they aren’t wearing collars.’

There was something strange about this place, but Braham couldn’t do anything about that.

Maybe he wanted to leave and regain his freedom and return to his family, but he wasn’t a kid who didn’t understand his situation. Currently, it was impossible, even if he bypassed the collar.

Shaking his head, he ran faster and reached the gate, finding Kael already standing there and Ana standing bit far away. This time, it wasn’t because of Kael alone, but a big crowd of people standing in front of the gate.

“Come on, open quickly!”

“Your crap is here, open it already!”

They kicked the gate and roared at it, waiting for the guards to open it.

Some of them had missing limbs, most of them were soaked in glowing blood, and very few of them had things in their backpacks.

They were all tired, and they were breathing heavily.

They were now in the same state as the incomers they tried to avoid.

’Well, at least I’m not completely tired.’ Braham smiled wryly. He had left earlier because of Ana. He could risk his life there, but risking hers was something he would never do.

His backpack wasn’t really promising. He filled only 15% of it and Kael filled around 20% of his backpack. It was better than most people’s, but not what they had aimed for.

It was truly an unfortunate day for him and Kael.

After waiting for a few minutes, they finally entered the prison as the gate opened.

It closed again behind them. They threw the bags and their collars rang, showing that they earned some points for their job. Then, the steam washed the radiation from them.

Braham watched the last amount of steam disappearing with a sad bitter smile: ’They likely can remove the radiation from our bodies with it, but they don’t. Healing us that easily wouldn’t push us to work harder.’

After a few seconds, the gate to the prison opened, officially finishing their mission.

“Do you want to visit the store?” Kael suddenly said to Braham and Ana, then he smirked: “I plan to buy a steak for lunch.”

“That’s a waste!” Braham barely suppressed the urge to tear Kael apart: “Can’t you just save your points and buy something to wear? Maybe even a tunic?”

“Nah.” Kael turned around and walked toward the store, flexing his back muscles: “These beautiful muscles aren’t there because of some useless clothes, but because of meat! Filling my stomach with full healthy food is my top priority.”

“Tsk.” Braham clicked his tongue and followed him anyway: “I think I’ll buy a suit. Mine is technically made of tape right now.”

“Oh right, Ana, do you want me to buy you something?”

Already expecting this question, Ana followed him while shaking her head: “No, I’m okay. You’re already paying too much monthly for my one-person cell and the cure. I can’t ask for anything… unless you allow me to leave alone.”

“What? No! Never!” Braham sighed: “You win this. Just tell me if you really need something.”

The conversation ended there as they went to the store.

A 4 meters tall giant met them with a forced smile and showed them a list of whatever they could buy, which was engraved on the walls alongside the price.

After confirming their purchases, their collars rang because of the decrease in their points.

The store owner was able to take the points of the prisoners at will. They didn’t have any real ownership over their points.

They had heard rumours that the store owner used that authority to take advantage of the prisoners for fun. Thankfully, they didn’t have such an encounter… at least for now.

What did they buy?

Kael bought a cup of milk and a steak.

Braham bought a better suit, a tube of radiation cure, and left his pickaxe to be fixed.

“The food will be sent to your cell later. The tube, the suit, and the pickaxe will be found in your closet.” The store owner said while waving at them.

Next, they finally went to the first floor and stored their clothes and items.

At that moment, Braham subconsciously looked at Ana while she took off her suit.

’Argh, it always hurts me to see this.’

Ana had a pretty face and a muscular lean body, not too skinny or too muscular. Her white hair cascaded down her shoulders like an ethereal waterfall, and her golden eyes only enhanced what was supposed to be her natural beauty.

Unfortunately, unlike what most men would think, what Braham saw was anything but beautiful.

Her body could be better described as a book that showed her torture history. The scars and burn marks covered her body and face like they had always belonged there.

Her legs, her arms, her chest, her back — they were all marked with ugly scars that ruined her completely.

Even her face wasn’t spared.

Whether it was her torn lips, the scratches on her cheeks, and cuts on her neck, or even the ugly line that vertically ran along her eye.

What was more painful was the fact that those scars weren’t normal at all.

He looked at Kael, seeing that his wounds caused by the beasts had already healed, leaving no scars behind.

As a titan, Kael had strong natural healing.

And as an angel, Ana had something far stronger.

Ana, due to her bloodline, had already healed the wound on her cheek, and that wound left no scars.

The scars on her body and face were made purposely. Whoever caused them made sure that they’d stay even when she was healed.

She could regenerate, she could use healing spells, she could wait for years, she could try to reshape them, but those scars would always stay.

She could never forget her past. If she ever tried, a single glance at a mirror or even a look at her limbs would remind her.

Ana immediately wore simple trousers and a tunic, unlike most prisoners who barely wore anything.

That was technically a waste of points, but Braham bought them for her anyway. Anything that could help her was never a waste for him.

Taking a sharp breath, Braham couldn’t help but curse Valor inwardly.

’Curse you, Valor! Curse you!’

But then, he suddenly remembered something.

’Wait, weren’t there some rumours that Valor brought that boy Dante here by himself?’

’Maybe I should talk with him about that.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep