Chapter 270: Rescuing the Victims

“Too bad my attack failed. Just as expected of you, Jason Kirk—very impressive.”

Jason turned toward the voice warily. Standing before him was a man in a black cloak, his face hidden behind a raven mask.

“An Eighth Awakening expert?”

Jason himself had reached the Eighth Awakening, meaning the man before him was his equal in strength.

“Who are you? How do you know me?” Jason asked calmly.

The man let out a soft chuckle and replied casually, “Who doesn’t know you? You’re the one who slaughtered a family on the border of the Knight Kingdom of Batrum. I’m sure you remember, don’t you?”

Jason’s eyes widened. His heart pounded, his breathing turning heavy.

“You…” he growled coldly. “Who are you? How do you know about that?”

Seven years ago, he had slaughtered a family on the kingdom’s border.

It wasn’t driven by revenge or hatred. The family was suspected of leading a bandit group responsible for killing passing merchants.

He had tried to warn them, but they ignored him.

As the number of victims kept rising, Jason had no choice but to take matters into his own hands. He killed them all, along with the bandits.

Even after all these years, the guilt still lingered. After all, one of the victims was a… baby.

“You don’t need to know who I am,” the man said indifferently. “What matters is that I’m going to kill you and avenge them.”

He opened his right palm. In an instant, a one-meter-long axe appeared above it.

Gripping the axe with both hands, he swung it straight at Jason.

Boom!

Jason barely managed to dodge. The spot where he had been standing was obliterated, leaving behind a hole nearly one meter deep.

Not giving him any chance to escape, the man charged again, lifting his axe high.

“Die, Jason Kirk!”

Boom!

…

“It’s very dark. I can’t even see anything around me,” Merlin muttered.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again.

In an instant, his surroundings became crystal clear, as if the darkness had never existed.

Merlin scanned the area and noticed a T-junction ahead.

He continued walking and asked, “System, which direction are the victims?”

“[Ding! 500 system points are required to obtain the answer!]”

Merlin rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.

“Use it,” he ordered.

“[500 system points have been used! The victims are located on the left path, Master!]” The system’s enthusiastic voice echoed in his mind.

Merlin said nothing and turned left at once. The farther he walked, the more he noticed the walls on both sides growing wider.

“It looks like an emergency escape route,” he muttered.

In a city, such routes were essential.

If the city were invaded—or even destroyed—they would be used for evacuation.

However, Merlin soon realized that this route had been completely repurposed into a headquarters for the Dark Tunnel Organization, used to imprison residents and conduct rituals.

Before he realized it, he had reached the end of the passage. A two-meter-high door stood before him.

He carefully pushed the door open and stepped inside. An astonishing sight greeted him.

Before him stretched a luxurious hall. Red carpets extended in every direction, while at the far end stood demon statues, all crafted from pure gold.

Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, their brilliant light illuminating the entire hall.

“Wow. I didn’t expect to find a place like this here. Did they build it after conquering the city?” Merlin wondered, rubbing his chin.

Fortunately, no one was around. His presence remained unnoticed.

Just then, footsteps echoed from a door at the end of the hall.

Merlin frowned and moved toward one of the statues on the right.

Moments later, the door opened, and two men in black cloaks stepped out.

“Tsk! Did you see that? That damn woman finally surrendered. She must be completely desperate by now,” one of them said with a mocking grin.

“Yeah. I even managed to subdue one myself. I have to admit, her body was really nice. Tonight, I’ll enjoy it again… hehehe!” his companion replied with a lewd laugh.

Hearing those shameless words, Merlin’s anger flared instantly. The urge to kill them surged within him, but he forced himself to stay calm.

He couldn’t afford to draw the attention of the others.

Both of them headed toward the door Merlin had entered through earlier. Once they were gone, Merlin stepped into the center of the hall and let out a long sigh.

’Luckily… luckily I didn’t act. Otherwise, they’d already be dead,’ he whispered.

To him, the cruelty of those two men was completely unforgivable. Earlier, he had wanted to torture them, but the situation had forced him to restrain himself.

Even so, he swore… he would kill them in a far more brutal way.

After steadying his thoughts, Merlin walked toward the door the two men had come from.

Beyond it lay a narrow corridor, barely wide enough for a single person to pass through.

He continued forward until he reached a vast, ominous space.

Stone walls surrounded the area, with towering pillars supporting the ceiling.

At its center stood a massive prison, large enough to hold thousands—no, perhaps tens of thousands—of people.

“I finally found them,” Merlin said, clenching his right fist.

Still, he didn’t act rashly. Releasing so many people at once would be no different from suicide.

The moment they escaped, those cruel bastards would surely activate the traps hidden throughout the area.

’I need a plan,’ he muttered to himself.

Moving carefully, he approached the prison and reached toward the bars—

Zzrk!

A powerful electric current surged out.

Merlin jerked his hand back and cursed under his breath. ’Damn… that was close.’

He had expected a magic formation protecting the prison. Fortunately, his reaction had been fast enough.

Otherwise, he would have triggered the defense and drawn unwanted attention.

“System, do you have an item that can destroy formations?” Merlin asked.

With his current strength, breaking the formation himself would only cause chaos.

If Leina were here, it would have been easy.

“[Ding! The item you’re looking for is available in the system shop, Master.]” “[Would you like to purchase it?]”

Merlin nodded. “Yes. Buy it.”

“[Ding! Magic Formation Erasing Sand has been successfully purchased! 10,000 system points have been deducted. Remaining system points: 150,000.]”

Merlin felt something settle in his pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled out a small brown plastic bag filled with white sand.

Without hesitation, he carefully sprinkled the sand onto the prison. When he finished, he stepped back and waited.

Seconds passed. Then, all at once, the electric current protecting the iron bars vanished.

“It worked,” he whispered, barely containing his excitement.

He pulled back his hood, startling a man standing right in front of him.

“You—” The man was about to speak, but Merlin quickly gestured for silence.

“Shh… Don’t say anything. I’m here to help,” Merlin said softly. “If you and the others want to get out of here, follow my instructions, all right?”

The man instinctively covered his mouth and nodded eagerly.

“I understand. Please wait a moment. I’ll coordinate with the others.”

Merlin smiled faintly as the man hurried back toward the prisoners.

There were so many of them that coordinating everything took quite some time.

After fifteen minutes, news of Merlin’s arrival and the escape plan he had devised had spread to all the prisoners.

Naturally, they were excited. Even so, they were disciplined enough to restrain themselves and remain silent.

This impressed Merlin greatly and made him confident that things would proceed smoothly.

“We’re ready, Young Master,” the man said eagerly.

Merlin nodded and opened the cell door. Stepping inside, he gave his instructions. “Form several groups. Each group should have no more than two thousand people. I’ll teleport you to a safe location later.”

Coincidentally—or perhaps fortunately—a few days earlier, he had obtained a high-level spell called Mass Teleportation after opening Pandora’s Box in the system storage.

The spell allowed him to transport large numbers of people at once.

However, it came with strict limitations. The number could not exceed two thousand per use, and the mana cost was enormous.

Following his orders, the prisoners quickly organized themselves into six groups.

Each group contained two thousand people or fewer.

Merlin nodded in satisfaction, then brought his palms together. A blue aura burst from his body, forming a gentle breeze that spread in all directions.

Whoosh!

A giant magic circle suddenly formed beneath one of the groups. The next second, their figures vanished from sight.

Everyone who witnessed the scene was stunned, as if unable to believe what they had just seen.

But the shock didn’t last long. One magic circle after another appeared, and the prisoners vanished in succession.

When the final group disappeared, Merlin finally let out a breath of relief.

Thump!

His heart pounded wildly, and his body felt completely drained.

“Danger. I’m running out of mana!”

He quickly pulled out three bottles of mana-restoring potion and swallowed them in one go.

Gradually, his mana stabilized, allowing him to breathe easier.

“Thank goodness,” he muttered, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. “That takes care of the mission. Now… it’s time to find those bastards and finish them off.”

A cold smile crept onto his lips. It had been a long time since he’d fought seriously, and at last, the opportunity had arrived.

He walked toward the end of the area and slowly faded from sight.

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