Chapter 789: Yorta’s Prophet (3)
QUAQWANG!
Loud explosions echoed incessantly through the frozen underground prison.
Prisoners streamed out of their cells, and others, without hesitation, flung themselves into the vast fissure from which chilling winds blew.
“The Prophet really made a way!!”
“I, I’m going first!”
The prisoners screamed at the top of their lungs, channeling their magic. As they thrashed their limbs, unable to contain their excitement, prison bars and walls swayed and cracked from the impact.
KUGUGUGUNG!
The prisoners instantly spread out across the entire 5th underground level, stirring up other prisons where the news hadn’t reached. Not only nearby cells but also prisoners from distant districts were freed, their numbers rapidly swelling.
“You’re the Prophet?”
“Ugly mug, fella. But I won’t forget this favor!!”
Prisoners chuckled as they rushed past Lennok, heading towards the fissure. They seemed curious about Lennok’s presence but were too preoccupied with escaping.
“This time, I’ll make sure not to get caught and just go around killing people…!!”
“It’s too cold here, so I’ll set the surface on fire to warm it up!!”
“Kihikhit!!”
Lennok watched the prisoners, then followed them, stepping down into the fissure where the wind howled.
He passed through the wind rushing past his ears, and the moment he dropped beyond the winding fissure passage—
PAAHT!
A garden, glowing with a dazzling blue light, unfolded before his eyes.
The surrounding mana was so thin, it felt like an overwhelming void, a complete vacuum of magic. Yet, the wind blowing across the garden grew even stronger, making it difficult to keep one’s eyes open and look ahead properly.
“W-we really escaped!!”
“We’ll never be locked up again!”
The prisoners, in a flurry, rushed across the garden ahead of Lennok and vanished. Having escaped the prison, no one would follow orders anymore.
“P-prophet…”
Lennok, who had been watching the prisoners from the edge of the garden, turned to look at the hulking man who had belatedly emerged from the fissure.
“Have you finally come to your senses?”
“You madman… Is this what you call a plan?!” the hulking man yelled at Lennok, his face aghast.
“No one can escape this way. You’re thinking about this all wrong!!”
With a flicker of fear in his eyes, the hulking man pointed to the Pale Ghosts flying in the distance.
“You don’t know how terrifying Yorta’s Military Spirits are. They’ll detect this commotion instantly and rush over!!”
“…”
“Damn it, it’s all ruined…!! I set things up so we could discreetly pass through the fissure, but because of you…!!”
“Why do you think that?” Lennok retorted. “Because the author of the Ghostly Chronicles warned you to be careful about what’s behind you?”
“…!!”
The hulking man flinched, struck by Lennok’s accurate hit.
“You, you… how did you know that…?”
“Formulating a concrete escape route and assembling a team wouldn’t be possible without a very strong conviction,” Lennok explained casually. “The Chronicles were written in a location that could be easily found if one investigated inside the prison. It wouldn’t be strange for one of the prisoners to know about it.”
“…You mean you grasped all of that in just one day after entering this prison?”
From the moment he discovered the inscription in the Ghostly Chronicles, Lennok didn’t think he was the only one who had seen it. Perhaps among the prisoners who dreamed of escaping, a skilled individual capable of looking beyond their cell might have discovered it. The hulking man standing before Lennok, in particular, was a Body Transformation Art practitioner who could transform his body to pass through narrow gaps. With such an ability, it wouldn’t be strange if he had secretly wandered the corridors, avoiding the Pale Ghosts’ surveillance, and discovered the Chronicles’ inscription.
“To act that way even after seeing the Chronicles’ advice, I understand even less. This underground level is a monster’s den where the discarded creatures of Yorta gather.” The hulking man’s face hardened. “Even with a select few gathered, success isn’t guaranteed, yet you’ve wantonly expanded the scale…!”
“Do you see any of the Pale Ghosts pursuing the prisoners directly attacking them?”
“What?”
Lennok swiftly turned his gaze before answering the hulking man’s question. Prisoners sprinting in all directions across the garden, and Pale Ghosts hovering in the air, pursuing them. Observing the Pale Ghosts cloaked in grayish-white hoods, Lennok spoke.
“Instead of attacking the escaping prisoners, they’re subtly herding them into the fissure.”
“Huh…?”
“There’s a pre-determined course of action for when such a situation arises.”
“…”
“Though they imprisoned Yorta’s criminals, their restraint and surveillance were incredibly lax.”
While the hulking man blinked, failing to grasp the meaning, Lennok chuckled. “It’s a deliberate trap. They’re intentionally driving the prisoners confined in this prison into a deliberately created escape route.”
“T-then… you’re saying that escape route didn’t exist in this prison from the start!!”
“No, the escape route itself is real. There probably really is a way out of this prison.”
The Priestess’s oracle and the inscription in the Ghostly Chronicles—neither could be false, so the existence of an escape route was true. But what did it mean that Yorta knew this and was still deliberately luring the prisoners to the escape route?
“Either escaping here is extremely difficult, or a very dangerous monster is guarding the escape route.”
“…Is that also something you confirmed with your foresight?”
“No, if you consider the circumstances, there’s no need for that-” Lennok, about to reply casually, stopped short and nodded. “That’s right. Because I know facts that you don’t.”
“As expected!!”
[…]
Lennok, ignoring the Priestess’s cold gaze, shamelessly continued, “Regardless of whether it’s an intentional trap or not, that place is truly the only escape route from this prison.”
“…”
“Then wouldn’t it be right to release as many prisoners as possible to increase the probability of at least one surviving?”
Only then did the hulking man, understanding Lennok’s true intention, close his mouth with a slightly unnerved expression. The Prophet standing here wasn’t literally trying to free all the prisoners from this prison. Instead, he thought the path to the escape route would be arduous, and he intended to throw the prisoners into it as a means to an end. Realizing this, the hulking man muttered blankly.
“If what you say is true, why tell me this?”
“The author of the Chronicles is skilled enough to move freely through the Military Spirit City and loves to record things, as he himself mentioned,” Lennok replied, recalling the inscriptions of the Chronicles written throughout the prison ceiling and walls. “If he mentioned a hidden fissure in the prison wall, urging escape, there’s a high possibility he left more advice in this garden.”
“…”
“Gather the prisoners who know about the Chronicles and bring me the records. Then I’ll read and interpret them and tell you the way again.”
As Lennok said this, he subtly cast his gaze behind the hulking man. “It seems the necessary personnel are already prepared, don’t you think?”
Even in the chaotic prison corridor, a few prisoners were quietly observing the hulking man and Lennok’s conversation. Their calm eyes and gloomy expressions stood out conspicuously among the highly agitated escapees.
“So, the last member you tried to recruit. It was about this guy who came in most recently.”
There were about ten people besides the hulking man. They were probably the team members the hulking man had recruited for their escape. Among them, the oldest-looking man smiled strangely.
“It seems things went very well. So well that you’d overturn our agreed-upon plan without even consulting us.”
“…After talking with the Prophet, I’ve realized a few things I hadn’t grasped,” the hulking man sighed, turning to his group. “It seems trying to escape immediately will be difficult. We’ll have to look for more inscriptions from the Chronicles.”
“Tsk, tsk… Have you already fallen for the author’s trick? Hopeless.” The old man scoffed at the hulking man and sharply turned his head. “Once the other prisoners escape, our turn might not come. Spending time searching for Chronicle inscriptions-”
“Kuaaaagh!!”
At that moment, someone’s terrible scream echoed from beyond the garden. It was unmistakably from a prisoner who had escaped first, the last gasp before the thread of life snapped. As the expressions of the prisoners who had been indifferently watching the garden hardened slightly, the hulking man spoke.
“The Prophet said there’s a high chance something is blocking the exit from this level.”
“…”
“It’s highly likely that there’s advice about it in the Chronicles, so let’s prioritize finding the records as we leave the garden. Is that acceptable?”
“I don’t care,” a gaunt man with hollow eyes replied. “Anyway, if it weren’t for the Chronicles’ records, we wouldn’t have found the escape route. What harm could come from finding a few more pieces of advice left by that fellow on the way out?”
“Similar opinions.”
“It’s an unexpected situation, but there’s no need to get excited along with it.”
If they had planned their escape in advance and waited for the right moment until now, they must have been unusually patient and composed prisoners. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t easily get flustered or agitated amidst the commotion. As most of the prisoners recruited by the hulking man agreed, the old man, who had been grimacing, clicked his tongue and muttered,
“I clearly objected. Just know that if problems arise later, it’s not my responsibility.”
“We’ll follow the direction of the wind and search for the records. We’ll write down the inscriptions separately and gather them to deliver all at once.”
“Do as you please.”
The hulking man glanced at Lennok, then led the other prisoners past the garden and vanished. They probably intended to spread out widely across the garden, searching for places where inscriptions might be written. Considering how the author of the Chronicles left inscriptions in the prison, once one message is found, the next advice will likely be easy to locate. The hulking man must have known this and accepted Lennok’s proposal.
Lennok pondered for a moment, then belatedly began walking, following the other prisoners. Even though they had escaped the prison, they were still walking backward against the wind.
The frozen garden was covered with strange plants and bushes of unknown purpose. Throughout the garden, where cold winds lashed, countless gravestones of unknown origin stood densely packed.
[It seems this entire space is a cemetery.] The Priestess muttered, glancing at Lennok. [There must have been another reason why the 5th underground level of the Memorial Tower was called a tomb.]
“…”
Instead of replying, Lennok stopped at a nearby gravestone and silently checked the bottom of the stone. An inscription from the Ghostly Chronicles that he had seen inside the prison. He could find one of those inscriptions here.
[A tomb built to honor the Frost Lord.]
[The name of the 5th underground level originally refers to this place.]
“A place to honor the Frost Lord… That’s strange,” Lennok muttered, confirming the text on the inscription.
[What is strange, sir?]
“If it’s a tomb to honor the Frost Lord, why are there so many graves?” Lennok asked, looking around at the thousands of gravestones. “There are so many graves, yet not a few of them don’t have bodies buried in them. It’s as if they were made in advance for people who are going to die.”
Having said that, Lennok belatedly understood the purpose of this cemetery and let out a small laugh. “I see. The reason they left the escapees alone was…”
“Kuaaaagh!!”
As if in response, one of the prisoners running in the distance screamed and was dragged down beneath a gravestone. The prisoner was shoved beneath a gravestone in the open field, as if pulled by something invisible.
“P-Prophet-nim!! Save me!” The prisoner, his face filled with despair, cried out desperately as he was buried in the dirt, having spotted Lennok. “I’m sorry for escaping first!! Please, please! Please, I’ll beg like this just one more time!”
KUDUDUDUK!
His voice, begging for his life while his face was buried in the dirt, grew thin and high-pitched. “S-save…!! Aaaaargh!!”
The moment the prisoner’s convulsive scream abruptly cut off, a Pale Ghost appeared on the corpse of the prisoner dragged beneath the gravestone. As it swung its scythe, cloaked in a grayish-white hood, a faint spirit soared up and was caught in the Pale Ghost’s hand.
The separation of body and spirit. The sight of it so easily harvesting the soul from an already dead body.
The Priestess, watching silently, murmured, [The separation of body and soul. This tomb exists to facilitate that process.]
“…”
The Pale Ghost disappeared from its spot without even glancing at Lennok. It was probably moving to retrieve the soul of another prisoner who had died elsewhere. Lennok immediately got up and followed the Pale Ghost.
The noisy commotion of the prisoners had vanished, and the vast field was instantly silent. Only the writhing mounds of earth in the cemetery, unable to die, and dozens of Pale Ghosts waiting below, appeared chillingly ominous. The Pale Ghosts clearly acknowledged Lennok’s presence, yet ignored him as if by agreement.
Lennok walked along the path next to the cemetery, and upon finally reaching the edge of the garden where the wind blew, a different scene came into view. A towering ice barrier blocked the way out of the garden. And trapped within it, a massive, ash-gray form quietly heaved. The prisoners who had survived the garden and reached the end were pounding hard on the ice barrier with dissatisfied expressions.
“Open the way!”
“We’re getting out of here!”
CRASH, CRASH!
Even when struck with full force, imbued with magic, the ice barrier showed no signs of breaking, not even a tremble. The prisoners, panting and fuming, turned to Lennok with angry expressions.
“Prophet, this isn’t what you said!”
“Wasn’t this the escape route?!”
[…]
At the prisoners’ outburst towards Lennok, the Priestess’s ethereal form frowned in displeasure. But Lennok, instead of minding the prisoners, silently gazed at the ice barrier and the chilling wind raging from beyond it. The wind pierced through the entire 5th underground level, and a massive form was located at its origin. He remembered encountering a similar configuration just recently.
“Prophet.”
At that moment, the hulking man, leading the other prisoners, approached Lennok and held out a small piece of paper. “I went around the garden near the cemetery and wrote down only the inscriptions I could see.”
“Content?”
“That… it’s too abstruse; I don’t quite understand it myself.” The hulking man said, glancing at the ice barrier with a strangely indescribable expression. “It seems to be a description of the monster guarding this prison…”
“Was there a story about a Guardian Spirit Beast written there?”
“…!!!”
This time, the hulking man froze, his eyes wide, clearly not expecting that. But Lennok ignored his reaction, took the piece of paper from his hand, and unfolded it. The wind that permeated the entire prison and its origin point. The very essence of this wind was the breath of a massive creature whose form was difficult to guess. Lennok had encountered precisely this configuration once before within Pyeonram’s mindscape.
As expected, the inscription left by the author of the Chronicles was filled with information about the master of this tomb.
[Frost Lord. The corpse of a dead Guardian Spirit Beast.]
[The result of an experiment conducted after a failed Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade.]
[A corpse twisted by the Demolding Curse, its essence consumed, leaving only instinct.]
The Demolding Curse.
A concept that the Ascendant Pyeonram had once mentioned, warning Lennok himself against it regarding his own Guardian Spirit Beast. While Lennok confirmed the phrase and fell silent, the hulking man urgently asked,
“How is it? Do you think there’s a way?”
“…”
“If you already knew the contents of the Chronicles, you’d know how to deal with this situation, right? Quickly, tell us the way!”
“Well…” Lennok murmured, turning his gaze towards the ice barrier. “Perhaps we shouldn’t be worrying about escaping, but rather about surviving.”
“What?”
At that moment, the ash-gray form, which had been heaving within the ice barrier, began to swell.
KUGUGUGU…!!
With just that, immense cracks spread across the ice barrier in all directions, instantly shattering the barrier and allowing the form to rise to its full height.
KWAANG!
“Aaaargh!”
“Get out of the way!”
Prisoners were instantly crushed and killed by the fragments of the collapsing barrier.
EJIJIK!
Trampling over their corpses, an ash-gray giant, its body twisted and hunched, slowly straightened itself.
[Hooooooo…]
The giant’s breath carried a chilling coldness that could be felt even dozens of meters away.
“That’s the corpse of a spirit beast born within Yorta’s domain. It’s not something mere criminals can handle.” Lennok said, yet he unhesitatingly walked past the others and stepped forward. Facing the gloomy gaze of the Frost Lord, which was openly glaring at him, Lennok let out a small laugh.
“Perhaps I can solve one of my objectives in Yorta ahead of schedule.”