Prison Break Returns (2)

“Aaang~? What is this~?”

A husky voice greeted us as soon as we opened the thick iron door.

Since both Ga-yeon and I were already wearing translators, it came through as perfectly clear Korean.

“Been a while? Remember me?”

And seeing the guy in front of me, a smile naturally formed on my lips.

“Huh? You little…”

The guy was the acting leader of this faction who had dueled with me before.

He frowned immediately upon seeing Ga-yeon and me.

“You little punk~ getting all fancy and bringing a woman with you~?!”

“Whatever, where’s your boss? I have something to discuss.”

“Some people are stuck waving their hands in prison! While this little punk is with a woman..!!”

Stop the crazy talk and just bring the boss quickly.

“..Heh.”

Ga-yeon, you too, stop holding my hand while pretending you don’t like it.

Just as the action leader was causing a ruckus in front of us…

SMACK!!

A wrinkled hand appeared and hit the action leader on the head.

“This bastard is intimidating guests again!!”

It was Boss Kwak, the elderly leader of this area. His full name is Kwak Mu-cheon.

“It’s been a while, sir.”

“Ah..? The guest is..”

Elder Kwak’s eyes widened when they met mine.

I waved at him with a smile in my eyes.

“You haven’t forgotten me, have you?”

“How could this Kwakmo forget his benefactor? Welcome to our humble place!”

Elder Kwak welcomed me with a bright smile.

“But it doesn’t seem like you’ve come to sell goods today. That means…”

“You said it before, remember? That you’d help me if I needed it.”

The old man before me was quick to understand and easy to talk to.

So without bothering to lay groundwork, I jumped straight to the point.

“I need your help, sir.”

I extended my hand toward him with a serious expression.

“Would you like to come out to the outside world with me?”

If possible, your entire organization – no, all the people of the sixth floor.

---

“..I understand what you’re asking for.”

“Do you need time to think?”

Elder Kwak shook his head at my words.

As if to say there was no need to consider it.

“If you’re personally offering to get us out of this prison, we have no reason to refuse.”

Rather, we’re grateful.

At the old man’s words, the corners of my mouth naturally turned upward.

‘It’s nice when someone understands quickly.’

“The guys from the other areas, you know them too, right?”

“I’ll arrange a meeting so we can convince those friends as well.”

The old man quickly grasped my meaning and nodded.

‘Was he that grateful for our previous dealings?’

He had said before that he would help me, but his overly formal attitude was almost uncomfortable.

Maybe it was simply because I offered to help them escape.

“If they refuse, I’ll break their arms and legs…”

Anyway, as long as it doesn’t harm me, it’s fine.

I decided to think positively about it.

And shortly after…

“Getting out? That’s absolutely amazing!”

“Better than fighting meaningless battles here for the rest of our lives.”

The guys from other factions also seemed to view leaving Tartarus positively.

That was fortunate.

I was planning to eliminate them if they refused.

“But we’ll need you to grant a few requests, is that okay?”

“That’s no problem…”

“We don’t want to mess with Elder Kwak, that crazy old man, either.”

The leaders of the other factions glanced briefly at Elder Kwak before readily showing positive responses.

It was a somewhat curious sight.

While the leaders of the other two factions were both sturdy, muscular middle-aged men, Elder Kwak was a relatively thin, hunched old man.

In this primitive-like environment of the sixth floor, were they really being considerate toward Elder Kwak out of goodwill?

That couldn’t be the case.

‘…Surviving in a place like this is proof of strength.’

Perhaps I had unknowingly received the favor of an incredible individual.

“Well, it seems we’re all more or less in agreement.”

That means I just need to remove the obstacles preventing them from leaving the sixth floor.

I looked at the shackles hanging around their necks.

“I’ll remove the shackles from your necks.”

“..You have a way?”

“Of course.”

While outsiders like Ga-yeon and I could easily move around various areas of Tartarus, the prisoners before me couldn’t.

It was because of the shackles around their necks.

Each shackle itself was a small bomb powerful enough to easily blow off a neck.

As a prison specialized for ability users, the types of shackles were as diverse as the types of abilities.

For physical enhancement types who wouldn’t easily die from explosions, instead of bombs, there were shackles that would shrink and cause suffocation if they left designated areas.

For body transformation types, they would insert or attach shackles inside their bodies.

‘On top of that, they’re blocking abilities like teleportation with strange traces of mystery, so it’s practically impossible for prisoners to escape on their own.’

But even with such unfair shackles, there was still a way to remove them.

“Start preparing to leave. I’ll go remove your shackles.”

“Where are you going…”

“To the floor below.”

The seventh floor underground, where Alpha was located and where all sorts of traces of mystery and other items were collected.

Whether out of laziness or for ease of management, there was a device there that could remotely turn all shackle functions on and off.

---

Seventh floor underground.

To prepare for any possible accidents, I came here alone, leaving Ga-yeon upstairs.

-Phew!

Of course, Narin, who was remotely communicating with me, was an exception.

-I thought I was the only one being forgotten since my part wasn’t showing up!

“..? What are you talking about?”

-It’s a thing!

Anyway, having Narin around wasn’t a bad thing.

This place was full of malicious traces of mystery that harbored ill will toward people.

If I wasn’t careful, I could be swayed by their malice, so precautions were essential.

“Huff…”

I decided to use my ability for additional protection.

Wooong-

I drew up mana.

In my mind, I listed the information of what I was about to create.

Not just simple information, but the essential concepts that formed the material.

From what humans can understand…

Eeeeng-

To what is difficult to describe.

Once all the desired information was gathered, I would materialize it by offering mana.

“Creation.”

In my hand, after completing this act in mere seconds, was a tiny branch.

For such a seemingly impressive act, the result looked extremely shabby.

However, this disappointing-looking branch contained a clear energy that gave those nearby a sense of comfort.

“A ‘branch of the World Tree’ should be enough to block the energy of those with malicious intent toward people.”

Thanks to consistent practice, experimentation, and good equipment, the duration of the World Tree branch had increased from minutes to hours.

If I focused properly when creating it, it could last about half a day!

‘Well, even so, since it doesn’t have any special abilities itself, there’s rarely a use for it…’

Still, it had the ability to stabilize a person’s mind and body, so it would be helpful in the current situation.

I continued walking.

Slosh.

And before long, I saw black amorphous liquids behind iron bars.

These were the strange life forms I had seen before when I came looking for Alpha.

I came down to the seventh floor not only to free the prisoners on the sixth floor, but also to check the status of these things.

‘This is a precursor symptom of something.’

“Something” was exactly that.

A monster that couldn’t be named or described.

An extraterrestrial invader coming to take over this world.

‘What I call the Final Boss.’

That was the identity of this something.

And these amorphous liquids were “former” followers of it.

“They might be human, or not human. Or perhaps they were human and then became non-human.”

They have forgotten their existence, their form, and continue to eagerly wait for their god.

And as that god gets closer to our world, they begin to move more actively, as if receiving power.

Not threatening others, not regaining lost sanity, not even moving like living beings – they praise their god with bizarre, gelatinous movements.

‘Still, thanks to them, I can roughly estimate how much time remains until we need to prepare for the Final Boss.’

I’ll probably kill them all later, but for now, they’re very useful.

And as Maker observed their movements, he realized…

“……”

-Oppa?

“..Let’s find the device first.”

-Okay…

Maker moved with a more serious expression than usual.

---

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[S-class escapee detected! S-class escapee detected!…]

[A-class escapee detected! A-class escapee detected!…]

[B-class escapee detected! B-class escapee detected!…]

[A-class escapee detected! A-class escapee detected!…]

[S-class escapee detected! S-class escapee detected!…]

…

Late at night, loud warning sounds echoed throughout Tartarus.

“[What the hell-!!]”

“[Aaaahh!!! What is it this time!!]”

The guards were surprised, and the once quiet prison began to change.

And then…

Rumble rumble rumble.

“[Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~!!]”

“[HelloguardIhatedyoufrommyfirstsightIwantedtoconfessbeforethesummerbreakbutIwastoocowardbackthenNowIwanttosummonthecouragetosayinfrontinfrontinfrntofallthesepeoplethatIonlywanttokillyo.]”

“[Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real?]”

“[Damn, this pattern again aaaah!!!]”

Inmates charging forward with half-crazed eyes.

The prisoners from the fourth and fifth floors were on the verge of having mental disorders, or in fact, already had them.

And behind them, watching the chaos with composure, were the sixth-floor prisoners.

I was among them.

I watched the fight unfolding before me.

It seemed the guards had established some discipline since our confrontation years ago, as they were handling the situation much more efficiently than before.

“[Don’t be afraid!! It’s no different from before!! We can stop them somehow aaaah!!!]”

The face of the one giving orders at the forefront, ahead of the other guards, seemed full of vigor.

“Now, sixth floor members, go~”

“[Kyaaaahh!!!]”

That is, until the sixth-floor criminals started rampaging.

I naturally released the monsters from the sixth floor, and the guards had no way to stop them.

“[This is a bit too much..!!]”

“[Damn!! Report! Damn it aaaah..!!!]”

Watching the guards being overwhelmed, I thought:

‘Everyone needs to get stronger quickly.’

The masses in the seventh floor of the prison.

They were moving more actively than before.

That was evidence that the Final Boss was approaching this world.

Perhaps the Final Boss would appear before preparations were complete.

‘Then we’re all fucked.’

The current battle would seem like child’s play compared to the overwhelming defeat we would face.

In that case, drastic measures would be necessary.

Looking at the prisoners running wild with crazed laughter, I thought to myself:

‘From now on, kill each other.’

To become stronger, they couldn’t be raised like greenhouse flowers.

Only through real combat.

And everyone would fill in that lacking real combat experience by facing the prisoners of Tartarus.

‘Heroes will grow by capturing escaped villains, and existing villains will fight and become stronger to protect their territories from newcomers.’

Everyone will fight against disaster and everyone will become stronger – a perfect auto-hunting system.

The prisoners, not knowing they were becoming fertilizer for fruit, looked at me with respectful eyes.

They cheered, calling my name.

“Akaoni!”

“Akaoni!”

“Akaoni!”

“Hahaha! Praise me more! You primitive beings!!”

Though their appearance was ridiculous, it felt good.

At this moment, I was the god of the new world… no, the god of Tartarus villains.

“..Oppa has gone weird.”

“……”

Even though Ga-yeon was looking at me with sour eyes.

“So, what did you say we need to do?”

At that moment, prisoners approached me.

They included Elder Kwak and were the former leaders of the sixth-floor factions.

I looked at them with a smirk in my eyes.

“There’s a hero I want you to torment.”

It seemed the awakening event prepared just for her was somewhat ready.