CHAPTER 36: Unshackling the Wolf - Part 3

  Keragan led Kirya and the other three up the central spiral staircase. They were not alone on ninth sublevel. Three guards were delivering food to the prisoners.

  “Prisoners escaping!” shouted one, drawing his sword.

  Mitnal whirled like a glass windmill before the other two even touched their swords’ grips, painting the walls red.

  “Release all the prisoners here,” He said, picking up keys from a pool of blood.

  “Vraka, the prisoners on eighth and ninth sublevels are Nits’ traitors, war criminals, and deserters. I’m afraid they will only cause panic,” she said.

  “You’re right. Leave them.”

  They continued ascending the spiral staircase. On eighth sublevel, they encountered no guards and proceeded to seventh, where several important Arvanian figures, including powerful Decimae, were held.

  “Tell everyone who can fight to ride with us.”

  From sixth and seventh, Keragan recruited a dozen fighters, though they were unarmed and some still wore their restraining bracelet. Together, they charged fifth sublevel.

  However, the enemy detected their presence. On the fifth sublevel, twenty regulars and five Decimae ambushed his group. The battle was brief. Mitnal flashed, eliminating five regulars at once. Kirya and the other fighters, keen to avenge Terzionites, dealt with the rest.

  He hesitated to free the prisoners of fourth and fifth sublevels, as most were not fighters. However, some leaders from the previous levels argued otherwise, as many of those prisoners were their subordinates. Sorting out who to free took time, and he paid for the delay on the next level.

  The guards had set up formidable defenses on third sublevel. This level was the soldiers’ dormitory, its layout resembling rooms within a fortress, greatly favoring those defending.

  A fierce battle ensued against armored soldiers and Decimae. Mitnal cut through enemy spear formations in the narrow corridors. Its long blade pierced through three regulars at once.

  The enemy Decimae did not just stand to be slaughtered. They attacked from other corridors, and casualties mounted on his side. Kirya and her crew fought with all they had. Her twin scimitar whirled in the confined space, sparking each time they grazed the walls.

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  One of Kirya's crew members acted as a guide, though she could only guess based on the usual relationships between rooms. She peeked around a corner, and her body was flung aside as a bolt from a crossbow pierced her temple.

  The rows of crossbowmen behind the spear formation were even deadlier in these narrow corridors than in open spaces. Keragan refused to suffer more losses. He had already lost half his fighters.

  Arch Blitz was ideal for trampling such formations. As he unleashed the Prana technique, Keragan shot forward like a falling star. A blue energy aura enveloped him, and Mitnal's swings flashed around him. He crashed onto the enemy formation, and in the next blink, he stood with the dismembered bodies behind him. The corridor walls were gouged with straight, crossing slashes.

  The enemy kept coming. He and the others had to fight for two hours before finally gaining rein of third sublevel. Countless Decimae and regulars lay slaughtered.

  Keragan turned to check on his followers. Kirya was injured but not severe enough to incapacitate her. Less than half of his fighters remained, with a dozen from fourth and fifth sublevels carrying weapons but they were not skilled fighters.

  “I’ll go up first,” he said. “Kirya, support me.”

  However, on second sublevel, they again found no enemies. It seemed they had retreated to first sublevel for a final stand. They had not even locked most of the doors.

  “Kirya, let's secure this floor.”

  They maneuvered turn after turn, opening room after room. Then, he reached a hallway with closely spaced rows iron doors on both sides. As he passed, one door bulged from an explosion from inside and flew towards him. He spun, swinging Mitnal and deflecting it aside.

  Tingling sensation at the tip of his fingers, a feeling he experienced only now and then, informed him of the immense force that slammed the door.

  His eyes locked onto a teenager behind the iron door. Mitnal was ready beside him. The youth had red hair and a white aura flaring from his body. The three walls of the narrow room he stood in were concaved from the blast.

  “Vraka,” Kirya approached, “this is an isolation cell. He may not be an enemy.”

  Seeing that the teenager's gaze held no hostility, he relaxed his stance. The teenager did the same.

  “Help us if you are not an enemy.” Keragan needed every bit of help he could get.

  The red-haired teenager nodded.

  Not long after, following a stampede of steps, his fighters appeared and gathered around him. They were all ready to charge the first sublevel, the enemy's last line of defense.

  In the center of the floor, there was no spiral staircase; instead, an iron platform at the end of the room was used to bring them up. Grest was not a prison; hence, there was a security flaw that allowed the platform to be operated from this floor. Kirya had told him that.

  He was the first to stand on the platform. “Kirya, I need you here to hold the rein.”

  He then cast a look, inviting anyone to ride beside him for the toughest hunt yet. Soon, the platform was crowded.

  The platform ascended, accompanied by the sound of cogs turning. Just as it had risen halfway, someone shouted.

  “Stop! We could die!”

  Bursting free from the crowd, a person emerged at the front, lunged and crashed into him. Both of them were thrown off the platform.

  It was the red-haired teenager!