Escape from Prison

“Click…”

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my arm.

After more than half an hour, I finally got it working.

—Because of my previous experience being locked in a dark room, I specifically developed a technique to open door locks using wind magic… it’s just quite troublesome, and I haven’t had much chance to practice, so I’m still quite rusty and it takes a long time.

However, the advantage is that the movement is very slight; it’s almost impossible for a guard to notice if they’re dozing off.

‘…If only there were the mysterious shops from the game at a time like this! I could exchange memory fragments obtained from interacting with the male leads for items, and there’s a master key that can open any lock.’

‘If I had that key, I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble.’

With these random thoughts, I tiptoed out of the cell and circled around the guard.

“Snoring…”

‘Speaking of which, isn’t this guy a guard? He’s already snoring, is that really okay?’

‘…Never mind, this just makes it easier for me.’

I quickly delivered a chop to his neck, granting him a more exquisite sleep.

Then I fumbled around his body and found a string of keys.

‘…Quite a lot, no choice, I’ll have to try them one by one.’

“Click-clack…”

The moment she heard the sound, the person in the cell clearly recoiled.

“N-no… don’t! Don’t sacrifice me… I’m skin and bones, your god definitely won’t like it! Wuwu… wuwu…”

“…”

It seemed she was quite frightened.

‘Anything I say now will only agitate her… so, this is what I’ll do.’

I immediately pulled her into my arms, gently stroking the back of her head.

“Don’t worry, everything’s alright now.”

‘I’m sorry, Young Lady, I still lent my embrace to someone else.’

‘But I believe she’ll forgive me.’

Under my soothing, she finally calmed down.

I untied her ropes and removed her blindfold.

To prevent her from worrying, I specifically put on what I thought was a confident smile.

“No need to be afraid anymore, I will save you.”

“…!”

Perhaps deeply moved by my words, she followed closely behind me without a second thought.

‘…But why is she blushing?’

‘Hmm… she should be the last one.’

I counted the number of people; besides myself, there were five other females imprisoned… ‘Why are they all women?’

‘Shouldn’t the evil god not reject any gender? That’s why the prince was kidnapped.’

‘…It must just be a coincidence.’

However, leading five people to escape is honestly a bit difficult.

But I can’t bear to see them offered to the evil god… ‘I’ll just have to push myself a little here.’

[You never think about yourself!]

The Young Lady’s words echoed in my ears.

Perhaps it’s true, as she said, that I’m really not good at thinking about myself.

I smiled helplessly.

“Now, please follow my commands, I will save all of you.”

‘Just let me be willful a little longer, Young Lady.’

“No one here, follow me.”

After observing the surroundings, I said to the few people behind me.

—Throughout this journey, I would scout ahead; if it was safe, I would signal them to follow me like this; if I encountered someone, I would knock them unconscious first, then quickly pass.

The plan was simple: seize the time and escape before they could react.

The guards wandering the corridors were all very mediocre, making the journey remarkably smooth so far.

…Until I passed through that door.

The exit was already visible, but judging by the surrounding layout, we would definitely have to pass through the largest room in the middle.

There were probably many people in the room; I could feel multiple magic responses.

Although I didn’t know what they were doing to cause so many magic responses, the fact that there were many people was undeniable.

There was only one large, unobstructed straight path, and passing through that door meant a high probability of being discovered.

But I wasn’t familiar with the structure here; if I were to look for another path, it would certainly take more time… if the fallen guards were discovered then, and they started to become alert and set up an encirclement, it would be very difficult to escape.

…And there was also the possibility of those guards waking up and reporting.

—To save time, I hadn’t tied up those guards, which, of course, increased the risk and forced me to make a quick decision.

Ultimately, I decided to stick to my plan and finish it quickly.

There were three guards at the door, all appearing quite careless.

“Sigh… I wish I could go to the ‘Sanctuary’ too.”

“Ha, who doesn’t, over there you can pick up the leftovers; us bottom-feeders can only guard the door here, not even getting a touch.”

“Truly unlucky!”

They were even chatting idly.

‘In that case… I should be able to get through directly!’

I leaped onto the main path, accelerating with wind magic, preparing to approach the guards as quickly as possible.

…However, the moment I crossed that door, I suddenly felt a chill.

And that instant of hesitation slowed my steps.

“Who’s there!”

The guards noticed me.

“That silver hair… she’s the one who was caught today!”

“Someone escaped!”

They all raised their weapons.

“…Tsk!”

I immediately hurled a rock at the guard holding a long spear.

His spear was no match for the rock’s hardness; it shattered, and he himself was pinned down, unable to move.

Next, I flashed to the side of the guard with a scimitar.

In his panic, he swung his scimitar haphazardly, but it was blocked by the ice shield I generated on my arm; the scimitar got stuck in the middle of the ice shield, unable to be pulled out or pushed in.

I took the opportunity to deliver a flying kick to his solar plexus, sending him flying into a rock.

At the same time, the remaining guard also lunged at me with a short dagger.

I had already predicted his movement and easily dodged with a slight spin.

Because he tried to attack my abdomen, his body was slightly bent, and this height was just right for my attack.

So, I followed the momentum of my spin, lifted my leg high, and slammed it down on the back of his neck.

With that, the trio of gatekeepers was completely dealt with.

But… their earlier shouts attracted a beast. A chilling aura assailed my neck.

“…!”

Almost instinctively, I condensed ice around my neck.

But that strike was too powerful; it not only shattered the ice, allowing the short dagger to slightly graze my neck, but also made my mind go blank, nearly causing me to lose my footing.

Fortunately, my life was saved.

I touched the scratch on my neck; the slippery, sticky feel of blood clearly transmitted through my fingers to my brain.

I wordlessly widened the distance between myself and the black viper—Daniel.

Daniel, in turn, watched me with the eyes of a predator.

‘Sure enough… he’s the final obstacle, isn’t he?’

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely confident I could defeat him…

‘Perhaps there’s another way, which is to directly blow this place up. I could probably find a way to survive, but the others…’

‘Let’s rule out that option from the alternatives.’

“Ah~ what an alluringly sweet scent~”

Just as I was still contemplating a countermeasure, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out behind me.

I turned my head, and what greeted my eyes was none other than the perpetrator of the tragedy at the Duke’s mansion—the vampire Vladimir.

“Long time no see, my Moonlight Lady.”

Baring his fangs, he smiled playfully, his face filled with endless amusement.