The Cellmate

“Walk faster!”

I was currently being transported to the underground prison, captured by elite Nemean warriors.

[Nemea: A lion beast-kin race. They enjoy shaping various minerals with their flaming manes.]

…Ah, crap.
All I had to do was sneakily clip those.

I gazed enviously at the Nemeans’ sparkling claws.

The monsters wandering outside are the strong ones.

In their habitat, on the other hand, aside from a few warriors, they are likely to be old, female, or young individuals.

So my plan to sneak into the Nemea’s main habitat, thinking I could just capture them without killing them and snip off their claws, was brilliant—up to that point.

[<Observer> has detected your presence.]
[Due to the <Anomalous Existence> passive, movement speed and potion usage are severely restricted.]

But just before I could attempt the plan, I had the bad luck of being caught by an Observer.

“Ack! Ha-, ‘Incapacita…’. Huh? Where did it, ah!”

Normally, I would have cast the CC skill, which I had confirmed worked even on Observers, and made a quick escape.

However, my bad luck didn’t end there.

I had forgotten to reset my skill tree.

I had come out with my skills plastered with the non-combat diplomacy skills I used for the last quest.

“You rat! A little mouse has snuck in!”
“Ack! Ah! W-wait, let’s talk, let’s talk this out!”

The result of that carelessness came back to me as instant karma.

With not a single attack skill, I fumbled around and ended up getting caught by the Nemean warrior.

[Current Field: Nemea’s Fortress – Underground Prison]

‘Is it at least fortunate that I wasn’t caught by the Observer?’
I looked down at the ‘Nemea’s Silver Handcuffs’ on both my wrists.

The Observer appears by tracking my activity log.

It was certain, seeing as they appeared whenever I used a skill or opened my inventory.

However, since these handcuffs were restricting all my actions, it seemed they couldn’t detect me and didn’t know my location.

“Hurry up and follow!”

The Nemeans dragged me somewhere with a rough hand.
After descending a long flight of stone stairs covered in moss, they opened a rust-red iron bar door.
The inside was gloomy at a glance, without a single ray of light.

“What are you staring at, get in!”

The Nemean guards barked at me as I stood there as if frozen.
I had expected it since they put the handcuffs on, so I wasn’t surprised that the destination was a prison.

The reason I hesitated was different.

“…There’s already someone inside?”

“Ah, that guy? Say hello. He’s your cellmate.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one captured in the underground prison.

“Isn’t that a corpse?”

That was my first impression.
He was lying with his back to me, and the fur pelts around him were stained crimson.
It would be a miracle if he was still breathing.

“No matter how I look at it, he seems dead…”

“You’ll be like that soon enough, so shut up and crawl in!”

A Nemean soldier, whose canines reached his jaw, poked me in the back with his scabbard.
He looked ready to draw the sword and stab me if I resisted any longer.

“Ah, alright, alright.”

Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and trudged into the prison cell.
Clang!
With a loud noise, the iron bars were firmly locked.

Rattle.
On top of that, they lowered another layer, an opaque window that looked like a shutter.
Seeing the red magic flowing around it, it was clear it was even soundproofed.

Multiple prisoners in a cell, completely cut off from the outside.
The intention was obvious.
They didn’t give a damn about what happened inside.

Those bastards.
Just wait until I get out.
My insides were boiling, but I sat down quietly against the wall.
It would only be my loss if I wasted energy getting angry.
I calmly caught my breath and surveyed my surroundings first.

Fortunately, the prison cell was spacious.
Cheap fur pelts were spread tightly on the floor like a carpet, and except for the occasional bloodstains and desperate claw marks on the walls, it was unbelievably comfortable for a prison.
I felt like I could get a pretty comfortable sleep if I put my mind to it.

But the reason I couldn’t was because of that man huddled in the corner.

‘To think I have to be with a corpse like that.’

I hadn’t even gotten close, but the smell of blood was overwhelming.
If his broad shoulders didn’t occasionally heave, I would have undoubtedly believed he was dead.

How on earth is he alive?
A normal human couldn’t possibly be alive after losing that much blood.
I furtively rolled my eyes and examined the man more closely.

Although it was his back, his attire was strange.
It looked like a martial arts uniform or a robe.
It was clear at a glance that it wasn’t made of cheap material.
I could tell even though it was covered in dried, dark-red blood.

What race could he be?

A sudden curiosity made me scan the man up and down, but I soon lost interest.
The answer was obvious from the fact that he was in this state after being captured by mere monsters.
He was clearly nothing special.

‘Of course, I only ended up like this because I was careless, but anyway.’
I whipped my head away.

According to the Nemean guards chattering amongst themselves when they caught me, their leader was away.
They chuckled to themselves, saying that since the decision-making power over prisoners belonged to the leader, I could live a few more days in prison and should consider myself lucky.

‘I think I need to escape before that.’
I shook the handcuffs on both my wrists.

Perhaps because they were made to fit the Nemea’s size, the handcuff chain was longer than I thought, so my movements were surprisingly free.

The problem was that because of the handcuffs’ blocking ability, I couldn’t open my inventory, so I couldn’t drink potions, and with no way to replenish mana, I couldn’t use skills properly.

I fumbled with my fingertips, trying to unlock the handcuffs.

Clank, clank!
The loud clashing of the chains filled the prison cell.

“Ugh!”

I even tried pulling with all my might.
Naturally, the handcuffs didn’t budge, but there was a result.

“……”

The man I thought was dead stirred and moved.

He struggled to sit up, propped one leg up, and leaned against the wall.

“Huh? You could move?”

Had a sense of camaraderie already formed?
I found myself cheerfully looking at him and speaking without thinking.

“How long have you been captured? Have you tried to escape?”

He didn’t answer, but seeing as he wasn’t hostile towards me either, he didn’t seem to be a monster.

“Hey. Want to form a temporary alliance with me? You want to get out and teach those guys a lesson, right? Don’t you want revenge?”

Did he understand me?
The man, who had been staring at the floor, completely ignoring me like other NPCs, slowly raised his head.

…Huh?
Wait a minute.
I froze when I saw the golden eyes shining like reflectors in the darkness.

“You’re a beast-kin, aren’t you?”

All beast-kin in ‘Legacyth Chronicle’ have a special transformation skill called ‘Berserk.’

Normally, they have a human appearance with animal ears, but when they use ‘Berserk,’ they transform to become more like animals.
It goes without saying that their physical abilities are also significantly enhanced.

Since it’s considered a ‘passive skill,’ it doesn’t consume mana during combat.
So even with these ‘mana-suppressing handcuffs,’ he should be able to bend those iron bars with ease.

“Wow, that’s great! Can you just bend those bars for me with ‘Berserk’ and let me out? I’ll go get the key!”

“……”

“I definitely won’t betray you. I’m a good fighter, you know. Huh?”

I pleaded with all my might, but the man didn’t even answer and just lowered his head again and closed his eyes.

‘Is he not confident?’
No.
The fact that he was a beast-kin and still got caught by the Nemea says it all.

Tsk.
What a waste of that build.
I clicked my tongue pitifully and scanned the body of the man leaning against the wall.

If that skill were mine, I’d be out of here in a second!

Smacking my lips in disappointment, I opened the skill window again.
Fortunately, only attack-related skills were restricted; my basic job skills were still active.

My class was ‘Plunderer.’

It had lower base stats and was more fragile than other classes, but I could use a skill called ‘Stigma Theory,’ which was considered the pinnacle of the Plunderer class.

[Stigma Theory: Plunderer exclusive skill. Plunders stats and skills by placing a ‘stigma’ on the opponent. (※ Stigma form and conditions vary depending on the user.)]

It was a broken class at launch, but it became a tragic one that was nerfed into garbage through balance adjustments.

In the beginning, it could even plunder NPC skills, but it was later nerfed to only be able to take monster skills, and restrictions that didn’t exist before were tacked on.

It became more and more niche because there was a superior alternative in party play, the ‘Enchanter.’
The reason I kept insisting on being a ‘Plunderer’ was out of attachment.

‘If I knew it would come to this, I would have just raised a broken damage-dealer/tank like a ‘Berserker’.’
I sighed deeply and opened the stigma window for no reason.

“Stigma Theory.”

[Using the <Stigma Theory> skill. Searching for a target to stigmatize.]

Maybe, just maybe, I could plunder the skill of the Nemean guard dozing off beyond those iron bars.

My eyes turned blue like an infrared camera as I scanned the Nemean guard beyond the opaque window.

[Failed to cast <Stigma Theory> on the high-level lion beast-kin monster <Nemea’s Guard>.]
[The required skill conditions have not been met. (※ The target of <Stigma Theory> and the Awakener must be in the same space.)]

As expected, it failed.
The prison bars seemed to be judged as a separate space, so the condition was not met.

I was dejectedly waving my hand to dismiss the skill window.

[A target on which the skill can be cast exists.]