In the dim environment, the Disaster Swords followed behind Josef. They walked forward, and the echoes of their footsteps could be heard faintly.
But Stake moved through the crowd and came before Ricky.
"Wait." Stake looked at Thales, who was held hostage by Marina's side, in puzzlement. "Are you going to take him down?
You know that we can wait for you here, right? "
Thales frowned. He noticed that quite a number of mercenaries had surrounded them.
Ricky turned his head and glanced at Stake.
"You did very well. You saved us a lot of trouble, Stake."
He pressed down on Stake's shoulder. "But I also know that the reason why you are so cooperative and spared no effort is because of the hostage in our hands."
Stake's expression stiffened.
"That might not be the case in a different situation.
Now, you can choose to go down with us, or stay here and wait for me. "
Ricky ignored Stake, who had an unpleasant expression on his face. He waved his hand and continued forward.
Samel walked past Stake and snorted in disdain.
Thales, who was watching from the side, hoped that Stake would be firmer.
But unfortunately, Stake still did not say anything. He only made a gesture and followed Ricky with a few assassins from Shadow Shield who were dressed inconspicuously.
Just like that, Thales was escorted by a group of Disaster Swords and continued forward.
As they went further and further away, the Disaster Swords spread out further. Quite a number of prisoners noticed this group of intruders.
From time to time, patrolling guards ran into the invading Disaster Swords. Unfortunately, they were often outnumbered and died in battle after a fierce fight.
The Prison of Bones gradually became restless. The chaos was beyond Thales' imagination.
"Young guard over there … Yes, it's you. Let me tell you, I've made a lot of money selling weapons over the past few years. Most of the money is what they didn't manage to find. As long as you let me out, I promise I'll give you … Hey, you, you're not guards?"
"Damn it … What are you doing now?!"
"Wow, there's really someone trying to break out of the prison, ahhh, this is great … Last time, the people who sneaked in to break out of the prison didn't even last five minutes before they were surrounded by the freaks. Williams chopped them up like firewood. This time, you have to work harder, you must last for ten minutes!"
"Let me out! I am a devout Dark Night Temple priest! They can't lock me up here just because of my artistic works … with this group, this group … "
"Hey, my good friend, let's make a deal. I've been locked up here for four years and I'm going crazy … I'm not begging you to let me out … I'll be satisfied as long as, as long as you can transfer me to the female prison … Okay?"
"Murder, la la la la! That's awesome! "
"F * ck your father … Damn it, there are so many people soliciting customers on the street, why did you lock me in? Women's clothing? What's wrong with crossdressing? I like soliciting customers in crossdressing, so what? If you don't believe me, feel my breasts … "
"F * ck, brat, come back! What does a prison break have to do with you? Believe it or not, I will beat you up again! Hold it in your mouth properly, don't turn your head and move around … Right, ouch, be good, use more strength. Ah, that's more like it … Don't worry, as long as I'm satisfied, I won't beat you up tomorrow. "
"I beg you, marijuana … Give me some more marijuana, I beg you, ahhhhh! If you don't give me the f * cking marijuana, I'll bang my head against the wall and die here … I'm going to bang my head against the wall, I'm going to bang my head against the wall, look, I'm really going to bang my head against the wall … Damn it, look at me! What if I really bang my head against the wall and die?! "
"F * ck the Baron! F * ck the Stardust Unit! F * ck the Blade Fangs Camp! Believe it or not, when I get out, I will definitely tie up that b * tch Williams and force him to wear women's clothing. Then, I will find a hundred men and take turns to press him on the bed for three days and three nights, just like this … Ah, oh no, I used too much strength, I'm bleeding … "
"Hey, you over there, help me pass a message to my wife. She wrote a letter three years ago saying that she will bail me out of prison, but she still hasn't come … I will give you a reward …"
'What the f * ck, what kind of place is this?!'
The prince, who did not even dare to breathe loudly, followed beside Ricky. He cast a worried glance behind him. Quick Rope was still tied up. He was traumatized by this place, and he stared at the notorious prison cell with a terrified expression.
Finally, under Josef's lead, after they walked down a few flights of stairs, they arrived at an empty room without a cell.
The room was very big, so big that it could accommodate a hundred people. It was almost comparable to the banquet hall of the nobles. Even the noises of the prisoners seemed to have been shut behind them, and they could no longer be heard.
But at the same time, Thales was acutely aware that the floor was paved with meticulously baked rock bricks, and the walls were also quite old. It was a stark contrast to the crude and dirty prison cells on the other floors.
The design of the room was also very unique. There were eight walls, which looked like an octagon.
What was even stranger was that there were four narrow holes on the ground that looked like wells. It was dark inside.
For some reason, when Thales stared at those deep wells, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
'Strange.
'That's …
'That's …'
Stake and Lasalle also noticed this. They sized up the place with some surprise.
Even the Disaster Swords, including Klein and Samel, seemed to have come here for the first time.
Ricky glanced at his surroundings and stood in front of one of the mottled and dilapidated walls.
"Is this the place?"
Josef nodded and pointed at something that looked like a well. "Yes, we have observed that the guards regularly bring extra supplies here. They must have placed their supplies here."
Ricky crouched down and knocked on the 'well'. Then, he picked up a stone and threw it in. He listened carefully.
For a few dozen seconds, no sound came from the depths of the well.
It was still dead silent.
Thales understood something.
"That's right." Ricky patted the dust off his hands, nodded, and stood up. "This is the place.
As for the entrance … "
He raised his head and looked at Josef.
But Josef only shook his head, troubled.
Ricky snorted softly, as if he felt a little helpless.
"If I were like Williams, I would definitely not look for trouble." Ricky started pacing and looked down at the ground. He muttered to himself, "There's no ladder here, which means that it must be somewhere that can be reached by standing …"
Stake's expression changed.
"Wait, honorable Crassus," Stake said with a frown.
"Does he mean that you want to enter Black Prison, but you can't even find the entrance?"
Ricky ignored him. Under everyone's gazes, he took a torch from Klein, walked to the wall, and continued to size up the empty room.
"Black Prison is, after all, a legend," Klein said coldly. "Aside from the people who go in, no one knows how to get in, and the people who go in …"
"No one has ever come out," Samel said with a light snort.
Lasalle walked forward.
"You know that our time is limited, and we don't have time to play treasure hunting games, right?"
Lasalle said in dissatisfaction, "Once the camp realizes —"
"Shut up," Samel interrupted him.
The brand on his face looked even more ferocious under the firelight. "Northlanders."
But Lasalle did not restrain himself. He seemed to be angered by the former Stardust Unit. "You know what kind of risk we are taking …"
At this moment …
"Aha."
Ricky suddenly spoke, and it attracted everyone's attention.
Thales looked curiously at the leader of the Disaster Swords.
The latter raised his torch, faced a wall, extended his left hand, and gently patted off the dust and cobwebs on it.
"The people in the past probably didn't think about hiding," Ricky said with a smile. "As for the Constellatiates, they probably didn't expect that someone would be able to sneak in here."
Everyone looked at the wall in surprise and bewilderment.
As the dust fell, a strange and incomplete pattern appeared on the mottled wall.
Under Ricky's wiping, the first thing that appeared was a triangle. One of its corners pointed to the left, and the corresponding side was concave toward the center of the triangle.
Soon, Ricky wiped out a circle on the right side of the triangle.
At the center of the circle was a circular hole that was concave into the wall.
Ricky smiled. He continued wiping.
On the right side of the circle, a new triangle that was symmetrical to the previous triangle appeared. However, the corner of this triangle pointed to the right, and the concave side was on the left.
Ricky stood back and looked at the pattern in front of him with satisfaction: two irregular symmetrical triangles sandwiched between a circle.
"We found it."
But many people, including Lasalle, were puzzled. "What is this? An eye? "
Ricky pursed his lips.
Thales stared at the pattern in a daze while he stood among the puzzled crowd.
No one knew that the moment this pattern was wiped out, Thales' entire body froze.
At that moment, he even forgot that he was in danger.
'That's …
'That's …'
Stake also stared at the pattern in puzzlement, but with his outstanding eyesight, he saw something else.
"Below this." Stake walked forward, extended his hand, and brushed away a line of dust at the bottom of the circle.
"It seems to be a sentence?"
Sure enough, under his palm, a line of strange words engraved on the wall appeared.
But whether it was Stake, Lasalle, Klein, or Josef, all of them looked at this line of words in confusion.
"I don't understand this sentence."
Lasalle frowned.
"This emblem is strange enough. I've read about the coats of arms of the nobles in Constellation, but none of them match … And the words below are not even in the lingua franca. They don't seem like the language of the Empire that I know either …"
Lasalle, who felt uneasy, looked at Ricky with a solemn expression. "Crassus, what is this place, the Prison of Bones?"
Ricky did not answer.
Another voice sounded abruptly.
"The language of the Ancient Empire."
Everyone turned their heads and looked at Samel, who stood on the other side.
The man with the brand on his face looked at the words under the pattern with a complicated expression.
"This is the purest language of the Ancient Empire. It is a language passed down from the ancient Chauvinistic Kingdom, not the modern language of the Empire mixed with the lingua franca. It is said that it was created by the first group of ancient humans under the guidance of the ancient elves. The grammar is complicated and difficult to understand."
Samel walked forward slowly. The Disaster Swords beside him made way for him.
"No one uses it now. Even among the nobles of Constellation, there are few who know it."
Lasalle and Stake turned their heads in surprise and looked at the unfamiliar words again.
Samel extended his hand with a dazed expression, as if he was reminiscing about something. "Aside from the elves of all races, only a few archaeologists and historians in Dragon Kiss Academy understand it.
"I don't know these words, but I remember the root of the word."
He touched one of the words with his finger.
"When I was young, my father asked the old scholar to introduce me to some of the words so that I could enter Renaissance Palace and be selected as the Royal Guards." Samel's expression became gloomy.
"The root of the word is probably 'in total' or 'all' …"
Everyone listened quietly to the words of the former Flag Bearer of the Royal Guards.
Except for one person.
"Omniscient."
A teenager's voice rose faintly in the crowd.
Stake turned his head in surprise. Together with the unhappy Lasalle, they looked at the person who surprised them the most.
Klein and Josef cast their leader a questioning look, but Ricky also raised his eyebrows.
Even Quick Rope, who was tied up, widened his eyes.
"Omniscient, or omniscient." Thales sighed and walked past Marina, who was staring at him with a frown. He walked forward slowly and stared at the words in a daze.
"This is the meaning of the word."
At that moment, Samel looked at Thales with an incredibly complicated gaze.
A second later, Samel sighed, lowered his head, and said, "Of course, as a descendant of the Imperial Family, the Jadestar Royal Family must learn the ancient language of the Empire …"
Thales shook his head.
"I didn't learn it very well. Except for the first few months, I basically learned it by myself." The Prince of Constellation looked at the words with a solemn expression. "But if I only look at the words, I think the meaning of this sentence is probably …"
Thales said softly, "Towards omniscience."
Everyone quieted down and mulled over the meaning of this sentence.
'Towards omniscience.'
Thales slowly raised his head in the quiet environment and stared at the pattern that resembled an eye.
He felt as if he was staring into another person's eyes.
This made him very uneasy.
But Thales did not expect that the thing he had searched for in books for many years … would be here.
Prison of Bones.
'This' eye '.
'This is …'
"Very well, if that's the case," Ricky said with a smile, interrupting everyone's thoughts.
"Then let us … Towards omniscience."
As he spoke, he took out a long, angular, dark green stone from his bosom.
"What is this?" Stake narrowed his eyes and sized up the stone that was only the length of a palm and as thick as two fingers. He seemed to feel that something was off.
And this time, Ricky did not intend to hide it.
"To open Black Prison, we need a key that can open locks." Ricky stared at the thing in his hand. His gaze was complicated. "And the only key in the camp hung on the baron of Blade Fangs Camp all year round."
Ricky gently raised the long, dark green strip in his hand. "Until we discovered the second key outside the camp."
Lasalle asked in puzzlement, "Key?"
Ricky did not speak anymore. He turned around without hesitation and pressed the 'key' in his hand into the small circle at the center of the 'eye', which resembled a pupil.
* Thud! *
A muffled sound rose.
Thales was startled.
Under everyone's nervous gazes, the 'pupil', together with the 'key' in the middle, suddenly protruded into a cylinder.
"Da, da." Ricky smiled. "Bull 's-eye."
He faced everyone. "Black Prison must be underground … Perhaps you want to move back a little and leave an empty space?"
In the empty room, everyone quickly moved back until they were against the wall behind them.
In the next second, Ricky tentatively grabbed the protruding cylinder and slowly twisted it.
Then, they heard the clicking sound of a machine.
Everyone held their breaths and looked around curiously.
The first person to feel that something was wrong was Thales.
With hell's senses, he saw that the four 'wells' on the ground were sucking air.
'No, it's the air that's moving inside!
'This is …'
While Thales was still in shock and bewilderment, a barely discernible sound came from underground.
* Rumble … *
It trembled slightly.
Everyone was shocked. They stared at the floor tiles in the room.
* Rumble … *
But they were wrong.
It was not the ground that changed.
It was the wall.
* Rumble … *
"No!" Samel turned around and shouted angrily, "The wall!"
"The wall is moving back!"
Thales subconsciously took a step forward and looked behind him anxiously like the others.
* Rumble … *
'As expected.'
'It's the wall.'
The eight walls were moving back at the same time!
It looked as if the ground was expanding.
* Rumble … *
Under everyone's dumbfounded expressions, the walls in the room were moving back at the same time. Gaps were exposed between different walls, and they kept growing!
Fortunately, the unusual movement only lasted for about ten seconds before it quieted down.
The walls were no longer moving back.
Thales looked at the walls moving back inexplicably in shock. He looked at the hollow gaps that were several meters long on the ground where they moved.
Looking down from above, it looked as if the octagonal room had suddenly been pulled outwards.
And the part that was pulled apart …
Thales saw it.
Those were not gaps, but layers of spiral stone stairs. With the center of the room as the center, they went downwards.
He did not know where they led.
When he thought of this, Thales subconsciously glanced at the sentence under the picture again.
"My God …"
Lasalle stared at the spiral stairs that suddenly appeared under his feet, dumbfounded. "I might have heard that Constellation and Steel City are on good terms, and that their forging skills are excellent, but this is still …"
Stake stared at the sudden change in disbelief. He warily sized up the room that had become much larger. "What is this place …"
Ricky smiled.
"Do you know why the Prison of Bones only has such a small number of guards to maintain basic operations, even though it is a prison for serious criminals?"
Ricky switched to another torch and said faintly, "That's because the real guards of this prison are not living people.
They are the dead from hundreds and thousands of years ago. "
He took the lead, stepped into the gap, and walked down the spiral stone stairs.
"The Prison of Bones is not just a prison cell. It does not only lock up criminals."
As he moved forward, Ricky's voice came from underground.
"What it really locks up is the past."
He strode down the spiral stairs that led to an unknown place. The Disaster Swords behind him followed.
Lasalle was stunned.
"The dead?"
The former baron of Eckstedt immediately frowned and turned to Stake. "Lock up the past … What does he mean?"
But the assassin of Shadow Shield had a solemn expression.
"In my long career, I have seen many strange things." Stake stared at the strange room and exhaled. "But the most unsettling one was the legend that the knowledgeable Teng told me one night."
Lasalle was stunned. "Teng? Legend? "
Stake nodded and became more uneasy. "Legend has it that before the Battle of Eradication, even before the Age of the Empire, such people existed in the world.
They despised taboos and authority, but they were knowledgeable, skilled, and unbelievable. "
Stake gritted his teeth and looked up at the strange emblem on the wall.
"They were once the most dazzling existences in the world.
Until the merciless course of history turned them all into dust. Only their words were heard, and not a single piece of paper was left. "
Lasalle's eyebrows rose and fell.
'The most dazzling existences?'
"Are you talking about …"
Stake shook his head. He saw that Thales was also being escorted down the stairs, so he quickly followed.
Thales followed behind Samel and walked nervously down the stairs. It was obvious that no one had been here for a long time, because with every step he took, he would stir up a lot of dust. The prince, who was not tall, had to cover his mouth and nose to prevent himself from coughing.
This place gave him a very bad feeling.
In the darkness, even hell's senses could not help him.
Only the torches illuminated the stone stairs under his feet.
Deeper and deeper.
Lower and lower.
Darker and darker.
After walking down an unknown number of stairs, Thales finally stepped on the ground, and he relaxed.
"The first floor." Ricky's voice traveled into his ears. "We're here."
The Prince of Constellation took a deep breath. With uncontrollable curiosity, excitement, and an inexplicable sense of uneasiness and fear, he raised his head and looked around.
The Disaster Swords raised their torches and looked around in surprise.
This was still an octagonal room that could accommodate dozens of people.
But unlike the room on the ground floor, the dark bricks here were exquisitely crafted, and no one knew what material they were made of. There was a thick pillar in the center of the room, and beside the pillar was a circle of curved stone tables.
But Ricky did not pay attention to the stone pillar. Instead, he turned to the eight walls.
As he followed his torch, Thales noticed that the eight walls here were not 'walls'.
Instead, it was a fence made up of thin metal pillars from top to bottom, and every single one of them was covered in a layer of gray dust.
'It's like …'
Thales looked at these fences, and through them, he could vaguely see the space behind them.
'It's like …'
Thales thought anxiously, 'It's like a prison cell.'
Ricky held his torch and approached one of the metal fences, illuminating the scene behind the railing.
Thales shuddered and took a step back!
'Bones.
More accurately.
'They're skeletons.
'Human skeletons.'
Ricky held his torch and spun around, illuminating the eight wide prison cells.
The ground behind each 'prison cell' was covered with a thick layer of dried human skeletons. There were ribs, arms, legs, skulls, and many of the skeletons were covered with faded clothes that were also covered in dust.
No one knew how long it had been.
Samel stood in front of Thales. He looked at the ancient skeletons, and his emotions surged. He subconsciously clenched his fists.
"It seems that there are no longer any living people in the first level." Ricky shook his head in resignation. "Unfortunately, we still have to go down."
Lasalle and Stake followed closely behind him, and they arrived at the prison cell of the first level.
"This is …"
Lasalle saw his surroundings clearly, and his eyes widened. "This is the Prison of Bones?"
Stake frowned. He did not seem to be able to say a word.
Ricky snorted softly and waved his torch at his companions, who were equally surprised.
"Of course.
Welcome to Black Prison, the true master of the Prison of Bones. "
Ricky walked to the pillar in the middle of the room, raised his torch, and illuminated the pattern on the pillar.
It was another 'eye'.
It was the same emblem as the room on the ground.
There was also a sentence in the language of the Ancient Empire under the eye.
[Towards Omniscience.]
"A thousand years ago, this place had another name."
The leader of the Disaster Swords looked at the emblem and sighed.
"The Fourth Division of the Alchemy Tower — Confinement Research Institute."
At that moment, Thales subconsciously gritted his teeth.
Ricky turned around and looked at the skeletons in the eight prison cells with a solemn expression.
"It is also in an unknown history …"
His next sentence made Thales widen his eyes.
"The first batch of anti-mystic equipment …"
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