Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
‘Still your old self.’
Quick Rope snorted angrily. He did not turn his head around, seemingly dissatisfied by the teenager’s words.
“You still care.” There were very slight fluctuations in Thales’ voice.
Quick Rope’s scowl froze on his face.
“What?”
“Your father, Dragon Clouds City, Eckstedt, and even your niece…” Thales took a few deep breaths away from Quick Rope’s line of sight. He felt sentimental as well as emotional, and those emotions seeped into his words.
“Even if you claim that you’ve gotten over your past and you’re disgusted by the chains that once bound you…”
Quick Rope slowed down his pace.
“But somewhere in your heart… you still care.” As he leaned against Quick Rope’s shoulder, Thales’ face sank into the darkness, and the flames could no longer illuminate his face. The corners of his lips moved slightly.
Quick Rope swayed before he snorted.
“Hmph, laugh all you want.
“I’m just a stubborn coward who can’t move away from my past in the end.”
He picked up his pace unhappily, causing Thales to stumble while supporting himself with Quick Rope’s shoulder.
Nonetheless, the teenager did not become irritated or panic. He just smiled.
“No, Quick Rope.” There was an anguish Thales could not get rid of in his smile.
“What I mean is… you’re fine like this.”
Quick Rope’s body shuddered a little.
The teenager lowered his gaze and looked at the darkness under his feet.
“Compared to Moriah who left everything for freedom…
“This is the real Quick Rope.”
Quick Rope did not reply.
He only snorted again.
However, at that moment, Thales suddenly felt his exhaustion from earlier disappear.
“Leave her.”
Thales came back to his senses.
“Hm?”
Quick Rope was panting heavily when he hissed through gritted teeth.
“Leave her. Leave Alex.”
‘Alex.’
Just a moment ago, Thales had become slightly relaxed and lively, but right then, his heart turned heavy again.
“You disgusting bastard who likes to take advantage of girls…
“Once we get out…”
Quick Rope spoke with disgust. He tapped Thales’ chest with his left arm, either as a demonstration of his displeasure or as a warning.
“I don’t care how your relationship was. From now on… you mustn’t approach her. Don’t you dare think of her or cast your greedy eyes on her.
“Stay away from Alex!” Quick Rope said resolutely and decisively.
In that one second, Thales’ expression became gloomy.
‘Funny.’
Not long ago, this man had sincerely blessed them and wished for them to be together in the end.
‘Maybe.
‘This is the reality of the situation.’
Thales burst out laughing, which made Quick Rope’s expression turn unpleasant.
“Drowning…” the Prince of Constellation suddenly said.
“What?”
Thales took a deep breath. His gaze was profound.
“Sometimes, I feel like a drowning man struggling in the water for my last breath. I’m instinctively grabbing all the tools I can find and everything else within my reach to try to keep myself from sinking.”
As he spoke, Thales’ voice grew increasingly quiet.
His tone became desolate.
“But in my heart, I know what it means.”
Quick Rope’s expression relaxed, but he did not speak.
“Don’t worry, Quick Rope. It’s not the same as yours.”
Thales looked ahead.
The corners that the torch could not reach were dark.
“With such a destiny…”
Thales looked at the darkness and seemed to see that girl’s tears on her face.
“‘Yes, Thales, I trust you.
‘”I trust you with my life.”‘
He wore a forced and anguished smile.
“For a long time now, my shoulders haven’t been able to bear… something even heavier.”
‘Like the future of another person.’
Quick Rope became silent.
He resisted the urge to turn around and look at the person beside him. He kept moving forward.
Step by step, they continued to search for their path in the darkness, which was lit as much as possible by the torch. They moved forward towards the stone staircase.
It was as if nothing could stop them.
However, the next second, Thales’ ears twitched.
Although it was very light, he still heard it because he used Hell’s senses to heighten his hearing.
Thales furrowed his eyebrows.
“Someone’s coming.”
Quick Rope moved slightly. He looked to his side from the corner of his eyes.
The two people changed direction in a great show of teamwork. They left the stone stairs and went into the dark passage on that floor. They lowered their bodies behind a collapsed stone pillar.
Quick Rope put down the torch and skilfully extinguished it in three steps.
Darkness enveloped their bodies again.
Soon, light appeared from the stone stairs before them.
Multiple footsteps echoed from above.
“Shawn, over here!
“There’s no mistaking it!”
The voice made both Quick Rope and Thales shudder!
‘That’s…’
A particularly steady and familiar male voice sounded among the footsteps. “It’s definitely the prince! He must be here! He’s definitely nearby!”
‘What?’
Thales and Quick Rope’s breathing became heavier in the dark.
How did they find out? And how were they certain that Thales was nearby?
The second male voice hummed in acknowledgment. He was not far away.
“How can you be sure? We’ve searched two floors.”
The first voice sounded again.
“When I was in the tavern, I put some things on them so that I could be sure.”
Thales and Quick Rope looked at each other in the dark. They saw the astonishment on each other’s faces.
The second voice—belonging to Shawn—snorted.
“Hold up the torch and do the same thing as you did before. Search every corner!
“Be careful of the cockroaches from Shadow Shield, or what the others said about the lunatic they let loose from the bottommost floor.”
Once this command was given, multiple footsteps moved away from the stone steps and slowly spread out across the floor.
Thales felt chills in his heart.
“It’s Dean…
“And Shawn… as well as the remaining Disaster Swords?” he whispered solemnly and softly in the corner.
Quick Rope turned his head around. The awkwardness and discomfort he felt towards Thales had yet to disappear.
“I don’t need you to remind me about that.”
The footsteps drew closer. They also sounded more scattered.
The lights from their torches also drew closer.
The rising and falling sounds of people reporting their finds also grew louder.
The two individuals who hid in the corner of the corridor became nervous.
“I remember Dean being held hostage with you,” Thales whispered.
Quick Rope shook his head in the dark.
“Dean’s very smart, and he was well-prepared. He tried to run the first moment we were attacked,” Quick Rope whispered into Thales’ ears. He tried to be as quiet as possible.
“He wanted to get me out with him as well, but Stake’s people…”
He did not continue to speak.
Soon, the voice of Shawn, the mercenary rose again from the other end of the corridor.
“Hey, Secret Room, I’ll repeat myself.
“You know this, right? The Prince of Constellation is ours. That’s the condition of our cooperation.”
Thales frowned.
It seemed that although the Disaster Swords no longer had a leader, the group was still at large. They were still the most difficult party to deal with in Black Prison.
And Dean…
Dean’s voice rang out too.
“Yes, I know.
“But according to our agreement, I want my revenge as well.”
It sounded like he was gritting his teeth.
“That man… Wya Caso. The one who knocked me out…” Dean said coldly. “He has to pay the price.
“And I want him alive.”
Quick Rope sighed in a barely-noticeable manner.
“Is that so?”
In the distance, Shawn snorted.
“You’re not a really magnanimous person, are you?”
Dean did not answer him. He just continued his search.
Thales took a deep breath but was immediately shocked when he heard the enemies bend down to check the bottom of a stone table.
‘Sh*t.’
They did not even spare the corners. Were they certain that their targets were on this floor?
The firelight was getting closer. It shone on the stone pillar that Thales as well as Quick Rope were hiding behind, and the light refracted off the stone pillar.
In the dim light, Quick Rope and Thales saw each other’s expressions at the same time.
They saw the same solemness and tenseness along with shock.
“The situation isn’t good.”
Thales gritted his teeth when he heard the footsteps get closer. He whispered, “They’ve made up their minds to search through the entire place here.”
However, there was no need for Thales to give him that reminder. Quick Rope already saw the current situation clearly.
They hid behind the collapsed stone pillar as the footsteps and firelight inched towards them from the distance.
Quick Rope furrowed his eyebrow even more.
His gaze was filled with more and more conflict.
Thales did not notice his companion’s expression.
He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip over the sword in his hand. He had just recovered from extreme discomfort and severe pain after losing control. He was far from being in his best state…
And they had to face so many people…
‘As for my mystic energy, I can try… Ah, damn it!’
Thales was pale. He stopped attempting to use his mystic energy under the intense pain.
Quick Rope looked at Thales with a complicated gaze.
“It’s impossible for anyone to hide here. We’ll be discovered.”
Thales clenched his teeth and looked at the approaching firelight from both sides. The walls were getting brighter and brighter.
Quick Rope did not utter a word. He just pursed his lips and stared at his feet.
“Yes, we’ll be discovered.”
He turned his head around and stared at Thales.
“But you won’t.”
Thales was stunned.
“What?”
At the next moment, before Thales could react to what was happening, Quick Rope shoved the luggage behind him into Thales’ arms.
While Thales was still startled, Quick Rope moved and jumped out from behind the stone pillar. He then madly began to dash forward!
He rushed towards the stone stairs, which led to the upper floor.
*Thud, thud, thud…*
Quick Rope’s footsteps were very heavy, and his figure cast a shadow on the wall due to the firelight. This immediately drew the attention of the enemy.
“Over there!”
“After him!”
Footsteps rang out. They were moving towards Quick Rope!
Thales was left alone behind the stone pillar. He hugged the luggage in his arms and stared at Quick Rope’s back.
Thales also saw he had stretched out his arm subconsciously.
‘He…’
Quick Rope’s movements attracted most of the enemies. They were no longer interested in carefully searching through the area. Instead, all of them surrounded the person who rushed up the stone stairs!
‘He…’
In a daze, Thales stared at the firelight as it moved farther away from him, and he breathed absentmindedly.
*Schick!*
A loud noise could be heard in the distance!
A mercenary screamed. It seemed like he had been attacked by Quick Rope.
Then, the sound of footsteps came to an end.
The mercenaries either slowed down or stopped once they gathered around the firelight.
They appeared to have surrounded Quick Rope, but he did not run away.
‘No.’
Thales closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he rested his forehead on his luggage.
“Wow, wow, wow,” Shawn’s voice echoed in the air coldly.
“Look who we’ve found.
“It seems like… we have the young prince’s sidekick.”
Thales tightened his grip around the sword in his hand and sighed in pain.
‘No.’
“‘Yes, we’ll be discovered.
“‘But you won’t.”
‘This is what you meant?
‘Damn it.
‘Quick Rope, Moriah…
‘You idiot!’
“Where’s the prince?” Shawn threatened.
Quick Rope did not answer. He just snorted coldly.
“He’s dead.
“He was killed by the lunatic named Zakriel.”
Right then, Thales recalled Quick Rope’s angry and agonized expression from earlier.
He also remembered the liveliness and humor Quick Rope showed during their first meeting in the desert…
Those two versions… were polar opposites.
A small commotion broke out among the mercenaries.
“Silence!’
Shawn’s voice rang again, but this time, it sounded a little more angry and annoyed.
“Dead?
“You know that if the prince is dead, it means you are useless as well.”
Quick Rope did not answer.
Thales breathed absentmindedly. He wanted to walk out from behind the stone pillar.
However, logic told him that even if he went out, nothing could be done.
‘There’s no difference in a person facing this disadvantage alone or with another person.’
A set of footsteps crossed the crowd.
“It’s over, Quick Rope.”
Dean’s steady voice resounded again. There was a faint solemness in his words along with a hint of respect, which could only be heard if one tried really hard to listen to it.
“You can’t escape.
“Tell me where the Prince of Constellation is, and you can live… You can live an even better life than before, if you know what I mean.
“You know how to choose.”
Thales shuddered behind the stone pillar.
‘Damn!
‘No.’
Thales clenched his teeth.
At that moment, he could only sense how powerless he was as he remained behind the stone pillar.
“You ask… where the prince is?”
Quick Rope’s retort sounded faint. His voice was full of indifference and sternness. The happy and cynical tone he had in the past was gone.
“The prince isn’t anywhere in this place.”
Thales was in more agony when he heard those profound words.
“As for living an even better life than before?”
Quick Rope snorted. “Dean, when you get back, do me a favor and tell the old woman something.”
There was a faint drone in the distance coupled with the mercenaries’ uproar.
“Stop it, Quick Rope!”
Dean sounded a little panicked and anxious.
“You’re digging your own grave!”
Thales suddenly figured out what Quick Rope was doing.
He was restringing his bow.
‘No.’
Thales was overwhelmed. He understood something.
“You tell her…”
Quick Rope… No, Moriah Walton’s voice rang again.
It was firm, cold, and unwavering.
“I made my decision six years ago.
“This is the way I want to live.”
At that moment, in his daze, Thales remembered what Quick Rope said to him.
The shackles of power…
“‘I had to either obey, yield, and let it chain my body as well as my mind tighter and tighter, or abandon it entirely so that I could maintain my true self.”‘
‘No.’
Thales pensively held the luggage in his hands. His body trembled and his palms were cold.
‘That idiot.’
He did not intend to surrender, submit, or fall into the hands of the Secret Room again.
He was already… prepared for his death.
The sound of someone stringing a bow continued.
“If he still chooses to remain stubborn and refuses to realize how foolish he is…”
Shawn drew his sword with an angry smirk. “Then we might as well grant his wish.”
“No, Shawn! We talked about it—Quick Rope, don’t do anything stupid!” Dean tried to mediate the situation.
Despite that, Moriah ignored him. He continued to string his bow wilfully.
The mercenaries had already drawn out their weapons.
Thales clenched his teeth as he panted softly. His heart ached.
“‘I get it now.
“‘Moriah was long gone, Thales.
“‘So that night, I climbed the Black Track laboriously and got out of Dragon Clouds City. There, the man named Moriah was brought back to life for the first time since he was born.”
‘He was brought back to life… for the first time…’
*Thwoop.*
A soft sound rang.
Thales snapped back to his senses at the sound of the bow being strung.
“Come on…”
Moriah sounded like a lion before it went on its hunt, fierce and awe-inspiring.
“You pieces of trash.”
The breathing of the Disaster Swords grew heavier.
Dean’s anxious cries were useless.
Shawn’s merciless command sounded cold in Thales’ word when those words traveled into his ears while he was in a daze.
“Very well.
“Kill him.”
When he heard all of this behind the stone pillar, Thales’ face contorted.
He closed his eyes in anguish.
