Now that they had succeeded in infiltrating the cells, their next objective was to get all the captives ready before the elves found out about them. With this, the probability of these acolytes getting hard during the breakout would be minimalized.
Having successfully ard the captives in the first cell, Ery quickly proceeded to sneak into the second one. In the anti, Silva and Atlas were also on their way to their next target cells.
In order to effectively utilize the ti they had and simultaneously take less risk of being found out by the elven guards, all three of them tacitly headed to the cell closest to them.
Now that Ery no longer had to worry about carrying Abrafo on his back, he was able to move with more freedom and agility. As a result, he was able to get to the second cell without much trouble.
He then swiftly took out the palm-sized gadget like before. This ti, however, to avoid alerting any elven guards with the device's sound, he surveyed the area in advance and waited until there were no other individuals in the vicinity.
After a few monts with a low whirring sound, the door of the cell was opened with a click. To his surprise, the number of captive acolytes in the cell did not even reach fifty.
Among the few acolytes, he spotted a familiar face, one that he was looking for. At the sa ti he spotted the man, the two's eyes t.
"Ery!" Thrax greeted him with pleasant surprise.
Upon seeing the condition of his gladiator friend, Ery felt relieved. Although his uniform was all torn and dyed with dried blood, the immortal gladiator himself seed to be fine and was still as vigorous as always.
However, before the two could have a chat, a familiar-looking young man rushed to step in between them.
"Why are you here? You're involved in this, aren't you!?" the young man accused with certainty, glaring at him with unconcealed hostility.
The acolyte that greeted him with such fervent animosity was none other than the noble from the Cross faction, Shatter Cross.
Looking at the young noble's reaction to his arrival, Ery couldn't help but let out a sigh. Nevertheless, to waste as little ti as possible, he tried to explain the situation as concisely as he could while distributing the content of the storage rings.
On the side, Shatter Cross's expression changed when from within the ring, they saw the equipnt they needed to escape the compound. His eyes were especially fixed onto the black vest.
Still, not a word of gratitude ca out of Shatter's mouth, and more complaints followed instead.
"Why can't they just teleport us out!? We should get out of here right away, now!!"
Hearing this, Ery glanced at the young man. He didn't have the patience to deal with whatever tantrum the Cross noble was throwing.
"Don't you dare jeopardize this plan," Ery said. "If you don't want to follow my lead, you're welco to stay behind and wait for other people's rescue."
To add more impact, Ery told him how Anzi, his subordinate, also ca representing his faction and how ssing with the plan would endanger him as well. With this, Ery finally silenced the young noble.
As he continued to distribute the items to the acolytes in the cell, Ery took the chance to look around for other familiar faces. Unfortunately, he didn't recognize anyone there apart from ra, Grand Magus Yvere's disciple who fought him in the tournant.
"Thrax, you'll be in charge of this group. Stay here and lay low until a signal is given."
Without waiting for any response, Ery swiftly went out of the cell and headed toward the next. Shatter Cross had already wasted enough of his ti, he needed to catch up to the others.
A mont after, a female voice sounded from his device, playfully replying to his report.
Hearing Silva's surprised remark toward Atlas, Eeshoo quickly interrupted them.
The situation was tense, but Ery felt a little relieved when he heard their reports. Six cells had been secured successfully, with nine more to go.
Ery sped up his pace and continued heading toward the third cell. Following the sa procedure he did with the second cell, he surveyed the area before swiftly unlocking the door.
However, the reception he received this ti took him aback. As soon as he entered the cell, he was imdiately approached by several agitated acolytes. One female figure even fiercely charged at him before she abruptly stopped upon recognizing him.
"You… why are you here!?" the figure who charged at him, Vida Temari, asked in surprise. Behind her, Ery spotted one of the top acolytes of the academy, Jai Strider, who quickly cald the other acolytes upon also recognizing him.
As Ery'eyes scanned the acolytes in the cell, he imdiately realized the situation these captives were in, which was far worse compared to those in the previous two.
Although they were larger in number with more than a hundred acolytes, half of them were lying motionless on the ground.
Jai Strider, the tal puppeteer, said to Ery after pacifying the other acolytes.
"I hope you ca with good news, 'cause I don't think we can last much longer."
From the young man, Ery found out that none of the acolytes who could still stand had good enough proficiency in healing spells. While so of them had a certain level of it, they were ineffective under the spirit force restraint of the room, not enough to keep up with the number of wounded.
Ery hurriedly handed over a few of the storage rings to the tal puppeteer and the female half-blood so they could help distribute the items, hoping that the potions would be enough for the wounded acolytes to at least walk.
While he was distributing the items, a weak familiar voice reached his ears. It ca from the corner of the cell, among the group of heavily wounded acolytes.
"E… ry…"
Ery looked in the direction of the voice to a shocking sight. The man's body was covered in wounds, and he was barely able to move or speak.
It was Anas, the leader of the Kaleos acolyte. The last ti Ery heard about him, the man was accompanying Klea to stop Zenonia's plan before the academy attack started.
Ery quickly rushed to the dying acolyte whom he almost couldn't recognize.
"He's been heavily wounded since he arrived," said Jai as Ery checked Anas's condition. He seed to be in extre pain just communicating with him, but the Kaleos noble seed tobe indifferent about his own condition.
"Klea… she was here… they took her…"
The ntion of Klea promptly attracted Ery's attention, and he subconsciously paused to listen as Anas endured indescribable pain to speak.
"I failed… They… they killed… Aiko… Sigurd… Do not… let her die…"
Tears welled up in his eyes as he said those words, and Ery couldn't help but also feel emotional, the two were nas were more than just teammates, they were acolytes he could called as friends.
"You should rest now.. Dont worry… I will defiently save her"
In hopes that it would at least be able to keep the man alive, Ery gave the Kaleos noble his [Reviving Pill]. After making sure that he had swallowed it, he gave another bottle to be share toward the most critically wounded acolyte in the cell.
"Do you have any idea where they took her?" Ery asked Jai.
With a faint smile on his face, the tal puppeteer responded, "I do."
He raised his hand and from the sleeve, several tiny spider-like creatures crawled out and he picked out one of them.
"This one followed her," he said, handing the tiny creature to Ery.
As the grained sized creature jumped onto Ery's hand, he realized that it was actually a chanized tal spider. one of the tal puppeteer artifacts that he manage to hide and wasnt taken by the elves.
A mont after it landed on Ery's hand, it crawl toward his personal device and surprisingly a visual image was sent into his mind.
"She's kept in Zenonia's room. the bat grand magus seems to be questioning her privately" said Jai following the visual of the room and Klea who appears to be in chained.
With this new piece of information, Ery felt conflicted. At this mont, there was nothing he wanted to do more than imdiately rush into the place where Klea was imprisoned, especially since Zenonia was currently away.
However, how could he do that?. Like everyone else involved in the plan, he had his own task to fill.
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