Watching the two embracing like tragic lovers, An Ji Er finally decided to give an untimely cough.
“Ahem, you two, could you wait until we escape before doing that?”
Hearing this, Laine and Xiaolan immediately pulled apart as if electrocuted. After taking a moment to collect himself, Laine took a Magic Scroll out from his clothing and addressed the group. “R-right, I will save you all immediately… wait, who are you?”
Suddenly realizing he did not recognize the person before him, Laine hesitated with the scroll in his hand. Fortunately, Laura quickly explained An Ji Er’s identity, and Laine finally put his mind at ease.
Looking at the several high-level Magic Scrolls in Laine’s hand, An Ji Er couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity. “How do you have so many high-level Magic Scrolls? You don’t look very strong; are you some kind of high-ranking person?”
At this, Laine briefly explained how he had come to this place. Upon hearing that it was the noble Kolin who had come personally to save them, An Ji Er finally let go of the worry in her heart.
Laura became quite excited upon hearing that Kolin had come to save them as well, but she wasn’t foolish enough to run off and look for Kolin at a time like this. She knew that if she went over, she would only be a burden.
Taking advantage of the moment, Xiaolan asked the question she wanted to know most.
“By the way, Laine. How did you become so thin? I can see your bones! What happened to you? And what happened after Laura and I were captured?!”
“That… it’s nothing! See, I’m perfectly fine now! I’ll explain it in detail after we get back!”
Facing Xiaolan’s questions, Laine didn’t answer directly but instead brushed them aside. He knew this wasn’t something he could clarify in a few moments, so it would be better to explain it to her clearly once they returned.
After rummaging for a while, Laine finally found the Transference Magic Scroll in the folds of his clothes. But just as he prepared to use it, An Ji Er’s expression suddenly shifted, turning quite grim.
“Hurry! Do you have any magic with strong offensive or defensive properties? If you do, use it toward the entrance of the Prison Cell! Hurry!”
Hearing An Ji Er’s urgent words, Laura and Xiaolan were stunned. Only Laine reacted immediately, using his magical power to activate a Magic Scroll with an earth symbol and throwing it toward the prison door.
In an instant, the floating scroll burned to ash and dissipated. In the next second, several massive stone shards erupted from the ground, forming stone spears that struck toward the entrance. Not only did they pierce the wall near the door, they completely sealed off the passageway for entry or exit. Now, the only way for them to leave was by using the Transference Magic Scroll.
Watching the door blocked by thick chunks of stone, An Ji Er let the cold sweat from her forehead drip down. She couldn’t help but praise Laine. “…I really didn’t expect your reaction to be so quick! I don’t know how long it will block them, but as long as we use the Transference magic quickly…”
“Um,” Laura’s voice trembled, seemingly frightened by the sudden turn of events. “What exactly is out there? Why are you so nervous, Miss An Ji Er?”
Facing Laura’s terrified and confused question, An Ji Er did not hesitate to answer. “If my senses are correct, the member of the Demon Race who captured us and uses Shadow Magic just arrived outside. Thanks to Laine’s well-timed scroll, we managed to block him outside. But don’t celebrate yet; who knows how long this will hold? We must transfer to a safe place immediately!”
As she explained, An Ji Er looked toward Laine. Laine had already activated the Transference Magic Scroll before she had even finished. However, a Transference Magic Scroll is different from other magic; it cannot be activated instantly and requires a certain amount of time to prepare.
But right now, a powerful member of the Demon Race was outside and could break in at any moment. Even if the wait time for the scroll wasn’t long, it was enough to make everyone feel as if they were on pins and needles.
Feeling the three anxious gazes fixed on him, Laine had to suppress his own nervousness and comfort the group with a trembling voice. “It-it’s okay! I already activated the Transference Magic Scroll. Just a little longer, just a little bit! We will be transferred out! Even if… that Demon gets in, I still have other scrolls! There are plenty of high-level ones for powerful attacks and defense! We will definitely hold out until the transfer! Everyone, don’t be nervous, just relax!”
Though he comforted them like that, Laine watched the scroll in his hand urgently, occasionally glancing at the door blocked by the boulders. His anxiety was plain to see.
Seeing this, An Ji Er wanted to say something, but her expression suddenly changed, becoming rather strange.
Laine noticed the shift in An Ji Er’s face. To prevent any further accidents, he asked urgently, “What is it? Did something happen again? Is the Demon coming in?”
To this, An Ji Er shook her head hesitantly, her tone equally puzzled. “…No, he didn’t come in. On the contrary, he left.”
Laine froze slightly, subconsciously repeating, “Left?”
An Ji Er nodded hesitantly, confirming Laine’s words.
Seeing this, although he couldn’t figure out why, Laine felt a bit relieved.
“Maybe he knew we were about to transfer, so he decided not to come in? Anyway, no matter what, we are about to leave, so we are completely safe now!”
Hearing this, even An Ji Er, though still confused, set aside her thoughts and celebrated briefly with the others. As the Transference Magic Scroll burned away completely, a Magic Circle appeared beneath their feet. After a few seconds, they reappeared in the seaside Villa rented by Lavinia.
—
Feeling the magical aura coming from behind the boulders, Black finally gave up on the idea of forcing his way in.
Although he knew there were only the severely restrained Squad Leader of the local Special Incident Handling Squad and a few ordinary, weak people on the other side, seeing the guy who had been with the Holy Knight Kolin pull out a high-level Magic Scroll so casually made Black abandon the thought of confronting them.
Originally, Black had thought that if he could capture a few more hostages, he could hold them over the others even if he were caught. But looking at the current situation, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to grab any more captives.
Even though the people inside the cell only had a few high-level scrolls and were weak, he would have needed to solve the problem before they used them.
But Black himself was not in a great state either. Trying to neutralize them before they could use a scroll would be quite difficult for him in his currently severely injured state.
Thus, Black ultimately decided to let them go and headed deeper into the passage.
In the deepest part of this passage was a room that had never been used as a Prison Cell. Since Black had been the one managing the prison affairs and Anna Medias couldn’t even be bothered to come here, he had built this special room specifically for himself. No one but him knew of its existence.
Inside this cell was a very large, one-time-use Transference Magic Circle that covered almost the entire room. While this array was cumbersome and material-intensive—and might seem impractical to professional eyes, leading people to wonder why someone would spend time on such a troublesome and useless thing instead of learning better magic—it was, after all, the only high-level magic Black knew, aside from the Shadow Dark Art he had spent his life learning.
He had arrived at Sunlight Island using this very type of magic array. And this time, he would once again rely on this array to leave here.
Taking one last look at the dark passage, Black recalled the scene when he first met Anna Medias. Back then, she had been so surprised and happy at his arrival that the young Black couldn’t help but be momentarily stunned.
But as Black slowly closed the door to this special room, this memory, which was useless for his future escape, was cast aside into the quagmire of the past from which he could not extract himself. A few minutes later, a faint light seeped through the cracks in the door, then returned to ordinary darkness after a few seconds. The special cell once again became an ordinary room like the others, with nothing special about it.