บท 3: Ghost King

After his initial shock, Elias soon recovered from his daze.

"The Ghost King…?"

Looking at the eye-catching glowing main mission etched upon the screen, Elias suddenly felt some sorrow and deep seated rage within him rise up at the name.

He was sure this wasn't his emotions—but rather from Elias Vito Castellano.

Through the memories, Elias found out why there was such deep seated rage and sorrow within him.

In the world of Aegis there was an event called—The Great Catastrophe—that became the turning point for this world.

Two hundred years ago since the Great Catastrophe happened, the world had massively changed.

The peace that humanity desperately preserved, shattered as the dawn of destruction fell into the world.

Innumerable disasters that came so suddenly destroyed countless lands, sunk uncountable number of countries, and annihilated a huge portion of the population.

But after the destruction subsided, humanity was nowhere close from peace—fragmented spatial distortions appeared on the lands.

In other words, dungeons. These dungeons contained mystical inheritances, dangerous creatures, and a new world.

Accompanied by the arrival of dungeons, humanity subsequently discovered the new power of mana, the hidden power within themselves.

It allowed them to shatter rocks, create fire on thin air, slay dragons and summon even the mightiest waves of water.

With such great power came great chaos, and the Underworld was one of the most affected and became more disorderly from such event.

In the long process of upheaval, the countless Families of the Underworld lost control of the authority they held and even became more greedy, extending their hands to everything in the world.

This contributed to more chaos and destruction.

However, amidst the overgrowing chaos and unbridled destruction, a special man rose up to the evil during the The Third War (1180).

The man was like a star, brightly shining with passion and power. He had immense potential. With the ruthlessness and charisma of a devil, he suppressed the countless Great Families and established a new order to the chaotic underworld.

Before the united-government alliance could even do anything, the man became the ruler of the underworld and conquered everyone with fear and respect.

And that man soon became a legend—his name becoming a symbol of both fear and admiration, his feats inducing respect to even his enemies.

That man was his father, Andolinio Castellano.

For a long period of time, the Underworld was at peace under his rule… however the Five Mafioso Families fell in the allure of Judas.

The Ghost King, with the Five Mafioso Families, surrounded the Castellano family and Andolinio Castellano, ambushing them, and personally killing his father.

Afterwards… the rest was history. Most of the Castellano members were killed while some were rotting in jail, kept in a life sentence.

It was a tragic ending for an otherwise legendary beginning.

No wonder… Elias took a deep breath, restraining the rage inside him. If this world was really his novel, then he wasn't unfamiliar to the aforementioned Ghost King.

Although he barely went in depth to the Underworld-side when he was writing, he still built and wrote some foundation and world building as a backup when he needed it.

It also struck his mind—the story of Andolinio Castellano was similarly written by him in the passing.

Elias suddenly fell silent.

He sighed before shaking his head, remembering where he left out.

The Ghost King… was an pseudo-important character in the novel. He was a villain that would later serve as foil for the main characters. Although he wasn't a King-level Ranker in the truest sense, he was still classified as one by others.

A King was as its name implies, a ruler of people. A vast and powerful entity that could grasp the world under their hand.

Elias wrote the Ghost King as a character to bridge and introduce the late game or end characters to main characters for the story.

In other words, the Ghost King was a terrifying individual.

'How can I even kill a person like that in a year… with garlic and prayer beads..?' Elias lampooned silently.

As for the subquests… they were fairly easy. That is, if he manages to escape this prison. Otherwise, they were just as hard as the main quest.

"Shit…"

Elias cursed with a sigh.

From the memories, he knew that he was currently imprisoned in a dangerous facility.

Specifically, in a facility known as Tartarus.

Otherwise known as the most dangerous prison in the entire world, keeping some of the dangerous men alive with tight security.

"How can I even escape a prison that hasn't been broken out for the past 100 years…"

"Whoever transmigrated me here really hates me. They didn't even bother putting me directly in the academy like other extra novels…"

Elias criticised silently. Although his situation looks hopeless from inside and out, oddly enough he didn't really feel any despair.

He figured every despair in his body was already drained when he learned that he was inside the world he had written.

The only thing keeping him sane was that the end of the world would only occur a decade later. By that time, he's either dead or powerful enough to return to earth.

Who knows, really?

Elias shook his head. He stood up and approached the cell door. The cell invoked a nostalgia in hin.

It wasn't his first rodeo in the jail. Elias' lips curled in a mocking smile. He pushed open the cell door, eliciting a strong sound to the quiet environment.

The cells were open during the day to noon, while tight locked at night. During the day, the prisoners, his fellow inmates usually gather at the courtside for morning exercises. At noon, they gather at the cafeteria to eat.

"They should be at the cafeteria right now…"

Elias muttered silently, making his way to the prison cafeteria.

***

Tartarus, Cafeteria.

There were all kinds of people in the wide room, some with a burly and exaggerated appearance while others thin and pale, seemingly on their deathbed.

"I've been saying, I couldn't damn sleep with your fucking' nail biting…"

"Heh, have you gotten any news about your family outside?"

"How long… how long… are we going to stay here?"

The cafeteria was full of noise with countless prisoners each having their own conversations. There were countless steel tables in the cafeteria, representing different groups of people.

In the middle, a particular steel table with five figures sitting emanated an intimidating presence. The other prisoners near them seem to be averting their eyes, wishing to have nothing to deal with them.

At that moment while everyone seemed to be talking to each other, footsteps resounded the halls.

Thump! Thump!

The footsteps got louder each second, making some of the prisoners give their attention to who is about to enter.

A few seconds later, a faint shadow appeared on the entrance as a dark haired youth with a cold expression arrived, looking over the room.

As soon as the dark haired youth with a cold bearing arrived, a pin drop silence suddenly fell on the entire cafeteria.

Even the wind seemed to stop breezing.

Elias nodded and made his way to the table in the middle. As for the silence… let's just say he had a reputation around the prison.

To elaborate, there wasn't anyone that didn't know that he was the successor or child of the legendary Andolinio. Such an identity could bite him in the back if he wasn't careful, but thankfully his subordinates were also in Tartarus with him, keeping him safe.

Although Tartarus was known by the public as the most dangerous prison in the world, it was mostly an exaggeration. It wasn't entirely filled with strong and dangerous people.

On the contrary, only few strong and dangerous people were kept here—since the truly dangerous ones were still running around outside.

It was mostly filled with weak and cannon fodder threats. The reason is that Tartarus is also the prison where people that used their talents and magic for crime gets thrown into, regardless of the level of their power.

The united-government couldn't be bothered to separate criminals and decided to just gather them all together.

That's why although Elias wasn't that strong, with his reputation and the faction around him, he could maintain a level of power in the cafeteria.

As for the real dangerous threats, they were kept above, where security is more tight and those eccentric threats barely mingle with others in the cafeteria.

That's why around these parts, he was the head honcho, commanding a bit of authority and power.

Elias stopped at the table in the middle, looking silently at the five imposing figures sitting on the silver steel table.

The five held unique and distinct appearances that left a deep impression to anyone who looked at them.