CHAPTER 38: THE ESCAPE
I reach for the metal bars of the door. Using the Ki to increase my strength further I pull them apart. The metal cranks as I widen them. I turn side ways and walk through the narrow opening. As I'm now secure and free I walk to the cell next to mine. Jake comes to the cell door.
He's a white man of average height and built. Wearing some kind of captain's uniform with army decorations. Looks quite modern to be honest. He has short red hair and appears to be in his thirties. The Moon light is dim but I can just identify the different colours.
I reach for the door. Placing my hands on each end. I release Ki that I feel a great rush of energy. Using it I pull the door right from its hinches. The sound is minimal but it's so quiet the sound seems excessive. Jake proceeds to step out and shows me the chains. I quickly tear them apart.
We proceed to the small window at the end of the room. It's so small but I have a way to make it larger. The only problem is that it will make too much noise. It can't be helped. We can't go upstairs with so many guards.
"I'm going to make a hole in the wall but it will make noise. Once that happens you must follow my every step or we won't make it far." I warn Jake besides me.
"There's no need for that." He quickly stops me.
"Why not?" I demand, a bit frustrated.
"I can use magic again. I can just use it to cut through the wall." He answers with a confident look.
I nod to give him the go ahead to which he turns to the wall.
"I am still a captain of the imperial knights." He brags a bit. "My aim is to one day become an Imperial Magic Knight. Escaping out of this little place should be easy enough using my Null Magic."
He proceeds to place both his hands on the wall. Suddenly some kind of symbols start forming around in a circle. Symbols made of a glowing brownish white light. Creating what I recognise from watching anime as a magic circle. It's so large it covers the entire wall. The magic circle suddenly gets absorbed into the wall. After a few moments the wall simply turns to sand and collapses in front of me.
That seems like a very powerful spell. Turning a hard looking wall into a pile of sand is very top tier in my opinion. He's this strong and they managed to capture him? Something doesn't smell right here. I won't be burned again. Best keep my guard up. There's no telling who to trust in this primitive world. If it comes down to it. I might need to fight my out of this place.
"So what's your plan for the next phase of the escape?" He asks.
"Simple. I can now identify which part of the village we're in. I know the way out." We're towards the north end of the village. I can just barely remember the overall layout of the village from watching it atop the mountains. "Just follow me." I tell him.
I step over the pile of sand. I'm still concentrating on sensing for any movements within our vicinity. Our escape doesn't seem to have changed the guards patrolling. Everything is as it was a few hours ago.
I start walking North East. Towards the fence of the village. Making sure to stick closely to the walls. The angle of the moon light casts a long shadow which can be visible even if I'm not so I have to be mindful of it. With Jake close behind me we navigate through the alleys. Making sure to watch out for any guards in our blind spots.
In just a few minutes we arrive at the fence. There's just one problem. There are mercenary guards on active patrol around around the fence. Their eyesight is connected in a way that there's one always watched by two others. Very similar patterns to the General's mansion in Fort Defal. It's going to be impossible without a proper distraction to pull their attention.
I was hoping to avoid this because it's just an idea I haven't tested yet. It requires a level of mastery over my Ki I have yet to even come close to. There's almost a 98% chance of it blowing up in my face which will only worsen my situation.
Hmmm… I think I have a better idea. Jake and I are hiding between two houses among a row of houses. It's just narrow and long enough to hide us but wide enough for me to do what I need to do, a Ki blasts. If I attempt a Ki blasts my success ratio is still 1 in 2 attempts. Certainly way more of a chance of succeeding than my other idea.
"So here's the plan. I'm going to cause a diversion to draw the guards away. When that happens be prepared to jump over the fence and run as fast as you can towards the forest." Jake simply nods in understanding.
So here's my plan. From the little alley between two houses I can see the place where we just came from. It's about 50 meters away so it's just far enough away for us not to be spotted making our escape. Since the colour of my Ki is naturally a black red colour it shouldn't be spotted until it explodes.
Enough talking, let's blow this popsicle stand. Jake gets behind me and readies himself. Although I can see he's curious to what I'm actually doing. So anyway I reach out my right hand. The open palm facing directly for that building we just escaped from.
I proceed to gather just enough energy in the center of hand. I concentrate it further by compressing it while adding more from the rest of my body. I slowly release the energy into a ball roughly the size of a tennis ball. A tennis ball of concentrated energy about to explode. As I expected it has a very dark red almost black colour. Just like my aura.
Just hovering a few centimeters from my hand I can feel the energy like an extension of my body. It's ready to launch now. I quickly concentrate on sensing the guards. Good. They're at their furthest from us. No chance they will come down this way. I open my eyes and just make sure of the aim. With it I launch it at full speed.
FOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
At an incredible speed it covers 50 meters in less than 2 seconds.
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Holy shit that's loud. Almost the entire building exploded along with a few nearby buildings. I think I used too much Ki for it.[Author's Note: Eto interchanges between Ki and energy a lot. He also does it with Mana and magical energy.] Like ants I can sense them running towards the explosion.
Panic quickly spreads throughout the entire village. Screams and crying of hysteria round out.
"Let's Go!!" I tell Jake. He quickly jumps in a panic and clears the fence. I too jump across and land safely. Almost immediately we start running for the forest. Without paying any attention to the situation behind us.
We continued to run even when entering the forest. So much so that I couldn't hear the noise of panic in the village.
"Follow me to the horses!" I said to Jake.
Since we're towards the north of the village we just have to run around towards the east mountains. I just hope that bitch didn't take my horse. He's so fast and strong I don't think I will find a replacement anytime soon. He was a royally trained horse after all.
Good I can still sense both of them in the exact same place I left them. Maybe she forgot about it or this is a trap. I don't sense any humans or demi-humans anywhere around them. That doesn't really solve my problem as they know I can sense them. Even if that were the case they would need to be close enough to capture me should the trap work. From what I can sense there are only wild animals within the vicinity.
Even if that were the case, the place I tied them up was very reclusive. You won't find them even if you know what you're looking for. That is unless you can sense all living creatures like me.
After around 20 minutes of simply running through the forest we arrive. In front of me is a very thick forest. Even with the moon light you can't see much. Even if it was day time all you would see is a wall of green. Standing in this position is just the beginning. If you enter the dense part of the forest everything starts to look the same. You can't even tell your left from your right.
Jake continues to follow me closely as we walk deeper inside. In just over a minute we appear to be lost. Completely surrounded by thick leaves and branches. It's impossible to tell your direction here.
"You must keep close!" I warn Jake.
I proceed to close my eyes and stop walking where my eyes tell me. I concentrate on the horses I can sense just a few meters to the... left. I immediately start walking towards them. In just a few minutes we reach a clearing. The clearing leads to a slight ascend up a hill. Just at the base of the mountain is an old collapsed cave. It is at there that I find my horse waiting surprisingly patiently.
[Author's Note: Wassup dudes and dudets. Support me on patreon.com and read 20-25 chapters ahead. Since the novel is new I am still in the process of stocking up. Once that concludes I will start releasing them regularly
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Volume 2 is already concluded and volume 3 is underway. So far only for patreon.]