Chapter 215. Interrogation

POV: Second In Command

We flawlessly took over the Bastion with no casualties, as usual, since the only reason we would lose it would be becouse the Wither appeared.

I couldn't forget the first time I saw him, with his imposing authority and empty eyes.

Wherever he flew there was always an army of black skeletons behind him.

Some of them even had enchanted armor.

But even with that, nothing could compare to when he decided to join the fight.

Nothing worked against him, no arrow or fireworks reached him, and when he attached, at least 3 soldiers fell.

That was the biggest loss we had since the inception of the Diamond Squad.

The only reason we managed to survive was because the boss joined the fight, and was able to keep him preoccupied long enough for us to retreat.

That was the first time we had to do such a shameful act, and nobody felt good about it.

Even the Prince got more serious about this and began to study the enemy in every possible way to find a way to fight back.

From then, we slowed down the marching speed, and we were ordered to give up on any bastion that the Wither appeared in.

A lot of soldiers were dissatisfied with this cowardness, but the Prince promised them they would one day fight with all they had when he would find the Withers's weakness.

This promise kept most of the Brutes in check.

While we love to have a strong opponent to fight and don't mind dying while doing so, the fight with the Wither couldn't be considered a fight.

It was a massacre that nobody wanted to die for.

We slowly continued to gain back more territory from the death fields, until we slowly realized that the Wither didn't appear at Bastions anymore.

This made the Brutes more ruthless and harder to control since their pent-up frustration was reaching a breaking point.

We were lucky that the MAN decided to appear.

He was the only one who managed to defeat me in a fight, even though his fighting style felt very dirty.

He was most likely brought here to entrain the others with a fight or maybe his monster friends.

I'm sure nobody expected him to be the reason we would go on the offensive once again.

Once I asked the Prince for the plan, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard he was the secret weapon.

Why would Boss trust him so much?

Sure, he was powerful in his way, but he was not better than Boss if he was serious.

And that's not including the fact that he most likely hated us from last time.

But if the Prince chose this, I was going to follow it, since that was my duty in this squad.

Follow and get accepted by the Prince.

When we found the first Bastion and began the fight, I was waiting for that man to see what was so special about him.

Only to lose him as soon as I took my eyes off him for a second.

I have to be honest, his group was the best one for inflation or gathering intelligence becouse of their special ability.

One could turn herself invisible and teleport at will, and the man blended with the room If you took off your eyes for a second.

Well, there would be other opportunities to see him in action, so I concentrated on the fight in front of me.

Once we won, we began our favorite part of fighting.

The looting process.

Only to realize that the man was already there with the leader at his feet unconscious and the chests emptied from all the good loot.

We could only clench our teeth, and wonder how he managed to get here so fast.

Not only that, but he captured the leader alive, which was a great achievement.

"As expected of Trader, you move fast and efficiently. Did you find anything interesting in the chests?"

"Not really, but I did hear him talk about a special ability and that he knew the location of the Wither."

That was huge news for us since this could help us immensely if done right.

"Boss, let me be in charge of his interrogation. I'll get everything out of him in no time!"

The 2 men looked at me.

And after Trader shrugged his shoulders, I got the permission to start off the interrogation.

I was happy with this opportunity, so I quickly visited a few soldiers to get some items and brought the prisoner to a small room.

Boss and the man seemed to be interested in the process as well and sat in the corner of the room behind the prisoner.

That way, he couldn't see them.

Before the man was tied to a chair, I took off his armor so I could see him better.

He was a man with many scars, showcasing the lack of food or potion to heal the body in time.

This meant that he was used to pain, so most likely, the integration word take longer.

I took a potion bottle from my inventory, popped the lid off, and hovered it under the nose of the prisoner.

As soon as he took a sniff, his eyes were wide awake, and he desperately tried to rub of something from his nose.

Unfortunately, he was tied up with iron chains so he couldn't do anything about it.

"What was that horrible smell? I felt my soul leaving the body....where I'm I? Who are you?"

Good, the smelling potion was always the best at waking someone up.

It wouldn't do anything if someone dared to drink this, but its stench was so powerful that we used it to train troops on waking everyone at the same time.

If you dared not to wake up on time, you would be awakened with this powerful smell.

"You've been caught. Now tell me everything you know, or you'll suffer more than this awful smell."

The prisoner turned his head, showing his response to my request.

Well, I guess it's a good thing he didn't spill the pearls so early since I wanted to let out some of my frustration on someone.

So I took a pink potion from my inventory that had a murky color.

I pooped the lid off and poured everything on his head.

As I did that, his scars began to heal like magic, no matter how much time had passed.

This was why potions were something that everyone wanted no matter the status.

But instead of showing his appreciation for the gift I gave him, he began to scream his lungs out and tried to get off his chair with no success.

While this was a regenerative potion, it had a special effect on it.

It healed slower than normal, and the process of healing was very painful.

So the bigger the wound it had to heal, the greater the pain the prisoner would feel.

This way, I didn't have to worry about accidentally killing him while also bringing him the most pain.

After a few more moments of him screaming, the wounds were gone and the pain stopped.

I got closer to him, picked him up from the floor, and placed him in the previous position, making sure he was looking at me.

"Well, you see- *Stab."

I stabbed the man in his leg, and he began to scream from the pain once again.

"The less you talk, the more my sword would cut you. But you don't have to worry, since those wounds would heal nice and slowly."

I went back to my chair and let him finish his screaming session.

After he was done, he looked at me with hatred in his eyes, but once I showed my shiny sword, it was quickly replaced with fear.

I could only chuckle at this.

"Are you ready to talk now?"

"F-fine....what do you want to know."

I smiled and put my sword down, still visible to him.

"That's good to hear. Where's the location of the Wither?"

"I don't know-Ahhhh!"

Suddenly, a new cut appeared on his other leg, making him scream in pain.

"I don't know, but I know where's his favorite Bastion that he often visits is!"

That's a better start.

"Good, you'll be the one to lead us there, and don't get any funny ideas, since I have more of those potions with me."

I could hear him gulping as I said that.

"Now, you talked about a special ability you had, what's that about?"

His eyes were wide with surprise, and he quickly turned his head, ready for another wound.

"You know, as long as you talk, you won't feel the pain."

"I'd rather die than tell you about my secret ability!"

To test his resolve, I stabbed him in multiple places, which made him scream some more, but he didn't say a word about it.

I tried to see if he would respond to other questions.

"What's the Wither final goal?"

"To defeat the System."

Was he talking about the one from the Overworld?

But then why was he taking over the Nether first?

Did he want a powerful army beforehand?

I tried to ask him more questions, but for the most of them, he didn't know the answer.

He was someone who recently joined the Wither army so he had limited information, even after he went through the harsh training of the Wither.

I tried to get some information about his secret ability through other questions, but this led to no results.

I think I did a good job with my interrogation this time, since we found out a lot of information about the location and the motive of the Wither.

"Can I also try my luck with him?"

One of the spectators decides to speak up.

It was Trader of course.

I looked at my Boss and he gave me a nod to let him try as well.

I don't see how he would make him speak, but my job here was done.

The prisoner looked at the man with confusion, then with anger.

"You're the one who robbed me and knocked me out!"

"Guilty as charged. Now let's see if we can find out anything about your 'secret' ability."

He then placed an obsidian block on the ground and then the wierd explosive on top of it.

Both me and the Prince raised our shields, expecting an explosion to follow.

Instead the man tapped something in the air like he was working on something.

Was he looking at his status page?

But that couldn't be possible since they don't work in the Nether.

"Oh wow, no wonder the Wither wanted to keep this a secret. He found out how to make skills. And from the looks of it you have the Mining skill."

The prisoner face quickly turned pale as he heard his secret being uncovered.

But why was he trying to keep this a secret so badly?

Sure, it impressive that the Wither can create skills, but I don't think it was worth to suffer so much for it.

"Ahh, I see why you wanted it to keep it a secret. It's seems there's a safe file that would kill you if you talk about this. But the skill is much more interesting then expected, it's seems to give you knowledge about all the blocks you came in contact with. And as a final bonus, you can mine one tier above the pickaxe you currently poses. That's why you could have so much netherite with only an iron pickaxe."

The Prince eyes were wide in surprise at the new information, while I was trying to figure out what was so special about the Netherite ore.

"Trader, do you think the Wither can make more of an abstract skill, like say, a Combat one?"

Trader stopped for a moment before searching for something in the air then looked back at Boss.

"Looks like it can be done."

Then I heard Boss curse, which rarely happens.

Is it really that bad to have a combat skill?

What was I missing?