chapter11

 Fifteen minutes ago.

　　Marvin in the kitchen slashes the lizard chef, wakes the sleeping middle-aged woman, gets an affirmative answer to his question about the question, and begins to speculate if the lizards specifically picked the two of them to bring into the kitchen for this reason.

　　Is it just because it's delicious?

　　At this point, Gregorio and Aron in the Piper's bedroom patch up the formation, and since Marvin and the woman have already broken free of the Pied Piper's control, the spell left on the people is broken, and the six remaining people in the dungeon wake up one after the other in a leisurely fashion.

　　They had no memories of the Pied Piper or Hammerlund, only that they had woken up in this dark, damp dungeon.

　　After a moment of doubt, each of the three groups found the key to the lock in the wall tiles, haystacks, or dung buckets of the cell. Originally planning to escape without alerting the guards, Mediterranean coincidentally knocked the candlestick off the wall, and the silver candlestick fell to the floor with a crisp sound that could not be ignored.

　　The two lizard guards turned around and saw the six running down the hallway.

　　Naturally, a vicious battle ensued.

　　The guards were armed with spears and swords, while they had no weapons at hand except for a few daggers, and the Mediterranean was completely empty-handed, so they could only hide. The two lizards are exceptionally brave, wearing thick metal armor, and ordinary weapons can not hurt them, in the dungeon in a narrow environment, the battle situation has fallen into an extremely unfavorable situation.

　　The strong man with a beard who was using the Roman short sword he had searched from the road to fight with the guards couldn't help but think - if only he had that man's shotgun, he would have killed these two disgusting guys in a few minutes.

　　Where the hell were the two brothers and the red-haired gringo?

　　In the time it took for him to lose focus, the other lizard wielded a large sword and slashed at his head, the blade of the sword flashing coldly in the dim candlelight, bringing out a terrifying sound of wind breaking through the air - as long as it hit, the bearded man would be dead on the spot!

　　The bearded man could only barely avoid it by bowing in a strange position, but there was also a break in his defense, and the lance stabbed at him and was about to poke him through the heart!

　　Bang--!

　　Just in the nick of time, a loud gunshot exploded in the dungeon, and the bullet poofed into the lizard guard's face, breaking it into a blur of flesh and blood and bringing out a line of blood.

　　The guard's body stiffened for a moment and staggered backward uncontrollably, blood gurgling from its face as it collapsed to the ground under the fearful gaze of the crowd.

　　The high-ponytailed woman held the gun in both hands, panting heavily as the recoil made both of her hands numb. It was just the most ordinary pistol, a printable prop she had acquired in the last low-level box, with no auto-aiming function, and she had aimed it halfway at the end of the group, not daring to shoot for fear of accidentally injuring anyone.

　　But at the last moment, she still determinedly pulled the trigger, saving the bearded man's life.

　　With his companion dead in front of his eyes, the other lizard roared with rage, his eyes red, and rushed towards the crowd in a frenzy, causing chaos in all directions. The two on the second floor couldn't see much of the dungeon but still noticed the bodies of the guards that fell outside, the gradually spreading blood on the floor, and the miscellaneous servants who rushed over to help from various rooms.

　　Marvin and the middle-aged woman took advantage of the chaos to sneak out of the kitchen against the wall, and the teenager looked into the center of the chaos and made a hasty decision - find a place to hide first!

　　Aron's jaw drops at this sudden turn of events and whispers, "Should we go down and help?"

　　Gregorio stood up and said quickly, "No, they can hold out for a little while longer, let's take advantage of the chaos and steal the flute first."

　　Saying that he turned his head and with a glance he saw the Pied Piper standing right behind them.

　　The dark-haired, dark-eyed youth had been staring at the two with his eyes downcast, frowning slightly, Gregorio rose and moved up with his eyes, tilting his head slightly to look at the uninvited guest, who was half a head taller than him.

　　Gregorio: ............... .........

　　Aron: ............... .........

　　The air fell into a deathly stagnation.

　　Aron sees the Pied Piper and is confused for a split second, then he stands up with a dry laugh and puts one hand on Gregorio's shoulder, "Hahahahahaha hello handsome man wow-"

　　At the same time, the other hand felt for the back pocket of his pants.

　　Pied Piper did not pay attention to Aron's noise, he still stared fixedly at Gregorio, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, and he softly said, "There's something familiar to me about you, do I know you before?"

　　"Heavenly Maiden!"

　　The moment Pied Piper's words fell, Aron bellowed and pulled a handful of sand out of his pocket and threw it violently in his face, twisting his head and running!

　　The maneuver was done in one fluid motion like he'd done it a million times before.

　　At the same moment, Gregorio pressed the "fingerprints of Kronos" on the palm of his left hand and shouted, "Aron, run!" before activating the formation.

　　Then he realized that Aron was already screaming and running five meters away.

　　Pied Piper was thrown a faceful of crushed sand and subconsciously closed his eyes and twisted his head to avoid it. Dazzling yellow light emerged from Gregorio's palm, converging into the shape of a clock, accompanied by the "clicking" sound of the clock's hands, subtle energy ripples spread in all directions---!

　　The formation took effect!

　　Ten.

　　The illusory clock lit up above everyone's head, the hands rotated, counting down to ten seconds.

　　The sand flying in the air, the Pied Piper's hand going to grab the flute, Aron running without landing on both feet, Marvin catapulted into the storage room, the bullets flying in mid-air, and the horrified expression on the face of the man with glasses ... all froze at this moment.

　　Nine.

　　Gregorio grabbed the flute at Pied Piper's waist and darted in the direction of the stairs.

　　Eight.

　　He brushes past Aron.

　　Seven.

　　The light of the formation begins to fade.

　　Six.

　　The pattern of small grasses on the back of Gregorio's hand shines for a split second.

　　Five.

　　The Pied Piper's eyelashes flutter slightly, and the clock above his head revs up quietly.

　　Four.

　　Without his master having activated the Prisoner card, Sylver's figure appeared out of thin air next to Gregorio, and the teenager's lips parted slightly as he looked at the Pied Piper's familiar figure not far away:

　　"Zoey."

　　Three.

　　Gregorio turns his head in surprise, while the floating pattern of the clock on Pied Piper's head shatters in response!

　　The youth opened his eyes, one of his dark eyes had turned blood red, and fine, evil lines flew across his cheeks as if he were an evil spirit that had crawled out of the Thule Hell.

　　Two.

　　He disappeared from his spot and appeared in front of Gregorio, and before Gregorio could realize it, once again took back the flute that belonged to him and put it to his lips.

　　One.

　　Before the first syllable floats out, Sylver kicks the flute player in the stomach, sending his entire body flying!

　　In the process, he took the flute out of Zoey's hands.

　　How can a weak commander beat a warrior?

　　Zero.

　　The clocks above everyone's head all shattered into tiny dots of light at the same time, the formation disappeared completely, and the river of time continued to flow. Sand scatters in the air, Aron continues to run towards the stairs, Marvin dives into a storage room, a bullet is fired into a guard's shoulder, and the man with the glasses opens his mouth and screams - and Aron sees that he's already been "killed".

　　Aron sees Gregorio, who has "teleported" downstairs, and realizes that he's already activated the spell, but what about the Pied Piper on the ground, struggling to get up, and the teenager in front of him?

　　Sylver shoved the flute to Gregorio and said, "Blow."

　　Gregorio immediately held the flute across his lips, took a deep breath, and blew with all his might-

　　Sharp and ear-piercing sounds rang out from everyone's ears, Gregorio knew the piano and the violin, but really didn't know how to play the flute, and could only blow randomly.

　　But that was enough.

　　The moment the flute sounded, the moat outside the castle was as if it had experienced a storm, the stagnant water violently tumbling up, the invisible barrier finally couldn't hold up amidst the sound of the magic flute and the struggles below, and quietly shattered.

　　Rats the size of adult cats scrambled out of the river, tens of thousands of them, climbing up the riverbank in black.

　　They squeaked and squealed, and climbed up to the suspended hair bridge in a wild frenzy, their sharp teeth gnawing on the hair of the preparation, and in a few breaths, they broke the suspension bridge alive!

　　The entire castle was completely cut off from the forest.

　　Sylver's kick wasn't too hard, but it was still a bit too much for the Piper to bear, and he sat up with his sore abdomen, black mist looming around him.

　　A voice rang in his head - kill him! Kill the man in front of you! Use the power bestowed upon you!

　　But Piper didn't listen, the doubt in his mind finally reaching its peak the moment he saw Sylver, even the fact that the spells were being used haphazardly by the diminutive intruder was thrown out of his mind. He stared intently at Sylver and asked, "Do I know you?"

　　"Come with me, I'll take you back to where it all began." Sylver didn't answer directly. He held out his hand, and the teenager's voice was clear and firm, "No one will ever suffer for this again."

　　Bang-!

　　Rats crashed through the windows of the old castle, scrambling in, one as big as a dog biting directly into the lizard handyman's calf, and more rats pounced forward, tackling the handyman to the ground and tearing the flesh from its body.

　　The white vest came out of nowhere and stood on the table, excitedly directing his companions in their bloody vengeance.

　　Screams, sounds of falling to the ground, shrill squeaks, and the panicked fury of the humans mingled with the sound of the Piper, Aron was stunned and dumbfounded while Marvin saw Gregorio and Sylver and immediately his eyes lit up and he ran to them.

　　The Piper and Sylver stare at each other for a few seconds, seeing the cold embers of hatred in the teenager's eyes, and the heart that was silent in his chest at that moment beats steeply.

　　Yes, hatred.

　　The pain of being stripped, of being sealed, of being imprisoned forever flooded the false memory in a flash, bringing back images - he watched the teenager and the Russian man run toward the final door, turning himself to face the book lying on the floor, its pages turning up of their own accord.

　　The Mystery of the Worms, page 178, Chapter XIII: The Eternally Broken Heart.

　　The black mist around Piper lurched, the scarlet in his eyes extinguished, and at that moment, he finally remembered who he was.

　　A mouse pounced on the Piper with hatred in its heart. The Piper ignored it as he placed his hand in Sylver's palm and smiled, "It's been a long time."

　　An emerald green glow lit up from him, in response to this the first seal on Sylver's wrist manifested. The Piper's figure grew fainter and fainter, finally turning into a sheet of streaming light that disappeared into the seal.

　　"Well, it's been a long time."

　　The rat pounced and tried to howl in anger, and was kicked away by Sylver, screaming as blood spurted wildly from his mouth.

　　A few seconds later, a soft female voice rang in everyone's ears:

　　"Main: Travel to Hameln (completed), Investigate the truth about the Pied Piper (incomplete), Defeat the flower-clad Pied Piper (completed).

　　Branch line: investigate the truth about the Frog Prince (incomplete), help the mouse (complete).

　　The box [Hameln] will close in five minutes, so please find the exit and leave as soon as possible."

　　"Well, no need to blow it off, go find the door and get ready to go." Retrieving Zoey's soul fragment, Sylver turned to Gregorio. He took the shotgun from Gregorio's back that he hadn't been able to put to use yet, "Lend me the gun."

　　Marvin and Aron reached them at this point, and despite being filled with doubt, the two didn't say anything and hoofed it in different directions to find the door.

　　The people in the dungeon finally managed to run out, and all the lizards in the castle were killed by a swarm of rats, leaving bloody bodies strewn everywhere.

　　And the rats, ignoring the terrified people, began to gnaw at the castle after eating all the lizards.

　　The box passed in a blur, was this Hameln? And what did the missing four do? And who was the flower-clad Pied Piper?

　　The six who had escaped the dungeon were baffled; this was as sparse a box as they had ever experienced, paddling and suddenly clearing.

　　But now is not the time to explore the truth, they have to find the exit quickly, otherwise, when the time comes, they will be trapped here forever.

　　Everyone in the middle of the rat wave rushed to find the exit, they noticed Sylver standing at the bottom of the stairs and couldn't help but look at the strange boy in white and black pants a little longer.

　　Sylver put the safety on his shotgun and looked over at the white vested rat standing at the long dining table.

　　The white vest had been looking at him silently, standing on its two hind legs like a human, its eyes somehow all morose and white.

　　Sylver raised his gun, took aim, and smiled down at it, "Tell Hera I'm back."

　　A wry smile tugged at the white vest's sharp, thin muzzle, "You think-"

　　Sylver didn't want to hear the thing hiding behind this shell-talk nonsense and simply pulled the trigger.

　　The large-caliber shotgun bullet instantly blew out the rat's head, exploding its entire upper body right off, sending blood and flesh flying.

　　But this didn't do much, at the moment the white horse armor body died, the will attached to it scattered into countless numbers, landing on every single rat in the castle. Whether they were devouring the bones of the lizards, gnawing on the castle, or scurrying around like mad, they all stopped moving in unison, stood up, and turned their heads toward Sylver.

　　Countless morose white eyes gazed at him, and the same sentence accompanied by a sinister and crazy shrill laugh came out from tens of thousands of mouths and kisses, resounding throughout the castle, and also captured by the crowd who had already found the door to leave on the second floor:

　　"You won't escape this time!"

　　Gregorio, who was about to step through the door, lurched to his feet and frowned as he sensed something and looked downstairs in Sylver's direction.

　　"Come on!" Aron pulled him back, the countdown was nearing its end and Gregorio could only suppress his misgivings for the moment as he stepped through the door in the middle of the mural that led to the outside of the box.

　　Sylver didn't care about the intimidation, eight years had passed and the broken book hadn't changed at all, it still only used such clumsy tricks to scare people.

　　Gregorio had already left, and with the prisoner's contract in place, Sylver was about to be taken out of the box and returned to his "master".

　　The teenager's figure gradually became transparent, he smiled brightly at the mice, but the bottom of his eyes were still cold, raised his hand, and fired a shot at the crystal lamp in the center of the hall.

　　Bang-!

　　The huge light fixture fell with a bang, smashing a patch of rats that couldn't run away in time, adding a festive blood-red color to this long goodbye reunion.

　　"Goodbye."