Escape (1)

Inside the elevator, Elias and his five subordinates stood tall as they waited silently.

They were all wearing solemn expressions. Adding to their intimidating appearances, the narrow space was filled with a tense, cold atmosphere.

Ding!

At that moment, the elevator finally stopped. Elias nodded and gestured at his five subordinates silently.

Donato and the rest looked at each other and nodded.

Shortly after the elevator stopped, the entrance slowly separated and opened.

Beyond the entrance, a large underground facility could be seen. Besides the elevator, two security personnel watched over the place.

Without slowing down, Elias walked out of the elevator casually.

"Hey, you…"

Surprised, the two security guards were about to reach out and ask some questions. However, a large hand suddenly obstructed their faces and slammed them into the walls, causing them to fall unconscious.

Bam!

"Hmph."

Taurus grunted as he retracted his hands, letting the two guards be released from his hands. He walked out of the elevator, following his young master.

The two security guards unconsciously fell to the ground, causing a loud thud to ring out in the silent hallways of the underground facility.

Elias didn't even spare a glance at the two and continued walking in a certain direction.

Soon, four more security personnel wandering the hallways noticed their odd group. They couldn't help but be surprised at their appearance.

"Hey, why are you here? I don't think you're assigned in this place…"

"Isn't the cafeteria in need of reinforcement right now? Why are you six…"

As they approached and questioned the group, Elias didn't bother to pay attention to them and continued walking forward.

The four security guards were puzzled and suspicious, however just as they were about to ask again and reach out their hands, a blur flashed before them.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The four security guards wore shocked expressions as though in disbelief before they fell to the ground, unconscious.

"It seems I'm not that rusty with my speed yet."

Galilei slightly nodded and cracked his fingers. As soon as the distance closened, he immediately struck, leaving the four unconscious.

Elias continued to walk along the hallways and met some security personnel, however, they were quickly taken down by his subordinates.

It was a concise, simple, and straightforward one-sided beating. Why? It was because all of the strong security personnel were occupied with the commotion and chaos above.

The rest at the underground were simply no match for his subordinates with mana.

Along the way, Donato reached out to his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes. He looked at Alexus and gestured quietly.

Alexus nodded and pointed at the tip of the cigarette, making a tiny fire erupt from his finger. The fire quickly ignited the cigarette.

Donato took a smoke. He looked at the others and asked.

"Do you guys want some?"

Galilei nodded and accepted a cigarette, while the rest shook their heads and rejected his offer.

After a while of walking, they reached the end of the hallways and stopped in front of a large two-way door.

Besides the large two-way door, a smart lock device was glued to the walls. The smart lock had a tiny keyboard under it.

"Watch over me. There might be some security personnel that we haven't encountered yet."

Elias thoughtfully walked towards it and looked at the keyboard. He pressed several letters on the keyboard, forming a strange combination.

The door code was quite complicated, taking him a longer time to finish.

At the end of it, the smart lock processed the code for a moment and suddenly buzzed. It flashed a sentence—'unlock successfully'

Seeing that, Elias sighed in relief. Naturally, he knew of the passcode through his knowledge of the novel.

However, he wasn't fully confident if it was correct or not. But undoubtedly, the passcode in the novel was the same as in this world.

Ding!

Shortly after the device buzzed, the large two-way slowly separated and opened. Inside, there were a lot of security personnel and researchers.

Elias walked inside the wide room casually.

"One, two, three... I haven't had these many targets since a while."

Behind him, Donato took a smoke of his cigar before his hand quickly reached out to his waist and took out two handguns.

Kachak!

At that moment, the security personnel noticed the sound and turned to look at them with surprised and shocked expressions, however, they were too late.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Consecutive gunshots rang in the wide room, Donato continuously shot the security personnel with pinpoint accuracy.

The group of security personnel quickly took their handguns, however, they couldn't even load a bullet before they were shot and fell unconscious.

The bullets, reinforced by Donato's mana, seemed to be as heavy as an anvil, crashing down on their foreheads as they were knocked out in one attack.

Thud!

However, as the security personnel fell one after another, the gang found out that there was no blood that came out from where they were shot.

Donato was puzzled for a moment before he quickly realized why. The bullets were not mana bullets, they were ordinary ones.

Although he could reinforce the bullets to some extent, it was not truly a genuine mana bullet.

Against security personnel with mana, although he managed to accurately hit their heads, he only put them unconscious from blunt force.

But there were still some that died because of the reinforced bullets, only a few who were noticeably weaker and were wearing white robes, most likely researchers in the prison.

"Well... no matter,"

Donato quickly shook his head. They were not here for bloodshed anyways but for a prison escape. He wasn't one for senseless killing. It was better the less died.

He reloaded and continuously shot once more.

Elias looked at the fallen security personnel and dead researchers. He didn't expect the bullets to be ordinary, as a matter of fact, he was ready to see bloodshed.

He was surprised to see that there were only a few or so deaths.

However, at a certain angle, it was indeed reasonable. Why would the United-Government Alliance invest mana bullets in Tartarus?

It was unnecessary. The prisoners were normally restricted in their use of mana in the first place, ordinary bullets would be enough.

Of course, that didn't mean there were no mana bullets at all. Most likely, they were taken and used by the higher-ups or vice-chieftains.

Elias observed his surroundings. Besides the sea of unconscious security guards and dead researchers, there were two doors, both on the left and right.

He glanced at the right door for a moment before his mouth twitched. The right door… was extremely dangerous.

Behind him, Donato smoked his cigar.

Kachak!

He put the two handguns in his waist before following his young master behind. The others nodded and quickly followed as well.

Elias walked to the front of the wide room. It was like a command center, filled with countless buttons and wires.

Ordinarily, this place would be the most protected area in Tartarus, however, the chaos he had caused made almost every reinforcement busy.

He walked up to the command center and looked at the buttons. Shortly after, he quickly found something similar in the description in his memories.

'Found it… This should be it.'

Elias thought calmly, looking at one button in the middle of the red and blue buttons. It was a medium-sized button that looked ordinary.

According to the novel,

'In the countless commands, there were three special buttons that were beside each other. The blue button signified a request for a call to the headquarters.

The red button signified an emergency of a crimson-level designation.

While the middle unassuming button signified the hidden mechanism of Tartarus.'

Elias nodded and reached out to press the middle button. However, just as his finger was about to reach it, a voice resounded in the room.

Buzz!

[Tartarus A-06 sent a crimson-level designation threat. This is the representative of the headquarters, did something happen to the highest security level threat?]

In front of him, the large monitor brightened up and revealed a middle-aged man with an arrogant and cold bearing.

'It seems the red button had been activated a while ago and only now did a response was sent… unlucky.'

Elias sighed before looking at Donato and gestured bluntly.

Donato, understanding his gesture, nodded and took a handgun on his waist. He reloaded it.

Kachak!

[Huh? Who are—]

The figure in the monitor was puzzled and confused, however, before he could even finish his words a bullet struck the monitor and shattered it.

Bang! Crack!

The monitor quickly turned pitch black.

Elias nodded and pressed the middle button.

Ding! Shhh...

At that moment, a quiet mechanical sound rang out in the wide command room. In the corner of the room, a hidden entrance was opened.

Behind the entrance, a metal door was situated. The metal door was rather simple, requiring a key to unlock.

Elias walked up to it and took out the master key with a solemn expression. It was finally time… to escape this prison once and for all.

Escape was finally in their grasp. The whole matter of their escape was stealthy and silent, without anyone knowing about their escape at all.

Behind him, Donato and the rest also wore solemn expressions.

Click!

He inserted the key and the door… was unlocked. As soon as the door was unlocked, he pushed the door open, revealing a strange portal inside the room.

"Prepare yourselves. It's time we finally get out of this damn prison. But it isn't over yet.. there's still a crowd waiting for us beyond the portal."

Elias' lips curled into a wide smirk.