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Return of the Fallen Volume 1 Chapter 65

Author: Blue_Rat

ch65

Kazuki looked around the cell for a key to the chains around his hand and feet but couldn’t find one. Looking at the pile of ash with the drips of melted gold splattered nearby, Kazuki figured the key must have been inside Itsu’s storage ring.

Giving up on a key, Kazuki simply changed the inscriptions around his wrist and ankles and freed himself in no time.

The only items remaining within the tiny cell were Kazuki’s compass and Nunully’s dagger, a small bag, and her bronze mask. Kazuki’s compass was around his neck in no time which brought him an odd comfort. Putting on the bronze mask, Kazuki found it simple to use and wore it. Grabbing the dagger, Kazuki jammed it into the lock on the door and forcefully broke it. Opening the door just enough, Kazuki peeked into the hallway.

(Looks like no one’s around, good.)

Kazuki slowly walked out and with no particular direction, he wandered down the halls. Every few feet he would pass other cells but they were all empty.

(Isn’t this a prison? Where is everyone?)

The interior of this building was obviously quite old, seeing as how most of the walls were covered in cracked stone bricks and there were even holes in quite a few, showing other cells or corridors on the other side.

(This place is so quiet. In a run-down building like this and I don’t even hear any rats. Guess all of the ghosts have scared them off.)

Turning a corner, Kazuki found a stairwell that led both up and down. The obvious move was to head upstairs but as soon as he decided on that, a small, almost indistinguishable groan came from deep below. The fact that Kazuki could barely hear it, even though his senses were enhanced from both his ki and the magic blood orb, indicated just how far down this sound came from.

Kazuki wondered where they would keep people they were going to kill and that, of course, led him to believe that Nunully may be down there.

(Itsu said she would be put to death but that doesn’t really give me any clues as to where they put her. I could go up but if she isn’t up there then I’d have to come all the way back down here to search for her. Might as well search from the bottom up.)

Kazuki cautiously headed down. He wasn’t afraid of meeting someone within this place. In such a small enclosure if Kazuki was within 3 or 4 feet then he could interfere with someone’s magic tool and cancel out their spells and in a hand to hand fight, Kazuki was confident in his strength. What would trouble him though was if an opponent saw him coming from a distance and either used magic from outside his range or they sounded the alarm and called for backup.

The stairs spiraled downward counterclockwise. A few torches lit the way causing shadows to dance along the wall. Kazuki walked on his toes, causing each of his steps to be silent. Kazuki continued downward for nearly 10 minutes. Listening along the way, that groaning from earlier was still barely audible but every so often it would float into Kazuki’s ear like a bitter tune.

A few minutes later, Kazuki found himself at the bottom of the staircase. There was only one hall but it stretched out and curved around a corner and went who knows how far. Making his way down this tunnel or hall, he wasn’t quite sure what it was now, Kazuki had traveled for nearly 30 minutes now when he came upon a single door.

There were no guards of any kind protecting this place and not a soul was seen. Kazuki was confused at first.

(This can’t be where Nunully is, can it? Why would they keep her here without even a single guard.)

Kazuki slowly approached the door and looked inside the small iron-barred window. The entire room was pitch black. Kazuki had to strain his eyes but all he could see was the outline of a figure.

“Nunully, is that you?”

To Kazuki’s question, a deep and somber voice filled his ear.

“Who?”

Kazuki instincts screamed at him and his body reflexively jumped backward in a panic. Cold sweat poured down his back and he turned to leave when he once more heard that groan.

*Erhhh*

Except for this time, the so-called groan was heard loud and clear and what he had thought was a groan was instead the rumbling of a stomach.

The voice called out to Kazuki.

“Wait, please wait. I will not harm you, I cannot harm you.”

Kazuki didn’t know why but the voice sounded both desperate and pitiful. Slowly, Kazuki reapproached the door and carefully looked in. Even with his heightened senses, the pitch-black darkness that Kazuki should have normally been able to see through, still he could only just barely make out a shadowy figure.

The voice called out to Kazuki once more.

“I haven’t had a guest in nearly 2 decades and the one who appears before me is a naked fellow with courage.”

Kazuki once more realized that the only thing he wore was the bronze mask and his compass. Everything else he had was burnt to ash from his own blue flame. Kazuki took off the mask and covered his front but that wasn’t enough to hide it all, causing the shadowy figure to laugh quietly.

Kazuki calmed down a bit from this and relaxed a little. He too started to laugh and said.

“Hehehe, I don’t normally walk around dungeons naked, the circumstances you see, just made things turn out this way.”

The two shared another laugh before the shadowy figure’s stomach growled, interrupting them.

*Eurrrh*

The shadowy figure cleared its throat and asked.

*Ahem*

“You wouldn’t have a bit of food to spare, a simple piece of bread, no a few crumbs, hell, even an insect would do.”

Kazuki shook his head.

“Sorry, as you can see I’m quite unequipped at the moment.”

*Haaa*

“Well I know we’re both strangers but could you do me a small favor and release me?”

Kazuki tilted his head questioningly.

“Why me? As you said, we’re both unacquainted and I’m actually in a hurry right now, so.”

“Wait, we may be strangers but we are not enemies. And the reason I chose you is that it’s obvious that you’re escaping. if I don’t ask you, who else would I ask? If you release me, I will reward you greatly. Any riches you can imagine and I will be the one to bestow them upon you, so what do you say?”

Kazuki didn’t even hesitate to shake his head no.

“Once again we’re strangers. I know nothing about you. Even if there is a reward, I can tell that you’re dangerous. Who’s to say that once I help you with releasing you, that you won’t kill me afterward?”

The shadowy figure shook its head.

“Even if I wanted to, there’s simply no way I could kill you. The fact is, I’m already dead.”

The shadowy figure could see that Kazuki was doubtful.

“You don’t believe me, heh, I probably wouldn’t believe a stranger that easily as well. There is however a simple and easy way to tell if I’m alive or not. Simply extend a bit of your magic to me, once you sense me with your magic, you’ll be able to tell right away whether I’m lying or not.”

Kazuki was actually quite curious but his magic could not extend the few feet to reach the shadowy figure. So instead he sent out a tendril of ki energy. This way even if the shadowy figure was lying and tried to use his magic, he would only come into contact with ki, which no one but Kazuki could use in this world.

Kazuki’s ki came into contact with the shadowy figure and sure enough, Kazuki couldn’t detect any signs of life whatsoever. Retracting his ki Kazuki began to wonder about something but before his thoughts went anywhere, the shadowy figure made a comment.

“Hmm, what strange energy, I’ve never felt something like that before. Tell me, kid, what type of power was that? There’s no way it was an element.”

Kazuki’s eyes went wide.

“You…You could sense that?”

This time it was the shadowy figure who seemed confused.

“Of course, I can sense any type of energy if it touches me. Ah I know, how about as a reward I teach you this technique. With it, you’ll be able to sense any type of energy you come into contact with as well. What do you say?”

Kazuki thought about it for a moment but couldn’t see the purpose of sensing any other energies seeing as there was only magical energy from the elements and ki energy. For him, he could already sense every type of energy so there was no point to such a technique in his eyes.

“No need, instead, how about you just tell me where they keep the prisoners who they are going to kill. Anything else outside of that I don’t really care, like I said I’m in a hurry.”

The shadowy figure couldn’t believe it but if this was all Kazuki wanted, then there would be no argument from it.

“Deal. Release me from here and then I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“Fine.”

In the end, the logic made sense to him. He and the shadowy figure were not enemies and the shadowy figure was already dead and posed no threat. Kazuki needed to find Nunully and it would save him a great deal of time if he didn’t have to search all over for her. So Kazuki agreed.

Kazuki extended his ki and felt the inscriptions upon the chains. The ones the shadowy figure wore were multitudes more complex than what Kazuki’d had but still, he could handle them. One thing was bugging him though.

“Tell me, if you are already dead, why can’t you just leave already on your own? Can’t spirits or ghosts simply phase through walls or something like that.”

“Bwahahahaha. What fantasy did you read that from? Is that actually a thing? Before I died, I didn’t even know that ghosts could still be hungry and yet every day I feel starved. Anything to do with powers such as phasing or turning transparent, I haven’t a clue how to do or if such a thing is even possible.”

“How did you even come to be down here?”

“Hmph, that damn Garn. He blamed me for the loss of that stupid item during the Eden Fall war and locked me down here long ago. That asshole won’t let things go and placed a spiritual inscription on here to keep me in this place for eternity.”

(Hehehe but what he doesn’t know…Hehehe, that dumb bastard Garn is in for a surprise.)

Kazuki had to spend several minutes on these inscriptions but finally with a small…

*Clink*

The chains fell from the shadowy figure and crashed into the floor.

The shadowy figure seemed to stretch, before finally releasing a heavy…breath?

*Phew*

“The ones set to die are usually placed near the first floor. With this, our deal is complete, thanks, kid.”

The shadowy figure turned around to the back wall and threw out a punch.

*BAM*

The stone wall exploded into tiny fragments and a large gaping hole appeared to the outside world.

Kazuki’s mouth fell open.

“I thought you were dead?”

A bit of moonlight shined in from the large hole in the wall and revealed a pair of silver eyes.

“Hehe, that was a bit of a lie. Had you accepted my reward ahead of time you would have found out that my ability can not only sense energy but it can hide energy as well, which includes life energy. So when you touched me earlier with your strange power, I appeared dead. I had to do that though, otherwise, you might not have helped.

Kazuki had no clue what to say and simply just stared at the shadowy figure as it turned and leaped out of the wall. Not only was Kazuki confused about what just happened but he was also confused about the sight before him. Looking through the hole in the wall, he could clearly see outside. Up to this point and traveling downward for several minutes, Kazuki just assumed that he was deep underground. Apparently, that assumption was completely wrong. Staring out the hole, Kazuki could see several clouds floating by.

(Where the fuck am I?)