Together with the prisoner's help, we searched for a way to access the pipes. After running for a while, we reached the deepest part of the mine, which was darker and wetter than the other areas we had passed through. The prisoner informed me that the soldiers did not guard this section as there was only one entrance, and most of the soldiers were occupied with the commotion caused by the prisoner earlier. This made our task easier, but the prisoner remained cautious, leading the way while constantly checking for any signs of danger.
I asked him quietly, "When will the soldiers return here?"
"In about half an hour, but if we act quickly, we can finish what we need to do before they come back," he replied.
Curiosity got the best of me, and I asked him, "If you knew where the pipes were, why didn't you try to escape before?"
"It's not that easy, it's almost impossible to escape with so many people, and even if we manage to get out, the guards can catch us in a short time with their alarm system, and the consequences of being caught will be severe punishment. If we could escape anyway, you wouldn't have to come here, would you?" he explained.
I asked him if anyone had ever managed to escape, to which he replied, "Only one person has escaped, but he wasn't from our bloodline. They called him Trev, the Wrath of the Loop. He was too fast for the guard to catch."
As we continued our search, he suddenly stopped and said, "Here we are, The Pipes."
I asked him, "Okay, but how do we open the doors?"
"Stand in the right corner and lower the lever when I give the signal. We need to pull the levers at the same time, so when I say three, we open them," he instructed.
I positioned myself in the right corner and waited in front of the lever. He turned to me and said, "One, two, three!" As he said three, we pulled the levers simultaneously, and the entrance to the pipes slowly opened. Just in time, Ryuu and the others appeared from the dark side of the pipes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Hiroshi)
When we arrived at Babu's location, we found him with a prisoner, seemingly working together. Babu informed us that we had limited time and needed to hurry since the soldiers could arrive any minute. Ryuu asked the prisoner if he knew where the guard's room was located, and he confirmed that he did. Lezlie then asked if he could guide us there, and he agreed, but warned us to be careful since a dangerous creature usually roamed the area. It seems the Leader was right about the creature.
As we followed the prisoner towards the guard's room, we encountered a few soldiers. We quickly hid in various locations, and I jumped onto the ceiling to avoid being seen. After the soldiers passed by, I took them out from behind.
When we arrived at the guard's room, we found that a large, predatory creature resembling a dog was blocking the entrance. I used hand signals to tell Babu and Ryuu what to do. We had to be as quiet as possible in this situation. I signaled Lezlie and the prisoner to stay where they were as we moved forward.
As I approached the creature, I snapped my fingers and measured its level of sleep, and it was sleeping quite heavily, as it should have been.
As I grabbed the creature by the head, I told Babu to help me lift the creature so that we could pass through and enter the room. Babu was scared at first, but he trusted my plan. Together we managed to lift the creature a little and I motioned for Ryuu to crawl underneath it. He did so and fortunately, it didn't wake up as we crawled towards the door. We managed to get in by helping each other.
Once inside the room, we discovered only one seat, likely used by the guard.
There was a bed in the room, in addition to the chair. I couldn't tell if it was the right room because it resembled a holding room. We searched for a totem to break the spell and free the prisoners from their chains. Lezlie said that spells are cast on a totem and that we can only break them by breaking the totem. Otherwise, the chains could not be broken.
To clarify the situation, I asked Lezlie once again what we were looking for.
"What exactly are we looking for, Lezlie?"
"Totems are typically used to keep spells intact. If you place a seal symbol on an object and cast a spell, the spell cannot be broken until the seal is broken. So what we're looking for is an item with a mark on it," she said.
At Lezlie's words, I continued to look carefully for something that looked like what she was talking about, and the others were looking as carefully as I was. Soon I saw something on the wall that looked exactly like what Lezlie had said. When I tried to approach him, a voice rose from the shadows.
"You have shown great courage by coming here. But courage won't work for you here."
I stepped back to be careful and asked, "Who's there? Who are you?"
A figure slowly stepped into the light and revealed himself. "I'm not important," he said. "I'm just a keeper here."
"So you're the dangerous person they've been talking about," Ryuu said.
"For me, danger tests power," he replied. "It reveals how strong a person truly is. Now tell me, are you strong enough?"
"I don't know," Ryuu said. "It's time to find out."