The piece of black cloth blocking his view was lifted off and he was able to witness the looks of where he was. The sky was blood red, casting down a dull appearance on the open space.
Seated on platforms high above where all the captives stood, were people who looked strange in all manner. These people seated formed a circle at whose end was stationed a throne designed with black ornaments. Sitting comfortably on this throne was a masked lady with white hair.
After surveying the area above, his eyes returned to the ground level on which he was. Not too far away from him and the other captives, there was a large pit violently spitting out blue flames from its bottom.
Just as the strange chants coming from the people stopped, the masked lady stood up and walked forward. She arched her back and rested her arms on the top of the iron barrier that was built around the higher surface to prevent anyone from falling onto the lower ground level.
"You know, this is my favorite part. Where I get to introduce myself and everything. I'm getting popular among dead people. I know you aren't dead now but you will be soon."
The joy in her voice only made off as mockery.
"What do you want from us?" Max bellowed. His expression told of the burning anger in him.
"Your souls," The lady gave a straightforward reply as she picked at her fingernails.
Banters of fury suddenly rose from the captives.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"You demoness! What do you need our souls for?"
"She's a witch!"
The lady sighed. "No need to give me nicknames. I already have more than enough. As I earlier said, I'm popular among the dead."
"And what do you need our souls for?" Max continued his inquiry.
"You talk a lot boy. This was meant to be about me not your questions," The lady said. "But if you ask, I need your souls to get out of here. At least, you need to be aware of the favor you'll be doing before you go to the afterlife."
Max shook his head and a smile unleashed from his lips.
"I see you are not afraid," A laugh escaped the lady's lips. Anyways, let me begin with my introduction. I am Melanie, daughter of Hunter Forex and it's my pleasure to have you all here."
"F*ck you and your introduction," Max cursed.
[ System has subdued power nulling effect of shackles ]
In the blink of an eye, the shackles around his hands, feet, and waist crumbled to pieces that fell to the ground.
"Fire Aura!"
Flames burst out from his body, instantly burning the men that had rushed to apprehend him seeing he had easily set himself free.
A misty purple portal opened up in front of the other captives and they all rushed in.
"Go on! Do as we planned!" Max shouted. The flame in his eyes flared up with the eagerness to kill.
"Interesting," The lady moved to rest her chin against her palm.
"Let us out of here," Max shouted, pointing the Steel Of Karma he had equipped in her direction.
"Make me," The lady suddenly turned serious.
*. *. *.
In a place unknown to many, in a meeting room were many important-looking persons seated around a rectangular table. These set of people were collectively known as the authorities.
"He's handling it better than expected," A female in a blue sleeveless dress spoke. She couldn't take her eyes off the holographic screen standing in the air a little above the center of the table.
"We could have away with Melanie for being a rebel even in exile but I think we made a good choice by letting him prove himself," A man at one end of the table said.
"Hunter Forex sure did give birth to a monster," Another man spoke.
A man seated at the other end had suddenly developed a cold expression.
"Melanie may be a monster but she is still my daughter and I'm only doing this because I am a member of this council. For being a rebel, she deserved to go into exile. Despite being in exile, she remains a rebel and refuses to be remorseful for her actions, so I agree that she may be eliminated from the game verse," The man, Hunter Forex said. He was pained to know his daughter would be executed soon. She was never ready to listen to what others had to say. She hated being under anyone and as such wanted to be the boss of her own which led her to become a rebel. She violated rules just to satisfy her ego.
"She did not only rebel against the world but also went as far as to accept the art of forbidden magic from someone who was once banned from this world," Another Female added. "We took away the ability of every prisoner including hers but the devil who had learned forbidden magic learned to get into the Backlands somehow. Your daughter shamelessly accepted his proposal to gift her forbidden magic and afterward, she created an empire in the Backlands which she planned to expand by trying to break out by using the energy souls of people to weaken the effect of the barrier over the Backlands."
"I know of my daughter's atrocities. You don't need to remind of them," Hunter glared at the woman who had just spoken.
*. *. *.
"Torment of the lost! Soul poison!"
Several black shadowy faces came out from behind her and swarmed through the air toward Max.
[ WARNING! ]
[ Incoming skill of forbidden magic. Avoid skill as it contains poison that eats one up from the soul leading to an instant death ]
"Fire boundary!"
Flames rose around him to form a protection and the shadow skills were deflected on hitting the boundary.
Lightening bolts ran through the blade of his sword and he swiftly dug it into the ground as that was the fastest way to get an attack on the lady from a safe distance.
Blue sparks of lightning wove through the ground, sweeping in Melanie's direction. As if his attack had betrayed him, the bolts crawled up the ankle-length jacket she had on without doing the slightest bit of harm to her. Instead, these bolts strangely charged up the jacket, allowing them to run through it.
"That jacket...Max was left dumbfounded. Was the jacket a skill or a weapon?
Soon, the lightning charges were absorbed by the jacket.
"Quite refreshing," Melanie deeply inhaled.
Black lightning bolts started forming on her palm. Max was taken aback at the sudden unfolding of events. His lightning bolts had turned black in her control. Was this nature of the so-called forbidden magic the system had made mention of? Was every of her energy black in color because she possessed such magic?
In no less than a second, a blast of black lightning was already traveling toward him.
In his defense, Max activated the lava synthesis skill. Three lava dragons rose out from the ground in front of him and spewed out the molten from their mouths at the incoming bolts.
The two attacks collided which led to a great impact that crumbled half of the higher ground level and the pieces of rocks fell into the blue flame pit.
The people who had earlier been chanting had all gone as soon as the fight between Max and Melanie had broke out. So they were long gone before the clash of their attacks crumbled the ground.
Ding!
Max received a notification from the system amid the fight.
[ Skill upgrade available ]
[ Flame Aura ]
[ Upgrade skill for 20 gems ]
[ Do you wish to spend 20 gems? ]
' Yes.'
[ 20 gems have been deducted from your account ]
[ Skill: Flame Aura ]
[ Lv.2 ]
[ Flame aura can now expand through a much wider range ]
The flame enveloping his body suddenly spread throughout the lower ground level, everything affected except the pit of blue flame that remained unperturbed. The heat from the flames scathed Melanie's left hand and she responded to stimuli by jumping out of the low ground level before she would be burnt to ashes.
"Who said you could run?"
Max sounded angrier than ever. He was blinded by fury and all he wanted now was to kill the masked lady.
*. *. *.
Meanwhile, the other captives had successfully located a room where weapons that had ever been robbed of people captured to the Backlands on the command of the masked lady, were kept. They were able to locate this place by following Max's instructions.
The system had allowed Max to use a feature for only 12 hours which was equivalent to one day in the game. The feature was like a scan skill that allowed him to track whatsoever of his possessions that had probably gone missing or entered into the wrong hands.
Going through the portals, the captives had reached this place with their bonded hands-free as soon as they had gone through it.
One of the ability users among them broke off the iron door of the room using his telekinesis, granting them access to it.
Every weapon was evacuated out of the room, be it theirs or not. There was a fight they needed to win otherwise they would probably remain here forever and none of them wished for that to happen.
In a bid to seek freedom, Vagrants of the Backlands that dare apprehend them were slaughtered by these captives. Even Clyde, the supposed peasant farmer who was much of a weakling from the story he had earlier told, did not back out of the fight. As Max had asked if he was ready to make it up to his family, this was his response.