Chương 409: Chapter 382. Can Collect-a-thons Have Bad Endings?

John Ericsson's Point Of View I watched my torturer's last breath leave his lungs. He closed his eyes and I could see that he stopped moving, his blood continued to flow onto the floor from the 2 holes I made in his chest with this sword.

I know that I'm supposed to be upset at the fact that I just killed 2 people, but to be fair, I've been having to deal with 1 of them trying to brainwash me for a month and then I had to deal with the Guards sneaking in hits as they brought me to and from this surgery room-like space. The idiot made the mistake of telling me what brainwashed people look like, even worse still, he showed me what amounted to a labor slave that was brainwashed, I was shocked at the look on the person's face when I saw it.

The reason why was because it was so familiar to me, it was the same look I had on my face after my Parents died. Once I realized that, it was just a bit of playing pretend that he was slowly wearing down my Natural Defense to Magic from being a Paladin. Today was the grand finale, the King got his answers from me and commanded Charles to do what he wanted with me, it doesn't take much of a look around this room to guess. From the sharp blades all around and his good mood, he was going to make me suffer.

It's a good thing the Guard was an idiot and thought he didn't need to worry and walked in front of me. The cuffs they had me in sealed my ability to use Magic and even feel my mana, but my body is still stronger than an average Human or Elf due to the effects of my Holy Mana. It didn't take much strength to break the Guard's neck and grab the keys at his waist to get myself out. / Guagh! /" Hm? Ah." Charles let out a death rattle. It startled me for a moment...

Now that I think about it a bit more, I shouldn't be wasting time reminiscing on what I just did! Step! I quickly head out of the room and passed the Guard's body I placed against the wall of the room and began heading left as soon as I got out of the room. I could feel that I was going the right way." Yes, you are, hurry up and get to them, they definitely aren't happy about having to sit there for a month!" Lily quickly spoke up as she could read my thoughts.

For some reason, I couldn't really speak to anyone aside from Angela during my time being locked up. I could only guess it was from my mana being sealed by those cuffs? Regardless, it doesn't matter. I'm never going to let something like that happen again." You're damn right! If it wasn't for our Contracts, we wouldn't even know that you were still alive, John!"" Sorry, Gil! No, Sorry, everyone! But everything's going to fine. We've had to face worse than some pissed off Elves, right?

We took on a God last year for crying out loud!"" Even with that, we could still be there with you in spirit and speak with you, this past month... We were just so worried..."" Sorry, Paula, I know I messed up. I get the feeling I'm going to be apologizing a lot after I get back. But I'm okay, I'm always going to be okay, I promise." Sniff. /" Okay, John... Just please, get back Home... Get back where it's safe for you."" She speaks for us all, Kid.

You should've heard the uproar Lily and Gil made in their Kingdoms."" Hank! Don't speak another word if you still want those nectar cookies!"" What!? Okay! I'm sorry, Queen Lily!"" Heh..." I couldn't help but crack a smile at my Spirits messing around." Yeah, I missed this a lot."" We missed you too!" They all responded in unison. It felt good to hear familiar voices again." Oh! It's here!"

I couldn't help but voice my excitement, after running like a mad man for the past 5 to 10 minutes, probably going faster than an Olympic Sprinter or Marathon Runner, I felt it in my bones, out of all the visually similar doors, the one I just arrive at to my left, they're here. I quickly opened the door to find that no one was inside the room... No, it's an office? Storage facility? It doesn't matter. Long rows of shelves were all about as I stepped into this room made of cold, grey stones.

I don't have time to admire how depressing it all looks, however. I quickly run where my senses tell me to go. Before long, I stumble on a long box, it's labeled " Prisoner, 4768.", nice to know I was itemized so quickly. I take out the box from the shelf and there they are. 2 bracelets, one black and one purple. I smile as I quickly put them back on." John!"" Little One!" Both Scarlet and Julia called to me in very worried tones." Yes, I'm here now, it's okay now. I'm sorry you guys were stuck here for so long.

But it's all going to be okay, I'm never going to let something like this happen again, okay?" This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. / Sniff! / I could hear the sounds of sniffling happening in both my ears. It's going to take some time for them to calm down... Speaking of calming down, now that they're back..." Hey, where's my Necklace?"" Huh?" Scarlet and Julia were confused by my question. I quickly explained it to them."

My Necklace, the one I have to replace my Wedding Ring. I was wearing it at the Summit... What happened to it? Did it get destroyed?"" Ah!" Lily seemed to have an answer for me." What is it, Lily? Did you just look for it with your Magic? I mean, it has your Blessing on it like the other 5 pieces of jewelry?"" Yes, I do! It's not here, however! It's in another room, its... Further West than where you're located. You just need to keep heading left for now!"" Tell me where to go!"

I took off from where I was and was quickly out the door. I started to run to my left like Lily said. I continued to run through the gray, lifeless, stone-walled hallways lit with torches as opposed to what seemed to be electric lights like with the room I had just left. I really only ran forward and occasionally took turns until I heard Lily's voice shouted with urgency." Stop here! To your right!" I did as she said and I had seen that I landed myself at a gaudy-looking door.

It reminded me of the metal doors I'd see back in my world... Well no sense admiring it... twist... resist... I tried opening the door to no success... Oh wait! I quickly went into my pants and pulled out the keys from the Guard I killed. There were a couple of keys on the ring, I should try them and see if any would work. / jingle... jingle... Click! / Thankfully, after the 6th try, I heard the lock finally click, I feel like a Thief, even though I'm only taking back what was stolen from me.

As I stepped in, I noticed just how large the room was, it was like the factory of a major production company. The contents of the large room weren't too shocking to me at this point. Blades, axes, arrows, armor. It was obvious that I had stepped into some kind of Armory. I don't see any Treasures like when Warrick had Sarah and I head down to the Royal Treasury of Diablos. But the room was so big, that I realized I had a slight problem." Lily, where do I go?""

Continue heading straight, I'll tell you when to turn."" Understood." With Lily's directions, I was wondering around this giant room for what felt like 30 minutes. Eventually, I seemed to have made it to the other side of the room." Take a left." Lily continued to guide me, making me take lefts and rights going towards the complete opposite way I came into the room. Eventually, I finally made it.

I could see it, the purple and green stones made out of a combination of Mithril and Orichalcum that Gil and I had found when traveling to Darkheim. It was sat in a display case, I quickly moved towards it. As I walked, something felt off... I shook the feeling away as I simply wanted back my necklace. / CRACK! Fuzzy! pain... /" Ah!" Shake! I reached out my hand and I felt like my hand was shocked by lightening... What the hell? I quickly looked around to see if anything looked out of place." Right there!"

Harry pointed me towards the ceiling above the display case, there was a red crystal shoved into the grey stone of the ceiling. I watch the crystal as I attempted to grab the display case / CRACK! / A bolt of lightning came out of the crystal... After thinking for a moment, I thought up a counter measure." Barrier!" I cast a Barrier Spell on the crystal. I then began to walk. / CRACK! SIZZLE! /" Worked like a charm!"

I quickly moved as my Barrier was constantly being assaulted by the lightning, just because the Barrier was holding up now, doesn't mean that it couldn't break. Thankfully, I was able to grab my necklace in time. Now that it was done, I could only think of my next goal. Lift... Place... Cold... I placed it back where it belonged. Right around my neck. Seriously...

If I didn't manage to find this before heading back to Paradise, Sarah and Anna would probably throw a fit after they calmed down from my being captured and making it back... Now though, there's nothing keeping me here." Okay... Now I can leave!" I stated my next order of business. It was a simple goal. I needed to get back to Paradise, to Sarah and Anna. I began to walk, and as I did, I noticed something interesting. A small shelf with items on it that I recognized. They were bracelets.

The same kind that the Elves wore to the Summit 2 months ago. There's no doubt that with their attack against Warrick, King Leonard and King Alan, that war was now on the horizon for everyone. These bracelets are terrible weapons, I mean, I was able to protect everyone at the table, but I heard the Guards gloating about how the King said that there were a few 100 casualties by the end of the Summit. Grip! Slide... I quickly grabbed the 3 bracelets that sat on the shelf.

I'll take them back with me and hand them to Warrick, he could probably get the Dark Elves to reverse engineer them. I quickly put them onto my wrists, so I didn't lose them. Now with this, I have Scarlet, Julia, 3 Magical Devices that can act as giant bombs and a rapier with some blood and remnants of a paralytic placed on it. I'd say I'm looking pretty well-equipped for being in an enemy's territory. With a smile, I took my first step to really leave this place... / Thump! /"?"

As I was about to leave with the bracelets, I noticed something terrible that put me on high alert. / Woop! /"?" With a confusing sound, I noticed that the lights of the room were turned on. I knew I was right... Someone opened the door... I was shocked, even more so when I heard something that meant trouble. / Thump! Thump! /"!" I could hear footsteps approaching, there were at least 4 people coming my way. I quickly ran to my right and hid amongst some armor.

I was able to slide behind the rows of armor and landed on the wall behind them, that's when I heard the voices." Well look around! Something triggered the Trap Crystal! Look at it! Someone took something from the stand! No! The King will have my head for this!" cold... slide... I could hear the sounds of people starting to sift through the rows of armor and weapons. I quickly started to move against the wall trying to get to the door out of here. /Click! / LEAN! FALL!

A small clicking sound and I lost my sense of balance. I started to fall backwards. Crash! / Thump! / I landed on my back and butt, the light from the room faded as the wall seemingly reformed from a hole shaped like my body, to as if nothing had happened. With the reformation however, the light I was using to see was gone as well. Regardless of being in the dark, I was just thankful I wasn't caught. I need to stop pushing my luck and get out of this Country as quick as possible.

With that thought crossing my mind, I quickly reestablished my goal. The only issue is that now I had no idea where I was, and I needed some light to see again. I guess I should start one step at a time? / Woosh! /" That's better..." I quickly used Holy Flame and then the room I was in became illuminated...

"!" Only to wish I never used the Spell in first place... What the hell is this!?