Chapter 652

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Chapter 652: The Great Prison Break (1)

“Wait, the president’s weapons are in the security wing?”

This time, it was truly hard to believe.

Weapons belonging to Grade-3 beings would, nine times out of ten, be Myths.

And didn’t Yeongwoo possess a Myth map?

“But there are no Myths here…?”

If there had really been that many Myths here, they would have appeared on the map like flickering flames.

At this, the long-haired man pointed out that very point.

—So you have a ‘map.’

“Yes, that’s right. From what I’ve directly seen on the map, there isn’t even a single Myth here.”

—You’re correct. There are no Myths in Pahalufe.

“Then… what is here?”

At that, the man glanced toward the other prisoners rampaging outside the confinement ward.

—Almost everything we were carrying on our bodies at the moment we were arrested. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the entire underground of the security wing is one enormous armory.

“Almost everything…?”

That must mean everything except the Myths they had been carrying at the time lay sleeping beneath the floor of the security wing.

“In that case, where did all the Myths go?”

At this, the man clenched his empty hand tightly.

—They will be sealed within the Police Bureau headquarters inside the core district. Even your ‘map’ cannot peer inside that place. Just as it cannot dare to traverse the upper universe.

“Ah, the headquarters…”

The sealed—no, confiscated—Myths.

That meant that unless one served their sentence properly to the end, there was no way to retrieve the confiscated Myth.

“No, then does that mean the presidents here are attempting to escape while prepared to abandon their Myths?”

—Can’t they simply write another Myth?

“…!”

—And someday, the Police Bureau itself will fall as well. Far too much karma has accumulated.

He had referred to the countless Myths that had not been returned to their owners as “karma.”

So one day, the criminals would launch a total assault and bring down the Police Bureau headquarters.

‘Wait a second. They didn’t get their Myths back because they tried to escape… That’s not really the Police Bureau’s fault, is it?’

While Yeongwoo entertained that thought he couldn’t quite voice aloud, a tremendous crashing sound rang out from outside the confinement ward.

KWAJAAAK!

“What was that sound?”

—The first barrier has been breached.

As soon as he finished saying that, the man grabbed the back of Yeongwoo’s neck and lifted him high into the air.

Hwaeaaat!

“Wh-what are you doing?”

—It’s time to move, Planetary Lord.

“What…? You’re going to carry me around like this?”

Ignoring Yeongwoo’s flustered protest, the man dashed straight out of the confinement ward.

Paaaaat!

And soon, Yeongwoo could see it as well.

The holographic barrier blocking the very front of the confinement ward.

And just as the man had said, there were large gaps torn all over the barrier—likely created by the prisoners with their bare hands.

“What on earth is that…?”

As Yeongwoo stared with his mouth agape, the man pointed beyond the barrier at the countless silhouettes shaking chaotically.

—The strongest strike force of the Police Bureau is stationed in the security wing. Our task is to find the equipment buried underground before we’re slaughtered by them.

“Ah.”

Only then did Yeongwoo finally understand.

That was what it meant when they said only those who armed themselves first would survive.

‘Even if the presidents are bare-handed… the Police Bureau’s strike force can kill Grade-3 beings?’

That would mean each strike force member possessed martial power far exceeding that of Yeongwoo, a Planetary Lord.

‘The wall of public authority is higher than I thought…!’

While Yeongwoo remained stunned, the man tore away a section of the barrier with one hand and stepped forward.

KWAJAK!

At that moment, hundreds of Grade-3 prisoners confronting the Police Bureau’s strike force filled Yeongwoo’s field of vision.

‘My god.’

Unlike the prisoners, whose appearances were all different, every member of the strike force looked exactly the same.

A black suit clinging tightly to their entire bodies, made of a material difficult to identify, and large goggles attached with complicated mechanical devices.

At a glance, they resembled jet-black divers.

Their weapons were identical as well—every member of the strike force held a pair of black twin swords dangling at their sides.

—Watch closely. Those are the Kaujo. When the day comes that you are arrested by the Police Bureau headquarters, you will meet them again.

The Police Bureau’s strongest strike force, the Kaujo.

This was the first time Yeongwoo had heard that they were also mobilized for arrest operations.

After all, he had never been a big enough figure to encounter them.

“Kaujo… Then when you were arrested, Teacher, did they personally move as well?”

The long-haired man clenched his teeth as he replied.

—They did.

“……”

In other words, every prisoner here was essentially reliving the moment of their own capture.

Chujiiik.

At last, the Grade-3 prisoners and the Kaujo began twitching slightly as they slowly closed the distance between them.

Signs that the fight would soon begin.

So before it was too late, Yeongwoo hurriedly asked,

“Teacher.”

—You certainly talk a lot.

“When someone is arrested… how many Kaujo usually come?”

At that, the man who had been watching the Kaujo unit turned his head to look at Yeongwoo.

—That’s none of your concern.

“You didn’t expect to meet a Planetary Lord today either, did you? So how can you claim to know my future?”

At Yeongwoo’s words, the man gave a bitter smile.

—You’re right.

Then he turned his gaze back toward the Kaujo and spoke.

—At first, a single platoon. The next time, a full company came.

“…?”

Yeongwoo tilted his head, not understanding what exactly that meant, but a moment later he realized.

“Twice…? You were arrested by the Police Bureau twice?”

The man shook his head slightly.

He had not been arrested twice.

“…Huh?”

Which meant there had been two arrest attempts.

The long-haired man had once wiped out an entire Kaujo platoon sent to capture him.

‘If you’re strong enough to kill the capture team, you might not get imprisoned…?’

Of course, it seemed even he had not been able to defeat a full Kaujo company.

And as a result, he had ended up here in Pahalufe, meeting that infamous strike force again.

And what had gathered here today was a battalion-scale force consisting of hundreds of Kaujo.

Meanwhile, the prisoners were unarmed, meaning their martial strength was inevitably far lower than when they had been captured.

‘You’re telling me we have to fight those monstrous bastards bare-handed?’

Bare hands versus twin swords.

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As Yeongwoo stared blankly at this absurd situation, something suddenly occurred to him and he shouted at the top of his lungs without thinking.

“Waaaiiit—!”

At that, not only the Grade-3 prisoners but even the murderous Kaujo all turned their heads toward Yeongwoo.

It was a purely reflexive action.

And at that moment, Yeongwoo—

Saaaaaash!

With the Bastard he had taken back out from the weapon catalogue gripped in his hand, stabbed it into the empty air of the security wing.

“Fight fair and square! Use weapons!”

—What?

—……!

—No way.

At those words, several prisoners with particularly quick instincts leapt into the air, and at the very same moment Yeongwoo recited the line.

“Come forth—One Hundred Seventy-Eight Sword Mountain!”

KWAJAK!

No sooner had Yeongwoo finished speaking than a massive crack appeared in the air.

Then countless blades shattered through the rift and poured down.

KWAaaaaaaaaa!

Like a waterfall.

—S-Sword Mountain?

—Grab a weapon!

—Hurry!

Using the Sword Mountain to supply weapons to the Grade-3 prisoners.

But the ones surprised by this spectacle weren’t just the prisoners.

■ Kaujo! All units, charge!

■ Kill them before they arm themselves!

■ Seal off the flanks!

With the prisoners arming themselves far faster than expected, the Kaujo also rushed desperately onto the Sword Mountain.

Soon, a brutal bloodbath erupted between the Grade-3 prisoners and the Police Bureau’s strongest strike force, the Kaujo.

“…Crazy.”

Even universal-scale big shots like Lemu and Toma would likely be nothing more than cannon fodder here.

They were merely grabbing whatever weapons they could lay their hands on, but even so, the combat power of armed Grade-3 beings was tremendous.

Starting precisely from where the Sword Mountain had fallen, the Kaujo formation—which had looked like a black tide—began to crumble rapidly.

KWAJAAK!

Unlike the Kaujo, who used only the floor of the security wing as their ground, the Grade-3 prisoners freely climbed the walls and ceiling, pressuring their opponents from all directions.

Of course, in the process there were some who died with six or seven blades stuck through their bodies, but not a single one of them retreated or hesitated.

Except for one.

The long-haired man holding Yeongwoo at the rear of the prisoners’ formation.

“Teacher! If I’m not mistaken, you’re quite strong even among the presidents gathered here, aren’t you? Then why—”

As Yeongwoo looked at the man with accusing eyes, the man glanced at the Bastard and spoke quietly.

—Because your life is the only one you have.

“…?”

—Someone has to keep you alive among the traps, don’t they?

“Traps?”

Just as Yeongwoo repeated the word, a strange signal sound came from the Kaujo side, whose front lines had already collapsed.

—KIIIAAAAAAAK!

Immediately afterward, bright white points appeared across the floor, walls, and ceiling of the security wing, and from those points yellow lasers began firing.

Piiing, Piiiing!

The space split apart in yellow lines as if someone were playing cat’s cradle.

It was an attack of such density that neither the prisoners nor even the Kaujo could avoid it—yet astonishingly, the Kaujo suffered no harm even when the lasers touched them.

Only the prisoners had their flesh erased without leaving even a trace when brushed by the lasers.

“What the hell? Are you kidding me?”

—This is why you must never end up imprisoned. Be careful not to have your neck cut by those.

The moment the man said that, one prisoner fighting entangled with the Kaujo at the front suddenly lost his head and collapsed to the floor.

KUUUUNG!

“Ah? President…!”

But lasers were also flying toward Yeongwoo’s neck, so the man hurriedly slammed Yeongwoo down onto the ground.

KWAaaaak!

—Get a grip. There’s no one here who needs your concern.

In fact, even with the trap activated, it was the Kaujo who were being pushed back.

Because the weapons supplied by Yeongwoo’s Sword Mountain had severely disrupted the balance of power.

Even though the heads of Grade-3 prisoners were being severed in real time, several times more Kaujo skulls were being crushed as they were forced backward.

Then finally—

GUUUUUUUU…!

A sound like a massive ventilation fan spinning came from somewhere, and the frequency of lasers rising from the floor began to noticeably decrease.

“Teacher… could this be…?”

The quick-witted Yeongwoo looked down at the floor of the security wing, and the long-haired man nodded.

—It seems we’ve reached the vicinity of the armory. It’s time to dig into the ground.

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