Chapter 117 – Liberation (Part Six)

The guards stationed in the basement scrambled to respond to the sudden emergency.

When they came to, all the devices used to suppress the Awakened had suddenly stopped working.

They belatedly tried to reactivate them, but someone had already completely destroyed the equipment and left.

It looked like it would take at least a few weeks to repair. In that time, all the prisoners could escape with time to spare; it was a hopeless situation.

On top of that, all communication with the outside world had been completely cut off, so they couldn’t hope for support in subduing the prisoners until someone on the outside noticed something was wrong.

Due to the powerful electromagnetic waves, there wasn’t a single Awakened among the guards, so they had to rely on the remaining small arms designed for anti-Awakened combat.

They even considered the extreme measure of collapsing the entire facility to drown all the prisoners inside, but the explosives stored within the prison had also vanished without a trace.

The few small bombs they had left were far from enough to bring down the prison’s sturdily designed inner walls.

“We’ve shut down all elevators in each section. We’re also blasting the passageways to seal them off.”

*Kwoong!*

As an explosion echoed, one of the guards reported to Il-hyeon, who was standing beside him.

The four Awakened who remained, including Il-hyeon, were an invaluable asset to them.

Besides Il-hyeon and Seo Jeong-hwa, who had arrived first, two more Awakened had appeared at some point.

Kang Hyeon-seo and Choi Seong-won.

The presence of these two, known as A-rank Awakened in Korea, offered a sliver of hope in a desperate situation.

Just seeing them, clad in their black Aegis coats, walking down the hallways seemed to give the guards courage.

As the situation escalated, their attitude was a complete reversal from the wariness they’d shown when Il-hyeon first arrived.

In a way, it was only natural.

“Then don’t we just need to block the central passage?”

Seo Jeong-hwa asked after seeing one of the elevator shafts completely collapse.

Excluding the elevators, there was only one way to move up and down in this vast facility.

The massive passage and staircase located in the very center, where they had first entered.

The grand sight of it was still vivid in her memory.

But Il-hyeon shook his head and replied.

“No, even if we seal it, we can’t be certain they won’t be able to come up that way. All of the tens of thousands down there are Awakened. Thousands of them must have special abilities.”

If they were just ordinary prisoners, they wouldn’t need to rack their brains like this.

But the lower levels were filled with criminals possessing all sorts of abilities, and it wouldn’t be strange if someone managed to break through a completely sealed wall.

“I see…”

“Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re out of options.”

Il-hyeon gave Hyeon-seo a look.

Nodding, Hyeon-seo knelt on one knee and placed a hand on the floor. A translucent membrane formed around her hand and spread out in all directions.

The membrane passed through the people and walls nearby, growing larger until it was out of their sight.

“What did you just do?”

Seo Jeong-hwa asked, having watched blankly.

“I’ve put up a defensive barrier to keep them from getting out. They won’t be able to break through it with force unless we release it from our end.”

“The entire facility…?”

A force field that covered a massive prison the size of an entire island.

No one could hear that it was created by the power of a single Awakened and not be astonished.

Seo Jeong-hwa, who had at least seen Hyeon-seo’s skills when fighting monsters, was merely surprised. But a few of the guards who overheard the conversation looked at them with complete disbelief.

However, they soon received a radio transmission confirming that the passage to the lower levels was completely blocked by an unknown transparent barrier, and they had no choice but to believe what Il-hyeon had said.

The passage leading to the surface, the four walls connected to the sea, and even the floor of the lowest level.

Even if they managed to break down a wall, they would be blocked by the force field. There was no physical way out.

“Doesn’t this solve the problem? That’s a relief.”

Seo Jeong-hwa’s expression brightened considerably.

She had been filled with worry at the thought of facing the horde of Awakened prisoners below, but if they could be contained with a force field, they could simply wait for backup without having to fight.

But contrary to her hopes, the situation unfortunately wasn’t going to be resolved that easily.

“No, even with this, it’s not perfect. There are definitely a few who can slip through.”

Simply blocking them in wasn’t enough.

Even with the prison in the middle of the ocean and Hyeon-seo’s ability layered over it, there were still those with powers that would allow them to escape.

“Here is the list of spatial ability users you requested.”

A guard who had hurried over brought a stack of documents at the perfect moment.

Ordinarily, handing over a list of prisoners to an outsider was absolutely forbidden, but this was no time for them to be picky.

If anything, they were in a position where they had to cling to Il-hyeon, the outsider, and bet everything on him.

“Hmm…”

Even in the urgent situation, Il-hyeon meticulously flipped through the pages, carefully checking the face of every prisoner listed.

From his experience, physically destroying Hyeon-seo’s force field was practically impossible.

That left only those with abilities related to spatial movement.

A spatial ability user above a certain level could transport not only themselves but also other prisoners out on a large scale.

If they just waited around in a situation like this, things could get much worse.

“So about thirty of them…”

“They probably can’t use their abilities to their full potential yet due to the aftereffects.”

The guard told him.

Il-hyeon snapped the file shut and picked up his sword.

“We’re going in before they recover their strength.”

***

Three Awakened stood before the massive entrance leading down.

Il-hyeon, Seong-won, and Seo Jeong-hwa.

Hyeon-seo, who was maintaining the force field around the prison, was naturally excluded and remained above.

*Fwoosh!*

The wind blowing from the long passage made their coat tails flutter.

The stairs spiraled around the circular passage, leaving the central space wide open, making it seem as if the dark background descended endlessly.

Before they made their move, Il-hyeon took something out from his coat.

It was a B-rank Core that Hyeon-seo had brought with her when she joined them using her spatial leap ability.

“I didn’t know you had this kind of sense.”

Il-hyeon smirked, looking at the Core in his hand.

That clueless Hyeon-seo seemed to have matured, showing a different side of herself as time went on.

When they first met, she would swipe his card without permission and cause all sorts of trouble, but such childish behavior had become rare recently.

“In any case, I’ll make good use of it.”

*Crack!*

He clenched his fist, shattering the Core to pieces, and absorbed the Ether that flowed out.

However, he didn’t make the absorbed Ether completely his own as he usually would.

The indirectly absorbed power swirled inside Il-hyeon’s body, filling him with an unfamiliar energy.

Thanks to the temporary enhancement from the Core, his body overflowed with power, despite having fought at full strength not long ago.

“I’m the one who brought that.”

Seong-won, who had been standing silently beside him, suddenly spoke up.

Startled by the unexpected comment, Il-hyeon blinked and looked at him. Seong-won pointed a finger at the shattered pieces of the Core.

“The Core.”

“Ah… good job. I needed one just now.”

Il-hyeon said, slightly bewildered.

A satisfied smile spread across Seong-won’s lips.

He quickly turned his head to the side and ducked it slightly, as if trying to hide it, but his expression gave him away.

Seeing this, Il-hyeon paused for a moment as if his brain was buffering, then burst into laughter.

“Puhaha! You’ve changed a lot too while I wasn’t looking.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Seong-won played dumb, embarrassed now that Il-hyeon had started laughing.

But his face was already slightly flushed.

Il-hyeon wanted to tease him a little more, but unfortunately, there was no more time for jokes.

A few human figures were visible down below, coming up the stairs.

They were all wearing shabby prison uniforms, their expressions murderous, as if they intended to take over the surface.

“Buy me some time. It’ll be quick.”

Il-hyeon said to Seo Jeong-hwa and Seong-won standing on either side of him.

Seo Jeong-hwa stepped forward first.

“I can handle a few guys like that on my own. It’s been a while, I should warm up too. I’ve been stuck between all these ridiculous monsters for no reason…”

“You made sure to turn on your Defensive Coat’s purification function, right?”

“Yes, could you not ask me that twice?”

*Fwoosh!*

Seo Jeong-hwa leaped, crossing the distance to the stairs on the other side of the chasm in a single bound.

Landing in the middle of the unsuspecting prisoners, she kicked out before they could even react.

*Thwack!*

A man who was kicked and a woman who was pushed by him lost their footing and plummeted into the deep passage below.

As their screams echoed, Seo Jeong-hwa’s right arm turned red, and she drew the sword holstered at her waist.

The other startled prisoners quickly drew their weapons, but they were already a step too late.

The sword, swung with her enhanced body, easily sliced through their weapons and cut the prisoners in two.

“Yargh!”

The only remaining man behind Seo Jeong-hwa raised his sword high.

But Seo Jeong-hwa, noticing him, immediately twisted her body and extended her leg.

Her enhanced leg, now also red, stomped the man’s neck, embedding him into the wall.

The sword fell from the man’s limp hand, and Seo Jeong-hwa picked up the blade he had dropped and examined it.

“Is there a weapon-creation Awakened here?”

Judging by its durability, it wasn’t an ordinary weapon. An Ether-based weapon was unlikely to be in the lower levels of a prison, which left only one possibility: a special ability.

If some prisoner was using their ability to create decent weapons and distribute them to their fellow inmates, it could be quite a headache.

In any case, the six prisoners who were coming up had been dealt with in an instant. Having had a proper fight for the first time since being kidnapped by Il-hyeon, Seo Jeong-hwa looked rather satisfied.

There was just one thing that bothered her.

Her own arm and leg, which had turned red.

It was a very useful body enhancement ability, but it was one she had gained through a horrific, unwanted procedure.

When she was brainwashed, she had used the power without a second thought, but not anymore.

Most of the terrorists currently rampaging outside had the exact same ability, and it brought back unpleasant memories.

‘But now’s not the time to be picky.’

*Crr-crack!*

Suddenly, the thick walls surrounding them began to deform and clump together.

*Grind. Grind.*

Giant spiders began to take shape one by one, soon filling the area and clinging to every surface.

The ceiling, the walls, the stairs.

The spiders plastered everywhere created a scene straight out of a monster-themed horror movie.

Even Seo Jeong-hwa, who knew they weren’t real monsters, recoiled in disgust at the grotesque appearance of the giant spiders.

But amidst the creatures, who were dripping green poison from their mouths, stood Il-hyeon, completely unfazed.

“Shall we begin the cleanup?”