“Weeeeee-!”
“Weeeeee-!”
“[Hey, everyone, snap out of it!]”
“[What the hell is going on at this hour!]”
The prison guards of Tartarus were instantly bustling due to the emergency bell ringing in the middle of the night.
‘What kind of mess is this on the first day…’
John, who was on guard duty outside with Bob, was a bit bewildered by the current situation.
“[Sigh… Talk about bad luck. Hiccup.]”
“[Uh, is this not a common occurrence, Bob…?]”
“[Tsk, not at all. In all my time working here, I’ve never seen anything like this… Hiccup.]”
Bob, who had been drinking heavily just moments ago, was swaying uncontrollably. After glancing around, John gently supported him.
“[And, seeing them all panicking like that, doesn’t it make you think something’s seriously wrong?]”
“[…Definitely.]”
John and Bob silently watched the chaotic guards. Bob, after a moment, rummaged through his pocket, found a cigarette, and lit it.
“[You heard the warning earlier, right? S-class, S-class. The place where that alarm would go off is at least the 6th basement floor. No wonder they’re panicking.]”
At Bob’s words, John recalled the descriptions of each floor he had heard during the day.
The 6th basement floor.
A floor where several major villains were gathered.
Even with the power of Mystic Trace weakening their abilities, they were impossible to control. The guards only went near there to clean up corpses.
“[Even when they were brought here, they were caught by heroes with bad compatibility or S-class heroes. How bad do you think it is?]”
“[…If even one escapes, it’s an emergency.]”
So that’s why this is happening now.
As John, now understanding the situation, looked around with a tense expression.
“[Wait, thinking about it, if it’s just the 6th floor, that’s a relief. If it’s from below that… yikes.]”
Bob muttered softly.
“[Is there something below the 6th basement floor?]”
John, who had clearly heard his words.
“[I don’t know much about it. But I do know that knowing too much can get you hurt.]”
“[?]”
Bob brushed off John’s confusion and told them the important part.
“[Anyway. At the very least, we’ll have to write an incident report.]”
“[Ugh…]”
The thought of having to write a report on the first day made John’s head spin.
“[…An incident report on the first day.]”
“[But since we were outside, we might get off easier.]”
Right, if you think about it, it’s the seniors inside who didn’t pay proper attention, right?
We might get off easier?
Unaware that there had already been a lapse in the guard duty they were responsible for, John hoped that the fallout wouldn’t reach them.
“[If you’re all armed, move to the 4th floor! The advance team has already gone, so they shouldn’t have passed the 5th floor!]”
Following the orders of Tartarus’s deputy warden, who had taken over in the warden’s absence, the guards began to set up on the 4th floor.
“[Everyone, stay alert!]”
Following the deputy warden’s words, the guards prepared thoroughly.
But deep down, they also thought:
‘But isn’t this enough to catch them?’
They were thoroughly prepared.
And as guards of Tartarus, they were trained and capable.
On the other hand, the opponent was just one person.
They hadn’t even been given proper meals, so their health and stamina were surely lacking.
No matter how strong they were, with this difference, shouldn’t they be easily subdued?
“[With this many people, it won’t be easy for them to escape! Just do your job properly!]”
The deputy warden, thinking similarly, gave them orders.
[WARNING! WARNING!]
At that moment, the warning sounded again.
[B-class escapee detected! B-class escapee detected!…]
Another escapee had appeared.
“[What, what? Another escape?]”
“[Each cell has a completely different code, so without the security key, there’s no way to open the door…?]”
“[Did something happen downstairs?]”
The guards began to panic.
Seeing this, the deputy warden shouted at them.
“[Snap out of it! It’s just gone from one to two! If we just stay alert…]”
[WARNING! WARNING!]
And the warning sounded again.
[WARNING! WARNING!]
[WARNING! WARNING!]
With the incessant warnings, they felt something was seriously wrong.
[B-class escapee detected! B-class escapee detected!…]
[C-class escapee detected! C-class escapee detected!…]
[B-class escapee detected! B-class escapee detected!…]
[A-class escapee detected! A-class escapee detected!…]
…
We’re screwed.
For a moment, the guards felt an unpleasant sensation, as if bugs were crawling all over their bodies.
“[…Is the system malfunctioning?]”
Kugugugugu-
A guard’s voice, denying reality, echoed.
Soon after, a mysterious tremor was felt on their floor.
“[Kyahoo!!]”
“[Let’s all get out of here!!!]”
“[Yeah~ If we escape, that’s it!! Yeah~ If we escape, that’s it!! Yeah~ If we escape, that’s it!!]”
“[Kyaaaaaaah-!!!!!]”
“[What the hell-]”
The prisoners literally poured out.
The guards turned pale at the flood of villains.
“[Snap out of it, you brats!!]”
The deputy warden, seeing the panicked guards, shouted at them.
“[If we don’t stop them now, it’ll be a disaster! Are we just going to let them loose into the world again?!]”
“[B-but there are too many…]”
“[Hey, you damn bastards!! If we don’t stop this, we’re all dead!!!! If you don’t want to end up jobless, stop complaining and block them!!!!]”
“[..!! Hey, hey! Everyone, block them quickly!!]”
“[If you’re not confident, at least push them back with your bodies!!]”
“[Fuuuuuuuuck!!!!]”
With the deputy warden’s heartfelt shout, the guards finally snapped out of it and began to block them.
“[Five minutes from now! Just hold out for five minutes!! Then the warden and external heroes will come to help!!]”
“[Keeeeeeeh-!!!]”
“[You liked hitting us all this time, huh, you bastards! Now it’s your turn to get hit!!]”
“[Kyaaaaaaah!!!]”
Escapees vs. guards.
Tartarus’s unprecedented big match had begun.
“Hmm, it’s better to get out quickly.”
“…I think so too.”
The two who had caused this chaos felt no excitement.
“[Hey! Do you want to get locked up again?! If you’re acting as a shield, push them back with your strength!]”
“[Push them baaaaaack!!!]”
Amid the chaos, Maker, no, Akaoni, slipped through their ranks and passed by naturally.
Despite the efforts of the deputy warden and the guards, they began to be pushed back.
‘I was a bit worried since it’s the 5th basement floor, but they’re more useful than I thought.’
Most of the criminals who had escaped were from the 5th basement floor.
While not as uncontrollable as the 6th basement floor, the 5th floor prisoners were still serious criminals.
Among the floors excluding the 6th basement floor, the 5th was the lowest.
“[Die, you bastards!]”
In other words, it was a floor where villains with some experience in villainy were held.
“[T-these bastards…]”
Of course, they weren’t at the uncontrollable level of the 6th basement floor, and most of the 5th floor prisoners had strength that could be subdued by the guards.
But.
“[Ugh… Damn it, fall back! Retreat slowly and hold the rear!]”
“[Damn it, there are too many…]”
The problem was the sheer number that had escaped.
Even if each individual 5th floor prisoner could be subdued, with thousands of prisoners from one floor escaping at once, it wasn’t easy to handle.
“[…At least no additional escapes have happened, that’s a relief…]”
Apart from the initial 5th floor villains, no additional escapees had appeared, which was a small mercy.
“[Just hold out a little longer!! The heroes and the warden will be here soon!!!]”
But no matter how hard they tried to hold out, the guards were pushed back.
Before they knew it, they had been pushed all the way to the 1st floor.
“[Aaaaaah!]”
“[Charge!!]”
“[Keeeeeeeh-!!!!]”
“[Bring the ropes and cages!!!]”
“[It’s time for the trash to be exported!!!!]”
“[Heroes!!!! Warriors!!!! Let’s eat!!!]”
“[What the hell are these crazy bastards-!!]”
The guards and prisoners, horrified by the half-crazed escapees, began to clash again.
As they fought.
“Hmm.”
Akaoni, who had been observing them for a while, turned his head and looked at Alpha, who was wearing a ragged cloak.
“Since we’re on the 1st floor now, let’s sneak out quietly.”
“…Is there a way?”
“There’s a secret route through the forest.”
Originally, it was a route that a group of villains in the original story would use, but this time, he planned to use it first.
“If we can just reach the forest without being caught, we can escape.”
“…Then let’s hurry.”
Alpha, with a hoarse voice and rough breathing, nodded.
Just as Akaoni and Alpha were about to make their escape.
“[Stop right there, villain.]”
Kuuuung-!!
With a voice that seemed to pierce through, an attack rained down on them from among the villains.
Kuuung-! Kwang! Kuung-!!
“[Aaaaaah!!]”
“[Aaaah!!]”
“[Damn it, warden! We’re getting caught in the crossfire too!!]”
After a brief bombardment.
“Wow, damn. If it weren’t for the old man, we’d be dead…?”
“You’re weak, so you need to be more careful.”
The boulders that had fallen as if bombs had been dropped.
Thanks to Alpha’s protection, Akaoni was unharmed.
“[Glad you’re alive.]”
Turning his head, a middle-aged man with a stern expression stood blocking Akaoni and Alpha, his hands behind his back.
“[Go back, criminals. The outside air isn’t for you to breathe.]”
“…Ha, right. It’s not going to be easy.”
The middle-aged man was none other than the hero Victor.
One of the top heroes of the current era.
“Alpha.”
“……”
“Can you create an opening for us to escape from him?”
“…Leave it to me.”
And he was Alpha’s close friend.
To be more precise.
Kuuung-!
“[Hmm?]”
He was a friend.
