Khan wanted to scream, but only suppressed groans came out of his mouth as he pushed himself away from under the Stal's corpse. Curses resounded in his mind, and pain made a mess out of his thoughts, but intense anxiety also fought against those sensations to remind him about his situation.
His jailer was dead. His escape had begun. Khan couldn't allow himself to waste time or cry over his hand, but the pain felt unbearable. He ended up on the verge of fainting every time his cracked fingers or palms moved.
Khan headbutted the wall behind him in a desperate attempt to suppress part of the pain spreading from his right hand. A second of peace filled his senses, but everything soon returned and almost froze him on the spot. Still, he slammed his head on the dark metal again and used that short moment of clarity to decide what to do.
Istrone came back to his mind. Khan thought about Ethel, but he refused to consider amputating his hand. He wouldn't even know how to do it in that situation.
His eyes eventually fell on the metal protections on the Stal's limbs, and an idea formed in his mind. Khan threw himself over the almost beheaded corpse and tinkered with one of those metal shields to open it. It turned out that the item had two metal laces that featured a single button on their surfaces.
The laces unlocked when Khan pressed those buttons. He tore away part of his trousers before applying his hand on the metal protection and tying it with the help of his mouth. The armor was far too long to be useful with the Divine Reaper, but he couldn't find a better solution for now.
Khan slammed his head on the metal wall again before adjusting his cracked hand on the metal protection and tying it firmly with the bandages. Blood fell from his forehead, but he ignored it. After creating a tight knot, he closed his eyes to enter the meditative state and see whether his mana could help with his injury.
The mana had affected the entirety of Khan's body after becoming a first-level warrior, but only half of it had improved completely. The other half was still in the process of fusing with his energy, and his cracked hand featured many spots like that.
Still, Khan noticed that the pain dimmed when he forced his mana to send stronger radiations. The different suffering that usually accompanied meditations arrived, but he could only rejoice when he experienced that since he saw that his hand was trying to heal on its own.
'Not now,' Khan reminded himself before snapping out of the meditative state and focusing on his situation.
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His experience with the mental barrier turned out to be helpful. Khan pushed away his pain to create a small but peaceful environment inside his mind. He could think almost clearly there, and that was enough for now.
'Can I cross the barrier now?' Khan wondered while inspecting the dead Stal.
Everything was silent. Khan didn't know whether the structure had silent alarms, but they would be outside his control, so he disregarded those fears. His focus was on the Stal's corpse. The alien was so tall that its legs had remained outside the cell. Still, the barrier didn't do anything to them.
Khan took away another protection from the Stal's limbs before throwing it toward the barrier. A crackling noise resounded before that dense layer of mana flung the metal item back inside the cell. Khan bent to his right to avoid the piece of armor, and his eyes inevitably fell back on the dead alien.
'Does it need a genetic signature?' Khan wondered. 'No, they would have been able to give the trays without opening the barrier otherwise.'
That conclusion forced Khan to dive on the Stal. He took out its metal protections, removed the tight suit, and even tore apart the rags that covered its lower body. The two huge dongs of the alien appeared in his view, but he paid no attention to them as he continued searching for something that could make him cross the barrier.
Khan found something only when he inspected the alien's hands. One of them had a metal ring that felt like a magical item after a second inspection. Khan quickly took it, and a change immediately happened.
The crackling noise returned after Khan seized the item. The barrier began to affect the corpse and dug its way through the two legs. It only took a few seconds before the mana cut the alien's limbs.
The deadliness of the barrier left Khan dumbfounded for a second, but he forced himself out of that mental state to jump to his feet. The ring was too big for his fingers but too small to become a bracelet, so he used his cracked hand to wear it.
A wave of pain spread from his wounds as he wore the ring with his little finger and ring finger. Khan clenched his teeth as he checked that the item didn't risk slipping out on its own. Everything was perfect, so he approached the barrier.
The slight hesitation in Khan's movements vanished when he noticed that his left hand crossed the barrier without problems. He even felt the synthetic mana falling on his skin, but that sensation lasted for less than a second since he prioritized getting out of the cell.
'I did it!' Khan couldn't help but shout in his mind when he stepped on the corridor.
His excitement didn't make him forget about his situation. Khan inspected both ends of the corridor and confirmed that he was alone. He instinctively turned to his right, but a series of thoughts inevitably appeared in his mind when he noticed that everything remained silent.
'Are they really unaware about my escape?' Khan wondered as his eyes fell on his cell.
The Stal had to open the barrier to deliver food, but that didn't happen now. Yet, in theory, Khan would have had to cross it anyway since the alien had come to pick him up.
Khan had paid incredible attention to the sounds that had reached his cell during the last days. He knew that the Stal didn't say anything while picking up the other soldiers. The ring didn't even have buttons, so he felt relatively sure that he couldn't send communications from his end.
The only possible conclusion was that the barrier wouldn't have opened at all. Still, that created questions since Khan would have needed to cross the dense layer of mana anyway.
Khan felt the need to run away immediately, but he would need a long time to reach the initial platform. He didn't even know whether the underground structure would feature other areas on his path, but he felt certain that the Stal would eventually notice his escape.
The unclear functions of the underground structure forced Khan to come up with a simple plan. A good escape required a distraction, so he bent forward to pick up one of the severed legs push it toward the barrier.
The barrier rejected the severed leg, but Khan tried a different approach. He put the limb at his side and carried it like the jailer had done with the soldiers the previous days. Then, he tried to enter his cell, and his eyes lit up when he noticed that the dense layer of mana finally allowed the passage of that foreign item.
'They would have needed to retrieve the trays personally if they didn't open the barrier,' Khan summarized in his mind after understanding how the barrier worked. 'I can carry things out.'
Khan let go of the severed leg and hurried toward the next cell. The soldier inside it had noticed that something had gone wrong, and Khan's appearance almost made him shout in excitement.
"Shut up," Khan whispered before the soldier could say anything. "Stay still, and trust me."
The soldier covered his mouth with both his hands after that reminder. A frown appeared on his face when Khan bent forward and wrapped his limbs around his waist, and a complaint tried to seep out of his fingers when he saw the barrier growing close in his vision.
The soldier didn't have time to complete his complaint since Khan brought him out of the cell in no time. The barrier didn't oppose the process, and the man could soon stand up on his own.
"Than-," The soldier tried to express his gratitude, but Khan interrupted him with a glare before approaching another cell.
Similar scenes unfolded as Khan went cell by cell to carry his platoon into the corridor. No one understood how he had managed to escape, but they waited for him to free everyone while making sure to keep their mouths shut.
The last imprisoned soldier was Lieutenant Pouille. The man didn't need reminders, so Khan could carry him out of the cell silently. Still, a gasp inevitably escaped his mouth when he noticed that his entire platoon was standing in the corridor.
"How did you even-," Lieutenant Pouille tried to whisper, but Khan promptly interrupted him.
"I don't have time to explain," Khan replied while keeping his voice down. "I've memorized the path back to the elevator. We must leave now."
Those whispers managed to reach the soldiers on the other end of the group due to the deep silence. Everyone inevitably smiled and nodded at that news, but hands fell on Khan's shoulder when he turned to begin the escape.
"We won't be able to reach the initial elevator if the Stal have habitations along the way," Lieutenant Pouille stated while showing his handcuffs, "Especially with these."
"I know, but it's better than advance without a clear target," Khan complained.
"We can fight our way toward the nearest elevator before stealing something on the surface," The Lieutenant suggested while pointing at the left side of the corridor.
"You can go there," Khan whispered while pointing at the right side of the corridor. "I'll stick to my plan."
"The Stal's forces must have expanded after our defeat," Lieutenant Pouille explained. "The safest place where to resurface is behind the enemy lines."
Khan felt anxious since freeing all the soldiers had taken a few minutes. He wanted his escape to start right away, but he had to admit that Lieutenant Pouille's words held some truth.
The lack of alarms or reinforcements even stated how confident those aliens were about their underground prison. Khan didn't know if the Stal were too stupid to consider those aspects. The situation had too many variables, and his knowledge of Ecoruta wasn't on par with the Lieutenant. He didn't want to put his trust in someone else, but he had to admit that his power alone might end up failing him during a solitary escape.
"Wait for a second," Khan whispered before hurrying toward his cell and carrying the huge Stal outside.
The soldiers instinctively gathered around Khan, but they let the Lieutenant pass. The latter's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Khan removing the metal protections and the tight suit before handing them to his group.
Khan couldn't use something so long for the Divine Reaper, but his companions might find those items useful. Lieutenant Pouille didn't hesitate to pick the suit, while others took the pieces of armor to wear them or use them as weapons.
Then, Lieutenant Pouille followed Khan on the other side of the group as he started marching toward the corridor's left. The soldiers behind them didn't know who was in charge, but they tried to be as silent as possible as the escape began. They even half-bent forward to imitate Khan's movements.
"Why is no one coming?" Khan whispered.
"There might be only one Guko in this area," Lieutenant Pouille guessed without wasting more words in his explanation.
That short line was enough to reassure Khan. The Stal probably had no idea how to use the underground structure or their items properly, and the presence of a single Guko could explain those many flaws in the prison.
"Can you fight?" Lieutenant Pouille asked when his eyes fell on the messy bandages and long protection on Khan's right hand.
Khan had been able to use only his right hand with the Divine Reaper before, but that would be almost impossible now since the long armor would hinder his slashes. He could probably perform something decent if he waved his chained arms from right to left, but that was far from ideal nonetheless.
"We must find a way to remove these handcuffs," Lieutenant Pouille announced after noticing that Khan hesitated to answer, and the latter could only nod as the group went deeper inside the enemy territory.
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