Chapter 117 Once Upon a Time in Prison
Chapter 117 Once Upon a Time in Prison
Rows upon rows of dungeon cells flickered past as Iryoku drifted deeper into the mountain, entombed within the pulsing sphere of red flesh. Chains, spikes, and cruel machines of torture filled every chamber. Bodies—human and demi-human alike—hung on hooks or were nailed to the walls. Hooded executioners spared only a glance at the newcomers before returning to their mutilations without hesitation.
A thin man strode past, his voice sharp and commanding as he gestured toward the prisoners.
“This one, and that one—bring them to my laboratory.”
He paused before the fleshy orb, scribbling a note onto a parchment. “The same result,” he muttered, then turned away.
Iryoku caught only the outline of his shadow and fragments of the words before the procession carried him farther on.
The descent wound through a labyrinth of passages lined with cells and dungeons. The deeper they went, the heavier and fouler the air became, until at last the floor dropped away into a narrow shaft. The sphere lurched, then shifted as it was hoisted onto chains and lowered slowly into the pit. From above came the grinding clatter of gears.
Darkness closed in. As the chains groaned and rattled, shapes stirred in the gloom—rows of cavern mouths circling the shaft, each sealed with massive iron doors reinforced by thick plates. From behind them, pairs of red eyes glowed like embers in a furnace.
A chorus of roars swelled—guttural growls, savage screeches, claws raking against metal. The very walls seemed to tremble.
What the hell do they keep down here? Cold dread seeped into Iryoku’s bones. Don’t tell me…
Something heavy landed atop the prison sphere. Through the haze he made out a hooded executioner riding the chain, guiding the descent. The man let out a hollow chuckle.
“Hehehe… let’s get you to your resting place.”
At last, the fleshy orb settled at the bottom. Stone walls rose around it as though sealing a tomb. The executioner produced another orb—smaller, slick, and pulsing faintly—and chained it to the prison sphere. Then, with deliberate cruelty, he wound heavy iron links around the mass, binding it coil after coil until it was locked tight.
When his work was done, he leapt clear and slammed a massive iron door overhead. Light vanished.
“Stay there… until Lord Alexander returns. Hehe… I can’t wait to see how he’ll deal with you.”
Silence closed in, broken only by distant snarls and the slow, wet thump of the flesh-prison’s heartbeat.
Iryoku steadied his breath, forcing calm into his chest. He felt his own pulse—faint, growing fainter—then the faint throb of the man beside him. With a weary sigh, he drifted into shallow, exhausted sleep…
…Thunk.
Iryoku’s eyes snapped open. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Somewhere outside: a noise, then the slam of another heavy door. New prisoners, he guessed.
After a while, the echoes faded. He closed his eyes again, tried to focus; hunger gnawed at his gut, but exhaustion dragged him back under.
…Thud. Thud. Louder this time. The prison’s heartbeat jolted him awake. The fleshy walls trembled, faltered—then peeled back in a wet, slopping rush.
The sphere collapsed. Iryoku tumbled out, coughing and spitting; the other prisoner crashed beside him. Chains clattered loose, tangling into a rattling web of iron around them.
In the dark, Iryoku snarled. “Fucker… this is all your fault.”
The man glared back. For the first time, Iryoku saw him clearly without his hat—a pair of white cat ears twitched in the gloom, golden eyes burning. For a split second, an odd urge to touch the ears flickered through Iryoku’s mind, but he shoved it aside and returned to glaring.
They froze in a tense stare. Iryoku’s voice dropped to a low, venomous growl.
“If anything happens to my girls… I’ll kill every last one of your people. I’ll go back to Babel and massacre every citizen in your goddamn city.”
Mr. K’s eyes narrowed. “Stop. Do you even realize where we are…?”
Iryoku bristled, muscles coiled, ready to pounce. His mouth curled into a sharp grin.
“Shut it… pussy.”
Suddenly—
A low hum swelled into a pulse. The ruined orb above them flared—they had forgotten it. Veins lit up, glowing red as they writhed back to life.
“Not again…” Iryoku cursed, springing aside as a heat-hazed vein lashed down like a whip. Mr. K twisted clear of another tendril snapping for him.
The cell erupted into chaos. Tendrils whipped through the maze of chains. Iryoku vaulted, kicking off a wall and seizing a chain to swing clear, narrowly dodging a lash at his back.
Another tendon snapped toward Mr. K, who was already beset by a dozen more. His eyes hardened; his arm shimmered as Leben gathered, shaping into a blade. With swift, surgical cuts, he hacked the tendrils apart and launched himself upward toward Iryoku.
Steel, flesh, and fury collided in the dark cell. Man and monster clashed in a desperate, violent struggle.
Iryoku seized a hanging chain and cracked it like a whip, striking the writhing veins—only for the swing to arc dangerously toward Mr. K.
“Stop!” Mr. K barked.
“Don’t you get it?” Iryoku snarled, swinging again. “I want to kill you. I don’t give a damn about working with you to escape—and I can do it on my own. I’ll slip right past those Death Tree bastards.”
“Idiot,” Mr. K spat, cleaving through another mass of tendrils. “Didn’t you see all those slaves—all those prisoners? Doesn’t it stir anything in you, seeing them like that? They need help.” His voice cracked for a heartbeat before hardening again. He twisted aside, narrowly dodging Iryoku’s next strike. “And that damn Alexander is coming here!”
Clinging to the low ceiling, Iryoku’s eyes burned sharp with fury.
“The fuck do I care about that? All I care about is finding my women.”
A chill pricked his danger-sense.
Mr. K drew a magic revolver seemingly from nowhere and fired instantly. Iryoku, still hanging in midair, twisted aside.
“Didn’t you drop that gun back then?”
Mr. K said nothing—just kept firing into the low ceiling and slashing through tendrils that writhed to snare them.
Iryoku darted back and forth, swinging on the chains to change direction in the air. The last of the tendrils shriveled and fell. Mr. K stopped firing, but kept his gun raised, eyes still fixed upward.
Then he moved. With a powerful leap, he kicked the iron door above them, blasting it open and sending it flying. He vaulted through the gap, Iryoku’s rage driving him to follow. They landed apart, staring each other down.
Iryoku glanced up. The exit was high above—a narrow hole in the cave’s ceiling. Reaching it wouldn’t be hard for him.
But then—
Mr. K’s white cat ears twitched. He picked up something.
A sound. Grinding gears. Chains rattling. A hidden mechanism groaned to life. Magic flared, roaring through the rock walls.
From above, spiked balls and barbed wires rained down in a storm of steel.
The two men bolted into motion, dodging at full speed, weaving between the deadly traps. At the same time, iron doors screeched open along the walls. The grinding drowned out every other sound..
Iryoku chuckled darkly. “This just keeps going and going…”
They landed close together, still dodging the barrage, when a fresh danger struck.
From below, tendrils lashed upward. Distracted by the chains and spikes, neither man avoided them in time.
Both were caught—each ensnared by one arm. The flesh solidified instantly, forming elastic, sinewy tethers that bound them two meters apart.
“Motherfucker!” Iryoku barked, straining against the bonds.
Mr. K fired his revolver into the veins, but the bullets sank uselessly, absorbed like water into a sponge. The prison had chained them together.
Their eyes met, both scowling with raw frustration.
But there was no time left to fight each other. From the newly opened cells rose a chorus of guttural growls.
Figures poured out—humanoid, yet twisted and monstrous. Grey flesh pulsed with grotesque beats; bones jutted through skin, skulls grinned half-exposed. Red eyes burned in the dark as the horrors leapt forward.
GRWAAALL—!