Chapter 88: Prisoner
Before long, Yuan walked out of the inner offices of the guild, appearing before Noah.
The guild master’s footsteps were measured, and he carried himself with the practiced air of a man used to commanding respect, but the atmosphere in the room shifted the moment he drew near the white-masked figure.
The adventurers in the lobby watched in hushed silence as their guile master approached the mysterious powerhouse who had arrived in a flash of lightning.
Yuan had a polite smile on his face, the kind of professional mask he wore when greeting high-ranking officials or wealthy patrons.
Yet, behind that polite smile was a deep, cold fear that he struggled to keep from reaching his eyes.
His hands were clasped behind his back, hidden from view, because he didn’t want anyone to see the slight tremor in his fingers.
He kept thinking back to the insane power he saw Noah use when fighting that shadow woman in the wasteland.
The memory was burned into his mind like a brand—the overwhelming pressure, the violent crackle of mana, and the absolute dominance Noah had displayed over a Grandmaster-level opponent.
Yuan had seen many battles in his time as a guild master, but he had never seen a magus move with such terrifying might.
What terrified him the most, however, was how he had witnessed Noah strip the shadow off the woman’s body.
In one moment, she had been a terrifying entity of shadow, and in the next, Noah had seemingly reached into the very fabric of her being and reverted her to a normal human.
To Yuan, it hadn’t just looked like a counter-spell; it had looked like an act of fundamental erasure.
He himself wasn’t sure yet whether Mr. White really had the ability to strip one of their mana core and channels.
The mere thought made his blood run cold. If a magus could truly delete the cultivation of another, they were more than just a powerful warrior—they were a living nightmare for anyone who walked the path of magic.
Yuan couldn’t stop wondering if the woman had lost her powers permanently or if it was a temporary suppression, but the ambiguity was enough to keep him awake at night.
He gulped, the sound loud in his own ears as he stopped a few paces away from the man in the white demon mask.
’There’s too much mystery surrounding him...’ Yuan thought, his mind racing through every scrap of information he had tried to gather on "Sir White."
He had found nothing—no history, no family name, no record of his training.
’We need to be very careful dealing with him. One wrong word and the entire guild could be turned to ash.’ he thought.
"It’s a pleasure meeting you again, Mr. White," Yuan said, his voice smooth despite the frantic beating of his heart.
He bowed his head just low enough to show respect without appearing completely submissive, though his instincts were screaming at him to keep his eyes on the masked man.
Noah nodded, his movements sharp and devoid of any unnecessary flair.
The white demon mask stared back at Yuan with its red sockets, making the guild master feel as though his very soul was being appraised.
"You know why I’m here," Noah said, his voice modulated into that chilling, metallic resonance that made the nearby adventurers shrink back further.
Yuan shivered slightly, the coldness of Noah’s tone cutting through his professional composure. He didn’t need to ask for clarification.
"Yeah," Yuan replied, his voice a bit more hushed. "Follow me, I’ll lead the way."
He turned around and walked into the guild.
Noah followed behind him, his footsteps making no sound on the polished stone floor.
The contrast between them was stark—the guild master in his fine robes leading the way, and the masked demon walking in his wake like a silent shadow of death.
Minutes later, they arrived in front of a black door at the very end of a long, secluded corridor.
The door was made of a heavy, dark wood that seemed to absorb the light around it, and it was reinforced with iron bands that were etched with faint, glowing runes of warding.
There were no handles or keyholes visible on the exterior, suggesting it was opened by magical means alone.
Noah looked around, his brows furrowing slightly behind the white mask.
The hallway was very dark, the torches along the walls spaced so far apart that large patches of gloom swallowed the corners of the ceiling.
Despite the lack of light, Noah’s enhanced senses allowed him to perceive his surroundings.
He could still make out other black doors similar to this one around, spaced out along the corridor at precise intervals.
The air here was colder, smelling of old parchment, cold iron, and the sharp tang of high-level enchantments.
’The guild’s prison... it’s larger than I expected,’ he thought to himself.
This entire hallway was located deep underground, carved into the bedrock far beneath the bustling streets where the common adventurers traded and drank.
It felt like a tomb, silent and stagnant, contained within a labyrinth of these heavy, reinforced black doors.
Each door was identical to the last, forming a repetitive, soul-crushing line of obsidian portals that hid the guild’s darkest secrets from the sun.
He realized as he walked that this was mainly where the guild kept any dangerous threat or magus who was still under investigation.
Anyone who possessed a mana core and had used it against the guild’s interests eventually found themselves behind one of these iron-banded doors, waiting for a judgment that rarely came from a court of law.
Their system was different from the Grand Magus Order, though.
While the Order acted as the official judicial and executive arm of the continental government, the Adventurer Guild operated on its own set of internal codes.
They didn’t arrest people based on public laws or civil protection; instead, they arrested based on the missions they received or those directly opposing the guild’s private interests.
If a target interfered with a high-paying contract or threatened the guild’s monopoly on certain resources, they were brought here, regardless of their standing with the official authorities.
This was exactly why they had conflicts with the Grand Magus Order, which they had never been able to resolve.
The Order’s high-ranking officials felt the Adventurer Guild was always passing their boundaries, acting as a sovereign power when the order was already existing.
To the Order, this underground prison was an illegal dungeon; to the Guild, it was a necessary tool for survival and profit.
The tension between the two factions was a cold war fought with paperwork and occasionally blood, but here, in the silence of the underground, the Guild’s authority was absolute.
Yuan reached the specific black door at the end of the hall and placed his hand against a glowing red rune.
With a heavy, metallic groan, the door slid aside, revealing a fairly large dark room that smelled of damp stone and cold, stagnant mana.
As Yuan entered, a line of candles lit up at the sides of the room. One by one, the small flames flickered into existence, the magical fire casting long, dancing shadows against the walls.
The sudden light revealed the true nature of the chamber, cutting through the oppressive darkness and illuminating the center of the room.
Noah followed behind him, his eyes narrowing slightly behind the white demon mask.
He didn’t let his guard down for a second, his senses scanning every inch of the room for traps or hidden guards.
There were thick black iron bars in the middle of the room, dividing the space into two distinct sections.
These weren’t ordinary bars; they were forged from rare metals and reinforced with strong magic suspension artifacts that were meant to stop whoever was in them from using magic.
Within the bars was the woman with short brown hair.
She was suspended in the center of the cage, her head bowed and her breathing shallow.
Her hands were spread out to the sides and bounded with thick black fetters and chains that connected to the ceiling.
The chains were pulled taut, keeping her arms at an unnatural angle that looked both painful and exhausting.
The metal of the fetters bit into her wrists, the dark iron glowing faintly with the same suppression magic that permeated the room.
She also had a black iron collar on her neck. It was a heavy, jagged piece of metal that looked more like a torture device than a restraint.
A single, thick chain extended from the front of the collar, pinning it to the ground several metersh away.
The chain was bolted into a heavy anchor point in the floor, ensuring that even if she managed to break her arm restraints, she wouldn’t be able to lunge forward or even move her head properly.
Her whole body was also wrapped in chains. From her shoulders down to her ankles, the dark metal coiled around her like a constricting serpent.
Every movement she made resulted in a dull, metallic clink that echoed off the cold walls.
She looked like a broken doll, a shadow of the powerful magus she had been just a day prior.
The sheer amount of restraint used on her was a testament to the fear she had instilled in the guild—and the power Noah had displayed by defeating her.
Noah’s eyes widened behind the hollow sockets of the white demon mask as he took in the full extent of the prisoner’s condition, barely holding himself back from shrinking at the sight.