The guards scanned and registered the information about each human teen one by one.
The pitiful group didn't even know what their future would be like; they had no way to contact anyone.
More than fifty had succeeded and become lords, most being Silver while one had a Gold class domain.
Yet here, they were all slaves.
Originally, so many of them were captured, and a lot were thrown into the Death Zone.
Many must have been thrown there even after Neil, and they must have been killed by Magma Bima.
And now only fifty or so survived out of them all.
Neil had hidden his bracelet; he couldn't let them see it.
'Go.' He commanded in his mind as instantly a slime in liquid form silently moved towards the door.
Each slime could only obey one command, but Neil still found a loophole.
Such as, explode at the tenth jump; it is one command but allowed him to make the slimes do two things at once.
The guards didn't even notice the fluid that breezed past them as it perfectly matched the colour of the floor.
Finally, it was Neil's turn. A couple of guards approached him and lazily spoke while gesturing with a hand:
"Stand up."
But just then, the slime that had just touched the door suddenly started vibrating, making light noises against the door.
For a moment, all the Lizzard men in the room turned to look towards the door.
Neil used that chance as he pushed himself up but secretly dropped his bracelet into the body of a slime.
The slime moved towards the corner then dissipated, having completed its job, as the bracelet fell down softly.
But instantly another slime popped out of it, which stuck closely to the corner, changed its colour, and hid the bracelet.
"There is just some liquid?" One of the Lizzard men checked and couldn't find anything, but he reported it back.
Neil planned to use the slimes to keep the bracelet hidden and protected.
He only had the Buzzing Armor now under his loose clothes.
This Lizzard men settlement had the strongest lord at the 3rd Origin rank. Many guards were in 2nd Origin too, but most guards were in 1st Origin.
Currently inside the hall were eight Lizzard men, seven of whom were at Silver of 1st Origin.
Only one was at the 2nd Origin but wasn't even at the Bronze class yet, who seemed to be the leader here.
Yet Neil couldn't defeat him with his current strength; the gap was too big.
One of the two was holding a tablet-like device. He scanned Neil, then proceeded to register him.
But then he noticed Neil actually wasn't present on the list. He double-checked and then went to show it to the leader of their small team.
"Are you sure you hadn't missed anyone when sending them into those realms?" the strongest Lizzard man among them asked.
"No, we carefully noted all the details and assigned them the appropriate realms. Missing anyone is just impossible." answered the guard.
"Huh? Then… where did he come from?"
The gazes of all eight Lizzard men shifted to Neil, who just stood there with a blank expression.
He didn't really have the time to prepare anything, and even Aquamorph or his tricks wouldn't be of much use here.
'Damn, how do I get rid of the leader here?' Neil could only rely on Analyzer here, and maybe try that phantom transformation.
The group discussed something among themselves, then they opened the footage from two days earlier.
After a few moments, they all saw Neil standing in the group of humans inside the prison.
Not long after, he was actually thrown into the Death Zone.
"H-He was thrown into the Death Zone? Then how did he come back?!!"
All eight of them were baffled. Over so many years, not a single person had survived after going there.
All of them looked at Neil strangely. They weren't capable enough to take any decision in such a situation, so the leader reported it to his superior.
A display appeared before him, and after a few moments, the face of another Lizzard man was displayed.
'For now, let's wait and see how it goes.' Neil thought. He hoped to just be thrown into a prison for now.
"What? Are you saying he was one of the humans thrown into the Death Zone?" a shocked voice came from the other side of the call.
"Y-Yes sir, what are our orders?" the team leader questioned.
"…Wait for now. Keep an eye on him. I need to get something checked first." He spoke in a hurry, and the call disconnected.
"Sit down for now." One of the Lizzard men said and gestured, as they focused all their attention on Neil.
Since none of them had their bracelets, they couldn't understand the Lizzard language.
Everyone needed those bracelets to connect with their personal AI, which is connected to the world server.
So without the bracelet, none could even see any messages or use the world server; though these bracelets couldn't be destroyed.
Therefore, no matter how dangerous a fight might be, no one ever removed them.
A few minutes passed in silence, and finally the leader received a call. Feeling a bit nervous, he answered.
"So sir, did we make a mistak-"
"He really is from the Death Zone. That realm has finally disappeared after so many years. Send him to the prison for now, and then continue with your work."
The other Lizzard man commanded, his voice full of excitement and curiosity.
"Yes sir." The call got disconnected.
'Death Zone… how did he survive there?' Shaking his head, the leader ordered the others and then approached Neil.
"Stand up and follow me, hurry up."
"…" Neil nodded as he obediently started following behind him.
Just as the mechanical door opened, dozens of guards rushed towards them.
'Oh well, at least we are not at the worst-case scenario yet.' Neil sighed. If there was no kidnapping, then he would have been living a life of luxury in the human settlement by now.
Though his domain would have been at most Diamond class.
"What's wrong? Are we under attack?" the leader was frightened, taking a step back.
"Return to your task, we will escort him to the prison." Another person, who seemed to be of an even higher rank, stepped out from the group.
"O-Oh sir, you came here yourself? Then I will do that." Turning back, he rushed into the hall.
There were at least twenty Lizzard men who surrounded Neil. The commander of the current Lizzard settlement looked at him curiously.
"Did you survive in that Death Zone?" he questioned.
"Hmm?" But Neil only stared back at him in confusion.
"Oh right, you don't have your translator." Rubbing his head, he decided to bring Neil to the prison for now.
Despite his curiosity, the questioning would have to wait.
After walking through a few corridors, Neil finally found himself standing in a long, empty, and dark corridor.
There were rooms built on either side of it.
"Put him in cell number one." The commander ordered; there was so much they could gain from this.
He was certain whatever was inside that realm was certainly above the Diamond class. They had lost enough top talent to know that.
"Yes sir." The door of the empty prison was opened, then Neil walked inside.
"Oh right, I almost forgot." The commander suddenly spoke, then added: "Put the suppressing shackles over his wrist."
"But he should just be at the 1st Origin, it would be of no us-" one of the guards said. Only dangerous prisoners get shackled by that.
The woman present in prison number two opened her eyes.
It seemed it was finally time.
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Thanks for reading...