Easy to say when you aren't the one having to walk with needles poking your muscles from the inside. Unlike Reis, the blue screen of doom still had the fast travel option, just popping up whenever, wherever.
But for the man who had sticks for limbs, currently much closer to shutting down, one step was an introduction to another advanced course in pain. Two was a surprise test. And Reis was failing spectacularly so far. He didn't even know the way for real, just guessed.
At least the crooked screen finally decided to be helpful and planned out an exit route. Even ungrateful complaints can be helpful if submitted properly.
The only obstacle left now was the guards, or by textbook terms, kidnappers.
If a random person were shown a picture of Ann and asked how many people they would need to guard him, the answer would be one. At best, two. Ask the same question to the palace security teams, and they'd also say two. Two from each team, excluding the mages, specialized knight orders, and healers from the church.
No, that lineup wasn't to protect him; another team was paid a hefty salary for that job...probably facing hell around this time. This team was solely dedicated to keeping him from running away.
If there was anything Ann was good at, it was escaping and slipping past surveillance. Be it like a child looking for a midnight snack or a criminal hiding from the police.
The counselor was well aware of this, which is why he put together a team of fifteen despite the cost. The passageway was also enchanted with many traps. A perfect arrangement, which left a huge dent in his funds despite what he received for the task.
|Trap under the seventh tile.|
None of that actually worked in the end. The guards had fallen asleep, and the system was working overtime to help the weak creature.
Within twenty minutes, Reis managed to find the exit beyond which should be the palace walls.
Should be.
Walls of the royal palace were nothing like the visually soothing architecture beyond it. The twenty-foot-wide fortification always made Reis wonder if there was some ancient civilization living inside. There was enough space in there; he wouldn't be surprised by the discovery.
That was back in the game. Back when he hadn't made its acquaintance yet. Looking through Ann's eyes, it was more like a barrier that wouldn't let him out, but still let burdensome creatures in. So many fond memories of hanging from those walls, falling down, being dragged away.
Even though the walls weren't visible from every corner of the capital, the torches lit on every pillar and the mana crystals shining at the guard posts above the walls were hard to miss. It was a landmark of Vidalia.
Reis could still see them. Shining like distant stars waiting to hear the prayers of mortals. So distant that they definitely wouldn't hear his screams even if he suddenly conjured up microphones.
At least that would wake the kidnappers sleeping not too far, scare away the bats resting peacefully on the branches, and perhaps attract a few wild animals. As long as someone benefited, it didn't really have to be him. Right?
|Before you complain, the other path is closed, and you wouldn't have been able to open it.|
The brain understood the logic. No one in their right criminal mind would keep the secret passageway open in the palace after kidnapping a prince. But the heart… his weak, pained heart, couldn't help breaking after seeing the dense formation of trees on all sides. Whoever called the Eastern forests a peaceful garden of Mother Nature needed a good beating.
Weak, weaker, weakest wouldn't have been Ann's default adjectives if he had the skillset to survive in a forest.
One look at it, and Reis knew he wouldn't find a way out if he went any deeper, not before becoming an unsatisfactory meal for wild animals. He even considered stepping back into the passageway and resigning to his fate.
Obviously, that wasn't happening. He didn't spend twenty minutes hopping around traps just to go back like a defeated soldier, no matter how tempting the idea was.
Walking back to the other end was also out of the question. Hell, he wouldn't even try traveling all the way there on a horse when he could definitely faint and fall off at any moment.
Trees to the left, bushes to the right. The judgmental gaze of an owl proudly sitting in a tree.
Did ghosts exist here? He would make a perfect ghost if he died here. A beautiful ghost that lured travelers into the forest and fed on their blood. But I look too much like a ghost.
Reis didn't know that travelers would definitely follow him, even as a ghost, and offer their blood willingly if he actually tried it. Ann had that devilish charm. But neither of the two was interested in drinking blood. Unhygienic.
On a positive note, Reis had grown so used to the cold sensation of being watched that the air reminiscent of winter didn't really bother him much. Or maybe it was the numbness that stubbornly followed the pain.
The remaining option was to hide. He was no better than a vegetable with working limbs. With no guarantee that they won't fall off.
|Your mana channels will be fixed within an hour. You do not need to worry about your limbs.|
An hour. Reis could probably manage that long. Once the sun rose, he could find a way to the capital.
"Where is he!?"
Shit. The distant echo put an end to his thoughts. Reis wasn't expecting them to find it so fast. Was the universe personally pouring water on his plans?
"Go south."