đźź Chapter 8 :
We finally reached the last point on the map I had drawn on my shirt. Above us—we would discover the truth of it all. I asked Ren to use his ability to smash through the tunnel ceiling.
"Ren, I want you to use Gravity Flow to break this ceiling above us."
"Break the ceiling? Fine. Let's see if your plan works or not. Let's test if this ceiling can withstand my fist."
Ren tightened his fist and leapt nearly three meters, slamming his knuckles upward. With way too much excitement, he even shouted something ridiculous:
"Warrior's Fist!"
Did he seriously need to scream out a move name? What is this, Gomu Gomu?
His punch shattered the ceiling, leaving a hole two meters wide. Guards started rushing toward us to surround the area.
"Don't move! You're surrounded—surrender now before you make things worse!"
Even though they looked shaken by seeing Ren blow apart the ceiling with a single punch, they still tried to stop us. Pointless. Ren grabbed me again like a sack of rice and jumped through the opening.
We landed above… only to realize we'd just blown open a bathroom. From outside the restroom, voices could be heard:
"What's that noise, Grot? Was it from the bean soup they served you in prison?"
"What are you talking about? Just because I was in the bathroom for half an hour doesn't mean it's me."
"Let's go check it out."
That voice… Boral and Grot! Just as I thought. Looks like Grot had been using the toilet just now. If we'd moved a little faster, he would've been blasted along with it.
Ren recognized the voice too.
"Takeru-dono, isn't that the guard who gave us the gum? What's he doing here?"
"Yeah, that's him. Let's go face them, Ren."
We stepped out of the wrecked bathroom to find them approaching to inspect the damage. Behind them was Simon—bound and unconscious. Their faces were pure shock. Never in their lives did they think two prisoners could cause this much chaos. Especially Boral, who still clearly remembered our faces.
"Hey Grot, aren't those the foreigners we tricked?"
"Yeah, that's them. What are you doing here?!"
Seriously? That's your question right now?
"What do you think we're doing, Mr. Toilet or should I say Mr. Drugged Gum? I'm here to expose you. You stood right outside my cell talking like idiots, thinking I was under your control. But that gum? It's a narcotic—meant to get prisoners addicted and easy to manipulate. I should thank you, actually. If you hadn't been so stupid, I wouldn't be standing here now."
Beside them was a large wooden crate. Ren noticed it.
"Wait, what's in that box?"
Ren rushed forward. Grot tried to stop him, but Ren was faster. With a single punch, the crate splintered apart, spilling out piles of gold coins.
"Look, Takeru-dono. It's full of gold."
So that's what they meant by "the shipment" that day… Rage spread across both their faces. They clearly wanted to silence us. I couldn't resist provoking them more.
"By the way, Grot… I think your fellow guards will be very surprised to learn that you're a traitor."
Grot's face twisted in confusion.
"My fellow guards?"
"Yeah. I brought some of them with me."
His expression shifted into fury.
"You brat! I'll crush you!"
Grot lunged at me and smashed his fist into my face, knocking me to the ground. His massive arms could easily crush my skull. I tried to block the next strike, but his hand went straight to my throat, choking me. Meanwhile, Boral made his move—running away, abandoning Grot without hesitation.
"Grot, you idiot. You've always been arrogant and easy to provoke."
The shock on Grot's face was priceless. He never imagined his partner would betray him this easily.
"Boral, you traitor! How dare you abandon me! Where the hell are you going?!"
As for me, I didn't expect Boral to give up so easily either. Not even try to fight. The situation was looking bad… Where were those guards? If this kept up, everything would fall apart. But then, my worries disappeared—because Ren was still here.
He delivered a clean kick straight to Grot's face, smashing him into the wall. Then he charged Boral, grabbed him, and struck his neck with a heavy blow, knocking him out cold. Grot staggered back to his feet, trying to recover from the shock, and launched a flurry of punches at Ren. But Ren dodged every single one with ease. One powerful punch to the gut, and Grot was finished.
Just like that—both Boral and Grot were down.
We tied them up with the same ropes they'd used on Simon. As for the useless guards… still not here. What were they doing? I decided to check.
"Ren, I'm going to the bathroom to see what's holding them up."
Back in the destroyed restroom—there they were. A bunch of clowns, trying to climb on each other's backs to get up, falling every single time.
"Look, it's the escaped prisoner! Come down here and we'll give you chicken for lunch!"
What kind of negotiation was that? I'm not some monkey in a zoo. These guards were hopeless.
"I'll get someone to help you up. Just wait."
"You'll help us climb so you can keep escaping? We're not playing hide-and-seek, prisoner! Get down here now!"
Yeah, who in their right mind would listen to you? I could escape the city right now while they're still playing stack-the-guards. I was about to fetch Ren when he came over himself to check.
"Takeru-dono, what's taking the guards so long?"
"See for yourself."
Ren peeked down. When the guards saw him, they tried bribing him too—with chicken.
"Hey, other prisoner! Be a good boy and come down here. We'll give you your weekly chicken meal."
Idiots. As if that would work on him… But wait—he actually looked tempted. Was he seriously considering it? I cut in immediately.
"Ren, sure, chicken's tasty and all, but outside you can eat it more than once a week. Don't forget the prison gruel."
That snapped him back to his senses. I asked him to climb down and pull them up.
"Ren, bring them up here so they can see what's happening."
"That's right—they need to see Toilet Guard's betrayal."
Ren climbed down. The guards all rushed him at once, but they didn't stand a chance. He moved too fast for them to react. One by one, they were all flattened on the ground. Then Ren carried them up with ease.
We had no other choice. They had to see the truth with their own eyes. We dragged them into the reception building.
"Alright, guards. Look around you. Notice anything?"
The guards glanced around in confusion—until they spotted Grot, Boral, and Simon.
"Look! That's Grot, tied up with some bald guy. Those two prisoners must've kidnapped them. And that one asleep… isn't that the prisoner who left earlier today?"
Unbelievable. How dumb could they be?
"You idiots, why would we kidnap anyone while trying to escape? Think! Grot and that other guy kidnapped Simon!"
One guard scratched his head.
"Now that I think about it… didn't Grot request a short leave starting today?"
At that moment, Simon finally woke up. He had slept through everything—even the explosion hadn't stirred him.
A guard stepped forward and asked:
"You. You were the one who left earlier, right? Do you mind telling us what's going on here?"
Simon's eyes went wide in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It took him a while to process it all… but at last, he spoke.