Villain With The Strongest System

Chapter 179: Manipulation Done Right

Sophia was momentarily taken aback by Rocky's candid admission.

She did not expect Rocky to be so upfront about his plans to join the raid against her brother as his honesty placed Sophia in a difficult position.

On one hand, she did not want to provide him with the details he sought, as doing so would feel like betraying her family, however, on the other hand, Rocky was her only support system at the moment and had proven to be a reliable friend, so she could not outright dismiss his demands either.

If she denied him the knowledge about how to save his sister, their friendship would undoubtedly be jeopardized forever, shutting down her last safe haven.

Feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place, Sophia struggled to find a way out of this predicament without offending either side as Rocky, reading her conflicting emotions, did not give her enough time to think clearly about his request, as he pressed her for immediate answers.

"Sophia, this is a matter of saving my sister. If it were anything else, I would never put you in a situation where you might need to betray your family. However, I'm not asking you to reveal your brother's defensive plans or to plot against him in the raid.

All I want to know is how to save my sister safely and that's it," Rocky clarified, emphasizing that his only goal was to save Riva and nothing else.

"Hmmm…" Sophia murmured. After being pressed by Rocky for answers, she found it even more difficult to deny his request.

Everything considered, his request seemed genuine and as his friend, she could find no valid reason to refuse him.

In the end, she relented and decided to give Rocky what he wanted.

"Please never tell anyone as to where you got this information from, as if my family ever finds out that I told you how to save Riva, they will have me executed immediately-" Sophia said, as she let out a deep sigh and warned Rocky against the consequences of ever implying that he got this information from Sophia.

"First and foremost, let me assure you, that I have no hand in kidnapping your sister and know nothing about it, however, if your sister is being held in the floor21 palace prison then she must be held in one of the underground cells" Sophia said, as she tried to make it sound as if she had no involvement in Riva's kidnapping at all.

"The underground prison is divided into three levels, with the maximum security prisoners being held in the third underground floor" Sophia said, as she took a broken stick from a nearby bush and began drawing on the grass between herself and Rocky.

"Suppose this square is the palace area, then if you leave about 20 meters from each corner, that will be the size of underground prison level one, reduce it by 50 meters still and it will show level two and reduce it by 50 meters still them that will be the maximum security level three" Sophia explained as her drawing helped Rocky visualize the underground prison structure beneath the palace as an inverted pyramid with the upper levels behind wide and the lower levels being narrower the deeper one went.

"There are secret underground tunnels that run through the first floor of the prison and open up at random points throughout floor 21, which can be technically used for a safe entry into the palace and a safe exit too if you can make it to the two levels underneath and somehow save Riva" Sophia said, as she began drawing connecting tunnels from floor one and explained to Rocky how they could be used to get on the inside of the palace safely.

"The difficult part will be to go from floor one to the lower floors, as they are extremely well guarded and are next to impossible to infiltrate" Sophia said, as she explained the difficulty that Rocky would face in any infiltration attempt to go from prison floor one to lower floors.

"The first floor of the prison can hold close to 10,000 prisoners, and last I know it's filled to capacity.

As per my knowledge, there are at least 2,000 guards patrolling and monitoring this floor at any point, so if you plan on sneaking to the entrance to prison level two, you will have to somehow sneak past them, or fight your way through-" Sophia said, as she drew a line from the entrance to prison level one, to where the entrance was to level two.

"The 2,000 guards on level one will all mostly be tier3 fighters, however, when you go from prison level one to level two, the guards there will be of tier4 strength.

The second level of the prison will hold about 2,000 prisoners and will be guarded by 500 guards and you will have to fight your way through here as it will be impossible to pass by them without being detected" Sophia said, as she shrugged her shoulders and realized the difficulty of the task that was busting out a prisoner from floor21 prison.

"If you still somehow find your way through the swarm of guards on floor two and manage to descend to level three…. You will encounter three tier5 maximum security guards there, who are next to impossible to defeat" Sophia said as she shook her head from side to side, realizing that it was a suicidal mission for Rocky to even attempt busting out Riva from that prison.

"The lowest floor only holds 25 prisoners maximum and is guarded by only three guards who have spatial teleportation skills.

If they feel they cannot hold back any enemy, they will teleport the prisoners to another location but will not let them be busted out.

So in addition to defeating them, you will need to prevent them from escaping using teleportation and while I don't know the value of the other prisoners they are holding in there, I don't think they will let the sister of the champion of Gemini walk easily.

Even if they abandon other prisoners, they will try their best to secure Riva, so I don't know how you will rescue her, even if you try-" Sophia said, as she explained the full layout of the prison to Rocky as best as she could.

As Rocky listened to her words, he also simultaneously checked her aura to see if she was lying or mixing a lie in her words with his aura eyes, however, Sophia seemed to be speaking only the truth today as her aura stayed at a consistent green color.

"It seems like saving Riva won't be easy" Rocky murmured as he heard about all the security measures that the Olympians had put in place to ensure the safety of their political prisoners.

"What about alternate routes, are all tunnels leading to the floor one underground prison the same? Or do some have better security than others?

If it's only me, Erin and Buhara infiltrating the place, do you think we stand a chance?" Rocky asked, as Sophia shook her head from side to side and explained the four underground tunnels entrances that were created to reach the underground prison floor level one.

Three of these four entrances had the other gate within the palace walls, with only one entrance being outside the palace walls, opening deep inside the woods near an unassuming oak tree.

As a child it was this exact tunnel that Sophia often used to sneak out of the palace and it was a backdoor that was created by the palace designers to smuggle in food and essentials someday in-case there was a massive siege on the palace.

"I hope you realize that I'm betraying my family by giving you this information Rocky…. It's not something I'm supposed to do" Sophia said as she clutched her knees and drowned herself in the guilt that she was feeling for having given invaluable information to the enemy, however, Rocky felt no sympathy for Sophia.

For her to give him this information, Rocky had played the part of being her trusted friend for months and given her invaluable emotional support through her narcissistic phase.

It wasn't easy for him to make her open to him, however, he had managed to achieve it through a mixture of patience and manipulation, as first he carefully alienated Sophia from her family, painting them as the enemy in her mind and then helped fan the public sentiment in the university against her, until he was the only friend she had left.

While Sophia did not know any of this, by giving Rocky the information he wanted she had fallen into his trap completely today and Rocky did not feel even a bit apologetic for manipulating her as he knew that if she was in the position to manipulate him, she would do the same, if not worse.

"I know…. And I appreciate it, my friend, I'll remember this favor forever-" Rocky said nonetheless, as he gave Sophia's palms a few good squeezes, to express his appreciation for her support.

Although he had already obtained what he wanted from his relationship with Sophia, he still needed her to believe they were best friends for a few more days as he still had one big use for her left.

A use that would make even Shakuni blush, as not even the god of manipulation himself could ever be as cold as Rocky planned to be to Sophia in the near future.