Way of the Knights

Chapter 619 - A Serious Problem

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Raven's expression twisted. He felt his stomach churned as he fought the urge to spat out strings of curses. 

'I was asking for it didn't I? I raised the flags! God damn it!' Raven cursed inwardly he stared blankly at the two of tall concrete blocks with varying kinds of evil intent surrounding it. 

It was at this point that Raven realized that the darkness of this place really backfired on them. It would've been okay if it was a normal darkness since that'd be useless against his ocular technique but at the same time, if that applies to him, then it could be the same for the devils imprisoned here as well. 

He couldn't blame anyone for using this magnitude of Darkness Laws in order to hinder the devils from causing any troubles, but at the same time it would be much better if they had devised a way in order for their side to not he hindered by the same darkness as well. 

Because without that kind of advantage, something like the scene in front of him was very likely to happen...

Raven still pretended to follow his route but his attention was focused on the prison for the Ten Commandments. If he follow his route, there is no way that he'd even come close to this prison. The Sect Master might've done that for his safety but at the same time, that won't allow Raven inspect their seals properly.

'Three out of the ten escaped. At this point, it's pretty much the only explanation I could come up with.' Raven thought to himself while he continued following his route. 'Well, it's either that or they died. If such were the case then it's all good. But I really don't think that's what happened here.'

'If I follow this route, I won't get close to that place. I want to see just in case but I also can't disobey the Sect Master. Additionally, it is quite dangerous here. I had this impression that someone's following me closely. I can't see them nor actually feel them but my intuition screams at me that they're there.'

'This is probably why the Sect Master told us to not stop moving. If I stop, whatever these things are, will pounce at me and I'd placed in a very troublesome position. What should I do?' 

'I need to make sure whether they escaped or died. If they died then good riddance, if they escaped I need to know how they escaped and who escaped. Knowing that should make it easier to track them down. Are they still here or anywhere within this valley? Are they the ones following us? Is it possible for me to seal them back. So much things to find out...'

Raven's thoughts were in a disarray as he subconsciously followed his route, recording the whole scene of his trip. Since the recording disk he had was linked to his eyesight, it also captured what he could see with his enhanced vision, therefore it is clear that when they viewed this later, everyone will see that out of the 10 prisons, three looked dull and highly suspicious. 

Time passed with Raven absorbed into his own musings that he didn't even notice that he actually got to the end of his route. It was at this point that he was supposed to rip the seal he was given in half and return to the sect, however he just can't settle down after seeing that. 

Leaving like this just doesn't sit well with him...

Therefore, instead of ripping apart the seal. He just held onto it and decided to take a detour. As soon as he began, he raised his vigilance to the maximum. He was prepared to get out of this place at any given moment, so he continued recording everything that he saw.

He went slow at first, he did so because he wanted to see if whatever's following him, will attack the moment he detoured. He took a couple of steps away from his route slowly and didn't feel anything, he then took a couple more steps and didn't feel anything again.

He continued this way until he eventually got close to where the Ten Commandments are imprisoned. 

'Purity, Patience, Love, Selflessness, Truth, Repose, Pacifism, Faith, Reticence, and Piety. Now, let's see who escaped, died or still imprisoned.'

Raven's guard was up, he gripped the Brush of Wisdom tightly with one hand and the seal to escape at the other. He then moved closer to the prison, still keeping a safe distance away but close enough so that he could see them properly. 

The closer he got to the prison, the thicker the evil intent he felt. He could also hear some whispers turning louder as if it was right next to his ears. He guarded his mind with his firm will and passed by the prison while making sure to keep his presence at the barest minimum. 

He arrived at the first cell, as he did he started feeling uncomfortable. He felt exposed from head to toe, it was as if his deepest, darkest and most embarrassing secrets lay exposed for everyone to see. Raven sharply commanded his will and got rid of this influence while feeling slightly apprehensive. 

'This should be where 'Truth' is imprisoned.' Raven muttered inwardly as he slowly and carefully inspected the cell. And just as he expected, it was indeed where the prison for 'Truth'. He became certain of it once he saw the seal placed in the prison. There is a label next to it that informs that this is prison of 'Truth'. 

Raven then went toward the next cell and the one next to that. He remained in motion as he continuously inspected every cell and checking which cell imprisons who...

He also saw the dull cells that he saw from a distance earlier. And now that he saw it close, it was pretty evident...

'Yep. They escaped alright.' Raven sighed inwardly as he saw the eroded seal on their cells. 'So, the ones who escaped were...Ugh! Damn! That is the worst combination of prisoners to escaped from here.'

'We might be in some serious trouble if they were allowed to do as they please.' Raven clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'Judging from what I saw, I'd say they escaped approximately nine to eleven months ago. We need to investigate this as soon as possible. Hopefully they are still here.'

Raven would've loved to do more than this but unfortunately he couldn't, at least not by himself. Without any further ado, he ripped the seal he held in half and promptly disappeared from where he was. 

He felt a strong pull and when his vision re-adjusted, he found himself standing in the front yard of the Storm Dweller's Peak.

"Oh, there he is." He hears Henry said, "Hey, Raven. What took you so long?" 

Raven shook his head to re-orient himself with his surroundings, when he did, his eyes immediately darted towards the Sect Master. 

"We have some serious problem." 

Everyone was surprised when they heard Raven's somber tone, especially when they heard his words. No one saw Raven like this before. Heck, Henry who had spent majority of his time with Raven never saw nor heard him like this during their arduous climb before, so it was surprising for him to witness it. 

No matter who it was, since Raven said that there is a serious problem, then there is a serious problem indeed. 

The group hastily went towards the backyard since they needed to include Grand Elder in this discussion. Once they arrived, everyone was looking at the Sect Master so he asked them first. 

"Did you guys see any differences in the route you took?" 

"Not in mine." Henry shook his head. 

"I found some but I don't think it's too much of a difference really. In fact it's almost indiscernible." Elder Fallon added. 

"I got nothing." Alwina said while putting down the array disc in front of her. 

"Same as mine." The Sect Master said, this caused everyone to look at Raven, so he asked: "What happened to you."

"Watch this." Raven didn't explain first and instead, he took out the array disc he made, the one that's connected to his eyesight and played it for them. 

Seeing as to how it was vastly different from them made everyone's eyes glimmer, they didn't know that Raven could see this well in that place. But then the image suddenly went moving as if they were watching a memory play out. 

At first, everyone wanted to ask Raven how he did it but the scene also came to the point where Raven was staring at the ten blocks of concrete nearly arranged in a row in the middle of the civilization. What really caused them to be alarmed is when they saw how three out of ten blocks were dull and dim compared to the others. 

As they were starting to get weird ideas, they saw how Raven made a detour. The scene played out where Raven personally checked every prison and their faces warped when they saw three of their supposed to be prisoners broke out of their cell. 

"The one who escaped were 'Love', 'Faith' and 'Piety', which in my opinion is the worst bunch to deal with...."