Way of the Knights

Chapter 620 - Escaped Prisoners

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"This is indeed a serious problem..." The Sect Master's face went unsightly as he saw that three of their prisoners escaped without them being alerted about it. 

" 'Love' 'Faith' and 'Piety' huh? Any of those three could use their power to build a large cult should they managed to roam free within the Divine Realm. That's trouble." Grand Elder Gin commented while massaging his temples. 

"The Commandments could also transform their followers' Faith into an energy source of feed it to the Devil Emperor. If the Devil Emperor recovers his strength, then we would be in some serious crisis. We must search for the whereabouts of the escaped convicts. We have to cut them down before they could grow any more problematic." Henry commented while also feeling stressed. 

"You did well in spotting this." The Sect Master patted Raven's back. "I can't believe that they managed to escape without our notice. Still, we don't have much time." 

The Sect Master went silent for a bit before he turned to Raven and asked: "I'll be giving you a difficult mission. Are you up for it?"

"What do I need to do?" Raven asked first. 

"I'll send you back there, alone." The Sect Master told him, "Your task is to search for tracks of the escaped prisoners. See if they are still there and if you could, put them back behind bars. What do you think?" 

Raven thought for a bit before answering: "Sure, I can manage. If there are only three of them, I should be able to handle them on my own. But, just in case there's more to this incident, be prepared to send me some back-up."

"Also, it would be wise to comb the ranks of the sect rather discretely, just in case they manage to infiltrate our ranks." Raven drew the Brush of Wisdom and began drawing several runes in the air.

Moments later, two solid rune formed ahead of him. They materialized into being and was passed onto the Sect Master for safe-keeping by Raven.

"This one is a Tracking Rune. Activate it using your energies as you walk around the sect. If it senses any Devils nearby, it will show a reaction. The closer you are to the Devil, the stronger the reaction is. That rune can also locate the Commandments should they be here."

"The other one is a Binding Rune. Once located them using the tracking rune, activate this one and it should immediately trap them within it." Raven explained the uses of the runes he created just now. 

The Sect Master tried activating the Tracking Rune and it glowed with a soft light, aside from that it didn't do anything. This means that there are no devils around which caused everyone to sigh in relief. 

"Alright, since that's settled, send me back there. We need to hurry." Raven said to which the Sect Master agreed. 

They went towards the front yard where the Sect Master began chanting the ritual to open up the passed towards the Valley of the Despair. A few minutes passed by and the familiar spatial tear appeared in front of them, Raven already made some preparations to before hand so he could leave right away. 

Before leaving, the Sect Master handed him another seal that could send him back here in case he found himself in danger. Also, Raven left a seal behind that he could use to ask for reinforcements. 

Once Raven made sufficient preparations, he didn't waste any time and immediately entered the passage that will transport him to the Valley of Despair. 

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*Swoosh!*

Raven silently appeared in the same location where he was a couple of hours ago. He was greeted by the similar darkness which greatly hindered his sight. Now however, Raven was fully prepared. 

Not only did he manage to nullify the darkness laws around this place through the use of runes, he also made himself pretty much invisible to any kind of detection. Even his arrival here didn't cause any fluctuations in his surroundings so that the prisoners wouldn't be alarmed of his presence. 

'Okay, let's see what they're up to.' Raven thought inwardly as he slowly spread his sense around in order to check every corner of the mountain top. 

Raven decided to take things slowly this time. Instead of going directly towards the civilization below him, he wanted to check this very mountain he's on for clues first. 

'I don't sense the presence behind me. Could it be that those unseen beings couldn't detect me right now? Or do they just follow me when I arrive at the civilization below? Whatever, I'll find out soon.' 

Raven then began walking slowly, he also made sure to record everything that he was seeing just in case. He took his time inspecting the mountain, searching for clues or any tracks of the escaped prisoners but he failed to see anything. 

'Okay, I've covered this area. Let's have a tour of this forgotten civilization shall we?' Raven murmured inwardly as he entered the place where the Commandments are imprisoned. 

He was expecting to feel the sensation of being followed once he entered but to his surprise, it's still weren't there, which gave Raven the idea that he might've hid himself a little too well. This was a good sign for him but he still didn't dare to stop moving as per warnings of the sect master.

Even though he hid himself quite well right now, he still didn't want to arouse any suspicion by accident. 

Raven carefully toured the ruined civilization, entering some dilapidated buildings with outmost care in order to not leave an traces of his own while also searching for clues. 

Due to his preparations, the darkness around him was rendered useless. Now he could see this where he was going clearly as if it was daytime. 

At first, Raven didn't see any clues which made him want to go directly towards the core area but he insisted to scour every inch of this place in search for clues since he won't be able to feel at ease without doing so. 

Raven slowly worked his way around the civilization, shrinking his investigation ground ever so slowly in order to not miss out on any kind of clues. When he got to inner area which was just right next to where the rest of the prisons were located, Raven found what he was looking for. 

"We managed to escape their investigation once more. This time, we only needed a couple of months and we'll be able to free the rest." 

Raven froze at his tracks upon hearing those words, he slowed down his breathing to nearly a halt and took careful and measured steps closer to the source of that sound. 

"Are you really sure that we didn't get caught? There was one guy who came awfully close to our prison cells right? What if he managed to report his findings?" 

"I'm not so sure about that. Didn't you see how slowly he was moving? If I'd venture a guess, I think that guy was just a little dare devil. He wanted to see if something will happen if he didn't follow the route he was given and since we didn't attack him, I don't think we aroused any suspicion at all."

"That's true. Additionally, didn't you notice how pale he looked? He must've been scared out of his mind and was just trying to prove something to himself by going off-route. We've seen that happen a couple of times, did something happen? Nothing, right? So I suggest you calm down."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe I'm just really overthinking things. Geez, I need something too eat. Too bad the humans who visited us were all pretty strong this time, had they brought someone a little more delicate then we'd be feasting right now."

"True that.' The other two nodded their heads in agreement. 

'So they're idiots. I see...' Raven muttered inwardly as he continued to close in on the spot where he could here the talking. 

The source of the talking was inside a broken hut. Raven managed to get close to the window and peek out just to get a closer look of the prisoners. 

When he saw them, Raven's eyes narrowed. He didn't expect the Commandments to look a lot like humans do. Expect for their darkened skin for whatever reason, they looked exactly the way humans do. The only reason why Raven was still convinced that these are the escaped commandments was because of the contents of their conversation and the thick evil miasma oozing from their bodies. 

Additionally, Raven could feel his will being affected as he stared at them, meaning that their powers were having an effect on him. Thankfully, Raven's will was strong enough to resist this and maintain his clarity. 

"Oh well, I guess we wouldn't have to wait that long anymore. We've been imprisoned here for eons already, a couple of months wouldn't make any difference. But once we're free though I swear I'd eat as many humans as I could, Gah! It's been so long since I'd tasted fresh blood and flesh! I'm also horny as hell!"

"Keep it in your pants Brother. Soon...very soon. We'll regain our freedom, and the Divine Realm will be ours."

'Yeah, that is not happening under my watch!'