My Cell Prison - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Chapter 49 – Cleared

Its core was exposed.

Han Dong knew very well that it was impossible for him to fight a protracted battle with his current body.

He seized the chance and stabbed his Plague Doctor’s Shortsword right into what looked like a core that was stuck in the monster’s stomach.

There was nothing protecting the core, and a single vicious pierce from his shortsword and the core cracked… He could see the plague energy flow from the sword tip and perfused into the crack he created!

*Crack*

It completely shattered.

The Suture Monster that required a core to power itself became like a puppet that had its strings cut off, losing control as its entire body collapsed to the ground limp like mud, devoid of the threat that it once possessed.

Seeing as the Darkmoon Forest was considered the territory of the Department of Mysticism, Han Dong suspected that the crows that were perched on the tree branches around were able to observe his every move. This was why he did not pull out his specialized metal syringe, deciding against taking the risk and taking a sample of the Sutured monster’s Cell Essence.

“Mmm… What’s up with this forest?”

It turned out that Han Dong was not even given the chance to examine the dead Suture Monster. The seemingly ordinary soil actually turned into mire as it sucked the monster in.

“Could it revive itself?!”

Han Dong had no way of confirming that the Suture Monster that got sucked into the ground would still be able to return back from the dead and continue its assault on them.

Seizing this chance, Han Dong went and helped Pasha up on her feet and together, they hurried to leave the forest as fast as they could.

An hour later, due to Han Dong’s exceptional sense of direction, he did not stray off from his path and successfully made it out of the strange Darkmoon Forest with Pasha.

His conjecture about the monster reviving did not happen… After the ground ate the body of the Suture Monster up, it most probably returned the body back for ‘recycle and reuse’.

They could hear the sound of flowing water; A 5 meter wide stream served as the boundary of the Darkmoon Forest, separating the forest from the faculty building in the center of the forest.

All they had to do now was to cross the arched wooden bridge and they would reach the central building of the Department of Mysticism.

Before taking a step on said bridge, the building was completely shrouded in mist, making it impossible for anyone to make out its overall size.

“We’ve finally made it out! Thank you so much, Nicholas.”

The middle-eastern girl’s eyes were filled with gratitude, even looking like she was about to burst into tears… Without Han Dong, she would have already been dead.

“Yeah, we got lucky.”

“Nicholas, let’s quickly head across the wooden bridge and hand in the test item inside the main faculty building… According to the rules of the test, we’re not done until we hand in the item, so we are still in certain danger from now until then.”

Pasha was right; every second counted.

However, Han Dong stopped midway crossing the bridge. His eyes trained on the crystal clear water flowing underneath the bridge…

“Why don’t you hand over the item to me?”

Pasha was dumbfounded when she heard Han Dong’s question. “What item?”

“The real iron box… You’ve substituted it, am I right? I have no idea when you swapped it out, but if I were to head over to the Department of Mysticism’s main faculty building to hand in this test, I’ll bet that they would determine that I’ve ‘failed’.”

In that instant, the atmosphere between them changed.

“You won’t fail, though points would be deducted from you.”

All of sudden, Pasha no longer needed to lean on the guardrails of the wooden bridge for support despite having had her ankles sliced from before… She was now standing freely in the middle of the wooden bridge, expressionless.

Han Dong immediately turned around and had his shortsword at the ready in front of him while the corresponding traits in his Ghoul arm had also been activated.

To a certain extent, he could sense that Pasha’s real identity was not that of a villain, nor was she trying to be a deceitful student who would intentionally sabotage the test for her own benefit.

Instead, she was the one running interference with Han Dong’s test.

The girl was bright eyed, curiously wondering aloud, “Just when did you find out?”

Han Dong took the real iron box away from her hands and sheathed his sword upon confirming that she was not someone with sinister intentions.

“I’ve suspected you from the very start. It’s not an issue with your acting, but you’ve made a fundamental mistake… You were too reliant on me. From participating in the Space of Destiny till now, teammates would give me the cold shoulder or even disbelieve that I’m a Trainee Knight when they saw my physical constitution, yet you did not suspect a thing when you appeared and even tried to team up with me. By your words, it was completely acceptable for you to carry on waiting by the log cabin for the next Trainee Knight to turn up. There was no need for you to take the risk of teaming up with someone as physically weak as me, who had also picked such a dangerous trinket to boot. It’s possible that you might have used your Divination skills and predicted something, but you’ve been far too passive this whole time, so I can not help but suspect you. After all, there’s no way that I would be able to give a sense of security to any one of the opposite sex given how I look.”

Hearing Han Dong’s explanation, Pasha could not help but laugh out loud.

“Hahahaha! How interesting, to think that’s where I went wrong… Indeed, there’s no way any teammate would readily trust you with your physique. Severe malnutrition, scrawny to the point you look like you’re just skin and bones. Truly terrible. Ah, what a mistake.”

Han Dong continued, “Of course, your performance was far too ordinary as well, completely unlike a Trainee Knight that has spent time in the Space of Destiny… That is why I could basically ascertain that you must be acting the fool on purpose, looking to secretly swap out the key item, taking a backseat to reap the rewards or you could even be a part of the test itself.”

Pasha began clapping her hands when she heard this.

“Well done… I also have another question. When I lost my mobility, what was the reason you chose to stay? Was it out of a sense of chivalry, or had you guessed my identity in advance and considered that I might be a part of the test, or that I would steal the real iron box, so you decided to stay and fight around me?”

Han Dong did not hesitate to answer, “I merely made the choice after considering my personal benefit… In this world we currently live in, there are few who would throw his or her life away for a stranger they had just met when tethering on the jaws of death, right? I just thought saving you would earn me a better evaluation in this test. Besides, your Divination was indeed capable of drawing out the Suture Monster… That gave us the chance to make the first move.”

Pasha nodded, “Okay. you may go on ahead and report to the main faculty building.”

With that, the girl called Pasha Bhatt disappeared into thin air right before Han Dong’s eyes.

At the same time, a certain someone in the Star Observatory revealed a satisfied smile.

————————————-

“Phew… I originally thought that I would have to engage in a difficult fight, but who would have thought that all I needed to do was expose her identity. There are plenty of points that are being tested in this test. All it would take is but a moment’s slip up and I might find myself in real big trouble.”

The heavy mist automatically dissipated once Han Dong crossed the wooden bridge.

Or to be precise, Han Dong was no longer bothered by the mist the moment he stepped into it.

The faculty building was drastically different from what Han Dong had imagined a Knights’ academic hall would look like.

In front of him was a gigantic castle spire that towered beyond the clouds.

Looking from the outside, its medieval architecture looked to have used dark stone bricks, or perhaps some kind of special material that he had no idea of, giving the structure a strong sense of oppression to ordinary people.

Furthermore, Han Dong came to realize a problem.

“Strange… This sort of building that towers over the clouds should be very visible from afar… Why didn’t I see it from outside the Academy walls? Could there be some sort of magic that was involved to hide the spire?”

He still had to cross a necropolis that was permeating yin energy if he wanted to get near this old castle spire.

This necropolis covered a wide area, and it was completely impossible for him to circle around it… It was almost as if the necropolis itself became the front yard for the old castle.

Just as Han Dong was carefully walking on the designated small path in the necropolis, a hairy arm shot out from underneath the ground… The suddenness of this move was like a jump scare to Han Dong, giving him quite the jolt as he turned around and was ready for battle.

A ‘guest’ had climbed out from one of the graves.

As it climbed out while dressed in relatively formal attire, it proceeded to stick two spare eyeballs into its eye sockets. It reattached its tongue and dentures into its mouth before it spoke in a relatively friendly voice, “New Trainee Knight, I am the provisional chamberlain, Archie. From here, I shall lead you into Darkmoon Spire.”