"Argh!"
"Help!"
"Shit, he has magic—run!"
Swish! Swish!
A few officers who ran in without knowing that a Blade of Time was waiting for them got their heads sliced apart, and Auran ran past them without taking a moment to glance at the dead bodies. However, he was smiling.
"Damn, what's going on? My Blade of Time seems to have advanced its time drastically. But that's not all—all of my spells related to time seem to have reduced casting time and even increased in power.
Is this because of the time rift in my head?"
While pondering, Auran was running past a guardhouse, and just as he stepped out from the room, an ice spark landed extremely close to his face.
"Nice—guards with proper weapons."
It was the last barricade in the headquarters section that he had to pass before jumping into the section where the prisoners worked. In the little time he had spent here, Auran managed to memorize the layout of the prison.
This whole prison is built like a square, with four sections being in each corner of the square, and in the middle is the headquarters where the high-ranking officers are stationed.
There were eight guards with mana blasters in their hands, all pointing at Auran. They pulled the triggers. Sparks of fire, ice, and other elements erupted from the mana blaster's core and shot pure elemental offensive spells at Auran.
{Delay Time}
With those words, all the ice, fire, and other elemental offensive spells aimed at Auran halted in mid-air, their movements extremely slowed but only for a very short time as they show sign of returning to there original speed after a few second.
"He's a weird one," one of the officers muttered, as he had never seen a magician use a spell like that.
Swish!
The next moment, a Blade of Time flew through the air, slicing off the head of the officer closest to Auran.
{Earth Spark}
Came the next spell from Auran—it emerged directly below the mana blaster that had fallen from the dead officer, sending it into the air.
{Puppeteer's Thread}
Then came another spell Auran cast, directing his hand toward the mana blaster. From his hand, a thin silver-like thread ejected, flying through the air before securing itself around the mana blaster.
Auran pulled his hand back, and the thread pulled the mana blaster toward him.
All of this happened within a matter of two seconds. The other officers had no time to prepare for any of it. As Auran grabbed the mana blaster, the remaining six officers were preparing to fire at him again.
Clink!
Auran pulled the trigger of the mana blaster, sending a spell of fire at the nearest officer. Then, casting another {Delay} spell, he continued to launch five more elemental sparks.
After all the officers were down, Auran hurriedly collected the mana blasters from their hands.
"Although relying on other fields' basic spells isn't practical, it would have been difficult without using them just now," Auran muttered, acknowledging his own mistake. As a time magician who dreams of advancing in the path of time, using other paths' magic is not a wise decision for him.
If this action becomes a habit for a magician, once he bonds with his own magic field through his mana, he would face several difficulties when trying to use only one specific field of magic. So, they have to get used to their chosen field before the bonding is complete.
After collecting all the mana blasters, Auran opened one of them and slightly cracked the mana core. Looking back at the path where the officers were running behind him, he threw the rigged mana blaster and ran toward Section Two.
In Section Two, the four individuals—Henry, Marian, Nimuk, and Octo—were watching the chaos unfolding at the headquarters. That was when they saw a familiar figure rushing out from the main gate of Section Two.
"Auran!"
The four of them ran toward him.
"What's happening? Why is there smoke coming out from the headquarters?" asked Henry.
"I could explain it in detail if you'd like, but I don't think our escape plan would succeed if we waste our time," Auran said nonchalantly.
"Hey, where is your necklace?" It was then Marian noticed that the mana-suppressing collar around Auran's neck was gone.
"Isn't it obvious? I broke it."
"You broke it?" The four of them repeated what Auran said as if they had just heard a something unbelievable. But in the next moment, Auran grabbed Henry's neck and crushed his necklace.
"Ahg!"
Feeling the rushing energy of mana flowing through his body, Henry was delighted.
"You monstrous bastard," he said after Auran broke Marian and Nimuk's necklaces. Simultaneously, Octo also attached himself to Auran's side.
"Who is this guy?" Auran asked in confusion.
"Ah, come on, don't do me like that. I'll be a great help to your escape plan if you include me," Octo said in an innocent voice.
"Okay, you're in," Auran said as he crushed the necklace around Octo's neck. The moment he touched the necklace, an electric current rushed into his hand, but it was resisted by his own magic resistance.
"Even my magic resistance has gone up… I really need to study my own status," he thought.
"Let's release all the others from their necklaces, turn this prison into chaos, and gather back here once the prisoners are freed."
With those words, the four of them nodded and ran off. But before Octo moved, Auran stopped him.
"I have a special task for you," said Auran, pointing Octo toward the direction of the mines.