The ten prisoners silently harvested the monster stones from the corpses of the dead goblins. Mickey, Maria and the members of the Sisterhood looked over at Xavier, who was a distance away, from time to time, and it was obvious to them he was still furious. Maria could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she knew that she had made a terrible mistake that might cost them their lives, but she couldn't stand the sight of those monster's devouring humans.
Even if they were prisoners who were imprisoned for grievous crime. The Rising Dragons however were contemplating what Xavier had said about the Warden and guards using magic. Tsubasa had witnessed the Diabolic Imps shooting fireballs from their hands....the memory was clear in his mind as it only happened the previous day. If the Warden and a few of the guards could do something similar, then they might have to abandon their plans of a coup.
'No, we have to do this. It's either a coup or we die a painful death and be devoured by these vile wretches.' Tsubasa thought, looking at the scraps of human flesh on the ground, and his face twisted into one of disgust. His focus then turned towards Xavier, his eyes narrowing.
'He is way too strong and adept at fighting. From his outburst, I know that he used to live on the streets, and the fact that he survived over a decade is proof enough of his abilities. It will be best that I don't make him an enemy.' Tsubasa thought, before turning back to his work while his mind drifted to what he knew about people who lived on the streets. A lot of people lived on the streets in modern day, from infants to the elderly, but not many survived long. The toxic black snow would kill most of them, giving them terrible sicknesses that ranged from terrible lung diseases to the Obsidian Rash.
A terrible disease that formed black, toxic patches on the skin, that would slowly eat away at the healthy cells in your body until you died. There were cures and treatments for it of course, but as one would expect, they were expensive and people who lived on the streets couldn't afford that kind of thing. There was also the fact that food and water was hard to come by, so most of them turned to thievery to get by, and he didn't doubt that Xavier had the skills to become a thief. All in all, any one who survived the streets as long as he has, had to be an exceptional individual.
'And one filled with hate for the government.' Tsubasa thought.
"So in total, we have 47 E- ranked monster stones and 13 F+. We can split it later when we are out of here, I'll hang onto them for now." Xavier said, throwing them into his bag, along with the new set of prison uniform he got this morning. The bag was covered in dust and blood splatter of different colours, he has had the bag since the first day he got here, and luckily he has kept it from being damaged, a feat that surprised even him.
"Hey, why do you get to keep-" Oliver tried to say, but he stopped as everyone turned around, glaring at him, except for Xavier who just looked st him with an empty, emotionless look, making him shiver as he knew the guy was still furious. Yet his distrustful nature had made him do something stupid. Xavier took the bag off his back and threw it towards him, and he caught it with a grunt.
"You keep it then, and make sure not to lose it or let it be destroyed, or there will be hell to pay." Xavier said, and Oliver gulped as he realized what would happen to him if the bag got damaged and he lost it's contents. He looked over at Tsubasa, who glared at him like he was trying to bore holes through his head with his eyes making him tremble, before he looked away with a grunt, making Oliver sigh. Xavier walked over to the battle axe stuck in the wall, straining a bit to pull it out, and the head which was still atop the axe fell to the ground.
Spinning the axe in his hands for a few seconds, he nodded his head before hoisting it over his shoulder. He looked down at the daggers on his waist, making sure that they were fastened properly inside the cloth.
"Alright everyone, we will advance and see where exactly that road over there takes." Xavier said, pointing towards a wooden door on the opposite side of the room.
"Judging that no goblins have charged inside here in the last thirty minutes, there probably aren't any nearby, but be quiet none the less. And no rash decisions." He said, giving Maria a fleeting glance before walking towards the wooden door. He pushed the door gently and peeked behind it, but the only thing he saw, was a dimly lit cave with more Mystical Copper F+, before the cave declined downwards. He scanned the area to make sure there was nothing there, and he briefly considered if there was something that had to power to conceal itself was hiding in the dimly lit cave, but he shook his head.
"Mickey come here." Xavier said, and Mickey stepped forward. Xavier nodded his head at him and the two of them walked through the door, Mickey at the front with his at the ready. The others followed behind, weapons drawn and they slowly walked through the cave. They descended the small slope, before reaching another levelled section of the cave and continued onward. The deeper they went, the more Mystical Copper seemed to grow out of the walls.
"Maybe we should try and mine these, maybe they are worth something." Anna said, but Rosie shook her head
"The Warden would just confiscate them, then he would probably start sending poor souls down here to mine them. The heartless old bastard." Rosie said disdainfully
They continued on their journey, and they soon arrived at a fork in the road, one leading deeper down and the other on the same level. Everyone looked at Xavier and he nodded his head to the declining path and they soon started descending once more. They entered another tunnel, and the further they went, the more the tunnel changed. The walls of the cave went from rough and full of precious metal to incredibly smooth and bare before it became mural of beautiful carvings. The carvings depicted a tall creature, the same size as a human, wielding a great sword fighting vile monsters. Monsters that looked like amalgamation of different animals, humanoids with tentacles and the form of beasts. Looking at these murals, they were astonished, as most of them have never seen something like this.
They soon arrived at another corridor, the walls adorned with murals and two large pillars rising to the ceiling, each pillar twice as wide as a normal human. There was a tall, black metal door that rose to the ceiling, depicting the same creature as the mural, except more detailed. The creature had green skin, small tusks sticking out of it's lower jaw, and it wore the fur of beasts on it's body, along with a necklace bearing bones of different creatures. It's eyes were a crimson red, and it's great sword stood infront of it, a gleaming silver blade with a black hilt.
There were two silver bowls containing dancing red flames on either sides of the door, infront of which stood two imposing figures, both taller than a human. One wearing a dirty brown cloak that covered it's entire body, allowing the prisoners to only see shadows where it's face was. Above it's head were the words Hobgoblin Mage E+. The other creature was a muscular goblin with a scar over it's right eye and red tattoos over it's green skin. There was a halbard in it's hand, a weapon that was as tall as itself, with a red shaft and a black blade. The words Hobgoblin Warrior E+ hung over it's head, making all of them tense.