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Chapter 532: New Normal (4)

Emergency arrest of the target.

As soon as the prison’s security system issued the order, the same black knights who had greeted Yeongwoo earlier approached with heavy shackles in hand.

-0929! If you are not an assassin, then put on these cuffs.

“What?”

When Yeongwoo turned his gaze to the shackles in the knights’ hands, a tooltip for the equipment immediately popped up.

Flash!

「High-Power Suppressor」 – Legendary Tool

【Equipment Catalog Disabled】

【Combat Ability Reduced by 60%】

‘Crazy… if I put those on, I’m finished.’

The Equipment Catalog would be disabled and his combat ability reduced.

And wasn’t this the Planet of Strength, Lesham?

To declare oneself weak here was to invite disaster.

Especially inside a prison.

“Damn it, what’s the fuss? Isn’t it normal for a criminal to meet another criminal?”

Still, not wanting to clash with the prison guards yet, Yeongwoo hadn’t drawn his sword.

Even so—

Thooom…!

The knights closed the distance, radiating an oppressive aura.

-0929! Disarm yourself and place both hands on the wall.

“Bullshit. If you were the visitor, would you want to wear those cuffs?”

-This is your final warning.

“It’s my final warning too. Step back if you don’t want to get hurt on duty.”

How could he find Koatu in this massive prison without the guards’ cooperation?

Opposing them was clearly the worst move.

But—

‘If I put those cuffs on, I won’t be able to break Koatu out.’

He hadn’t really come here just for a visitation, had he?

In a way, the prison was right to suspect him as an ‘assassin.’

Not that he came to kill an inmate, but he was indeed here to stir up big trouble.

“This is your last warning! Stop right there, and open that door!”

Yeongwoo pointed to the thick iron gate at the end of the hall.

The black knights exchanged glances and wordless signals.

Then—

-Cuffs, forced execution.

With a curt notice, they charged down the corridor at incredible speed.

“These lunatics.”

Yeongwoo shoved his scrap-metal sword into the Catalog and summoned Bastard.

Shhhrrrk!

Recognizing the mythical weapon, the guards hesitated, then urgently shouted into their comms:

-Grade 1 alert! Myth detected! Target 0929!

But Yeongwoo was already sprinting full speed toward the corridor’s end.

Tak-tak!

His goal was Koatu’s jailbreak, and he didn’t want to kill unnecessarily.

“Don’t chase me! I don’t want to pile up more bad karma!”

He shouted as he swung Bastard at the prison gate now right before him.

Slashhh!

The thick iron door was sliced apart like paper, revealing a forked passage beyond.

‘Ha… just as I thought!’

Hadn’t the prison architects Kobu, Tobu, and Chobu once said,

Normal prisons cannot be destroyed by legendary weapons.

Which meant—

‘A mythical weapon can break through.’

Kicking open the mangled gate, Yeongwoo faced two paths.

Left or right.

No signposts, no markings—he had to guess.

‘Damn it, which way?’

Just then, Earth stirred in his consciousness.

○ To the right.

“How do you know?”

○ It’s closer to the coordinates His Majesty gave us.

“Then that’s it.”

Hearing the explanation, Yeongwoo dashed right.

○ You’ve caused a major incident before even meeting him. What’s your plan?

‘I won’t kill the guards wholesale. If I just take Koatu without bloodshed, it won’t be too bad, right?’

○ The prison may not see it that way.

The right-hand path sloped upward, opening into what looked like the fortress courtyard.

‘That building in front, huh?’

Across the yard stood a menacing structure that screamed maximum security.

And sure enough—

○ Yes. Straight ahead.

As Earth confirmed the path, a heavy sound rang out.

Boom!

“…Huh?”

Then—

Whiiiiistle…!

A shell whistled down, exploding at Yeongwoo’s feet.

KABOOOM!

“Gah!”

The shell struck so fast that the explosion came almost simultaneously with the holographic warning.

He had no time to raise Aratubank before being blown into the courtyard wall.

‘These bastards are no joke.’

Raising Aratubank for the follow-up strike, Yeongwoo saw three shells fired in quick succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

But this time, with his mythical shield ready, he blocked them all.

Instead of being thrown helplessly into a wall, he now held his ground.

He then used the moment to dash forward.

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‘Why the hell would they set mortars in a courtyard?’

○ Because it’s a prison? But seeing how they don’t dare approach you while you wield a myth, I’d say this isn’t even a top-tier facility.

‘Not top-tier? And it’s already this massive? Then what would a prison built to hold the masters of myths even look like…?’

Crash!

Crossing the courtyard, Yeongwoo entered the crude-looking building.

There was no door, only a wide archway.

He soon saw why.

‘Oh, hell… it’s underground.’

○ Underground? Stairs leading down?

‘Yeah. Huge ones.’

Whoooshhh!

A chilling wind rushed upward from the cavernous underground.

The stairway was nearly 20 meters wide—the entire structure he saw earlier was just a cover.

Koatu’s cell block lay deep beneath the fortress.

‘…Will I be able to get back out?’

The thought felt ominous, but there was no turning back.

Step.

The moment he set foot on the stairs, an icy chill crawled over him.

“What, they locked up our client in a place like this?”

Clank, clank. Newest update provided by N0velFire.ɴet

The descent was far longer than expected.

Only after what felt like dozens of meters did he see an iron gate.

On either side of the gate, red warning lights spun in circles—the earlier “myth alert” still active.

‘Weird. For all this alarm, no guards around?’

Shouldn’t prison officers be stationed here?

Clang!

At the bottom, Yeongwoo kicked the gate open.

BANG!

Beyond it stretched an endless, massive corridor.

“Ah.”

And Yeongwoo realized at once—

This was the underground cell block.

The place was dark, lit only by faint indirect light filtering from the distant dome ceiling.

‘Perfect place for an ambush.’

○ Be careful. The alarm’s been ringing for a while; the underground guards know you’re here.

‘For once, you’re right.’

As he stepped through, a sound rang out.

Clatter.

“…?”

It came from the cells lining both sides of the vast hall.

-Hey, who’s that? Doesn’t look like the usual guards.

“What?”

Only then did Yeongwoo notice the rows of navy iron doors.

Each had no window, blocking sight both ways.

Yet somehow, the inmate inside sensed him.

-You’re no guard.

From the opposite cell came a rough voice.

-Stop spouting nonsense, Number 1.

So the first to notice him was Inmate No. 1.

-No, I swear someone’s out there!

-Someone outside? Who?

As commotion stirred near the entrance, deeper inmates chimed in.

-Hey, what’s going on? Why all the noise?

-Someone’s here?

-Nonsense.

Soon the entire cell block buzzed like a marketplace.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo thought—

‘Where’s Koatu? Deeper in?’

He synced with Earth and pressed onward.

○ Further. Almost at the very end.

‘Damn it. Feels too deep.’

Walking on, he noticed faint markings etched onto each door.

Symbols—likely identifiers for each prisoner.

But to him, they were meaningless code, untranslatable even by the language converter.

‘Not yet? I must be close to the end.’

The cell block’s ceiling formed a giant dome, gradually lowering as he advanced.

When it dropped to around 10 meters—

○ Here. Nearby.

Finally, Earth confirmed.

‘Here?’

Four cells lay nearby.

Scanning the indecipherable markings, Yeongwoo carefully called out.

“…Mr. Koatu?”

From the right-hand cell came an aged voice.

-Who is it?

“I’m here to visit you, Mr. Koatu.”

-…A visit?

The voice sounded surprised.

Standing before the cell with Bastard, Yeongwoo said:

“Let’s talk outside. I’ll get you out.”

He expected gratitude.

Instead—

-What… what about the Warden?

“The warden?”

Yeongwoo looked confused, and Koatu gasped.

-Then I’m not leaving.

“What? But there’s no one outside right no—”

Before he could finish, a massive crash erupted up ahead.

KABOOOOM!

Like an enormous chunk of metal slamming down.

“…?”

Then another impact echoed from behind.

DOOOM…!

Likely the entrance he had used, now sealed.

Sure enough, the system announced:

《Underground Block Sealed.》

“…What the…”

And then, from the central area of the block came another heavy crash.

DOOOM!

《Warden on duty!》

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