HideLand

🟠 chapter 13 :

"Ren, I want you to use your energy pulse. Destroy the ceiling of this tunnel above us."

"Destroy the ceiling? I don't know what you're planning, but I don't have much of a choice. Besides... this will be my first time trying it."

A violet aura began swirling around Ren's hand, and a ball of energy formed. Despite being his first time, he seemed to handle it perfectly. This guy really is talented.

"Energy Pulse!"

Did he really need to shout it? It's not like it's a Kamehameha or a Gomu Gomu attack.

The orb shot upward and blew the ceiling open. Guards began to flood in and surround us, but Ren grabbed me again like a sack of flour and jumped through the hole. He got the idea this was my plan all along.

We reached the top... and apparently, what we had just blown open was a toilet.

" What was that noise, Grot? Is it from that bean soup they serve in the prison?"

"What are you talking about? Just because I was in the bathroom for half an hour doesn't mean it was me."

"Let's check it out."

That voice… it's Boral and Grot! Just as I thought. Seems like Grot had just been in the restroom. If we'd moved a little faster, he would've been blasted along with the toilet.

Ren recognized the voice.

"Takero-dono, isn't that the guard who gives us the gum? What's he doing here?"

"Yeah, that's him. Let's go meet them, Ren."

We stepped out from the wrecked bathroom and found them approaching to check the damage. Behind them was Simon, tied up and unconscious. The looks on their faces complete shock. They never imagined two prisoners could pull this off.

"Hey Grot, aren't those the two foreigners you tricked?"

"What are you two doing here?!"

Seriously? That's what he's going to ask us in this situation?

"What do you think we're doing, Mr. Toilet Guard or Mr. Gum Sedative? I'm here to expose you. You stood right outside my cell talking like idiots, assuming I was sedated. That gum is obviously some kind of mind-control drug to make inmates more obedient. But hey, I should thank you. If you hadn't been stupid enough to talk right in front of me, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Wait, what's in that box?"

There was a large crate off to the side. Once we noticed it, Ren rushed toward it. Grot tried to stop him, but Ren was faster. One punch and the box shattered.

"Look, Takero-dono. It's full of coins."

Coins? So that's what they were talking about back then...

The two of them looked furious. It was clear they wanted to shut us up. So, I provoked them even more.

"By the way, Grot, I think your fellow guards will be very surprised to find out you're a traitor."

"Fellow guards?"

"Yeah, I brought a bunch of them with me."

"You bastard! I'll beat you to a pulp!"

Grot swung and punched me in the face, knocking me down. I never developed any combat skills... his massive arms could probably crush my skull. I tried blocking his next blow, but his hand went straight for my throat he was trying to choke me.

Meanwhile, Boral decided to escape and abandon Grot.

"You idiot, Grot. You've always been an arrogant fool too easy to provoke."

"Boral, you scum! Where do you think you're going?!"

This is bad… Have the guards not climbed up yet? If this keeps up, everything could fall apart.

But my fears were dispelled by the presence of Ren, of course.

He launched a kick right into Grot's face, slamming him against the wall after he was shocked by Boral abandoning him so easily 

After that, he headed straight toward Boral, grabbed him, and delivered a swift blow that knocked him unconscious.

Grot got back up and charged. He threw a flurry of punches, but Ren dodged them all with ease. One solid hit to the gut, and Grot was down for good.

We tied up Grot and Boral with the same ropes they tied Simon up with . The dumb guards still hadn't climbed up. What were they doing?

"Ren, I'm heading to the toilet to see what's taking those guards so long."

I went back to the destroyed bathroom and there they were. These clowns were trying to climb on top of each other to get up and just kept falling.

"Look, it's the escaped prisoner! Come down here and we'll give you chicken for lunch!"

What kind of negotiation is that? I'm not a monkey escaping from a zoo. These guards really are hopeless.

"I'll bring someone who can pull you guys up. Just wait there."

"You're going to help us up so you can keep running? We're not playing hide and seek, prisoner! Get down here!"

Who in their right mind would listen to you? I could be halfway out of the city by now, and you're still playing stack-the-guards.

Ren came to check on the situation.

"Takero-dono, what's holding up the guards?"

"See for yourself."

The guards spotted Ren and tried to bribe him too.

"Hey you, the other prisoner! Be a good boy and come down here. We'll give you the weekly chicken meal."

Fools. That won't work on him wait… is he actually considering it?

I had to jump in.

"Ren, chicken's nice and all, but outside you can eat it more than once a week. Don't forget that disgusting prison porridge."

Ren snapped out of it. I asked him to bring the guards up himself. When he dropped down, they all tried to attack him but he beat them senseless and carried them up anyway.

We had no choice. We let the guards see everything.

"Alright, guards . Look in front of you. Notice anything?"

"Hey, look! That's Grot, tied up with some bald guy. These two prisoners must've kidnapped them!"

"And the sleeping guy… isn't that the inmate who left earlier today?"

"You idiots. Why would we kidnap someone while we're escaping? Think! Grot and the other one kidnapped Simon."

One of the guards looked up.

"Now that I think about it, Grot did request a short leave starting today..."

At that moment, Simon finally woke up. He'd slept through all of this even the explosion.

A guard stepped up and asked:

"Hey, you. You're the one who left the prison earlier, right? Mind telling us what's going on here?"

Simon's eyes were wide in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

It took him a while to process everything...

Then finally, he spoke.