Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 217 ...Fuck

"How many know?"

"Me, Dominique, and anyone else who might have come here without our knowledge. And now you, Talia."

"Actually, it might just be us, Rhys. Most of the other inmates don't intrude in the gangs' territories, and the gangs won't really wander around another gang's territory."

Talia was quickly radioed by Rhys to come to Mike's territory about the Hole — and of course, Talia dropped everything she was doing and rushed to the hall; her eyes, almost as wide as Rhys and Dominique's when they saw it.

None of them could even express their shock with heavy breaths, as doing so caused an echo that resounded across the entire hall. It was almost eerie, as if they were whispering right into their own ears.

"I already tried diving down, it's just a Dig for now." After a few bouts of silence, however, Dominique could no longer endure the silence as she leaned over to look at the hole.

"What in Tartarus is a Dig?" Talia raised an eyebrow as she also focused her attention on the hole.

"It… means Mike and his gang haven't dug all the way through to the Underworld," Dominique also raised an eyebrow, "It's an incomplete Hole."

"Then just call it an incomplete Hole," Talia clicked her tongue before crossing her arms, "I swear, you new generation kids always come up with these complicated names."

"...The term Dig wasn't a thing yet during your time?" Dominique wanted to laugh, but it seemed inappropriate considering their situation.

"I am a hundred twenty years old, girl," Talia scoffed, "We did things simpler and more efficient back then."

"Yeah, like killing and torturing Lowborns like our guy here."

"If you think I would apologize for my actions, then no—I was right."

"Excuse me?" Dominique's voice started to echo crawl throughout the entire hall.

"Because of what we did, a being such as Rhys was born," Talia smirked, "Do you think that if we did not cull the Lowborns, Rhys's existence would be possible?"

"You really have a fucked up way of looking at things, Grandma. I mean, my god… Zeus," the only thing Dominique could really do was roll her lips and let out a loud breath. She was about to say something else, but Rhys suddenly covered her mouth with his finger.

"Ssh," Rhys shushed the two, "I hear someone coming up."

"...That's one heck of an ear," Dominique started backing away from the Hole, "I guess you need that to hear the granny's micro moans."

"I am starting to notice a pattern with your remarks, little girl," Talia once again scoffed as she also backed away from the Hole and stepped out of the cell, "You envy me for having a sexual relationship with the perfect specimen."

"News flash, Granny," Dominique also scoffed as she and Talia hid in the next cell, "I'm a fucking dyke. Wait, are you also going to gas me now?"

"Real mature, child."

And as the two women were near insulting each other, they did not notice that Rhys did not actually hide with them in the next cell. And before they could even realize it, they already heard the whispers of other people. Talia and Dominique just looked at each other, nodding as they stayed completely quiet.

"...ittle paranoid, don't you think?"

"Cut the boss some slack, he's been on the edge ever since all the shit went loose. I would be too since we spent like an entire year digging this."

"And a good thing we did, or else that crazy vieja would have blown our brains out sooner or later."

"Quiet down, there might be someone listening from us in the shadows."

"Now, who's paranoid?"

"...They're talking about you."

"Quiet," Talia whispered ever so quietly, moving further into the shadows as they saw three people moving past their cell. She and Dominique were about to follow the three before they noticed something emerging from behind the three men—no, not something, someone—Rhys.

And while Dominique was a little frightened seeing this, Talia could not help but just grow a smile on her face; her wrinkles slightly showing her excitement. More and more, it would seem her decision to be swayed by Rhys's charm was correct. Of course, the perfect being would have more abilities hidden in his sleeves, truly…

…truly perfect.

"Ew…" Dominique noticed the excitement on Talia's face even in the darkness, "...I swear, if you weren't hot as shit, that would just be creepy—no, you are creepy. A creepy GILF."

"Stop inventing words, you—" Talia was about to say something else, but she saw Rhys just suddenly fully emerging from the shadows; releasing some sort of thread from his fingers which smoothly flew around the three men's neck, none of them seemed to have noticed from how light the threads were, however.

At least not until Rhys leaped into the air and seemingly hung the threads on the railing of the 2nd level…

…and then very lightly pulled the three of them up.

"!!!"

The three could not even say a word to each other, the only thing that escaped their lips were their groans filled with shock and fear; their eyes, watching as Rhys just very slowly descended from the air while his fingers were hanging at the very same threads that literally held their lives.

But as Rhys's feet landed on the floor, the three also did as Rhys extended the threads so that their necks would slightly loosen up.

"You—"

As soon as one of them opened their mouths, however, the three once again found themselves hanging in the air as Rhys shushed them; their necks, moving along with every bit of movement by Rhys's fingers.

"From now on…" Rhys then spoke up; his voice, almost a whisper but still loud enough for them to hear, "...everyone talks in this volume or one of you dies."

"Rhys, we should have waited for them to do some—" Dominique stepped out of the cell and spoke, but as soon as she did so, Rhys moved his middle finger, causing one of the inmates to wheeze as the thread around his neck tightened.

And as soon as she realized that Rhys's instructions included her, the three inmates turned to look at her; seemingly cursing her with their eyes. Unfortunately for the one hanging, everyone just watched as his life very slowly disappeared in his eyes filled with regret.

"Again…" And as the man's arms soon just flailed lifelessly along his sides, Rhys once again spoke in a very quiet manner, "...Everyone speaks in this volume."

The two then clung to the floor as soon as they felt the threads around their necks loosen.

"Do you understand?"

"Y… yes," the two remaining inmates answered… as well as Dominique.

"...Imbecile," Talia rolled her eyes at Dominique, who clicked her tongue in response.

"Now…" Rhys then looked the two inmates in the eyes,

"...Spill everything."

Rhys, Talia, and Dominique actually already had an idea of why they were digging a Hole in the first place — of course, why else?

They were just trying to escape, and so they came up with this dangerous plan of just digging straight through the Underworld. And with the help of a Noble's strength, it was quite easy to do so — they just had to do it so quietly that no one would notice it, and that took time.

But even then, it would seem they only just started digging for a year… and from what they were saying, they were almost near the other side. It was a simple but very possible plan…

…but it left everyone else in the prison completely vulnerable and utterly defenseless.

If they were truly successful in their plan, then hordes of monsters would have stormed out from the Hole — they would have been wiped out, considering they were probably digging through an unmapped portion of the Underworld and could have possibly held monsters of a higher Threat Level.

And for that…

"Thank you for giving us the information we want," Rhys loosened his fingers.

"Then you'll let us—"

And without even giving as much as a warning, Rhys suddenly swung his arm and completely decapitated the two inmates—no. Rhys also decapitated the corpse of the first person who died.

"Yup, I already expected that," Dominique breathed out as she slightly stepped to the side when one of the heads rolled toward her feet, "So, what's your plan now, Boss?"

Dominique then turned to look at Talia, who only returned her glance for a few seconds before she herself turned to look at Rhys.

"I'll leave the decision to the young one," Talia crossed her arms as a small smirk crawled on her face, "What do you want to do, Wilder?"

"Well, well…" Dominique placed her hands on her waist, "...Look at that, you really did tame the granny."

"One more word out of you and I'll cut out your tongue into tiny little pieces, and you wouldn't even have to open that big mouth of yours."

"Woah, no thanks," Dominique raised her hands, "I don't want to be teethless like you."

"Tch…" Talia truly wanted to cut Dominique down, but she garnered all of her strength not to do so as she just focused her attention on Rhys,

"So…

…what's your plan?"