100X Returns System: I Dominate the Age of Gods - Chapter 281. The New Dawn - 6

Chapter 281: 281. The New Dawn – 6

The gate to Iron Hell Prison opened with a creak, and several footsteps echoed through the narrow passage.

Nicholas entered first, holding the chains of Elion and Tamasya. A few bishops and archbishops followed behind him. Nicholas turned and looked at the guards standing at the front of the cellar.

“Lock the gates the moment we enter,” he said.

The archbishops looked at him in confusion, and one of them asked, “My lord, why are you having the doors closed?”

The cardinal looked at the man. “Once inside, we’ll have to remove their current restraints before securing them with mithril chains. During that brief transfer, even the slightest mistake could give them an opening. Keeping the outer gate sealed is simply a precaution.” He said this with a smile, trying not to sound overly pissed at the questioning.

The others from the clergy were unlike the man who had asked the question. They were blind followers of those above them in the hierarchy.

“Amazing, Lord Nicholas. Your foresight is truly greater than any of us here. Without you, we would never have been able to imprison these heretics.”

Nicholas smiled at them and proceeded forward. The gates closed behind them, and they began walking through the congested pathway toward Iron Hell Prison.

The archbishop, who had been curious earlier, spoke again.

“My lord, shouldn’t we just bind them with the mithril chains while the previous restraints are still on? There is no need to remove the chains for this.”

Nicholas paused for half a second before answering, but the sycophantic bishops cut in before he needed to respond.

“You fool! You dare question our lord’s methods? Do you think you possess greater wisdom than him?”

Not just one, but everyone reprimanded the man for asking more questions.

He sighed in relief and chose to remain silent.

The group moved ahead and finally exited the tunnel on the other side, arriving before the prison cells.

Nicholas stepped forward and asked for the keys to every cellar from the bishop, who had brought them.

“My lord, you don’t need to bother with such menial tasks. Let me do it for you,” the bishop holding the keys said.

“Do not take away the opportunity of imprisoning heretics from me,” Nicholas said with a serious expression.

The sycophantic bishop, who had thought he would be praised, grew nervous and handed the keys to Nicholas with a bow.

Nicholas looked at the man bowing before him and took the keys. Then he placed a hand on the bishop’s shoulder.

“Thank you. Now you can leave.”

The next moment, Nicholas shattered the core of the bowing man with Sovereign Sword Intent.

“Kheakh!”

The bishop suddenly coughed up blood, alarming everyone in the clergy.

What they saw next stole their breath away.

Nicholas shoved the man off the edge of the pathway and into the lava pit below.

“My lord!” they shouted in horror.

But the real shock came afterwards.

Nicholas slowly turned toward them.

The face they had thought was that of Cardinal Nicholas began to warp before their eyes. Blond hair darkened into streaks of blue and black, his features sharpened until William’s cold face stood before them.

The clergy could barely breathe.

This was never Nicholas.

William took a single silent step forward, and the sound of his boots bounced off the stone walls of the cavern.

“Run.”

The single word left William’s mouth.

“You!! heretic! you are courting death!!” One of the clergymen shouted, believing they could put up a fight.

Before they could react, A metallic snap rang through the cavern.

Every head turned just in time to see Tamasya calmly pulling apart the chains around her wrists as though they were brittle rope.

“I said!!”

“RUN!!!!” William’s aggressive voice thundered.

The next instant, one of the bishops’ heads was ripped clean off.

Streams of blood splattered across the faces of the others.

They stared in horror at the draconic claw where William’s hand should have been.

“Arghhh!”

Panic erupted among them as they tried to escape through the narrow opening of the cavern.

Alas, they were too late.

They had been given the chance to run, yet they had dared to test fate.

William began a carnage in the lava-lit cavern.

Meanwhile, Tamasya broke the chains around Elion’s hands.

Elion’s form shifted as well, revealing Barash.

William glanced at Barash mid-carnage. With one severed head still in his right hand, he tossed the cellar keys with his left.

Barash immediately caught them and got to work, opening every single prison cell in the cavern.

Unlike the other clergymen who were getting slaughtered due to useless resistance, the cautious archbishop had instinctively fallen back the moment the slaughter began. While the rest froze in panic, he was already sprinting toward the tunnel.

He had fortunately gotten enough time to flee back through the passageway. With ragged breaths, he ran at full speed.

Huff! Huff! Huff!

The sight of the main gate appeared before his eyes.

He quickly closed the distance and pulled at the gate handle, but it did not budge.

“Shit!”

The man remembered that the gate had been locked earlier on Nicholas’s orders.

He gritted his teeth.

Just then, the figure of a patrolling knight appeared before him.

“Hey! You!” he called out hurriedly at the clueless knight.

The innocent-looking young knight turned in his direction and ran toward him.

“Greetings, my lord! Forgive me. I am newly posted here, and I suffer from short-term memory loss. Please don’t punish me for not knowing your rank and name.”

The Archbishop ignored every sentence of his; he had no patience for formalities. He only wanted the gate opened.

“Hurry and open the gate. The heretics have started a rebellion. My life is in danger!” the man said, despair written all over his face.

“Oh! My lord, please wait while I bring the keys to the gate.”

“What the fuck? Shouldn’t you already have the keys? Aren’t you the gatekeeper”

The knight grew flustered and bowed to the ground.

“Forgive me, my lord. I forgot where I kept them. I will hurry and look for them at my post. Please wait.”

The archbishop bit his lip.

“Alright. Hurry,” he said.

The knight bowed and left.

A few minutes later, the archbishop’s patience was running thin, but the knight had still not returned.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps and saw the same knight patrolling the area again.

At this point, he shouted, “Hey, you! Where are the keys?”

The knight looked back in fear and ran toward the gate again.

“My lord… forgive me, but have we met already? I am newly posted here, and I suffer from short-term memory loss. Please don’t punish me for not knowing your rank and name.”

The archbishop almost coughed blood, hearing the same words again. He cursed his luck again and again.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind him. Horror struck the man as he slowly turned around.

William stood there, his face covered in blood.

Before the man could even beg for his life, William ripped him apart with his claws.

He then looked beyond the gate and met the knight’s gaze before turning back toward the cellar.

The knight, who had been acting timid the whole time, smirked.

He turned around and walked away. Two dead guards lay sprawled near the corner of the gate wall.

He walked outside and soon came across another knight. This one was slim and tall, with cloth wrapped around his head beneath his helmet.

“Hey, I have already patrolled this area five times,” he told the other knight.

The slender knight shook his head.

“I’m here for personal business.”

The knight with the so-called memory-loss act nodded and simply left.

Meanwhile, the slender knight entered the area, ignored the bodies sprawled in the corner, opened the door leading toward Iron Hell Prison, and went inside.

A few minutes later, the knight who had pretended to have memory loss returned. His form shifted, and Grimlock’s appearance emerged as he shook his hands lightly before taking out a key from his belt and locking the cellar gate again.