NOVPUBPerhaps the phantom of the Great Love Poet was cautious and did not plan to reveal itself to Lanci for an attack just yet.
Or it might be that it started too far away and had not caught up with Lanci yet.
"So, it’s an identical copy of the Great Love Poet. Even its cowardice of not showing up when it’s losing is perfectly copied over," Lanci thought.
Lanci’s eyes examined each prison door, each mark on the walls, looking for clues to move forward.
There was a time when the Great Love Poet was very afraid of Talia, so whenever Talia was around, the Great Love Poet adamantly refused to come out.
It was not too difficult to move in the direction indicated by the map. Eventually, they would reach the designated exit teleportation hall to regroup with the others, a process that might take quite some time.
The labyrinth corridors surrounding them were sometimes stiff, sometimes giving off a strange beauty - runes meandered across the walls, hallways seemed endless, each turn revealing a new unknown scene.
The entire structure would undergo random changes regularly, but one thing remained constant, and that was the positions of the entrance and exit teleportation halls.
After a period of solitary progress.
Lanci’s gaze was drawn to a light ahead, within it was a brightly lit, warm room.
He headed in that direction, which happened to correspond to the location marked on the map as the Warden Office on the fifth floor in the negative range. The surrounding area all bore the deep blue glow of magic power, consistent with the safe zone teleportation hall.
If he could find the Warden on the fifth floor and get the clearance permissions before regrouping with the team, that would be another task to complete.
Now, it seems that he was the most suitable person in the team to accomplish this task.
Lanci stood in front of the office, softly knocking on the closed door.
He wasn’t sure whether the Warden was in the office now.
But the light was on inside, suggesting that the Warden could either be in the office or not far away.
The sound of knocking gently echoed inside and outside the quiet office, quickly dissipating in the silent space.
After a few seconds passed without any response.
"Come in."
It wasn’t until Lanci was hesitant about leaving without getting any response that a cold female voice came from inside the door.
Lanci, who was about to leave, then gripped the doorknob.
He pushed the door open to see a tidy office with everything neatly arranged, feeling warm and comfortable.
Lanci’s gaze quickly landed on the only person in the room — a female knight in light armor sat beside the office desk.
The female knight was upright, even sitting, she emanated a noble and elegant temperament.
It seemed that she had finished her work this morning; she had just finished bandaging her wounds and dressing in her armor. A few unwound bandages and a half-empty potion bottle were scattered on the desktop.
Despite this, the faint color of blood could be seen seeping through the white bandages on her body.
It seemed that there were no prison guards with healing abilities available to treat her at the moment.
The female knight looked up, her eyes portraying both exhaustion and cold determination.
Even after returning from a tough battle against her own phantom, her eyes still remained vigilant.
Her somewhat impatient gaze landed on the Great Love Poet.
Before the newly arrived intern prison guard could speak.
"Once you’ve cleared out the phantoms, I will naturally give you an evaluation."
The voice of the Warden, the female knight, was cold and strong, answering before the other could even ask a question.
She was succinct and her gaze shifted away from the face of the Great Love Poet, looking as if she had finished examining an outsider.
"Thank you, Miss Warden Melisa."
Great Love Poet’s voice gratefully responded.
He saw the name "Melisa" carved on the warden’s nameplate.
Even though she was a bit indifferent, she was a factual type of warden, without any intention of causing them trouble. She was already the most approachable person he had encountered in Herram Prison so far.
Just as Great Love Poet was ready to end the conversation and turn to leave.
"Wait."
Warden Melisa suddenly spoke.
Great Love Poet turned back around.
He didn’t understand why Warden Melisa stopped him.
He saw Melisa remain silent for a moment, then slowly lift her gaze to look directly at the Great Love Poet once more.
"Where are your companions? Did you get separated from them when you came to this level?"
Even as Melisa asked this, her demeanor remained aloof. She stayed seated, watching the Great Love Poet.
"I’m heading to the exit teleportation hall to meet up with them."
The Great Love Poet answered.
"You have no fighting ability and being alone you’re likely to die. If you accidentally bump into the phantom of other guards, they might attack you. I’ll make a way for you and send you to the exit teleportation hall."
As Warden Melisa spoke, she rose tiredly and walked out of the office.
"Are you sure you’re okay?"
Lanci felt that the Warden had just experienced a fight to the death and that her life force was faltering.
"No need to worry, I’ve already cleaned up my own phantom on this level. Dealing with others’ phantoms is more than manageable."
As Warden Melisa reached the doorway, she spoke in a tone devoid of emotion. Then, she walked out of the Warden’s office.
"...Thank you."
Lanci gratefully replied.
Although it seemed that the Warden had won, it was a narrow victory. With even just a slight movement, the blood stain on her white bandages deepened somewhat. It was like she had barely clung onto life.
It was hard to imagine what kind of martial fanatic would fight to the death with their own phantom on this level every day.
In the trial of the Great Demon Clan, the "Hopeless Extinction War", usually only the craziest and most powerful Martial Fanatics of the Demon Clan would choose to fight to the death and train themselves here.
The condition for obtaining the "Hopeless Mark" was to push one’s battle intent to the extreme, face an Eighth-order Phantom stronger than oneself, and defeat it with their own power.
Only by reaching the peak of one’s potential in battle, surpassing one’s original self, might they have a chance to stake their life against their greatest phantom, much stronger than them.
The three Seventh-Order Wardens inside Herram each were rare talents of the Protoss Empire, who, while being granted high-ranking positions, seemed to have found a place that best suited their training needs.
Great Love Poet followed Warden Melisa from the office.
He increasingly felt that the Warden of the negative fifth floor was unexpectedly reliable.
Although she was aloof on the surface, she was surprisingly considerate of the intern prison guards.
Originally, Lanci was prepared to continue being a doctor in Herram Prison. However, looking at it now, Warden Melisa appeared to be very mentally healthy, not at all like Warden Miss Selena on the negative fourth floor, who didn’t need any conversation with him.
Lanci was always willing to help, but if there’s no request for help, he would not intrude.
Previously, after Hyperion woke up on the negative fourth floor and couldn’t see the warden, Lanci was worried for a long time, fearing that they were played for fools by the warden and that the Lady Goddess might penalize them.
This time, Hyperion would surely be reassured.
