Tread, tread, tread......

Perhaps because the damaged hearing had just recovered, the sudden sound of footsteps in the dimly lit dungeon was particularly frightening.

The royal guards, who were not in good shape, reacted extremely quickly, and everyone immediately extinguished the fire and silenced their breath.

Pursuers?

So fast?

This was the first thought that came to Tails after being hunted down for half a month.

Tread, tread, tread......

Belletti gestured lightly, and the entire guard quietly and quickly dispersed towards both sides of the passage, finding the location of the ambush, weapons in hand, ready for battle.

Tails was pinned down behind Barney Jr., and even the fast rope was pulled into the corner by Brie.

Tread, tread, tread......

The footsteps were getting closer, and the fire was growing at the corner of the passage.

The prince didn't have to listen to know that everyone's heartbeat was slowly accelerating.

In the darkness, Belletti aimed her sword at the corner, ready to strike a sudden blow.

Until the owner of the footsteps held a torch and appeared from around the corner.

"Cannon!"

Naki was the first to cry out in surprise.

"The alert is lifted," Seeing the person clearly, Belletti breathed a sigh of relief, patted the nervous little Barney behind him, and said softly:

"It's Cannon. ”

"Our trailing scouts. ”

The guards breathed a sigh of relief, put away their weapons, and lit their torches.

It's Cannon.

Tails also let go of his nervous and expectant mood a little.

Not him.

Cannon, one of the seven Guards prisoners, who had just come around the corner with a torch, looked at everyone's expressions and understood something.

"You know, you almost scared the out of us!"

Naki shook his shoulders and thumped Cannon the chest with a look of embarrassment.

Cannon shook lightly and lowered his head:

"Sorry, my ears haven't fully recovered yet. ”

Cannon pointed to his left ear, a little flickering:

"You can only control the sound of footsteps by habit. ”

"And my scouting skills have regressed......"

Barney Jr. patted him on the shoulder, seeming relieved.

"No, you're doing well, Cannon, as always," Barney Jr. smiled reluctantly:

"What's going on in the end?"

Hearing this, the faces of the guards were slightly condensed.

Cannon handed the torch to Naki with a serious expression:

"He should have regained some eyesight a little, and maybe hearing, treated his wounds, lit a torch, and walked against the wall, not fast, but ......"

He paused for a moment and glanced at everyone:

"He was on the right track. ”

Caught up in the right direction?

Everybody's changed.

Tails also felt relieved to know who Cannon was talking about.

"I left a couple of traps, but I don't think it will hold him back for too long...... Sakel was familiar with all the tricks of the Vanguard Wing. Cannon's voice grew lower.

The atmosphere became solemn and stiff.

Barney Jr. was silent, as if thinking.

"Can we ambush him?" it was the frowning Belletti.

"I don't think so," Second Logistics Officer Nai shook his head:

"I don't need to assess to see that we are not the best time to face the enemy, and if we hope that Saqel is in worse form than us......

"We're going to lose even more. Tardin ended the offer with a sigh.

The guards' expressions were even darker, which made Tails secretly scream.

Naki observed everyone's expressions and coughed:

"Big guys, I don't think it's a priority to go head-to-head with Saqel, in fact, I think we can avoid it......"

Tails noticed that although Naki was watching everyone say this, his gaze was always drifting to the quiet little Barney, as if he knew that the key was here.

Everyone didn't speak, just waiting for the vanguard's decision.

Finally, little Barney raised his head after a brief change of eyebrows, and exhaled:

"Naki was right. ”

Tails swore that he felt the crowd breathe a sigh of relief.

"From now on, our number one goal is no longer to kill Saker," Barney Jr. turned to Tails, his eyes flashing:

"It's about protecting His Highness. ”

Tails' eyebrows skipped a beat.

He awkwardly returned a friendly smile to the gazes of several volleys.

"Maybe you're glad they're loyal?" said Fastrope whispered to Tails.

No.

Not exactly loyalty.

Tails looked back at Barney Jr.'s expectant eyes and said silently in his heart.

"Then let's hurry up, no longer rest, and keep going down," Semir, who was in the lead, stepped forward and glanced at Barney Jr.:

"Maybe we'll be able to find the exit before he catches him. ”

Barney Jr. frowned.

"Wait, go down?"

He looked at his colleagues with amazement:

"We're not going to the ground?"

By the time Belletti sighed, and Semir had explained in a cold tone, Barney's entire face was dark.

But in the face of the slightly embarrassed expressions of the others, he didn't say anything after all, just clenched his fists and urged everyone to continue to walk down.

So the royal guard and the two princes moved on, but this time, their pace was much faster.

"You'd better find the so-called exit, Sémir. ”

Barney Jr. walked to the front of the line, alongside Semir.

He kept his emotions to himself, and his tone was steady, but Tails could feel the displeasure of the vanguard officer:

"Otherwise, everything we do today will be meaningless. ”

Semir surprisingly didn't retort, he just gave Barney Jr. a deep look and moved on.

The group walked silently in the deep darkness, a little less relaxed and a little heavier.

Semir led the way forward, recalling what Ricky had said to him, and discussing the route with the penistor Belletti, who knew something about the Prison of Bones behind him.

Barney Jr. occasionally joins the discussion, but his communication with Semir remains stiff.

Behind the vanguard officers were trembling Tails and Fastrope, and Naki and Nai stood by their side, not leaving an inch.

Unable to speak, Brie and Tarding stood behind them like two iron walls, acting as a second barrier.

Cannon was still the last, keeping an eye on what was going on behind him.

In a few minutes, they descended a number of stone steps, and finally came to the empty hall on the last floor again.

The moment the torches lit up the surroundings, everyone's expressions froze.

Corpse.

Corpses all over the ground.

The mercenaries of the Sword of Calamity.

There were two dozen of them, lying scattered on the ground, from the far corner of the wall to the tiles beneath their feet, and the blood that flowed was enough to soak the hall.

They died in a variety of ways, from beheading, to having their throats cut, to having their neck bones in irregular shapes, to having their bodies pierced through their bodies by crossbow arrows, and even worse, by a horribly large axe that had been firmly carved into the wall.

Without exception, their faces still carry the horror of death.

Just looking at the scene in front of him, Tails almost thought that the Blood Demon Master had returned.

"This guy died from the blade of his companion's sword, and this one had seven or eight wounds, and he should have been held hostage as a human shield...... And the one on the wall, it should have been during the attack, and unfortunately hit the axe next to it. ”

Little Barney swept over the corpses with a grim face, his expression unnatural.

"It's Sakel. ”

It was a warm-up work for him when he had just been released from prison. ”

Semir stared blankly at the faces of the corpses, familiar and unfamiliar, as he stepped past the corpse with its abdomen cut open at his feet.

Naki swallowed softly.

As the guards advanced, pools of blood all over the ground went from sparse to dense, eventually pointing to a passage.

Tails looked at the deep passage that led to Saker's cell, looked at the blood in front of him, and frowned deeply.

It was there, he remembered, that he and Yodel had found themselves in the prison of Sacael.

And after they are gone......

He remembered that Sakel had said that the swords of calamity had "fled."

Ran away?

"They must think that they are many and there is only one on the other side, so they rush to ......" Belletti raised his torch, looked at the hellish situation on earth, and slowly shook his head:

"But this time, they don't know what they're up against. ”

"Forty White Guards...... Whew!" The fastrope, whose face was pale, muttered subconsciously, accidentally stepping on a piece of blood that I don't know if it was intestines or what.

Armies of Chaos.

Tails silently recited the term in his heart, and his nerves tightened more and more.

He stepped past a mercenary with a crossbow bolt in his left eye socket.

"I guess," Naki sighed as he kicked away a corpse that had been stabbed in the chest with a dagger in his chest.

"He's kind to us, isn't he? ”

No one answered him.

"Here," said Semir, walking through the crimson passage that led to Sachael's cell, illuminating another fork in the road:

"Ricky said that this leads to the storage room. ”

Tails turned his steps, trying not to look at the mess on the ground, but at the boxy that looked like a passage for the shipment of goods.

Compared to the other two roads, it is unremarkable.

Ricky says that the Alchemy Tower has a secret tradition: always be ready for war. Semir's face was complicated:

"And the storage room is one of them. ”

Carrying a torch, he took a step and walked first into the passage.

The rest of the guards looked at each other.

Barney Jr. glanced behind him, sighed and followed, and the rest shrugged helplessly and rushed in.

"How do you know here? How do you know a secret that even the kingdom has not discovered? Found some forbidden mage's codex?"

Little Barney peeled aside a thick cobweb, carefully illuminating the surroundings.

"Ricky has studied these things where he came from," Semir said, without looking back, step by step:

Judging by his not unbitter tone, they might—at least probably the mage's enemies before—have studied how to deal with mages and magic. ”

Hearing this, Tails frowned slightly.

Where Ricky was born......

That said, the Swords of Calamity aren't organized in a pure way, at least many of them join halfway.

"And the one you mentioned, Ricky, how did he become the Sword of Calamity?" asked Barney Jr.

"I don't know, every inheritor outside the tower has their own story, and the leader is especially so, and most of them are full of bitterness and hardship. Semir shook his head.

"Including you, right. Barney Jr. said meaningfully.

In the face of the seemingly unscrupulous spying, Semir's footsteps paused slightly.

But he hesitated for only a few tenths of a second.

"What about you," said Semir, as he stepped up a low staircase, faintly:

"If you can get out, what are you going to do?"

"Escort this prince to the royal capital, assist him left and right, watch him ascend to the throne, and fulfill your Praetorian Oath?"

Hearing this, all the members of the royal guard froze slightly.

Tails was suddenly embarrassed by the unprovoked stares of everyone.

Barney Jr. was silent for a few seconds.

"It's more than that. ”

"Those who died in vain, they must have an account. ”

Barney's words echoed through the dusty and cobweb-strewn passages, with unshakable determination:

"The truth of the year must be revealed to the world. ”

Tails shook slightly.

The truth of the year......

The guards were silent, except for Brie who snorted softly, the meaning of which was unclear, and Naki slapped him immediately.

But Semir responds to Barney in a sarcastic tone:

"The truth? do you mean Sakel said about the cooperation between the former king and the Calamity?"

He sneered at the front of the line:

"If that's true, with what I know of Kessel, whether from the perspective of the stars or the royal family, he will not admit it to death. ”

Semir's words are cold:

"He would rather you be buried in the grave forever, with secrets and shames, never known. ”

"Even if you save his precious son. ”

As soon as these words came out, the royal guards fell even more silent, and they only heard hurried footsteps for a while.

Barney didn't answer.

Tails pursed his lips, his heart slightly worried.

He knew that what Semir said was very likely to be true.

He wanted to say something, at least to refute Semir and inspire the others.

But what can he say?

When I return to the royal capital, I will try to rehabilitate you?

Thinking of King Kessel's grim countenance, and remembering the dark eyes of the Black Prophet, Tails pursed his lips again, feeling heavy on his tongue and feeling sad.

Fast Rope obviously understands the atmosphere very well, and he shrank behind Tails very honestly, and he didn't dare to take a breath of air.

Naki coughed.

"Uh, Barney?"

His voice rang out behind Tails, and it sounded a little shaky:

"I was thinking, maybe we need to hide part of the truth......"

At this moment, Barney Jr. suddenly spoke, interrupting Naki:

"That's why we need His Royal Highness the prince even more. ”

Tails froze.

He crossed the crowd and saw Barney Jr.'s back, but the latter didn't turn around, just stubbornly moved forward.

Just listen to little Barney's quiet words:

"He was luckier than us, and even more fortunate than the kings and princes who came before him, born after the tragedy, and was not shrouded in the shadow of that year. ”

"I believe that compared to the king on the throne, compared to the kings in the Fuxing Palace, he is the one who is more qualified to properly handle this matter and can open up the truth of the year. ”

"Just now, if he didn't want to leave his companions behind, then he would have understood us. ”

"Understand the soul of eighteen years ago, understand the grievances of eighteen years. ”

The breathing of the guards was scrambled.

During the difficult trek, there were even a few footsteps that deviated from the original rhythm.

Tails listened to his words, bearing the gaze that drifted back and forth, only to feel that his shoulders were getting heavier and heavier.

"At the very least, I believe he can find the best way to uncover the truth for us and preserve the reputation of the royal family. ”

Barney Jr.'s voice was choppy, and it sounded rather difficult:

"No matter how hard it is and how long it takes. ”

There were many sighs in the ranks.

Tails lowered his head.

No one knew what he was thinking.

Only the fast rope gently patted his back, and there was an inaudible sigh,

"That's why you've done so hard to protect him," said Semir, in a faint tone, as if more tired than before:

"You see him as your savior?"

"See it as the savior of the royal guards back then?"

Tails' eyes froze for a moment.

Little Barney snorted, a little lonely.

"At least. ”

He was fascinated and said:

"I hope, including us, that the forty-six or forty-five royal guards who were imprisoned that year will no longer bear the shame of collaborating with the enemy and treason. ”

"The whole guard no longer has to be tortured for the heinous crime committed by one person, and for eighteen years of torture, and after death, he will not be able to look at it. ”

"We don't have to cry at night, tremble in nightmares, and rot in guilt. ”

Many of the guards turned their heads and looked at the sides of the passage.

It seems that there is something worth observing there.

There was a hint of relief in Barney's voice:

"That's enough. ”

Samir did not reply to him.

Everyone's footsteps were still the same, but Tails felt that his steps were heavier.

Barney Jr. took a deep breath and seemed to recover from the emotion just now, and his tone rose slightly:

"So, yes, we will clear our stigma and return to Eternal Star City in a good way, at least we can see our families again. ”

With a hint of hope:

"I remember that Nai had a newborn daughter back then......"

Nai, who was walking behind her, sighed.

Right now.

"Barney. ”

Naki spoke suddenly.

His tone was very lost and frightened, like a confused child:

"That'...... What about Saker?"

Hearing this name, it seemed that even the surrounding firelight dimmed for a second.

After a moment, Barney's tone rightfully reverted back to coldness:

"Ah, that traitor......"

He snorted softly, and his words revealed a strong disdain and unquenchable hatred:

"Sakel's scandal must and will be made public. ”

"The whole star, the whole world will know about his evil deeds and shamelessness, and he will pay for his betrayal. ”

The Guards were once again immersed in frost.

As if little Barney gritted his teeth, the temperature around him dropped:

"He will forever bear the notoriety and torment of a traitor, both in life and after death. ”

Tails felt Naki beside him stop talking.

I only heard little Barney snort coldly:

"Rather, we will, and we will eventually find Him, find rest—both ours and his. ”

Naki took a deep breath:

"But Sakel, he was once ...... after all is one of them. ”

"Also one of the royal guards. ”

His tone was hesitant and pained.

Everyone was silent.

Barney Jr. frowned:

"What do you mean?"

Tails saw Naki bow his head, trembling all over:

"I think whether it's him or us, we've had enough injuries. ”

He seemed to be struggling with something, and finally squeezed out a few words full of emotion:

"Why ...... What about fratricide?"

(End of chapter)