The corridor was long and quiet.

Tak, Tak

The only sound that I could hear was the sound of my footsteps alongside the guards. Moving ahead, I had yet to meet any other guards.

Of course, that was mainly because I had only just recently left.

I was bound to meet a group soon enough.

'Hopefully, this works.'

Otherwise, I really wouldn't know what to do.

"...."

Calming my nerves, I turned to look at the guard walking alongside me. He was long dead, and at first glance there seemed to be nothing wrong with him with the exception of his closed eyes.

I was able to hide that fact by lowering his hat. Of course, that would be useless if one paid close attention.

Twitching my finger, he moved forward.

It was weird, but it almost felt as if my senses were numbing.

I would've normally felt a little more when killing someone. While it was true that I was starting to get used to the idea of killing, it was still not a concept that I could fully embrace.

And yet,

'I killed so many people without even batting an eye.'

I felt nothing when killing them.

No guilt, no anger, nothing.

.....It was almost concerning.

While this was indeed the point that I wanted to reach at a certain point in my life, the speed at which I had reached this point was the thing that I was concerned about.

It was unnatural.

Almost artificial.

'Did my perception of death numb down due to the time I fought Leon and when I used the first leaf?'

Back then, I remembered dying over and over again.

Was that perhaps the reason for the change?

"No."

Eventually, I shook my head.

No, it wasn't that.

'.....It started the moment I came into the Mirror Dimension.'

Or more specifically, the moment I entered the supply station and the roots appeared. That was when the change mostly likely happened.

I took a nervous breath.

Again I was reminded of the little time that I had.

I needed to get out.

Looking ahead, my fingers twitched and I hurried my pace.

The guard followed alongside me.

At the same time, I closed my eyes and spread threads all over the surroundings. My chest trembled at the mana expenditure, and my face turned pale.

Withstanding the strain, I lowered my head to follow a certain thread that led to the path that I wanted to go to.

All was proceeding smoothly until,

"Are you following the thread?"

"Yes, it leads to this way! Hurry!"

"There's so many of them."

I heard voices coming from up ahead.

Unease unfurled in my chest the moment I heard the voices. Pursing my lips, I lowered my head and picked up the pace, following the thread that I had set up.

Our paths were soon going to cross.

My only hope would be that they would either just move past me.

"Uh?"

But of course, why would they just run past me?

I didn't give them the initiative and spoke first.

"I'm following this thread. I'm coming from the infirmary."

I then pointed towards another thread.

"I haven't followed that one. You should follow that one. I don't think anyone is following that thread."

"Understood!"

"Yes...!"

The guards left right after that.

Feeling their distancing steps, I finally sighed in relief.

"....It worked."

Noticing the urgency in my tone, the guards left before they could properly observe me.

And all of it was thanks to the body next to me. Given that the person who needed to escape was only one person, they had less reason to suspect that I was involved especially since I was also wearing a guard uniform.

At the same time, because our exchange was brief, they didn't notice the threads that wrapped around the insides of the guard's body.

Not that it was easy to detect considerign that the threads were extremely thin and I was getting better and better at controlling them.

With that being said, that didn't guarantee a thing.

Had the two stopped to take a proper look, there was a chance that they'd notice something.

Of course, that was only if they noticed my face first.

That was probably the biggest giveaway.

I did after all have quite the memorable face.

It was a sin to be this handsome.

At least, in these situations.

"Huu."

Taking a deep breath to collect myself, I followed the thread I had set up on the ground.

Along the way, I'd walk past several guards, but just like the first time, none of them noticed a single thing.

"....Almost."

My steps gradually slowed after I passed a certain corridor.

In order for me to escape, I needed first to enter the storage space.

Unfortunately, that area was somewhat guarded.

While all the strong individuals were at the main entrance, the people guarding the storage space were not weak.

That wasn't the only problem.

Unless one had the key, they wouldn't be able to enter the storage space. Thankfully, I was in possession of such a key thanks to Javier.

Stopping right at the intersection that led to the storage space, I took a deep breath.

The path in front of me diverged from left to right. To my right was the corridor that led to the storage space, while the left had another corridor that led to another area.

I needed to go to the right.

"Haa... Haa..."

My breathing was somewhat rough.

While recovering my breath, I peeked the corner slightly.

"One, two, three..."

By the side of the corridor was a large metallic door with several guards stationed there.

Judging from the aura their bodies gave out, they all appeared to be stronger than me.

"Shit."

I silently cursed under my breath.

This was going to be a lot more difficult than expected.

But it wasn't like I didn't have a plan.

Turning my head to face the guard next to me, I took a few more minutes to recover my breath before twitching my finger.

The guard moved, passing the corner.

"Who goes there?!"

".....Who are you? State your credentials."

Immediately after passing the corner, the guards stationed at the supply area grew alert. Controlling the guard, I made him run to the left corridor.

"Hey!"

"Stop...!"

Just as I heard their shouts, I also rushed out of the corner.

"Ah!?"

"What the...!"

Coming out, the guards looked surprised and stopped.

Yet again, I took the initiative to speak.

"Q-quick....! Haa... Haa... He's escaping... Haaa... That's the guy!"

While I spoke, I brought my hands to my knees while twitching my fingers to control the body which already disappeared on the opposite side.

"What's going on?!"

"He... culprit... Haa... escape!"

The guards were quick.

Right as I told them of the situation, they picked up the pace again.

Staring at their departing backs, I continued to control the body. I had taken the initiative to delay some time for the body to move forward.

The guards were definitely faster than a body that was being controlled by threads. I needed to buy as much time as possible for it.

I didn't know how much time that would give me.

Probably not much considering that once they got close enough, they'd notice the threads that were wrapped around its body.

'No, maybe that'll make them think he's the culprit even more.'

"Haa... Haaa..."

Leaning back against the wall, another guard walked up to me.

Unlike the other guards, he had stayed behind.

"You must be exhausted."

"Haaa haaa"

I didn't answer and just took deep breaths.

This was my own way of saying I was.

"Can you tell me exactly what happened? We've noticed threads appearing all over the place, but because of our orders, we weren't allowed to move."

"This"

I took another deep breath just to show the fact that I was tired.

And I was, since I was still controlling the body.

Even so, with threads scattered around, I didn't worry about him noticing that they were coming from me.

While keeping my head lowered, I started to relay some information to him.

"I don't know myself what happened. I was just walking alongside my partner when I noticed that something was wrong. When I questioned him, he just started to run away. It looks like he disguised himself as a guard in order to escape. Thankfully, I noticed that something was wrong just in time."

".Hmm."

The guard next to me frowned.

"This cadet is a lot more slippery than I imagined."

"Right? Despite chasing him for so long, I was barely able to keep up with him. Haaa haaa I heard he was the top cadet of Haven... Haa... I guess there were merits to the title."

"You did good."

Pressing his arm against my shoulder, the guard tried to comfort me.

I touched his wrist briefly.

"Can you stand up?"

"I think I can."

Supporting myself with the aid of the wall behind me, I was just barely able to stand up.

Nodding the guard headed back to the metal door that led to the storage area. As he did, he knocked on the door.

"Help me guard the supply while we're at it."

"Is is there water?"

"Water?"

"Haaa yes, I'm thirsty."

Frowning, the guard looked back.

"There's some in the storage."

Taking out a set of keys, the guard unlocked the door for me, revealing the insides of a massive warehouse.

"Go ahead and take whatever you want. Come back when you're done."

"Th-thank you"

Thanking the guard, I entered the storage space.

I could feel the guard's gaze on my back the moment I entered.

"I'll close the door. Knock when you're done."

"Sure."

Clank

The door closed right behind me.

Staring at it for a good few seconds, I lowered my head to stare at my forearm.

'I've been caught.'

That much was clear to me.

By having me enter the storage space, the guard was easily able to tell that the threads were coming from me.

The guards weren't stupid.

They could easily deduce that something was wrong.

In a matter of a few minutes, the other guards were probably going to come back as well.

In more ways than none, the situation had turned even more desperate for me. But I wasn't worried.

I had taken this into account beforehand.

For now, everything was still flowing as I wanted to.

"Right, it worked out in the end."

But it wasn't over yet.

Entering the storage space was the first step in my plan. Looking around, what greeted my sight were hundreds upon hundreds of shelves with dozens of boxes scattered throughout.

....It would probably take a normal person a few days in order to look through all the items that were stored within this place.

That was what the guards were probably thinking.

Unfortunately, I knew.

From the memories of the guards, and Javier, I knew exactly how to navigate the place, and following a certain row of boxes, I stopped at a certain section.

"It should be here."

Pausing in front of a certain box, I brought my finger over it and traced my finger down.

Opening the box, I looked at the contents within.

"...."

I stood quietly for a few seconds before smiling.

"....Found you."

My exit ticket.