Chapter 710: Midday

12:12 in the afternoon, the sun was high in the sky.

Bang!!

A gunshot echoed.

And it came from Randa’s prison facility.

Even in Randa, a place that compromised some security for freedom and economic gain, this was something unimaginable.

However, reality surpassed imagination, and it didn’t just stop with a mere gunshot.

The prison walls, built from lessons learned from past incidents, began crumbling. The mounted machine guns were being destroyed one by one.

Crash!

Crash!

Crash!

Each time the terrible screech of metal echoed, the mounted guns turned into scrap.

It was as if someone was sniping them with a machine gun.

The way all the shots hit only the machine guns one after another, was eerily precise.

The attack was so quick and accurate that even the guards who were trained by the Defense Force could only watch helplessly.

Before they could even grasp the situation, all the machine guns on the walls were destroyed beyond repair.

But they didn’t just sit there waiting to die.

Since they were trained by the Defense Force, after all.

As soon as they sensed the spatial sniper attack, they took cover and began scouting the surroundings. One of them spotted something.

“Spotted someone near the front gate!!”

Located in a remote area, the prison rarely saw civilians.

Yet here, out of nowhere, a man appeared. A suspicious man at that. Let’s see.

He was neatly dressed, but even from this distance, they could tell he was skeletal. His hair was white, like an old man’s, and his arm was bandaged as if it had been burned. Most notably, he held a quarterstaff and…

“…Shit.”

[What?! What’s happening?!]

A voice barked from the communication device, startled by the sudden cursing. Cursing during a report was far from professional, but it had to be excused.

The situation was too outrageous.

A person like that attacking a prison in broad daylight was beyond belief.

“Dave…”

[What?]

“Dave! Woodsman Dave is here!!”

***

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Far in the distance, the sound of gunfire rang out from the prison.

But it wasn’t just the sound that was chaotic. Emotions were running wild as well.

Shock, confusion, fear, suspicion, disbelief, panic.

It seemed Oliver’s sudden appearance in broad daylight had caused quite a stir.

Indeed, it surprised Oliver as well. The fact that he was trying to infiltrate the prison so brazenly during the day (even though he was in the middle of shooting).

Normally, he would have snuck in at night and extracted Forest and Joe discreetly. But this time, he came in the front door in broad daylight.

It just felt like the right thing to do.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Oliver approached the prison gate, neither fast nor slow.

As expected, the prison’s defenses looked solid.

Tall, sturdy walls. Multiple heavy machine guns mounted above, exoskeleton gloves, and precision bombardment magic circles waiting inside.

However, none of those defenses could even be used, as Second’s sniping had neutralized them before they could be deployed.

Just like the Royal Army that had pressed Z-District.

There was still one thing left, though: the guards’ submachine guns.

“Open fire! He’s not someone to warn!!”

As Oliver reached a certain distance, the guards rushed to the top of the outer wall, shouting.

Simultaneously, countless rounds of ammunition poured down like lead rain from dozens of barrels.

There was no real need to do anything, but Oliver chose to use his Extract ability, forming a shield to block the incoming bullets.

Tatatatatatata!!

The lead rain pounded against the translucent black barrier, all of its energy absorbed and condensed.

Moments later, the deafening gunfire ceased.

They had run out of bullets.

Despite knowing it was pointless, the guards scrambled to reload their empty magazines and prepared to fire again.

They already knew they couldn’t bring him down. The stories about Woodsman Dave had spread far and wide.

A monster who had massacred hundreds of Druids in a rage, defeated the Pied Piper single-handedly in Randa, and caused countless dark sorcerers to approach him, wanting to form alliances.

Honestly, they didn’t expect any assistance to resolve this. They were just doing what they could because standing idle wasn’t an option.

Doing nothing might preserve their lives, but it would mean saying goodbye to their pensions, or worse, death benefits.

CLICK.

At the precise moment a guard finished reloading and pulled the trigger.

CRACK!

Out of nowhere, bullets rained down, destroying the guard’s submachine gun.

The shots struck right next to the gun barrels, leaving them unusable.

It happened nearly simultaneously. Two guards who had been chatting before instinctively realized how the soldiers in Z-District had been neutralized.

That crazed Dark Sorcerer had the power to take down entire armies by himself.

[Revenge Shock]

Oliver recycled the shield he’d used to block the bullets and crafted it into a sphere, transforming the accumulated force and sending it hurtling towards the prison’s front gate.

The shield became infused with even stronger emotions than before, morphing into a black shockwave that slammed into the front gate, blowing away the massive, reinforced doors.

BOOM!!

The doors, far too large and heavy to be blown away, were sent flying, causing the prison walls to tremble and cracks to crawl across the prison façade.

“Deploy the barrier!!”

One of the guards, unable to bear it any longer, frantically shouted into his radio.

Magical energy flowed across the ground, enveloping the prison walls in a protective barrier.

The sheer scale of the magical power was staggering. While prison security was important, this seemed excessive.

It would probably be more economical to capture the escaped criminals rather than investing such resources into it.

At that moment, a thought crossed Oliver’s mind. And simultaneously, a massive exoskeleton glove appeared in the air, gleaming with magical light.

It was 1.5 times larger than a standard exoskeleton glove. It wasn’t a mass-produced model as the pilot was completely encased in armor, and most noticeably, magic gauntlets were attached to both arms.

With immense magical storage capacity and durability, it was simple but capable of delivering tremendous impact in a single blow.

One such gauntlet jumped across space, appearing right in front of Oliver.

━━━!!!

It didn’t give Oliver even an opportunity to raise a shield before it swung its fist.

The gauntlet’s punch spread a shockwave across the ground, resulting in a deafening crash as the earth trembled beneath them.

Everyone watched with wide eyes.

Oliver had blocked the assault with his bare hands, without resorting to any magic or dark magic.

Gulp.

It was now clear beyond a doubt.

The one who had toppled the Pied Piper during Randa’s uprising was Woodsman Dave, not the rumored coalition of small kingdoms at the Central Continent. Naturally, dark sorcerers flocked to seek his favor.

Somehow, it felt beneficial to be under the protection of someone this powerful.

Sssss! Sssss! Sss!

Just as the massive, reinforced exoskeleton glove tried to escape from Oliver’s grasp by expelling steam, he interfered with the magical flow, halting the engine and sending shockwaves through the connections, disassembling the glove.

The monstrous hunk of steel ground to a halt and was rapidly dismantled, leaving the prison guard inside completely exposed.

The guard’s face was drenched in terror.

He had no idea what this monster in front of him would do next.

The guard tightly shut his eyes, and Oliver spoke.

“Will you continue?”

There was no anger, annoyance, irritation, or mockery in his tone as he addressed the much weaker man who stood in his way.

Having done all he could, the guard shook his head. The others atop the prison walls followed suit.

The defenses were all neutralized, the guns couldn’t be fired anymore. This was as far as they could go. If anyone thought more could be done, that person had no conscience.

Seeing the honest and sincere response, Oliver turned his attention away from the guard and faced the prison again.

He placed his hand on the oversized magical barrier surrounding the facility, once again interfering with the flow of energy. The high-density barrier, capable of withstanding powerful magic and explosions, flickered out like a snuffed candle.

Everyone gaped in awe as Oliver pressed on, tearing the massive, reinforced steel prison doors open with his bare hands and stepping inside.

“Ah. Please don’t follow me in.”

He popped his head out and politely made the request before heading inside again.

The remaining prison guards could only stare, helplessly reminded of the rumors swirling around Woodsman Dave.

They said that although he could massacre hundreds of Druids when enraged, up until that point, he was the most reasonable superhuman anyone could meet.

Chiizzzzz! Chiizzzzz!

Oliver had torn through the prison guards like a storm, leaving them frozen in place as the sound of the communication device began buzzing.

Snapping out of their daze, the guards scrambled to activate it, and the next thing they heard chilled their bones.

[Heuuck! S-save me…!]

The voices of their dying comrades. It almost felt like they could smell the blood over the communication line.

***

The inside of the prison was in decent condition.

It felt more new than old.

But that didn’t mean it was comfortable.

It was, after all, a place designed to hold and manage criminals, and in Randa’s case, the stakes were higher.

Among the prisoners were superhumans.

Superhuman prisoners were fewer in number, but even one escapee could cause untold disaster, so extra caution had to be exercised.

For that reason, magical experts were hired to reinforce the walls, install monitoring devices, and heighten overall security. The atmosphere inside was meticulously designed too.

Dark, gloomy, oppressive.

Everything aimed at ensuring the prisoners would feel so uncomfortable they wouldn’t dare stir up trouble.

Though the overwhelming smell of blood might have been overkill.

“You’re surprisingly calm.”

Deeper inside the prison.

A female prison guard stood in a hallway soaked in blood, waiting for Oliver.

They had never met before, but Oliver immediately knew who she was.

Ever since he began seeing the sins of people, he could also perceive their names and backgrounds.

“When most people see a large space painted red like this, they tend to freeze.”

The female guard glanced over at the headless guard and prisoners in the nearby cells.

They’d been murdered the moment Oliver stepped in. In that brief span of time, she’d killed not only regular inmates, but even a few superhuman ones along with the other guards.

That confirmed the level of her skills.

“I suppose, though, for someone known as a new ‘Finger’, this might not be much of a threat. But regardless-”

“-Daviddel Gavel. Age twenty-seven. An orphan posing as Puppet’s disciple, correct?”

Having effortlessly crushed the steel prison doors, entered the supposedly secure building, and witnessed the bloodbath, Oliver suddenly spoke.

A silence fell over the woman, Daviddel Gavel.

She hadn’t expected Oliver, whom she was meeting for the first time, to correctly identify her true name and background, a Puppet apprentice.

But the shock didn’t stop there.

“You took Madam Bathory’s disciple and processed them into a Zombie Puppet to infiltrate this prison.”

“…They were right. You are terrifying. So this is what it’s like to defeat the Pied Piper? I’m starting to understand why all those dark sorcerers want to switch sides.”

“Although, you’ve shown no intention of switching yourself. Puppet’s disciples, it seems, are highly loyal.”

Oliver recalled other Puppet disciples he had encountered.

The Puppeteer, who tried to return to Black Hand after being exiled, and Claude, who had been turned into materials for Puppet’s appearance.

They were all unique individuals, but they shared a common trait: they all practiced manipulative dark magic and held extraordinary loyalty toward Puppet.

“I guess it makes sense, given Puppet took you all in and raised you from orphans.”

Simply by observing the Zombie Puppet, Oliver could uncover not only surface details but even deeper secrets about Daviddel.

It was borderline blasphemous and enough to shatter Daviddel’s faux calm demeanor.

“That means you’re aware I must stop you.”

“Do you think you can?”

Oliver asked. It could have sounded arrogant, but his tone was neutral. It was more matter-of-fact.

“My master told me that power isn’t the only tool for control. I still have Joe and Forest in my hands.”

“In your hands, but only just.”

Oliver pointed out her weakness in one short sentence.

Even if she was in charge, she had no real authority to do anything.

That authority lay with Puppet, and Puppet had no intention of making those kinds of decisions.

Oliver knew this from what he felt in Puppet’s emotions during their encounter at Holy Capital, as well as from Puppet’s halfhearted suppression of Z-District.

Whether she had truly taken Joe and Forest as hostages or not was unclear, but the bottom line was she couldn’t act on her own. At least not right now.

“There are other ways. If you act now, I’ll blame this entire prison massacre on you. Woodsman Dave. And things could spiral out of control.”

Daviddel attempted to threaten Oliver, weighing her options carefully.

Although it would have been easy for him to kill everyone, Dave had carefully avoided killing the exterior guards and only used basic dark magic.

He hadn’t used any of his over-the-top techniques like the ones that felled the Pied Piper.

Analyzing Woodsman Dave’s personality and the way he had behaved earlier, Daviddel assumed he still cared about public perception.

“…I’ll take the world’s view into consideration.”

“That doesn’t matter to me. Do as you wish.”

His tone was completely indifferent.

Daviddel felt a chill run down her spine and attempted to activate the blood magic within the Zombie Puppet.

Shiiing!

But before she could move, Woodsman Dave had already torn off the Zombie Puppet’s head bare-handed.

Despite the supposed safety of controlling the Zombie Puppet from afar, terror consumed Daviddel. She tried to cut her connection to it.

But she couldn’t.

Dave had interfered, forcibly maintaining her link to the Zombie Puppet.

She knew it instinctively.

Experiencing such unexplainable power for the first time, Daviddel rolled her eyes upward, looking at Oliver, and noticed him glancing at the corpses.

“Where are Joe and Forest?”

As if Oliver already knew.