I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 10

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 10

Was it a survival instinct that had made him cling to life since childhood?

He chose the spear as his weapon.

So that if something came to ‘devour’ him, he could block it from a distance.

There were bows too, but they weren’t easy to use when the distance closed in.

One hint remained. ‘Bridge’.

‘What on earth could this mean?’

Helios couldn’t take his eyes off the sky, as if craving an answer.

It was ridiculous. Somehow he felt like a primitive man begging the sun for answers.

Only the wind was real. That man was someone who had come to this prison, said to be the worst, and helped him for trivial reasons.

At first glance, he could sense that this was an oddball, different from ordinary people.

If so, once more…

“Hey, say something, anything.”

Then, a slow and languid voice seemed to brush past his ears indifferently.

“Not hey, but Sir Garret.”

At the same time, the Personal Guard Mint’s lips opened, thinking their eyes had met.

‘Circle. And wea, pons.’

And the blue barrier disappeared.

Circle? And weapons? Why weapons?

Helios understood the lip movements but couldn’t immediately interpret their meaning.

Squeak! Screech!

But the rats were swarming again.

Helios frowned and raised his spear.

Unfortunately, this was his limit.

He doubted whether he could last another 20 minutes this time.

That’s when it happened. The moment he stabbed and knocked down a rat, he saw a red dot that hadn’t been visible before.

It was a red spot on its torn-open belly, barely visible between the fur.

“Hey, you bastard, what are you doing!”

The Short Stocky Man who was blocking rats beside Helios spat out curses.

‘Circle?’

Right, it was a circle. A round shape.

Thunk!

When Helios stabbed the circle with his spear, the spear trembled.

Helios felt a strange sensation.

Amazingly, red circles began to appear on the other rats as well.

Helios stepped forward.

“Huh? What are you doing?”

“Are you crazy? Hey!”

Those who had been fighting alongside him shouted out of reluctance to lose Helios, who had been fighting the best, but Helios just ran forward.

Why was it that this time, swinging the spear felt like it would be different?

‘Circle, and weapon.’

It was the moment Helios precisely stabbed the next rat.

Crackle!

A subtle blue light emanated from the spear, and something like an old shell surrounding the spear peeled away.

Soon after, a blue spear appeared, mixed with a light that was both subtle and even sacred.

“What the… Ki, Kia? Bro, were you a Kia user?”

Someone shouted, but Helios ran forward.

Mysteriously, the spear changed its appearance.

The rats crumbled the moment they touched the spear.

‘Circle, and weapon.’

As if stabbing the red circle with the weapon was the correct method.

Then would the trial end if he swept away all the rats with the spear like this?

No. Helios instinctively felt that this spear was getting slightly thinner each time he used it.

With this, he couldn’t eliminate all the giant rats endlessly coming out of that door.

Then?

‘The answer lies near the door!’

Helios ran recklessly toward the door.

The voices of the new prisoners shouting from behind were drowned out by the sounds of the rats.

Screech! Squeak!

The rats no longer regarded Helios as prey.

As if they knew they would disappear upon touching the light, they frantically retreated.

When Helios finally reached near the door, he realized.

“…A bridge?”

In front of the massive black door was a long bridge. The structure was so exquisite that one could only realize the area in front of the door where rats emerged was a cliff by approaching closely.

The rats could only reach the prisoners through that bridge.

This too was something one wouldn’t know without approaching closely.

So to come here, one had to ‘activate’ a weapon that repels rats.

And one needed the courage or judgment that might be reckless enough to definitely run all the way here.

Helios raised his spear.

“Prisoner Helios.”

A languid voice was heard near his ear. Strangely, that guard wasn’t smiling, yet.

“Be careful not to get torn apart and eaten. Especially the ‘bridge’.”

It felt like he had smiled.

Rip! The bridge made of sturdy cloth tore right through.

So easily and helplessly, as if it had been made this way from the beginning.

As the bridge tore, countless swarms of rats fell into the cliff.

Surprisingly, the rats that had crossed the bridge also ran toward the cliff as if bewitched, jumping off or collapsing on the spot.

Hiss—.

The rat corpses could be seen crumbling into black shadows.

The glowing spear in his hand also gently disappeared, soon returning to its original worn spear.

[Trial complete. Congratulations. Lowest-grade mutts.]

Something like a broadcast came from the ceiling.

[You may challenge the 2nd Floor.]

It was the sound of assigning a ‘lowest-grade’ rating to the surviving new prisoners.

Helios looked up at the ceiling.

There was no longer anyone at the window that had seemed like the sky.

Helios felt a moment of regret.

However, the regret didn’t last long.

When he came out to the Tower’s entrance following a guard who appeared from somewhere.

Because the gentle face that had been looking down at him through the window was right before his eyes.

“Prisoner Helios.”

Helios stared at the guard before him while drenched in sweat.

He didn’t even show a polite smile, but why was it?

The languid, soft voice that seemed to carry a smile caught his attention.

“Congratulations on your survival.”

* * *

‘Hmm, right. So it activated.’

Mint hadn’t looked down at the lower floor from the moment Helios activated his weapon and ran toward the door.

Because there was no need to watch anymore.

‘It’ll be over soon anyway.’

The Tower’s 1st Floor trial is both difficult and easy. Because you just need to figure out the clear condition.

Only one thing is needed: do you have the aptitude for Kia.

If you have the aptitude, you can see Kia.

The Male Lead will become a great expert anyway. Not only that, he’ll possess unparalleled abilities.

Moreover, Mint had felt it from the moment she first met him.

‘Ah, this bastard. He’s the kind of talent who’ll become top dog someday.’

That he has tremendous aptitude, you know?

So Mint decided to do something else.

What was it?

[~100 Easy and Simple Manuals Carefully Selected for New Guards~

P.S. Written by your cool senior Steven!]

It was the manual summary guide that Sergeant Steven had left behind.

“Wow, you read that boring thing like a law book? All of it?”

Mint had rolled around laughing with delight when she learned that he had diligently read the manual the prison provided, and this was the book she had thrown to him.

“Kahahaha! That uselessly thick thing! The one even the Warden called a failure after making it?”

He had even personally summarized the entire manual himself.

Mint revised her assessment of Sergeant Steven.

She had thought of him as someone frivolous with an inferiority complex toward handsome men.

But it seemed he was quite a decent mentor after all.

[Your assigned prisoner safely overcame the trial floor they were assigned and came out? Then let’s do this!

First, clap your hands!]

Next to the text was a drawing of a round face with a smiling expression. Even a picture of clapping hands was kindly drawn.

And now.

Mint clapped for Helios who had just emerged.

Clap clap clap.

“Very excellent.”

“…”

Helios, soaked in sweat, looked at Mint with a weary and exhausted expression.

‘What is this now?’

If Helios had the strength left to speak, he would have wanted to shout ‘Are you crazy?’

Because Mint was clapping with an almost maniacal rhythm.

Clap clap clap.

“…”

Clap clap clap.

Mint wondered. It was good that she clapped enthusiastically, but how long should she keep clapping?

She soon felt gazes that seemed ready to kill her.

It was the group of new prisoners who had survived and emerged with Helios.

They had fierce faces that could be interpreted as ‘Who are you mocking?’

She felt gazes from another direction too.

It was Sergeant Cain who had emerged from the Tower at some point. His look was definitely not kind.

Mint thought that Cain probably had complaints about her coming out of the waiting room without doing anything despite being a newcomer.

‘Next time we meet, I should show him an even more diligent working attitude.’

Thinking this way, Mint didn’t stop her hands. And so she continued until someone stopped her.

Clap clap clap.

“Um, Lord Garret. Don’t you think you could stop clapping now…?”

At the cautious voice, when he turned his head, he saw a familiar-faced attendant.

It was the same attendant who had told her that her remarks might cause Helios to misunderstand.

“Ah, that attendant from back then?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————