"Greeny, go to the dungeon and bring the mage named Allen here.
"As for the new arrival, let him stay inside a while longer to reflect on his life. o(￣▽￣)ｄ"
"As you command, My Lord."
Arianna gave a slight bow, her green eyes devoid of any emotion, then turned and vanished into a blur of motion through the hall's entrance.
In the damp, gloomy Mithril Dungeon, Ryan and Allen huddled against the cold wall, shivering.
Suddenly, the cell door was violently wrenched open with a grating screech of metal.
Standing in the doorway was Arianna, clad in her Gothic Maid Attire. Her emotionless green eyes fixed directly on Allen in the corner.
"Mage Allen, My Lord wishes to see you."
Allen trembled all over, his face draining of color. He remembered the monster corpses thrown into the furnace and thought his own end had finally come.
"No, please! I beg you, I can be useful! I can do anything! Don't kill me!"
Sobbing and sniveling, he scrambled backward on hands and feet, trying to distance himself from this terrifying Demon Maid, his pleas pitiful and desperate.
Arianna completely ignored his wails. She stepped forward, seized his filthy collar as easily as plucking a chick, and hauled him effortlessly off the ground.
"Let me go! AAAH! Help!"
Allen's struggles seemed laughable and futile before Arianna. He was dragged roughly along, his feet scraping long trails across the hard white stone slab.
Witnessing this from inside the cell, Ryan buried his head in his knees, not daring to even breathe loudly.
With a dull thud, Allen was flung heavily onto the cold floor at the center of the hall, landing in a dazed heap.
Ignoring the pain, he looked up and saw the Demon Castle Lord sitting on the sofa, her pure white eyes observing him with keen interest.
"It's over... I'm really done for this time..."
Despair flooded Allen's heart. He collapsed limply to the floor, kowtowing frantically, his pleas a jumbled mess.
"Spare me, My Lord! I deserve to die a thousand deaths, but I truly can be useful! Please, give me another chance!"
Labrynth watched his pathetic display, the corner of her mouth lifting into an innocent, cheerful smile.
"Don't be so nervous. I never said I was going to kill you."
Her voice was soft and sweet as cotton candy, yet it made Allen tremble even more violently.
"I've decided to launch a surface spy plan, and you," she announced with a giggle, "are the first pawn I've chosen.
"You will have a brand new identity, and then I'll release you to return to the surface, to Blackedge Town."
Allen's mind buzzed. His kowtowing froze mid-motion. He jerked his head up, his face a mask of disbelief.
From the abyss of certain death to the peak of ecstatic freedom, the sheer emotional whiplash left him momentarily unable to think.
"R-really? My Lord... You truly intend to let me go?"
"Of course it's true. I never lie."
d(･∀･)b
Confirming he hadn't misheard, Allen's face erupted with wild joy. Trembling with excitement, he began kowtowing frantically once more, even more fervently than before.
"Thank you, My Lord! Thank you for your mercy! I, Allen Farrell, swear to heaven that I will go through fire and water for you, without hesitation!"
Labrynth nodded in satisfaction, then gently snapped her fingers.
Snap.
The crisp sound echoed through the hall as three Pure White Dolls, similar in appearance to Arianna but lacking facial features, materialized out of thin air around Allen, surrounding him.
The icy killing intent and lethal aura emanating from these Dolls plunged Allen, who had just been immersed in ecstasy, into an icy abyss. A terrifying psychological pressure nearly suffocated him.
...These monsters, each one is stronger than the Stone Puppet that defeated me before!
Cold sweat drenched Allen's back as he realized that his life was still firmly in the other's grasp.
Labrynth slowly rose from the sofa, her pure white eyes shimmering with delight.
She raised her delicate, pale hand, aimed it at Allen's cheek, and activated the new Skill she had just acquired.
"To ensure your loyalty, I need to add a small insurance."
As soon as she finished speaking, a brilliant silver streak of light shot from her fingertip, swift as lightning, giving Allen no chance to react.
The silver light precisely branded itself onto Allen's right cheek.
"Ahhhhh!"
An excruciating pain, as if his soul were being torn apart, instantly spread throughout his entire body. Allen let out a pig-slaughter-like scream, clutching his face as he writhed in agony on the ground.
He felt as though his cheek had been seared by a red-hot branding iron, or as if countless needles were piercing it simultaneously–the pain penetrated to the very marrow.
The intense pain came quickly and left just as fast.
A few seconds later, as the pain receded like a tide, Allen tremblingly touched his cheek, where a strange spiderweb-like silver crack had appeared.
What horrified him even more was the discovery that an incomprehensible mental link hub seemed to have appeared in his mind.
What... is this?
A bold thought surfaced in his heart. He attempted to issue a simple command through that hub to one of the stationary Pure White Dolls before him.
Take... one step forward.
The next moment, the Pure White Doll, which exuded an aura of death, truly obeyed his command, mechanically taking a heavy step forward with a resounding thud.
"It moved! It really moved!"
An incredulous light burst forth in Allen's eyes. He trembled all over with excitement at the thought that he could possess the power to control such terrifying monsters.
To further test this power, he immediately issued a new command.
Attack the stone slab in front of you with all your strength!
The Doll that received the command showed no hesitation. It raised its right fist, composed of pure white stone, and smashed it down with full force onto the hard marble floor!
Boom!
With a loud crash, the sturdy stone slab shattered like a fragile biscuit under the Doll's iron fist, sending countless rubble flying in all directions.
Gazing at the deep fist imprint on the ground and the terrifying, destructive power in the Doll's fist–enough to rival a Silver-rank Knight–Allen was utterly shocked.
His breathing grew rapid, his heart pounded wildly, and a trace of greedy ambition took root in his heart.
If... if I can fully control these three dolls, who would dare look down on me after returning to the surface? I could even...
However, before his ambition could swell any further, a cold voice pierced through his delusions.
"Stop daydreaming. Take a good feel of the mark on your face."
Labrynth had somehow appeared before him, looking down at him from above. Her snow-white eyes were filled with mockery and cruelty.
"That mark is a bomb I installed on you. With just a single thought from me, I can detonate it at any time, turning you into a drooling idiot.
"You'd better behave. If I ever detect even a hint of betrayal from you..."
Labrynth paused, her face breaking into an angelical and flawless smile.
"The consequences are something you absolutely don't want to know. ψ（｀∇´）ψ"
Allen was terrified out of his wits. The ambition that had just begun to rise was extinguished in a blink, and he felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
He immediately dropped to his knees, kowtowing frantically like a chicken pecking at rice, his voice filled with terror.
"I wouldn't dare! I absolutely wouldn't dare! My life belongs to you, My Lord! I swear eternal loyalty to you, without a single trace of disloyalty!"
"Hmm, that's more like it."
Satisfied, Labrynth patted his head, then began crafting his identity and story for his return to the surface.
"Listen carefully. After you return to the surface, you will publicly claim that the Silver Blade Squad encountered a powerful Monster in the Ruins and, unfortunately, was wiped out.
"Only you managed to escape by chance, and deep within the Ruins, you unexpectedly obtained the legacy of a deceased Alchemist, along with two Alchemical Puppets he left behind."
Labrynth only gave him control over two of the dolls, keeping the third in the Labyrinth as a backup.
"Your mission is to report to me at all times about the movements in the surface world, especially everything happening in the Adventurers' Guild."
Allen committed every word to memory, not daring to miss a single detail.
"Understood! I will complete the mission without fail!"
"Go on." Labrynth waved her hand, signaling that he could leave.
Allen felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He scrambled to his feet and, under Arianna's "escort," headed toward the Labyrinth exit.
Just as he was about to leave the hall, Labrynth's voice drifted to him once more from behind.
"Oh, and don't worry about how we'll stay in contact.
"When the time is right, I'll naturally reach out to you."
...
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