Chapter 591

Chapter 591

We use teleport crystals to return to the Crimson City, and I'm led out into the desert, about 50 kilometers away.

There are no main trade roads connecting this far out, and the only major landmark here is the edge of the dark abyss on the horizon.

A large rectangular prison made of mana-manifested stone comes into view, far out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a single door on its front and two level 1400+ guards from the Crimson Army standing watch.

There's a large man with earth magic and body hardening who has high-grade armor crafted by Bri and an earth-imbued longsword that I made for him before I left.

The woman by his side uses air magic. Her bow was crafted by me too, and much of her other high-grade gear also appears to be crafted by Bri, making them up to par with her new level gains these last few weeks.

I feel the aura of my body double's surveillance, even 50 kilometers away, but we're greeted very respectfully once we arrive.

They show us two small bows as they open the front door for us, and the woman speaks.

"Welcome back, it is an honor to see the Flame Emperor's Inner Circle all together. "

At the same time, the man hands me a ring of keys holding over 40 in total.

I take them and llead our group of five into the dimly lit structure, finding it funny how she's given my teammates this name.

We're all supposedly deceased after our mission into the Dark Continent and wear items with high-grade concealment attributes, so our appearances are always changing.

There is an air of mystery around who we are and where we came from that many army members and even citizens of the city have begun to speculate on in their freetime.

It makes me think about my other teammates. Arie and Luna are still off on their venture into the Abyss in search of their old home that was swallowed by the darkness.

I haven't heard back from them in months, and out of curiosity, I bring their names up in my Rising Emperor's Domain interface to see if I can open a long-range transmission; but to my surprise, all of their information is tinted dark purple.

My gaze tightens even more when I try to make contact, but nothing goes through. Either there is interference, or they're unable to answer my calls. I can see their location, over a thousand kilometers away, deep in Sector 4; but the color of all their vitals and stats looks exactly the same purple shade as my Demonic Energy Manipulation skill's text when I view it inside my own status.

I trust them to make it back when they've discovered what they need to, so my attention turns to the rows of cells.

Dozens of high-level Association Hunters are here, locked behind bars.

The cells are all made of a very interesting pink crystalline structure. There are smooth walls, floors, and ceilings; but as we walk through the center of the building, seeing cells on either side of us, there are only small openings in the semi-transparent pink bars to see the captives behind them.

The center of the hall is lit by a few orbs of glass with [Flash] imbued mana crystals inside them.

It's clear one of my body doubles used my new [Crystal Creation] skill, and what looks like millions of MP worth of mana crystals to create indestructible cells inside this temporary prison.

To ensure safety, it seems all the captured B-class hunters have handcuffs made of the same pink crystal material, combined with a black bar of mana-blocking Qi.

It disrupts the connection to the system and doesn't allow them to use any mana or skills while in contact.

Far down at the end of the hall, I can sense the 10 cells with prisoners that have golden collars around their necks. They too have the handcuffs, but their cell reinforcement is multiple times denser than the others.

There are visible dents and small fractures in the cell from their constant use of borrowed Soul Energy to attempt escape, but after over a full week has passed, they have all given up trying to break out.

I grin while opening the lock to the first golden-collared B-Class Hunter's Cell.

While activating [Heavy Hand], [Intimidation], and [Lie Detector] again, I break the cuffs of a muscular middle-aged water wielder and start asking questions.

"You heard your friends break; it's time to talk."

Another hour or so passes, and as I make my way through each of these higher-tiered hunters, it's much harder to get information out of them.

Their minds don't wander, and no matter how bad the mental or physical pressure I push down on them, they still don't talk even when they're close to death.

It's like there is a mental barrier up that wasn't present in the others. My best guess is it has something to do with the Sun God's Curse Mark. Even with the system-blocking cuffs on, their soul energy necklaces still glow brightly around their necks.

I make my way back to the first golden-collared hunter I started with and murmur to myself.

"I guess it's time to take that collar off... I'm not going to get anywhere with you all acting like this. I've been wondering if it was even possible for me to do this, so you'll be my first test subject."

In the next moment, I concentrate on letting dark red Soul Energy pour out of my hands, covering the man's entire body that lies on the cell ground before me.

I vividly remember using my absorption skill's innate properties combined with Soul Energy after defeating the Lich King to cleanse those that were still infected by its curse.

As the fiery aura covers the man, and I concentrate on the golden energy that surrounds his neck and is bonded with his cells all throughout his brain, heart, blood, bones, and body, I focus and let the same process play out.

More and more Soul Energy pours out of my body; it feels similar to when I was imbuing the Crimson Barrier with everything in my core.

Getting rid of the Lich King's power was far simpler because he was already gone; trying to force this golden energy out is infinitely more difficult.

I feel my energy clashing with the golden light deep within the man's body, and a microscopic war of Soul Energy particles commences.

At first, it is a losing battle. I feel a tremendous power lurking deep inside the golden energy, and my heart feels tight just thinking of the time the Sun God himself attempted to assert pressure on my own core; however, we're thousands of kilometers away and all I'm doing is trying to overpower the borrowed soul energy within a hunter that hasn't even double ranked up yet.

The more Soul Energy I flood into his system, the more the intrinsic strength of the Soul Energy doesn't matter. I overpower the energy by raw volume alone, and to be on the safe side, I begin enhancing the weight of my own Soul Energy with Divine Threads once the golden light that poisons his flesh starts to be devoured.

This speeds things up drastically.

All of the golden light is ripped from his being and locked away in my item storage.

The process isn't the hardest thing I've ever done, but I am breathing heavily and covered in sweat by the time I'm sure every drop of Qi and Mana has left his body.

Once I'm sure, I take a step back and retract my Soul Energy completely.

The man looks almost as exhausted as I do once it's over, but words leave his lips once I relieve the pressure and watch the golden collar around his neck completely fade away.

"Impossible. You— You did it... I'm free... I'll—tell you everything, sir! Please, just hear me out! I never wanted to harm you or your people—"

As my body naturally regenerates and my fatigue is gone in seconds, I feel a new link of loyalty form from the B-Class hunter that just had a curse lifted from his status.