Souta slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and held his head.
'Souta, are you fine?' Saya quickly asked him.
"Yeah. I'm fine..." Souta answered her before he inhaled deeply. He could clearly remember the voices that he heard before. The images were blurred but he was sure that it was connected to his past.
They were talking about the Door. What's coming here and what's on the other side of the Door? Also, about the Four Authorities. The Ten Commandments were trying to find those authorities. How much it is connected to the Door? The Aspect of Sins? And the Star Zodiacs?
Is everything connected to the Three Bringers of Calamities?
There's so much question in his mind but he didn't know the answer about it. Also, it seems that someone deliberately erased his memories. Is he being controlled by some people? Are those people connected to his system?
"Fuck!!"
Souta gritted his teeth as he smashed his fist on the ground. He hated the idea of someone controlling or manipulating him. It was especially if he doesn't have any idea about what they were planning. They were just leaving him in the dark.
Damn! Those people... Am I just a pawn? I will not let it go the way they planned it. I will do what I want.
Anger was filling his heart. He didn't even know if he was dancing in the palm of an unknown person.
He didn't like this feeling. It was unpleasant.
'Souta! Why are you so angry?!' Saya was confused. She didn't even know why Souta fell unconscious before and now he suddenly became angry.
Souta closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a while, he opened his eyes once again and said, "I'm fine now."
It seems that he had to know everything. He wanted to know what they were planning to him. He doesn't like being kept in the dark.
But for now, he should focus on his goal. He would know the truth in the future. No, he will try to know it. He will use everything that he gained.
Souta examined his body. His hair grew a little bit but its color has changed. It has a blood-red color and his eyes had the same color. His skin tone was darker as it was close to black. A red-colored gem with a size of a fist was situated on the center of his chest. It was his monster orb.
He thought that his monster orb would be internal but it seems that it was the same as Yuko, an external monster orb.
On his monster orb, a light red tribal tattoo spread out on his chest. It looks like it was a pair of eyes. His sharp nails also turned red color. He also grew taller by one inch. Well, it's not that bad. At least he grew taller.
But the problem was that he only had one arm. He thought that he would regenerate it when he evolved but it seems that's not the case for him.
His health regeneration was 246 per hour. He would receive an ability to regenerate his limbs if it reached 300 per hour. Well, he was already halfway to it so it's not that bad.
"For now..."
Souta muttered as he activated the bracelet that Alice gave to him. He changed his appearance back to normal human but he couldn't hide the monster orb. The effect of the bracelet wasn't affecting the part where his monster orb was situated.
"I'm always wearing clothes so it's not that much. But at this rate..."
Souta rubbed his chin. At this rate, he couldn't go to a brothel. It was a big problem. Those girls would recognize the monster orb the moment they saw it.
Wait!
Oh? In sub-world people rarely saw monster orb. They didn't even know that all monsters could form it not just a dragon. If that's the case, he could make some excuses.
But in Imperium, the monster orb was widely known. Everyone would recognize it in a single glance. But he wasn't in the Imperium. He was currently staying in a sub-world.
"Good."
Souta nodded with a satisfied expression. After settling his mind, he looked at the last piece of message in his system. He hasn't read it because he felt that intense pain before.
[You've reached the third evolution stage!]
[You've finally become a true monster!]
[Every time you've leveled up you will gain 100 health, 20 energy, 20 stamina, 50 strength, 30 agility, 30 dexterity, 30 intelligence, 30 vitality, +5% physical and energy damage, +5% to all resistance, and +10 to health, energy, and stamina recovery!]
This is what he was talking about. The benefits from leveling up after reaching the third stage were something that couldn't be compared to the second stage.
In the second stage, he only received 15 points to strength and 10 points to agility, dexterity, intelligence, and vitality every time he leveled up. The difference was too large.
...
Souta walked outside and he found Yuko sitting alone. She was looking around trying to see if someone will approach this place.
"Master...?"
Yuko turned to look at Souta. She naturally felt the difference in Souta's vibe. Yeah, even though Souta was hiding his aura Yuko could still feel it with her instinct.
"Yeah, I've reached your level. I'm also a third evolution monster now."
Souta smiled as he patted her head. Yuko simply closed her eyes as she enjoyed him caressing her head.
"I'm going to contact Lydia first."
He said as he took out the transmission talisman in his pocket. He then contacted her.
"Lydia..."
He said but the one who answered him wasn't Lydia but Isabella.
"S-Souta. Lydia is sleeping right now."
"Oh? Can you wake her up? I want to ask her some questions." He said to Isabella.
"Okay. Please wait for a moment." Isabella said.
After a few moments, Souta heard Lydia's voice.
"What do you want to know, Souta?" She quickly asked.
"I want to know about the situation of the Prison World. About the rulers of this world." Souta asked her and Lydia slowly explained to him about the wardens, the ruler of this world.
From her explanation, Souta understood the state of this world. He also learned from her the territory of wardens and the prisons that they were controlling.
Catastrophe rank prisons...
This was his target for now as most of the powerful creatures were being detained in that place. He was sure that if he freed the creatures in that place, they will cause chaos in this world.
But a single catastrophe rank prison wasn't enough. That's why he had Lydia on the other side to freed the creatures on the other catastrophe rank prison.
"I understand now. I'll leave the other side to you. I'm going to the prisons of the Third Warden." Souta said to Lydia before he hung up the talisman.
Now that he reached the third evolution stage, he wouldn't back down from the commanders of the Great Astley Empire. They couldn't pose a threat to him with their current strength. Unless they had more than fifty B-ranks at their disposal then he wouldn't be in trouble while fighting them.
It will take a party of an A-rank who specialized in different classes before they could subdue him.
At his current strength, he was even stronger than Yuko.
"Let's go out now."
...
The entire forces of the Great Astley Empire were trying to find Souta's group. They were looking everywhere trying to look for their trails.
Souta and Yuko arrived at one of the catastrophe rank prisons in this world. It was under the rule of the Third Warden, a powerful Warden who specializes in wielding spears.
This prison was large and it felt like Souta was looking at a city.
Fifty meters walls surrounded the entire place and there were more than dozens of security posts who were looking around, guarding the place.
Also, cannons were installed on the walls with a gap of twenty meters. And at the center of the place, there was a huge five hundred meters tall building. This building has no window and it only has one door.
"Yuko, just stay here for a while. I'm going to sneak inside there."
Souta said to Yuko before he left. He used his [Burrow] skill and went underground. He was sure that this type of base didn't have any sensory device or spherical barrier that protected it in the air and under the ground.
After a few dozen minutes, he managed to sneak inside the place. Inside the prison was different than what he expected. Screams and cries of people could be heard.
They guards were torturing the prisoners in this place.
'I will observe this place first before I started freeing the prisoners.'
Souta said inwardly. He then glanced at the tallest building and silently approached it.
Sneaking in this kind of place was nothing for him. The guards were just E-rank and none of them were sensory-type.
'Let's see...'
