The underground floor of the prison.
In the narrow passage, Carol grabbed the feet of a Papal knight and smashed the shield wall in front of him to pieces like a sledgehammer, sending blood and flesh flying everywhere.
Aldnan crouched down, using all four limbs to leap over Carroll's head, and taking advantage of the gap in the shield wall being disrupted, he pounced directly into the enemy's rear row of crossbowmen.
With a swift lunge, the wolf claw ripped the throat of a crossbowman, and blood gushed out like a fountain onto the ceiling.
"Demon! Demon!" A crossbowman, terrified out of his wits, pulled a cross from his chest, raised it high at the werewolf, and shouted, "In the name of the Father, I command you to return to your lair!"
Aldenan licked the blood from his claws, grinned maliciously, pounced on the crossbowman, and bit off his head with his open jaws.
The prison guard commander looked at the hellish battlefield before him and trembled uncontrollably.
He shook off the guards, turned and ran to the end of the underground passage, shouting at the two pale-faced jailers, "Close the gate!"
"But...but, sir, there are still our allies there."
The commander drew his sword and without hesitation killed the jailer who dared to talk back, then yelled at the remaining man, "Close this damned door!"
Randall sidestepped and delivered a shield bash, knocking the last standing enemy to the ground. He then said to those behind him, "The passage is cleared."
Pedro, crouching behind the goalpost, trembled as he poked his head out. The sight of corpses strewn across the ground made him make the sign of the cross on his chest.
Pedro carefully walked behind Randall and said, "Go down the stairs from there, and you'll reach the second floor of the prison, where Warden Morton Chris and his guards live. The people we need to rescue are on the third floor."
Pedro paused for a moment, then looked at the locked door at the end of the passage and said worriedly, "But first, we must find a way to open that door."
The minotaur Bulville kicked aside the obstructing corpse on the ground, leaned his giant axe against the corner of the wall, and said to Pedro in a muffled voice, "This is not a problem."
He first spat twice on his hands, then lowered his body, pointed his horns forward, and stomped his hooves hard on the ground. Like a train speeding at full speed, he slammed into the gate with tremendous force.
A deafening impact was followed by a tremendous tremor that shook the earth.
The massive wooden door shattered into a pile of wood chips, and the surrounding walls collapsed beyond recognition.
Bourville dusted himself off, picked up the giant axe, and said to the dumbfounded Pedro, "I told you, this is not a problem."
The group followed the winding staircase to the second basement level of the prison.
The environment here is colder and more humid.
In the cells on both sides of the passage, human-shaped objects could be vaguely seen, but compared to the previous level, these creatures had long lost their human instincts of speech and behavior.
They either laughed wildly or sobbed softly; some even gnawed on their own flesh, emitting beast-like cries.
“I don’t like it here.” Barbara pulled her robe tighter around herself. “It’s more despairing than hell.”
Pedro forced himself not to look at the cells on either side: "When I first started as a deacon, I came to the second basement level once, and for more than twenty years since then, for whatever reason, I have never wanted to set foot here again."
Karin looked at the crucifix on the wall and said with a sneer, "What's interesting is that the church's way of salvation is to make people abandon reason and embrace madness."
Aldenan covered the wolf's nose with his paw and said painfully, "Can we hurry up? The stench here is making me almost lose my sense of smell."
Pedro pointed to the firelight at the end: "If we go out from there, we can reach the central area of the second basement level, which is the torture chamber and also the warden's residence."
The group quickened their pace, navigating the long corridor and entering a brightly lit hall.
Iron Maiden, guillotine, craniotomy, limb-severing bed... various styles and a dazzling array of torture instruments are neatly arranged in the hall like furniture.
Human heads, limbs, organs, and skin were displayed like trophies in glass cases, appearing particularly terrifying and eerie under the firelight.
“This warden’s hobbies are really vulgar.” Aldenan glanced at the dark red bloodstains inside the Iron Maiden and shrugged. “It seems these instruments of torture are more than just decorations.”
"Guests! Finally! We have guests!"
A shrill voice, like that of a male duck, drew everyone's attention.
A middle-aged man, almost the size of a ball, dressed in splendid attire, stood on a high platform in the hall, looking down at the intruder.
"I've heard rumors that many non-human races live in the distant western kingdoms," the man said excitedly, his eyes gleaming with greed as he stared at the Crusader members. "I thought it was just a rumor, but I never expected it to be true!"
The man strummed his fingers, as if admiring a delicious meal: "Minotaur, lizardman, werewolf... and that tall green monster. Don't worry, I'll put your specimens here in the most conspicuous place!"
Carol stomped on the floor, shattering it: "Green-skinned monster?"
Aldnan glanced at the orc: "Aren't you focusing on the wrong thing? This guy is going to turn us into specimens."
Randall raised his longsword, pointing it forward: "You are powerless to stop our advance; surrender is your best option!"
"Surrender? You want me to surrender?!" The man exclaimed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "Open your eyes! Look around you!"
Squads of soldiers in chainmail, armed with muskets, marched from the far end of the hall, with even two shotguns following closely behind, propelled by artillerymen.
The obese man waved his hands: "Have you ever seen muskets and cannons from the Southern Empire! I have an entire regiment under my command, and if I so desire, even a cardinal must bow before my power!"
"You may not know who Morton Chris is, but my family is a renowned and meritorious family in the capital of Taro! My ancestors lived as early as a thousand years ago..."
Aldenan stared blankly and asked, "Don't you guys think this guy is a bit...?"
Bourville twitched his cow ears: "He reminds me of the buzzing flies on rotting flesh."
Randall shook his head helplessly and shouted at Morton Chris, "We didn't come here to listen to your long-winded lecture..."
"Don't interrupt me!" Morton Chris yelled impatiently. "Damn it! I'll say it again, don't interrupt me! By the way, where was I?"
A small pebble flew through the air and landed behind Morton Chris.
The next second, Karin pressed the dagger against the warden's neck.
"Wait! Don't kill me! Let me finish what I have to say!"
Karin pulled her arm away, and the dagger slit Morton Chris's throat, burying his words forever in the grave.
Aldenan scratched his ear: "It's quiet now."
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