"Bingo. The final layer has appeared," saying so; he then got to work while whistling a carefree tune.
Floating in front of an enormous circular stone door embossed with nurous glittering runic arrays, Protheus extended both of his hands and typed on its surface with his fingers.
His dirty, boney fingers danced at blurring speeds as lines and mysterious characters ford of magic power ford on the air in front of him and flew towards the various arrays on the stone door.
The mont those characters reached their destined runic array they simply sunk into its surface and rged with it. The array then intermittently blinked with flashing light, a few tis, and then disappeared from the stone door.
Essentially, Protheus was breaking the runic array seals placed on the circular exit door at speeds unseen by the naked eye while replacing them with seals of his own to not trigger any alarms.
His speed in breaking and replacing these seals could only be described as godly! The study of Runes, which was the most complicated subject within the entire Universe, seed like child's play in his hands!
After spending a few minutes drawing out thousands of lines, his fingers finally showed signs of slowing down and gradually ca to a stop. Interlocking his fingers, he stretched his hands, producing a satisfactory 'crick' sound.
"Ah!~ That felt good," Protheus moaned. He then ford one final symbol and made it hover above his right palm. Turning around, he shot a parting gaze towards Lucius.
"It was nice talking to you, naless guy," he spoke with a charming smile, "When I author my autobiography in the future, I'll rember to leave you a footnote sowhere in the middle."
"Now then, if you don't mind, I shall bid you, adieu!"
Protheus exclaid and crushed the symbol hovering in the middle of his palm.
A bright white light flashed, drowning the cave and blinding Lucius in the process. After waiting for the light to disappear, Lucius opened his eyes and looked at the spot where Protheus was previously floating.
There was no one present.
Just an enormous circular stone door with hundreds of shining arrays that matched the picture Lucius had within his mind, to a tee. The exit, as it was right now, was exactly how it was in his previous life.
In other words, the mind-numbingly difficult seals that Lucius had spent hundreds of hours and thousands of trials to a breakthrough were, in actuality, a half-hearted patchwork which was perford by Protheus on his way out.
Staring at the stone door for a few seconds, the expression on Lucius' face gradually went back to its usual placid state.
'Wow,' he remained silent for a good ten seconds before continuing, 'I was terribly incorrect in my estimation.'
'Protheus isa genius.'
Lucius was neither petty nor close-minded. After having watched Protheus' spectacular escape, he had to admit that the latter was indeed special and one-of-a-kind.
'He is indispensable to the cause now. With his active participation, perhaps the plan will see a dramatic increase in its success rate.'
Runes were the language that was closest to the Rules. And the Rules were the very essence of the Universe.
As people who were fighting against the Universe and its established order, Lucius and Ka'lor'ah faced an uphill, unpredictable, and dangerous battle whose outco or flow couldn't be predicted by so re plan. And as seen nurous tis already, the Great Plan was more of a guideline than an actual step-by-step instruction manual.
As such, it was important to improvise, adapt, and overco as and when the challenges ca.
It was impossible for such a large burden to be shouldered by only two people, even though they had done an excellent job in coming so far. Ultimately, it boiled down to a single fact.
Lucius and Ka'lor'ah will have to share the burden if they are to walk to the end of the road.
Olivia was a worthy addition and now, after seeing Protheus' true abilities in full action, Lucius' evaluation of him broke through the limits.
This was a person whose ability could single-handedly change the final outco. In other words, he was similar to Lucius in his importance to the big picture.
In short, it was imperative for Protheus to join their cause. Either willingly, or
'I can just force him if he's unwilling,' decided Lucius.
'However, first things first'
Closing his eyes, Lucius started to vibrate his muscles in a specific way and frequency. Their movents were imperceptible to the naked eye but were present nonetheless.
In the beginning, there was no outward change and Lucius' doings seed to be aningless. However, just as a minute had passed, changes occurred.
The iron clasps which were binding Lucius began to suddenly vibrate in lieu of the frequency that Lucius was vibrating his muscles. The vibrations soon intensified and eventually turned into full-out trembling and further into rampant shaking.
This rampant shaking lasted for a few dozen seconds before an obvious sound rang out.
Clink!
The tal clasps which was binding Lucius' left ankle suddenly ca apart. After having his ankle freed, Lucius suddenly changed the frequency of his muscles vibrations, this ti, centering it around his recently freed limb, instead of his entire body.
The tal bindings' pattern of shaking also underwent a change and very soon, the obvious sound ran out once again.
Clink! Clink!
The clasps on his left thigh and upper leg also ca undone, one after the other. Now, Lucius' entire left leg was free.
Stretching his leg, Lucius twisted it back and forth to release the pent-up stress within them before getting back to his task.
'let's get out of these annoying chains.'
A new pattern was employed and the 'clink' sounds followed.
----------
Moving with a joyful skip in his every step, Protheus carelessly walked through a long, pitch-black corridor.
His face wore an expression of happiness while his mouth continuously whistled cheerful tunes. More importantly, Protheus' appearance had undergone significant change.
His previously boney, corpse-like body was now properly filled with muscles and skin. The maggots that had previously been feasting on his body had also disappeared, having served as snacks for Protheus' celebration of having gotten out of that place.
His ankle-length, dry and ashy hair was now gone and replaced by lustrous, rich, and smooth indigo-colored hair that extended to cover his back.
Protheus' skin was soft, supple, and peach in color. A healthy blush was present in both of his cheeks, enlivening the handsoness of his face.
And boy, how handso he was.
Protheus' looks could simply be defined as first-class and only the slightest bit inferior to Lucius' own.
While the latter(Lucius) possessed a charm that was all-rounded and equally deadly to all sexes, the forr(Protheus) possessed a sort of intellectual, yet wildly arrogant charm.
The resplendent ruby-colored gem on his forehead brightly pulsed sending shockwaves of energy through the narrow corridor. Reading the aura emitted by the gem, it beca known that Protheus was a Low-Level Stage 5 entity!
Not only was he a 'first-of-his-kind' genius in the study of Runes, but his talent at cultivation wasn't too bad either. In terms of Magi age, Protheus should still be considered a young adult (Mankind: early 20s).
He was the perfect specin of a young genius!
Jumping off a rock and landing on the dark floor, Protheus perford a full twirl before yelling out.
"Ah!~ The taste of freedom is justexquisite!"
Just then, a cold, demonic-sounding voice echoed near his ears.
"Is that so?"
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