Well done!

"Flowers planted with care refused to bloom, yet a willow cutting stuck in by chance grew into a shady tree."

Herbert narrowed his eyes, sheathed his sword, and quietly followed the defiler as it moved forward.

The events of that night really had been impossible to predict.

He had spent the first half of the night chatting with a hungry dragon and the second half splashing around with a mermaid princess. Near dawn, he had run into a fanatical fish lover, only to end up invited into an older elf lady's bedroom to play cards...

What a fulfilling night!

The process had been a little too full of twists and turns, but at least the outcome was decent. He had successfully made contact with Svanney.

He was actually quite interested in this prisoner who was competing with him for control of the Lightless Prison.

Was Valentina weak?

No. She was incredibly powerful, with destructive capabilities that ranked among the highest of all the prisoners.

Did Freime lack depth?

No. With her royal Sea Monster bloodline, she possessed a wealth of secret knowledge.

Yet both of them had fallen before the Sealing Formation, with little ability to resist.

They were all prisoners, so why did this dark elf archmage alone possess the power to resist, or even turn the tables on her captors... what exactly set them apart?

Talent? Experience? Or... wisdom?

Perhaps it really came down to the fact that not all prisoners were created equal.

No more voices came from the darkness. All that remained was Herbert's breathing and the faint clatter of bones knocking together.

Click, clack, click, clack...

As time passed, the force enveloping the defiler grew stronger, and its flesh disappeared faster and faster.

Within ten minutes, all of it had vanished, leaving nothing but a skeleton that knew only how to walk.

Herbert had initially been puzzled, wondering where it had sustained its injuries.

But once he considered the places this defiler would have passed through before reaching the third zone... he had a guess as to the source of its horrific injuries and that corrosive force.

First Valentina beat it up, and then it heard Freime sing, huh?

"One handles murder and arson, the other disposes of the body. What wonderful teamwork!"

Yikes, what a terrifying pair of women!

You two did a great job!

Without their intervention, he really would have had to fight the defiler one-on-one, and there was a good chance he would have lost.

"Still, I never expected Freime's singing to have such a terrifying effect. Ordinary people really can't survive that pleasure."

Herbert sighed, finally understanding why Freime had been so excited after confirming that he was unharmed.

Even if others were lucky enough to hear her sing, they probably would not live to hear the end. They would become bare bones halfway through.

He was probably the only listener she had had in all these years.

And Sea Monsters were a race that loved singing by nature. They used their songs to lure passing ships and to communicate with their own kind.

"She must have been bottling it up for ages... hmm?"

The defiler walking ahead of Herbert seemed to trip. Its whole body staggered, pitching forward a step as it lost its balance, and an unsettling crack rang out.

Crack.

"Ooh, that was a nice, crisp little sound..."

Just as Herbert was wondering how much longer the defiler could hold out, its motionless body suddenly shuddered.

Clatter...

Its entire skeleton collapsed, scattering across the ground in a rattling heap.

The blackened bones looked as though they had been rotting for years. Only the skull retained a trace of life, an exceedingly faint blue-violet flame flickering in its hollow eye sockets.

"Lord... Moore..."

The defiler tried to speak, but no sound emerged as its jaw opened and closed.

It could no longer make a sound.

Nor could it keep moving forward through sheer obsession.

This arduous journey could go no further.

The flames in its eye sockets slowly dimmed. In just a few breaths, they would go out completely.

But just then, someone gently picked it up.

!!!

"I don't know who you are or what you came here to do. In principle, as the Prison Warden, I ought to throw you out."

Looking at the suddenly brightened soul flames, Herbert nodded, then unceremoniously tucked the skull beneath his arm like a basketball.

"But since you killed this body, I suppose I can do you a favor."

"Come on. I'll take you to see her."

Herbert did have some recollection of this defiler-or rather, the "Grass Carp Cultivator."

His background was connected to certain great nobles of the Kingdom. He was a pawn they had planted in the Monastery, and ever since Herbert's arrival, he had been secretly working against him at every turn.

Now, looking at him reduced to a pile of bones, Herbert felt nothing. Far from feeling sad, he even wanted to laugh a little.

Good riddance, meow!

Without a deadweight slowing him down, Herbert charged ahead much faster, striding through the darkness.

He was not worried that Svanney would set a trap to harm him.

For one thing, Herbert trusted that Svanney was not that foolish.

Besides, if Svanney really had the ability to kill him, why would she have waited until now?

She probably would have acted long ago.

For another, no matter how unreliable his dear ally Nenasya usually was, she would not sit by and do nothing if something truly went wrong.

At the very least, she would give him a warning-whether out of goodwill or malice was another matter, but she would make some sort of fuss.

Now, not only was Nenasya doing nothing to stop him, she was even urging him to go and take a look, brimming with interest.

"I'm probably not the only one interested in Svanney."

After walking a little farther, Herbert suddenly saw light.

Wait, light?

This was the Lightless Prison. There should not have been any light at all.

He raised an eyebrow and kept walking, soon discovering what those light sources actually were.

It was neither the glow of candles nor the magical light of enchanted devices.

The faint light in the darkness came from glowing plants.

In this dark world, the glowing plants resembled pairs of shining eyes.

He seemed to have entered an underground garden, or perhaps a kingdom of luminous plants.

Vines hung overhead, with nodes emitting soft blue light at intervals along their slender lengths.

Beneath his feet grew glowing green grass, along with tiny mushrooms that shone in various colors.

Rustle...

Before he knew it, Herbert found himself standing in a forest.

At the end of the path, he saw a massive tree radiating an eerie blue glow.

As he approached, the center of its trunk slowly split open, revealing a rustic wooden door.

"So dark elves are still elves, huh? They all like living in trees."

This was very much an elf's style.

Herbert took in the beautiful surroundings and was about to enter when he suddenly blinked. Something had just occurred to him that really deserved a sarcastic comment.

"You made your own place this luxurious, then just sat back and watched your roommate huddle in a shabby coffin."

That really was...

Well done!