The Mystic Dominator

Rescue operations

　　The utility room by the garden was very easy to find.

　　With the mansion itself as a backdrop, a moderately sized attached store room stood there quietly, with gravelled paths leading to both the garden and the mansion.

　　The only problem, though, was that the door to the utility room was locked.

　　The three Ronald men had no key at all.

　　Seeing this, Thomson in the group immediately opened his mouth to complain:

　　"This can be ......"

　　Dang...

　　With only one opening, the middle-aged traveller's voice came to an abrupt end.

　　Faced with this level of obstruction, Nessus went up and kicked, the wood inlaying the door lock cracked in response, directly causing the door lock to arrive at the end of its useful life ahead of schedule.

　　Crunch-

　　An unpleasant friction sound was made between the wooden boards and the ground.

　　Pushing the door open without a word, Nessus simply raised his lamp and walked in, leaving only the dumbfounded middle-aged businessman behind him.

　　Walking into it.

　　The size of the utility room was no different from what was seen outside.

　　Two vertical shelves filled the walls to the left and right, and there was a slanted covered entrance to the cellar at the far end. The ladder the man spoke of stood in the corner, and tools such as axes and saws were scattered in the toolbox.

　　A glimpse of space, a glimpse of things.

　　Looking around the room, Nessus then opened his mouth to give orders:

　　"Thomson you move the ladder, Ronald and I will get the tools."

　　"Everyone move fast."

　　"Okay ...... okay."

　　Probably to make up for the mistake he made earlier, it was also possible that he was shocked by Nessus.

　　Without any retort, Thomson carried the heaviest ladder back alone.

　　Ronald and Nessus, on the other hand, each lifted the tools in their toolboxes.

　　Axes and hammers, as well as saws, were quite sufficient for destroying the floor.

　　--

　　Not much time had passed between leaving and returning.

　　But it was always a relief to stand back in the warm confines of the fireplace again.

　　Glancing at his two companions beside him, he confirmed that neither showed any signs of fatigue before Ronald opened his mouth to inquire:

　　"Let's go straight away before it's too late?"

　　"No problem."

　　Leaving the living room, the surrounding light immediately dimmed.

　　In order to minimise the probability of being discovered, the three of them also didn't carry any lamps, so they moved forward in the dark on the ground floor.

　　Because there was no need to connect to the ground through the stairs, the structure of the ground floor was significantly different from the first floor.

　　Wanting to come to the location corresponding to the room on the first floor where the door was broken, the three of them first bypassed the stairs at the side of the living room, and then passed through a circular corridor.

　　It wasn't until they passed a washroom and came to a locked room.

　　Only then did Nessus in front stop.

　　Reaching out to stop the two behind him, he then said in a subdued voice:

　　"The location is here."

　　"Ronald, I'm going in."

　　"Good."

　　Without having to say any more than a single word, as soon as Nessus' words landed on the ground, Ronald began to alert his surroundings.

　　Thomson couldn't really be relied upon for this kind of work, it had to be him.

　　The corridor was silent in the darkness -

　　Even the air turned low, except for Nessus behind him, who fished out a hairpin from somewhere and then rustled the door lock.

　　Click-

　　Probably less than ten seconds had passed, accompanied by a thin sound.

　　Nessus fiercely gripped the doorknob, then gently twisted it down.

　　The door opened!

　　This guy was even quite proficient at opening locks!

　　Although it was just an ordinary door lock, Nessus was able to pry it open so quickly with just a hairpin, and Nessus' ability was thus evident.

　　Ronald turned around and gave the guy a complicated look in his eyes before following into the room.

　　Tick-tock...

　　It was a bedroom in a very ordinary house.

　　Ordinary beds, ordinary wardrobes, ordinary windows.

　　The only thing was that the room's location near the edge of the window was emitting an uncommon ''tick-tock-tick-tock'' sound of water droplets falling to the ground.

　　If one had a keen sense of smell, one could even smell the vague scent of blood.

　　That was blood-

　　From the shattered ceiling, dark red blood was dripping down a cracked piece of wood before spreading through the cracks in the floor.

　　"It's the one from earlier."

　　"That's right."

　　Ronald and Nessus glanced at each other and tacitly united.

　　They remembered that when they were on the first floor before, that 'mother' had abused and confined her 'daughter' in the room, along with the sound of wood breaking.

　　Now coming to the ground floor, everything was obvious.

　　Using this wood directly through the other person's body, that 'mother' had nailed her child hard to the floor!

　　Of course, now was not the time to lament the other party's ruthlessness.

　　Time was very short.

　　"Thomson, come and set up a ladder."

　　"Good ...... good."

　　Bring the ladder carried to the window.

　　Just as he was about to set up the ladder, Thomson's movement stopped.

　　Because right beside him, Nessus and Ronald were looking at him with a very strange look.

　　"What ...... is wrong?"

　　Isn't it that as long as you chisel down a gap around this stick that runs through the body that allows a person to travel, then this thing will be considered a great success?

　　Facing the two men's weird eyes, Thomson asked carefully.

　　With that, Ronald reached out and covered his face.

　　He really did like talking to smart people after all.

　　"You don't think that we're really going to destroy the floor the way that man did, do you?"

　　"Hardly ...... is it?" Thomson was still puzzled.

　　Taking advantage of the time it took Nessus to open the window and tumble out, Ronald explained:

　　"Destroying the floor is so loud that it's bound to attract that 'woman'. We're going to build a ladder out the window and then go straight up to the first floor to get the boy down."

　　"Eh?"

　　Blinking, Thomson trailed off again:

　　"But in that case, why are we moving through the house?"

　　"Wouldn't it be better to come straight from the utility room with a ladder?"

　　"Because the windows on the first floor look out on the first."

　　Rather helplessly, he explained it all to Thomson, and this time Ronald was not going to continue to greet the tradesmen.

　　With a companion like Nessus for comparison, the middle-aged traveller really made people feel powerless.

　　But in reality, there were still more people like Thomson in reality.

　　One can only say it's understandable ......

　　Following Nessus to the outside, the two of them moved sharply to set up the ladder.

　　With the traveller holding the ladder below, they climbed up to the first floor one after the other.

　　Through the windows of the first floor, the view therein was unobstructed.

　　After that 'mother's' anger-induced destruction earlier, there was basically not a single piece of intact furniture in the room.

　　A room in shambles was almost like a place where a pack of wild beasts were kept.

　　And in a position very close to the window, a girl wearing a white dress was collapsing on the floor.

　　Just as Ronald had guessed, she had been penetrated by a broken chair through her shoulder blade, and stained with a large amount of blood, she was almost completely unable to move.

　　But even so, the girl's bright eyes remained fixed on the window.

　　She was waiting for someone to rescue her!