I'm supposed to be beheaded right at the start, but I'm immortal!

Chapter 3. The Second Hero, Alice Liddell, and the Ambush

After the old wizard chanted the incantation, Green felt dizzy and when he opened his eyes again, he was in front of a filthy sewer.

The magic-suppressing collar around his neck was completely destroyed, probably something the old wizard had casually made. Although the collar was useless to Grimm.

The bull-slaughtering knight and the old wizard stood beside Grimm.

The old wizard ripped off the damaged magic-suppressing collar and took a deep, joyful breath of fresh air: "Hehehe...cough cough cough, oh my, this sewer is so smelly."

The bull-slaughtering knight stretched his limbs and pulled out a greatsword from somewhere, slung it over his shoulder.

Noticing Green's puzzled look, the Bull Slayer explained:

"My greatsword is called the Size-Controlling Ox-Slaying Sword. It can grow large or small at will, changing size at will, making it incredibly easy to evade prison searches."

Green nodded. This prison is indeed full of talented people; they even have such a treasure. That's incredible.

The best weapon Green had ever handled so far was a dagger he'd taken from a monster leader on the battlefield.

Aside from being extremely sharp, it has no other distinguishing features.

Before being caught and sent to prison, Green managed to swallow the dagger, thus avoiding detection by the prison.

While chatting, Green was also observing the structure of the sewers.

The sewer was a long, straight line that bends at the end. Every few tens of meters along the walls on both sides of the sewer, there was a device resembling a searchlight shining down onto the ground.

After catching his breath, the old wizard caught a glimpse of Grimm and noticed that he was holding a sharp dagger in his hand.

"The Bull-Slaying Knight has both large and small Ruyi Swords, and what you have is... a large and small Ruyi Dagger?"

Green: "...I'm not early. I saw that no one wanted this dagger, so I picked it up."

The old wizard: "?"

Let's get down to business.

St. Petersburg has a comprehensive and extensive sewer system that connects all parts of the city.

St. Petersburg prison had attempted to escape through the sewers before, but the prison had clearly anticipated this and had specially assigned personnel to guard the section where the prison's sewers connected to the city's sewers.

As for the searchlights on the walls, they are nothing to worry about.

After explaining to the two, the old wizard took out two spare black wizard robes from his body and handed them to them.

"Put on these wizard robes. These robes have been blessed by the Golden Ancestral Tree, and their ability to stealth and conceal oneself is first-rate. Wearing them, you can easily leave, not to mention the searchlights in the prison, even under the noses of powerful figures in the Destiny Realm."

This is practically an essential tool for murder, robbery, escape, and stealth. I'd sell it for at least 998 gold pounds outside, but I'll give you two a discount now. Just give me 98 silver coins each when you get out of prison.

Green complained, "What a rip-off! Why is it so expensive?"

He fought in the Western Continent, and his monthly salary was only 3 silver coins. Even after he made outstanding contributions and was promoted to squad leader, he could only earn 20 silver coins a month.

This tattered outfit is worth more than five months' salary he earned working himself to the bone?

But despite the complaints, we still have to wear clothes.

Grimm and his companion donned black robes and, led by the old wizard, passed through a series of magical searchlights, all of which they successfully navigated.

To be honest, this black robe is actually quite something.

Just ...

Looking at the old wizard in front of him, Green asked in confusion:

"How come you're so skilled?"

It's like this guy has been to prison many times.

"Hehehe, no need to worry about these details," the old wizard chuckled and waved his hand.

The three of them stopped at the corner of the sewer.

At the old wizard's signal, the three slowly looked toward the sewers around the corner.

Two men, one tall and one short, wearing tattered suits, stood at the junction.

The two were covered in severed, overgrown horns, their bodies were incredibly bloated, only their faces looked like normal people, it was impossible to tell what kind of monsters they were.

Green exclaimed, "Good heavens! Whose son of bad luck has run into the sewers? This isn't the royal city!"

The old wizard turned to the two of them and whispered:

"This is Peter Pan."

Green asked doubtfully, "Peter Pan? Are you sure he's not the son of an ominous sign?"

The old wizard shook his head:

"As far as I know, the Second Hero is one of the founders of modern magic, and it is said that her magic is unpredictable and mysterious."

It is said that before becoming a hero, the second hero was a fairy tale writer. After she became a hero, the characters she created stepped out of the fairy tale books and fought bravely and fiercely on the battlefield against demons.

And this Peter Pan is a character from a fairy tale, definitely not the son of an omen you're talking about.

Green was even more puzzled. Five heroes had ever emerged from the continent of Terella. Although he didn't know much about these heroes, heroes were supposed to be positive figures...

"Why does this thing look so eerie?"

His body was covered in deformed, broken horns, but his face was no different from that of a normal person, just like his mother had been corrupted.

The old wizard explained:

"Most of the characters in fairy tales are neither good nor evil. While the Second Hero was alive, things were alright. But after the Second Hero died, these characters in fairy tales were left unattended and were extremely powerful. Some of them entrenched themselves in one place and exploited the people, while others colluded with the demons and took pleasure in killing. Only a very small number of them still upheld justice."

It's not surprising that the Peter Pan brothers look so sinister.

The bull-slaughtering knight, who had been silent for a while, added:

"Long ago, the two brothers Peter and Pan occupied this place, sucking the people's blood and sweat. They were arrogant and tyrannical, which eventually led the people to build fortresses to resist their rule. This farce continued until the Emperor came and the farce finally ended. This is also the origin of the name St. Petersburg."

Because Peter Pan is a unique character in fairy tales, unable to die completely, the Emperor weakened him by 90% and imprisoned him in the prison sewers to atone for his sins.

Green pondered, "So, the Second Hero left behind a mess after his death. But for someone who once saved the world, wouldn't he know that such a thing would happen after his death?"

The old wizard muttered angrily, "You're right! If the second hero hadn't deliberately left this mess and replaced Peter Pan with some other mongrel, I could have easily gotten out without your help."

If it weren't for the fact that over the long years no one knows the Second Hero's name, only her surname—Liddell—I would have given her a good dressing down!

"Liddell?" Green murmured softly.

Will this second hero have some connection with Alice? Or is it just a coincidence?

Green thought so because of Alice's full name.

It was Alice Liddell.

"The Peter Pan brothers once fought for heroes, so ordinary invisibility magic and items probably won't have much effect on them."

"As agreed before, you deal with the one on the left," the old wizard said to the bull-slaughtering knight, then looked at Grimm: "The two of us will deal with the one on the right."

The sewer connection emitted a brown light curtain, identical to the two Peter Pans, through which water could flow, but for people to pass through, they needed either a pass or a permit to allow passage when superiors came to inspect.

The second method is to defeat the two Peter Pans, weaken their power, and the barrier blocking the way will collapse on its own.

Clearly, Green and his team now only have option two.

As the three were discussing, the voices of the Peter Pan brothers could be heard in the distance.

"Brother, what happened to the wound on your face? What were you doing last night?"

"Brother, you don't know, last night when I sneaked out to play I saw a married woman, she was so beautiful, so I asked her if she would like to have a child with me, but not only did she not want to, she screamed and ran away!"

"It's her business if she doesn't want to, but it's my business if I do. I was just about to catch that runaway wife when a stray cat appeared out of nowhere and scratched my face. She ran away too. What bad luck!"

"Bro, I told you, don't do these illegal and criminal things! What's so great about married women? You should go find some muscular hunks; their muscles are much more durable!"

"Brother, you were absolutely right. Your extraordinary wisdom truly surpasses mine!"

……

The Bull-Slaying Knight muttered to himself, "When are we going to make our move? I can't wait to kill those two."

"Don't rush, I'll count down to three and then we'll all get to work together, shoulder to shoulder, let's get this over with quickly and without holding back."

The old wizard counted down, slightly nervously: "3...2...1, move—"

"Wait!" Green interrupted.

Startled, the old wizard nearly choked, feeling incredibly uncomfortable, and glared resentfully at Green:

"What's wrong?"

Green chuckled, "Hehe, actually, there's no need for all that trouble. I have a plan. Just come closer, as long as... in..."

After hearing Green's plan, the old wizard and the bull-slaughtering knight said they could give it a try.

So the three men, dressed in black robes, put on hoods to cover half their faces and swaggered toward the Peter Pan brothers.

"Who goes there?!" the Peter Pan brothers roared. "So, instead of running away, you prisoners are coming at me? You really don't respect us brothers at all!"

"Hmph!" Green snorted coldly, producing a token with an imposing aura: "Since you've seen the Arbitrator, why don't you bow?"

"Hmm?" The Peter Pan brothers took a closer look and found that the token was engraved with the three large characters "Judge" in the Terrera language, and below it was an official rune mark of the Empire.

The Arbitrators are a force within the Magic Academy, responsible for monitoring criminals across the land. They are recognized by major powers such as the Emperor, the Witch King, the Pope, the Academy, and the Adventurers' Guild, and have the authority to execute first and report later, eradicating evil.

The reason Green has this token is because when the Demon King's army cadres appeared on the battlefield of the Western Continent, an Arbiter came to provide support.

Green witnessed the Judge risking his life to self-destruct, severely injuring the headless knight, a high-ranking officer of the Demon King's army, and sacrificing himself to barely stabilize the battlefield.

This token was blown to Green's face when the judge self-destructed. He thought it was useless, but it has come in handy now.

Peter Pan the Short asked, "Brother, what do the words on it mean? I can't understand them."

Tall Peter Pan replied, "My foolish brother, it says 'Judgment Envoy' on it. These men are from the Tribunal."

Peter Pan the Short exclaimed, "What?! People from the Tribunal? What's the Tribunal?"

Tall Peter Pan replied, "In short, it's not a good thing."

Green and his two companions: "..."

Tall Peter Pan looked at the three men: "You're from the Tribunal? But why are you coming from there?"

"Heh, of course it's to gather evidence of your crimes!"

Green sneered and threatened:

"Peter Pan brothers, your crimes have been exposed! The three of us came out from inside to secretly investigate your crimes. Now we have almost all the evidence against you. Once we return and report to our superiors, you can expect to be punished."

"I'm not afraid to tell you, with the latest supernatural technology, we have plenty of ways to completely annihilate you. If you don't want to be punished even more severely, then make way for us now!"

Peter Pan, the short man, was terrified: "Brother, does he mean that what we did has been discovered? I was just sneaking out while I was on guard duty to enjoy myself in front of dozens of wives and husbands, and they're going to kill us?"

Bitter! "

Tall Peter Pan whispered reassurances, "Don't be afraid, we are characters from the hero's tale. If they could kill us, they would have done so long ago."

Despite saying that, the tall Peter Pan still stepped aside, waved his hand to dispel the barrier at the connection, and said coldly:

"Please, Your Honors."

"Heh, you guys know what's good for you," Green said to the two behind him. "Let's go."

The two nodded and silently followed behind Green.

Just as the three Greens and the two Peter Pan brothers crossed paths, the barrier at the connection point suddenly lit up.

Accompanied by two shouts of "Sneak attack!"

Green gripped the dagger in reverse and stabbed at the tall Peter Pan, but Peter Pan managed to parry it with a clang.

The tall Peter Pan and Green looked at each other and gave each other an awkward smile.

They've recruited again!

Isn't that ridiculous?

Tall Peter Pan sneered:

"You think I don't know you're a fake adjudicator? What kind of adjudicator wears a black robe? You're obviously not a good person!"

Green replied, "You think I don't know you know I'm a fake adjudicator? Wearing a black robe that doesn't look like a good person, it's no wonder I'm seen through!"

The old wizard: "..."

The old wizard took a step back, chanting a spell. Golden holy light appeared on the three of them, enhancing their strength, speed, and energy.

The Bull-Slayer Knight brandished his greatsword and slashed at Peter Pan, whom he had long disliked!

As for Green and his two companions, it was all pre-arranged; if their identities were ever discovered, they would resort to a sneak attack.

It was unexpected that Peter Pan, the short man, could react so quickly.

Peter Pan the Short: "Heh, although I don't know who you are or why you're attacking, as long as you follow my brother, you can't go wrong. That's my amazing wisdom!"

Beneath the helmet of the Bull Slayer Knight, crimson eyes peeked out, and each swing of his sword seemed to possess immense power. Under such ferocious attacks, Peter Pan, the dwarf, gradually fell into a disadvantageous position.

Tall Peter Pan was also caught in a pincer attack by Green and the old wizard.

Green was agile, like a ghost, and every stab he made could injure the tall Peter Pan.

The old wizard chanted spells behind them to enhance the attributes of Grimm and his companion, occasionally unleashing a burst of radiant stone magic to attack.

It looks like it won't be long before they defeat the Peter Pan brothers.

At that moment, the sewer magic searchlight suddenly sounded an alarm.

The Peter Pan brothers also retreated and moved closer.

Tall Peter Pan split open his belly and swallowed Short Peter Pan whole. His aura began to surge wildly, violently, and powerfully!

Unrivaled! Unrivaled in teeth and jaws!