Iya Continent: Card God

"Splash!" "Tick-tock!!!"

"Boom!"

The rain grew heavier and heavier, the sound of it crashing down on the earth and trees never ceasing.

The dirt road gradually became muddy, making it difficult for the horses to move forward, causing them to neigh.

The soldiers escorting the prisoners looked bitter and pained. They had to travel in this awful weather. Who were the prisoners anyway?

Captain Bruno, riding at the front, still had that iron-like face, devoid of emotion.

What does being drenched in a downpour mean to him?

Compared to being punished by the "silver dog," it's nothing. If you don't get soaked now, you'll be soaked in blood later.

"Don't stop! Keep going! We must get there before nightfall!" Bruno Flynn commanded.

The roar completely drowned out the torrential rain.

The soldiers could only grimace and continue their journey.

Compared to the soldiers, the prisoners in the prison van suffered even more horrific conditions, with their cries of agony never ceasing.

"I hate rain the most!" the bearded dwarf exclaimed angrily.

“I don’t like it either,” Pinecone the bear said in a low voice.

"Quack quack quack!" The blue-skinned fishman quacked happily.

This is natural; he is a fish-man, and for him, water is the best environment.

Linta had no interest in discussing how bad the rainy weather was for her; her rain-drenched eyes were fixed intently on the road ahead.

His blurry vision suddenly snapped shut, his neck arched forward, his posture straightened, and he gazed intently into the distance. "Finally... I've got it..."

The elven girl's eyes narrowed, revealing a serious expression.

The composed middle-aged man, who had been keeping his eyes closed, slowly opened his rain-dampened eyelids, his steely eyes gazing ahead.

Ahead stands a bridge made of more than a dozen large timbers, beneath which flows a turbulent river. Especially now, with the heavy rain and the wind whipping up waves, the current is raging.

This river, locally known as the "Singing River," provides irrigation convenience to several villages and gives the forests below it a vibrant life.

For Linta and others, this was also a river that gave them a chance to survive.

"Everyone... listen up... our opportunity is just ahead..."

"Gwa la la la!" The blue-skinned fishman made a sound that everyone could understand—a sound of joy.

Fish and water are a perfect match.

However, the bearded dwarf hesitated and said helplessly, "I...I can't swim..."

"Who cares about you?" the elven girl said indifferently.

"You little elf, I've put up with you for far too long," the bearded dwarf glared angrily.

The elven girl didn't even bother to glance at him.

"You should be able to swim, right?" Linta asked, looking at the bear-man Pinecone.

Bears can catch fish, so they should be able to swim.

Pinecone Bear Man grinned, revealing his chillingly sharp teeth, and said, "I will."

Linta then said to the bearded dwarf, "Just follow the pine cone. If it bites you, you'll be fine."

The bear-man, Pinecone, is the largest in the cage, and the dwarf isn't very big either. Letting him look after it shouldn't be a problem.

“Okay.” Pinecone opened its fierce mouth and said with a gentle smile.

The bearded dwarf's throat trembled slightly as he said worriedly, "Don't bite my head, and don't bite too hard."

Linta felt relieved when she saw that the other party had stopped complaining.

I can't just abandon him. If I do, and he betrays everyone now, all our efforts will be in vain. I can only do my best to appease them and make proper arrangements.

They were all prisoners, and they all wanted freedom. Therefore, Linta was confident she could persuade them. After all, no one wanted to be a slave. No one would give up even the slightest chance to escape.

However, Linta noticed something strange.

The middle-aged man, who was also human, didn't see that kind of longing in his eyes. That longing to escape.

Why? Is it just my imagination?

……

"The bridge is slippery, everyone be careful!" Captain Bruno warned.

The soldiers carefully pulled the horse, with two soldiers on either side watching to prevent it from slipping and causing a major accident.

Everyone was on edge, watching nervously as the horses' hooves trod across the wooden bridge. Although the bridge was constructed using many large timbers bound together, it was extremely poorly built; the wood wasn't even planed flat, but rather simply joined together as cylindrical pieces and laid down. Crossing the bridge was fine on a normal sunny day, but in this heavy rain, it was utterly dangerous. However, it wasn't the builders' fault; they probably hadn't expected any carriages or horses to cross it in such a downpour.

This naturally gave Linta an opportunity.

Linta took a deep breath, pointing his unbound legs toward the left side of the carriage cage.

Everyone in the cage sat on either side of Linta's legs, using their bodies to block each other's view and to make it easier to escape as soon as possible.

"I'm about to... begin..."

Card: 7 of Hearts, Swift Wind Power!

Suddenly, his legs moved with lightning speed, so fast that the continuous kicks were indistinct.

Bound to the waist, Linta kicked the joints of the wooden cage with lightning speed.

The torrential rain and the rushing river drowned out the sound of the kicks, and the pine cones and dwarves further obscured Linta's actions, allowing him to make the right move.

"Click!" "Tap tap!"

With a sudden sound, one of the wooden bars of the cage was kicked out and flew directly into the river.

After the wooden strips disappeared, the space revealed by the cage was large enough for even a bear-man like Pinecone to squeeze out.

"Gurgle!"

The first one to jump out was the fishman, Guagua Guagua.

Guagua was the smallest and most agile. Seeing the river, it felt like returning home and jumped into the water.

Next came the elven girl, whose agility surpassed even that of the fish-men, as she leaped directly into the river.

"what!"

The bearded dwarf shouted and jumped out, seemingly having prepared himself mentally.

But to his surprise, he couldn't jump at all. The bear-man Pinecone bit his head and jumped in with him.

"I told you... don't... bite my head...!"

After kicking open the cage, Linta moved with lightning speed and leaped away.

Looking back, the composed middle-aged man followed closely behind.

"Boom!!!"

This sudden turn of events left the soldiers and other prisoners in their cells completely bewildered. For a moment, they stared helplessly at the people who had fallen into the river and were being swept away by the current.

Who would have thought that a prisoner who was bound and imprisoned in a cage with a magic-suppressing ring could still escape?

"asshole!"

The leader, Bruno Flynn, roared and shouted, his face flushed red.

The first to react was naturally this high-ranking bronze knight. And he was more excited than anyone else; these soldiers, no matter how miserable they were, couldn't be worse off than he was.

"Chase!"

Bruno shouted, drew his greatsword, and pointed it toward the river.

The soldiers were excited to give chase, but the wet bridge caused them to slip and fall, groaning repeatedly.