Endless World: The Rise of Leonard Lawson

In the interior Dark Chamber, a loud munching sound reverberated in the area.

Wally's body was slowly being consumed whole, but his eyes remained bloodshot.

Even while being swarmed by the berserk people, his glare was directed at Leonard, almost as if imprinting his face into his memories.

Wally wanted to curse at him, but couldn't do so as his vocal chord was ripped apart.

The agony he was receiving couldn't be described in words.

Had it been any regular people, they would have long succumbed to their deaths. Unfortunately, the power of the Wrathbane Extract was keeping him alive.

However, Wally would have wished for the effect to dissipate so that he wouldn't have to continue the experience of being consumed alive.

Wally opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something to Leonard when he felt his energy wavering.

Unfortunately for him, Leonard had long turned his back toward him.

Rather than watching his final demise, Leonard began to gather some more evidence and information in the area.

'A secret experiment in this Dark Chamber, yet no signs of the owner appearing. Could that be possible?' He was searching for clues that could lead him to uncover the mysterious owner's identity.

It was just a pity that nothing was useful here. Aside from the detailed progress of the experiment and the test subject's reaction, there was nothing else.

There was also a possibility of a hidden mechanism that led to a secret room, but after some checking, Leonard failed to spot anything amiss.

"Is this really all there is in here?" He uttered, his brows furrowing. He was about to give one final check when all of a sudden, a voice echoed weakly.

"Over there, Sir."

"Hmm?" Startled, Leonard turned around and searched for the source.

A few seconds later, his eyes spotted a fragile woman alone in her cage, their clothes somewhat cleaned, a far cry from the other captive women whose clothes were stained with dirt.

Based on the preliminary inspection, it appeared that she had just been delivered to the interior.

"What do you mean by over there?" He asked.

"There was a door, and someone entered prior to your arrival." The woman said weakly, her fingers trembling somewhat as they pointed at a regular-looking wall.

'Hoh, there really was a mechanism?' Leonard frowned and approached the wall.

However, no matter what he did or tried to touch, nothing happened. The wall remained perfectly still.

When the woman saw his futile attempt, she realized it was her chance.

"Sir, if I can open the secret door for you, will you release me?" She asked.

Leonard hesitated briefly before nodding his head. He found the keys nearby and opened her cage.

"You haven't consumed the substance?" He raised a question.

"No, they hadn't fed me a Wrathbane Extract when someone from outside informed them that there was an outbreak." The woman shook their head.

"I was fortunate to escape the consumption, but I was still forced inside the cage to be locked up. They said I will be a useful bait if enemies do intrude here." She continued and revealed her wrist, which was sliced.

The tendon of her wrist remained intact, but the bleeding was visible.

The woman wore dark red clothes, which masked the blood color. Hence, Leonard didn't notice she was injured on her wrist. He only took notice of the single bead she was wearing.

"Have a potion," Leonard offered the Restoration Potion.

In response, the woman hesitated, almost afraid of taking such a valuable potion.

"I cannot, Sir." She shook her head and took a few steps back. "The potion is too valuable."

"If you don't drink and recover, then how are you going to assist me in figuring out the mechanism?"

"..."

Finding the statement logical, the woman pursed their lips and slowly held the potion. After staring at the potion for a good few seconds, she chugged it down in one gulp.

In the blink of an eye, the wounds on her wrist began to heal.

The woman's eyes widened in disbelief at the speed of her recovery.

"T-Thank you, Kind Sir." She quickly bowed her head and gave her gratitude.

"No problem." Leonard smiled lightly and gestured to her to start activating the mechanism.

The woman nodded her head and began approaching the wall.

While she attempted to find the trigger, Leonard asked, "By the way, what is your name?"

"I-I'm Naomi," the woman replied timidly.

"Naomi, eh. Is that your real name?"

"Yes."

"I see…"

Sometime later, Naomi managed to find the trigger and opened the hidden mechanism. The wall began creaking as it shifted place.

"Hoh, there really is a hidden mechanism." Leonard chuckled in amusement.

"I should probably get my eyes checked for failing to spot it."

"Sir is overexaggerating. I only found it because they didn't care to hide it from me."

"Heh, that still requires your memory to be working well, especially when you aren't eating well. When you don't eat well, the brain can't function well."

Naomi nodded her head in agreement. "Indeed, we can't even get any good food in this hellish place."

"Fret not, I have some beef jerky here." Leonard lightly said and retrieved some food for her. "I don't want you fainting midway while we enter through the hidden mechanism door."

Naomi stared at the beef jerky for a second before accepting it.

She then took a few bites and beamed in joy. "It's delicious, Sir."

Having said that, she assumed a determined expression and said, "I remember the person went in this direction."

Shortly after, Leonard began following Naomi from behind as they explored the hidden passage.

While this was happening, outside the Dark Chamber, Shirley had finished escorting the captive women out.

"This should be for everyone! There will be people waiting for you by the exit, so you all should leave quickly." Shirley urged them to meet up with Mirelle's side.

Once Shirley finished her instruction, she was about to return to the Dark Chamber when someone suddenly held her arm.

Confused, Shirley turned around and recognized them as the previous woman who raised many skeptical questions. If she recalled correctly, others called her Jenny.

"It's not everyone yet. I remember there is still another companion of ours who was level 1 missing." Jenny said.

"There's one missing?"

"Mhmm, she was dragged to the interior by another woman."

Alarmed, Shirley's eyes quickly darted to the Dark Chamber with a petrified expression.

'Not good! The master is in danger!'