TRANSMIGRATED AS A GHOST

Poking his head out of the ground, Marcus took a quick scan of his surroundings and found that he had appeared in a large dining room.

Luckily it appeared to be empty right now and was completely devoid of any signs of life.

'This must be where the guards take their meals.'

Remembering the rough map that he had been shown by Marek, Marcus began trying to plan out the route he would need to take to find the high security cells.

'It should be to the west, and down below in the recesses of the prison. Let's just hope that Marek's intel is correct, and Argus is not being kept somewhere else.'

Moving quickly since he was on a time crunch, Marcus made his way through the prison only having his head exposed so that he could see.

Along the way he passed by a few roaming guards that were always at least in sets of four, and whenever he did, he made sure to duck his head under just in case.

And while he did not dare use his appraisal skill on any of these men, he guessed by the way they walked and the equipment they carried that none of them were below level twenty-five.

'Even there run of the mill guards are at a beginner knight's level. This place definitely has some tight security.'

Still, these grunts were not any threat to Marcus and as he continued, he only passed by one stronger looking guard he figured would be around level fifty since he was decked out in full adamantine gear.

Soon he made it into the area where he was expecting to find the strongest prisoners, and while he did confirm the presence of four of the great knights along with three elite mages, Argus was nowhere to be found.

'Damn looks like they have him stored somewhere else.'

Unable to locate anyone remotely matching the description of Argus, Marcus began to feel a bit of panic since it meant that the mission might fail.

His window to succeed was getting smaller and smaller, and if he was not able to find Argus within an hour it, was unlikely he would have any chance of success.

'He has to be around here somewhere.'

Taking off, Marcus moved around far less cautiously and began exploring different areas of the prison, phasing through the walls and floors all over the place in search of Argus.

However, it seemed that he was not going to be able to find the primary target for this rescue operation, as he quickly searched through the majority of the Sky Citadel.

Except right before Marcus was going to give up on finding Argus and go with plan B, he miraculously stumbled upon a hidden elevator shaft that led deeper into the ground.

Following it down, Marcus soon found himself in a large room that was completely isolated form the rest of the prison.

'There he is.'

Looking into the sole cell in the large room, Marcus saw his quarry, sitting at a table drinking a cup of tea.

It looked like he was being treated quite well for being a prisoner, something Marcus had noticed about the other great knights as well.

In fact, other than the adamantine chains that were affixed around his arms and legs, it would be difficult to believe that Argus was imprisoned here.

His room was well furnished, and it appeared that he had been provided with plenty to eat and drink along with a few dozen books for entertainment.

'I suppose that since they are still hoping he will take up his position again after the war, they want to cause as little resentment as possible.'

After looking around the room for a bit, Marcus found no signs of a hidden guard, and it seemed that he was completely alone in here with Argus.

Yet as he approached the cell that Argus was confined in, for the first time his danger sense started going off like crazy.

Stopping in his tracks, Marcus wondered what was so threatening, and as he opened up his senses, he noticed that what appeared to just be an adamantine cell actually had a barrier around it as well.

'Damn! They put up a really powerful barrier that can even effect entangle creatures. I guess I might have to use that disrupter that Tesia gave me.'

Looking around Marcus tried to see if he could find a way to slip by the barrier or maybe shut it down, but to no avail.

But as he was about to give up, he had an idea and slipped into the ground.

He then floated over to the center of the cell, making sure that he calculated the exact place he would end up.

'Here goes nothing.'

Floating back up, Marcus was waiting for his danger sense to go off, but it never did, and he soon found himself poking up into the cell.

Seeing this he could only let out a victory laugh, since the barrier around the cell had such a design flaw.

'What was the point of putting up such a barrier if it does not extend into the ground.' Marcus thought.

Still, he was not going to complain about having an easy way in, and now that he was in the cell, he looked towards Argus who seemed to have noticed his presence.

Of course, for Argus it was more of just a feeling like he was being watched, and he could not pinpoint where it was coming from and quickly brushed it off as paranoia.

That was until he heard inside his head, 'You are the third ranked great knight Argus, correct?'

Dropping his cup off tea and book, Argus went into a battle stance, though he was still restricted heavily by the shackles around his legs and hands.

He quickly began scanning the surroundings trying to find the source of the voice, but he could not sense any sort of presence.

'Woah no need to be so guarded. Try and remain calm, I am here to help you.'

Raising an eyebrow, Argus while calming down a bit did not lower his guard and said, 'What do you mean help me? And how are you talking to me, this cell should be blocking any sort of outside commination?'

'To answer your first question, Marek Laska sent me to break you out. He said that the two of you were close, and he wants to help you out now that you have been unjustly imprisoned. And for your second question, it is because I am in the cell with you. If you can use spiritual energy, you should be able to see me.'

After Marcus said this, Argus took a few moments to think before reaching back out with his mind and saying, 'Unfortunately I cannot use spiritual energy right now. These binding around my hands and legs drain both my mana and spiritual energy. I am being used as a furnace to power the barrier that keeps me contained. Now, if you were really sent by Marek, prove it.. Surely, he told you something so that I could guarantee that you are working for him.'