Arcane: Let's Burn Down Runeterra!

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"What do we do now?" Justin naturally became the leader of this ragtag group. "First, I need a map of Stillwater Hold. We can't just run around like headless chickens." Stillwater Hold was a maze of tunnels converted from a mining area, and it was easy to get lost without direction. "I know where the Warden's office is. There must be a map there!" shouted a tall and skinny person from the crowd. "Great, lead the way now!" The group marched towards the Warden's office without encountering any guards along the way—a bad omen suggesting that the guards were gathering in one place, and time was running out!

The door to the Warden's office was unlocked. Justin rummaged through the drawers and quickly found a detailed map of Stillwater Hold. "At the moment, the most important thing is weapons!" Stillwater Hold had an armory to arm the guards in case of a prisoner riot, though guards were rarely fully armed on regular days. That meant whoever seized the armory first would have the upper hand. "Should we seize the weapons first?" Vi leaned in, barely literate but still able to read. "No, we're heading to... the cafeteria first." "What, the cafeteria?" Justin joked, "It's mealtime. Aren't you hungry?" "Do you mean to say, let them fight on a full stomach?" "...Exercising right after eating could give you cramps. We'd just end up being stuffed corpses," Justin sighed, patiently explaining, "It's six PM now. Look at the schedule on the wall; it's the staff's meal time. Most guards should be at the cafeteria right now."

"After receiving an emergency order, the guards in the cafeteria would rush to the armory, meaning they'd take this route." Justin picked up a pen and marked the map. "Our earlier combat and search for the Warden's office means we've missed the timing to seize weapons. If the Warden has any intelligence, he'd have stationed some guards there. So, we'll take this route to bypass the armory and intercept those coming from the cafeteria." "Of course, our ultimate goal isn't to eliminate the unarmed staff." "Move out!" Justin led the charge, with everyone sprinting toward the cafeteria, reminiscent of his past high school dinner rush.

"There are footsteps ahead, charge together!" Although Justin was the strategist, he couldn't avoid leading the assault. Once someone set the example, the prisoners followed suit. The guards heading to the armory for weapons found themselves caught off-guard. Justin led with a flying kick, and soon a bunch of burly men rushed forth, breaking their formation. "What's going on? Where did they come from? Didn't they say they hadn't reached the armory yet?" The guards had been at the prison for a long time but were unaware of the tunnels separating the armory and the cafeteria, as they only traveled a few familiar routes normally.

Moreover, there wasn't just one route. Both sides were unarmed, and these guards naturally couldn't stand against the desperate prisoners from the undercity. They scattered in all directions. Justin intentionally left a gap, allowing some of them to run off and report back to the armory.

"What? We've been attacked? How did they manage to get past us?" The guard captain looked incredulously at the battered team member. They had been guarding the place tightly; this shouldn't have happened.

"They might have taken a detour through the mining tunnels, stumbled across it by accident."

"This is troublesome. What if they head straight for the main gate...?"

"Don't worry, the Warden's there. They're just a group of ragtag misfits."

"Should we go and support them?"

"Let me think..." The guard captain hesitated for a moment, then asked the guards who had escaped, "Do you know which direction the prisoners went?"

"Not sure..." After Justin and his group stormed through, the guards were so terrified that they lost their wits. Whatever remained of their courage was left behind in their escape, leaving no room to pay attention. "But they didn't chase us. All of us who ran this way got away."

"Then they must be heading for the gate to escape." The guard captain sighed in relief but worried about the Warden reprimanding his inaction after the riot ended. He said, "Leave a squad to guard the armory; the rest, come with me to support the gate."

"Move faster! If those prisoners blow through the main gate before us, we won't be able to face the consequences!" The guards, guns in hand, advanced at a run, passing by a fork in the road. The captain glanced at it instinctively; the prisoners must have taken this way to the cafeteria... right?

Why are there still people? This was his last thought before losing consciousness.

"It's her! That madwoman!" The running guards saw only a blur of pink hair flying through the air. When it came close, it was already the moment they were sent flying like cannonballs. The guards halted abruptly but crashed into each other in their haste. As they scrambled to their feet, they faced Vi's iron fists.

"She's terrifying..." Even Justin, returning from the cafeteria, shuddered at the sight. If Vi used to be just a girl fond of fighting, now she was a downright maniac. Do I even know this person? Justin doubted himself. Regardless, with Vi causing chaos, the guards had no time to fire at the prisoners behind them. The ferocious inmates charged en masse, rendering the guards' firearms cumbersome and less useful than a stick in close quarters.

In no time, the fully armed unit decisively surrendered. After all, they were just employees, earning a few thousand a month—not worth risking their lives for.