"What an unusual situation..." Nydan muttered as he took a step back, "Roland, you may not know who I am, but I'm well acquainted with your reputation."

"Hmm?" Roland frowned, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.

"I know you are one of the strongest Knights in Red Feather City, but that is not what impresses me, it is your reputation. It is crystal clear, so... it is hard for me to understand why you would come here to rescue this guy with such a powerful blood aura." Nydan grew wary as he pointed to Zayne, who was behind him.

Ena was surprised, "What...? So they came here to save him, not because of the girls?!"

Roland's eyes narrowed, "Aren't you asking stupid questions? You said yourself that I have a perfect reputation, and yet I've also had to kill people. Such is our world that sometimes the most dangerous monsters lurk in human minds."

Whooooooooooooosh.

Roland lunged forward, in a heartbeat, finding himself in front of Nydan.

'Fine, come closer and I'll show you that even a strong knight like you can't stop me.' Nydan said to himself, channeling mana to his arms.

Nydan was ready to counterattack, all he had to do was shape his mana, but suddenly his eyes went wide as Roland abruptly turned and ran to the side.

"What the hell?" Nydan was puzzled as Roland didn't attack him or Ena, instead, he moved toward the dusty, wooden table.

"Shit! Stop him!" Nydan exclaimed when he realized what was going on.

"Yes!" Ena nodded, but as soon as she stepped forward a crystal arrow flew in front of her, leaving a scratch on her cheek.

"Agh... Missed, you have a pretty good reaction don't you?" Elin muttered with a frustrated smile.

Ena shuddered as she realized that she could have died right now just like Fourth-Winged, from one single shot.

'Why is he getting help from such strong NPCs?! How did he manage to get their loyalty in such a short time?!' Ena inwardly exclaimed, clenching her fists with envy and anger.

Roland grabbed the ring and threw it at Zayne with a swing. The ring flew between the cage bars, ending up in Zayne's palm.

"Fine, now it's time to break free!" Zayne exclaimed as the Three-Eyed Whistle appeared before him. The bloody blade cut through the chain of handcuffs easily, then Zayne took the sword in his hands.

Wooooooooooosh.

A smooth swing, split the cage in two, allowing Zayne to climb out and stand beside Roland.

"Three against two. I'm no expert, but I can confidently state that you don't have much chance of winning." Zayne smirked as he took a step forward.

A silhouette of scarlet wings appeared behind him as a strong smell of blood began to emanate from the red sword blade that filled the entire space.

Step. Step. Step.

Ena took a few steps with trembling legs. She stood in front of Nydan and prepared to fight, drawing her two daggers.

'Oh... She's afraid but she's still trying to protect me.' Nydan was genuinely surprised, then a slight smile appeared on his face, 'Well, she may have her downsides, but I appreciate such loyalty.'

"Give up. You don't stand a chance." Roland said menacingly pointing his sword at them.

"Hah, you're right. We can't really win." Nydan grinned as he held his hands up.

"Just like that...?" Elin couldn't believe it as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah... Do I look like a suicide? I'm not going to fight you." Nydan nodded as he closed his eyes.

Zayne and Roland looked at each other. They were sure Nydan was up to something, but they didn't understand what.

"However, that doesn't mean I'm giving up at all!" Nydan grinned widely as he snapped his finger. From his flick waves of ripples echoed throughout the caves.

Whooooooooooooooooosh.

At the same moment, three purple spheres glowed brightly in one passage. They were the eyes of a massive raven, heading toward its master at tremendous speed.

"Bye. Bye! Zayne, I'll see you again!" Nydan said, throwing Ena on his shoulder and running toward the raven.

"You won't!" Roland exclaimed as she rushed forward as well as Zayne, who turned into a red flash after flapping his wings.

Nydan was running without turning around when his raven opened its beak wide.

"Go boy, make no mistake." Nydan muttered with a smirk.

The raven's eyes sparkled as a massive stream of purple flame launched from its beak, however, this fire couldn't hurt anyone since it was created for something else.

Nydan jumped into the fire portal the raven had created for him. They all vanished without a trace as if they had never been here.

"Damn... I didn't expect him to be capable of something like that..." Zayne muttered in a daze looking at the black trail of flames on the ground.

"Hmm... Honestly, I don't know whether to be glad or angry that they're gone." Roland spoke with a complicated expression, "Maybe we would have won, but that warlock looks really dangerous... We definitely wouldn't have gotten away without wounds if he had decided to fight us."

"Zayne, do you know who it was and why he kidnapped you?" Elin asked with a confused face.

Zayne shook his head, "All I know is his name, Nydan, nothing else. He abducted me because of the blood aura that I got after fighting the bandit leader. He seems to know well how to use that energy to make other creatures stronger."

Elin gulped. She didn't have time to realize how powerful Nydan was, but the raven's three eyes gave her goosebumps, though she saw it for a moment.

"Nydan... right? Well, I've never heard of him, but he seems to have been doing it for a long time. That magic circle looks very complex." Roland turned around as he frowned at the sight of the dead knights.

"What shall we do?" Zayne asked as he put his sword on his shoulder.

Roland sighed, "First we free the girls, then we go back to Red Feather City. We have to report this, or Nydan will continue to destroy the lives of the innocent."

Roland with a dark face headed for the cages, and the girls finally felt relieved as their nightmare was over.

"Zayne... I'm sorry it took us so long to get help. These caves turned out to be a real maze, I feel like we hit every dead end before we finally got here." Elin said as she tilted her head in guilt.

Tap.

Zayne put his hand on her head and began petting her.

"Don't worry. The important thing is that you came here and helped me! I really appreciate it!" Zayne smiled broadly as he continued to pet Elin.

"Ughum..." Elin nodded with an embarrassed expression. Normally she wouldn't let anyone treat her like that and would have immediately thrown someone else's hand off her head, but right now she was just enjoying the moment.

Roland destroyed the magic circle so no one else could use it, dragged the knights' bodies aside, and headed toward the cages, opening them one by one.

Gradually he got to the girl with crimson hair, the same color as the feather sign on his armor.