When Noel opened his eyes, his head was spinning. He looked around; he was in a high-ceilinged, stone room. Marten and Kael were nowhere to be seen. The labyrinthine layout of the ruins had completely separated the team.
The rumbling sounds coming from underground indicated that there were dozens of people inside the building.
"A trap," Noel said to himself. "They're trying to separate us and hunt us down one by one."
He headed toward a dark corridor. As he rounded a corner, he saw two organization guards arguing heatedly in front of him.
"Things went south when Doran was captured,"
"Master Zadil ordered us to relocate everyone."
"That damn bastard is making things even harder."
Noel grabbed a ledge on the wall to take advantage of the guards' distraction. He flipped his dagger into his palm.He crouched and slipped into the shadows. Just as he reached behind the guards, he felt something wrap around his ankle. The stone on the floor gave way slightly.
"Damn it, another trigger."
The guards suddenly spun around.
"Someone's here!"
Noel didn't panic. He lunged forward and took down the first guard. By the time the second drew his sword, Noel had already slipped behind him and plunged his dagger in.Noel continued moving deeper, toward the organization's core.
Kael placed his hand on the stone floor and closed his eyes. Just beneath the floor, it felt as though there was a vast, empty abyss. Faint, wavering waves of mana emanating from the depths betrayed the presence of the captives.
"I can sense it, at least a little," Kael muttered.
"Well, I have no other choice!"
In the central chamber above, Zadil stood before the magical screen. His eyes locked onto that intense red point that had suddenly appeared, overwhelming all other mana traces. The heat radiating from Kael's location was detectable even through the magic screen.Zadil furrowed his brows:
"What is that masked kid trying to do?"
Kael prepared a dense fireball that was growing larger and larger in his palms. He was channeling all his mana into that small flame with patience and care. The fire was no longer orange; it had turned a blindingly bright red.
"I hope I'm doing the right thing,"
Kael slammed his fist into the ground with all his might.
With a massive boom, the ground blew apart. Amidst the flying debris and dust cloud, Kael began plummeting rapidly into the void. As he fell, he swung his sword and embedded the tip into the wall. The steel blade slid along the stone, halting him for a moment, but when Kael looked down at the massive void created by the shattered floor, he realized he was still hundreds of meters high.
Below was pitch black. In that moment, he wished he could glide through the air like Zephyros. An idea struck him; he pulled his sword from the wall and let himself fall into the void.
Headfirst, as he fell, he extended his hands forward. An uncontrolled force erupted from his palms, like flames spewing from a jet engine.
"More balanced... Spread the energy over a wider area!"
The fire erupting from his hands created intense pressure, beginning to slow his descent. Kael's body shook briefly in the air, but the thrust generated by the fire gradually reduced his falling speed. Just as he was about to crash into the ground, he bent his knees, somersaulted through the air, and used the flames beneath his feet like a cushion to land gently on the floor.
As the dust cloud slowly dispersed, Kael stood up and looked around. This was the main dungeon level where Zadil kept his prisoners. He sheathed his sword and continued walking.
After walking a short distance, Kael found himself on the lowest level of the ruins. This place was vastly different from the corridors above. The dampness seeping from the stones had been replaced by a thick stench of rot and rust. Kael took a deep breath beneath his mask; when he activated his mana field, he sensed dozens of different mana signatures approaching from ahead
As he made his way forward, the sounds of chains and muffled moans began to reach his ears. When he turned a corner, he came face-to-face with massive iron bars.
Kael approached the bars. The people inside were in a pitiful state. Some had huddled in the corners, while others were desperately struggling to free themselves from their chains.There was an old man clinging to the nearest bar:
"Please... please help me,"
Kael placed his hand on the bars. The lock wasn't a simple physical lock; it bore a seal imbued with Zadil's ominous power. Kael gathered a surge of magic at his fingertips to break the seal.
"Be quiet," said Kael,
"I'll get you out of here."
Just then, footsteps were heard from the end of the corridor. Kael was forced to pull back before completely breaking the seal. He crouched in a corner and waited. The arrivals were the organization's guards.
"Master Zadil has separated the adventurers upstairs,"
"and when we brought the masked one to the center, he ordered us to execute all these slaves. He doesn't want to leave any traces."
The other guard laughed. "All the better. At least we'll be spared the noise of these corpses."Kael watched them from the corner. Zadil's plan was clear; he intended to use the slaves as sacrificial lambs.
"Execution?" Kael thought. He gripped the hilt of his sword.
As the guards passed in front of the bars and disappeared from view, Kael turned back to the door. Time was running out. If he couldn't join up with Marten and Noel, it would be impossible for him to save all these people on his own.
Kael drew his sword and thrust it into the seal on the bars. The seal began to crack and shatter.
Kael started unlocking the bars one by one, and as he moved toward the next set of bars,
he reached a specially sealed cell that was more heavily secured than the others.Inside, in the dim light, were several dark elves with silvery skin and long ears. They were exhausted. The moment Kael saw this race, his mind momentarily clouded. He thought of an old friend whose path had crossed his long ago. That familiar face, whom he hadn't seen in years and didn't even know where he was, echoed in his mind.
"Here... Black elves?" Kael muttered,
Just then, the sharp, ominous mana pressure in the air at the end of the wide corridor where the cells were located suddenly intensified. Kael spun around quickly.Zadil emerged from the darkness and began walking with heavy steps. The snake tattoo on his arm seemed to be moving in the torchlight
"The blood of dark elves is a very rare ingredient for potions," said Zadil with a cold smile.
"And your attempt to save them... would cause me significant harm, don't you understand?"
Behind Zadil, the organization's shadow assassins appeared. Kael didn't hesitate for a moment. He immediately turned around and stepped in front of the cell where the dark elves were held.
He planted his sword on the ground, between the prisoners and Zadil. Mana waves radiated from Kael's body, forming a glowing protective circle on the floor.
"You won't touch them!" Kael said, his voice sounding louder and more threatening from beneath his mask.
Zadil slowly raised the dagger in his hand.
"Stop playing the hero, kid. This isn't a playground."
Kael quickly began analyzing the situation. He faced three people whose powers he didn't know; it would be difficult to both protect the prisoners and fight. The narrow walls of the corridor restricted his movement, and he couldn't use his destructive spells in such a confined space.
Kael gripped his sword tightly and crouched slightly. The 4th Sword Form was his only chance to quickly take down his opponents, but this form was rapidly draining his body.
When Zadil sensed the mana fluctuations coming from Kael, he realized something was wrong. The heat Kael was emitting was so intense that the extinguished torches around them began to reignite.
Zadil turned toward the shadow assassins beside him.
"Be careful—"
Before Zadil could finish his sentence, the sound of a shockwave erupted. Kael had materialized right at the assassins' feet. Before the assassins could comprehend what was happening, they collapsed to the ground. Kael swung his sword at Zadil, who stood before him, as if forming a crescent of flame.
Zadil's dagger sliced through the air, leaving a purple trail. Kael parried the blow with the hilt of his sword; the metallic clanging of the clash echoed off the cellar walls.
Zadil's eyes locked onto the phoenix sword Kael was holding.
"A spirit sword, is it?"
"This trinket would fit nicely in my collection—I can't wait to get my hands on it!"
Zadil thrust his dagger toward Kael's midsection with a sudden, sharp motion. Kael dodged by making a swift backward move, but the dark energy emanating from Zadil's dagger slightly peeled back Kael's mask.
"He's incredibly fast physically and channels his mana directly into his weapon," Kael thought.
"If I stay this close to him, he'll expose the face beneath my mask."
Zadil thrust his dagger forward; shadow claws emerging from the ground tried to grab Kael's feet. Kael drove the tip of his sword into the ground and channeled all his mana into the earth. The shockwave that spread vaporized the shadow clawsInstead of stepping back, Zadil raised the dagger in his hand. The shadows in the dungeon's corners, fed by the fear of the prisoners, coalesced in Zadil's hand into a massive, pitch-black scythe.
"Enough of this warm-up—meet true darkness!"
Zadil swung the massive shadow scythe toward Kael. Kael gripped his sword with both hands, trying to block the blow. The force was so great it nearly knocked Kael to his knees. The weight of the strike cracked the stones on the ground, and the fire radiating from Kael's sword struggled against Zadil's dense darkness.
Zadil smirked with a mocking grin.
"Is your only concern these pitiful fools? Look at yourself—if you hadn't stuck your nose into everything, maybe you'd still be alive today."
At that very moment, Kael directed the energy from his sword not at Zadil's dagger, but at the large, heavy iron torch holder hanging on the wall directly behind Zadil.
The iron basket, suspended from the ceiling and containing burning embers, crashed to the floor with a loud bang, landing right between Zadil and Kael. As charred wood and sparks flew in all directions, a thick cloud of smoke filled the room.
Zadil paused for a moment amid the sparks; he knew he couldn't see anything through the smoke. Kael used this brief loss of visibility to smash the door of the cell behind him in a single blow and leaped inside, toward the elves.
"Don't move!" Kael shouted, waiting for Zadil's next move through the smoke.