Hostages

The information from Iris surprised Saito a little, but the overall plan remained the same. He turned towards Lyra and gave her a signal. The signal to start here.

Lyra seemed to be waiting for this signal. The moment she saw his message, she suddenly bent down and touched the ground with her hand.

Many branches of the trees grew out near the legs of the demons. The demons had their spearhead against the three of them. They were thrown away mercilessly, their head splat open as it crashed against the tree or rock.

The sudden attack did surprise the demons, they used their magic to enhance their bodies and rushed towards Lyra. Saito moved quicker than their eyes could follow and crushed their heads with his kicks.

After these demons died, he stared at Lyra and said with a stern look, "I will be fighting their leader. From what I can sense, he is about as strong as me. Even with Joergen, its unknown how much time it would take to beat him."

He instructed her, "Make some Wood Dragons and strike them from above, make the whole cavern collapse. That should reduce their numbers by a whole lot."

His plan was pretty good. But the thing was, making the wood dragons so compelling wasn't that easy. Lyra spoke out, "But if we attack with the Wood Dragons from above and make the cavern collapse, how would we save the hostage? Besides, wouldn't it give some time for them to escape?"

Giving her a comforting smile, "Don't worry about the hostage. I will be securing her very soon."

Being unable to resist the temptation to ask about his plan, Chloe asked him, "How are you going to secure her?"

"kekek… Just wait and enjoy the show." He disappeared after saying that. After entering the cavern, he ordered Iris 'Hide my magic signature.'

[Roger!]

Saito pointed his hand at the ceiling, it was quite some distance away from the ground. If he had to guess the range, it was about 50 meters.

A black web shot out of his wrist as it firmly attached itself to the ceiling. He jumped as high as he could and started to swing ahead. As he looked down, he noticed the number of demons covering the whole cavern.

It seemed as if they were waiting for some intruders. They were ready to give shower hell upon them; they didn't seem to think that the intruder would come through the air.

He was meticulous to not make any noise. Soon enough, he came across two massive tunnels which lead to two different directions. He didn't even need to ask and heard Iris' words.

[To the left side, master. There are some humans trapped there.]

'Very well.' Saito changed his direction towards left and continued swinging without making a single sound. The demons below him had no idea that their enemy was up above, turning with a relaxed look.

After swinging for some time, he finally saw humans trapped within a wooden cage. Since they were within the wooden enclosure, he smirked 'Looks like this will be easier than I thought.'

He also noticed that there were many humans captured in the cage. The number was around 35… He didn't concern himself with saving all of them. He was only going to save the wife and the child of Carl Warren.

The other humans were of no importance for Saito. It would be good if they were able to take advantage of the opportunity and save themselves, but he wasn't going to try and save every single one.

He was using the ability of the spider to stick onto the walls with his hands. He pointed at the cage and whispers within his head 'If I remember correctly, his wife and his child have blonde hairs. In such a place, she surely wouldn't let go of his hand. I just need to search for a woman who is holding the hand of a young boy.'

It didn't take him long to find the two of them. They were standing near the right side of the cage. He used a bit of nature magic and manipulated the wood around the right side.

Even though it was quite far away, with his proficiency in magic, it was an easy thing to do. He changed the shape of the whole cage from that side, making sure it had enough space to let the two of them pass.

The people were surprised to see this change. They didn't overthink and tried to rush out of the cage. Since the mother and the child were the first ones standing there, they were pushed out of the cage.

This caught the attention of the demons. Saito felt a huge magic source starting to move. It seemed as though it was even deeper within the cavern and seemed to be busy doing something.

He crouched his body and used Black Lightning within the muscles of his legs. He disappeared from that position and re-appeared besides the mother and the son in a flash.

His appearance was shocking for the demons because now, they felt the full force of his magic. Without wasting a single moment, Saito speaks in his head 'Wood Dome! Rings of Hell Flames!'

All three of them were covered by a thick wooden dome. The wood which appeared from under the ground. Saito used his consciousness to send a burst of magic through Lyra's ring.

She caught the signal, and two colossal Wood Dragons struck the sidelines of the cavern. It was impossible to make the whole cavern fall if it was hit directly from above.

It would just throw some debris at most. That is why Lyra made her Wooden Dragons crash against the sides of the cavern to make it lose its support.

Saito though had thought of another plan if Lyra wasn't able to destroy the support of the cavern with the Wood Dragons. As he was swinging, he had left behind a trace of Magic Sphere containing the power of Nature.

As the cavern felt a shockwave, the magic spheres which were placed on the walls by Saito were disturbed. They instantly created Wood Spikes which pierced through the walls.

It looked as if they weren't necessary though since Lyra's Wooden Dragons were able to destroy the support of the cavern and the ceiling started to fall down.

Chloe was worried about Saito and asked Lyra, "umm…Will Axel be all right? I am a little worried about him."

Nodding in confirmation, Lyra replied back, "Don't worry, since he was the one who suggested this, he must have a plan. Besides, these rocks aren't capable of hurting him."

Sure enough, Saito was holding out within the Wooden Dome along with the hostages he was supposed to protect. The Rings of Hell Flames were the real reason why the falling cavern didn't trouble him.

There were multiple Rings placed outside of the dome which covered it from all angles. As the falling debris passed through it, it would instantly be converted into ash due to the high temperature.

The woman felt the whole cavern shaking up violently and held her son within her arms. Saito spoke to her in a neutral tone, "You don't have to be worried, you both won't be damaged at all."

He said within his heart 'Though I can't say the same about the demons…'

The woman stared at him with a puzzled look, "Who are you? Why did you save us?" She seemed curious about her saviour.

"Your husband had placed a mission in the Union about protecting the two of you. I accepted that mission. You are the wife of Carl Warren, right?"

Just for confirmation, he thought it would be a good idea to ask her. Suddenly, the woman shivered slightly as she spoke out, "No… Don't bring us back to him! We beg you to not do that!"