Chapter 18: “Successful rescue”

Adrian, in his kitsune form, was determined to make a significant impact on their mission. As Cale, Choi Han, and the Cat Tribe kittens prepared for the operation, Adrian darted around, giving signs and signals to his companions. His ethereal form glowed softly in the dark, providing a sense of comfort to his allies and unsettling the enemies.

The location that the kittens, On and Hong, buried the black orb was out of Cale's expectations. The Viscount's villa was 30 meters away from the dragon's cave. On and Hong had buried the black orb 50 meters away from that cave, in an area filled with trees and shrubs, making it very difficult for the orb to be located.

"You two are kind of amazing," Cale said, impressed.

"Something like this is a piece of cake," On responded, though Cale could see her nose twitching in joy.

Cale, Choi Han, On, and Hong crouched around the location where the black orb, officially known as the Mana Disturbance Tool, was located. They looked toward the cave entrance 50 meters away and the Viscount's villa farther away. Adrian, in his 15-tailed Kitsune form, stood slightly apart, his tails waving gracefully as he kept watch.

"You remember the plan?" Cale asked.

Cale had explained the plan on their way over. Realistically speaking, there wasn't much of a plan.

"There are a total of 6 people on guard at this time," Cale recalled from 'The Birth of a Hero.'

The Black Dragon, being smart, had gathered information during the four long years it was held captive, and there was a reason it attempted its escape two days later at around this time.

There were approximately 30 people residing in the villa. Originally, there were close to 100 people, but it slowly went down over the years as nobody really came to this area. Among the 30 people, there were 3 high-leveled knights at the Vice Captain's level, as well as 7 mid-leveled knights, soldiers, the torturer, and random laborers. The number of people here showed just how much attention the Marquis had been putting into this location.

However, Cale had Choi Han, who could take down the strongest knight in the Roan Kingdom in 10 moves. Someone like that was on their side.

"Let me explain one more time," Cale continued. "There is one high-leveled knight and two mid-leveled knights at the cave entrance, as well as two soldiers. Inside the cave, there is just one high-leveled knight, and the torturer is at the end of the cave."

Choi Han flinched after hearing the word torturer, but Cale did not care. The important thing was that the black orb would activate soon, and they needed to move quickly in response.

"The magic recording devices located from the villa to the cave entrance will not work for 40 minutes thanks to the black orb that On and Hong buried. That is the same for the alarms, magic traps, and anything else. Nothing will work for 40 minutes."

They needed to domesticate this dragon, the greatest magic-using creature in the world, but they could not ask any mages for help. That was why Marquis Stan chose to fill this area with magic items instead. The reason that there were only a few guards around was that the dragon had no choice but to cause a mana explosion to escape.

'An eye for an eye, and money for money,' Cale thought.

Since the Marquis used money, Cale used money as well. He patted the magic bag on his waist. This was a magic bag that allowed you to store a lot of items. Inside this bag were all sorts of magic items, useful tools, and objects.

"I just need to take out the guards?" Choi Han asked.

"Yes. You are the only one I can rely on to cover my back," Cale responded.

'At least for now,' Cale thought, looking at Choi Han with a serious expression. Choi Han nodded his head and sincerely responded back.

"I will definitely live up to your expectations."

"Yes. As I mentioned, make sure they see our outfit and then knock them out. Don't kill them, and don't show them your sword art. You remember what to do after that, right?"

"Yes, I remember it all."

"Good, I'll leave it to you," Cale said, patting Choi Han's shoulders before handing him the voice-changing device. "It's expensive, so don't break it."

"Got it. You do not need to worry about it," Choi Han assured.

Cale then looked toward the kittens. Their tails wagged, asking for something. "I will give you meat once it is over."

That did not seem to be the right answer, as they snorted and turned away. Cale didn't think much about it, instead verifying the time with his watch.

'Five minutes left.'

The sky had already gotten dark, and it was nighttime. Cale then recalled the conversation he had with Billos.

'The magic items that have been influenced by the Mana Disturbance Tool will instantly stop working, and most of them will turn off to prevent it from blowing up. However, the highest quality magic items will start beeping to signal that they are broken. It isn't like alarm magic, instead, it is more like a clock alarm.'

'It will probably be loud?'

'I don't know where you plan on using it, but it should be loud enough for the enemy to hear.'

Billos started to smirk and continued on.

'However, if there are a lot of magic items in the area, it will probably get chaotic with all of the alarms going off at the same time.'

Chaotic was enough for Cale.

"Get ready," Cale ordered.

The kittens also covered themselves with charcoal to cover the color of their fur. They then left Cale's side and disappeared into the darkness, such that Cale could no longer see them. The two of them would not be showing themselves in front of the enemies today. However, Cale knew that they would follow the plan and be around him.

Adrian, still in his Kitsune form, nodded to Cale and disappeared into the shadows. His black, silver, and green fur blended seamlessly with the night, and his 15 tails added an ethereal glow as he moved.

Choi Han folded up the handkerchief he was using to clean his blade and put it in his pocket.

Once all of the preparations were finished, Cale stood up.

Brrrrrrrrrrrring.

Something started to vibrate right underneath where Cale had been sitting. The black orb had started to activate.

Click. Click.

The seconds hand of Cale's watch slowly approached the set time.

And finally, the last click.

"Let's go," Cale ordered.

At Cale's order, Choi Han followed the plan and ran ahead quickly, while On started to create fog in the area. Cale was at the center of the fog, making it difficult to see him. At the same time,

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring-

The black orb finally activated.

"I guess they aren't all highest quality magic items," Cale muttered.

Some of the magic items started to ring loudly to sound their status. Cale followed behind Choi Han with the fog surrounding him and headed toward the cave.

Starting now, it was a battle against time.

Choi Han was already fighting against the knights in front of the cave.

'Scary bastard,' Cale thought.

In that short amount of time, the soldiers already had injuries on their arms and legs and were knocked out on the floor.

"Who are you? How dare you come to this place!" one of the knights shouted.

Choi Han easily dodged the attack of the high-leveled knight. He then took a step forward and made a deep cut on the side of the knight. He then avoided the blood spurting out of the cut and used his elbow to attack the knight's back, followed by the back of the knight's neck. The knight fainted instantly.

"Shit! What the hell is going on?!" the high-leveled knight inside the cave shouted.

"Poison," Cale spoke through the voice-changing device. The fog surrounding him started to expand, and Hong started to stealthily move around and spread the poison to paralyze the enemy. The fainted individuals would not be able to move for a while, even if they did wake up.

Cale then made eye contact with the high-leveled knight and said one word.

"Cover."

Choi Han instantly stood in front of Cale and darted toward the cave entrance. Cale followed behind him.

"Block them!" the high-leveled knight shouted.

Two mid-leveled knights immediately charged toward Choi Han. Their swords started to glow, showing that the knights had inputted their aura into their swords. However, those two swords were instantly cut down.

Clang. Clang. The upper half of both swords fell to the ground.

"W-what the? Is he a swordmaster?" one of the knights exclaimed.

Both shock and despair were in the voice of the high-leveled knight. The only thing that could cut through an aura-filled sword was a swordmaster's aura blade. After instantly cutting through the enemy weapons using his aura, which was camouflaged in the darkness, Choi Han used his sword and scabbard to attack a mid-leveled knight's neck and stomach at the same time.

"Ugh!"

"Guuh!"

'...He just needs one hit per person,' Cale thought, unable to hide his amazement as he crouched behind Choi Han and continued to move. At that moment, they could hear some ruckus from far behind them.

"Intruders!" someone shouted from the villa.

Cale turned his gaze back forward. The mid-leveled knights staggered before falling down. Cale made eye contact with them. They had been poisoned by Hong's paralysis poison.

"P, poison...!"

"A, assassin!"

Choi Han made them faint before quickly rushing toward the charging high-leveled knight and swinging his sword. Cale used that opening to go through the cave entrance. Even while he was doing that, he made sure the mid-leveled knights who called him an assassin saw the six stars on his outfit before fainting.

"Ugh! Where did these people come from!"

"So loud."

Choi Han easily avoided the mana-filled sword of the high-leveled knight. He was dragging this out on purpose.

While Choi Han was acting as the distraction, Cale entered the cave behind the Cat Tribe children, who had stealthily entered earlier on. Adrian, still in his Kitsune form, moved silently beside him, his tails brushing lightly against Cale's legs, adding an extra layer of stealth to their movement. After verifying that Cale had entered, Choi Han moved to the front of the cave entrance.

He then called out to the high-leveled knight.

"Come."

Of course, his gaze was not looking at the knight, but all of the enemies coming from the villa with torches.

"I leave it to you."

Choi Han could hear Cale's changed, yet still calm voice behind him, and started to smile. However, he quickly focused on releasing only some of his strength. Dark Destruction Sword Art. This sword art consisted of two components, darkness and destruction. Of the two, the force of destruction started to surround Choi Han.

"Nobody can get past this spot."

He was someone who always kept his word.

While Choi Han was protecting the entrance, Adrian transformed back into his human form, standing guard near the entrance of the inner cave. His presence was intimidating, his eyes scanning for any threats that might slip past Choi Han.

There was someone else protecting something in a different manner in the cave. That person was none other than the torturer. He was the one to protect the dragon's prison. By the time Cale arrived inside, he was already in a state of chaos.

"Why, why?! Why is the Magic Crystal Ball not working?!"

The Magic Crystal Ball that the torturer held onto was one of the emergency backups that Venion had prepared in case something went wrong.

"D, don't come here! Do you know what is in here?!"

The torturer was shaking violently while looking at Cale. He had no choice but to be scared. If the torturer received an attack higher than an average person's strength, he would instantly blow up.

It was one of Venion's safety measures as well. The strength of the blast would make the prison key and the prison itself blow up with the torturer as well. Naturally, the torturer knew about this.

"If you come, everyone here will die!"

"Tsk."

Cale waved his hand while looking at the shaking torturer. Once he did, fog started to form in the air and headed for the torturer. On, the owner of the fog, was hidden in the shadows of the cave and still hidden.

"A, aaaaaah! Go away!"

The sounds of battle from the cave entrance. The approaching fog. Of course, the inside the fog was completely filled with poison. The paralyzing fog quickly surrounded the torturer.

"Just what, ugh, p, poison...!"

Ugh. The torturer's body started to shake as he fell to the ground. The torturer looked so terrible, being unable to speak or move as he forcibly shook on the floor. Cale approached the torturer and rummaged through his clothes.

If you could not attack him, you just had to hit him with poison. Either that, or make a deal with him to hand the key over. However, he didn't want to use the latter method.

"Here it is."

Cale grabbed the key and closed the eyes of the torturer, who was starting to lose consciousness from the poison. Cale wondered if they had used too much of the poison, but didn't really care.

"I don't think he will die, but if he dies, oh well."

Cale snapped his fingers. Two little black bundles fell from the ceiling almost instantly. It was On and Hong. Once they came under the torch that Cale was holding, he could finally see the two of them clearly.

Cale verified that On and Hong were safe before heading to the farthest corner of the cave. Adrian followed closely, his presence reassuring and vigilant. Once they arrived, they could see a curled-up black existence inside this now-useless magic prison. It was the dragon. The thing that shocked Cale more than the dragon itself was the blood covering the dragon and the scent of blood in the air.

Cale quickly approached the prison. Adrian stood guard at the entrance, his senses on high alert for any threats.

The dragon continued to keep its eyes closed, even as Cale approached. The dragon was probably in a state of chaos right now.

Cale put the key into the lock and opened the door.

Click. It unlocked with a light noise. Cale slowly opened the iron gate and entered into the prison. It was pretty large to be called a prison. There were whips and other torture tools, as well as the luxurious couch that Venion sat on to watch. Cale headed to the corner of the prison.

A small figure about 1 meter long was laying on a stack of hay in the corner. The inner eyelids of the dragon were shaking as it laid there with its eyes closed. There were chains on all of its limbs, and the mana restriction chain was on its neck, making it unable to use any strength.

"Hey."

Cale crouched in front of the dragon. The dragon did not open its eyes even after Cale called out to it. Cale verified his watch. It was time to leave. He continued to speak to the dragon.

"Let's leave."

Cale used the key he had obtained from the torturer to undo the chains. Adrian stepped closer, his presence calm and reassuring.

The dragon opened its eyes at that moment. Cale started to smile after looking at the dragon's eyes.

It was still a very strong gaze. It had not lost its will to live just yet. It was not the dying gaze that Choi Han had run into in the novel. It was filled with energy, anger, and resistance.

It was the gaze of a dragon.

"What a nice gaze."

Cale lifted the dragon into his arms. Adrian nodded approvingly, his eyes softening at the sight of the young dragon.

"Cale, remember Clara is waiting for us on the other side of the mountain," Adrian reminded him.

Cale nodded, his expression serious. "I haven't forgotten."

"Wait for Choi Han to finish off the guards," Adrian instructed, his voice steady. "We can't risk an ambush while we're still inside."

Cale held the dragon close, feeling the weight of the situation. Adrian stayed alert, his senses honed to detect any approaching danger.

The sounds of Choi Han's battle at the cave entrance continued, the clash of steel and the shouts of fallen enemies echoing through the cave. Adrian stood by Cale's side, ready to protect him and the dragon if needed.

Finally, the sounds of battle began to die down. Choi Han's voice called out from the entrance. "It's clear."

Adrian nodded. "Let's move."

With the dragon safely in Cale's arms and Adrian by his side, they moved swiftly toward the cave entrance, ready to face whatever lay ahead.