"Isn’t that your friend?" Laela asked, just to be sure she was seeing things clearly.
Aiden nodded in the affirmative. It didn’t come as a surprise to him that Alaric was in a dungeon; it was his source of living, after all.
But it came as a shock that he’d be here and captured, of all places.
This also meant that Ingrid, Rakan, and Tam were supposedly here as well, and they were the humans the demons had captured two days ago.
"What do we do now?" Laela asked, just as worried about the situation. Alaric was, after all, the head of the party that had saved her village.
Aiden let out a sigh. "I’m getting him out of there right now."
He immediately turned back again, peaking toward the corner where the cage was kept. He stretched his hand toward it, and a portal opened underneath the cage and instantly swallowed it up.
The cage with Alaric in it then fell out through a corresponding portal that opened mid-air, behind Aiden and Laela.
Mazrath, who had just seen the strange event happen, couldn’t help but stand from his seat. His head quickly turned to the cliff, and he could see the vague figures of the humans watching.
Then he pointed toward the cliff and yelled at the demons before him. "There are new intruders! Find them and bring back my pet!"
The demons who also saw what had just happened all spread out in different directions, and each way they went led toward climbing back to the cliff.
The cage landed on its side, and Alaric blinked his eyes twice in shock, trying to understand what had happened. Then he saw Aiden hurriedly walking toward him. "Posh lad?"
"Yes, it’s me, but we don’t have much time, Alaric," Aiden said while raising the cage back up to stand upright.
Aiden slammed his palm on the cage and applied his Fist of Destruction skill, which shattered it entirely.
He then stretched his left hand forward, and a portal with a bluish hue appeared in front of him.
"Let’s go!" Aiden called out, and one by one, they all went through the portal.
The very moment the portal closed up, a horde of demons had just climbed onto the cliff.
The corresponding portal had opened up at the first place they’d battled those demons and Kragbuls, and all three of them stepped out through it.
Alaric fell to his knees from exhaustion. He had been starving for some time, coupled with several bruises and wounds around different parts of his body. His clothes were also all torn up.
Aiden immediately used the healing spell: Goddess Embrace on Alaric. The wounds started to patch up, and the bruises began to disappear.
"Man, am I glad to see yer, posh lad," Alaric said as he felt himself recuperating quickly from the wounds he had sustained in his ordeal with the demons.
"Wish it were under better circumstances, but what about the rest? Where are they?" You could hear how anxious Aiden’s tone was.
"Ingrid’s chained up in where that beast sleeps, and it rapes her whenever it fancies. Rakan’s forced to watch from a cage same as mine... And Tam..." Alaric’s voice cracked as he spoke, and every word he said hurt him deeply.
"Tam is dead."
Laela had both hands over her mouth, with her eyes seemingly teary. It felt like her heart couldn’t handle the cruelty.
You could see the fury that burned in Aiden’s eyes, with his fists clenched so hard.
He then asked, "Why did it place you in a cage outside?"
"That friggin’ beast called me his pet and took me in a cage or on a leash everywhere he went," Alaric said, sounding not just hurt but furious altogether.
At this point, Piers called out loudly, "Captain, they are here!"
Piers’ voice drew the attention of Aiden and the rest toward him.
In the next second, Katherine, who had been walking to the far side in search of them, immediately flew toward Piers’ call using the levitation spell.
"Thank goodness my darlings are safe," she said while hurriedly moving toward them.
She immediately saw the sadness on their faces, and before she could say anything further, Aiden cut in.
"They are coming," he said. His enhanced hearing had picked up several racing steps rushing in full force toward them.
In the next moment, lots of demons were trooping toward them.
"A-Are those demons?" Piers asked with his eyes widened in shock.
Katherine also stared at the incoming demons with a very worried look on her face.
"Captain, I need to go and rescue the rest of my friends. Can I leave this to you?" Aiden turned toward the captain with his draconian eyes, and the expression on his face expressed plain fury.
Katherine didn’t understand what was going on, but if Aiden had somehow survived being in this dungeon for so long, then she trusted that he knew what he was doing. So all Katherine offered in reply to his request was an approving nod.
"Wait, I’m coming with you," Laela said to Aiden.
"No, stay here and help the captain fight these creatures," Aiden refused.
"They helped save my village, remember? I’m going to return the favor," Laela insisted.
Katherine then interjected, "She’s going with you, Aiden. You’ll need that help."
Aiden sighed, then lifted Laela off her feet and cradled her in his arms. She crossed her hands over his shoulders, and using the levitation spell, Aiden flew off into the sky and made his way to the demon settlement.
He intended to get an aerial overview of the settlement and scan out the exact place they were keeping Ingrid and Rakan.
Katherine then drew out her red sword and told Piers, "Take this fellow away from here and toward the entrance."
"Yes, Captain!" Piers said, before placing his hand on Alaric and warping away from sight using his transport magic.
The dungeon’s entrance, though closed, was the farthest away from the incoming horde of demons.
Piers wasn’t exactly helpful in a battle due to the nature of his magic, and she didn’t want to have to worry about him and the orange-haired stranger, Alaric.
Katherine made her mana swell around her, and with a grin on her face, she flew forward toward the incoming monsters.
...
Not long after, Aiden had returned to the settlement while still maintaining his flight mid-air.
Right now, he cared less whether he was seen or not; all he wanted was to find Ingrid and Rakan, and he did.
His Dragon’s Sight had scanned them out through the very shed-looking structure they were held in.
Mazrath, who also stood close to his structure, had seen Aiden maintaining flight over his settlement.