Chapter 78 Unforeseen Obstacle

While Lawrence was definitely taking the attention of the hideout bandits, one way or another, he began searching the area for Reno.

“Reno…? Are you here?” He called out.

All he found at first were cages that held frightened captives of the bandits, who didn’t reply and seemed to flinch at any words thrown. As expected, there were mostly demi-human children being locked in cages.

It seemed most demi-humans possessed majority human features, with just some aspects of animals like tails, ears, claws, and sometimes noses. Though there were some cases of some leaning more into the animal side.

Though he felt deeply regretful of their situation, he knew for now, he had to simply move forward.

…I’ll be back for you all, I promise. If it’s not me, then there’ll be others here–but for now, I have to find my friend, he thought.

It was easier said than done to find a single person in the large room, especially with the amount of cages and the fact it was quite an intense situation–with Lawrence continuing to butcher the bandits that occupied the space.

As long as he’s going at it, I should be fine…I can take a few liberties with finding her, he thought.

As he went deeper into the domain, he ended up bumping right into what he was looking for–or something close to it.

“Gh-!” He winced, stepping back.

What he bumped into was soft, yet firm–he looked up to find a mustached, burly man looking down at him, towering over him, in fact.

It’s him–he’s the one that brought Reno down here, he thought.

“Who the hell are ya?” The man asked in a low, bitter tone.

“–” He went silent, raising his staff, “Where’s the girl you just brought down here?”

“Huh? Was she yer girlie or somethin, brat? How the fuck did you get down here, anyway?…Wait, a staff? Are ya a mage?” The man asked.

It was a confusing shift in tone the man held, going from intimidating to almost frightened, as soon as he answered with a “Yes?”–the man ran off in the opposite direction.

“What the–? Wait!” He called out.

The large man scurried away without putting up any sort of fight at all, hurrying off towards something.

Crap! If he got down here, he must’ve taken out Terry and Dingo! I don’t stand a chance against him! I’ll have to let “him” loose! Boss will be angry with me, but screw it! The burly bandit thought.

Before he could give chase, something caught the corner of his eye–in the cage to his left: blonde hair, tight shorts, and a small vest.

“Reno!” He called out in relief.

In the dark situation, it was a relieving sight to see her, and she seemed unscathed, though she was unable to respond as she had a rope in her mouth and a blindfold on.

He rushed over to the cage, raising his staff and using an extremely small, condensed blast of fire to blow off the lock before swinging the doors open.

“Are you alright?!”

As he asked this, he quickly took the rope out of her mouth and the blindfold off, drawing his sword to cut the bindings from her wrists and ankles as well.

Reno coughed out, holding her tongue out in disgust from the taste of the stringy rope, “…Blegh…I’m fine.”

For a good minute, he sat on his knees in front of her, catching his breath as he slid his sword back into its sheath.

Reno looked at him worriedly, “…Are ya alright, though?”

He slowly nodded, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

It was clear he was affected by the sights and experiences of the abhorrent place by the shakiness of his eyes and the trembling of his fingers, but he held himself together.

“Now all there is to do is wait for Oswell,” he told her.

“Seems like it,” Reno nodded.

“Aha-ha-ha!”

Catching both of their attentions as they left the black-barred cage was the heckling laughter that echoed through the arena. The orange-haired, pale man could be seen, running along the upper cliffs of stone in the room, continuing to cleave through any bandits in his foe.

“…Who is that? A friend or a foe? He’s killing bandits, but…”

“Good question,” he sighed out, “He’s an ally, I’m pretty sure, I think…”

“That’s not a very convincing answer,” Reno told him.

“Yeah, I know.”

Though as things seemed to be going swell, reality always struck hard–

FWOOM.

The rattling of cages being slammed against and moved filled his ears abrasively as he swept his gaze to the left, hearing the scream of a man lash out before looking up to see an object flung through the air.

It wasn’t an object.

Though it flipped around, it was spilling blood and sailing overhead, but it was a human–one they both recognized.

“That’s…!” Reno began to say.

“It’s the one who brought you down here–what’s going on?” He questioned.

Lawrence is on the opposite end of this place. What did that…? He thought.

Whatever did it must’ve been absurdly powerful, as the full-grown, burly man was flung high and far.

This caused both of the youths to ready themselves as Reno retrieved her dagger that was set outside of her cage, and he held his staff up, facing the shadow-crept area in which thunderous stomps began to sound out.

“Grrrr…”

There was a bellowing growl emitting from that direction, prompting them both to stay shoulder-to-shoulder in preparation of what was coming.

STOMP. STOMP. STOMP.

From between the battered cages, it walked out: standing likely three meters in height, clad in all-black fur with emerald eyes like the aurora borealis, what stood before them, salivating like a rabid dog, was a beast that seemed mixed between man and wolf–

A werewolf?! He thought.

“It’s a ‘Grand Lycan’! What’s something like this doing here…?” Reno let out.

As he looked over at the sapphire-eyed girl at his side, he could see her quivering from the sight of the beast.

Though it was definitely frightening in appearance and imposing in form, it seemed as if knowledge of its true nature was even more daunting.

“What’s that?” He asked.

The beast stared them down while growling, standing upright as its lengthy arms were held by its side, wielding blood-drenched claws that could easily rend flesh. It seemed to have been bound in chains, but either broke out or was freed, having cuffs around its wrists and a collar on its neck–but all were broken and useless now.

Reno stuttered out, “I-it’s a rare type of demi-human…They’re from a special clan! They’re…they’re just really dangerous, that’s all you need to know! Really, really strong!”

The fear had caused the girl’s vocabulary to minimize as her brain seemed more intent on surviving than talking.

“Strong as in we should be running right now?!” He asked.