Hello, this is part 3 (the last part) and as a head's up:

read the whole chapter and don't quit in the middle because of the plot!!!!

Well anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

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------Early morning before sunrise----

After talking over the plan with Amber, Xaramax snuck out of the dungeon and returned to the camp. On the army’s side most of the soldiers are asleep with a few roving patrols while the adventurers side is sound asleep.

‘I guess having an army being the night watch will make anyone feel safe to sleep.’

Musing to himself about the feelings of others he finally makes it back to his tent where the group is asleep. He silently wakes them up and starts to go over the details of the plan and Amber.

“I am going to go out and leave again soon so I will already be there at the boss room with Amber and both of us will wait until the army arrives. When they do, Amber will act as a hostage and there will be a trade-off with the prince, trading her for the Valkyrie beastwoman. After the trade, the prince obviously won’t let us go, however right before he can do anything Amber will use wind magic to run fast back to us and then use earth magic to collapse the ceiling(She is a tri-elemental mage: Fire, Air, Earth).You guys will follow the army in the dungeon to keep an eye on the prince and his soldiers to make sure they aren’t up to something. After the ceiling collapses and it caves in, Amber, the beastwoman and I will exit the dungeon using the teleportation array that is in the boss room. Right when the cave-in will occur, you guys will immediately meet us in the entrance where we appear from the teleportation. Then I’ll quickly dragon-form and take everyone to the previous village that is a couple days travel from here. Word about what I did most likely won’t spread that fast so no one should recognize me. Any questions?”

It takes a few minutes for everyone to soak in the details of the plan before Nikki speaks up,

“It sounds risky and unnecessary, why don’t we just break open the cage now and run off?”

Xaramax sighs and replies, “Because it would be pretty obvious and loud breaking her out, which will be similar to kicking a hornet’s nest with all of these soldiers around. Plus I’m not good enough with my magic yet to be able to shroud the

Valkyrie and myself at the same time to sneak away. I’m only good at shrouding myself and not someone else at the same time. Of course I could shroud the area around me, however what would they think when their buddy setting up his tent vanishes then reappears? If it was only me I’m quick enough to avoid the attention, but adding another person who hasn’t ever dealt with darkness magic or subterfuge is a whole different story.”

Nikki gives a small defeated sigh, while everyone else has no opinions on the matter. Seeing this, he gives her a quick peck on the cheek then leaves the surprised and speechless Nikki and exits the tent.

------At the cell of the Valkyrie-----

Slumped in the corner with tattered clothes the poor slave sits there with a dead look, seemingly awake but asleep at the same time. A mixture of opposites twirled together that makes Xaramax feel more hatred rise in his stomach. Pushing the anger down inside of him he Shadow Strides to the outside of the cell right next to where she is sitting. Covered in darkness and quiet enough for the guards not to notice, but loud enough for her to hear he whispers,

“Tomorrow you will be freed.”

Facing such an incredulous statement the downtrodden Valkyrie doesn’t even respond. Xaramax expecting this much, continues,

“If you want proof I’ll show you…”

Suddenly a small blob of dark element drops to the ground and moves between the cell’s bars and inside, inching its way up her body and onto her slave collar. Before she can realize what is happening the dark blob dissolves and shows water that was hidden inside. The water quickly disperses into the cracks and lining of the collar and freezes it from the inside out, making it as brittle as glass. After making the ice cold enough to last for when it will be needed Xaramax tells her,

“Okay so this is the plan, you are going to gain freedom, but there is another thing too…”

------In the morning in front of the dungeon-----

“Alright men, we need 4 soldiers in the front line, enough distance between each other to be able to fight comfortably. From the first line to the second the distance should be about 3 meters. Keep going like this the whole way through! The winged wench will be for the boss rooms. A simple dungeon is enough for you guys, we would lose face if we let a slave take the forefront!”

The idiotic commander is shouting orders while the adventurers are following behind them. Xaramax’s group is eyeing the army and prince to make sure nothing out of the ordinary occurs. However even if something strange does happen, there is not much they can do about it since they are greatly outnumbered.

As the soldiers enter into the dungeon in formation the tension rises since this is something an army doesn’t train for. Hitting a human is different than hitting the various monsters that roam the dangerous rooms and corridors. Every time the row of soldiers die because of a trap the ones who are behind them rejoice that it wasn’t themselves, only to be killed by the next trap that is stepped onto. Many soldiers want to leave the dungeon and flee however they are equally scared of the punishment for desertion.

Like this the raid group advances throughout the rooms encountering traps and monsters. If a seasoned adventurer group was watching this they would click their tongue in annoyance on the naiveté the army is displaying. Nevertheless when you have an almost endless supply of dungeon food *ahem* soldiers, then the consequences and losses amount to nil. The only thing that slowed them down the most was pitfalls, the rest were less detrimental to the overall speed of the soldiers.

Finally after many ridiculous and unnecessary fatalities, the army (and Valkyrie) reaches the door for the boss room. Before anyone can get close, the door slowly opens with the unsettling horror movie sound that sent shivers down their spine. If that ominous creaking wasn’t enough then the next scene sent the last nail in the coffin, so to speak.

There stood a figure shrouded in dark swirling energy so it is difficult to see the distinct clothes he is wearing. That is not the sinister part of him though. It’s the mask he has, or rather the mask he made out of fire and darkness element. In front of his face is darkness energy compacted together to form a skull with fine details that make it all the more horrific. Most of all is the red light flickering where the eye hole is. The figure looks like a skeleton ascending from hell that wants to add to its brethren in a very violent fashion.

[Here is a photo as example, imagine its covering his face not his entire head:

Spoiler :

The figure is Xaramax who is also holding a makeshift ice-formed dagger held to the neck of Amber almost to the point of breaking skin. Xaramax had come to the idea of using this approach during the swap. One, because he doesn’t want them to see his face and be identified later on. Two, the psychological effect it induces when seeing the mask-wearing mysterious individual; a person would think twice before doing anything rash.

One would think that with a mask such as this, sight would be hindered because of the darkness and fire element in front of his face. Usually for others it would be. However Xaramax was the one who taught Nikki to ‘see without seeing’ when they trained. Added to the fact that he is a dragon which has superior senses, his echolocation skills and hearing the breathing, heart beats, and shift in clothing when the soldiers move; when he closes his eyes the difference between the skill of Nikki and himself is of heaven and earth. It’s not a stretch to say that while his eyes are closed he can see just as well as a human whose eyes are open.

Currently Prince Rolan is on the verge of having a heart attack seeing his fiancée held in the clutches of an evil entity. Then, understanding that sitting here is amounting to nothing but increasing the tension, he decides to risk speaking up. Of course not forgetting his arrogant tone befitting of a prince,

“Hand her over now fiend or you’ll die!”

Xaramax smirks (not that it’s noticeable) saying, “Ahem, I don’t think you’re in a position to start demands, although you can keep doing so and find out what happens…or you can listen to what I have to propose?”

Frustration eating him from the inside, the prince grits his teeth and responds, “Fine, what is it you want?”

“A fair trade! This woman here for your Valkyrie slave.” He ends the sentence with an evil chuckle.

“Pft, that’s what you want? Fine, you can have her, ah, and sorry but she’s not a virgin anymore kekeke”

This sentence almost makes Xaramax want to torture the prince until he breaks, however suppressing the rage that’s almost clouding his judgement he watches as they move the Valkyrie slave over to where the prince is standing for the trade-off. Without further words both party’s initiate the trade with the Valkyrie and Amber walking across the corridor. The tension has reached an all-time maximum with everyone glancing everywhere in paranoia waiting for something that might happen.

As the two finally walk past each other and step another two steps Amber’s eyes flash sinisterly and suddenly turns around and shoots an enormous wind blade on a straight path through the air directly towards Xaramax’s head.

Fortunately the Valkyrie shatters the seemingly indestructible slave collar on her neck like glass and at the same time uses her lance and a golden aura envelops it, blocking the wind blade before it could damage Xaramax.

At this point Amber has already retreated to Prince Rolan’s side. The Valkyrie uses another skill that envelops her whole body in that golden aura then jumps causing a sonic boom with her heading straight to the ceiling landing an ear-splitting punch.

*Crack….Booooom!*

The ceiling falls in and Xaramax begins to think about the conversation with the Valkyrie at her cage last night…

----Flashback----

“but there is another thing too…if Amber betrays us then block her attack right away. You will be closest to react so I’m counting on you. There won’t be time to fight back plus it will waste time trying to, so if she attacks just block and then break the ceiling and cause a cave-in. I highly doubt she would do anything but we have to be prepared just in case.”

----Flashback end----

Xaramax is feeling his first time of being betrayed and can understand why Nikki would react like she did 10 years ago.

‘Hell, it was even worse, she was betrayed by her own parents…’ Shaking off these thoughts he turns around to go back to the boss room with the Valkyrie, but stops when he gets to the teleportation array. Next to the array is a small blue glowing stone. Picking it up suddenly he hears a voice as if it’s directly connected to his mind:

Xaramax I know what I did was horrible; however I did not betray you with ill intentions. The truth starts with how this mess ended up happening in the first place. It was when I learned that Prince Rolan wanted to marry me. I knew he was an asshole with an inferiority complex and I really didn’t want to even sit in the same room with that royal shithead. The problem was that when I rejected him he threatened me with killing my family if I didn’t accept. That’s how evil that guy is and no one but the king can stop him. Although the king himself could care less what happened. Anyways my objective is to stay close to him and try to find a way to poison him. It’s reckless but it’s something I’m determined to do. I’m truly sorry about this. I know it’s hard to regain trust when it’s lost. If you still want me to come along with you, and I really do want to be with you, then when I kill him, I can sneak out and meet you at a village near the capital. You are probably thinking right now: this could be a trap. Just wait until the prince dies and hopefully that will earn enough trust. This is a communication stone that is also a location stone. We can communicate as long as you supply mana to the rock when you want to say something. As for the location bit, it’s a one way location transmitter. I cannot locate you, but you can locate me. It’s up to you to decide whether I am deceiving you right now or not. I hope you can have faith in me though. Sorry again for all of this, but I have to kill that bastard. Goodbye and feel free to do what you want with the rock.

Xaramax stays silent for a moment with an annoyed expression then mutters in an upset voice that betrays the slight smile on his face,

“Tch, unruly woman.”