Ronid's hand froze mid-air, the smile instantly vanishing from his face.
He whipped around, staring warily toward the source of the voice.
Bai Xuan stepped slowly out of the shadows, leaning casually against the doorframe.
He held the Staff of Guidance in his hand, his face still wearing that same lazy expression.
Yet the coldness in the depths of his eyes was bone-chilling.
“Does your master know you're such a freak?”
Bai Xuan added, the mockery in his voice growing even stronger.
Ronid's face instantly turned deathly pale.
He instinctively took a step back, holding his staff across his chest, his eyes filled with shock and panic.
“You... How did you find this place?”
Bai Xuan didn't answer. He simply walked in slowly.
His footsteps were incredibly light; his boots made almost no sound against the stone floor.
His gaze swept quickly over the little girls in the cages before landing on Carson.
Finally, his eyes locked onto Ronid, his voice freezing cold.
“Should I do it, or will you surrender?”
Before the words had even fully left Bai Xuan's mouth, Ronid waved his staff.
Several pitch-black shadow blades instantly materialized and shot toward Bai Xuan at astonishing speed.
Bai Xuan tilted his body slightly, easily dodging the shadow blades.
At the same time, he raised the Staff of Guidance. Dazzling golden light instantly gathered at the tip of the staff as he slammed a Redemption Strike heavily onto the ground.
A powerful shockwave rippled outward, instantly shattering the incoming shadow blades and dispersing them into a black mist.
Seeing this, Ronid's face grew even paler, but he waved his staff once more.
Several black tentacles suddenly surged from the shadow beneath Bai Xuan's feet, attempting to bind his limbs.
Bai Xuan stomped his foot, and a dazzling golden light erupted from his body. The moment the black tentacles touched the golden light, they instantly shattered into black mist and dissolved into the air.
Knowing he was no match for Bai Xuan, the fear in Ronid's heart instantly took over.
He turned around, desperate to escape this terrifying place as quickly as possible.
Bai Xuan's eyes turned cold. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the Staff of Guidance. The staff spun rapidly through the air, enveloped in a dazzling golden light, and slammed violently into Ronid's legs.
“Ah—!”
Ronid let out a piercing shriek. His legs buckled, and he crashed heavily to the ground.
The staff slipped from his hand, sliding far away.
Bai Xuan raised his hand, and the Staff of Guidance obediently flew back into his palm.
He slowly walked over to Ronid, looking down at him from above without a single trace of warmth in his eyes.
Ronid lay sprawled on the ground, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
His staff, now snapped in two, lay beside him, and his gold-rimmed glasses were shattered.
The cracked fragments of the remaining lens dimly reflected Bai Xuan's towering figure.
He struggled to lift his head, his lips trembling as he tried to speak, but only a muffled whimper escaped his throat.
All of his pride and confidence had shattered even more thoroughly than the glass lenses.
He was truly terrified. The sheer panic of being cornered, combined with a fear so intense that even his breathing trembled, weighed on him so heavily he could barely breathe.
In the past, he had always believed himself to be the hunter in control of everything.
He had viewed Bai Xuan and the other as mere ants he could crush at will.
Yet now, it was he who lay paralyzed on the ground, without even the strength to stand.
Countless thoughts surged in his mind. He wanted to say, “You can't kill me,” and “Do you know who I am?”
He wanted even more to say, “The forces behind me will never let you get away with this,” but the words clogged in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single syllable.
Bai Xuan continued to look down at him, his expression as calm as a placid lake.
It was as if what lay at his feet was not a person, but merely a pile of insignificant mud.
The lingering golden light at the tip of his staff danced softly in his dark pupils.
Suddenly, Ronid's body began to shake.
This time, however, it was not from fear, but a completely uncontrollable spasm.
The power he had forcibly suppressed within his body had finally shattered all its shackles.
His fingers curled tightly, his nails digging viciously into the crevices of the stone floor.
His fingertips turned deathly pale, and the veins on his forehead bulged hideously. His face flushed a deep, bruised purple before the color drained entirely, leaving him a ghastly blue-gray.
“S-Save... Save me...”
His voice was as raspy as a broken gong, filled with absolute despair.
He seemed to be begging Bai Xuan, yet also whispering to some unknown presence in the air.
“I don't want to die...”
Just then, Ronid's body suddenly began to convulse, and the atmosphere in the dungeon instantly became eerie and tense.
The oil lamp flickered erratically, its flame dancing unpredictably as the shadows on the walls seemed to come alive, twisting and spreading outward.
A low hum rumbled from the ground before it began to shake violently. Debris fell from the ceiling, clattering sharply against the iron cages.
Carson gripped the iron bars to steady himself, while the children inside the cages huddled together in sheer terror.
Soft, muffled weeping echoed throughout the dim dungeon.
The dark red patterns on the walls seemed to be injected with life, beginning to pulse rhythmically. Their pace quickened as a dull red light flowed through the veins.
The runes on the ground lit up one after another, weaving the red light into a net that completely enveloped the dungeon in an ominous glow.
Shadows peeled away from every corner and from beneath every iron cage, slithering across the floor like agile black serpents.
Ultimately, they all converged upon Ronid, who lay prone on the ground.
They crawled up his limbs and onto his skin, silently seeping into his pores.
Ronid's convulsions grew increasingly violent, as if something inside him were struggling to burst out.
He gritted his teeth, the veins on his forehead bulging as his fingers clawed at the ground, leaving deep scratches.
A strangled roar escaped his throat, carrying a pain that pierced deep into his bones.
Bai Xuan's brow furrowed. He immediately raised his staff and sent a 【Redemption Strike】 directly at Ronid.
However, when the golden light hit the dark red barrier that had materialized around Ronid, it slid off instantly, like water splashed onto hot oil.
It couldn't find any purchase at all, failing to leave behind even a single ripple.
Dark red ripples spread across the barrier, easily dispersing the force of the attack completely.
Refusing to back down, Bai Xuan unleashed an Arcing Strike, slamming the tip of his staff heavily onto Ronid's shoulder.
Yet the barrier only trembled slightly, and Ronid remained completely unmoved.
Feeling the power radiating from the barrier, a sudden realization struck Bai Xuan's mind.
This power did not belong to Ronid himself; rather, it was flowing continuously from somewhere else.
It felt as though some external force was protecting him in the shadows, or more accurately, helping him complete a bizarre ritual.
Bolstered by this external force, the barrier was completely impenetrable.
He glanced at Ronid, whose body was agonizingly contorting, and then turned to look at the terrified children and the wounded in the iron cages behind him. He made a split-second decision.
Instead of wasting time trying to break through the barrier, it would be better to rescue the captives first.
Turning around, Bai Xuan used the Staff of Guidance in his hand to quickly break open the cages one by one.
Then, he quickly stepped over to Carson's cage and swung his staff, smashing it heavily against the iron lock.
With a loud clang, the lock shattered and flew off, and the iron bars bent slightly from the impact.
He reached in and dragged Carson out.
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