After David was thrown toward the ring, he found himself in a place resembling a cave.
David looked around in confusion. The place was somewhat dark, but it was still possible to see.
David stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, but he walked forward while holding the spear he had never let go of during his fight in the museum.
His back hurt slightly from the blow before he arrived here, but that was all.
David reached the end of the passage where he found no path ahead of him.
David frowned.
'Should I have gone from behind?'
David turned around and headed back, but as he continued forward, he also found a closed path in front of him.
'Was I trapped here?'
David felt confused. He was now inside a passage sealed from both directions, so how was he supposed to get out?
David narrowed his eyes as he stared seriously at the wall for a full minute.
"Hmm."
David nodded his head as if he had made up his mind, then raised his spear and pointed it toward the wall before striking the wall several times with all his strength.
Dust quickly spread inside the cave, causing David to close his eyes and cough several times.
When the dust began to clear, David slowly opened his eyes. Well, there was a hole in the wall, but it wasn't large.
"...."
David looked silently at the small hole, then suddenly turned around, sat on the ground, and leaned his back against the wall.
'This will be pointless.'
David remained sitting lazily for about half an hour, then suddenly the wall he had attacked earlier opened.
A person wearing a black robe emerged from it, with an expressionless mask completely covering their face. A crown was engraved on its edge.
David looked at him with a frown. The masked person was carrying a girl with twin ponytails over his shoulder.
David looked at Agnes, and his anger ignited. Her face was covered in scratches, while her dangling arm had a wound extending from her shoulder to her elbow. It looked serious.
David stood while gripping his spear angrily.
'How could he do this to her!!'
David charged forward at high speed to attack him.
"You bastard!"
David attacked him by swinging his spear vertically toward him while avoiding the side Agnes was on.
Claw-like appendages suddenly appeared on the hand of the man carrying Agnes, and he blocked David's spear and deflected the attack.
The organization member calmly looked at David, then asked him,
"Is this your friend?"
David did not answer him and charged again with a quick horizontal strike, but the masked man calmly moved one step to the side, avoiding David's spear.
David quickly directed the hand holding the spear backward toward the organization member.
The blunt end of the spear almost struck the organization member in the stomach, but the organization member barely managed to avoid the blow.
"You are good with a spear. You have a bright future, but unfortunately, you are here now."
David looked at him with a frown, as the man was still carrying Agnes on his shoulder. But suddenly, the man grabbed Agnes by the neck and directed the clawed hand toward her throat.
David widened his eyes and shouted at the man,
"Hey!! What are you doing?!"
The man spoke calmly as if discussing the weather.
"If you want your friend to stay alive, throw away your spear now."
David gripped his spear tightly and stared sharply at the man. When he noticed that one of the man's claws had slightly pierced Agnes's neck, he forcefully threw his spear to the side and angrily spoke to the man,
"I dropped it, you bastard."
The man mocked him, then walked toward him until he was only three steps away. Suddenly, David only felt a swift hand strike toward his neck, knocking him unconscious.
"When a person has something they fear losing, they become easy to defeat."
.....
Stephen's eyes widened as he stared at the scene before him.
There was a massive underground area resembling a temple, illuminated by black torches emitting orange flames. Huge stone pillars were spread throughout the place, and on the hall's walls were strange twisted markings resembling disgusting runes.
But this was not the most shocking part.
At the very center of the hall… there was a gigantic altar.
On that altar were dozens of students bound by strong ropes. Some were unconscious, some were awake and shouting at the Hollow Crown organization members to free them, while others remained silent, appearing hopeless.
Stephen's focus was fixed on the black stone mounted above the large altar.
Stephen could sense an enormous demonic energy emanating from the black stone, causing chills throughout his body.
'What is this?'
Stephen tried to avert his gaze from the strange black stone and looked at the students in the middle of the altar.
'There are approximately eighty people here, and twenty Hollow Crown organization members surrounding them.'
Stephen looked at the students inside the altar once again and frowned slightly.
'...David isn't here.'
As soon as Stephen thought that, an entrance gap opened on one of the walls in the hall, and from it emerged a member carrying the bound and unconscious David over his shoulder like a sack of wheat while holding Agnes on his right forearm against his side.
Once the member reached the sacrificial circle containing the students, he threw them inside it.
Stephen narrowed his eyes while looking at them.
'David and Agnes..'
The number of Hollow Crown organization members in this hall was twenty-one. After Stephen had dealt with the members earlier, he realized their strength wasn't especially high, and he had been able to kill them easily.
But the problem now was that the organization members had hostages—the students—so Stephen had to be careful with his actions.
Stephen used the Shadow Extension skill and spread his shadow until it filled the entire hall.
At first, the organization members noticed nothing, but the member who had previously carried David and Agnes sensed something wrong as he looked at the ground.
Before he could comprehend what was happening, shadow beasts suddenly formed from the floor. Nearly forty beasts had formed, some of them the same monsters Stephen had killed inside the academy, while others were monsters Stephen had killed from the Mist Forest. Their strength ranged between C-rank and B-rank.
Fifteen of the beasts charged toward the members closest to the sacrificial circle to drive them as far away from the students as possible.
Meanwhile, the other beasts attacked the remaining members.
Stephen calmly walked amidst the battle that had suddenly erupted between the organization members and his shadow beasts. His sword still hung at his waist, as Stephen saw no need to fight with it.
Out of the corner of his eye, Stephen noticed one of the members bypassing his beasts and rapidly approaching the altar where the students were, seemingly intending to seize some students as hostages.
Stephen placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, then vanished from his spot.
Just as the organization member was about to enter the sacrificial circle, a person in a black robe suddenly appeared before him, their emerald-green eyes shining beneath the robe.
The member froze in place as he stared in shock.
"Black Crow...!"
With one clean sword strike from Stephen, the organization member's head was severed, and his body collapsed onto the ground.
Stephen raised his gaze as his shadow beasts eliminated the organization members one after another.
After the final member was killed, Stephen looked toward the passage he had come from earlier and calmly spoke,
"Come out."
The moment Stephen said this, Nathan emerged cheerfully.
"That was amazing, St—.. ah, I mean Black Crow."
Kai, Ira, and Leonard also came out behind him.
Ira quickly rushed toward the altar to look for Agnes, while Kai stood staring at Stephen with shining eyes, and Leonard looked at the surrounding shadow beasts that still had not disappeared.
Stephen sighed, then concealed his shadows and spoke to them,
"Bring the others to free the students."
Leonard and Kai nodded and headed back to call the students.
Nathan walked toward Stephen with relaxed steps, then raised an eyebrow and asked him,
"Is he here?"
Stephen knew who Nathan meant and nodded toward David's location.
Nathan looked toward where Stephen pointed, then suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahaha! Look at the way he's lying down! Hahaha."
David was sprawled face-down with his arms and legs stretched out widely. Since the organization members had not yet tied up him and Agnes, his appearance looked extremely ridiculous.
Nathan approached the sacrificial circle, and the moment he entered it, he suddenly stopped in place and frowned.
Stephen looked at him, noticing something wrong.
"What?"
Nathan spoke,
"I feel like the mana in my body is being drained."
Stephen frowned, then approached him and entered the altar.
The moment he entered, he suddenly felt as though something was absorbing his mana.
Without thinking further, Stephen immediately looked upward at the black stone hanging above.
'Is it the one absorbing the mana?'
Stephen spoke seriously,
"Let's get the students out quickly."
Nathan nodded as well, then headed toward David and crouched while staring at him for a moment. Suddenly, he raised his right hand and held his middle finger with his thumb, then released it and forcefully flicked David on the forehead.
David's lying head jerked backward. He frowned, opened his eyes with a pained expression, and stared at Nathan in bewilderment.
'Hah?... What's happening?... Where am I? And why does my forehead hurt?'
David sat up and raised his hand, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.
Nathan looked at him, then smiled.
"Oh, you finally woke up. You were lying on the ground like a starfish."
David looked around with a frown, then finally remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness. He quickly stood up and looked around.
When he saw Ira talking worriedly with Agnes, who had also awakened, he felt somewhat relieved.
'Good, it's fine. Ira will take care of her... no, wait, why do I care? I just saved a classmate, and that's all.'
David looked away and glanced at the bound students, then looked back at Nathan once more.
"Wait, how did you also end up here? And why are there so many students?"
Nathan stood up and spoke,
"This is a sacrificial altar."
David widened his eyes and asked in shock,
"A sacrifice?!"
Nathan nodded, then told David,
"Let's get out of this altar first."