Back to the present.
Barrier knight-"This accomplice still hasn't shown up yet"
Julius(in his head)-"Somehow they knew I would come back for him"
Voice-"They likely just assumed that the accomplice would return to try to free Damion a second time"
Julius(in his head)-"Speaking of which, where is Damion? He is not in his cell with the knight"
Voice-"He is likely somewhere far away from here while being guarded, and also likely interrogated"
Julius(in his head)-"Interrogated?"
Voice-"They are likely forcing him to tell them who his accomplice is"
Julius(in his head)-"This is terrible, I tried to help Damion and I may have just made it worse for him"
Voice-"Yes, you may have really messed this up"
Julius(in his head)-"Now is not the time"
Voice-"My apologies"
Julius(in his head)-"How do I locate Damion now?"
Voice-"The only person here who knows that would be the knight"
Julius(in his head)-"I doubt the knight would tell us, plus I'm not strong enough to defeat that knight in a fight either"
Voice-"This is a very unfortunate situation"
Julius(in his head)-"You have any plans?"
Voice-"The safest option would be to return to Adam and Elise to tell them Damion is not at their cell, then fly around the kingdom searching for Damion"
Julius(in his head)-"That would take too long, think about what could be happening to Damion right now"
Voice-"We have to think rationally"
Julius(in his head)-"What if Adam and Elise help me fight the knight? Do you think the three of us can take them down?"
Voice-"You're chances of victory increase to 70% if you have their help. It further increases to 90% if you boost their abilities with your new skills"
Julius(in his head)-"90%, that's pretty good odds"
Voice-"That's assuming the knight doesn't have any backup"
Julius(in his head)-"True, I should go tell Adam and Elise that there is this problem"
Voice-"That is the best course of action"
Julius flies away from the cell into a corner down the hall.
Julius-"Special skill: phase"
Julius phases into the ceiling to exit the dungeon and return to Adam and Elise. Once at the surface, he then flies towards Adam and Elise flying above the walls and over to their meeting spot. Julius sees them sitting behind the tree.
Julius-"Hey guys"
Elise-"You are back quickly"
Adam-"Did you free him?"
Julius-"No, there was a trap set up at his cell. Thankfully, I wasn't detected"
Adam-"What kind of trap?"
Julius-"It was that knight I was talking about before. They were sitting there waiting for someone to show up to rescue Damion with a magic detection barrier that I managed to avoid"
Elise-"Was Damion there?"
Julius-"No, I don't know where Damion is"
Adam-"This will probably take longer than expected"
Elise-"Will you be able to find Damion?"
Julius-"I would have to search the whole kingdom. He could be anywhere"
Adam-"Our time limit is when Joe gets back with the higher ups at the guild"
Julius-"What happens if they get here first?"
Adam-"It's likely that they could find this kingdom unfit to imprison people due to the underground arena and the unlawful arrests. The guild may then force the kingdom to move their remaining prisoners who aren't freed to a more secure prison facility"
Julius-"And Damion would probably be one of the people included in that?"
Adam-"Yes, that is probable"
Julius-"How difficult would it be to free Damion from that secure prison?"
Adam-"Nearly impossible"
Julius-"Well, then I'll need to find Damion quickly"
Voice-"With this new information, the highest chance of success for freeing Damion would come from defeating the knight"
Julius(in his head)-"Yeah I figured"
Julius-"I'll probably need your guy's help to defeat the knight"
Elise-"Why do we need to fight the knight?"
Julius-"The knight probably knows Damion's location since he was the one who captured him. He is also acting as the trap for us"
Adam-"Well then we'd have to walk straight into a trap"
Julius-"Unfortunately"
Elise-"This plan seems pretty risky"
Julius-"It is"
Adam-"You got those physical enhancement skills ready?"
Julius-"I do"
Elise-"I would rather us not get in legal trouble for this. Do you have a way to disguise us?"
Julius-"I tried disguising Damion but that didn't work out very well"
Adam-"Have you thought about talking with the knight? Negotiating?"
Julius-"I get the feeling they are pretty loyal to the kingdom"
Elise-"It's worth a shot at least"
Julius-"I suppose you are right"
Adam-"So we good on the new plan?"
Julius-"Yes, I'll try to convince the knight to help us"
Adam-"Meanwhile Elise and I will wait close by if they decide to fight"
Elise-"Hey Julius?"
Julius-"Yes?"
Elise-"Since you have so many skills, do you have a mind altering skill?"
Julius-"To change the knight's mind to agree with us?"
Elise-"Yes"
Julius-"Unfortunately, I do not. I think that would also go too far"
Adam-"You have a very grey morality at times Julius"
Julius-"What does that mean?"
Adam-"It's hard to tell what's too far for you"
Julius-"I didn't want this conversation to become a subject of morality. Can we move on please?"
Elise-"Yes, we can"
Julius-"Now what to do about the disguises?"
Adam-"I can just make some wooden masks for Elise and myself. I doubt you need a disguise"
Julius-"Probably not, but if you're just wearing a mask they could end up taking it off of you"
Elise-"We'll have to make sure not to get caught"
Julius-"Adam, go ahead and make those masks"
Adam-"Alright, nature skill: iron wood creation"
Adam makes two full wooden helmets made out of tightly woven branches with two eyes holes and two ear holes.
Julius-"So these are the masks you plan to use?"
Adam-"Yes"
Julius-"Is it smart to add ear holes tp them? They will know you are elves which will narrow down who you could be"
Adam-"We could be heading into a fight and I can't risk dampening our hearing"
Julius-"Alright well, let me add just one more thing to them"
Elise-"What is it?"
Julius-"Some extra insurance in case someone removes them"
End of chapter 27.