Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Kaizen and Andrew reached the B2 wing via the parallel, secret passage. However, as they approached the entrance door to B2, they heard muffled voices from the other side and footsteps of the guards patrolling the area.

Kaizen raised his hand, signaling Andrew to stop. They hid in the shadows, watching the guards' movements.

"There are two more guards at the entrance. We need to find a way to get closer without being noticed. It's dangerous for us to fight here, considering we don't know exactly where our friends are in this wing," Kaizen whispered to Andrew.

Andrew nodded in agreement and shaped a small orb of light in his hands and threw it in the opposite direction to his own, causing it to explode in a loud pop. As it was purely light, the orb crackled and disappeared soon after.

The guards immediately turned in the direction of the sound, investigating the source of the noise, so Kaizen and Andrew took advantage of the moment while the guards were distracted to move quickly into the wing.

The B2 wing was quite different from the wing Kaizen found himself in when he entered the game. The wing he was in looked more like an ordinary prison, but the B2 wing was wide, spacious and open like a soccer stadium.

Large columns of ice rose up to the ceiling, which must have been at least thirty meters off the ground, and the walls of this place were where most of the prisoners' cells were located.

They also took the opportunity to surprise the guards who were protecting the entrance through which they passed, knocking them out with quick, silent blows. The guards fell to the ground without a sound, unconscious and also harmless.

"Let's hurry before any more guards show up," said Kaizen.

"Wait, wouldn't it be better to interrogate them to find out where our companions are?"

Kaizen then pointed to his own ears. "There's no need, I heard where they are."

Andrew frowned, confused as to what exactly Kaizen meant by that, but was forced to follow Kaizen anyway as he walked towards a staircase.

The place was full of prisoners, dozens, no, hundreds of times more than the wing where Victor and Andrew were, because there were only the two of them. Many of these prisoners were from different races native to Niflheim, some of which Kaizen had never heard of, let alone seen, such as Giths, Kenkus and Goliaths.

Kaizen and Andrew put on their hoods and kept a low profile as they searched for the cells of Alina, Xisrith and Jayaa, but the whispering voices of the prisoners as they passed showed that the prisoners knew they weren't from there, because they didn't smell like a Dark Elf. These whispers carried fear and also a little hope.

In this place, there were also ice dwarves, snow elves, lesser trolls and other creatures, many of them looking exhausted and discouraged by their imprisonment.

Finally, after walking for a few minutes, Kaizen and Andrew finally reached the cell where their companions were.

When they reached the cells, they found them locked with iron bars. Still hooded, they stopped in front of the cell and saw Alina, Xisrith and Jayaa bound with handcuffs on their feet and hands, without all the armor and clothing they were wearing before, but when they saw Kaizen and Andrew, their faces lit up with hope.

"Alina, Xisrith, Jayaa, it's us!" whispered Kaizen, calling his friends by name so as not to frighten them.

Alina and Xisrith widened their eyes and tried to approach the opening of the cell with their faces lit up by hope and surprise at seeing Kaizen and Andrew, but Jayaa was the one who arrived first, leaping over them with impressive agility for a bard.

"Oh, my savior has finally arrived!" Jayaa said, placing her hands on the railing. "Please get me out of here, they've taken my lute, man!"

"You managed to escape? How?" Xisrith asked, pushing Jayaa aside to get through to the boys.

"They underestimated us because we were asleep at the time of the arrest and put us in a common, unattended ward," Kaizen replied, then bowed his head. "By the way, I'm sorry we didn't help you fight."

Andrew followed Kaizen's gesture and also bowed his head.

Xisrith nodded. "No, it's all right. It wasn't your fault. I came in earlier than planned to check that everything was all right and that must have caused some kind of event."

Many of the conversations that Xisrith, Kaizen and the others had were impossible for NPCs to understand, but they also didn't question and often just cut off lines of dialog like this with a question, and it was no different with Alina.

"How did you find us? We were so worried!" said Alina, approaching the railing, and of all people she was the one who looked the most dejected.

"I... it doesn't matter now. Are you all right, Alina?" asked Kaizen.

"Not much. They saw me using magic and put dimerium chains on me. This ferrous metal nullifies my mana." Alina explained, lifting the handcuffs in her hands slightly.

"So, I need to get you out of there as quickly as possible, to get these things off you." Kaizen said.

He quickly began examining the locks on the cell, looking for a way to open it, because these cells were much thicker than the one he was in. Kaizen analyzed the structure of the cell, looking for a way to open them without drawing attention to himself, because if he was as rough as he was with Andrew's cell, the noise would echo throughout the B2 wing.

Kaizen and Andrew examined the cells, looking for Alina, Xisrith and Jayaa. Finally, they found them in a cell near the end of the corridor.

At that moment, Andrew put a hand on one of Kaizen's shoulders and pushed him back. "Let me try that here."

Kaizen looked at Andrew and saw him holding a bunch of keys. "What? Where did you get this?"

"I saw it on the belt of one of the guards at the entrance. I thought it wouldn't hurt to try and use it." Andrew explained and slipped one of the larger keys into the cell's keyhole. A second later, the click of the lock opening echoed low.