Lia took out her sword from her belt and backed up a few steps. Her heartbeat increased as it made a 'thump' noise against her ears. It had been years ever since she had to be a little nervous facing an enemy. Earlier, she would use magical powers and her sword fighting and assassination skills to fight an enemy, but at this time, she was at a disadvantage. The enemy in front of her wasn't as powerful as her in sword fighting skills, but they had multiple magical spells to cover it up.

Her lips pursed as she continued to look at the door with squinted eyes. It didn't matter. She knew that even though she faced a disadvantage at this moment, she wouldn't back down no matter what! She had never found it difficult to face an opponent that had forced her into a corner like this!

But then she turned her face to Zion and squinted her eyes. "Don't hold me down. Understand, my dear servant?"

Zion, who was himself nervous, heard the princess' voice, and his body stiffened. His lips pursed. Even though he didn't want to admit it, Lia was right. He didn't have the power to fight as well as her, and he could hold her back.

When he was thinking about responding, the door opened, and the elf guards came into view. Zion instinctively walked a few steps back as he let the dhampir princess handle it all.

As expected, the fight ensued between the two parties. Since Zion didn't have any weapon at hand, he didn't dare to stand near the three of them and quietly watched the fight.

Lia's body flashed in front of the two elf guards with her sword that she took out from her belt. She wasn't defending this time and had decided to be on a full-on fighting mode. She attacked the elves without giving them a chance to retaliate.

When they saw the dhampir girl charging at them with a murderous aura, their expressions changed. They didn't wait a single second before they chanted a spell and installed a protective shield in front of their bodies. As expected, the attack was blocked, and Lia moved back a few steps to defend herself.

She eyed at the only door and sneered. This prison was special. She couldn't use her magic, but if she were to step her feet outside this border, she would be able to overpower them! From what she could see, these guards seemed far beyond her level. If they were at third level, she could be considered to be on par with the Queen of elves.

When the image of Odina flashed in her mind, her face darkened as she moved ahead again. At this point, she just had to make sure to keep attacking these people who could give her some space to come out.

It seemed that the soldiers could tell what the princess was thinking about. They exchanged a glance.

"Don't let her escape the prison!"

"Don't worry." Another guard closed his eyes and chanted a spell. Soon, a sword made out of fire appeared on his hands that seemed to spread fumes in the air. "I'll do my best!"

"Why're you using magic?!" The first guard gasped when he saw the fire sword. "Are you crazy? Do you want to live without your magical powers?!"

The other guard dashed and fought with Lia as he exchanged a few blows with her. After that, he stepped back and took a few breaths to calm his breathing. He wiped his forehead and replied, "If losing my powers means to catch these two here, I'm willing to make this sacrifice! They have killed so many children, and they still dare to escape! Let's show them that we elves have our pride, and we are also powerful enough despite lack of power to defend our nation!"

The first guard nodded as he chanted a spell. "I'll also use my powers then!" A sword created out of metal appeared on his hand. It seemed they had different spiritual roots, and the man with a metal sword would probably control all metals.

Lia's forehead was covered with sweat seeing that. She also had a metal sword, and after hearing their conservation, it seemed that they weren't going to hide their powers anymore.

Sure, she had realized that something was wrong with the elves, and she could vaguely guess the reason behind it, but it was her misfortune that she couldn't tell anyone about it, not even her servant. Her lips pursed as she stared darkly at the elves in front of her eyes.

The only power that worried her was controlling elements. Every third-level elf could use multiple skills such as protective shields, creating tools and weapons by inserting energy into something, summoning a beast, and controlling the elements of their spiritual roots. The last point worried her the most after seeing one of the guards' controlling the metal element. If he could create a weapon out of thin air, he could also control the metal belonging to other people.

Her brows furrowed at that.

Zion, who was watching this, didn't know about the powers belonging to a different level, but he could vaguely tell by how Lia was looking at the man who created a sword out of thin air with a frown on her face. It seemed that the man's power seemed dangerous. His head tilted as he immersed himself in his thoughts.

Could it be that this man controlled the metal element?

Then it would probably mean the man could also control the sword in Lia's hand. If that were the case, Lia would be in danger and wouldn't be able to defend herself any longer.

His mind shifted to when he would practice with Lia and how she had inserted power even in a wooden sword. So that meant Lia could use any weapon necessary to use power.

Then he looked around. This prison seemed to have a protective spell that hampered anyone using power, but even a most powerful mechanism would have a loophole. His squinted eyes looked at every corner of the prison, and he glanced at the elves. It seemed that they had completely forgotten about him. If that were the case, he could probably make use of his time and find the loophole in this prison.

After thinking of this, he dashed into his cell.