The roars and hiss only added to the fear and hesitation that the group had while running in the dark. The knights even wanted to ignite their torches.

"Keep it dark! Remember the plan! Use one eye to fight and another to see in the dark when I undo the fire of this torch!" Kyros chastized as he noticed it.

There were numerous paths that the group was hesitant on which to go. Worse still were the loud howls of various monsters echoing out around the halls that made them afraid to run into another group of lizards.

"Uncle! You decide! Your Warrior's Instinct has awakened!" Kyros shouted.

"What?!"

"Decide whatever path! If there are enemies, we mow through them! We have to keep moving!" Kyros shouted.

Aron finally agreed and picked a path to move. The group followed Aron's lead.

Kyros didn't know just how many enemies there were, and from what he could tell, the place was a maze. They might end up facing another horde if they carelessly picked a path leading to the temple.

"Knights! Keep on moving! Our goal is to escape. Once I get an idea of the layout of this cave, we try to find a way back to the temple. Don't ask how! Just trust me! Avary to the front of the knights! Scarlet and Gregory, stay at the right and left sides of our formation! Use your eyes to see if there are lizards underground! You have better eyesight! Give Avary that Blood Blade!" Kyros instructed.

The group did as instructed as they continued to retreat.

Kyros recalled all of his shadows when the familiar he sent to scout the north region was also met with various lizards.

It moved and slashed along the way, but suddenly, a large tail swopped down on it, and unlike the previous attacks, it pulverized the shadow familiar of Kyros.

The Cloak of Darkness trembled at the loss of the Shadow familiars.

As he saw that, Kyros immediately turned his attention to his shadow ghouls and noticed several large lizards approaching.

Kyros immediately ordered all his Shadow Ghouls to retreat.

"Those Lizards have Dark Element! They have Dark Wielder! Fate? Are you trying to massacre everyone?!" Kyros cursed.

The Shadow Ghouls and the Shadow Familiars were among Kyros's ace. And yet, in this cave were some of the very few creatures that could attack and kill them!

Kyros had no choice but to order his ghouls to retreat and leave a slash or two while doing it. The ghouls were now careful and would avoid lizards that had the dark energy.

"Danger! Danger up ahead!" Aron frowned.

"I see it! The earth is moving!" Avary warned.

Kyros closed his eyes and harnessed the power of his Job.

[Oration skill activated.]

He was a heretic teacher. His lessons proved effective. The Knights were able to easily grasp his words when he taught them.

"Vassals of Steele! You have seen my might and wit. Do you trust me?!" Kyros shouted.

The knights and even the vampire were confused at his sudden question.

"Avary! Jump as hard as you could towards it and stab the ground!" Kyros suddenly ordered.

The strange power of [Oration] came to effect. Without hesitation, Avary followed Kyros's orders and jumped high and stabbed down at the ground.

The lizard couldn't even utter a cry as Avary was able to kill it immediately.t

The rest of the lizards began to break out of the ground.

"Charge!" Kyros shouted as he ran with his two swords brandished and his dark gauntlets worn.

The knights did so immediately, and they didn't even hesitate for a single second.

The combined effort of all knights allowed them to attack and stab the lizards, not even giving them a moment to fully emerge from the ground.

Aron sliced off the head of one lizard. Kyros also managed to kill one with the Vermillion sword also by decapitating the head.

The knights worked in synch with each other and everyone stabbed in different places to bring down two.

Gregory and Scarlet were the slowest to act, and it gave the lizard a chance to attack them. Avary leaped and stabbed once more, but the tail of the lizard whipped at Avary.

But right before the tail could slap, several shadow ghouls leaped and stabbed at the tail, causing the tail's aim to be off.

Avary was struck at the legs and sent him spinning in the sky.

Gregory and Scarlet roared as they saw Avary take a hit and used the swords they carried from their masters to slash at the lizard.

The strength of the two vampires was shown as they managed to penetrate through the tough skin with their swords.

Kyros finished the job and decapitated the lizard.

Aron picked up Avary, and the group began to run.

Kyros stabbed his sword on the decapitated heads of the lizard as they ran.

"Steele Vampires! You disappoint me! We cannot fight that long! You are vampires, and we will be counting on you!" Kyros berated as they retreated.

"Drink the blood of these lizards! You are true vampires now!" Kyros ordered.

"The stronger you get, the higher our chances of surviving this! Do you understand?" Kyros berated.

"Ye-Yes!" Scarlet was the only one who answered.

"Knights and Vampires! Vassals of the Steele family! We will go through this! Follow my orders, and we will survive!" Kyros declared.

"Yes! Lord Kyros!"

Aron was secretly amazed at the charisma of Kyros. The most common reaction, when faced with this situation, was to panic. Even Aran panicked. But his nephew managed to keep a clear head.

Aron gritted his teeth and gripped his sword very tight. In his frustration, he punched himself on the forehead.

"Uncle. Don't hurt yourself now. Your Warrior Instincts has to grow stronger!" Kyros encouraged.

"I know. I just needed that hit to pound some sense into me. Let's get out of here so I can introduce you to your dad!" Aron smirked.

Kyros was looking at the map as they moved. In some cases, he would tell the group to move on a certain direction as they slowly moved towards the temple.

With the mini-map that he had access through his Micro-Management skill, Kyros was able to ensure that they weren't running around in circles. Although the fog of war remained and Kyros couldn't tell if there were enemies, he could roughly gauge the layout of the cave and the paths available. Aron could tell if there were monsters up ahead, and Avary, Scarlet, and Gregory would now perform that attack of the underground creatures.

At a crucial point, Kyros cursed and realized that they had to go through a lot of lizards; otherwise, they would move further from the temple.

"Uncle! We have to move right! If we don't, we'll be moving further and further to the Temple!"

"There should be a lot of buried lizards there!"

"I know! But we have no choice! If we keep this up, we will run out of stamina and die! We have to break through this! Besides, I think that the buried group is the last of the lizards! We've been gathering them. If we move past that buried group, we are at the clear!"

"If we fight them, the lizards at our backs would catch up to us! We'd be caught in a pincer attack!"

"I have a plan! First, we fight the lizards that are chasing us and offer our backs to these underground lizards!"

"What?!"

"At my order, we withdraw right before they surface! We've already managed to outmaneuver the lizards earlier who were killed before they leaped out of their burrow! But this time, instead of fighting, we run as fast as we can! Give the torches to the vampires. Right before they pounce, the vampires rush and ran through them. The sudden action will surprise the lizards, and they will surface to attack the vampires and turn their backs against us. And that's when we flee!"

Aron was stunned.

"That's..." Aron wanted to say crazy, but there was logic in Kyros's words.

"Has your scent ability surfaced? That's why I had you eat their blood! You can smell them, right?" Kyros turned to vampires.

"Yes. We can do it! Lord Steele!" Avary confidently answered.

"Yes!"

"You can count on us!"

Scarlet and Gregory also affirmed the plan.

"The most vulnerable moment for predators is the last few seconds right before they pounce at their prey. Their focus is their weakness. They will be so focused on attacking that they would be startled if we attacked first. Knights! Trust the vampires and follow them!" Kyros ordered.

"Let's do it!" Aron finally agreed. He knew that if they didn't make any progress in running towards the temple, they would be dead. Their stamina was indeed the main concern.

The group slowed down and went into a formation according to Kyros's instructions.

The knights formed a line with the vampire standing right behind them. They had their backs exposed to the burrowing lizards approaching them.

The lizards that were chasing them had finally caught up. Without the harassment of the shadow ghouls, the lizards were now running with incredible speed.

Kyros struck a nearby rock with the Vermillion Earth Sword four times.

"Kyros?"

"We need to stop their charge," Kyros said as he moved ahead and took out the Earth Core. The sudden appearance of the Earth Core surprised everyone.

"Sorry for keeping these secrets. I wanted to surprise you all. As Uncle said, the temple chooses me to be its keeper. I got this as a prize." Kyros channeled the earth magic and bestowed it to the Vermillion Earth Sword.

Although the sword didn't have any description that it could or could not channel earth magic, the kinetic explosion itself of the sword was proof that it can channel Earth energy.

Kyros raised the sword high, awaiting the arrival of the rushing Lizards.

"Uncle... I'll be borrowing your technique that other day." Kyros smiled.

Aron and the Steele family taught him to be a Force Paladin in his previous life. When Kyros met Greater God Daradiel, he transformed that special class and made a more powerful version. He was a Paladin that could use various elemental magic.

Kyros's drained ten points from his Ancient and Fallen Source each, which equated to ten magic points. This was used to wield the Earth energy.

As the Lizards approached, Kyros ran forward and stabbed on the ground.

"Earth Cross!"

The ground exploded out, and some of the rocks even jutted to stab the approaching lizards. The ground opened up in the shape of a cross, the rushing lizards stumble and fall on each other. Kyros timed the attack at a very precise moment that made the charge into a stampede.

"Kill!" Kyros roared.