"Huh? What's happening…." The change in the behavior of the Skinks was so sudden, so abrupt, that none of the party members knew what to do, how to react. They looked around with bewildered, confused eyes, tightly clenching to their weapons (or, to their fists in case of Lily), eying the little yellow-eyed bastards as they slowly, but surely backed away.

What was even more baffling was the target of each of the little demon's gazes: Aiden. Each and every one of the small, at most meter-long bipedal reptilian creatures, that, just a moment ago seemed like vicious, feral monsters, were gazing at the long, black-haired youth with surprisingly complex gazes.

There was no anger, or rage in their yellow eyes any more. No, on the contrary, a look of awe, and respect. Fear and Reverence. Strange, conflicting emotions, but most importantly, intelligence that shouldn't be normally possible.

Usually, people regarded these small, tiny lizardmen as nothing more than feral mongrels, yet as the group looked over them, each showed signs of highly advanced intelligence.

"What is going on? They… They seemed to be wary of… brother?" Following their gazes, Lily wasn't sure what to make of all of this. A moment later, however, the realization hit her as she remembered how she actually met her beloved brother.

"Oh, yes… I know!" She exclaimed happily, the threat of the danger they were in just a moment ago vanished like a puff of smoke from her mind.

As for Galina, she simply relaxed her stance and lowered her mace. Her face returned to a calm, serene state, she simply closed her eyes.

Her calm, and collected outlook was greatly contrasted though, in her mental state, her mental messages that she sent through the shared link with her master were full of emotions.

'Young Master! Young Master!' She exclaimed through her mental messages. 'Why did they all turn so fearful all of a sudden?'

However, there was no response to her inquiries, nor did the team see any movement from Aiden ever since the first, initial swing of his sword and the following wind blade he shot forth.

He stood still, Ryg's shard, ebony edge lowered to the ground, he looked at the scampering enemies with a cold look on his face. His eyes were brightly shining, filling the previously dimly lit room with a golden luster.

As his emotions swirled inside him kicking off a chaotic storm, his body was visibly shaking. As the seconds passed, the rest of the gang could only see his shaking back. Growing worried that something bad might have happened, they wanted to go over and reach out. However, unsure of how the enemy would react to their sudden movements, eventually none of them made any action.

Well, apart from Lily and Galina who were already close by. They both stepped forward taking either side of Aiden and tried to look at his face that apart from the dangerous cold, the bubbling anger and rage that contorted his expression and made the corner of his mouth and eyes twitch occasionally, nothing more could be seen.

They couldn't calm their hearts as they saw the state he was in. As they reached for him, suddenly, something changed.

The growing dread in the air suddenly came to a stop, the silent suction of the air turned to a halt. For a brief instant, the peace and silence returned to the underground tunnel, before in the next passage of a second, everything flipped over its head.

Turning towards the ceiling, Aiden's face changed, his lips parting a deep and thunderous howl erupted from him, filling the area all around, causing the ground itself to shake in fear.

The tone of his war cry was deep, carrying a deep underlying thunderous power, instilling fear and dread to each of the surrounding Skinks, causing them to fall on their backs, and knees without fail. Their primitive, crude weapons fell to the grounds as they tried to slowly push themselves further and further away from this fearsome entity.

However, this was not the end. Following Aiden's ferocious roar, invisible energy exploded from his body. A heavy pressure descended on everyone around. Apart from Lily and Galina, even the royal siblings and the war hounds were forced down on the ground under Aiden's unfolding aura.

"Ghhh… Lily… Calm… your… brother…" Scarlet, being the closest to them, slowly raised her head and groaned towards the standing trio before falling back down on the ground. Using up all her stamina to muster these few words, her body limpidly sprawled on the grimy floor in the next second, she fainted under the heavy pressure.

"Aiden… brother… please calm down… You are hurting everyone…" Growing worried about the situation, Lily leaned closer to her brother's ears and whispered.

At the same time, Galina did her best to do the same and reach out to Aiden's consciousness that was slowly swallowed up by the chaotic storm, his ever-increasing, uncontrollable rage.

'Young Master! Please don't lose yourself! Calm down!'

Still, Aiden didn't seem to hear them. Ignoring all their pleas, he slowly raised Ryg pointing it towards the trembling Skinks on the ground.

A look of contempt sat upon his expression as he was about to strike and slice the air a second time before suddenly his arm stopped midway in the air. His expression changed, shifted, a look of shock appeared.

He frowned before a look of sadness and guilt appeared on his face. He pulled back his arm, and with it, he removed the invisible pressure, he controlled his aura, shifting it, to only press on the skinks, and not on his allies.

With a flick of his hand, Ryg vanished from his hand. He looked at the little creatures plastered on the ground, still trembling with an overwhelming sensation of fear, not daring to raise their heads and look at the boy.

Aiden's face transformed again, as the cold, stern look returned once more as he eyed the creatures on the ground.

His mouth moving once more, a thunderous, deep tone of voice came from his throat, filling the underground hallway again as he gave a short order to the trembling little ones.

"Bring me your leader."

As he randomly lifted the pressure from a few of them, they immediately got up from the ground, and giving yet another shock to the slowly recovering party, they actually bowed towards Aiden before swiftly scampering away back in the darkness where they came from.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ambushing army remained plastered on the floor, unable to take any action. Only meek, faint whimpers could be heard as they did their best to beg for mercy from the one they dared not to approach.

With the small window of time, the group began to recoup their lost energies. With Galina's help, it only took a few minutes before even Scarlet was once again conscious and sitting beside her brother. Her eyes carried a mixture of emotions, mostly confusion about what was actually happening; they were looking at the stoically standing Aiden for some answers.

Aiden, aware of his previous blunder, could only give a bittersweet smile at them. Before he could speak up and explain himself, suddenly a new strong presence emerged in the darkness. A pair of yellow eyes, similar to the skinks in shape but at least twice their size appeared in the darkness.

A loud hiss echoed from its direction, gradually closing in on the party…