Red returned to his senses a few seconds later. He braced himself, expecting to have been teleported to a completely foreign environment. To his surprise, though, he could recognize his surroundings.

‘This is the forest.’

Trees, bushes, leaf litter, a sunny day. It all felt very familiar, and the boy could swear he was back on the surface of Bestrem forest. However, he was also quick to realize an issue.

‘We’ve been underground for so long… The sun should have been close to setting by now.’

Yet, here it was, on its zenith at the top of the sky. He had failed to acknowledge in the previous arena because of the overcast and snowy climate of the mountains, which didn’t allow him to see the sun. However, now the strangeness of this teleportation was clear to him.

Something didn’t add up about this.

As Red was taking in his surroundings, though, the sound of combat reached him. The boy looked to the south, from where he could hear the guttural roar of beasts and some yelling. He didn’t hesitate, and ran in that direction with his cleaver in hand.

His crimson sense picked up on the fluctuations before Red could set his eyes on the beings. There were four of them: two humans and two monsters. One of them belonged to Rog, and he could promptly recognize it. The other fluctuation, however, was not from Rimold nor Allen, and yet the boy was also familiar with it.

‘It’s him…’

Red hesitated. However, once he noticed Rog wasn’t retreating, the boy continued to run ahead. Finally, he arrived at the clearing and the scene of combat was revealed to him.

Two large tree-bark bears were trying to corner a completely armored knight, helmet and all, who wove through their blows while counterattacking with his longsword and taking chunks out of the monsters’ thick skins. Some arrows were also sticking out of the beasts’ skins, but none of it seemed to affect the bears who seemed to be in a state of madness.

One bear got up on its two legs and swept down at the knight with its claws. The man could evade the blow just in time, and the beast hit the tree trunk behind him, shattering a huge chunk of wood.

Almost on cue, an arrow shot into this bear’s neck. The monster roared in pain, but it wasn’t enough to drag it down as it continued to chase after the knight.

“Keep them still for one second, goddamn it!” Rog’s voice came from the other side of the clearing, where the man stood aiming at the monsters.

A muffled sound of laughter came from the knight, as he continued to dodge the beasts’ attacks. None of them seemed to have noticed Red yet.

‘As I thought, it’s Reinhart.’

The fluctuation was already a dead giveaway. Now, with the armor and weapon on top, there was no doubt about it. The only issue was that Rog seemed to be unaware about whom he was helping since he couldn’t see the man’s face.

The boy, for his own part, was still hesitating on what to do.

‘Should I warn Rog?’

Perhaps it would be better to leave the man to die against the bears, or just take advantage of the situation and attack him while he was busy. However, Red was quick to notice a problem.

‘If he wasn’t confident in dealing with these bears, would he have challenged them?’

From experience, the boy knew one could see the monsters they would face from outside the chamber. Since the man had still gone in, wouldn’t that mean he was confident in killing them? Not to mention, there were still the talismans he used against the demon.

Beyond all these clues, Red also had a feeling that choosing to attack Reinhart was a terrible idea. The boy searched from where this sensation had come from, to no avail. It wasn’t the first time this unexplainable feeling had come to him today either, and Red still felt that it was somehow more trustworthy than any logical conclusion he could draw by himself.

At that point, he made up his mind.

Red dashed out, approaching the bears from the flanks. Rog and Reinhart were quick to spot his approach, but the bears remained too distracted by the target in front of them to notice it.

“The one on your left!” the knight screamed at him while avoiding another swipe.

The boy followed Reinhart’s advice, approaching the leftmost bear from behind while waiting for the right moment. The monsters reared up, ready to smash down onto Reinhart, and Red finally attacked.

The boy pushed himself, closing in the last few meters in an instant. The bear finally noticed his presence, but before it could turn around and react, Red’s cleaver had already dug into its hind leg, making the monster stumble.

Almost in sync, Rog also struck. An arrow shot deep into the bear’s chest, the force enough to send the bear reeling. The monster roared in pain and its companion turned around to see what was happening, its rage dissipating for a moment.

And that was all it took for Reinhart.

In a fluid motion, the knight slipped by the distracted bear and charged at its wounded companion. As the monster was in the motion of sinking back down on its four legs, Reinhart swung his sword against its falling neck in a flash. The momentum was enough to decapitate the bear in one motion.

As the smell of blood started to spread out of the monster’s corpse, its companion finally realized what had happened. With a guttural roar, it charged at the knight with renewed rage, eager to avenge its fallen brethren. Reinhart didn’t rush to meet it head-on either.

“Once more, you two!” the man called out to his impromptu assistants.

Red, who had already pulled away from the dead monster, repeated the same strategy according to the knight’s instruction. Both he and Rog waited for the bear to show an opening, while Reinhart continued to dodge the beast’s blows effortlessly.

An opportunity finally presented itself when the monster crashed head on into a tree, breaking its trunk in half. Red approached from the rear once more, cutting into the monster’s ankle, while Rog shot an arrow into its neck. The beast stumbled, dazed by its head-on clash against the tree and the humans' one-two combo.

Reinhart also took this opportunity to finish it off. This time, though, he jumped onto its back and slashed it with his sword at its neck from behind. The result, however, was still the same.

A sprout of blood flowed from its decapitated corpse, and the creature fell dead with a resounding thump.

Reinhart stepped back from the monsters with a whistle while shaking the blood off his sword. “Wow, that was a close one. Thankfully you guys were here to help me…”

“… Who are you?” Rog asked with a suspicious tone, still keeping his bow at the ready.

‘So he does suspect something…’

It did not surprise Red that the hunter would be on guard against someone as strong as Reinhart, even if he didn’t know who he was.

“Me?” the knight pointed at himself in surprise. “I’m just a friendly knight that came to hunt for bandits. No need to worry about me, really…”

“Really?” Rog frowned. “That sounds very suspicious… I mean, what kind of knight walks around without their mount?”

“I left it outside.”

“Ah, I see…” the hunter nodded in relief. “In that case-”

“… It’s Reinhart.” Red interjected.

Rog tensed up. Suddenly, he nocked another arrow and raised his bow at the man in a hurry.

“Wait, wait!” Reinhart put his hands up. “We don’t need to fight! I don’t mean any harm!”

“Really?” Rog scoffed, maintaining his bow trained at the man. “Then why did you follow us here?”

“You were the ones who followed me here!” the knight argued back. “Look, you’ve probably already seen the danger that awaits us in this labyrinth, right? Why should we waste our time fighting each other when we already have so much to worry about?”

“That’s easy for you to say!” the hunter remained unconvinced. “Isn’t your boss the one always sending people to stalk me in the forest?”

“My boss is my boss, and Reinhart is Reinhart. I only follow orders, and I can tell you none of them involve me killing any Water Dragon Sect members today… Look, I even saved their lives earlier! Isn’t that right, kid?” Reinhart looked at Red in expectation.

“You are the reason we needed saving in the first place.” Red said.

“That’s beside the point!” the knight shook his head. “Look, we need to help each other here! Who knows what dangers are waiting for us in this labyrinth? Wouldn’t an alliance benefit all of us?”

Rog frowned. “What about the rewards?”

“We can split that up!”

“… 90-10 for us.”

“That’s absurd!”

“85-15.”

The knight hesitated. “… Best I can do is 80-20.”

“Fine, but we get first pick.” Rog nodded.

“That can all be settled after we kill the rest of the bears.” Reinhart didn’t agree to anything.

“Haha, good… Wait, there are other bears?”

At that moment, a distant roar echoed in the forest.

“Looks like your companions found them.” the knight shrugged.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Rog looked over at Red. “Come on, quickly!”

The boy sighed and followed along with the hunter. This entire time, though, Red kept a close watch at Reinhart, not willing to trust the man at face value. The knight was also looking back at him, and even with his helmet on, the youth could swear the man was smiling at him with that same smug grin.

Red frowned, but said nothing and continued to run.

They didn’t need the boy’s crimson sense to help him locate the bear and his remaining companions.

“What are you doing, young master?!” Rimold’s voice rang out. “We need to run!”

“I’m tired of running!” Allen said in defiance. “We can kill it!”

“Are you out of your mind?! Did you see the size of that thing?!”

Another guttural roar sounded out. Ahead of him, Red’s group finally spotted Allen and Rimold running away from a tree-bark bear. Rog didn’t hesitate to kneel and shoot at the beast as soon as his vision cleared up, while Red and Rimold charged ahead.

The creature roared in pain as the arrow hit it.

“Look, our companions are here!” Allen said in joy. “Let’s go!”

“Wait, where are you going?!” Rimold held the boy back as he tried to join the attack.

Before long, Red and Reinhart clashed with the bear. Unfortunately for the beast, it didn’t have a companion to help it, and under an incessant barrage of attacks spearheaded by Reinhart, the monster was dispatched before Allen could throw himself against it.

“That should be all of them…” the knight said, shaking the blood off his sword once more.

“… And who might you be, if I may ask?” Rimold was staring at the man with a cautious expression. Clearly, his strength had already made an impression on the rogue.

“I’m just a friendly knight that came to hunt down some bandits.” Reinhart, who was still wearing his helmet, waved at them.

“R-Really?” Allen asked in surprise. “For a second, I thought I recognized your armor from somewhere-”

“It’s Reinhart…” Red said.

Immediately, Rimold and Allen tensed up.