Chapter 445 Underground Maze VIII (2/2)

Rhode shrugged his shoulders and turned to Anne. who was leading the group of mercenaries towards him. Strictly speaking, it didn't matter to Rhode if he rescued these mercenaries. Most importantly, he was curious as to why there was an Angel in the team. After all, not anyone could team up with a Battle Angel for no apparent reason and moreover, these people couldn't even be considered mercenaries, so how did they get involved with an Angel? And why were they here the first place?

These pitiful mercenaries didn't know that the reason they survived was all due to Rhode's curiosity. The young swordsman bowed deeply to Rhode with respect and gratitude. ”Thank you very much for your help, respected Sir.”

”You're welcome; it was just out of convenience anyway,” Rhode gestured and sized up the young swordsman before him. He was clad in a decent light armor and although he appeared miserable from head to toe after the battle, he behaved rather earnestly. The young swordsman didn't respond to Rhode's comments; instead, he smiled slightly.

”No matter if it was out of convenience or any other reason, the fact that Sir has saved our lives can't be changed…” The young man paused before continuing with a bitter smile. ”But, to be frank, it really surprised me to meet you here.”

”Oh?” Rhode twitched his brows in surprise. He scanned the young swordsman once more and realized that he did seem rather familiar… But Rhode couldn't recall where he met this man before.

The young swordsman displayed an awkward smile. ”You seem to have forgotten us, respected Sir. We met once in the Stone City…”

”It's you guys…” Rhode finally remembered who they were.

Back then, Rhode and Anne were heading to the Black Pine Ruins to retrieve the Sphere of Mystery. While they were in the nearby town, Rhode met a young mercenary in the pub who was recruiting members for his mercenary group for an adventure to the Black Pine Ruins. Furthermore, that mercenary gave his mercenary group an embarrassing name: the Divine Aegis mercenary group. Rhode secretly mocked that these mercenary groups with excellent names usually wouldn't make it far and threw this matter to the back of his head afterward. However, he never expected to meet them again, especially at this kind of place.

This piqued Rhode's curiosity as to why a small team of mercenaries would have the guts to come to this 5 Star Mission location. Also, why were they with an Angel?

Metzel quickly gave an answer to Rhode's doubts.

After failing to invite Rhode to their team, Metzel didn't give up. Instead, he managed to gather enough members to begin their adventures. A small mercenary group could only accept the lowest 1 Star Missions and Metzel and his companions were strong enough to deal with them. Furthermore, it was all an accident for them to be here: Metzel's group accepted a mission to escort a group of merchants to Eagle City. On their way there, they met the Battle Angel, Delno, and his companion, Wendy, who were traveling at that time.

Although Angels had great identities, these two Battle Angels were underaged. There existed a custom in the Angel race that before an Angel grew into adulthood, they must travel to the human world to exterminate evil and protect humans. This would affirm the Angels of who the enemies were, as well as who they needed to protect. After going through this training, they would mature and become a true Angel.

Without a doubt, most Angels were able to complete their traveling journey. However, a small portion of them was unable to accept the evil side of humans' greed. They gave up all hope in humans as well as their obligations.

Delno and Wendy joined Metzel's mercenary group with wishes to experience life in the human world.

However, an accident happened when they arrived at the Castel Plateau. Metzel's group didn't know the specific location of the Castel Plateau Ruins and they accidentally stumbled into the Necromancers' land. The Necromancers ambushed and captured Wendy, along with two of Metzel's companions. Therefore, in order to rescue them, Metzel's group and Delno tracked the Necromancers, which eventually led them to this square.

But they didn't know that they had entered a nightmare.