Viktor was so deathly silent, no one could guess what he was thinking. However, Borin didn't have the slightest hesitation in provoking him.
Nyissa, Ayana, and her friends were equally shocked in a different way since they were seeing with their own eyes King Borin, the man or whatever he was now standing before them.
But what shocked them more was that he was the culprit behind all this, especially bringing them here though they didn't expect him to show Viktor the souls he was torturing in this hellish place.
They could hardly believe that this was the same person, and even if they thought at first that he could be someone else when Borin talked in a way that confirmed his own identity, there was no need for further confusion.
However, before they could comprehend the situation further, Viktor swiftly moved forward to break open the cage, and Borin still seemed relaxed with a smile on his face.
But the moment Viktor barely touched the cage, a black wave of force suddenly burst out, throwing Viktor a few feet back.
"Viktor!"
"Argh!" Viktor crashed onto the ground, but the blast force didn't hurt him. Instead, he looked at his hands to see that they were blackened as if his palms got charred.
However, the excruciating stinging sensation that was stemming from his palms was beyond Viktor's expectations which were making him feel as if he should cut off his hands to feel better.
Black vapors were emanating from his hands as Viktor continued to grit his teeth, wondering why this agonizing pain was burrowing right through his skin.
"Cursed artsâŠ" Nyissa mumbled as she looked at Viktor's hands and easily realized that Viktor was affected by the arts she and her clan practiced.
However, what puzzled her was why Viktor was feeling pain when before he wasn't even slightly affected by the cursed flames. But now, he seemed to suffer from the same pain any other vampire would and wasn't healing too.
Nyissa quickly rushed forward and hurriedly said as she took out a small vial, "Let me see your hands!"
Viktor was confused, but he still decided to listen to her and extended his trembling hands towards her, and saw her pouring a silver liquid onto his hand that seemed quite pure and beautiful to the naked eye.
He didn't know what that silver liquid was, but the moment it touched his palms, an unprecedented soothing sensation began to spread out from his palms, abating the burning pain that he was feeling in his palms before.
His expression finally relaxed, and he glanced at Nyissa with an appreciative look though she seemed too busy trying to heal his hands.
While healing his hands, Nyissa's image of King Borin in her mind couldn't help but begun to crumble, making her think that Viktor was indeed telling the truth all this time about Borin.
And within just a few moments, his enhanced healing factor began to heal his injuries at a rapid pace, even faster than his vampire self.
The silver liquid also seemed to evaporate on its own after remaining in his palm for a few seconds, leaving nothing behind. It was as if no silver liquid ever fell on his palms.
Borin frowned, seeing Nyissa and the others as he clicked his tongue, "Oben...are you going to discipline your own clan, or should I?" Borin said in a grim tone as he extended his hand, and a large red hammer manifested in thin air beside him, which touched the ground with a booming sound.
*THUD!*
The head of the hammer looked the same as a sledge hammer's head but way larger, and its handle was as tall as Borin. It was quite obvious that this was a heavy two-handed weapon, and one wouldn't dare to stand in its way the moment someone swings that weapon around, or worse...smashes them.
*Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw!*
Suddenly loud and raspy crows echoed in the underground dungeon as dozens of crows suddenly manifested in thin air, collectively flying in a spiral manner, forming a vortex of crows.
But as the vortex touched the ground, the crows disappeared, and in place stood a man with a silver mask and black robes that extended all the way down till his feet. However, in his hand, there was a staff with a black pear-shaped crystal on the top.
Hearing the name Oben and the crows of the demonic-looking crows, Viktor and Nyissa slowly got up and looked at the man with the silver mask who seemed to be looking at them as well.
Nyissa's expression had a thunderstruck gaze because she was looking at the ancestor of her clan, especially its founder and, most of all herâŠ
"I will take care of my own clan. You don't have to worry about them," Oben Mou spoke, though his tone carried no emotion.
Borin curved his lips, "Good. I don't have much patience, especially the one who destroyed everything I had is still standing alive before me," Borin said in a biting tone as he clasped the handle of his hammer hard.
Nyissa, Ayana, and the others had looks of reverence upon seeing Oben and could easily recognize him because of the outfit he was wearing and the staff in his hand, which were similar to what they heard about him.
They all had confused looks as they bowed and said, "Revered Ancestor!"
Oben looked at them silently, making one wonder what his expression or thoughts were behind the mask.
However, his gaze still remained over Nyissa as he uttered, "Granddaughter...you shouldn't have been here. Come with me. I will send you back to your world."
His tone still remained flat, but a perceptive person could make out that he didn't want them to be here.
"GrandfatherâŠ" Nyissa mumbled with a complicated expression, seeing the grandfather she never saw in her life, while Viktor frowned, seeing that this situation was getting more complicated by the second, and he was still without a solution to help his parents and people.
Ayana and the others were relieved to hear that their ancestor had a way to send them back to the real world.
However, Nyissa stepped forward and asked with clenched fists, "Grandfather...please tell us what is going on and what you are doing here. The things happening here and the things we learned so far after coming here goes against our clan's rules, the rules you created which we follow through your teachings passed down throughout the clan."
She then looked at Borin and said, "King...no...Borin...it seems that you had us all fooled all this time. Viktor was right. You are no king or human being but theâ"
"Enough, Nyissa!" Oben roared, making Nyissa unconsciously stifle her words as Ayana and the others couldn't help but gulp, wondering what was going to happen now.