Previously on YGTWHV:

‘That aside, the person causing this disturbance isn’t Odin, is it?’

Yuri pricked up her ears at the sound which was still ringing loudly.

“Arachne!”

Right then, Odin appeared from a gap in the ceiling.

–

It was perfect timing.

She was just thinking about Odin when she heard the loud alarm echoing throughout the building.

“Odin, is the noise outside because of you?”

“No! There must be another intruder like you said.”

Fortunately, Odin hadn’t been caught so that meant the disturbance outside wasn’t due to them chasing Odin.

‘Then it’s actually Kalian Crawford? Or it might just be someone else.’

Either way, this was an opportunity.

Odin hurriedly handed over a bundle of keys, saying he had found more during the commotion. But as expected, none of them were the right key.

“Odin, try breaking the cage bars with all of your strength.”

“What? What if you get hurt…”

“I don’t care. It’ll heal quickly anyway.”

Until now, they had been trying to devise a way to leave without creating much noise because of the situation but things had changed now.

It was better to try getting out now while another intruder was rampaging outside.

Odin must have agreed with Yuri’s idea because he flew out of the cage and turned into his human form.

“Arachne, go to the corner, it’s dangerous!”

Bang!

Odin’s cloak fluttered heavily the next instant and a thunderous bang rang out.

Crackle…!

The sound of sparks flying drummed against Yuri’s ear. Sharp lights flashed before her eyes several times. But unfortunately, the iron bars did not break.

“I’ll try one more time.”

Odin didn’t give up and unleashed his strength on the cage again.

However, it seemed the iron bars themselves were made with a material more special than she expected because although it got some dents, there was no space for her to escape.

Right then, Yuri suddenly sensed a presence coming from outside.

Were they coming after hearing the noise?

“Odin, hide!”

Yuri quickly warned Odin.

Odin turned back into a crow and quickly flew into the gap in the ceiling.

Clack!

The very next moment, the door of the room where Yuri was confined flung open.

“Kalian Crawford! You frustrating prick, don’t you know what situation we’re in? We should be finding an exit and getting out of here as fast as possible so why are you opening another door!”

“Be quiet. I definitely felt a familiar presence in here…”

The person who came in was the culprit behind the current commotion outside.* * *

Let’s turn back the time a little; to 5 minutes ago.

“…”

Kalian paused his search of the area and stopped walking. His cold silver-grey eyes silently turned to the side. He stood in place, with all his five senses pushed to the limit.

‘Twelve…no, thirteen.’

He grew suspicious when the presences that were scattered all over the place earlier began to gather in one spot. However, he didn’t think they would close in on him this quickly.

‘They’ve definitely noticed me.’

Kalian could sense them gradually narrowing their distance to him, so he was certain. That said, the fact that they didn’t run straight to where he was meant they still didn’t know his exact location.

For now, it seemed they were suspicious of an intruder and were searching the rooms one by one while approaching his position. But if they met head-on, Kalian would be the one at a disadvantage.

If they were in another location, that could be debatable but right now, he was in their hideout. First of all, his information about the building’s internal structure was very inadequate. And after investigating a bit, his results were the same as when he had looked at the building from outside; there didn’t seem to be any exit apart from the door on the first floor.

As of now, he wouldn’t gain anything from causing a disturbance. Most of all, Kalian had still not fully investigated this place.

And so, he moved quietly like a shadow, avoiding the people who were closing in on him. However, even for Kalian, there was a limit to how much he could avoid hostiles in an enclosed area.

After a while, Kalian reached the end of the hallway and turned into something of a sitting duck. The next place he entered to avoid the search team was the last room at the end of the hall.

He sensed someone inside, but he didn’t have any other choice.

But at least, he only sensed one person inside, and seeing as he didn’t feel anyone moving inside, the person was probably unconscious or asleep.

Of course, Kalian might have been wrong because he didn’t have time to observe carefully. If that was the case, it didn’t matter much because he would certainly make sure they were unconscious from now.

With that somewhat callous thought in mind, Kalian entered inside the room.

The room was pitch dark and not a single light was on. The hallway was also dark but not as dark as this room, so it took some time for his eyes to adjust.

The person in the room must have been unconscious like Kalian expected because even though Kalian opened the door and walked inside, they didn’t react at all.

Kalian strained his ears to listen to the people outside.

The sound of footsteps treading through the hallway along with the sound of the opposite door opening and closing in succession rang out in his ears.

Kalian quietly walked deeper into the room to find somewhere to hide himself. Then he happened to pass by the person lying unconscious in the room.

They were hunched over and was locked up in a cage, seemingly not an enemy or working with the people in this building. The person sleeping peacefully like a princess in a fairytale was none other than…

“…!”

Damon Salvatore.

Kalian’s eyes went wide. His face practically had the words, ‘why the hell is this guy here?’ written all over it.

He drew closer to see if he had made a mistake but sure enough, it was Damon Salvatore. Kalian mulled over why Damon was locked up in a place like this.

‘He must have been trying to catch the culprit to restore the Salvatore’s reputation and got caught.’

If Damon heard this, he would have shuddered, but Kalian’s guess was almost on point.

“Mn.”

Right then, Damon, unfortunately, began to show signs of waking up.

However, Kalian felt the people in the hallway drawing much closer, so he hid in a corner instead of trying to talk to Damon.

Clack!

And right after, someone swiftly opened the door and came inside.

“Wh-What is this? Who are you people?”

Damon, who just regained consciousness, was startled to see the people entering the room and asked in a wary voice.

“Where is this? Why am I in this thing?”

“Don’t waste time, search everywhere.”However, the people who came inside to search the room looked annoyed and ignored Damon’s question.

Their footsteps gradually approached where Kalian was hiding. Kalian’s hand moved to the sword at his waist.

“You bastards…! I asked why am I locked up in this thing!”

However, when Damon realized his situation and began to scream louder in agitation, the footsteps approaching Kalian paused.

“Do you think you’ll be safe doing this? Do you know who I am…”

“Ah, you’re so goddamn loud! Things like these need to be beaten to get it in their head!”

The steps heading to Kalian began to move towards Damon.

“Hey, hey, relax! Master brought this one himself. Touch it and you’re f**ked.”

Thankfully, someone stopped him halfway, so nothing happened to Damon. They kicked Damon’s cage and spewed a few curses then they left the room without continuing the search.

“F*ck, what the hell. What am I in this…”

Damon was still locked in the cage and breathing hard. He didn’t fully understand the situation yet, but it was obvious that after following Kalian, he was caught and locked up by the enemy.

He checked his pocket to see if there was any alchemy device he could use in this situation, but it was completely empty.

“Damon Salvatore.”

That very moment, the voice of the man who was both a savior and culprit to Damon rang out behind him.

“Kalian Crawford!”

Damon looked at the man who appeared in the dark and sucked in a breath.

“You, why, why are you here…!”

“Shh. Lower your voice.”

“Don’t tell me they caught you too…or not.”

“They didn’t catch me. I infiltrated the building and I’m in the middle of investigating.”

Damon’s face crumpled once he heard Kalian’s reply. He felt a little vexed that he was the only one in this pathetic state. Then again, having Kalian in front of him like this made him feel strangely relieved but he didn’t want to admit it so he was annoyed.

“Then get me out of here quickly…”

“I haven’t investigated the building enough yet. I’ll do a little more looking around then I’ll get you out.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t look like I can just open that cage of yours plus there’s no key around, so I’ll likely have to break it to open it. But if I do that, people will flock over here. Just stay still and I’ll come to get you later.”

“Are you kidding me right now? Hey, wait! Hey, look here, Kalian Crawford…!”

After telling him that one-sidedly, Kalian really turned around and began heading to the door.

Damon was stunned, his breath caught, and his mouth was agape.

Even then, Kalian continued walking farther away and Damon was forced to realize that Kalian meant it.

In the end, blood rushed to Damon’s head and his face flushed red with anger as he yelled.

“Who says I’ll be safe till you come back? What will you do if I die then!”

“If they planned to kill you so quickly, they would have gotten rid of you as soon as they found you. But since they locked you here, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“You prick, you’re acting like it doesn’t concern you! Whose fault is it that I got caught in the first place…!”

Instantly, Kalian jolted to a stop.

“You got caught because of me?”

“Yes! If you didn’t come to this kind of place, I would have never come here and I would have never been locked up like this!”

It was quite the forced reasoning but right now, Damon barely had any rationality left.

“Kalian Crawford, if you leave me here and go, I won’t stay still! I’ll call those bastards back in and tell them there’s an intruder here!”

Of course, he wasn’t really thinking of doing that. Whether Damon hated it or not, the only person he could trust here was Kalian so there was no way he would do such a stupid thing. Hence, this was just blackmail.

Kalian frowned slightly and stared at Damon silently for a while.

“I guess there’s no other choice.”

Then soon, he turned around and approached Damon.