Lux felt his entire body aching, and almost couldn't move a muscle due to the injuries he received from the fall.

Fortunately, he had no broken bones, only a badly bruised body that made him want to scream in pain.

"Diablo, come," Lux ordered and his trusted partner appeared beside him.

The Half-Elf willed the storage ring in his hand to take out a few potions, which Diablo took to spray over his injured body. The rest, he helped Lux drink, which allowed the Half-Elf to recover from his injured state.

Although he fell deeper inside the Kobold's Nest, there were no Kobolds in the vicinity. All of them were busy chasing after the Dwarves, who were running towards the exit with their lives on the line.

Lux summoned his Soul Book to check where he was currently at.

He could see Helen's marker going further and further away from him, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Let's go save Colette and the others first," Lux said as he checked the pathways he needed to take in order to reach his friends.

Diablo nodded his head and soon followed the red-headed teenager as they ran within the underground maze that the Kobolds had built.

Their journey wasn't that smooth since Lux and Diablo had to prioritize their safety. Right now, the Half-Elf was behind enemy lines, and one small slip could end his life in a matter of minutes.

After almost an hour of traversing the nearly abandoned lower levels of the Kobold's Nest, they finally arrived at their destination.

Just like Robin and Andy, Lux found his friends trapped in cages. However, they were not alone. Several other dwarves were also imprisoned there, which caught the Half-Elf by surprise.

'Well, since I'm already here, might as well free them all,' Lux thought as he ordered Diablo to hack apart the wooden planks that kept the other Dwarves imprisoned.

The Half-Elf prioritized freeing his friends, because they were the main reason why he had braved the dangers of the Kobold's Nest in the first place.

"B-Big Brother?" Colette asked in surprise and confusion. "What are you doing here?!"

"I came to rescue you guys," Lux replied. "Shhh, don't raise your voice. We might get discovered if you do."

Colette nodded her head in understanding and kept her mouth shut. After she was freed, she went to the wooden crates in the corner of the room to retrieve her equipment, and storage rings.

Matty and Axel did the same, as well as the other Dwarves whom Lux and Diablo had freed. After distributing Health Potions to everyone, most of their injuries had been treated, making them capable of fighting against the Kobolds that had taken them captive.

A Dwarf who had blonde hair and blue eyes walked towards Lux while carrying an Axe. He thanked Lux for rescuing them and introduced himself as Hans.

He was one of the prominent merchants in the Kingdom of Gweliven, and his base of operations were the villages and towns near the Stronghold of Norria.

The blond-haired dwarf was also the leader of the merchant group that had hired Colette's and several other adventurer parties as escorts for his trade expedition. Unfortunately, they got captured by the Kobolds, and all of their wares were seized.

Lux shook hands with the Dwarf before addressing everyone at the cavern.

"Before anything else, let me explain the current situation first," Lux said. "Right now, a group of Riders from Norria have come here for a rescue operation. I was their guide and led them to this location. Unfortunately, we were forced to retreat after saving only a few individuals because of the sheer numbers of the Kobolds."

"After a great battle, I fell down to this layer, due to the spells of the Kobold Mages. As for the main force, they are headed towards the exit of this nest as we speak."

"However, none of you have to worry. Once the reinforcements from the Stronghold of Norria arrives, they will conduct another rescue operation and deal with the Kobolds inside this nest."

Lux made sure to emphasize that he was the one that led the Riders of Norria to the nest in order to show his importance to the Dwarves in front of him.

After hearing his report, the majority of the Dwarves sighed in relief because there was still a chance for them to leave the place alive.

"You said that you can navigate through this terrain," Hans said with a determined look on his face. "Can you also lead us to the exit?"

Lux nodded. However, his next words dampened the mood of everyone inside the cavern.

"Although I can lead you all to the exit, I cannot do that at this point in time," Lux answered. "The only reason why I managed to reach this place unharmed is because the majority of the Kobolds have climbed to the upper level to pursue the trespassers to their domain. If we go up right now, we will just be hacked to pieces. Our best course of action is to wait for reinforcements to arrive."

Colette, who had been listening to the side, voiced her concern about their current situation.

"Big Brother, what do we do now?" Colette asked. "Are we just going to stay here?"

Lux shook his head. "This place is too big, and it's hard to defend ourselves here. We need to find a good hiding place while we wait for the rescuers to arrive."

Lux summoned the Elysium Compendium to look for possible hiding spots small enough for them to effectively defend against a horde of Kobolds that were out for blood.

"Follow me," Lux said. "I found a place where we can hide."

"And why should we follow you?" a grumpy Dwarf asked back. "I ain't following a damn Half-Elf."

Lux didn't even bother to glance at the grumpy Dwarf as he herded Colette and the others to follow him. He had already done what he could for the captives. Whether they wanted to follow him or not was none of his business.

Seeing his indifferent attitude, the grumpy Dwarf cursed under his breath.

Hans, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes as he followed behind the Half-Elf who obviously didn't give a damn about them.

The blonde-dwarf was a merchant. When it came to making transactions, and forming connections with potential business partners, he always trusted his instincts.

Right now, his instinct was telling him to follow Lux, so that was what he planned to do.

Seeing Hans' action, a couple of the Dwarves, which were his subordinates, followed behind him as well.

The rest of the Dwarves, who were not part of the merchant group, who had been kidnapped from other places, merely glanced at each other in dismay.

Wandering around the Kobold Nest without an accurate map was useless. Also, the Dwarves knew that the Half-Elf was right. If they tried to go to the exit at this point in time, what awaited them was an untimely death at the hands of the Kobold Horde that had been rubbed off the wrong way.

After navigating through the underground tunnels, Lux led his friends to a smaller cavern that seemed to be used as a garbage dump by the Kobolds.

The rotten smell permeated the air, and it made the Dwarves wrinkle their noses, but they currently had no choice in the matter.

Even Hans thought that this was a good place to hide, because no Kobolds would go actively looking for them in this area.

The pathway leading to the garbage dump was also very narrow. It was only big enough for a single adult dwarf to walk down, and the ceiling was a head shorter than the Half-Elf who was forced to crouch down a little when he walked down the tunnel.

After arriving at their destination, Lux used the empty storage rings that he had acquired in the prisoner's cell to store as much garbage as he could.

The Dwarves like Colette, who had special skills like the Cleansing Spell did their best to reduce the abominable smell that permeated the cavern.

Several minutes passed before the annoying smell disappeared, which made the dwarves quite thankful.

Even though the cavern was smaller than the place where they had been held as prisoners, it was more than enough to house all of them.

"Listen, I will just like to make some rules while we are here," Lux said with a serious expression on his face. "First of all, talking is not allowed. On the off chance that a Kobold or a group of Kobolds were to come to this place, our priority should be to kill them as fast as possible before they can raise an alarm."

All the Dwarves nodded their heads in agreement. They had no complaint whatsoever with the rule that Lux had stated.

"The second rule is that we should make as little noise as possible. Everyone should just rest for the time being. We will need every bit of strength we have in order to leave this place."

The Dwarves once again nodded their heads in approval.

"Lastly, if the worst case scenario happens, and we are discovered, everyone should stay as calm as possible," Lux stated. "I am confident that we will be able to stand our ground if we work together as a cohesive unit.

"My Skeletons will serve as the first line of defense and block the entrance of this cavern should the Kobolds launch an all out attack. If they fall, all able-bodied men will help block the entrance alongside me to ensure that they won't be able to break through our defenses."

The Dwarves nodded their heads for the last time and rested to conserve their strength.

Lux sat beside the entrance of the cavern to use his sensitive hearing to detect anyone who was headed in their direction.

Colette, Matty, and Axel were very tired, so all of them slept, leaving the defenses to Lux.

The little Dwarves had developed an unwavering faith in the Half-Elf, especially after seeing that he had braved the danger to rescue all of them.

Lux watched the children sleep with a smile on his face. Now that they had finally settled down, it was now time to make his preparations for the upcoming battle.

Diablo walked towards him and handed the Half-Elf a black storage ring.

Lux gratefully accepted it and peered at its contents.

Hundreds of Beast Cores could be seen inside the ring, which made Lux quite happy. The main reason he had left Diablo and the Skeletal Fighters behind was to loot the Beast cores from the Kobolds' corpses.

The Half-Elf knew that the Riders of Norria weren't in the mood to pick up the cores as they bulldozed their way through the nest to save Robin.

Since that was the case, Lux was more than happy to receive the free loot that was presented to him. He knew that if things went South, he could only rely on himself to save his friends.

The red-headed teenager took a Beast Core out of the storage ring and started converting it into Skill Points.

He would use as many cores as possible to upgrade himself, Diablo, and his Skeletal Fighters.

That way, even if they were faced with Rank 3 Monsters, they would be able to hold their ground, and show the Kobolds that it was a futile endeavor to kill what was already dead.