"Band of the Hawk?"
Nidhogg vaguely remembered that the middle-aged jailer had also mentioned the "Band of the Hawk" before he died, but at the time he was busy escaping the prison and couldn't be bothered with such things, so he naturally hadn't taken it to heart.
This mission objective served as a reminder, bringing the matter back to his mind, and given the habits of the Seal of the Golden Order in triggering missions, the so-called "Band of the Hawk" had to be the group of people before him.
Nidhogg frowned; he seemed to have some impression of the "Band of the Hawk" that had been mentioned twice.
It was a rather distant memory, one he couldn't quite recall clearly, until he met the gaze beneath the white hawk helmet.
Those eyes, as sharp and cold as a hawk's, the white helmet and armor, the distinct noble aura, and the mercenaries gathered by his side—some burly, some slender—all awakened his memory.
He remembered; many years ago, a friend had tricked him into reading a manga titled "Berserk," also known as "The Brand of the Warrior," and the very beginning had opened his eyes.
The subsequent plot was filled with dark, deep, and cruel elements, and the true dark climax was the Eclipse from the Golden Age arc.
Sacrifice, demons, the God Hand, despair, pain, losing everything...
The protagonist of that Eclipse was none other than this youth wearing the white hawk helmet—Griffith—and the sacrifices he offered were the very members of the Band of the Hawk who supported him.
Precisely because he remembered these things and identified the characters, Nidhogg was now breaking out in a cold sweat, fully realizing where he had arrived.
To tell the truth, he would rather have arrived in the real Middle Ages than in this hellhole of "Berserk," and he certainly didn't want to get involved with Griffith or the Band of the Hawk!
Damn it, how could this happen?!
At that moment, he turned around quite cowardly, quickly and fluidly jumping from the second floor down into the courtyard below, rolling as he charged into the chaotic battlefield.
A member of the Band of the Hawk, seeing Nidhogg jump down to the floor in such a strange manner upon meeting, naturally knew he was not on their side, so he nocked an arrow onto his crossbow, intending to shoot him dead.
The leader of the Band of the Hawk, wearing the white hawk helmet, Griffith, raised his hand to stop the member, then kept his eyes fixed on Nidhogg's back.
For some reason, just a moment ago, Griffith seemed to have seen immense fear in Nidhogg's eyes—not the fear of being captured or killed by the enemy army, but a deeper, more profound trembling.
Griffith could even sense that what Nidhogg feared was not him or the Band of the Hawk, but something else, and this something was closely related to them.
What on earth could it be? Griffith was a little curious.
Nidhogg, however, was in a completely different state of mind at this moment; he had jumped into the courtyard battlefield in a panic, rolled, and upon scrambling to his feet, realized he had rolled right into the center of the battlefield.
And with his position as the boundary, two groups of soldiers appeared, clearly demarcated and confronting each other.
Only in the peripheral areas outside the center of the battlefield did the melee continue.
His intrusion made the battlefield quiet for a moment; almost everyone was stunned at first.
Nidhogg turned to look to his left and saw a tall, burly man wearing a round helmet and full armor, carrying a blood-stained battle axe.
Lying in front of him were several blood-soaked corpses, their heads or bodies hacked in two.
This man was "The Grey Knight" Bazuso, the culprit who had captured him and thrown him into the prison!
Bazuso had already hacked several enemy mercenaries to death with his battle axe, and combined with rumors that he had once killed thirty men and slain a giant bear with his bare hands, this ferocity was enough to intimidate the entire courtyard battlefield; no one dared to step forward anymore.
This situation forced the enemy leader to offer a large bounty for his life.
As a result, the enemy leader shouted several times, but the mercenaries on his side did not respond.
They were completely terrified by Bazuso's ferocity and cruelty; none of them wanted to become a soul claimed by his battle axe, so they didn't dare take even a single step forward.
Bazuso was feeling extremely smug when he suddenly saw a person appear before him. He couldn't help but frown, then looked closely and recognized the vagabond knight set, as well as the eyes beneath the helmet.
"You... aren't you supposed to be locked up?" Bazuso was greatly shocked; only then did he finally recall the scout prisoner he had captured days ago. "How are you here? How did you get your sword, shield, and armor back?"
Meanwhile, on Nidhogg's right, the knight riding on horseback, who was also the leader of the mercenary group that had breached the city gate, had clearly misunderstood something.