The Rock Snout Boar exploded.
Light burst out from its swollen body like a small sun, swallowing the front half of the cavern.
A breath later, Oliver's smoke bomb went off inside that flash, adding a thick wave of dark smoke on top of the blinding glare.
For a moment, everything became white, then gray, then nothing at all.
Sound vanished.
Then it came back all at once.
A deafening boom hammered Oliver's ears.
The shockwave slammed into the walls and ceiling.
Cracks raced across the stone above them.
Chunks of rock broke free and began to fall.
"Move!" Ethan's voice exploded in his mind. "Entrance! Now!"
Oliver did not think.
He grabbed Fiona without asking, hooked an arm under her knees and another behind her back, and lifted her in a princess carry.
He staggered one step, then his legs found balance.
"Oliver!" Fiona shouted in his ear. "Put me down! I can walk by myself!"
He could not hear her clearly. His ears still rang.
His eyes were worse.
The explosion had burned his vision into white.
He could barely see rough shapes in the swirling smoke.
Right now, Oliver did not even know which direction he was heading.
He just followed Ethan's voice.
"Left, three steps," Ethan said quickly.
"Now straight. Good, good, keep going.
Avoid that shadow on the ground, that is a falling rock. Jump!"
Oliver clenched his teeth and obeyed.
One step, two steps, three.
A boulder crashed down where he had just been, smashing the stone floor and sending fragments flying.
Fiona's arms tightened around his neck on reflex.
Oliver's lungs burned. His arms felt like they were holding a mountain. His legs moved anyway.
He could feel the cavern collapsing behind them.
The sound of stone breaking echoed again and again.
Dust filled his nose and mouth.
Bits of rock bounced off his shoulders and back.
"Right," Ethan snapped. "Now right. There is a split.
Take the one with more wind. That should be the way out."
Oliver turned, boots slipping for a moment on loose gravel.
He tightened his grip on Fiona and forced his feet to keep pushing forward.
It felt like he had been running for a long time, but in truth only a few breaths had passed.
Slowly, very slowly, the white blur in his eyes began to fade.
The smoke thinned.
A faint light appeared ahead of them, The exit.
"Senior…" Oliver gasped. "I am… still alive…"
"Focus," Ethan said. "We still in danger."
Fiona, still in his arms, glared up at him, her face red.
"Put me down," she hissed. "I could move by myself. And stop holding me so tight, I cannot even move my hands."
Oliver did not even look at her.
His sight finally cleared enough for him to see the mouth of the cavern ahead, a dark arch pouring out into the gray light of the valley.
Broken rocks still fell behind them, but the ceiling near the entrance looked more stable.
He ignored Fiona's protest, inhaled sharply, and forced his tired legs into one last sprint.
He dodged a falling stone, ducked under a low piece of ceiling, and rushed straight out of the cave.
Cool air hit his face.
They burst out of the darkness and into the open.
The heavy pressure inside the cavern loosened at once.
Oliver stopped a few steps outside and carefully set Fiona down on her feet.
His chest rose and fell like a bellows. His shirt clung to his back.
"I can really run that fast…" he muttered, half stunned.
Fiona rubbed her wrists and shot him another glare, but she did not say anything about the carry.
Her eyes went to the cave entrance instead, watching for movement.
Loose stones continued to tumble from the roof, then slowly stopped.
Behind them, the tunnel groaned, then collapsed on itself.
"That was close," Ethan said. "Another two breaths and you would have been buried."
Oliver let out a shaky laugh.
"We made it," he said. "We actually made it."
He looked up. His smile froze.
Because waiting for them outside was not hope.
In front of the cavern, the valley floor was no longer empty.
Figures stood there, shapes clear now that the dust in his eyes had finally faded.
Oliver's heart sank as his gaze fell on the first silhouette.
He wore a mask carved from dark wood.
On the left side of that mask, the same twisted mark as the cultists inside was engraved, like a horn wrapped around an eye.
Light armor covered his body. Two swords crossed on his back, hilts sticking out over his shoulders.
He stood quietly, but the air around him felt still, as if the wind itself was afraid to blow too hard near him.
Behind him, more than a dozen figures waited.
They all wore similar wooden masks and armor, some with staves, some with bows.
The same twisted symbol appeared somewhere on each of their bodies, whether on their masks, necks, or hands.
Scattered around the valley floor, several examinees lay on the ground.
They were tied up in rough ropes, stacked near a cart that looked like it had been prepared just for this purpose.
Some still groaned weakly. Most were unconscious.
Oliver's scalp went numb.
'So this is not just two rogue sorcerers,' he thought. 'They brought a whole group.'
Inside the sandal, Ethan went quiet for a breath.
'Trouble,' he thought. 'Big trouble.'
The masked leader tilted his head slightly.
His gaze moved from the collapsing cavern entrance to Oliver, then to Fiona, then to the Silver Moon Fox.
Oliver's brain spun.
'Run? No, impossible, we are right in front of them.
Fight? There are more than ten. Fiona is tired, I am half dead, Senior Ethan is just a sandal.
Fighting now is suicide. Think. Think. Think.'
He swallowed, forced his legs not to shake, and put on the bravest face he could manage.
"Ah…" Oliver said, raising one hand in a weak greeting.
"Hello. Sorry to bother you. We are just passing through.
We did not see anything. Really.
So if you pretend we are not here, we can also pretend you are not here.
How about that?"
Inside the bag, Ethan almost choked.
'This brat's mouth really moves on its own,' he thought.
A few of the masked cultists behind the leader made small snorting sounds.
The leader did not laugh. He watched Oliver for another breath, then slowly lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.
Two cultists stepped forward and tightened their grip on their weapons, but they did not attack yet.
They simply moved to block the path down the valley, making it clear that leaving would not be easy.
Fiona's mana flared at once.
Her killing intent, which had only faded a little after leaving the cavern, rose again even heavier than before.
The Silver Moon Fox's fur stood up, teeth bared toward the masked group.
"Cultists," Fiona said quietly. Her voice shook, but not from fear. "You even dare to attack the academy."
She lifted her hand slightly.
The hairpin on her head shone with a faint blue light, mana already beginning to gather around it again.
Oliver's fingers tightened around her wrist at once.
"Wait," he said quickly in a low voice. "Do not rush."
"Let go," Fiona hissed without looking at him. "They are all part of that group. I will not let them go."
The killing intent around her sharpened, pressing against his skin.
Oliver did not let go.
"We just escaped," he whispered, forcing his voice to stay calm.
"You are still tired. Your mana is low. I can barely stand.
They have more than ten people.."
Fiona's jaw clenched.
Her eyes stayed locked on the masked leader.
The mana around her did not calm down, but it stopped growing.
She did not withdraw her power.
She simply held it, ready to explode at any moment.
The Silver Moon Fox glanced sideways at Oliver's hand on Fiona's wrist, then back at the cultists. I
Inside the sandal, Ethan took the chance to breathe and pushed his senses out again.
'All of them have mana cores. The masked leader is the strongest.
The tied students are still alive… they want sacrifices or hostages.
That is at least one small good point.'
He focused on the leader's mask.
'If this follows the kind of rituals I have read about in novels, this will be a terrible idea for them,' Ethan thought.
'Our only hope is to stall until the academy sends someone.
Where are those so called sorcerers who promised to keep us safe?
Wait… could there be a traitor in the academy?'
The masked leader finally spoke.
"You two," he said, "came out of that cavern alive?"