Chapter 130: Just Trying to Cling to a Powerhouse |
Wright let out a breath of relief when he saw Byron hadn’t done anything foolish. He immediately caught up and asked the key question.
“People from the Land Drifters are likely waiting for us outside. What’s the plan—force our way through?”
The three of them moved quickly; the exit was already within reach.
“As soon as we get out, I’ll release a fog to blur our visuals and send out a signal from the Wizard Tower. If the Land Drifters don’t want to start a feud with the Wizard Tower, they should know to stand down.”
“What if they keep attacking us?” Wright clenched his fists. From Saul’s earlier descriptions, there were likely a lot of enemies outside. “Are we fighting our way out? There’s a three-mast ship out there—it belongs to the Land Drifters.”
“We can’t afford to get pinned down,” Bill disagreed. “The wraiths might not come out under the sunlight, but it’s already getting late. We have to get out of Hanging Hand Valley as fast as possible. We can’t let them trap us here. Once we’re out, use the fog I release to find a weak spot and break through.”
Wright tightened his fists. A three-mast ship usually wouldn’t carry a True Wizard. As long as they were careful with Herman, they still had a good shot at escaping together.
Byron, who was running in front, didn’t join the discussion.
He remained silent, seemingly still wrestling with thoughts about Saul.
That wraith had been trying to devour their souls from the moment it appeared. If it had caught up to Saul…
Well, the outcome was easy to imagine.
Soon, the three of them could already see sunlight shining from the cave’s mouth.
Byron suddenly reached into his mouth and pulled out three test tubes.
Just before stepping out, he flung the test tubes forward.
The fragile glass shattered on contact with the rocks, instantly releasing a thick white smoke that engulfed the cave entrance.
Bill glanced sideways at Byron, knowing full well that this meant he didn’t trust him.
Naturally, Bill didn’t fully trust Byron either.
He stood at the entrance and opened his mouth—similar white fog began pouring out.
But just as his fog began to spread, something slammed into the cave entrance.
“Boom—!”
The ground shook violently. The entrance collapsed, and rubble tumbled down.
A cloud of dust and debris swallowed everything.
The Land Drifters had opened fire.
Wright dropped into a crouch behind the other two and pressed both hands to the ground. A towering earth wall sprang up instantly.
Though the entrance had been blown apart, revealing much of the cave below, more smoke began to pour from the underground depths as the earth continued to collapse.
The fog now covered a vast area, making it impossible to tell where it was coming from.
Suddenly, a dark mass shot into the sky and exploded against the blue backdrop, blooming into a massive black rose.
As the rose bloomed, its petals fluttered down, emitting eerie laughter as they scraped through the air.
It was the Wizard Tower’s signal.
Yet the attacks from outside didn’t cease in response to this display of identity. Instead, they grew even more intense and frantic.
Shell after shell dropped from the cliffs, turning the valley floor into a cratered wasteland.
But amid the artillery, three figures burst from a crevice.
Bill was surrounded by a swirling mist, his figure flickering between visible and obscured. Then one image became two, and then many more.
No one could tell which was the real one.
Another shell came flying.
A glint of killing intent flashed in Bill’s eyes.
The fog around him, which had seemed insubstantial, transformed into soft foam the moment the shell touched it.
Though the shell plunged into the foam, it lost all its force.
By the time it broke through the fog and hit the ground, it was just a hunk of iron, clanking into the dirt with nothing but a dull thud.
There weren’t as many Land Drifters as they’d feared.
In order to avoid their own bombardment, they had positioned themselves far from the exit—making it harder for them to form a proper encirclement.
That actually made it easier for the trio to escape.
Bill glanced at the others.
Wright wasn’t a concern—his earth-based magic was perfect for defense.
But what shocked Bill was that Byron hadn’t made a run for it.
He had broken away from the group and was heading toward the tunnel they had originally used to descend underground—the one Saul had found, located on the cliff face.
“What is he doing?” Bill’s pupils shrank as an almost unbelievable thought flashed through his mind.
Byron completely ignored everyone else and, still carrying Nick, charged into the tunnel on the cliff.
He walked deep into it, chose a random side path, and set Nick down.
He then pulled a few more small vials from his mouth and placed them beside Nick.
“Closing yourself off won’t solve the real problem.”
Leaving just those words, Byron turned and stepped into the tunnel leading back down underground.
After he left, Nick—who had been unconscious—slowly opened his eyes.
Confusion, fear, pain, sorrow… a storm of negative emotions surged in Nick’s gaze, twisting his face into something almost demonic.
But after a moment, Nick struggled to his feet and stared into the tunnel before him.
“Is Byron going to save Saul?” he muttered, trying to suppress the waves in his heart. “What’s the point now? Does he really think Saul could still be alive?”
His hand clawed at the rough stone wall, fingertips instantly bleeding.
The pain helped clear his head a little. “Bill must’ve made a move against Saul. The struggle between mentors… how could a Second Rank apprentice like me get involved? Sending Saul to Grind Sail Town was already a huge risk.”
He lingered there in the tunnel, wrestling with himself, telling himself to keep his head down.
And yet, Nick’s feet moved on their own. He stepped forward, following Byron into the downward path.
“I’m just doing this to cling to the Tower Master’s leg.”
He echoed the words Saul once used, trying to convince himself.
…
The shelling had been going on for a while now, but physical bombardment wasn’t proving very effective against a group of Third Rank wizard apprentices.
On the Land Drifters’ side, one apprentice finally lost his patience. He hurried over to Herman—dressed in silver—and shouted, “Lord Herman, we’ve used up a lot of shells. At this rate, we’ll run out soon. Should we stop and send in troops instead?”
Herman shot him a cold glance.
“Do you realize they’re Third Rank apprentices from the Wizard Tower? Send troops in? With useless trash like you? Keep shelling. Drain their magic reserves and magical tools dry!”
Herman gently twisted his right hand—there was a fresh scar there, just beginning to heal.
He had briefly clashed with two from the Wizard Tower’s side down in the caves, and the wound came from that fight.
Herman didn’t believe his strength was below any one of them. But going up against multiple foes at once had still been difficult. The few Third Rank apprentices at his side were nothing more than order-following deadweight.
He still didn’t know exactly how many opponents the Wizard Tower had sent, so he had to wear them down first.
Under these circumstances, long-range bombardment was the obvious choice.
“What a shame about that boy…” Herman narrowed his eyes. “When he fled, he seemed to know exactly which tunnels were safe and which were dangerous. Is he familiar with the terrain… or does he just have an uncanny danger sense?”
Either possibility piqued Herman’s curiosity.
He no longer felt the need to kill the boy. If possible, Herman even wanted to capture him and study him thoroughly.
Cut open every inch of his skin, dig out his brain, and find out what had given him that survival instinct.
(End of Chapter)
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