-Within the Mountain-
*Bam*Crack*
Below the mountain, Cabrera's hands never stopped moving as he smashed his pickaxe against the thick walls over and over again.
The large beads of sweat covering his face and the veins snaking across his body were evidence of how taxing such movements were.
At this point in time, a loud sound resounded and Cabrera looked over to see Fredrick standing behind him.
Before he could say a word, Fredrick rushed forward and spoke with an urgent tone.
"We have to move fast. We are shorter on time than I originally thought"
Cabrera spoke as he pointed towards the walls where mana stones lay…
"So we are going to leave all this behind?!"
"No, we're taking them. Step back"
Cabrera moved out of the way as he watched Fredrick get into stance. Frederick then started quickly breaking out the mana stones with his fists.
*Jijijijijijiji*
Cabrera almost couldn't believe his eyes, but he was forced to as he found himself staring in awe.
'So this is the power of a Master-rank Knight'
At the same time, he also felt dread as he gulped nervously, putting himself in the position of the stone wall.
'I could go on for about five seconds at best, after that…'
The rest didn't need to be said as Cabrera felt a chill go down his spine, inwardly swearing never to get on Fredrick's bad side.
The stones weren't too many - Cabrera had already mined a fair share of them - so Fredrick was done after two minutes.
He swiped his forehead and spoke to Cabrera…
"Get in here, then I'll go get the boys"
Before Cabrera could ask any question, Fredrick touched his shoulder and sucked him into his ring, before rushing upwards by jumping along the wide hole.
In record time, Fredrick arrived at the lowest level of the mountain and dashed out of it through the hole Ilyon made. He then passed through the fog of dust while avoiding snakes and men swinging their weapons blindly, before arriving at the part of the mountain he had smashed into when Rowan slammed him with his sword and entering the mountain once more.
His fast movements across the fog further intensified chaos by spooking the adventurers who heard a whoosh beside them.
It was at this moment that the wind mage blew a gust of wind that blew a quarter of the fog away.
The adventurers were surprised at the sudden change but stayed their hand - mostly because they were all exhausted.
At the same time, the subtle vibrations Fredrick felt from afar were now loud enough that even they heard them.
That, along with the clear sound of something being sliced, pulled all eyes to look at a group of thirty, but less than forty culling through the swarm of snakes from behind.
A mix of both genders dressed in armor of different colors cut through the swarm with ease. The difference in skill between them and those before was apparent to the naked eye.
Of course, it wasn't all of them.
But the majority showed skill.
*Bam!*
Among them was a man with brown skin and hair or the same color, but filled with bands of white. He was clad in red armor with no helmet and had a buff build, not up that of Motavu, but with muscles better refined. Befitting such strength, he wielded a great sword taller than him and used it to decimate the snakes in droves.
"Oi! What are you posers doing? Put your back into it!"
His voice brought light to the eyes of those filled with despair.
Specifically, the men who had followed Motavu.
"It's the guild master!"
"Guild master! The guild master's here!"
The guilders of Red Wolf howled and called out to their leader.
Naturally, he didn't come alone.
"Brothers!"
A slew of twelve buff people stood by his side and supported in culling the snakes.
The people working in the missionary also stood beside them and, along with the others, quickly cut the tide of snakes like dry weed.
The ground, which had already been charred black and filled with ash of burnt trees, formed cracks as the adventurers unleashed their power.
They quickly arrived in front of the first group. By now, the wind mage had completely dispelled the dust fog, revealing the terror of the hour long battle against the beasts and among themselves.
"Guild master, you've arrived"
The tone of relief was apparent within the voice of the Red Wolf guilders.
But the guild master didn't reply.
Rather, he didn't know what to say.
'I had hoped things hadn't gone too bad, but it's far worse than I thought'
The number of guilders that appeared in front of him were only four.
It took only a moment for the meaning to set in.
'They're all dead'
But the guild master didn't want to believe it. No, he couldn't even accept it.
Only, he had no choice but to do so.
The bodies mangled on the ground along with those of the snakes were enough proof.
It was a terrible situation, and it meant a dark future for the guild.
But even then, wasn't this too much?
The guild master's eyes darted all over the place with a grave face as he wondered…
'Why is he not here?! Did something happen?'
He was becoming anxious to find out what happened to the vice guild master-
"NO!"
-and quite unfortunately, it didn't take him long to do so.
"Guild master? Guild master!"
The guilders behind him were flustered when he suddenly ran off and hastily followed behind him.
The voice of the Red Wolf guild master boomed out with pain as he ran towards a body that seemed awfully familiar.
The guild master desperately wished his eyes were mistaken.
But reality shattered his fantasies.
"No…"
The guild master stopped in his tracks once he got in adequate distance and slumped to the ground on his knees, his fist smashing into the ground.
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
The guilders following behind him slowed down, and once they saw the body in the distance, an air of silence permeated as none moved nor said a word.
In front of them was the figure of their vice guild master Motavu lying on the ground with his armor now ragged to the extreme and a sword impaled into his stomach.
The light in his eyes had faded long ago, and his body was already rotting.
This was the effect of using up his life force. His body had become nothing but waste material and was now decomposing.
At the same time…
"Sir Rowan! I've found the admiral!"
The missionaries all rushed towards the body of Rowan, lying in a newly formed pool of blood with armor very dusty, dirty, and damaged.
Like Motavu, light had faded from his eyes.
But unlike Motavu, the missionare made no exclamation.
It showed his professionalism.
He simply turned from the body to face a woman clad in silver armor with her arms crossed behind him, who asked…
"Well?"
"The admiral is dead"
The woman took a deep breath, and continued.
"Do you know how he died?"
"I don't, not yet at least. But I do know a few things though. He was stabbed in the side with what should be either a knife or a dagger"
"Are you saying that's what killed him?"
"I'm saying that's part of it. Some of his bones are also broken"
"Hmm-"
She turned to those behind her.
"-where is the beast that did this?"
It was then…
Someone suddenly exclaimed.
"Where is it?!"
It immediately pulled the attention of others as they stared in the direction the person was looking at.
Only then did the people notice the absurdity.
"Huh? Where did it go?!"
"Who took it?!"
"It was just there a minute ago, what happened?!"
The body of the snake they had clearly seen Rowan kill…was nowhere to be seen!
It had vanished into thin air!
Some thought they were hallucinating. And they might have believed it, if it wasn't for the large gash imprinted in the earth as evidence of Rowan's killing sword strike.
But such evidence only served to confuse them even more, because…
"How is this possible?!"
The more they looked, the greater the shock.
Even the scales that were shed had disappeared from sight.
The atmosphere became tense as those who had just survived saw such an ordeal and looked at each other with prying eyes.
The ordeal wasn't over just yet.
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