Chapter 230 – Making a run for it.

“Go go go!”

“I’m going, holy fuck stop collapsing the corridors Wayland!”

The whole party of adventurers was running towards what was supposed to be the exit towards the pier. In the back was Roland who with each step was releasing a jolt of magical energy that continued to shoot out thick pillars of earth to block the path behind them.

“What did you see back there, Wayland?”

“Now is not the time, just keep running.”

Orson commented again while running a bit in front of the panicked Runesmith. No one from the party was able to see what came out of that hidden wall but they believed in their current party leader’s intuition and started running.

‘I didn’t expect them to be able to fool my radar but it does make sense, how else would they be able to hide their cult down there?’

The reason that Roland was running was linked to his detection device. The moment half of that wall slid open many red dots started appearing on the indicator. Yet this was not the scary part, besides the red ones he could see a different color that indicated a person belonging to the races together with the red ones.

It was clear that an actual Abyssal Cult member was together with a bunch of strong monsters which would complicate things. The monsters were strong in their own right but they lacked intelligence. Their attacks were easy to read as they would just toss themselves at the first person they saw. They gained some intelligence as they evolved but their movements were still mostly basic and locked to their cardinal instincts.

Yet with the appearance of a tamer or a handler the creatures would become ferocious weapons. The flying worm that was ramming into the costly Solarian ship was an example of such a use. Its might could compete with state-of-the-art magical technology that only a powerful faction like the sun church could afford.

‘Maybe if we are lucky whoever was controlling those monsters would let us be and focus on more important things?’

There was a small chance that whoever was behind those monsters would not see them as a large threat but it wouldn’t be so. After the creatures entered the corridors they were now showing up on the radar. The cultists clearly had something to confuse his detection device along with the scouting classes. If they were able to keep themselves hidden from tier 3 thieves then his little runic radar would certainly not be able to pierce through the veil.

“Shit, the entrance be closed thar best be somethin’…Did those bastards break the openin’ tool? How are we supposed t’ open it now?”

Finally, they arrived at the end of the tunnel yet what awaited them was another wall. Isabela was the first one to notice the hole to the side where the opening mechanism would normally be. She had gone through this part and seen other thieves activating it but now there was nothing there to press.

“Grisalde…”

“I’m on it.”

While looking behind himself to check on the pillars that were blocking the way Roland called out to Grisalde. The large woman didn’t need a direct order as she grabbed her heavy axe with both of her hands. Her muscles started contracting forcing her physique to become even more chiseled than before.

The axe collided with the hard wall but instead of it going through it only produced some cracks. This was not just a simple wall, it was reinforced by the thieves guild to make it hard for anyone unwelcome to descend into their tunnels. Even though Grisalde was a high level gold rank adventurers she would not be able to get through there with only one swing.

“Let me halp ye witht dat lassie.”

Dalrak decided to help out by bashing the wall with his tower shield to produce more cracks. Perhaps if they had a proper sledgehammer they would have been able to get it down in a shorter timeframe but without them, it would take a minute.

“Something is coming… I can hear their voices.”

Senna could tell that a bunch of monsters were arriving from behind them. The rock pillars that Roland produced were hastily created and could only slow them down slightly. To Senna’s surprise when the groans of the monsters got louder they were dampened by some kind of explosion.

This was another surprise that Roland had left for their pursuers. While one leg was used to raise earth up to block the path his other was leaving behind trap spells. They had a similar way of working to his mine scrolls but at a diminished rate. Their biggest drawback was that the mana would dissipate rapidly but for this encounter, they were the perfect mana mines.

“The explosions aren’t stopping them?”

Roland was actually surprised by the fact that their enemies were still continuing with their chase. He expected the tunnels to collapse on top of the monsters after they passed through them to block their approach. But when looking at the ceiling he understood that it wasn’t easy to make this place crumble. Whoever created this tunnel was a master at their craft, bringing down the ceiling would require a much bigger blast than the tier 2 explosive spell that he created while running away.

“Can you get through the door?”

“Fuck, I’m trying… some shit left a metal grate inside this damn rock…”

Now this was troublesome, he could see the rocky wall crumbling in various places but not going down. Even Grisalde who could probably generate more physical power than he could not break through it. Her weapon was the one that was becoming bent out of shape after colliding with the metallic reinforcement this wall was created around.

‘There is not time…’

“Everyone move away from the wall and cover your faces, I’ll break through it with a spell.”

While it might have been possible to bust through that wall by his party members there just wasn’t enough time. The explosive trap spells were being constantly set off but the red dots on his radar continued to push towards their location. It was clear that these creatures would arrive here shortly and they needed to get outside promptly.

When the other adventurers saw Roland take out a glistering gem to place it on his chest they knew what he was about to do. Without questioning him they all jumped to the sides to give enough room for the beam that was coming. This confused the three pirate-like women that needed to be pulled behind Darlak’s tower shield for safety.

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Just like in the village his armor started glowing with the highest concentration being focused on the chest area. The runes had been repaired beforehand which would allow him to fire this beam of concentrated energy at the highest output.

‘I can’t use up all of my mana, the wall is already partially broken…’

This time around the situation was not as dire. He wasn’t against a tier 3 monster that could regenerate itself constantly. The only thing before him was a wall that was reinforced with what looked to be regular steel. Grisalde’s axe that wasn’t of the utmost quality was already able to bend it out of shape, what he needed to do now is aim at the weak spot and finish it.

“Shiver me timbers!”

After hearing Isabela’s surprised tone when producing a sentence that he only expected to hear in pirate movies the beam went off. It traveled at a rapid pace and quickly connected with the middle of the wall. The whole place was instantly lit up in red in the same color as the gem that he inserted. It took a few moments but the beam started to quickly melt through the wall before producing a loud bang.