Chapter 80: Separated

"Can you put it out?" Leon asked. He wasn’t sure if that was even possible, but the Mage seemed like it’s discipline was fire.

The bright magical flames disappeared as the Mage ended the spell, though several smaller patches continued burning across the remains those were no longer sustained by magic.

Leon pointed towards a shallow pile of loose grit near the wall.

"Smother those."

The Swordsman at the front used the flat of its blade to push grit over the body, while one of the Skirmishers scraped more down from the edge of the passage.

Leon waited around the bend with the Swordsman guarding him and the Mage standing nearby. By the time the others returned, the flames had been completely put out.

He let out a breath. He had considered using Flaming Whirlwind if several creatures attacked them at once, and though that might have been fine in a broad area with enough ventilation, using it inside a low chamber like this and maintaining it simply because he could would be a rather stupid way to trap himself.

His summons didn’t need to breathe, but he did.

"Keep the fire brief in here," Leon told the Mage.

He waited for the haze to thin before moving through the chamber, making sure to keep some distance between himself and the scorched remains.

The fight itself hadn’t been a problem. Two Grade Three monsters had attacked from different directions, yet neither had done more than slow them down for a few moments. Leon had even kept another Great Swordsman beside him throughout the entire fight.

As long as he remained properly protected, the monsters they had encountered in this dungeon weren’t much of a threat.

The ceiling and the air were what he needed to worry about more.

Beyond the chamber, the route divided again.

Leon stopped before reaching either opening and had the Mage use Detection.

This time, through the Mage’s detection spell, several presences appeared beyond the passage that sloped upwards. They were farther away than the lizards had been, but they were also close together.

Leon remained quiet and listened.

For some time, all he heard was the faint sound of rocks settling.

"Go and check the turn," he instructed one of the Skirmishers.

It returned shortly afterwards. The passage ahead was open, with fresh rubble along one wall and enough room for them to continue. There was still no sign of the people the Mage might have detected close enough.

That was if they were people.

Leon looked down the other branch. It sloped into darkness, and there was nothing he could see from his current position that made it any more useful.

He turned towards the rising passage.

"Same positions."

The forward Swordsman moved first. Leon followed behind with his guard beside him, while the Mage remained close and the two Skirmishers watched the nearby approaches.

At least he had a direction worth trying now.

Whether it actually led to the others was something they would have to find out.

The trick there was in the fact that simply become the entrance was to the direction of the far away presences, it didn’t mean it led there. A tunnel to the right may bend left further on, and one that was to the left might go the other way.

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.

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Elsewhere, a group of students was struggling with their own issues.

"Don’t stand up yet," Linda said as she caught a second-year girl by the shoulder, stopping her just as another stone bounced past the edge of the ledge.

The girl lowered herself back against the wall, breathing through her teeth as she tried not to move her injured leg. Blood had already soaked through the torn fabric around her calf.

Below them, dust covered most of the gallery.

Linda could hear people shouting, but the voices overlapped with the sound of rocks still falling in different places. She called out for their instructor, Mr. Lex and waited for an answer, but something crashed farther along the passage and swallowed whatever she might have heard.

Her Yeti stood at the opening of the small pocket they had climbed into, with one broad shoulder turned towards the gallery. Small fragments of stone were caught in its white fur, but it paid no attention to them as it watched the opening.

"Who’s hurt?" Bren asked.

He crouched beside the girl, though his left arm remained close to his body while his other hand pressed against his ribs.

"My leg," the girl answered.

"The rest of you?"

The other second-year, a boy with a lamp strapped to his chest, shook his head. Linda checked her own hands and legs before answering.

"Nothing serious. What about your arm?"

"Can’t lift it properly."

Bren tried to raise it once, but stopped almost immediately.

Linda looked past him towards the gallery before asking, "Your summon?"

"Had to put it away. A slab caught it while it was getting him up." Bren nodded towards the boy. "I can’t bring it back out for a while."

The boy opened his mouth, probably to say something about what had happened, but Bren was already reaching for the radio clipped to his belt.

"Mr. Lex? This is Bren. Four students on an upper ledge. One leg injury."

He waited for an answer before trying again. The display lit up normally, but no voice came through.

Linda also checked her phone, but there was no signal of course.

They called down into the gallery one more time. A distant shout reached them, though it was too muffled for any of them to understand. The boy took a step towards the edge, hoping to hear it better, but it sounded more like an echo of their own voices the more he listened.

"Stay back," Bren warned him. "We don’t know what’s holding that up."

Looking closer, Linda noticed a crack running across the edge of the ledge beneath the dust. She hadn’t seen it while they were climbing, which wasn’t surprising considering that she had been more concerned about not falling at the time.

She moved beside the Yeti without stepping onto the cracked section.

The path they had taken to reach the ledge was gone. A tilted slab now covered the lower part of the climb, while broken rocks were packed behind it. Even if they managed to climb down, they would still have to crawl beneath the fallen material to reach the gallery.

"We’re not going back that way," Linda said.

Bren followed her gaze for a moment before nodding.

"There’s an opening behind us."

"I’ll check it, but we should deal with her leg first."

Linda removed her bag and opened the outer compartment. The first-aid pouch was exactly where she had packed it. She took out a folded dressing and handed it to Bren before placing one of her bottles of water beside his knee.

"Can you manage?"

"Help me with the wrapping."

The boy remained nearby, unsure of what he was supposed to do, until Bren looked up at him.

"Bring out your summon and keep it at the back. Watch the opening and call us if anything moves."

A creature looking identical to a Russet Fox appeared beside the boy. It sniffed the ground for a moment before walking towards the back of the pocket.

Linda knelt beside the injured girl, checking her injury. There was a long cut across the outside of her calf, with grit stuck to the blood around it. Fortunately, Linda couldn’t see anything large lodged inside the wound.

"Can you move your foot?" Bren asked.

The girl moved her toes before pulling her foot back with a wince.

"It hurts when I put weight on it."

"Then don’t put all your weight on it."

The girl held the dressing against the wound while Linda poured some water over the skin around it. After that, Linda passed the bandage beneath her leg while Bren guided the wrapping with his good hand.

They secured the dressing without pulling it too tight.

Linda also found a spare triangular bandage and used it to support Bren’s injured arm. He tested the knot once before looking towards the boy.

"Take her bag and strap it close so it doesn’t swing around. I’ll help her walk."

"You only have one good arm," Linda pointed out.

"She can lean on my right side. If she can’t manage, we’ll stop and think of something else."

"I can try," the girl said quickly.

Linda packed the remaining supplies away, though she left the first-aid pouch near the top in case they needed it again.

For a moment, she remembered how carefully she had packed everything while her mother talked about what was expected of her during the expedition.

At least the preparation had proven useful. Seeing Leon before, she wondered if she had over packed, but it turned out to be useful in the end.

The girl reached for Bren’s shoulder while Linda picked up her bag and turned towards the passage behind them.

"Wait here until I call you." She said, before turning to her Yeti and issuing out a command.