With Aurora holding him tightly behind, Atticus reached the hatch of the prison pit, opening it slightly.
His gaze landed on the forms of the guards he had killed. 'They're still standing, good,' he thought.
After that, he turned and focused on the guards on each of the watch towers. Luckily, they were currently in the process of switching their positions.
'More or less 10 seconds to get to the first artillery, and then I'll think of a way to sneak past them and get outside the camp,' Atticus strategized.
Atticus could hear faint murmurs and curse remarks coming from the students below him. They were each trying to climb the smooth and edgeless walls but were failing miserably; not everyone had good mana control like Atticus.
What was worse, they weren't being even the least bit subtle about it! This was exactly why he had no intention of taking them along.
The guards on the watchtower finished their exchange, and Atticus instantly and subtly moved out from the pit, closing the hatch quietly.
With lightning speed, he dashed towards the nearest artillery piece, using it as cover and maneuvering towards the other side. Seeing the coast was clear, Atticus moved fast, dashing towards the next artillery, closest to where he had made his entry into the camp.
Aurora clung silently to Atticus's back, holding him tightly with her intense gaze also scanning the area.
As he got to the first artillery, Atticus suddenly paused, making sure he was completely out of sight from the guards.
Then, he looked around carefully, checking for anyone walking around that he should be wary of. Seeing none, Atticus waited for the guards to exchange positions once more so he could observe them and figure out how to escape.
Moving around the camp was completely different from stepping out of it. He didn't have the luxury of the usual 10 seconds. This time around, if he was lucky, he would barely get 3 seconds. 'I'll have to make do,' he thought.
Just as Atticus started observing the guards, trying to map out their lines of sight, he suddenly felt a strong grip on his shoulder.
Atticus instantly knew it was Aurora and he turned, wondering why she called his attention.
He saw Aurora looking back at the direction they had come from while gripping him tightly. As he followed her gaze, Atticus' eyes widened.
His plan had always been to leave the camp before the students could even climb the pit, so it wasn't surprising that none of the students had reached the top.
What made Atticus's heart grip was the fact that one of the guards he had killed and forced to stand was falling down. Even worse, the exchange was currently going on; in half a second, the guard would be spotted!
Atticus's mind spun, his perception ramped up into full speed, his thoughts oddly clear.
He couldn't reach there in time without being seen, and they would most definitely raise an alarm upon sighting him. Atticus had no idea what would happen, but he was sure escaping would become harder should it happen.
At this point, Atticus's plan of leaving the camp silently was becoming impossible.
With swift movement, Atticus's hand gravitated towards Zekaron's space storage, a piece of blue cloth appearing in his hand in the next instant. He grabbed a stone from the floor, using the cloth to wrap the stone.
Atticus bit his index finger, focused on his will and mana, and deftly engraved the word "mine," focusing on his intent, while Aurora observed quietly. This was the first time she would see Atticus engrave.
Atticus channeled his mana into the rune, and with a mana-augmented arm, his hand flickered, the rune piercing through the air towards one of the large tents in the middle of the camp.
Atticus felt a slight wave of demotivation hit him, but he fought it off. Luckily, it hadn't been too severe.
Despite this, Atticus's gaze remained focused on the forest. He only had a slight chance where everyone's focus would be taken.
The rune hit the tent, and a explosion instantly ensued, rocking the whole space. From the very beginning, Atticus hadn't been planning a large explosion; it was a grade one rune, after all. Regardless, it had been loud, and that was all he wanted.
The gaze of all the guards in the watchtowers snapped towards the direction of the tent that was now engulfed in flames.
This was exactly what Atticus had been waiting for.
Atticus's form exploded as he instantly crossed the distance, scaling over the small wooden fence of the camp.
Atticus let all his inhibitions go as he focused even more mana into his legs, his speed doubling. He had restricted his speed before because he wanted to be as silent as possible. But now that he was already out of the camp, Atticus left it all out.
Despite the fact that Atticus had wanted to leave without anyone noticing, he had felt a few gazes on him during his run. But Atticus didn't once stop; now that he was already out of the camp, he just had to keep going.
The earth trembled with intensity as Ilia's ginormous form ran out of his tent. Fortunately for him, Atticus's rune had hit the second tent instead of his.
"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!!!"
His whole body looked slimy and filled with sweat, his already tight clothes sticking to his body even tighter. It was quite obvious that simply running such a short distance had been draining.
But despite his huffing and puffing, Ilia maintained his serious gaze as he looked at the burning tent, feeling the remnants of mana in the air.
His gaze snapped to the side towards the pit where the students were being held, his eyes narrowed as they landed on the forms of the youth who had just started coming out from the pit and then the guards on the floor.
'No, it can't be them, the guards are already dead. They had outside help.'