Chapter 171 Realization and Panic!
Chapter 171
'The enemies have already infiltrated inside through the barrier!'
His heart sank as the realization settled in.
The room felt colder, the walls seeming to close in as he absorbed the full weight of the situation.
The enemy was undoubtedly powerful, and they were most likely the targets.
Either it was a kidnapping to threaten the five major clans or simply a move to eliminate them all once and for all.
Whatever it was, nothing good was going to happen.
He turned around quickly and surveyed the hall.
It was empty.
Eerily empty aside from them.
"Everyone, let's get inside. The hall is not safe. It is likely that the enemy has already entered the barrier surrounding the mountain and is heading right where we are."
"What!?" Amber exclaimed in panic.
"We can't waste time; we need to go as deep inside as possible, possibly around the mountains, to make the enemy detection as difficult as possible."
Before they could ask any questions, Evelyn cut in with an equally serious voice.
"Guys, no time for questions, we should just do as he says. Oliver seems sure of it, right, Oliver?" she asked.
"Right, hurry up now!"
"Fuck!"
The group quickly entered through the door, locking it behind them.
Amber quickly activated the special lock on the door. It was the only entry to enter the mountains from the hall.
They quickly started running inside as fast as they could without even stopping or looking back for a second.
The sound of their hurried footsteps echoed ominously through the narrow corridor, adding to the tension.
"Wait!" Amber shouted, making the group pause.
"What happened?" Daniel asked her.
They were close to exiting into the back mountains.
"Let me set up a special array here," she said.
"We don't have time for that," Oliver urged.
"Don't worry, it won't take long. It's already been inscribed onto scrolls. Just a few moments."
Amber quickly kneeled down and took out a special scroll. With some modifications to it, the scroll started to glow in a bright color before a translucent array formed on the ground and then disappeared.
"It's a special trap array. If the enemies follow us, it will automatically activate and stop them."
With that, they quickly escaped back into the mountains.
Oliver didn't lead them towards the dorms at all. The dorms were very close to the hall, and it was a risky option.
BOOM!
They heard a loud booming sound behind them.
The group's expressions paled as this was most likely the arrays they had set on the door locks.
The enemies were already behind them.
'Fuck! How do they know where we are going?' Oliver cursed as he used [Cosmic Void Gaze] to see something terrifying in the distance.
There were three individuals emitting a terrifying black espera following the path they had used to escape.
They were following the exact same path as they did, almost as if they were somehow tracking them.
'Did they put a tracking mark on any of us before coming here?' he thought darkly. This was the only possible scenario.
Just the amount of espera radiating from their bodies alone was overbearing. He didn't think that they would be a match for those three individuals following after them.
"Amber." He called out to the girl who looked towards him. "Do you know how to activate a teleportation array?"
She was the only one among them with some prior knowledge about arrays and runes.
Her eyes trembled slightly as she understood what he was expecting from her. However, she could only shake her head in defeat.
"I don't. It's a very high-level and complex array. I only know a little about basic arrays."
'This is almost a dead end,' Oliver thought severely.
"How many life-saving treasures do you guys have? Does any of you have a space-attribute or related life-saving artifact?" Oliver questioned the group.
He knew such rare artifacts existed in this world that could save the lives of their users by teleporting them far away from danger.
"I have one but it requires to be charged and I did not bother filling it with espera." Amber shook her head, she never expected their situation to become so worse.
Clearly their clans hadn't thought about it either, Sigfor and Alison held a great deal of influence and reputation in the exorcist world, it felt natural for the clans to entrust them with their security.
The fact that Alison was a neutral party and did not have a biased opinion towards any clan further let the clans trust her more.
Otherwise, no matter how friendly two clans were, they would never leave their heirs alone with the other without proper security.
With Alison being in the center, it assured clans that the other clans would not be able to interfere with their heir's training and influence things and everything will be under supervision of Sigfor and Alison.
However, Alison was not present on the mountain at the moment, she had gone with Bella to train her special element.
There was a silence in the group as they looked at each other.
"None of you have it?" Oliver sighed. It was understandable. However, he did not lose hope, there were many things he could do.
"It doesn't look like any of us have them. I have heard of such artifacts from my mother. I am sure our clans could have never expected that we would be attacked in such a place and that too under the eyes of Elder Sigfor and Teacher Alison," Amber said with a wry smile.
"Listen… the enemy cannot be avoided. The elder is busy with the enemies from outside, and we can only depend on ourselves. Don't hesitate to use whatever artifacts you have. We are going to face them head-on."
The gravity of Oliver's words settled heavily on everyone, their faces set with grim determination.
"Do you have a plan?" Evelyn asked with determined eyes. She was ready to fight.
"Fuck yes! I ain't scared of no one! Count me in," Daniel smirked and said.
"Alright then, I don't really call it a plan, but we will be taking them on prepared. Assuming there are three intruders, we will engage them together in pairs."
"Wait, what if there are more than three? Why only three?" Alphonso suddenly asked.
Oliver's brow furrowed as he answered "If there are more than three, we'll have to adapt. For now, let's focus on the immediate threat. We can reassess if needed."
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