As it turned out, the Loading bay was a bustling hub of activity despite it already being late afternoon by the time we arrived.

Dozens of students and seasoned mages alike were either resting after a successful expedition or getting ready to delve into the Labyrinth to explore its mysterious depths.

All around us, we could hear the busy clatter of countless crates and boxes being filled and loaded with the various goods brought from the great chasm by one of the many scavenging parties.

That's why when the jacked old man started walking toward us, it took me a moment to register his presence. "Here for the hauling job?" he barked sharply while squinting his eyes at us.

I looked up, only to freeze when I laid my eyes on him. 'Wow! He's really something else...'

From his tall, muscular build all the way to the jagged bastard sword hanging on his back, he looked more like a mix between a seasoned beast hunter and a bloodthirsty cutthroat rather than a respectful mage.

Still, I could tell he was a mage by that tattered crimson robe he wore loosely around his broad shoulders.

Gil appeared to be equally taken aback, so it took him a moment to utter an awkward reply. "Y-Yes, sir! That's us."

"Good... My name is Wulfric, and I oversee the Loading bay. You two look a bit young and scrawny to my taste, but it'll do... The gods know we need every hand we can get thanks to that damn incident."

"Incident?" I immediately perked up as I didn't quite like the sound of it.

"Ah, don't worry... It's nothing serious, just a bit annoying, that's all." The burly Overseer scoffed, trying to wave it off.

However, neither of us looked particularly convinced, so after a short staring contest, Master Wulfric sighed and decided to give us an explanation.

"It's just that a few days ago, another fissure developed in the guard wall, spewing out monsters from below..." he began, which raised my eyebrow and caused Gil to give the Overseer a look of pure horror. This certainly didn't sound like a minor inconvenience at all.

"Heh!" Master Wulfric chuckled after seeing our alarmed expressions. "I'm guessing this is your first time down here, right?"

"Uhm, yeah..." Gil gave him a weak nod.

"Thought so... It's actually not that big of a deal as it happens quite often, and we have plenty of procedures for it. Unfortunately, some idiot apprentice thought starting a fight in the main access shaft was a great idea, thus causing the whole thing to collapse."

"Oh... Huh? Wait... So how are we supposed to deliver the goods to the kitchens, then?" Gil asked confusedly.

"Heh... Now you see the mess we're in. Until the maintenance crews repair the cave-in, we must haul the cargo through the auxiliary shafts by hand since the carts won't fit." He said while pointing at a set of narrow openings at the far side of the spacious cavern.

'Oh, great! Even more complications, just what we needed...' I thought frustratingly but made sure not to let it show on my face. I then resumed listening to Master Wulfric's terse orders.

"...Start with those boxes over there... We had a fresh delivery of Abbysmorph eggs this morning, so we need to move them to the cold room immediately."

Since I still wasn't very familiar with the local customs, I let my crafty roommate handle the proceedings. I simply nodded absentmindedly while curiously looking around the Loading bay as I waited.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait for long. It seemed that Master Wulfric was a very busy man, so after giving us a quick barrage of instructions, he promptly dismissed us and walked off to deal with another group of novices nearby.

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We then made our way to the specific area he showed us, where I could see a large pile of boxes neatly stacked upon each other. 'Ugh, it's those weird-ass eggs again...' I grimaced.

Some party must have cleared a whole nest of those monsters to collect so many of them. It also looked like they were in a hurry to process them right away, as they seemed to spoil rather quickly. 'I guess that's why they pay so much for each crate we bring in.'

I briefly weighed the box in question, and it was surprisingly light, so I decided to take two of them at once, thinking I could make some decent money on this run.

From what Gil told me earlier, you could get around 1-2 fragments by doing mundane tasks like running errands or transcribing notes, which could take you anywhere from a few hours to an entire day. So, a whole soul coin was, therefore, worth about a week of work for most students.

Of course, there were many better-paying jobs out there—those that involved using magic, that is. However, not many first-years could afford to take on such jobs. Not only were they not very adept at casting spells yet, but they also needed their essence for actual practice during lessons to not impede their path's progress.

That's why this was a surprisingly great opportunity, and I had to give it to Gil for finding such a good-paying job.

Speaking of which, now that I was done with my preparations, I turned around to see how my eccentric roommate was doing. Yet when I saw him, I couldn't help but blink. 'Is he for real?'

Gil was standing there trying his best to balance out four boxes at once. 'What is that idiot doing? He won't be able to fight or run like that...' Still, in the end, I simply shook my head and decided not to say anything.

After all, if it came to a fight, he wouldn't be of any use anyway since he still couldn't cast any spells.

All done, it was then finally time to head back. Since we couldn't use the main shaft, we had to choose one of the side tunnels. After a quick deliberation, we decided to pick the middle one, as it looked the most roomy of the three.

Still, we both inadvertently gulped down after seeing the dark maw of the eerie opening before us. 'I think I'm now starting to understand why this job isn't normally given to the first-years...'

With arms full of Abysmorph eggs, we had to fasten our lanterns to the tops of the boxes so that we could see where we were going.

There was supposed to be some sort of elevator up ahead that we had to locate, which was being used to get the cargo directly to the kitchens on the upper floor.

I wasn't a big fan of dark, damp tunnels, as they reminded me of that one time I got lost in a cave after being sent to pick flowers for Isadora back in Ereneth. Still, it was too late to back out, so I reluctantly soldiered on.

As we trudged up the narrow tunnel, the weight of the crates bearing down on our arms, I couldn't shake an uneasy feeling. The shadows seemed to writhe and dance in the flickering light, and every scrape of our boots against stone echoed ominously through the winding passages.

Then, Gil, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped, and I barely managed to avoid bumping into him and scattering my precious cargo. "Why did you stop?"

"Did you hear that?" Gil whispered, his voice barely audible.

I paused, straining my ears. At first, there was nothing but the steady water drip from unseen crevices. Then, I caught a faint sound. It reminded me of leaves rustling in the morning breeze.

I listened some more, trying to hear it again, but there was only silence. "I think I heard something for a moment, but it was too faint to be sure..."

"What do you think it was?" Gil turned over, eyes wide.

I shrugged my shoulders. "How should I know? It was you who picked this job, remember?"

"Well, I'm sure it was just a wind... but for all cases, let's hurry up, yeah?" Gil muttered, but it seemed like it was more to convince himself than me.

I nodded, and we resumed our slow march forward. It's not like we could actually hurry up while being weighed down by all those crates we were carrying.

'I don't like this...' The silence that now surrounded us was deafening, like the quiet before the storm.

I tried my best to make sure we weren't being followed by any stray monsters that might have escaped the notice of the Masters, but with the Labyrinth's interference, my magic sense wasn't working properly, so I could only cover a small area around us.

The fact that the only thing separating us from the great chasm was a few meters of fractured rock in the tunnel's wall certainly didn't help.

Then, as we rounded the next bend, the sound came back, but now it sounded more like the scratching of countless tiny legs on the rock.

I came to a stop as the scratching grew louder and louder, accompanied by a high-pitched snarl that sent chills down my spine. 'Yeah, that's not a damn wind...'

Suddenly, a strong gust came down the tunnel, blowing out our lanterns and plunging us into darkness. Cursing, I immediately dropped my two crates to the ground and hurriedly summoned a small flame to my palm to see what was going on.

I could hear Gil shouting something intangible, but I paid it no attention because right as the flame's bright orange glow illuminated our surroundings, I froze.

What I saw emerging from the shadows before us made my blood run cold.