We made our way through the monsters by running and slaughtering them, in an attempt to escape from the square. The little girl was just behind us, close enough to defend her without problems.

"The street is about 200 meters long, at this speed we should continue for another 3 minutes" Mel explained as he fought a gorilla-like beast

"Once outside we will be surrounded, so we must be able to defend ourselves but at the same time to advance quickly, I think it is optimal to take a rumble formation" Ton intervened

They seem to understand each other well, and speak as if what they are saying is obvious, I think they are simplifying the speech to make me understand the meaning of their decisions better, however it seems like a good idea.

"Who will be the tip?" I asked

"It will be Mel" Ton answered smiling at me "I have an important task for you, you will have to carry the child while you fight, do you think you are capable of it?"

"Yes, but it would be more useful if she were tied up, so I can have my arms free." I replied "Anyway, what's the need to carry her, couldn't she follow us like she's doing now?"

"We'll have to speed up the pace, the little girl would find it hard to keep up with us"

"I understand, it makes sense, but my movements with her on top will be limited, don't expect anything from me" I explained

"No problem, do your best."

"Sure, I don't want to die here"

"We'll take a rumble formation, Mel will be the point and Gru and I will be on either side of it while Roseth will be the tail" Ton yelled to pass the message to the whole group.

"Can I ask you a question," I asked

"Go ahead, kid," Ton replied

"You, well... let's say you don't look like normal civilians, even if you don't look like experts you are very resistant and organised"

"We are students from Nirose's academy, me Mel, Gru and the 5 guys you saw fighting in a group with me, all 8 of us were here to say hello to our families, but when we arrived there was chaos and we remained shut up in this square"

"And what about your families? Are all fine?" I asked.

Ton didn't answer, his gaze remained serious, but I understood that the subject had touched him, probably none of them knew what happened to their families.

"We don't know where they are or if they're still alive, we just hope they're okay" Mel intervened breaking the silence.

"Oh, I'm Sorry"

"What about you," asked Mel, "didn't you have a family?"

"What about you," asked Mel, "didn't you have a family?"

Now that I think about it I haven't seen my mother since I hit her, she will most likely have already been killed, Marsal will be very sad when he finds out it.

"Excuse me Roseth, if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay"

"No, I'm fine, I was just thinking about one thing, however my mother was in the square, instead my father was among the soldiers, probably both are dead"

"We still don't know, there's a possibility the soldiers are still fighting their way through the beasts just like us" Mel observed

"Don't you think you're too optimistic?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that"

"Get ready, we're about to leave," Ton warned "Take the rumble formation"

"We're rady," Mel and Gru chorused

"Take the little girl Roseth," Ton ordered, throwing his belt at me

"Come Levia" I reached down to get her on my back "get on, quick"

Levia didn't open her mouth and with a determined look she followed the orders, she clung to my neck and I used her belt to tie her to me.

"Don't you have anything better to tie she up? I don't think this belt will hold much"

"The little girl will hold tight to your neck and if needed you will use your left hand to hold her" answered Ton

Basically he means that I have to get by on my own, at this point he could have said it directly, leaving this job to a child seems too much to me.

We saw the exit of the street in front of us, just outside a horde of monsters awaited us that we would have had to face with the energy left. We took the rumble formation, getting ready to get off the road and waiting for Ton's orders.

I don't know what he was waiting for but I trusted him, in this short time I understood that he was a reliable person.

"Ready?" yelled Ton

"Ready!"

"Then…Go!"

We exit the street and began to run. the beasts attacked and chased us from all sides, but we were able to respond to them without problems, also keeping a good pace.

My job was basically to defend the group's back from the monsters that reached us from behind, for the rest they seemed to take care of it. Now I understand why Ton entrusted the little gril to me, it was to be expected that he would not leave anything out.

"how much longer do we have to run?" Gru asked

"I don't know," Ton replied "don't waste your breath,"

The two earth wizards were very similar in face, almost as if they were brothers, or ... they really were. Once we got out alive from here I should ask them. Physically, however, they were different, Ton was an imposing and robust man, about one meter and ninety, while Gru was a little shorter and with a normal physique.

Both had orange eyes and hair, Ton's was short, almost shaved, while Gru's reached below his ears and left his broad forehead bare.

Mel also had long hair, he kept it tied back his head, it was black like mine, his eyes were dark brown instead. His body didn't seem very muscular like that of the earth mages, but he still had a very good physique and was very agile.

Time passed, we kept running as they killed the beasts, my mana reserves were at the limit, I had never pushed myself this far even in intense training with my brother. I will definitely experience a powerful backlash tomorrow.

The beasts around us decreased over time, and now, the once thick horde of monsters had dwindled to small groups scattered around in a chaotic fashion, running through the hills covered in green fields of grass and grain.

"We're almost there, can you hold on a little longer Roseth?" Ton asked

"Yes, no problem"

"Everyone stop, defend me for a while, I'll create a temporary base" Ton ordered placing his hands on the ground.

"Will the beasts not destroy it?" I noticed worried.

"No problem kid, I'll create it underground but you have to give me some time"

"I will do my best"

I gently let Livia off my back, I felt her whole body tremble, she had wet part of my shirt with her tears, the weight to bear was too much for her, she was just a child.

Gru, Mel and I stood in a circle around Ton and Livia, the ground began to shake, it scared me, and turning towards the others I noticed that their gaze had remained calm, my attention fell on Ton who rested his hands on the ground.

"Is the ground shaking from Ton's work?" I asked

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"Yeah, concentrate, a pack of wolf-like beasts is approaching us" Mel replied

"I see them, they're directed towards me, I think there are a dozin."

"There's a group of gorilla-like beasts coming my way, there are 5 of them, I can't help you" said Gru

"I'll help you, but I can't leave my position for too long," Mel explained, standing beside me

"You have to kill them quickly to keep them from piling up," Ton ordered

"Don't underestimate us!" Mel exclaimed, throwing himself into the attack

I swung my blade cutting off the head of a wolf, while with a mana shield I spoke a combo of wind and lightning attacks from the other wolves, quickly reshaped my sword into a bow, loaded the arrow and started shooting in bursts at the herd. Meanwhile Mel moved nimbly among the wolf-like beasts, dodging their physical and magical attacks and stabbing them whenever he had the chance.

"Mel you can get back into position, more beasts are coming towards the undefended side" I ordered.

"All right, quickly kill the remaining ones, some feline beasts are approaching"

"Ok no problem, I'm not as good as you at dodging but I'm doing fine"

"No one denied it"

"5 more minutes!" yelled Ton

I turned my bow back into a sword and charged at the three remaining wolf-like beasts. They attacked me with a blizzard of wind blades, I created a mana shield and continued to advance, but they didn't stop their attack, they kept throwing wind blades, forcing me to defend myself so I couldn't attack.

It's complicated, I'm still working on it, but I have faith in this new technique…

I maximized my concentration, regulated my breathing, regulated the circulation of mana in my body and let it flow out from all over the surface of my body, holding it and condensing it on my skin, trying to create a protective layer around me, but it was still too complicated.

Most of the blades collided with my body and dissolved, but some of them managed to create tears in the mana layer, leaving large scratches all over my body. I reached the 3 Wolves, who, instead of moving away to continue with ranged attacks, decided to attack me hand to hand.

Wrong choice, I'm sorry but the numerical advantage will not be enough to beat me.

A wolf jumped on me while the other 2 charged at me, I grabbed the first one by throwing it on the other 2, they all three fell to the ground, they wriggled trying to get up, but swinging my bright blue sword I killed them all three with three clear strokes .

The feline beasts had now reached me, I dodged their attacks for a while before killing one of them with a precise thrust, I used it corpse to defend myself from a blow from it companion, then I drew the blade and severed the feline beast's arm remained, before decapitating it with a precise swing.

"I finished!" shouted Ton "hurry up and get in"

I turned towards him and noticed a not too large hole under his feet, just the right size for just one person to pass through, he slowly lowered the little gril inside, then he was joined by Mel, who did the same. Some beasts were approaching us, we had to hurry, I entered immediately after Mel and I was followed by Gru.

"Ton hurry up, get in!" Gru ordered

"Give me time, some beasts have reached us, I'll eliminate them and I'll enter too"

We waited a few minutes, I took the opportunity to look around and observe the small underground cave created by the stone wizard, it was the size of a room, it had 5 stone benches to sit on, its walls were perfectly smooth and had small holes to make let the air in, which they carried outside.

Ton climbed inside and shrunk the hole we'd entered through to the size of a ping pong ball so that the light could enter without giving the beasts a chance to attack us.

We each sat down on the own bench, there was a long period of silence as we were all tired from the long battle, so half an hour passed, Livia was now asleep, while Mel had just woken up from a nap.

"So how do we proceed from here on out?" Mel asked as soon as he woke up

"I think we could wait for some reinforcements to arrive from the capital, but it could take more than a week, somehow we have to get water and food" explained Ton

"Don't be too pessimistic" Gru intervened "we'll come up with something"

Ton clicked his tongue"It's you and Mel who are too optimistic" he got up still aching from the effort of the long battle "I'm going to recover some carcasses and some wood, Mel come with me"

"Now, boss" Mel stood up and stretched "I'm ready"

Ton widened the hole again and came out together with the boy with the dagger. Maybe I should take advantage of this moment to get information, I need to understand the situation better.

"Listen, Gru..."

"Tell me, do you need anything?"

"I wanted to ask you to tell me about the underground caves that collapsed"

"Curiosity is a great thing kid, but sometimes it can be dangerous"

"I know it...thanks"

"Going back to the topic, it would be more appropriate to call them dungeons" he explained "they are immense underground caves with a lot of branches, in which the gods have locked the mana beasts"

“Locked?”

"Yes, the beasts were driving the human race to extinction, when they were still at free, our level of magical abilities was much lower than today, so we couldn't fight them, but the gods locked them in underground caves and created a barrier that prevented the beasts from exiting or destroying the dungeon"

“So the fact that the dungeons collapsed today and the beasts came out is an anomaly?”

"Exactly, it's not the first time it's happened, but it's a very rare event, the strange part isn't the collapse itself, but that several occurred in the same area and within a short time between each other"

"Thank you for helping me"

"I was pleased to satisfy your curiosity, it's also a way to pass the time"

Everyone seems to like me, I don't understand why, adults probably like children who behave like them and can have a normal conversation with.

"Ehm... just out of curiosity, but do you and Ton have any blood ties?"

"Of course, we're twins, haven't you noticed?"

Huh? Twins? I understand that they look alike, but it didn't go this far. Maybe I have a twisted idea of what it means to be twins, but they are completely different, both in terms of personality and physically. I didn't expect that.

"Great, it's just… let's say you don't look that much alike."

"It's often told to us, but it's true"

Hours passed, Gru and I continued to chat to pass the time, tiredness was starting to set in and the sun had now set.

“haven't they been out for too long?" I noted, yawning

"It's been about 3 hours, I hope they're okay"

The sound of wood falling to the ground was heard from outside the hole, at the same time Mel's voice was heard.

"We're here, Gru, get ready to light the fire!" he said

"Don't scream, idiot!" Ton said followed by a thud.

"Ouch!"

"I said to be slow!"

"You're the one who hit me!"

"Stop, come in, we're hungry" ordered Gru

“Don't try to order me around,” Ton retorted

“You're too proud of yourself, it's annoying,” Mel continues

"If you continue I'll leave you out"

They were completely different from how they behaved on the battlefield, Ton who always seemed serious and composed now behaved like a child while Mel who always appeared kind, expressed himself freely, not caring about the repercussions of his words.

The hole in the roof widened, Ton and Mel threw in the carcasses of 5 wolf-like beasts, then threw in some wood before entering themselves.

“We had problems with the wood,” Ton explained

"I see..." Gru replied looking at the loot brought by the two "you took this wood from a house right?"

I hadn't noticed before, but the wood we had brought were not simple branches, but smooth wood like the one used to build the ceilings of the houses in the area.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter, it hasn't rained in the last few days so it's enough for a fire"

"But we'll die of smoke in here, try to create a kind of chimney"

"We risk attracting beasts"

"They will still struggle to get in anyway, even if they throw themselves into the chimney, they can pass one at a time and will most likely get stuck"

“What if they tried to make the ceiling collapse instead?” Mel asked

"In that case our very powerful Ton will have to strengthen it with his magic" Gru replied

"I hope that "very powerful" wasn't ironic," Ton explained

Aren't they starting to argue now too? Better to intervene.

"...Ehm, sorry"

"Do you need anything Roseth?" Mel asked, looking at me puzzled.

"I was wondering how you were going to light the fire"

"You'll do it," Gru said

"Huh? How?" I didn't understand what he meant by that phrase "explain yourself better"

"I learned a technique from a friend of mine at the academy, I'm not able to use it but I'm sure you are capable of it"

"What's this about?"

"You are expert in using pure mana, you will have to insert a lot of it into the wood, by doing so you will increase its temperature until it catches fire"

"But when I condense pure mana into a weapon the temperature is usually that of the environment"

"Yes, but when you put it in the wood, your pure mana contrasts with the impure one present in the wood and they begin to repel each other, generating energy, it is a phenomenon that happens with any object or entity that possesses mana"

Usually different parts attract each other, like electrons and protons, but here it was different, two different types of mana repelled each other like two magnets with the same pole. All I have to do is try "Okay, I'll do it"

I picked up a stick from the pile of wood, held it in my palm and started pumping my mana into it, trying not to let it disperse, I felt the impure mana inside the stick repelling mine.

It was a familiar sensation, as if it had already happened, my battle with the first dragon I met came to mind, something similar happened there too, he shot a fireball at me and I, not having time to create a shield or a 'weapon accidentally expelled my mana inside the fireball, the dragon's attack dissolved before my eyes, at the time I don't understand, but what if even in that case my mana rejected that in the dragon's attack, dispersing it? It would explain everything and it would also be a great way to use this property in battle.

A shooting pain in my hand brought me back to reality. I looked down noticing the burnt piece of wood on the palm of my hand, I got scared and let it fall to the ground. The others started laughing as they watched the scene.

Now that we could light the fire, Ton created a fireplace, Mel placed the wood inside and I ran my mana into the wood, and it started to burn.

***

The wood had been burning for hours now, the flames shone and illuminated the entire room, the heat spread making the place more welcoming. Everyone was sleeping peacefully, except Ton, who was on guard duty. I was sleepy too, but I couldn't sleep.

"Roseth, why don't you sleep? Tomorrow we should fight again, it's better if you rest."

"Thanks Ton, I was just thinking, I'm having a hard time keeping up with all these events"

"Don't worry too much, you're just a child, you have to leave it to the adults"

"If you say so…"

A very loud roar was heard coming from below us, everyone suddenly woke up and the ground began to shake.

"Everybody up quick! We gotta get out of here!"

What is happening? What's beneath us? A dungeon? And why is everything shaking, is... is it about to collapse?

Ton widened the hole ready to exit, the ground beneath our feet cracked, the earth wizard had already come out and was holding out his hand to his brother, other cracks formed and the structure built by Ton began to collapse.

I have to hurry, I can't let myself be scared.

The ground above us collapsed, Mel threw herself at me, hugging me to protect me, but I erected a barrier of pure mana around us, defending us from the collapse.

Fuck, we're completely buried, is there anything I can do?

"Roseth, get ready"

"Wha-"

The ground beneath us suddenly gave way, we precipitated into the void together with the rubble. We were falling at great speed while we were hugging each other, we didn't have time for even a second and we would have been crushed to the ground, there was no way to think. In these moments it is easy to make mistakes.

Mel used his levitation ability to slow our fall.

"No! Sto-"

I hit my head on a large block of stone that was falling towards us, I lost consciousness instantly.