The cellar was damp and cold, most certainly not a suitable place for six people to just sit and wait. They all sat along some crates silently with a certain air of tension around them.
Simply put, the atmosphere was terrible, but they all knew that. It was like a simmering pot of water that was just about to boil—it was only a matter of time.
Even for Furuya, the silence was just too much to bear. He could not even recall the last time he was this nervous, where the wheel of fate was turned not by his own hand but by another’s. No, he remembered it clearly. There was only one other time that his hands were covered in cold sweat like this.
It was when his mother was in the emergency room. When the utter sense of dread built up in his chest as he sat in the waiting area with his family and Kichirou. It was simply the cruel fangs of reality flashing before him, yet he could not rid himself of that feeling, not then and not now.
Kichirou… Ryuta… you two better come back alive...
It was Akira who broke the silence: “What the hell are we going to do!? We're like sitting ducks down here!”
“Shhh, keep it down. No one's going to find us if you just calm down and keep your mouth shut,” Aoi snapped.
“How am I supposed to calm down when our friends are still out there?!”
“Well you freaking out isn’t helping anyone now is it?” Interjected Karin.
“Hmph, it just doesn't sit right with me, hiding here like a coward when our friends are in danger.”
Now that's a sentiment that Furuya shared just as strongly. But given the reality of the situation, even if they went out there they would most likely not be much help. In fact, they might actually end up dying themselves. After all, too many cooks in the kitchen muddle the soup.
“You guys worry too much. Shiro will be just fine, isn't that right Hiro?” Miku answered, her voice brimming with confidence.
Miku was surprisingly calm. And judging by that alone, she was certainly the calmest of the group, even more so than Furuya himself.
Hmph, they haven't spoken in years, and yet… A woman's intuition I guess, I hope she's right...
“That's some wishful thinking you got there Miku,” Karin laughed.
“Wait a second, do you guys remember what that crazy man outside said? That the others will take care of us... What the hell did that mean?” Calbi asked.
“I don't know! I don't know!”
“Shut the hell up, stop freaking yelling Akira,” Karin snapped.
Calbi sighed: “Stop worrying over that, they were just trying to scare us. Look, we're hiding down here for a reason, they won't find us.”
The real danger wasn't this immediate attack, Furuya knew this well, but everyone else was still too shocked to look at the bigger picture.
“This town isn't safe. Zakin mentioned that those soldiers were from Bereene, that must be one of the neighboring countries. They must have just openly attacked this town that belongs to Reinocha.”
“An act of war…”
“Exactly, for an era like the one in this world, war shouldn't be an uncommon thing. And undoubtedly, Reinocha and Bereene are headed down that path. This town must be near the border, we need to get out of this town before it gets any worse.”
“Where would we even go?” asked Aoi.
“I don’t know, probably Eisene. The capital should be safe.” Karin replied.
“Even if there was somewhere we could go, how would we even get there? It's not like bullet trains are waiting around the corner for us.”
“Well, we gotta figure something out. Clearly, Zakin knew exactly what was happening, which can only mean that this isn’t the first time the town's been raided. We have to find some way to get to the capital or just somewhere safe.”
“Wait a second, if this country is going to war... What if... they have a drafting system?” Akira chimed.
“It's definitely not impossible, conscriptions are pretty common throughout the world, most places would have a system for that.” Furuya shrugged.
“No, we won't get drafted.” Calbi answered calmly.
Akira furrowed his brow: “How can you be so sure?”
“Well first of all, in the middle ages, most countries had standing armies since it wouldn't be practical to raise an army after the country is in peril. Also, we aren't citizens of this country, nor do we have documentation of any kind. If anything, we might be treated as spies or something.”
“Well that's great, just one thing to another, we are so screwed.”
“I just wanna go home.” Aoi cried.
“We're all going home, and we’re all gonna be fine,” Furuya said calmly.
BOOOOOOM
An explosion echoed in their ears. The source of the noise was close, probably right above them.
What ensued was absolute silence, no one moved a muscle. It was so quiet that Furuya could hear the very sound of his own heartbeat.
But it was soon interrupted by the sound of creaking wood right above their heads, followed by a man's voice: “You two check the rooms upstairs, you guard this entrance, and you two come with me. They have to be here somewhere, find them quickly!”
Who the hell are they? Are they looking for us?
There's no way that they could be looking for them. Other than Zakin and Schnee no one even knew of their existence in this world. So that would mean that those men upstairs were looking for Zakin and Schnee.
Why would the invasion force from Beerene be looking for Zakin’s family?
Furuya's thoughts were interrupted by a great urge to sneeze as dust particles fell from the cellar ceiling following the hurried footsteps, polluting the still air. Furuya rubbed his nose furiously, trying to hold back his sneeze. The others must have been trying to hold their sneezes back as well.
But one eventually slipped out: “Achu.”
Furuya’s heart nearly dropped as he turned towards the direction of the sound.
It was too dark to tell everyone’s facial expressions, but they must have all had the look of horror on their faces as they awaited their fate in the darkness.
He was not a praying man, but soft chants of prayers around him echoed his own sentiments.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
Furuya counted the seconds in his head all the way to sixty.
He could still hear the footsteps upstairs but there was no reaction to the sneeze, they must not have heard it.
But it was not the time to breathe a sigh of relief just yet, people were still upstairs looking for them.
“Why the hell are they looking for us?” someone whispered.
“Shhhh.”
“There’s no one hiding upstairs.”
“We didn’t find anyone on the first floor either.”
Leave, please just leave!
“Are you sure this is the right place?”
“Of course this is the right place, you think I’m stupid?”
“They aren’t here, so what are we supposed to do?”
“If they aren't here, they could have gone anywhere. We aren't gonna find them, let's go back already, it's not safe here.”
Yes! There’s no one here, just freaking leave!
Furuya finally breathed a sigh of relief, but it all crumbled to a million pieces in the very next instant.
“No, the boss told me that there's a hidden cellar here somewhere. There must be some kind of hidden switch... What are you guys staring at? Find it!”
What!?
For a moment there Furuya couldn't make sense of what he had just heard. How did they know about this cellar? How would that even be possible? Zakin had said that no one outside of his family would know about this place, how in the world do these guys know about it?
This doesn't make any sense… how can they know about something like this? Did Zakin sell us out? No that can't be possible, they are still hoping to come back here afterwards… what else could it be?
Furuya started racking his brain around it, but he stopped just as quickly, for none of that mattered anymore. Since they already knew about this cellar, figuring out why could wait till later. There were far more important matters at hand.
It's not just Shiro and Ryuta anymore, it's everyone now! Focus… just because they know about it doesn't mean that they can find it. We can still just hide down here.
But only a fool would gamble on such things...
Karin pulled on Furuya’s sleeve and whispered with a clearly shaken voice: “Hiro what are we gonna do?”
He closed his eyes and pondered the possibilities. But it was just as he feared, if those men upstairs managed to make their way down here, there would be only one logical route available to them.
It's just a risk we'll have to take.
“You girls just hide on the farthest side from the entrance. Calbi, Akira, I need to count on you guys for this one.”
They nodded in response as Karin led the other girls behind the various stacks of crates, silently disappearing into the darkness.
“We need to find anything we can defend ourselves with.”
Akira searched the crates on the left and Calbi searched the right. There's still another huge stack right in front of him.
There was no telling how much time had to prepare, so they needed to move quickly, but also quietly considering the chance that they would not be found.
Going through the various crates in the darkness was a very difficult task. Given that they could hardly see, most of their searching had to be done through their sense of touch. They also had to be very careful of any crates that had a cold metallic touch, as any noise—any mistake could alarm the intruders of their presence.
The first several crates Furuya went through had nothing but loose parchments and books. He didn't have much luck in the next pile of crates either, as they only housed large jugs filled with liquid—probably wine.
Zakin had mentioned earlier that he did not have any more weapons in his possession, but there had to be something here they could use. There just had to be.
The frantic steps of the soldiers upstairs grew ever louder as they stampeded around looking for a way into the cellar.
Furuya reached into another box and felt something made of wood, a thin rod-like shaped wooden log that fit into the grip of his hand.
This is perfect!
Their lengths were about two-thirds of a meter, and they were heavy for their size. They are probably at least four and a half kilos each. It was a nice piece of solid wood that was probably made to be some type of mini support arch, it would most certainly carry some impact if used as a blunt instrument.
He picked out two more at random before Calbi joined him.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I found these wooden rods we can use, you find anything?”
“Um I found this vase, we can throw it at them.”
‘Well just take this for now,” Furuya whispered, handing one of the rods to Calbi.
He then turned his attention to Akira, who surprisingly made no noise while frantically searching for a weapon. There was no more time to look for something better, and these rods were probably the best they were going to get.
“Akira... Akira... Akira!”
“What?”
“Come here, man.”
“Did you guys find something already? I haven't found anything yet.”
“Yea, it’s fine. Take this.” He handed Akira the other rod.
“Nice, yea, yea I—I can work with this.”
Click
A familiar sound pierced the cold dense air, and those who heard it knew full well what it had meant.
For a second, Furuya thought he had heard some whimpers coming from behind him, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure if he had actually heard it or if he had simply imagined it.
“It’s here!” a man called out from the top of the staircase, with his steps sending cold chills as it echoed down to the cellar.
“Hold on a second, it’s too dark, light me a torch.”
The metallic sound of plated boots on stone soon made its way down the steps.
Shit... we’re outta time.
There was no time to lay any kind of trap anymore. They were at a total disadvantage, not only in numbers but also in equipment. If all the enemies were armoured, that would render their weaponry almost entirely ineffective in the hands of Akira and Calbi.
“You guys just hide behind the crates, we need to hit them with surprise. But if things take a turn for the worse I’ll hold them off, then you two take the others and make a run for it.”
Akira, had a look of absolute bewilderment. Clearly offended by the very thought of that suggestion, he responded sternly: “We're not gonna leave you behind, I can’t do that to you.”
“There’s no time to argue about this, just take them and run if I tell you to.”
“Calbi, you do it. I’ll stay with Hiro.”
Why is he arguing over this? This isn’t the time for heroics. If things go poorly and I end up facing them alone, at least everyone else will have a chance to get away.
His anger flared with each and every second that they wasted discussing this matter. Then, as his usual calm demeanor vanished, Furuya snapped: “No you’re not! This isn't a discussion!”
“You just heard that right? There's someone down here for sure. Guard the entrance, make sure no one gets out.”
“Hiro there's no more time, just let it be. If it comes down to it, I promise I’ll get the rest of them out of this place. Though with your skills, we might not even have to run.” Calbi offered a faint smile.
“Fine, let's move up to the crates closest to the stairs. You guys hide over there to the right, I'll go left.”
As a torchlight slowly descended, they crouched out of its ever-encroaching lights.
As far as Furuya could see, they did not have many options. Now that the intruders knew that there were people down here, there was no point in dragging it out any longer. Eventually, they were going to be found. And now that those men knew for certain that people were down here, they would definitely turn each corner with greater care.
So rather than hiding further back, they needed to take the initiative and strike the enemies with everything they had. Then, with some luck, they might even have a numerical advantage.
From behind a stack of crates, Furuya saw the light glow brighter and brighter, along with the sound of metallic footsteps growing ever closer. There were probably four of them coming down the stairway, but with one well-placed strike, that number could go down to three—and that thought was quite comforting in itself.
“Careful, you don't know what could be hiding down here.”
The voice was close—too close, and by the look of the light, it was already directly on the other side of the crate.
Furuya tightened his grip on the wooden stick and readied his weapon. He was about to fight not only for his own life but the lives of his closest friends. Who would have thought that a casual reunion could turn their lives upside down like this?
Then he saw it, shadows.
Because of their torches!
The guy with the torch must be in the rear, with the light giving away the positions of the three ahead of him. And from the looks of their shadows there were three of them, armed and slowly approaching.
Cold sweat built up on his brows with each passing moment. The shadows grew larger and larger, they couldn't be more than three or four steps away.
C'mon just a few more steps…
As soon as metal boots came into view, he swung with all his might. The blow connected squarely on the unsuspecting man’s face.
Furuya had actually meant to aim for the neck, but from the shadow, Furuya had thought that the man was slightly taller than reality. Though regardless, with the man falling unconscious to the ground, it had still achieved the desired result.
The fallen man's armour made a great deal of noise as it collided against the stone floor.
One down.
“Rod!”
Furuya turned to see a man running directly at him with his sword drawn, along with his two friends who were waiting for that man to go past the crates they hid behind.
The man had completely forgotten the possibility of other enemies as he focused all his attention on the man who had just taken down one of his comrades.
Calbi swung low, while Akira aimed high, there was a good level of coordination and timing to their attacks. Calbi struck the man right on the shin, causing him to falter forwards slightly. And as his body leaned forward, his face was met with a baseball swing. At the moment of impact, his grip released and his sword fell to the ground along with broken pieces of shattered wood.
With a heavy thud, the man fell backward.
“My leg! My mother fucking leg! I’m gonna fucking kill you bastards!” the man shouted as he tried to regain his footing.
But Akira and Calbi were not so kind as to give their enemy any time to recover. The both of them rushed in and tackled the man back to the floor. Their opponent was much larger than they were, but it was still a two on one, with Calbi attempting to pin down the man’s arms while Akira tried to remove his helmet.
That's two down. Even if that guy isn't taken out yet, with the two of them together, they should at least be able to pin him down for quite a while.
Of the two that remained, one was even larger than the man that was tangling with Calbi and Akira. He wore armour just like the other two, but he wielded a spiked mace instead of a sword.
The last one that guarded the entrance wore normal looking clothing and didn't seem to have any weaponry, but that did not equate to him not being dangerous by any means. Just like many martial artists in the world could destroy another human being with nothing more than their fists or legs, there must be people in this world with magical arts that could make them just as dangerous.
The bulky man alone could prove troublesome enough, but if the other man helps him, this could all go south very quickly.
“Che, these imbeciles, how useless can they get? Can't even handle a couple of punks. Let him struggle with those two as a punishment. I got this one, you just sit back and wait.”
“Pfft. Do what you want, just make it quick and don't be begging for help later.”
“Hah, you think I can't handle this? Care for a wager?”
“I’ll pass, just get this over with.”
So he’s still underestimating me after I took out his colleague, is it pure hubris? Or is he head and shoulders above him? I need to take care of this quickly.
Without a surprise attack, taking out an armoured opponent wasn't going to be an easy task, but there was no other choice other than to rush right into battle. It was going to be another one on one, so if he could just take out this man, there would only be one enemy left.
Furuya entered his Jōdan stance and glared at his foe, his eye’s conveying the sole message: Come at me!
“Hah alright, here I come then.”
The man walked towards Furuya casually, just as Furuya had hoped.
As soon as the man was about to enter his range, Furuya stepped in, swinging his weapon down on the head of his unsuspecting opponent. It was a simple move—almost perfectly executed with the intent to daze his opponent with a sudden shock to the head, before following with a finishing blow.
Both strikes had connected perfectly in a flash. Furuya even felt the heavy impact of his finishing blow, but the man simply smiled: “Is that all? Well then, it's my turn.”
“Wha-” Before he knew it, Furuya was sent flying, crashing into a stack of crates. A thunderous crash echoed throughout the cellar walls as broken pieces of wood scattered in the air.
Furuya got up quickly, already knowing what was coming, a swing from the spiked mace. In turn, he held up his wooden rod to parry the strike in its arc, but the difference between their weapons was far too great.
The mace shattered the wooden rod and smashed straight into Furuya’s left side.
The parry itself did not stop the blow, but it did absorb the fatal force that would have struck his body.
“Che, we were supposed to bring them all alive, but that fool just had to challenge me.”
“Well Kraus, you can explain that to the boss later on your own.”
“Alright no more playing around, just help that fool and grab the others, let's get out of here.”
Furuya’s vision blurred, and his ears rang as he faded in and out of consciousness. But as if his senses had just decided to wake up, a sudden jolt of pain from his left arm shot his consciousness wide awake.
“Ugh...” His breath was short and ragged. As his senses returned he felt it, it wasn't just his arm, but the entire left side of his body was in pain.
The shattered crates and their contents had fallen on him, and a statue-like object was pressing down on the right side of his body.
He laid there for a few moments, accessing his body. Despite the pain, he could still move his left arm, the bone wasn't broken.
I can still do this... there's only two more to go!
Furuya tried to get up, but his body failed to respond to his will. Whatever was pressing down on him was just too heavy.
Come on... move damn it!
He tried pushing it off once more with everything he had, but it was futile, even with all his strength, one arm just wasn’t enough.
After trying several more times, there was no longer any strength left in his arm—he could barely move it in fact. Even if he were to swing a sword, it would be with considerably less power, not nearly enough to cut down that man. But none of that mattered, he no longer had a weapon, nor could even move from that spot.
His field of view was limited by his position, but without even looking he knew that his friends were all in imminent danger. Without him holding those goons off, Calbi and Akira won't stand a chance.
How can I just lay here while my friends are all fighting for their lives!??
Furuya grit his teeth and pushed at the statue, pouring every ounce of strength into his left arm. He also tilted his body slightly to the right in an attempt to shift its weight off his body.
“Get your hands off me you fucker!”
That's Calbi’s voice! Fucking move!!!
The statue only lifted very slightly, but then all of a sudden the entire statue was lifted out of the way. Furuya’s torso jerked up as the weight vanished unexpectedly.
He was free!
But that moment of celebration was cut short as he was greeted by an obnoxious smile.
“Hoh, so you aren't dead after all, lucky m-” The man was stopped mid-sentence by a broken piece of wood.
After the man had lifted the statue with both hands, he was wide open, and Furuya did not let that opportunity slip by. He had felt around with his hands and picked up a shard of a broken crate, jamming it into the man’s face as he spoke.
But it was just a shortstop measure, the piece of wood would not have done any serious damage.
“Son of a... Now you're gonna die!”
The light in the man’s eyes had changed. Even though they only had a single exchange, Furuya already had a rough understanding of the strength of his opponent.
This is bad…
Furuya felt around the floor looking for another piece of wood, but it was too late. Kraus grabbed him by the collar and winded up for a heavy right, without any worries for a counter or anything Furuya was capable of. Even if Furuya were to throw a punch, it would likely do more damage to his own fist, however.
Still he threw a punch.
The bones in his right hand shook from the impact, while Kraus suffered next to no damage with his helmet absorbing the full force of the blow.
As if it were not evident enough, Kraus’ grin grew ever wider seeing his prey struggle so helplessly. But nevertheless, Furuya followed it up with another, then another, as the third punch struck Kraus' helmet, a sudden burst of flames exploded before him, consuming Kraus.
What the hell...?
Still in the state of confusion, Furuya saw a flaming bolt fly across the cellar. This one struck a crate next to them instead, exploding into a great fire. Furuya turned just in time to see another fireball fly from its source.
It was Karin.
Kraus howled in pain as he thrashed about—rolling on the floor. But rather than putting out the flames, all the broken wood around him caught on fire.
“A magic caster! Kraus, stay still! I'll put the fire out.”
Was that magic? How did she…
In what appeared to be an instant, the flames were spreading like wildfire. And in an area with almost no ventilation, the smoke was already thick enough to form a heavy fog, covering the majority of the cellar.
Furuya got up, covered his mouth and nose with his shirt, and started to walk towards where he had left Calbi and Akira—closer to the exit.
Karin and the rest of the girls were probably headed for the exit themselves. But in the thick smoke, it was hard to make out anything, distance became almost impossible to judge. However in this enclosed space, as long as he kept walking forward, he would reach the wall eventually. Then all he had to do was follow along the wall for the exit.
But that was still easier said than done. His body was in poor condition, walking alone was a struggle. If one were to describe it, they would most certainly consider it to be limping rather than walking.
But no matter how slowly he walked, Furuya was still putting distance between himself and those invaders.
Despite the pain, Furuya picked up the pace as he heard how close the voices of those two men were.
“I'm fine already, can you put all this out?”
“There's too much smoke, we need to get out of here.”
“Damn those punks! Where the hell did they go?”
“Forget them for now, they won't get far. Get Rod first, we can't leave him!”
“I'll get him, where’s Gus!?”
“I don't know, just get Rod.”
“But what about that other thing?”
“We won't find it like this, we just need to get out of here!”
Nothing else mattered. They were distracted, this was his chance to get everyone out of here. Even if he were to call out for his friends now, they wouldn’t pay too much attention to him.
“Calbi! Akira! Karin! Where are you guys!?”
“Over here Furuya, we’re over here!”
Following the sound of their voices, Furuya made his way towards his friends. He found them waiting for him, coughing and wheezing at the bottom of the staircase. The others must have been watching over the situation and had moved quickly.
“What’s going on down there?” a voice called out from above.
They still had one man guarding the top of the staircase, Furuya had almost forgotten about him.
“They still have someone upstairs!”
“That doesn't matter, we can just charge right through him. Is everyone here?”
“Yea, let's get the fuck out of here!”
With Furuya at the helm, the group slowly staggered up the spiral stairs. Soon a man wielding a spear came into view, blocking the exit at the top of the staircase.
As they approached, surprise was written all over his face. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone aside from comrades to come up the stairs. “What the hell? Kraus, where are you?!”
“Don’t let them get away! We’re coming right up!”
The man holding the top of the stairs widened his stance and pointed his spear down towards them. It was quite the literal representation of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. The man before them held the high ground, and their pursuers were right on their tail.
Their group came to a standstill, no one dared to enter the spearman’s range.
The spearman's stance spelled out his abilities, it was awkward, and there was no balance to it. The man must not be familiar with fighting someone who was climbing up a hill—or stairs in this case.
If pressed, Furuya would say that the man was not much of a warrior at all, and that he would be able to crush him if he simply charged right at him. However in his current physical state that would be a very difficult task.
Normally in a scenario such as this, it would be common sense to ask for assistance and attack the spearman together. Perhaps it was pride—or stupidity, but Furuya could not bring himself to ask his friends to do such a thing. He would do this alone.
If he could replay this scene over and over, out of ten times, perhaps he would succeed only once or twice.
Only a fool would gamble with such odds when their lives were on the line, but he was that fool.
Having made his resolve, Furuya stepped forward.
“Move it!” Karin shouted.
Furuya barely got out of the way as a brilliantly dazzling ball of fire flew right past him.
The spearman screamed in agony as the flames consumed him, he took a few steps forward as he clawed at his armour, but a single missed step sent him tumbling down the stairs like a great ball of fire.
They all hugged along the walls as they watched the man tumble down illuminating the stairs as he goes.
Self-defense was one thing, but to take the life of another was an entirely different story.
But now, it was just an afterthought.
As Furuya followed Karin up the stairs and out of the cellar, he turned and saw the others standing still, staring down the staircase with looks of shock and disbelief written all over their faces. But that was only because they didn’t see what those monsters had done.
“What are you guys just standing still for? Move it!”
Only after being shouted at did they make their way out of the stairs.
Once out of the cellar, Furuya wasted no time. He went straight to the bar to trigger the mechanism, closing the way to the cellar as soon as his friends made their way out.
Aoi sat there looking at the closed trap door: “Hiro what are you doing? If you lock them down there, they’re… gonna die.”
“If we let them up here, we’re the ones who are gonna die.”
“Then we don't have to stay here, we can just go.”
“Where would we go? We aren't gonna be safe out there either, there's a lot more of these guys all over town.”
“So we’re just gonna lock them down there and leave them to die?”
This is war, people die, it’s either you or them. Aoi had always been a softie, even to those who don't deserve a shred of sympathy. But at times such as this, it was just an annoyance for Furuya.
“So what do you want me to do then?”
“I… don't know.”
“Ok then, if you don't have a better solution then shut the hell up! We need to block that door again, move the tables!”
The sound of his voice brought everyone back to life. All of them were clearly shaken by the sudden outburst from Furuya, someone who was always known to be calm and gentle. In fact, this was the first time he had ever shouted at any one of his friends.
Everyone worked together, quickly and meticulously moving the remaining tables towards the doorway—which looked more like a giant hole on the wall more than anything at this point.
Those men must have used some type of magic to blow away the door along with its wooden frame and the barricade that was set up previously. Their enemies could most certainly take out this new barricade just as easily, but all this was just to make everyone feel just a little safer.
“Open up!”
Everyone paused at the sound of that voice, a voice that didn't belong to Zakin or any of their friends. They all looked through the cracks between the clutter, but there wasn't anyone on the other side. Then they all turned their heads towards the cellar as they heard the voice again.
“Open… this door.” The man coughed viciously as he called out once more.
Furuya’s heart wavered as he saw the look on Aoi’s face.
“Are we really going to let them die down there?”
“We can't let them up here…”
“But-”
Before she could even finish, another explosion in their direct proximity ringed in their ears. Dust and wood particles polluted the air in the small dining room.
The dust fumes did not dissipate as black clouds of smoke poured into a new space.
They must have used that same magic to blow up the trapped door!
In the smoke covered area, Furuya saw faint orange glows that were growing stronger and more vibrant.
Fire!
They must have used a fire-based spell to blow up the trap door just now. This whole place is gonna burn down!
They needed to get out of here, and fast.
Zakin had mentioned a secret side exit, but none of them knew where it was. The other option was to go upstairs and exit via the windows, but that was far too dangerous. If anyone hurt their legs in the process, there would be hell to pay.
He needed to make a call, and make it quickly before those men could make their move. Even though they had just blocked the entrance, it was still the safest way to get out of the inn.
“We need to get out of here, move this stuff out of the way!”
Calbi and Akira started picking up chairs from the barricade and threw them furiously into the black smokey abyss behind them, which now covered almost the entire dining room and was already probably making its way upstairs as well.
It didn't even take a minute for them to remove the entire barricade, goes to show how ineffective it truly was. Furuya and co staggered out of the inn, all coughing and gagging, covered in a black smoke that had already stained their clothing with its blackening touch.
But it was not as if they had left the danger behind them. Miku was the first to truly realize the truth of the matter: “Oh my god!” She gasped as she saw the bloodstained street from which they stood and the corpses that were littered about.