Taking a step back, Norbert felt his back hit into something as Charles came rushing towards him, dagger straight for his eye. Unable to go backwards, Norbert met the attack, hand shooting up to go for the one aiming for his eye.

The two men were impacted as Norbert was sent into the barrier, stopping him from going further backward. He squeezed down on the arm underneath him, feeling the bones hold firm for a moment—much more robust than average bones—until they snapped under the pressure. Charles dropped the face of fury, replacing it with one of pain as it shot up his arm, the dagger going slightly limp momentarily.

And the moment was all that Norbert needed, flinging the man away Norbert turned around, finding the stone barrier only a meter wide and two tall where he was standing, running around it, Norbert looked to the rest of the hallway, and the only way out up the steps.

The light of lamps and torches fuelled by magic was all about the place, their constant light source not providing any shadows or dark spots for Norbert to even try hiding in. The only solution coming to mind was running right through and hoping there hadn't been any traps set up in the small amount of time it took Norbert to deal with Charles.

A bolt came at him; Norbert looked at the projectile as it slammed into his shoulder, not flinching as he continued running down the centre of the hallway, focusing on speed rather than killing them all. Only one of them could get in position before Norbert, just sidestepping around him as the great war axe went for where his neck was before. The weapon slammed into the ground as Norbert made it up the stairs, holding himself not to look back as he pushed forward, once more becoming encased in stone.

Feeling it on all sides, much tighter than it was previously, spikes digging into him and trying to trip him up, he pushed through, knowing that if he stopped for a moment, he would be trapped within the chamber with no proper way out. Not wanting to bust his hands into stumps, he punched his way out, not knowing what the ones above could be doing while he was trapped underneath.

Pushing forward, Norbert made it past the rock wall, the last bit ripping and tearing through his clothes. Norbert keeps a hand by his waist to protect his knife and coin pouch. Running out, the walls not closing around him as he made it out underground; seeing the entrance above, Norbert quickly changed his vision to magic, ensuring there wasn't a spell hiding up there prepared to blast him the moment his head popped up.

There was nothing above there. Norbert leapt out of the hole, aiming to fly into the air as soon as possible, hoping to overshoot anything that he might have missed. When his foot left the ground, Norbert saw something shoot towards him. Unable to move, he let it hit him as he was slammed to the ground by a force.

Standing up, Norbert dashed out of the way as arrows were launched towards him, going much faster than the crossbows the half-men were using around him. One of them slams into his shoulder, his body wanting to spin around and lift off the ground, but unable to as his feet become rooted in the ground.

Staring down at them, seeing the pebbles of the river holding onto him, stopping him from moving any further. Looking about, the mages now moved as the ring came around him.

“Do you have him?” Charles shouted from the tunnel entrance, the man finally coming out as he looked around desperately trying to find Norbert, finally spotting him before he walked towards Norbert.

“You thought we wouldn’t be able to hold you? How foolish you must feel now!” Charles continued as he walked towards Norbert, standing right in front of him and smashing his fist into Norbert’s gut.

Falling in half, Norbert dropped, letting the air return to his lungs. Coughing as he tried to regain his breath and stop the tea from returning, Norbert looked up and saw Charles’s sneering face staring back at him.

Reaching up, Norbert stood up, grabbing Charles by the back of his neck, hoisting the man into the air as Norbert presented him to the group. Shaking him about for a moment like a ragdoll as Charles tried to resist, he then hung limp, trying to look back and see what Norbert was doing.

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“Tell them to back off,” Norbert whispered to the man he held up in the air, not even his feet touching the ground. Stepping himself out of the spot, feeling the pebbles crack around his feet as it finally let him go.

“Or what, you’re going to kill another from Earth? Already turned into a barbarian like these people?” Charles whispered back, an edge to his voice Norbert was starting to hear, the condescending tone coming out of it.

Tightening his grip in response, Norbert did not see a point in discussing with Charles any longer, internally not having decided whether he would finish the man off he was holding up.

Growing tighter, Norbert was now scared that he would have to go through with his threat, and then all hell would break loose, and he needed to run to make a way out.

“Hold off, let him out,” Charles told the group staring off at Norbert and their leader, tense as to wait for what could happen.

When the words were uttered, Norbert looked besides, seeing a corridor open up, allowing him to exit it. Changing his vision to magic, Norbert analysed around him, not wanting to get caught by anything unsuspecting.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a brief glimmer of brown going down Charles's hand. Norbert grabbed the man's other hand and squeezed it, crushing the bone and causing the man to scream out.

Whatever the man was trying stopped, and the group became tense once more as they stared at Norbert. One of them, being trigger-happy, launched a crossbow bolt at Norbert, Moving Charles around to catch it with his body. In response to the direction, Norbert launched a dagger out.

The throwing dagger on his legs travelled half the distance before stopping mid-air and falling to the ground, like it had lost the energy Norbert had put into it. Looking down at the metal around his waist, he saw tendrils of magic around them, brown with flecks of red underneath.

“Oh, someone’s being cheeky,” Norbert said aloud so everyone could hear what he was saying. He took another dagger out and stabbed it into the same arm that he had pulverised, cleaning the blade on the back of his shirt before putting it back in its sheath.

Norbert started walking backwards, not knowing how long this would work for holding them off or how many more ploys they could throw at him before it all went up in smoke.

Looking behind him, seeing the portal about a meter behind him, Norbert took another two steps backwards so half his body was on the other side, hoping that would stop it.

“This is where we part ways, but it was fun,” Norbert told Charles, holding the man up and ensuring he didn’t touch the ground.

Looking around him, he saw the runes for the portal about on either side of them. Norbert quickly threw Charles over it, seeing the pebble in the correct place.

Instantly turning and running, the moment of stillness went as he was instantly held by the ground. Taking a dagger out and throwing it in a random direction, hoping it would hit someone, he lifted his foot slightly, slamming the energy he collected into the ground. Two things resulted from it.

The first was Norbert getting flung into the air, shooting further than the barrier up into the lower limbs of the trees' branches, crashing through them until finally getting stuck in one.

The second is the crater that Norbert created in response to his sudden launch. The ground around the barrier is a meter deeper and three wide, and dirt and soil are launched everywhere.

The biggest effect was on the barrier, which would have been annoying but would have still held with the appropriate mages constantly managing it. It cracked and broke under the force it tried to push out and the missing runes in its structure.

With it pushing itself to contain an area too large and with no support, it failed utterly, the temporary barrier faulting as the scream below him assaulted Norbert.

Shaking his head, the energy depleted from his explosive use, he was able to hold a bit back, hoping it would be enough to make it back to Flare-dew. He was not looking forward to the fall from the plateau he would need to do.

The sounds below of men and women screaming until their throats went horse, only to grow quiet like they had been snapped off by something. The pink fog floods into the once-clear area, and the sounds of metal hitting something rigid ring out.

Norbert pulled himself up, not wanting to go onto the ground in case any of that team was still around, not knowing if he could take them in his current condition.

With the flapping of wings above him, Norbert saw a black and white speckled bird approaching him. He smiled as Obsius landed on his head, the bird making its spot and ruffling his hair a bit before standing still.

He reached up and patted Norbert, and Norbert looked in the general direction, where the river slightly meandered through.

“Can you show me the best way back?” Norbert asked his female companion, confident that the bird knew his abilities and how much he could be pushed after seeing a release like that.

Obsius pecked his head in annoyance at finally having a rest as it flew off into the tree, further across the branch that Norbert was on before landing on the next, indicating for Norbert to follow across.