"That bastard sure knows how to set traps."

That was the last thing the girls heard as they watched in shock as the floor of the hall collapsed, falling with Alexander into an abyss with no end in sight.

Jenny, who was standing on the edge of the abyss, fearfully took several steps away.

"Marco!" Charlotte screamed in despair as she stood on the edge of the abyss.

She didn't know what to do.

Alexander had fallen into an unknown place and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead.

How would she get out and tell the others about it?

How would the important people protecting Alexander react when they heard this disastrous news?

No, what was more important was Alexander's safety.

"What is that thing?" Ada pointed to the engraving of the true sun.

The engraving was shaking lightly, attracting everyone's attention.

"Since when has this thing been here?" Connie knitted her eyebrows

Suddenly, the True Sun's eyes began to slowly open

The eyes opened fully, sending a shiver down their backs

None of them knew why

But an ominous feeling had arisen within each of them

As if a disaster was about to happen, threatening them from all sides

And without any warning, a cold draft of air shot out from the True Sun's eyes

The air was unbearably cold, as if it could freeze everything in its path, emitting a powerful, gusty sound that could swallow other sounds

"What is this..." Jenny screamed in fear

Despite her screaming, her voice was barely audible due to the sound of the strong wind

The cold wind forced them to put their hands in front of their faces

"Marco..." Charlotte screamed, hoping to get an answer from Alexander

But her voice didn't seem to reach even the girls next to her, let alone Alexander in that deep abyss

"“We have to get out of here now.” Ada grabbed Charlotte’s wrist and tried to pull her away from the edge of the abyss.

"Are you crazy?..." Charlotte looked at her angrily, "Marco is still there, we have to find a way down to save him."

The girls looked at each other helplessly.

It was clear that Charlotte was not in her right mind at the moment.

Connie grabbed Charlotte's wrist and squeezed her tightly, bringing her face closer to Charlotte's to make sure her voice could be heard clearly, "Marco is not an easy person, he will definitely find his way out, so we have to get out of here and get help."

Ada stepped forward to support Connie's words, "Connie is right, staying here doesn't change anything, we have to ask for the instructors' help."

The temperature had reached low levels and the girls quickly realized this.

They had to escape from here while they could still do so, otherwise they might not have this chance later.

Connie and Jenny grabbed Charlotte's hands and started dragging her forcefully.

Charlotte didn't resist this time but her eyes remained glued to the pit.

Despite her desire to go down into this abyss to help Alexander, she was well aware of the limits of her abilities.

She couldn't do anything.

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On the other hand, she had to get out of here because she was the person most aware of the seriousness of the situation in this place.

She could only pray to the gods that Alexander would somehow make it out of there alive.

-----------

"Mr. Ard, would you like some hot tea?" One of the instructors approached Swanson, offering him the cup of hot tea that had just been brewed.

"Thank you, Ms. Luna." Swanson took the cup of tea.

He wasn't a big tea lover, but he couldn't refuse it at the generosity of this woman.

Luna sat on the rock next to Swanson, holding her cup in her hands, looking at the gate of the dungeons with her lazy, relaxed eyes. "Although it's a bit cold, everything would be fine if you had coffee or some tea."

Swanson took a sip from his cup. "I think you're right."

Among his words, Swanson was glancing quickly at the force stationed near the gate of the dungeons.

"I have to thank you on behalf of all the students and instructors of the academy for doing this monotonous task." Luna turned her sleepy eyes to Swanson.

“It is our duty as protectors of the empire.” Swanson replied in a solemn tone.

“The imperial family is the sun that shines its light on all their subjects.” Luna placed her hand on her heart and began to praise the imperial family.

“May the gods bless the imperial family and watch over the people of the empire.” Swanson put his cup aside and began to chant some words.

As the elite among the Imperial Intelligence agents, Swanson's loyalty to the Imperial Family knew no bounds.

The selection of agents and employees for high positions was not random at all.

They were carefully and meticulously selected.

Your record must be clean of any crime or misdemeanor, and your family records are scrutinized to ensure that your first-degree relatives do not have any prior criminal records.

Even if you met all of these requirements, there was no guarantee that you would be accepted into any of the Imperial government agencies.

There were even strange and somewhat funny rumors that someone was rejected because his father had received a traffic fine twenty years ago.

As for the lucky few, they would undergo hellish training to prepare them for their duties to the fullest.

In addition to combat training and strategy instruction, individuals joining any security agency had to attend courses that talked about the Empire’s achievements under the leadership of the Imperial Family.

The curriculum from elementary school to university included such topics as well.

All of this was to instill absolute loyalty to the Emperor and the Empire.

That’s why someone like Swanson, who had been subjected to years of brainwashing, had turned into a soldier who was completely loyal to his masters.

“But isn’t it too much to bring in all these warriors?” Luna placed her palm on her cheek and looked in confusion at the terrifying soldiers who were wearing heavy armor and were lined up in front of the dungeon gate like a wall that could prevent anyone from approaching.

There was a distinctive symbol engraved on the armor of these knights.

A double-headed dragon holding a sword in one hand and a spear in the other.

This was the symbol of the Imperial Family.

This made it clear to everyone here that these knights were part of the Imperial Guard.

These were the elite among the elite.

They were the most skilled and powerful within the Empire and were tasked with protecting the members of the Imperial Family.

So the presence of these knights here away from the members of the Imperial Family was strange.

“The Crown Prince sent his knights here to make sure that everything would be okay. He didn’t want any trouble to happen right before his visit, otherwise it would be a bad omen.” Swanson came up with a ready-made excuse

In fact, Walter was the one who arranged all this

When he learned that Alexander could not be prevented from going to those dungeons, Walter decided to carry out this move

Of course, Swanson considered it a bit exaggerated

But he had to remain silent in the face of his superior’s decisive orders

Walter’s voice was full of confidence that a disaster would happen there

So Walter ran and asked the Crown Prince to send a group of knights there to protect the students in case something unexpected happened

Arguing that those dungeons were still not fully explored and there might be hidden dangers, and in this case it might be bad if something happened to the students just before the Crown Prince’s visit

The Crown Prince did not object to that

Of course, there were political considerations governing this decision. On the one hand, he will protect himself from falling into an embarrassing situation that might happen if one of the students gets injured the day before his historic visit to this city, and on the other hand, his popularity would increase somewhat among the locals

And so these knights ended up here

While Swanson and Luna were enjoying their hot drinks, a group of students ran out, gasping for breath as if they had just escaped a deadly situation.

A instructor approached them to ask what was going on.

It was still too early for the students to leave, they were supposed to stay there for at least two more hours.

The students started talking and making panicked hand gestures.

"It seems we have a problem." Luna frowned and moved towards the terrified students.

Swanson sat in his place, nervously tense, unlike his calm face.

He thought this trip would end without any problems.

But Walter's confidence had made him doubt himself the entire time.

Could Alexander's presence here really cause a disaster?

Luna returned with a skeptical expression on her face, then informed Swanson, "These students say that there is an icy wind that suddenly started blowing inside the dungeon."

“Ice winds?”

“Yes…” Luna turned her eyes back to the gate, “They say the cold was too much for them to handle so they ran out of there.”

“Well…” Swanson nodded, “That’s definitely something strange.”

The uneasy feeling inside him grew.

Should they send the Imperial Guard into the dungeons to check on the situation?

It only took a few moments for groups of students to emerge from the gate, all saying the same thing.

A cold wind blew through the tunnels, making it impossible to stay inside the dungeons.

As Swanson stood in front of the gate, considering whether he should issue the order to storm in,

One of his assistants approached him and whispered in panic, “The target signal disappeared.”

“What?” Swanson’s eyes widened in worry.

His assistant pulled out a circular device with a radar-like screen, “The target signal disappeared about thirty seconds ago.”

Swanson realized that Alexander had a problem inside.

As he opened his mouth to shout orders to the Imperial Guard, a group of girls emerged from the main gate and it was clear to everyone that they were in a more miserable state than the rest of the students.

At first, Swanson let out a sigh of relief when he recognized Charlotte.

Alexander and Charlotte were in the same group.

Since Charlotte and her group had left, Alexander was definitely with them.

However, he soon realized that Alexander was nowhere to be found.

"Oh no..." Swanson rushed towards them and quickly asked Charlotte, "Where's Marco?"

Charlotte opened her mouth to answer, but a strong stream of icy wind rushed in from the gate, causing chaos among the students.

"Everyone gather around me." Luna formed a light storm of flames.

The other instructors helped her form a dome of flames. Although the flames were a circle thirty meters in diameter, it didn't seem to hurt anyone.

On the contrary, this flames gave a warm and comfortable feeling to everyone, which prompted the students to approach Luna to take shelter from the snowstorm.

"Go over there." Swanson motioned for Charlotte and her group to go inside the circle of flames

Then he started walking towards the Imperial Guard

The Imperial Knights were standing still in their places, unaffected by the cold wind

"We need to go in there and get someone out." Swanson approached one of the Knights who seemed to be the leader of the Knights group

"This is the first time I've seen this phenomenon." The commander raised his hand and removed the snow that had formed on his shoulder, then turned to a Knight standing behind him, "Lux, aren't you using the Ice Element?"

Lux bowed his head, "I use the Wind and Water Elements, and by mixing the two elements I can create the Ice Element."

"What do you think is going on here?" the commander asked

Lux was silent for a moment, thinking deeply, then he replied, "The temperature is dropping at an unusual rate, if it continues like this, no living thing will be able to survive here...including us."

"Oh..." The commander was surprised by this unexpected analysis, "This is going to be a problem."

As the commander finished his words, a strange sound began to come from the gate.

Everyone turned their attention to the source of the sound, and the gate suddenly began to close.

It only took three seconds for the gate to close completely, and the cold wind stopped.

"It seems that this day refuses to end well." The Commander sighed.

"..." Boss, I am sorry that my naivety led me to doubt your words.

Swanson apologized internally for doubting Walter's concerns.