"Keep searching; they must be nearby."
"Search those sinners."
The echoes of pursuit grew louder, armored boots striking against granite as shouted orders cut through the air. In the darkness, five silhouettes melted into the shadows, vanishing from the pursuers' sight.
Hayeon stumbled over loose rubble. Her breathing was ragged after constantly restless fights and without proper rest.
"How many times are we going to run from these bastards?"
"Until we stop being chased by those guys," said Kim Donghyun, glancing back and forth, watching for any dangers they might encounter. Ever since escaping the assassination in the alley, they had faced one threat after another, including the knights from Valderies.
Jinhyuk's eyes darted between the shadows ahead and the path behind.
"I don't know which places they might pop up."
Two hours ago, they had been steering clear of Vailder's patrol. Instead, they had stumbled straight into a trap: thirty soldiers, five battle-mages, and an Aura user whose very presence made the air feel hostile.
Fortunately, they managed to escape the ambush and slip into the mining district. Yet, despite their efforts to cover their tracks, Vailder's forces were still on their trail.
Ilwoo studied the entrance of the mine. There were no suspicious figures, no guards in sight. Ilwoo studied the entrance of the mine.
No suspicious figures, no guards in sight. He lingered for a moment, carefully looking at the shadows before entering. After several minutes, he exhaled softly.
"No guards at the entrance, that's Good," Ilwoo thought.
He finally stepped out from his hiding place and looked at his party and said,
"Let's go, we don't have much time."
***
As they descended into the mine, Ilwoo looked around carefully. There was only a single straight path ahead, no side tunnels, no other routes. After a long while, he realized he was alone; no one else had followed. A strange unease settled over him, though he couldn't tell where the danger was coming from.
As Ilwoo walked toward the mine, he noticed a faint glimmer of light flickering in the distance. He unsheathed his sword and advanced cautiously, each step deliberate as he drew closer to the glow.
"Is this the end of the mine?" Ilwoo muttered, eyeing the carved walls. When he reached the end of the passage, he stepped into a vast chamber.
Below, an altar-like structure stood, but Ilwoo knew it was no mere altar; it was the key to entering the Demon Realm.
"It's a portal," Minji said carefully, eyes fixed on the glowing center. "It's really here."
"We have to activate it," Ilwoo said, studying the map Selene had given him during their information exchange.
He traced the instructions carefully, noting how to activate the portal.
"We've touched it… the portal is activated," he added.
Hayeon hefted her spear, taking position near the tunnel entrance they'd emerged from. "How long?"
"Five minutes if everything goes perfectly."
"When has anything gone perfectly for us?" Kim Donghyun unshouldered his axe as he sensed danger.
The sound of approaching footsteps echoed from multiple tunnel entrances around the cavern. Their pursuers had spread out, cutting off potential escape routes.
"We don't have much time." Ilwoo had already stepped toward the portal. "Hold them off for me."
His fingers moved over the portal as he touched the portal
"I think we're surrounded," Jinhyuk muttered, glancing toward one of the mine's entrances on his left.
"We're screwed," Hayeon growled, hefting her spear and aiming it at another entrance wide enough to let a dozen soldiers pour through.
The first of the Vailder troops emerged from the shadows, elite soldiers clad in black armor, their weapons sparking as steel scraped against steel.
The leader stepped forward, a dark bow in hand, drawing it up and leveling the arrow at them. His voice was cold and steady.
"Surrender now, and your deaths will be swift."
"Fuck off," Hayeon growled, her spear leveled at the leader. "I'd die before I let you kill me."
A soldier's bow bolt whizzed past her ear as she dove to the left. Chaos erupted in the cavern as more troops surged in from every entrance.
"You guys have to buy me time to activate this portal!" Ilwoo yelled, pressing both palms against the glowing surface.
"How long?" Kim Donghyun swung his sword, sending a dozen soldiers flying with a single, sweeping strike.
"Ten minutes! That's how long it takes to activate the portal!" Ilwoo shouted, his voice barely audible over the chaos surrounding them.
"Okay, that's just great! More of those annoying soldiers to deal with!" Hayeon shouted at Ilwoo, twisting aside to dodge one soldier's attack.
A fireball exploded against the cavern wall near Minji's position. She responded with a bolt of lightning that sent two soldiers scrambling for cover.
"They're trying to flank us through the east passage," she shouted over the din of battle.
Jinhyuk materialized from the shadows behind an advancing mage, his daggers finding gaps in the man's defenses. For someone barely sixteen, he moved with the confidence of a veteran assassin.
"A little bit more" Ilwoo thoughts
The portal's starlight pool was beginning to stabilize, its random swirling settling into a more controlled pattern.
For a moment, a chilling sensation ran down Ilwoo's back. He froze, along with the rest of his team, as the other soldiers paused mid-fight, their eyes fixed on the figure standing opposite Ilwoo.
From the entrance, the figure stepped forward, each footfall echoing through the vast, empty space as if the world itself had frozen around him. He emerged from the main tunnel like a force of nature, tall, silver-haired, clad in flowing robes.
The air around him seemed to compress under some supernatural weight, and when he spoke, his voice carried the unshakable authority of absolute conviction.
"Enough!"
When the figure spoke, his words shook Egnofe and the rest of his team. Every Vailder soldier immediately stepped back at the sound of the figure's voice.
"I didn't expect it would be this easy to capture a hero from another world," the figure muttered, slowly stepping out of the shadows, completely removing his cloak. When Ilwoo saw his face, his body froze.
"Why the hell is he here?" he thought, as the figure advanced deliberately toward them.
"I am Korthain, the knight who serves King Valdeires," the Aura user announced.
"You will surrender to us, or we will show you no mercy."
Korthain raised one hand, and the air around the portal platform began to thicken, making it harder to breathe.
Hayeon shifted her grip on her spear. "Anyone else getting tired of people telling us what to do?"
"Constantly," Minji replied, moving to cover Ilwoo's blind spots.
Korthain's expression remained unreadable, but the oppressive aura surrounding him grew even heavier.
"You do realize how vastly outmatched you are," he said, his voice cold and lethal.
"I could kill every one of you without so much as breaking a sweat."
"Probably," Kim Donghyun agreed, his axe already raised, poised over his chest for the fight.
"But I will give my all to kill."
"I admired your spirit, but…" Korthain nodded his head, his eyes locked on Ilwoo as he struggled to activate the portal. "You all have to die… especially you."
Korthain slowly unsheathed his sword. As the lade emerged, it began to glow ominously. Ilwoo immediately recognized what the man was attempting.
"He's trying to collapse the cave!" Ilwoo yelled to his party.
"Oh, shit," Minji whispered, her eyes widening as she heard Ilwoo's warning.
As Korthain raised his sword high above his head with both hands.
Ilwoo's party fought with all their might for him until he activated the portal. The time was short, but in those fleeting moments, everything was determined.
"Almost…" Ilwoo thought, feeling his remaining mana drain as he tried to sustain the portal.
He could die here, either from completely exhausting his mana or from the collapsing cave, but he forced himself to keep channeling, refusing to let the portal falter.
Even as he stole a glance at the swirling gateway, a gnawing unease gripped him. The fight wasn't going in their favor.
Korthain's aura was growing heavier by the second, and soon, it would be the perfect moment for him to strike.
Then he felt it, the portal beginning to open. "The portal is open!" he shouted to his team.
As Ilwoo yelled, they nodded to each other. Jinhyuk dove through the portal first, vanishing without hesitation. Minji followed, then Hayeon, leaving only Ilwoo and Kim Donghyun behind.
The ground shuddered beneath Ilwoo and Donghyun. A sense of lost footing gripped them as Korthain's aura surged into his sword. The tremor spread through the chamber. Just as they reached the portal platform, the ceiling gave way in earnest.
Tons of rock cascaded around them, the thunder of the collapse drowning out nearly everything, except Korthain's voice.
Through the chaos, Ilwoo caught the knight's furious orders, something about holding the cave-in until the portal crumbled.
Ilwoo and Kim Donghyun hurled themselves through the portal just as the cavern ceiling gave way.
The last glimpse of the mining tunnels was a wall of falling stone the last sound was High Mage Korthain's furious roar cutting through the destruction.