A loud explosion suddenly echoed from the distance.
Noel and the others looked up toward the source—it came from the west.
"Who went to investigate the west side?" Noel asked.
"I think it was Hibiki," Ivan replied after recalling.
The group immediately rushed west. Ichiya seemed especially anxious—he silently prayed that Hibiki wasn't hurt.
From afar, a figure was sprinting toward them with impressive speed. When he arrived, he stopped just in front of them.
"Ren? What are you doing here?" Noel asked in surprise.
"I heard the explosion over here and ran as fast as I could to check it out," Ren replied, panting heavily. He was clearly exhausted—his speed must have drained him.
"Is Hibiki okay?" Ren asked urgently as soon as he caught his breath.
"We just got here too," Jura explained.
Ren's expression darkened. "What the hell happened?"
"Let's get over there and check. He should be fine—Hibiki's defensive magic is top-notch," Ichiya quickly reassured him.
"Ichiya-sensei is right," Ren responded, calming down a little.
The closer they got to the center of the explosion, the more disturbing the scene became. Jagged cliffs had been blasted open. The ground was stained with splattered blood—it looked like Hibiki had suffered a serious injury.
Following the trail of blood, they eventually spotted three figures surrounding Hibiki.
All three wore masks, concealing their identities. One of them was holding a magic crystal—Noelle immediately recognized it as a high-purity grade.
Noelle didn't even consider hiding. Saving Hibiki took priority. As he stepped out, the three masked men noticed his sudden arrival.
Hibiki was stunned at first, but inwardly relieved. Reinforcements finally arrived. Who knows what would've happened to me if they hadn't...
The three attackers tensed up, one of them shouting arrogantly, "More intruders? What are you here for?"
Intruders... That one word revealed a lot—it meant these three were just low-level guards. The real mastermind hadn't shown up yet.
"I'm here for the magic crystal in your hand," Noelle said calmly.
The three exchanged wary glances. At first, they assumed Noel and Hibiki were part of the same team—but based on his tone, they guessed he might just be after the crystal.
Still, the crystal was valuable and would sell for a good price. They weren't about to hand it over that easily.
One of them smirked, "And what makes you think we'd just give it to you? Who do you think you are?"
Noel didn't stop walking. "I'm on a schedule. Don't waste my time. If you do… the consequences will be unpleasant."
Their tempers flared instantly. "I've seen cocky punks before, but you take the cake. Let's teach this brat a lesson."
"Wind Blade!"
"Water Bullet!"
"Explosion!"
Three different types of magic surged toward Noel.
But thick rock walls suddenly rose around him—Iron Rock Wall.
A deep voice rang out.
"Thanks, Jura."
"Man~!" Ichiya cried, slamming down with his signature Mount Fuji Press, instantly knocking the three enemies out cold.
The high-purity crystal they held dropped to the ground. No one else went for it, so Noelle casually scooped it up and slipped it into his backpack.
Nice. Another one for the collection. Totally worth the trip.
Meanwhile, Ren and Ivan rushed over to support Hibiki. He coughed up blood—clearly at his limit.
"Pain-Relief Essence," Ichiya said, pulling out a small vial.
Hibiki's condition slowly improved. "Thanks, sensei…" he murmured weakly.
"Here, drink this." Noelle handed over another potion.
Hibiki stared at it. It was black.
He hesitated. It looked like some kind of dark potion… could it really be safe to drink?
He sniffed it first, and instantly felt his stomach churn.
What the hell is this? Some kind of black-magic brew? Can I really drink this?
"Go on. Everything in there is technically edible," Noel encouraged.
Hibiki's face darkened. Just because it's "technically edible" doesn't mean it should look like this...
Still, with everyone staring at him expectantly, he pinched his nose and downed the bottle in one gulp.
The potion bypassed his taste buds as it slid down, but his body began to recover almost instantly.
"See? Told you it'd work," Noelle said proudly.
Hibiki had no idea how to respond.
"By the way… what exactly happened here? What caused the explosion?" Jura asked, now that Hibiki could speak clearly.
"I found a teleportation circle," Hibiki said, steadying his breath.
"A teleportation circle? There's one here?" Noelle's eyes lit up. Finally, a way out of this cursed cave... I'm almost going insane in here.
"But… there's a problem," Hibiki added. "It doesn't have a power source. And even if we all pooled our magic, it still wouldn't be enough to activate it."
"What? Not even Jura's magic is enough?" Noelle asked.
Hibiki shook his head. "It's not just the power—it's the number of people. The circle's too large. It's designed to teleport many at once."
"If it were just Jura alone, maybe he could activate it. But for all of us? Not a chance."
"Let's go check it out first," Ichiya suggested.
Under Hibiki's direction, they arrived at the massive teleportation array.
It was far more advanced than the ones in the Hargeon Library—inscribed with ancient script that might hold deeper meaning.
Noel couldn't decipher it. He only had a basic understanding of ancient runes, not enough to read this.
The group stood in front of the teleportation circle, completely at a loss. But it was their only way out now. The original path they came through had collapsed—there was no turning back.
"There might be another way…" Noel said, eyeing the high-purity crystal in his hand.
If they didn't have enough magic power, then maybe they could just use magic crystals. This place was a natural mine—there might not be food or water, but there was definitely no shortage of crystals.
The others turned to him. "Let's hear it."
"We can use the crystals," Noel said confidently. "They're packed with energy. That should be more than enough to activate the circle."
No one questioned it—they immediately fanned out and started gathering crystals.
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