They waited for the reinforcement to come. But the camp did not rest. The guards who were still alive grew restless as the time dragged on, with anger burning beneath their exhaustion.
Voices that sounded sharp and bitter rose near the wagons, aimed squarely at the three Arcanists.
They had been told it was safe and they just had to kill the wolves behind the barrier. But then the barrier had broken.
Fifty guards had entered the escort formation. Now there were only twenty-three left. Some had fled into the forest in panic. Most had died screaming beneath the corrupted fangs of the wolves.
The resentment was inevitable.
Dominic sat several meters away from the gathering, close enough to hear every word but far enough to remain unnoticed.
He leaned against the wagon wheel with head lowered, eyes half-lidded.
He had known this would happen.
He just listened.
"You said that the attack was supposed to be safe!" one guard snapped. "You said the barrier would hold!"
Riven stood rigid, arms crossed, his expression cold and tight. His jaw was clenched hard enough to creak.
"I already said," Riven replied, his voice flat and restrained, "something always goes wrong when we deal with Labyrinth leakage. Especially at this scale."
"You can say that because it wasn't your friend who died!" a man with long, unkempt hair shouted. His face was red, eyes wet with rage and grief. "You didn't watch them get torn apart by those wolves!"
Riven looked at him sharply. His teeth ground together.
"You know nothing about me," he said in a low voice.
The air around him seemed to tighten.
"How many of my friends do you think have died inside the Labyrinth?" Riven continued. His tone never rose, but the words carried pressure like lava building deep underground that waited to erupt. "How many bodies do you think I've dragged back. Or failed to bring back at all?"
The guards blinked with shock.
Before it could escalate further, Kel stepped in front of Riven and shot him a warning look.
Riven turned his head away and let out a sharp, controlled sigh.
Kel faced the guards.
They looked angry, broken, and tired.
"No matter how much you hate us," Kel said calmly, "we can't reverse what happened. No one predicted this disaster. Not us or even the Council."
His gaze moved slowly from one guard to the next. Several of them averted their eyes.
"It's already a miracle that some of us are still alive," he continued. "Do you even understand how dangerous and how big the scale of the Labyrinth leak we faced was?"
No one answered.
They didn't know. They had never gone deeper than the entrance layers. They had never felt the pressure, the distortion, or the things that waited beyond. Certainly, they have no idea about the scale of the Labyrinth leak Kel was talking about.
"That breach could have killed every single one of us," Kel said. "But somehow, we're still standing."
His voice hardened.
"If you want to blame us, then do it. Say whatever you need to say. But don't ask for compensation. Don't demand answers we don't have."
He gave them one sharp look.
The guards stood in silence. There was nothing left for them to argue.
"We should focus on protecting what remains," Kel said. "I don't know if there will be another wave."
With that, he turned and walked away from the group.
Riven followed without a word.
Dominic remained where he was, listening until their footsteps faded, his expression calm and he was genuinely tired.
The worry in his heart did not leave him.
He kept his eyes lowered but listening to the night and the forest beyond the wagons.
If another wave of monsters came out, he did not think he could fight again. His body was already near its limit.
Even when he had two Signatures, he was still inexperienced. He had no real combat training so no proper foundation.
He had felt ether awaken within him, but he could not shape it or control it the way Arcanists did.
All he could do was use it crudely.
When parts of his body felt too weak or too hurt, he forced ether toward them by instinct alone. There was no technique or refinement on it. Just a simple command pushed by his mind.
It worked, but barely. The ether dulled the worst of the strain and kept his muscles from giving out completely, but it could not heal him. It just made his breath feel heavier than the last.
Dominic rested his head lightly against the wagon wheel and closed his eyes.
Footsteps approached quietly.
Dominic opened his eyes and lifted his head. He saw two people standing a short distance away from him.
They were the other passengers who had shared the same wagon with him and the three noble kids.
Their clothes were stained with dust. Their faces still showed anxiety.
One of them, a boy not much older than Dominic, hesitated before speaking. "Are you… are you all right?"
Dominic looked at them for a moment, then nodded once. He did not say anything.
Relief crossed their faces immediately.
"We saw you fighting," the other one said, swallowing hard. "We think you're strong. If you weren't there… the caravan—"
He stopped himself before finishing his sentences, still shocked because of what he had experienced.
"Thank you," he said instead. "For protecting us."
Dominic blinked.
A thin line of worry slipped through his chest.
He studied their faces carefully, searching for any sign of suspicion. Then he asked, slowly and carefully, "Did you see… what happened to the nobles?"
Both of them shook their heads at once.
"Not really," the first boy said quickly. "I just heard that they wanted to show off their Bloodmark power. But I can't hear anything anymore besides wolves barking and snarling."
The second let out a bitter breath. "It's too bad. But I think they deserved it."
Silence filled the space around them for a moment.
"I think," the boy finished quietly, "We shouldn't talk about them anymore."
Dominic watched their reactions closely.
There was no accusation in their eyes. No hint that they had seen the moment he had chosen to let the three noble died.
Good.
"I think you're right," Dominic said. The tension in his chest eased.
The two exchanged a glance, then one of them reached into his pack and pulled out wrapped food. Dried meat and hard bread. Not much, but carefully kept.
"This is all we have left," he said. "But please. Take it. It's the only way we can thank you."
Dominic hesitated for a brief moment.
Then he nodded and accepted it.
"Don't mind if I do," he said with a smile.
They smiled back, then stepped away to let Dominic rest.
Dominic started eating the dried meat while leaning back against the wagon wheel again.
This went better than he had expected.
—