Seeing the bodies of their enemies on the outskirts and hearing Vicente's question, his men bent their knees before him.
One of them said. "Boss, congratulations on your success in absorbing the yellow pentagram. We never doubted that you would be able to overcome such a challenge!
Not only were we confident of your success. I can tell you that the rest of the group was as well. That's why the deputy decided to stay behind to buy time for the rest of us."
"He stayed behind alone?" Vicente made a strange expression under his mask.
"No. Several of our men stayed with him to buy time for us." Another soldier said in reply.
Julian commented. "I don't know what the other group was doing. But after we split up, we heard gunfire and explosions, followed by earth tremors throughout the area.
Because of these tremors, we found this other network of tunnels where many insects like the ones you killed seemed to be hiding in the woodpecker area."
Julian summed up the situation well enough for Vicente to understand that he and his group were not yet safe but also that Rory's group still had a chance.
"In the meantime, we've lost some companions to get here." The leader of the teachers commented as he sighed deeply.
Now that things had calmed down with Vicente's success, such a teacher couldn't help but feel sorry for the fallen men.
"Drew and Theo died from some bugs the boss killed." One of the soldiers said, not daring to look at his boss, ashamed that he had been saved by one of those two.
He should have died instead of Drew!
"I see... That's a shame. I'm sorry I put you in such a terrible situation." Vicente lamented the deaths of these men while worrying about those still alive. "But there's no time to mourn. We're in enemy territory, and we have comrades who need help."
"Do you intend to act?" The strongest teacher in the group asked with surprise on his face.
He was sorry for the death of his comrades and worried about Vicente's men who had stayed behind with Rory. But that didn't mean he was ready to go back and help them!
That would be like courting death!
Vice looked at the professor and spoke. "Of course. I came to this place to make my family stronger. Would it make sense for me to abandon my men now?"
"But we're talking about a 3rd stage beast, Cesar. Besides, what will your men do without ammunition? I know their bullets must be running out by now." Julian argued.
"That's not a problem," Vicente responded as the mana in the surroundings concentrated around him, and the rocks in the area disintegrated under his first skill, forming metallic clusters.
In a matter of 15 seconds, the men watched as the rocks there turned into metallic spheres while their remains turned to dust. They then became ammunition for Vice's men's weapons.
But before it was over, a yellow pentagram appeared around these bullets along with the red pentagram, concentrating mana and elements similar to those in Vicente's body.
Small rays appeared around each of the more than 400 bullets formed, while Vicente saw the field lines appearing around them.
He smiled and said. "These are improved bullets. Use them wisely, my soldiers. They're not as resistant as the previous ones, but they have something extra that will help you."
If these bullets had been made with the right metals, they would be even better than the previous ones in every possible way. But since Vicente didn't have the necessary materials, he improvised with what he could find in that area.
Yet, with his new improvement and ability to manipulate magnetic fields, he could now increase the special fields around his creations.
Although these bullets weren't as resistant as the previous ones, they were just as destructive, if not more!
Each man excitedly accepted the bullets, eager to test their leader's new creation.
Julian was impressed to see Vice's abilities, but he still didn't feel comfortable. "Still..."
"Don't worry. Saving my men doesn't mean facing the 3rd stage beast." Vicente stated, calming the most worried hearts. "I'm not stupid enough to think that my companions are still in the same place as before.
After being left behind, they probably either died or made their escape. Let's go where they might have followed after the explosions earlier."
"And where would that be?" The teacher leader asked.
"Where those tunnels lead." Vicente pointed to the intersection of tunnels where they were standing.
There were only three destinations for Rory's group. The first was to die where they had found the pentagram earlier. The second was to follow the path of the building dominated by the woodpeckers. Finally, the third was to follow the path of the insects.
Considering that it would be more dangerous to flee through the woodpecker area, Vicente thought that Rory or any survivors of his family would follow the insect tunnels, as this was the only way to create new enemies for their pursuers.
Since the earlier explosions had opened connections between the insect and woodpecker tunnels, it was almost sure that the survivors of his family would follow that route.
Julian looked at the four tunnels in the area, one of which they had used to get here. "There are three possibilities in front of us. How do we know which one is the right?"
Vicente's eyes glowed a yellowish shade as he observed the black-and-white world with many field lines nearby.
No matter how weak, every living being had its own magnetic and electric field. But stronger beings had stronger fields. Also, beings with similar affinities could create a more robust field together.
The field lines didn't cross each other, and some of them reached far away from the central point of the field.
Observing the perturbations to the area's natural magnetic field and those generated by living beings, Vicente found it easy to follow a direction.
"Let's go through that tunnel." He pointed to one of the three possibilities. "I don't know what lies ahead, but I think it's likely that many low-level magical creatures or some high-level creatures are in such a direction. That must be the way out of this area."
His theory was that the only way out, besides digging, was to use the insect tunnels. There should only be exits through the insect-controlled part of the area.
With that in mind, the teachers there didn't try to convince Vicente otherwise, knowing they had to keep going to get out of that area.
