"Vicente, you bastard! You almost got yourself killed!" Rory shouted with a smile on his face, sighing when he saw his friend long after they had reached a new chamber where they were no longer in danger of being crushed by their leader's spell.
Vicente looked back and sighed, seeing how his group had acted on the brink and narrowly escaped suffering at the hands of his own move or that woodpecker.
"A 3rd stage beast is truly powerful. Even with so many wounds on its body, exhausted, almost at its limit, it still almost reached us." Vicente commented. "Sigh, my bad, folks. I had to use what I had. But it was worth the risk. We're safe for now."
"Are we really?" Rory asked him as he made an ugly expression and looked at the darkened surroundings.
"This wall will hold it for a few minutes. Beyond that, I can't guarantee anything. Even if it's not easy to escape being buried, it is a Mage... It will surely escape sooner or later." Vicente said.
"So what do we do?" One of the level 2 Acolytes there asked, eager to leave the area and return to Millfall.
Rory picked up a recovery potion and threw it in Vicente's direction. "Drink up. You can get us safely out of this underground area. When we reach the surface, we'll be able to follow the path we took to get here. I think we'll be able to escape in relative safety."
Everyone looked at Rory, realizing he wasn't in mortal danger but needed the potion more than Vicente.
But no one questioned him because Rory was right. If there was anyone who could get them out of the depths of the Alpine Woodpecker Forest, it was Vicente.
Vice took a deep breath and accepted the potion Rory had avoided using all day, the last of the group.
"Okay. I'll get our group out of here." He drank it.
The effects of potions were quick. In less than 30 seconds after drinking the potion Rory had given him, Vicente felt his mana return to normal while the minor injuries and fatigue in his body disappeared.
With 100% of his strength available, he looked up and jumped into the air, forming a few seals before reaching the top of the chamber.
A cylindrical tunnel 15 meters long and 3 meters in diameter opened up.
Metal bars from Vicente's armor then flew into the tunnel, instantly forming what looked like a staircase.
Realizing their escape route, the group immediately followed the path to the surface while Vicente stayed behind to seal it off as they moved upward.
'This escape mode is tiring, but that woodpecker will surely escape and head for the center of this insect-dominated area.' He thought as he spent much of his energy creating the escape route for his people.
'That way, we can finish our mission in this forest!' He sighed and gradually climbed with his men, using his elemental affinity with the Earth to the fullest in this part of the escape.
Two minutes after his recovery, Vicente would be the first to pass through the end of the tunnel he had manipulated and reach a part of the forest on that hill.
Realizing where he was and seeing no enemies around, Vicente brought his men to the surface and closed the tunnel they had used.
"What do we do now?" One of the level 2 Acolytes asked.
"We will complete our mission," Vicente replied. "Now that we're stronger, getting the missing pentagrams for some of our companions will be easy."
The 14 men who were with Vicente agreed and then set off back the way they had come, returning to where they had left their carriages.
Now, it would only be a matter of hours before they finished their journey through the forest!
...
As Vicente and his group drove away from the central area of the Alpine Woodpecker Forest, Nova and Casey had eliminated the enemies from earlier and were returning to the Fuller family's house.
In the arms of the man with the tanned skin and black hair was a sleeping young girl, dirty, with dry lips and a tired look, like someone who hadn't eaten or slept well for days.
Meanwhile, Casey and Nova had terrible looks, unable to feel good about finally rescuing Nina.
She had certainly suffered in captivity the last few days, and even though she was safe now, what had already happened couldn't be changed!
Once again, she had faced despair and felt powerless!
"What are you going to do?" Casey asked as he saw Vicente's official residence near where they were running.
"I don't know. I'll make some contacts within the army to understand my options. Nobles aren't like common people like us. The rules only work for them as they do for us when other nobles are involved." Nova commented, feeling terrible. "Even if we can prove that Marcus ordered Nina's kidnapping, nothing will happen to him, and that will give the Symons family even more reason to act against the Fuller family."
"Like I said, Vicente Fuller won't care about that. He'll get into trouble because of Nina's kidnapping."
"I know. But he's traveling now. Maybe I can do something before he returns." Nova sighed, not knowing how to tell Vicente everything that had happened.
She had promised him that she would help him take care of Nina. But because of the turmoil in the army lately, she had to leave the city and therefore couldn't keep her promise.
"Sigh... With the danger of the 3rd stage basilisk, everything is so complicated." She said as she reached the door of Nina's house.
Arriving there with Casey at her side, they didn't even have to touch the door. Just as they were about to reach it, the door opened, and a blonde woman jumped at Casey, grabbing Nina from his arms.
Eve shed a few tears when she saw Nina again, feeling terrible that she hadn't been able to do anything for the girl in the past few days.
As she hugged Nina's sleeping body, she said softly into one of the girl's ears, knowing she couldn't be heard but saying it anyway. "Nina, I will never let this happen again! I will become stronger to serve you better in the future!"
Being already a level 1 Acolyte, Eve could quickly become stronger when Vicente and Rory returned, and a new group of the Mazzanti family set out to hunt pentagrams.
She was determined to join the next group that went hunting and to take advantage of the opportunities Vicente was giving her to make herself more useful to Nina!
But even though she was very emotional, she looked at Nova and Casey and said. "Thank you for saving Nina. We in the Fuller family will never forget it!"
Not only Eve thought that. The Mazzanti family soldiers hiding on the outskirts of the mansion thought the same.
But while they were grateful to these two, they were furious at the daring people who had plotted against their young miss!
