Let alone the students, even Alex was startled by such a huge explosion.
Alex almost stumbled as the ground shook due to tremors spreading far and wide.
Alex turned his gaze towards the temple and his eyes widened, the upper portion had been blown away by an explosion and a huge mushroom shape could be rising from the top along with the expanding flames.
The explosion was quite large and from the mana surge, Alex could infer that it was an attack from a legendary rank or someone having similar strength or above.
The figure of the person flashed before his eyes and his back was drenched in sweat.
"Is it Hurt? That maniac, why did he engage so early? Instead of rescuing the people, why the hell did that bastard go straight to the boss monster?"
With a tightened heart, Alex ran to see the condition of the children.
As he came near, the sight of children sitting down on their knees while closing their ears came into his sight.
They all seemed to be afraid and their body was trembling with fear.
Even three students had pale expressions.
Due to the shaking of the ground, dust and debris were falling from the top of the cave. If this goes on Alex was sure that the cave will collapse soon.
Seeing Alex coming towards them, Harrison asked in a panicked tone "What was that?"
"Someone is fighting in the temple. We need to get away from here now?" Alex shouted and snapped everyone from their fear.
Alex led them away from the cave.
It hadn't been five minutes since they started running when another explosion took place.
Alex's steps halted as he felt danger. Without wasting a single moment, he pulled out his sword and shouted"All of you lay down immediately."
Everyone followed his command without asking any questions and Alex stepped forward and stabbed the sword into the ground.
Whoosh!
His sword erupted with a bright golden light and a dome-shaped barrier appeared covering everyone present out there.
While everyone was wondering what was going on, the ground trembled and as they raised their chin to look forward in the dark, their eyes widened with horror.
A bright light erupted from afar which illuminated the whole place followed by strong shock waves coming towards them sweeping away everything in their path.
Like waves crashing onto the shore, shockwaves one after another hit Alex's shaped golden barrier.
The trees beside them were uprooted and blown away. While some shattered like dust, some were simply sucked out of their roots and sent flying.
One of the thick timber of the tree fell on their dome and bounced back due to the impact.
The round of blasts finally slowed down still Alex didn't retract his barrier and as he stared at the sky, he finally caught the glimpse of Hurt.
Leaving behind a trail, like a comet engulfed in dark flames, his figure flew in the air and crashed back at some distance away from that place.
Bad premonitions suddenly rose from his heart.
"Huh!! There is another bug here."
A loud harsh sound echoed which sent shivers down the spine of everyone.
Alex subconsciously looked and his pupil dilated.
A black shadowy figure stood in the air staring at them with an apathetic expression.
His skin was black but it wasn't entirely disgusting, he was wearing a cloak and Alex didn't find any claws or tentacles sprouting from its body.
Alex didn't even need the Eyes of Truth to know the man.
He was a real creature of Darkness.
He was Arion, in early Mythic rank, who seemed to be in charge of this place.
Alex almost cried tears of blood. He could escape from his grasp but the people behind him will die horribly and on top of that he didn't know the current condition of Hurt whose whole body seemed to be engulfed by flame and was sent flying somewhere.
"Your body seems to be blessed. Offering you to my God would yield good results."
"I cannot believe that a golden goose had walked into my nest." He chuckled.
"You still don't want to yield."He asked, raising his voice as he could see Alex's cold gaze.
He extended his hand and a large whip of darkness appeared in his hand.
Holding it, he whipped at the golden dome.
Crackle!
With a single strike, the top of the portion of the dome cracked.
"Ohhh!"
"It looks quite sturdy, isn't it?"
"Let's see just how many strikes you can hold on."
Alex gritted his teeth and tried to reinforce the dome.
He wanted to buy some time both for himself and Hurt.
If Hurt appears, he would entrust these children to him and would engage in a battle with Arion and in case Hurt doesn't appear, he was preparing to give Arion a blow and shake him away.
He was trying to form a fission bomb condensed with a light element which would surely cause heavy damage if struck.
Alex needs the strength of at least the Mythic realm to use that kind of spell which needs precise control but finding himself in this kind of situation, there was no other way but to use the attack now.
A cruel smile appeared on Arion's lips as he slashed his hands and whipped the dome to his heart's content.
Every time Arion struck Alex felt a huge burden placed on his shoulder and he was forced to bend down onto his knees.
He observed Arion's expression and could see that he wasn't taking him seriously.
In his eyes, everyone was no less than a bug whom he could crush anytime.
Large cracks appeared all over the dome and it was just one strike away from shattering into pieces.
Instead of breaking it, Arion terminated the whip and spoke with a smile.
"Let me give you a deal?"
"If that golden hair boy surrenders himself then I promise that I will not harm you and let you all go."
