“Shit,” Allen cursed. He immediately jumped out of the cab and sprinted around the magicarriage. He made it to the back doors just as they were flung open by a heavy kick.

“The hell was that!” Camila shouted, jumping out. Her expression was a mix between irritation and excitement.

“Someone’s coming; we have a minute!” Allen began, glancing over everyone inside the vehicle. Their faces all hardened at the same time, other than Lucas’s that is. “Amelia, help Christopher! You three, start carrying people,” Allen continued, pointing between Ty, Camila, and Lucas. “Christopher, I need light!” he shouted towards the front of the magicarriage.

In response, a ball of arcane miasma flitted to life above Allen’s head, locked in place by some invisible force. The Assassin wasted no time, he used Heavy Accelerate to lunge at the barn doors. He covered his boots in miasma before smashing through with a flying drop kick. Rather than breaking the lock on the door, the force of the impact had simply torn the shackle out of the wood.

Allen rolled to his feet and looked into the structure. There were three empty stables on either side near the front, piles of hay at the back, and a tractor parked near the center. On the far wall, there was a tool closet that he knew would open to the Wandering Gate.

“It’s in the closet at the back!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Start hauling bodies!”

“Understood!” Ty answered.

Allen sprinted back out of the barn, passing Camila and Ty on the way. Both were carrying four slave children each, running at full speed. Amelia pushed Christopher into the barn just as Allen jumped into the back of the magicarriage again and picked up four children himself. Carrying four people at once was extremely difficult, even if they were children and even with his enhanced strength. He held them by the straps that bound them, much like grocery bags. It was definitely unpleasant for them, but preferable to staying a slave.

Allen passed Ty and Camila again on his way back into the barn and dropped the slaves in a pile near the tool closet. He spared Amelia and Christopher a blank look before sprinting back to the magicarriage again.

Ty and Camila rushed past him for a third time, both carrying four more slaves, though Ty was hauling the adult women. Lucas wasn’t too far behind them, a determined look on his face. He was carrying the other adult man, another worker slightly younger than him.

Camila’s strength was likely over a hundred and Ty was simply strong already. He likely had most of his points in endurance and vitality, but his strength was still comparable to Allen’s at seventy-eight.

When Allen returned to the magicarriage, he found two more slaves left, a boy and a girl. Without a thought, he grabbed them and sprinted back to the closet. “We’re out of time!” he screamed internally.

Ty spun around as Allen dropped the final two children with the others. “What the fuck is this Allen!” the Defender yelled, sweat covering his brow as his chest heaved with exertion. “Where’s the dungeon!?” he continued, pointing at the closet. The door was open, revealing a small room with shelves full of tools and supplies, illuminated by Christopher’s magic.

Allen didn’t bother answering, he shoved his way though the others and shut the door. “Open the Wandering Gate, not the closet,” he groaned, opening the old wooden door again.

White-golden light streamed out when Allen opened the closet for the second time. The other side of the threshold depicted an absolutely massive corridor of polished white marble lined on either side by eight enormous columns. The end of the hall faded off into clouds and soft golden light where a sparkling gate floated in space, reminiscent of the gates of heaven themselves.

Not that Allen had ever seen those gates.

“He’s here!” Christopher said, his gaze locked onto a spot somewhere on the barn wall, or beyond it rather. “Psychokinesis?” he muttered questioningly.

“Move!” Allen shouted. He immediately grabbed the nearest slave children by the straps and tossed them through the door. The others followed suit moments later, opting for speed over care.

Suddenly, the professor gasped and spread his arms out in front of himself. A field of magic erupted around them in a dome at the same moment, surrounding the group, the slaves, and the closet. The arcane light flared as well, bathing everything in an intense pale blue.

Not a second later, the entire barn and everything not underneath Christopher’s dome was lifted off the ground and shredded to pieces as if a tornado had passed over. Wind howled as dust and debris formed a cylinder of shrapnel flying around the flattened site of the barn. Allen could still feel magic pulling on him even from inside the dome, but it thankfully wasn’t powerful enough to do anything.

In an instant, everything but the small portion of the wall within Christopher’s barrier had been completely destroyed. Then there was a dark-haired man dressed in a fluttering blue cloak and an ornate battle uniform. He stood casually on the air as if it were solid, his posture relaxed. Despite the mask he somehow still gave off the impression that he was smirking.

Christopher’s gaze hadn’t shifted at all, his eyes remained locked onto the same spot, though with the barn wall gone, he was looking back at the psychokinetic Mage instead.

Allen threw two more slaves into the Gate. He noticed the others furiously doing the same, though Lucas was shaking too much to get anything done. Even knowing the information would mean fuck all in their situation, Allen still spared a glance up at the Mage.

Name: [Unknown]

Human – Mage – Level 524

“Fascinating defense,” the Mage began, his voice like thunder. Then the wind stopped, and the vortex of debris stilled in the night sky. “I had expected it to fail immediately. Regardless, surrender the Lanthinus company property now and I’ll only kill you,” he said amiably and at a normal volume.

Christopher chuckled outwardly, still keeping his barrier active. “Flattering,” the professor replied, “Though this barrier only diffuses miasmic control waves rather than blocking direct physical impact forces. That’s the only reason we’re still standing, really.” His demeanor was surprisingly calm despite his hands subtly shaking.

“Stalling the enemy by revealing your own weaknesses,” Allen thought with a silent laugh, throwing another slave into the Wandering Gate. “A tactic as old as anime.”

The group continued frantically piling slaves up on the other side of the door as the Mage put a hand to his chin. “Ah, I see… Well then diffuse this.” The Mage then held out a hand and made a grasping motion.

Allen looked up and followed where the Mage’s hand pointed. He found that the man had taken hold of the mostly demolished body of the tractor that had been parked in the barn earlier. With a sudden pulling motion, the Mage yanked the tractor from the wall of motionless debris. The hunk of metal flew around the site of the barn in an arc as if it were on the end of an invisible rope. It picked up speed as the Mage whipped his arm around his head before throwing it forward, sending the tractor hurtling towards Allen and the others.

“Ty!” Allen shouted.

Lucas dove to the ground, screaming in fear.

Ty was already in front of Christopher with his shield in hand. The Defender planted his feet and, with a bellow, ducked under his shield, angling it upwards and pressing into it with his shoulder. Magic surged around him, strengthening his body and his armor. A triple layered barrier of solidified miasma flashed into existence in front of him just in time to get shattered to pieces by the tractor.

Magic power exploded outwards as the tractor slammed into Ty’s shield, crumpling it like a tin can. Ty’s feet broke though the packed earth below him, cracking it and sending up dust. The tractor was deflected over the group, taking Ty’s destroyed shield with it as it tumbled away.

The Defender cried out in pain, falling back while is destroyed shield arm flopped limply at his side. Allen cursed, throwing another slave through the door. There were only a few more left. Amelia was already pulling Ty back towards the Gate, but she wasn’t strong enough on her own.

“Well, that certainly deserves an applause,” the Mage said, slow clapping to himself. He cocked his head to the side and chuckled. “Might I ask, why are you throwing the slaves into that room?” he asked, shaking his head. “They’re not going to be any safer in there.” He drifted sideways to get a better angle, laughing to himself. That is, until he saw the other side of the door leading to another location.

“That’s it, our time’s up,” Allen thought.

“What the f—,” the Mage started. “A Gate spell? None of you are even over one-hundred! HOW!?”

Camila threw the final slave through the door and turned to glare up at the Mage. “EAT SHIT MOTHERFUCKER!” she roared, flicking him off.

Camila’s magically enhanced voice carried the mental pressure of a Berserker skill, causing Allen’s vision to blur momentarily. “Go though now!” he yelled. Allen booted Lucas through the door and grabbed Christopher while Camila drug Ty the few steps toward the Gate. Amelia passed through the threshold just as the wall of shrapnel rushed inward at speeds too fast to track.

“YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE!” the Mage shouted, enraged.

Projectiles flung with hurricane force winds shredded their way through the group’s defenses. Allen felt pain all over as he rushed towards the Wandering Gate. There was nothing left of the barn wall but the door and its frame, only held together by the dungeon’s unfathomably powerful magic. Allen knew it would crumble to dust the moment the door was shut.

The professor desperately put up barriers only for them to be shattered in mere instants. He began unloading arcane bolts at the Mage, all flippantly deflected by swirling shrapnel. Then a beam of pure arcane magic lanced its way through the cloud of debris at the enemy, only to be deflected at a right angle.

Allen threw Christopher into the door then dove in himself. Camila followed a moment later, hauling Ty after her. Without the professor to block any debris, the other side of the door became a cloud of viciously churning shrapnel.

Ty howled in pain as his legs were shredded in the moments before Camila could get him through the threshold.

Allen lunged back at the door just before the dark cloud parted to reveal the Mage standing no more than twenty meters away, illuminated in golden-white light. A wave of rubble surged towards him right as Allen pulled the wooden door shut. He let out a cry of exertion as it snapped against the inner wall of the dungeon, disappearing in the same instant and leaving nothing but seamless white marble.

Allen stood still in front of the wall for a few seconds, not even breathing. Then he allowed himself to slide down and fall to his knees. His heart was beating hard and it was excruciatingly painful. Absently, he looked down to find a wooden shard the size of his forearm embedded in his chest. There were many other wounds of varying severity, though none were as worrying as that one.

Despite himself, Allen suddenly started laughing softly, his hand still resting on the marble wall at the bottom of a streak of blood. “Fuck me …” he thought, “I got a splinter.”