Chương 76: Tunnel Collapse

There wasn't any time to think. Adolin had to do something. Anything. The artifact had already started expanding from the mana overload. From the density of the mana inside it, it wasn't going to be a large explosion, but because they were inside a tunnel, it would be enough to collapse it and bury everyone inside. At least the ones who survived the explosion. The device was buried about a meter underground. Levitating it out of the tunnel wasn't going to work.

He had to protect the men inside the tunnel somehow, or at least most of them. The biggest hurdle was that the device was in the middle of the men. Even if he isolated the device, it would still collapse the tunnel. He flooded the tunnel with his mana, and using Mana Control, he started reinforcing the tunnel around the men. He was far from skilled enough to build proper supports that would stop the explosion from collapsing it.

But if he stacked them, reinforced them with extra mana, then doubled them, he hoped it would be just enough. He used Earth Transform, creating dozens of openings all over the tunnel—but only in the area where the soldiers were. Then, with Mana Control, he reinforced the earth around the device, then doubled it, and again. Adolin cast Mana Barrier and Air Barrier around himself and the small group of soldiers in front of the tunnel entrance. Booomm.

The earth shook as dirt, rocks, and flowers from the garden were thrown all over the place. The shockwave that followed pushed him back a few meters through the air as he continued levitating. The soldiers were thrown back as well, the barriers around them protecting them from the worst of it. Then the ground above the tunnel began to collapse in front of him. With the help of a wind spell, Adolin stabilized himself in the air. Everything around him was covered in dust, dirt, and uprooted plants from the garden.

Thanks to the barriers around him, his breathing wasn't interrupted. He glanced behind him and saw the civilians coughing from the dust. Quite a few were on the ground from the shockwave. But other than that, they were safe. He cast another wind spell that started blowing the dust away from them. He returned his Mana Sense to the tunnel. Most of the tunnel had collapsed. Only the section near the entrance was still standing, the one he'd reinforced with mana.

But from what he saw inside through his Mana Sense, the soldiers were struggling to breathe and coughing, while some were trying to forcefully open the entrance. If he didn't move fast, most of them would suffocate inside. He focused on his Mana Sense and located the holes he'd previously made. Most of them had collapsed or been refilled. He kept cursing in his mind as he started making new ones, bigger this time. Then he cast wind spells and manually controlled them to pull the dust outside.

A whole minute later, most of the dust that made it impossible for the soldiers to breathe had been blown outside through the holes. Then he used another wind spell through one of the larger holes to fill the tunnel with oxygen again. He noticed that the soldiers were starting to breathe again, and he turned toward the group that was supposed to open the tunnel. They still looked confused, and their swords were drawn. From all over the estate, patrols and more soldiers started rushing over.

"Open the tunnel!" Adolin shouted again. The man holding the device looked toward him, then moved toward the tunnel moments later. Good. He used Mana Sense again, scanning the area around them while ignoring the claws that had dug even deeper than before. Was this a distraction? Questions kept appearing in his mind. If it was a distraction, what was it trying to accomplish? He enhanced his voice and glanced toward the approaching patrols.

"The situation is handled. Get back to your positions." They stopped and looked at him with confusion. He repeated it again, louder this time, and they turned back. Only some nurses and the guards with them continued toward the tunnel. They would be needed for the soldiers stuck inside. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Adolin was getting pissed off again. He floated high in the sky, scanning the estate around him.

They kept interrupting his plans to leave the estate. Why were they making his life harder? He grumbled. Did they plan on killing everyone so there wouldn't be any witnesses? Shit. That was the only thing that made sense. They could have simply been trying to get rid of the soldiers inside the tunnel. But for whatever reason, his gut was telling him the first possibility made more sense, and he didn't like it at all. Leaving the soldiers to fight their battles was fine with him.

But leaving the civilians in a situation like this wasn't something he would do.

"Fuck Eduard," he muttered. He wasn't having a great day, and he would need meditation again. He slowly floated toward the ground as everyone stared at him. Were Levitate or flying spells rare in this world? He didn't care and landed next to the tunnel entrance. The soldiers were still struggling to get the door open. The spell circle, or whatever they used to make it work, was damaged, he thought. He spread his Mana Sense around the opening and found a spell form? He wasn't sure how it worked.

In his world, they used different methods to create stationary spells. He studied the mana and noticed it was cut in multiple spots. Whatever was sustaining the spell had been destroyed during the explosion. He could probably fix it if he had enough time to study it, but he was pretty sure the soldiers wouldn't appreciate being stuck in the tunnel for hours while he played around.

The opening had metal parts to it, but it was mostly normal ground reinforced with mana, and something else he didn't have time to inspect. He cast Earth Transform and manually removed the earth on top of the metal, layer by layer. It didn't take him more than a minute. When all of the dirt was gone, he saw the metal. It was some kind of black metal that was responsive to mana.

With Earth Transform, he removed all of the dirt holding the metal in place, then used Levitate combined with a wind spell to lift the metal door. He dropped it a few meters away from him. The soldiers strode out of the tunnel, their swords already in their hands, prepared for battle.

"Stand down." Adolin heard Sir Victor say, and the soldiers calmed down moments later. He turned and found the knight a few steps away from him. His once pristine armor was covered in dirt. The man nodded toward him. He watched as the soldiers left the tunnel before turning toward Adolin.

"Thank you," he said. Adolin just nodded. There were too many things going through his mind. He still didn't want to fight for Eduard, but he wouldn't leave the civilians at the estate. How was he supposed to get out of this situation? He looked back at the crowd and shook his head. There was no chance he could fix the situation with a spell. For one, there were way too many people, and transporting them all with a spell wasn't possible.

Not even in his old world, where he was the Archmage with the highest mana pool alive. He could leave the estate with them, but he couldn't protect every single one of them if the organization decided to wipe out everyone in the region around the estate. Which he suspected they wanted to do. The kitten had finally calmed down and withdrawn her claws from his shoulder, and he used a targeted healing spell that consumed the least amount of mana.

He was certain that before everything was over, he would need every drop of mana he had, and more. Thankfully, he had a lot of mana potions, which he wasn't a fan of wasting. He shook his head and entered the tunnel to check on the wounded. He'd seen quite a few get injured by falling rocks from the tunnel ceiling. Most of the able soldiers were already out by the time he stepped inside. The tunnel was bigger than he'd expected. It had enough space for two carriages to move side by side.

And the ceiling was quite high as well, about three meters, he guessed. He saw dozens of soldiers on the ground, while each had at least one soldier helping with their wounds. Some of the more severely wounded let out cries of pain while another soldier kept pressure on their wounds. Since he was about to train mages for Revel in the near future, and since he was quite pissed off at the church, he saw no reason to hold back his healing spells and started moving from soldier to soldier.

He analyzed the worst injuries with his gift and started with them, using a different healing spell each time so he could gain a few more levels and more attributes toward Intelligence for whatever was going to come next. Just over a dozen men were wounded. Thankfully, most of them had superficial injuries, and he didn't need to use a mana potion even after all the spells he'd used in such a short time. But he was almost out of mana. He felt his mana pool increase twice during the whole ordeal, but ignored it.

He would assign the attribute points later. He left the tunnel and heard the Count curse Eduard's name. The Count was talking with Sir Victor, along with a few more knights and mages. He enhanced his hearing to listen in.

"-do now?" The Count said.

"There is no other way to evacuate them safely."

"I'm not sure, Lord," Sir Victor said.

"Maybe we can send them deeper into the forest with an armed escort, and they could hide there until everything is over."

"No… no. That won't work. From everything I have uncovered, the organization doesn't leave living witnesses. Only a lucky few have survived each time, and that is from the two cases I know of. And I'm fairly certain those are the only two failures to silence everyone present."

"How much time do we have?" a man in mage robes said.

"I can try to open up the tunnel with some of the other mages' support." Adolin was closer now and could see the grim expression on the Count's face. The Count shook his head.

"The scouts were killed off three hours ago, and now this. It will start soon." He frowned.

"Too soon." Well, shit. That was the only thought circling in his mind. He really needed to give Eduard a good beating after everything was done. Something that would stick in that empty head of his. He had finally managed to calm himself, and now this. Anger burned in his chest. There was nothing he hated more than this. When someone was using him. Maybe there was something worse. If someone used his party.

"Fuck," he cursed again, this time out loud. It got a few heads turning toward him, but he didn't care. He strode toward the bathhouse. Nothing he thought of was going to work to get him out of the estate with the civilians safe. Nothing. He thought about escaping with the civilians again, but quickly pushed the thought away. There was no chance he would be able to fight and protect so many civilians at once. Even with the men he had.

"Whatever," he muttered. He needed to clear his head. Protecting others while angry wasn't something he wanted to do. And the bathhouse was the best place to do that, and some meditation.