The swarm of leeches approached. They were all frozen in place. The [Heroes] heard them around the corner.

"Run!"

Blake was the first to act. He grabbed his weapon, grabbed Sarah's hand and ran. Malcolm blinked and then everything went to shit. Everyone pushed each other to the side or to the ground and the [Mage] fell. All form of cohesion and strategy was lost. He fell to the ground and cursed.

Dune was still there. Unmoving. Malcolm made him walk over to him to protect him from whatever this was. Only some of his classmates knew and had told people, but he wanted to be a hero, not just a [Hero]. It was known that in the face of adversity or crisis, people leveled exponentially. It was a gamble, but he wanted to take it. Everyone was gone now.

And then he saw it.

A wall of flesh. Arcane leeches. Filling the hall.

He ran. He subconsciously made Dune go with him but the golem was too slow. The monsters would catch up to him. He had two choices.

Send Dune to distract the leeches for a few seconds and run deeper in the dungeon where his classmates were. Or...

"[Earth Manipulation]!"

The earth rose. A wall stood in between Malcolm and the monsters. They burst through it in a few seconds.

"Damn it! [Earth Manipulation]! [Earth Manipulation]!

Rows of earth, each one thinner than the last leaped up. He kept running, and Dune was falling behind. He didn't know where he was going. Where had his classmates gone? He took a right, and he ended up finding himself facing a room, which was a dead end. He had no mana potions, and he was almost out. He reckoned he at enough for at least two more spells.

No time to think. It was at this moment that he wished he had learned more offensive spells. He looked at Dune.

"I'm sorry."

And the Golem went back into the hall. He'd buy him time. Even seconds were precious in the situation. He lifted his hand up and pointed towards the wall, cursing at himself for not thinking of this earlier.

"[Earth Manipulation]"

A hole opened up in one of the walls. It was large enough to accommodate him, even if he'd be uncomfortable. Unfortunately, that was the least of his worries. He crawled in and sealed the wall, only leaving a tiny hole for air.

And as the leeches swarmed the room, Malcolm passed out.

[Mage: Level 9]

[Skill: Earth Wall Obtained]

[Skill: Earth Manipulation ––> Greater Earth Manipulation]

-----------------------------------

Sarah was still running with Blake. A few of her classmates had split from the main group in the confusion, but they were still at least twenty. There was no time to count.

"This way!"

Blake abruptly turned, which made her trip.

"Fuck! Sorry!"

He lifted her up.

"It's fine! Let's just go!"

Adrenaline was pumping through her veins. She had never felt like this before. She wasn't tired, she wasn't scared, she was just... numb. After what felt like hours of running, they stopped. They didn't hear where the monsters were anymore, which was good news. Everyone was sitting and panting. Everyone but Blake and Claus. They took the initiative. The two men had become de facto leaders of their group.

"Listen up. We need to set up a barricade and seal this room. We don't have shovels, but just use your hands."

"Claus is right. They'll probably be here any minute. We need to do this now."

They got digging. As bad as the plan sounded for most students, it was their only hope. After they were done sealing the room, they'd wait as long as possible for a rescue team to arrive. With some luck, someone was already on their way! The city must have had protocols for something like this! But the student that had first used the [Message] spell was out of mana, so they were completely in the dark...

Help was on the way. That is what everyone told themselves to stay sane. Sarah also believed it. After all, they were [Heroes], right?

Soon enough the room was sealed. The students sat down and started relaxing and tending to wounds with the few potions they had. They could last for days in here but only thanks to one person. Sarah sat next to Blake and he grabbed her in his arms.

"We're going to get out of here. Just you wait."

She nodded. Sarah was a [Hydromancer], which meant that their water supply wasn't an issue. Most [Hydromancers] needed a water source nearby to fight, but some extremely talented individuals could create water out of thin air. She was one of them.

[Create Water] was the first spell she had learned when she got the class at level 20. She had many more spells of course, but water magic was always her forte. The human bodies could last potentially for weeks without food, but only a few days without water. They were set for the long haul.

The long haul? Sarah shook her head. No, help would be here in a few hours.

It had to be.

-----------------------------------

How long had he been here? It could have been 2 hours but it also could have been a day. Malcolm was continuously drifting in and out of sleep, a symptom of mana exhaustion. He was getting better now though, and the noise outside his self-made man cave was gone.

He wasn't going to go out there though. At least not until he was sure it was safe. If he heard someone walk past the room by pure luck, he would scream for help. That was his plan. His throat was getting increasingly dry and his stomach was growling. He would have to make his move soon.

He had better skills now, but he still was mad that all of the events today, creating Dune and fighting leeches had not brought him to level 10. Blake was already level 20! And probably more people had reached that point now. His progress was so agonizingly slow it was astonishing. And he had been left behind by his own foolishness! The others might even be out by now! Malcolm cursed under his breath.

He didn't know how the system worked but he vowed to figure it out one day.

If he ever made it out alive.

-----------------------------------

[Emperor] Vitelius was the only known [Emperor] to the world. He was far more important than the petty kings of Sahir, or the squabbling Drake [Lords] of southern Irasal. He was unique.

And he was riding towards Dalos with twenty-five elite [Knights], who were all over level 30. He could see it in the distance now. He had only made his way here after hours of arguing with his [Advisors]. Hours of time wasted! His eyes flashed with fury. Serle. He would have his head.

Serle was the [Merchant] that owned the dungeon. It was rather poor compared to the legendary conquered dungeons in the frozen northern plains of northern Draele. Those generated as much as thousands of gold coins per month at least, and were accessible to gold rank adventurers and legendary rank. Compared to those, Serle's measly dungeon only made him a few dozen gold coins, and the greedy man always spent it all in one place.

This all made Vitelius think that someone had bribed him to keep the door locked to the [Heroes] and everyone else inside as soon as they all went in. He didn't know who it was at this point, he had a lot of enemies. He suspected the Drakes, as they were the kind of scum to do such a thing, but it could also be...

The demons. Every year they caught [Spies] and insiders for the Demons, but surely Serle wouldn't swoop that low. He was a coward! He knew the consequences. He was probably just terrified of any monsters getting out of his dungeon.

As he got to the entrance of the city, the [Guards] instantly recognized him and bowed. There was not a single person in this Empire that didn't know his face. He was let through and he commanded his horse to go faster. Faster. There was no time. He made it to the dungeon.

"Serle! Where are you, coward!"

Everyone around the room gasped. The [Emperor] himself was here? Why? Vitelius looked around, and he only saw tired-looking [Adventurers] resting.

No sign of the [Merchant]. He desperately wanted to go look for him but he had to save the [Heroes] first. The summoning ritual had been way too expensive in lives! If they were to die here... the waste. No. He wouldn't let them die.

"I am [Emperor] Vitelius, and I order the person with the key to unlock this door."

The people around him trembled. Vitelius had a terrifying presence when he was mad, and he was. This was not a skill. One of the receptionists walked up and handed a key to one of the [Knights].

"Good."

They opened the door.

Nothing was there.

"Twenty of you go inside, the other five stay with me. Bring them out as soon as you find them."

He wanted to go, but he couldn't risk himself. He was an [Emperor] but he could also fight. He had been taught sword fighting by his father since he was six.

"Now, where is Serle..."

-----------------------------------

Malcolm had decided he had enough. There were no signs of anything being outside and he needed to get out. He dug himself out of his hole and to his great relief, he was safe. The ground and the walls were covered in some sticky mucus that disgusted the [Mage], and he had an urge to throw up. He swallowed and went forward.

His knees felt weak as he walked, but at least he had recovered some mana. He could feel it. Malcolm tried to find Dune's remains but they were indistinguishable from the dungeon's normal surface. Just rocks, dirt, and more dirt. He finally mustered up the courage to leave the room, and there were still no leeches in view. The torches lighting the corridors had been destroyed however so he sent out a [Light] spell to scan his surroundings. The [Hero] had mastered the spell, and so he did not need to call out anymore when he used it.

No monsters to be seen. Good. Malcolm made his way through the dungeon, trying to retrace his steps. Something still gnawed at his mind, however. Why would the leeches suddenly leave? Maybe they were just on the complete opposite side of the dungeon. He still didn't know where his classmates were. Maybe they were all dead.

Malcolm was lost now, and he knew it. There was no way of knowing if he was walking deeper into the dungeon or towards the exit. He wished Dune was there.

-----------------------------------

Sarah jumped when she was told about the [Message] spell their class had just received. Help was on the way! Now she was sure. The [Hydromancer] smiled and Blake hugged her. The [Heroes] decided to take down their wall so the rescue team wouldn't miss them. In fact, some were even suggesting going out to find them. If [Knights] were walking around the dungeon, surely it was safe again.

It came down to a vote, and the majority voted to leave. They decided that splitting up would be a bad idea and they opted to all go. The class walked at a slow, prudent pace, but they were making good progress. Receiving a [Message] spell actually demanded very little mana, so the [Knights] were communicating with them, even if they couldn't answer back.

Sarah was happy now. Just a little bit more and they'd be back to the surface, and she would never go into a dungeon again! Maybe she'd level when she slept tonight. After around an hour of walking, they finally met up with their rescuers. The [Knights] were glad to see they were ok but then the [Heroes] told them about the dead. Sarah felt sick to her stomach. She was only thinking about herself and her dead classmates the whole time. She knew all of them well except for, well, Malcolm. She'd make sure to make Claus reprimand the [Emperor]! If that was even possible. Soon enough they reached the gates. The sun blinded them, and when they asked how many hours they'd been down there, they found out it was ten. Ten hours! It felt much shorter and longer at the same time to Sarah somehow. The door was locked once again for the time being, as the bodies wouldn't be able to be recovered. They were all... eaten down to the last bit, even the bones.

Unfortunately, they didn't know Malcolm was still down there, wandering aimlessly. Lost. Hungry and thirsty, with only his thoughts.

They had left him for dead.