Back at the camp, Alessio and Sara went to talk to Stefano and Chiara, while I approached Simone.

He didn’t look too well. He was gasping for air, lying with his back to a root as blood poured freely from his nose. Some of the people in his group were catering to him, offering him water and food.

“He summoned a barrier to protect us,” one of the people present told me when I asked what had happened. “He bore the brunt of whatever that pressure was.”

I looked at Simone in wonder. Casting a barrier over the entire camp that quickly and with mana in that state must not have been simple—I know I couldn’t have done it. The fact Simone Awakened years ago showed in the disparity between our skills.

Simone took the bottle offered to him and drank his fill before pouring what remained on his face to clear the blood crusting his nose. After drying on the sleeve of his enchanted robe, he turned to look at me.

“Marco,” he wheezed. I moved closer, crouching before him so that he didn’t have to strain further than necessary. “If there is a Furia this close to the edges of the dungeon, then we have to regroup with the others. Find Giacomo and guide him here. With the state the dungeon is in, without Alessandro, if we start looking for them in too great a number, we risk to chance upon something none of us can manage to take care of.

“I saw how good you are with Mana Step. Trust me when I say you are better than most of the B-ranked mages I know. You are the best chance we have at finding them in the shortest time possible. Can you do it?”

“Can’t you contact them?” I asked before agreeing. Moving alone inside the dungeon would be far more dangerous than doing so with an S-ranker nearby. If we had a chance of contacting them without me having to split from the others I wanted to take it.

“We tried by radio as soon as Simone put the barrier down,” said one of the people around us. “But they haven’t picked up on their end. Something must be interfering with the signal.”

“Please, Marco,” Simone added. “I would go, but I don’t think I can stand now, let alone walk.”

Resigned, I nodded, knowing I had no alternative with Alessandro gone and him being out of commission. I was a member of Giacomo and Alessandro’s team after all—in any guild, being part of the Guildmasters’ team was equal parts privilege and duty. If there was something I could do, I had to.

“Thank you.”

With a sigh, I stood. “Don’t mention it,” I told him. “Before going, I’ll talk to Stefano and Chiara to let them know about your plan.”

“Good idea,” Simone agreed. “Ask them to come and see me.”

I found the two of them together, arguing over something rather animatedly.

“Mr. Curfi. Ms. Lamprotti,” I called to them, using their surnames since I wasn’t familiar with either. They both turned, momentarily halting their discussion.

“Yes? What is it?” Chiara asked rather brusquely.

“I just wanted to tell you Simone asked me to find the group led by Mr. Scacchi and to bring them here. He would also like to speak with you both.”

“What does that kid want?” Stefano asked.

“I wouldn’t know. Ask him yourself,” I bit back with just a hint of venom and walked away. Simone was not a kid. He was younger than the man undoubtedly, but that didn’t give Stefano a reason to disparage him, especially considering Simone injured himself to protect all in the camp—Stefano included.

I approached the perimeter of the camp facing south and departed silently. It would be a long trek in the woods, even with the speed Mana Step afforded me. The sooner I got down to it, the better. Giacomo and his group were supposed to be on the southeastern quadrant of the Villa, while we were on the northeastern one. Covering all the ground from north to south would take at least a couple of hours, as dungeons on the inside were bigger than on the outside.

—|—|—

Alessandro's Pov:

The air was so thick with mana I doubted anyone short of a veteran A-ranker would be able to breathe. It was humbling knowing how much stronger an S-ranker could get from a normal person. We were different entities. We weren’t human anymore.

Flashes of light came from right ahead, accompanied by hisses and curses. I felt vibrations in the earth caused by explosions and something else.

With a thought, I summoned my Law. It thrummed to life, oozing out of my skin and seeping out of the joints of my armor. The thick, viscous liquid circled me in the air protectively while also gobbling all it came into contact to sustain and replicate itself. It was said the form of a Law was the direct consequence of the experience and desires of their wielder. If so, then there had to be something wrong with me.

When I cleared the last line of trees, I found myself before Villa Pamphilji’s lake. A hydra as big as a five stories house and with four heads was facing against a man dressed in red flowing robes—the Cardinal.

A dark fog blanketed the area beneath him, churning hungrily and flashing with silvery lightning.

The hydra’s heads hissed, and four dark, billowing serpents rose out of the fog like twisting tornados—their jaws wide open and with lighting arcing within their fangs. The Cardinal spared them but a glance, bringing his hands forward and amassing great quantities of mana before him, taking the shape of a white gold spear which sole sight left me shuddering in fear.

Just as it was completed, the snakes crashed ineffectually on an invisible sphere all around him—his Ward. A flash of light tore through the fog surrounding him, like a ray of sunlight through a carpet of clouds. A second flash followed the first—only much, much stronger. It homed in on the monster and crashed upon it, pushing it back a few steps.

The hydra hissed in pain but was left relatively unscathed with only a shallow mark upon its scales.