It all happened too fast. Hera saw the wind blade leaving Alex's dagger, and the next moment, she was already flying through the air. The next thing she remembered was waking up on the ground, with her entire body aching. She tried to get up when a loud thunder roared above her, making Hera cover her ears with her hands. The movement made her palms sting. Some cuts and scratches were covering her hands, but they seemed to be slowly healing. It seemed like Alan had placed a new barrier on her before they were tossed by the catapult.

Looking up, Hera saw a boulder flying through the sky only to be obliterated by lightning, creating a large dust cloud that covered the area she was in. The loud noise of the impact only made it worse for her to gather her thoughts. Realizing she might have a concussion, Hera searched for Blue. An eye test could help to know if she needed urgent medical attention, but she couldn't do it alone. Looking around, there were several rocks spread around the field and a thick dust cloud, almost as if she was by a demolition site. She crawled around, hiding her head with each thunder, still unsure why the mages were fighting so far away from the catapults.

Lightning fell from the sky to her left, illuminating the Dragon Kin army and revealing 10 catapults close together. Hera stared at those shadows in disbelief. The only place that had that many siege weapons side by side was where the chasm would appear.

"Shit! Shit!" she scrambled forward, trying to find Blue. She thought about calling out to her, but if the wrong kobold noticed her, it would be like painting a target on her back.

A bit to her right, she saw the shadow of a large boulder. If she managed to get there, at least she would have some cover. It was a crappy hiding spot, but it still was the best option she had. As Hera got closer, the dust started to settle, and she was able to see another shape lying against the rock.

"Blue!" Hera rushed to her friend, still on all fours, trying to remain hidden.

Blue was in a sort of sitting position with her legs twisted in an odd way. Nothing seemed to be broken, but it was far from comfortable. Her eyes were closed, and there was a large cut on her forehead. Hera waited for a moment, but the cut didn't seem to be healing. The barrier that Alan placed on Blue must have run out.

"Oh, no, no, no. C'mon, Blue, talk to me," she tried to wake Blue up, but to no avail. The controller was out cold. Carefully Hera pulled Blue's head forward, trying to make sure she wasn't bleeding through the back of her head.

Luckily, there weren't any cuts. It wasn't all good news. Since Blue was unconscious, there was no way to tell how badly injured she was. The healing spell was still working, so with time, she should wake up. Hera started using her Mend on Blue, cursing herself for not being able to get a better healing spell while they prepared for the battlefield.

While healing Blue, Hera heard some yells coming from the Dragon Kin.

"Fire! All! Now!"

Suddenly, all 10 catapults started to move at once. In a panic, Hera pushed Blue behind the boulder and slammed her handaxe into the ground, creating a rock wall in a crescent shape. She didn't know if the Wolves would still be attacking, and if she was unlucky, the boulders could crash against her cover and roll towards them. As the skill took effect, a loud rumbling echoed through the plains, signaling the second earthquake. Hera saw a crack appear on the ground in the middle of her hiding spot. She quickly pulled up her map.

"Fuck!" Hera cursed as she saw her location. They were in the worst possible position, right in the middle of where the chasm would appear. To make things worse, even if she ran at full speed, it would be hard to leave the area in the five minutes she had left. Doing that while carrying Blue was simply impossible.

She tried her comms, but they were not working due to the area's high mana density. She started thinking about ways to survive this, but every idea would only work if she had something else available. Staring at Blue, one thought crossed her mind. Using her [All In], she could probably outrun the abyss on her own. Hera quickly shook that notion off. Even if she did survive alone, she would never forgive herself for abandoning a friend.

Hera opened her status screen, trying to find any skill that could help, but there was nothing. All she had were ways to fight or hide. There was nothing that could allow her to run. Yet, her eyes stopped at a skill she hadn't used in a while.

[Local Guide]

She had never used in a dungeon, and Blue was right there. It could count as her breaking the rules, but what was the point of having the skill if she died.

"I call upon the Guide of the Kobold Fields. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure," she recited the incantation to activate the skill.

There was a scratching noise, and a hole appeared in the boulder. From it, two small versions of the kobolds came out. Even when standing up, they could barely reach Hera's knees. One was a lizard kobold with red scales wearing silver parachute pants, a bright yellow crop top, and a black bucket hat. The canine version wore white leg warmers, white high-waisted dance shorts with a long sleeve fitted t-shirt, and a red bomber jacket. Her fur was completely dark, and she had red eyes, the same color as the lizard's scales.

"Hey, hey, hey. I'm Talpa," the canine kobold made a small dance move and pointed towards the lizard.

"And I'm Nina. Together we are," the lizard made a similar move and stood with her back against the canine.

"The Kobold sisters, don't forget," they spoke at the same time while winking at Hera.

Hera was surprised by the situation. She didn't expect two guides to show up, much less two who seemed ready to go to a hip hop dance club. However, her panic won.

"Hi, I'm Hera. You two look amazing, and I would love to talk more, but there is no time. Less than that," she pointed at the countdown that appeared in the boulder, "Is there a way to stop the earthquake?"

"Sorry, sis, there is nothing you can do about that now. To stop it, it had to be done before it started," Nina replied in an equally rushed way.

"And the chasm? If I fall down there, do I die?" Hera asked.

"Yep, if the fall doesn't kill you, the lava will," Talpa said.

"Is there any way to survive this while carrying my friend?" Hera asked.

Talpa and Nina were looking around the entire time. They only stared directly at Hera when they were summoned.

"Look. I know where you are going with this. So let's do it differently," Nina snapped her fingers, making the timer hit 0. Seeing that, Hera's heart sank. Did the guides realize she would die and just abandoned her? "You have one chance to survive this with your unconscious friend over there."

Hera looked up with hope in her eyes. The switch was so quick that she didn't even have a chance to cry.

"C'mon Nina, she has more than one chance," Talpa looked over Hera's shoulder, staring directly at her status window, "Yeah, no, you were right. Girl, you really need to get something for a quick getaway."

"What do I do?" Hera asked.

"First, you need to walk here," Nina touched the map window, and a red flag appeared.

"Then, find a crack shaped like this," Talpa drew a crack that looked like a K inside a circle.

"After that, go left, towards the Dragon Kin army. When the ground opens, there will be a path heading down. If you were helping them instead of the Wolves, the path would be on the other side," Nina continued.

"Right. When you are there, head down until the cave, then you need to go right, left, right, the third on the right… You might wanna write this down," Talpa said.

"Right," Hera quickly pulled the map on her tablet and wrote the directions as Talpa spoke.

"… and finally, third on the left. There you will find a doorway."

"A doorway?" Hera asked.

"Yeah. It's a hidden one," Nina replied.

"Has anyone ever gone there?"

"Yeah, of course. Not many, but yeah."

"How many came back?"

"None," Talpa replied.

"What? Am I trading one death for another?" Hera gasped.

"Look, you don't have time for more questions, and you still need to find the crack. We can't say if you are going to die there, but you will die if you stay here," Nina replied.

Hera nodded and tried to put Blue on her back, "Can you guys help me get in a good position with her?"

Talpa nodded, "Sure, dancing is much more of a workout than you'd think. We can probably lift you both."

They helped Hera get a good handle on Blue and even tied Yarnball's string around them to secure the controller. Hera thanked them once more and walked out of her little bunker, heading towards the red flag on her map. She had only two minutes before the abyss would appear. To make things worse, she still had to be mindful of the boulders exploding above her. After the first few steps she took, it became clear that moving carefully wouldn't help. It wouldn't matter if she survived the rocks but died to the quake.

Hera straightened her body and started moving quickly, with her map still open. Luckily the red flag wasn't far away, but she still had to move towards the Dragon Kin army before she was in the clear. It was one thing to fight in a group against 20 or even 50 kobolds. It was another thing entirely to fight alone against an army of thousands. Not to mention the commanders, who were clearly stronger than her. She shook those thoughts off. The last thing she needed right now was to get cold feet.

It took her close to a minute to find the crack, and that was only because she had the red marker on her map. If it wasn't for that, she doubted anyone would be able to discern the location of the K-shaped crack. Turning to the left, Hera pushed forward towards the Dragon Kin. With only a minute to spare, she ignored all her instincts telling her to get away, and started running at them. It was far enough away that she couldn't see any specific shapes aside from the large catapults, but watching a formless shadow squirm and move was terrifying, maybe even more than seeing the actual faces of the lizard kobolds.

Hera didn't stop running, and it wasn't an easy thing to do while carrying someone as bulky as Blue. She might've been slim, but she had toned muscles beneath her armor. To keep her mind distracted from the panic, Hera was counting down the seconds to the next earthquake. With 40 seconds left, she heard in the distance.

"There! Human! Aim at that!"

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Hera wanted to start zigzagging, but that could make her fall into the chasm. She hoped that Alan's barrier was still active on her and kept running, activating her [All In] to cover more ground. When her count reached 6, only some crossbows had fired at Hera. Most missed, but a few managed to hit her. None was strong enough to break through her armor, but the impact still hurt. At that moment, the ground started to shake. It gradually became stronger until even the armies were screaming in panic.

With a sound that made it seem like the sky was falling down, the Earth started to move. Large chunks of the ground dropped to a seemingly endless hole. Hera tried to keep walking, but it was impossible to step forward with how much the ground was shaking. Looking to the side, she saw an area opening up and revealing a path heading deeper into the abyss. Hera jumped to the side, belly-flopping into the trail. She slammed her handaxe on the ground to have something to grab on.

When the earthquake finally stopped, Hera struggled to get up with Blue still on her back. She only had time to stand up before a strong smell of sulfur reached her nose. Looking down, she saw a small glow at the bottom of the abyss. The lava was already coming up. She had to hurry.