Chapter 353: Wild Escape

The moment Sage’s shout echoed through the treasury, the entire Adventurer Guild moved as if death itself had reached for their backs.

Nobody asked questions, nobody looked at the empty space where the treasure mountains had vanished, and nobody wasted even a single breath complaining about the untouched bubbles still drifting far above them like silent temptations mocking their retreat.

Gregor grabbed Lyana’s wrist and pulled her forward before she could stumble, Brutus lifted one injured adventurer under his arm like a sack of grain, Caelis forced the slower members into motion despite his own exhaustion, and Boren, whose round face had turned as pale as flour, ran with an energy nobody knew he still possessed.

Mina clung tightly to Sage with one hand while the other refused to release the bulging pouch of gold coins she had personally saved from the vanished treasure pile, her cheeks puffed with stubborn grief even as fear sharpened her eyes.

Behind them, the treasury roared again, and that terrible sound struck the hall with such force that the cracked marble floor buckled in waves, broken golden pillars collapsed completely, and the surviving bubbles far above shattered one after another into drifting fragments of light.

They burst through the damaged golden gates like a group of fugitives fleeing divine punishment, and the world changed so violently that several adventurers nearly lost their footing the moment they crossed the threshold.

The clean white marble, golden pillars, and amber glow of the treasury vanished behind them, replaced by a vast ancient wilderness that stretched farther than the eye could see.

Towering trees rose into the sky like living mountains, their trunks wider than city towers and covered in thick layers of moss that glowed faintly with blue and green light.

Giant vines as thick as bridges wrapped around those trunks, twisting upward into canopies so dense that the sky could only be seen in narrow strips between leaves the size of rooftops.

Far in the distance, titanic mountains pierced the clouds, their black peaks crowned with snow and stormlight, while waterfalls poured from impossible heights into mist-covered valleys below.

The air smelled wild, wet, and ancient, filled with the heavy scent of earth, leaves, beast musk, and raw mana so thick that every breath felt like drinking from a magical spring. Strange birds with wingspans larger than houses circled above the forest canopy, their cries echoing like horns across the wilderness, while deeper in the trees, enormous shapes moved between the shadows.

For one brief, absurd second, Sage’s mind nearly stopped because of the scale of what he was seeing. This was not some ordinary forest hidden behind a treasury door. This place felt like a world before civilization, a savage age preserved inside the Vault where every tree, mountain, beast, and breath of air existed on a size meant for giants.

The ground beneath their feet was not simple soil either; it was a thick carpet of roots, moss, cracked stone, and glowing fungal patches that released faint spores whenever stepped upon.

Massive bones lay half-buried between the roots in the distance, some long enough to belong to creatures larger than mansions, and the deeper the they ran, the clearer it became that this wilderness was not empty.

It was watching them. It was breathing around them. It was alive in a way that made the treasury’s traps feel almost polite.

Boren wheezed loudly as he ran, his fat body bouncing with every step while sweat poured down his face like rain. "Boss, I take back everything I said about wanting to leave the treasury. I want the treasury back. The treasury had floors. The treasury had treasure. This place has trees big enough to step on my dreams."

Sage did not slow down as wind magic circles flickered beneath his boots, reducing the weight of his steps and allowing him to glide over roots and broken stone with far more speed than the others. "If you have enough breath to complain, you have enough breath to run faster."

"I am running faster," Boren cried, voice breaking with tragedy. "This is my fastest. This body was designed for wealth management, not wilderness survival."

Mina, still being carried close to Sage’s side, looked back over his shoulder toward the golden doorway they had escaped through, only to see the entrance beginning to distort and crack as if something massive inside the treasury was slamming against the space behind it.

Her face turned pale, and she immediately pointed with one tiny trembling finger. "Petty uncle Sage, the door is angry."

Sage glanced back only once, and that single look was enough to make his expression darken.

The golden gateway behind them trembled violently, its ancient frame bending inward from repeated impacts coming from within the treasury.

Each strike sent a pulse through the air that rolled across the wilderness and disturbed the canopy overhead, causing thousands of leaves to shake loose and rain down around them like green snow.

Whatever had awakened inside that hall had not yet emerged, but the pressure leaking from behind the gate was already chasing them like an invisible predator.

Sage’s mind moved quickly, measuring the distance, the team’s exhaustion, the terrain, and the fact that they had no idea where they were inside the Vault. He hated running blind, but staying even one moment longer was far worse.

"Don’t look back," Valeria said from the front, her tone calm but sharp enough to cut through everyone’s panic. "Run until I tell you to stop."

Gregor tightened his jaw and nodded, pulling Lyana closer as they jumped over a root the size of a wall. "You heard her. Nobody slows down. If you fall, shout before the forest eats you."

Lyana shot him a tired glare despite her pale face. "That is not comforting."

"It wasn’t meant to be. It was motivation."

The first beast attacked before anyone could reply. It burst from the left side of the ancient forest with a roar that shook the nearby branches, a massive boar-like creature covered in black bark armor and green crystal growths jutting from its shoulders.

It was nearly as tall as a two-story building, with curved tusks glowing with earth mana and eyes burning like muddy amber. The creature charged through several trees as if they were nothing more than tall grass, its huge body tearing up roots and soil as it aimed straight for the fleeing group.

Several adventurers shouted in alarm, and Brutus instinctively shifted his axe, but Valeria had already disappeared from the front of the formation.

A crimson streak crossed the beast’s path faster than the eye could follow, and her broadsword flashed once.