Chapter 2393: The Final Escape

Chapter 2393: Chapter 2393: The Final Escape

"Mr. Hamilton, if you have any method, just use it directly."

Old Lady Sianod spoke on behalf of the others, and at the same time handed her small satchel to Shard:

"Then let’s do it, but take this."

Inside were that incomplete Compass, and all the information the group had collected so far regarding the Compass and the Heart of the Earth.

"Grandma, what do you mean by this?"

"You’re the one most likely to get out of here. Don’t say so much—Miss Nate is prepared to sacrifice herself, and I’m no different. As long as one person can escape from here, this operation won’t count as a failure."

She let out a soft sigh, and Shard pressed his lips together as he put the bag away:

"I can’t promise what will happen, but... we’re going out together."

They failed to notice that Miss Sander at the back of the group once again made a face like she wanted to say something, but in the end lowered her head and said nothing.

So Shard rummaged in his pocket and found a small clump of normal soil and several pink, ordinary petals. Holding them in both hands, he reached once more into the Sealing:

"Power of the Earth: Healing Aura!"

The soil and petals he threw in silently dissolved within those golden Glimmers, and then earth-yellow Spiritual Energy almost instantly filled the center of those three Golden Rings.

That Spiritual Energy rapidly converged toward Shard’s hands, and after only ten-odd seconds, a brand-new Soil Holy Grail formed in his grasp. Only, that Worm bound and sealed there looked merely a bit smaller than before; this "purification" had not achieved much effect.

"Can this Divine Arts be used repeatedly?"

Old Lady Sianod asked from the side. Shard shook his head:

"No, it only works the first time."

He lowered his head to look at the "Holy Grail of the Earth" in his hand, the size of a small wine cup, the inscription on the cup being "Worm":

"Looks like this is all we can do. Do you still need to do anything else?"

He looked at the ladies:

"If there’s nothing left to prepare, then turn around and get ready. The moment I make a move, everyone immediately runs in the Direction we came from."

"Don’t care about your companions."

Old Lady Sianod added, the expression on her aged face extremely grave:

"Everyone listen. We came here for the Heart of the Oasis—without that persistence, we would never have made it this far. Now that the Heart of the Oasis is about to be found, don’t stop because you’re worrying about other things. Run forward. In a moment, no matter what happens, no one is allowed to look back."

"Yes, Grandma."

Only the Lady Knight answered her, but everyone knew that if someone truly had to sacrifice themselves, Miss Nate would probably be the first to volunteer.

Miss Sander and Miss Mister also turned around, ready to sprint back at any time, and Old Lady Sianod was the last to turn, standing behind Shard.

Then Shard reached out toward the Compass Pieces set into the Golden Ring. He had thought it would take some effort to pry it off. Unexpectedly, the moment his fingers touched the Compass Fragments, they simply fell off on their own:

"That easy?"

Boom!

The Sealing indeed did not show any problem due to the removal of the Fragments, but in the next Instant the ground’s violent shaking directly sent Miss Nate and Miss Sander tumbling to the floor.

As if that Worm had suddenly come back to life, the fierce shaking inside the "cave" was stronger than any earthquake Shard had ever experienced. And the stone walls all around began to squirm in that trembling; bright golden rune strings then densely lit up across the stone walls—the Witch’s Sealing was about to be reactivated.

"Run!"

Shard shouted, but in that Instant a Spiritual Light flashed in his mind. He reached out and placed the "Worm" Holy Grail onto the Golden Ring where the "Compass Fragments" had just been. The Grail was almost immediately sucked onto the ring, and though the Vibration of the ground did not vanish, Shard clearly felt the speed of the Sealing’s restart slow down.

By this time Miss Mister had already reached out to pull Miss Nate up, while Old Lady Sianod had hauled Miss Sander to her feet. The five of them rushed for the exit.

Running outward in a shaking cave was absolutely not an easy task, especially with the influence of high Gravity—once anyone fell, it was very hard to climb back up alone.

Because they still needed the aid of the ritual, the five basically did not open up much distance between them. Shard had set off last, but within just a few strides, he and Old Lady Sianod were already faintly about to overtake Miss Nate.

Miss Sander dashed in front, Miss Mister behind her, and then the other three. The Glimmer of the ritual Symbols in everyone’s hands was growing dimmer as the cave’s shaking intensified. At this moment, Shard could almost be certain that this Worm’s Corpse was indeed moving beneath the Sand Sea.

"No, this speed isn’t enough! At this rate none of us will get out!"

Old Lady Sianod suddenly shouted, then pointed at the people beside her. As the Old Elf’s complexion rapidly waned and even turned dark, even Shard felt as if a gust of wind was bearing him forward, his speed abruptly increasing.

"Hurry up and go!"

Old Lady Sianod shoved her staff into Shard’s hands, then collapsed to the ground; in that instant her breathing all but vanished.

This ritual could be borne by four people; she wanted to sacrifice herself to preserve the four young ones. Miss Nate hurriedly tried to catch her, but Shard moved faster:

"Grandma, this is not the time to be talking about that."

He hoisted Old Lady Sianod onto his back and kept running, but perhaps due to the nature of the place, the Old Elf, whose body was not heavy, felt to Shard as if he were carrying a mountain. This phenomenon had appeared once before, in the "White Bone Illusion."

Miss Mister glanced back, then ran on, and at the very front Miss Sander, seeing that Shard had already taken Old Lady Sianod on his back, did not stop.

They pressed forward. Though the gravity was gradually returning to normal, the ever more violently shaking passage no longer allowed them to move swiftly. Shard, at the rear because he was carrying Old Lady Sianod, could see the girls ahead staggering so badly they looked as if they were dancing.

And because of this, Miss Nate, wearing Knight Armor, slipped and fell heavily to the ground.

She made no attempt to get up:

"Take these out!"

She flung the pack on her body forward. This time Miss Sander did stop, but only to catch that pack.

Being at the very front, she had no chance to run back and pull Miss Nate up, so again it was Shard who tried to help Miss Nate, only to be shoved aside by the Lady Knight, who was still swaying even after falling:

"Don’t mind me."

The petrified Knight Sword was thrown to Miss Sander as well; she and Miss Mister kept running ahead. Shard pried open Miss Nate’s hand, and the Great Sin Chain firmly bound Old Lady Sianod to his back. With his hands freed, he directly lifted Miss Nate into his arms:

"It’s not time to give up yet."

As he spoke, he hurled forward the satchel Old Lady Sianod had just tossed to him along with the Compass he had just picked up:

"Miss Sander, take them and go first!"

The Mermaid Girl instinctively caught those things again; now almost all the valuables the party carried were on her. Seeing Shard struggling at the rear, she, amid the violent shaking, instinctively wanted to turn back, but was sharply scolded by Shard:

"What are you doing? Run forward! Don’t stop!"

The blue?haired Mermaid Girl had no choice but to keep going, and the pale Moonlight finally appeared ahead. When she reached the Stele at the entrance at last, the shaking even fiercer now, she clutched the Stele at the mouth of the tunnel and dared not step out. She only looked outside:

"The worm really moved! It’s still moving."

She turned and shouted loudly back into the passage, but could no longer see any sign of the other four.

Just as she was anxiously wondering what to do, she suddenly heard a harsh scraping sound from above her head, and the Stele she was clutching began to retract downward.

Looking up, she saw the Stone Gate that had risen when Shard broke the Sealing now slowly descending. The Sealing was about to fully reactivate, causing this worm, which had inexplicably shifted position, to slowly come to a halt.

But she could no longer spare a thought for what was happening outside; she shouted desperately into the passage:

"Hurry out, all of you—the door is closing!"

Shard, feeling as if he carried a mountain on his back and cradled a mountain in his arms, of course knew the door was closing, but speeding up was not something he could do just by willing it.

"You go out first!"

He bellowed toward the front as well. The Power of the Red Dragon had long since been awakened, and now that they were near the entrance, the strange gravity’s influence was nearly gone. He could vaguely see the light ahead, but whether he could make it in time, even he could not say.

Old Lady Sianod and Miss Nate naturally wanted Shard to escape on his own, and at that moment even Miss Mister at the front turned back, coming to support Shard as they moved forward together.

Shard had no idea what this lady intended to do, and the strength she lent him was entirely at the level of a normal Witch, only allowing the four of them to hasten their pace a little.

Miss Sander finally spotted the group. Standing before the slowly descending Stone Gate, she shouted herself hoarse, trying to urge them on. She even took a few steps back into the passage, but immediately lost her nerve and dared not go further.

So she stretched out her hands, trying to stop the falling Stone Gate. The moment her fingers touched the stone, she felt a searing pain as though scorched by raging flames:

"Ah~"

She jerked her hands back; when she looked again, all ten fingers were covered in blistered burns.

By now the gate had descended by a third, and she had to kneel on one knee to keep looking inside. She could see her companions who were racing toward her had closed the distance again, but by the Mermaid Girl’s estimation, even if they reached the gate at the last possible moment, they still would not be able to pass through a doorway that would by then be little more than a crack.

In extreme anxiety she looked up again at the slowly falling Stone Gate. The Mermaid Girl suppressed the fear in her heart, blew out a stream of bubbles so that a layer of sea?blue Glimmer coated her hands, then reached up once more, trying to use her own Power to block the descending stone.