As Erik and the others passed the clearance, they started seeing the city's barrier from afar.
"We are almost there, guys!" Erik shouted.
The group was in a small clearing where several trees had been cleared away since some underground defenses had been placed to protect the city from potential attacks. However, in Erik's and the other students' cases, it wasn't much more than an open field with some rocks scattered around. It would do fine as a resting spot for the time being, but nothing more than that.
The only problem was that this area lacked cover or anything else to hide behind; however, their current situation didn't require them to have such things for protection, as that would be utterly useless since the five men could destroy any tree they stumbled upon.
Now, the best thing the students could do was to stay together. If anyone got separated, then it could be bad news. Thankfully, none of the group got split up, thanks to Erik's instructions. Even Anderson came back to the team a couple of seconds ago.
Erik looked ahead and saw the eastern gate's building and recognized that they were close to their destination now, as they would arrive there in less than two minutes of running at full speed. The teachers didn't arrive yet, even though not even 10 minutes had passed since he got attacked by the five men and the thaids, but it was just a matter of moments before they would arrive.
He also noticed that no monsters appeared near the eastern gate due to the many patrols around the area, which probably kept most creatures away from the place, and it was a comforting sight for Erik. However, he knew that the thaids were behaving strangely lately, so he didn't exclude the possibility of monsters hiding around the barrier and kept his vigilance up, just in case.
"Alright, everybody! We must make just a final sprint to the gate," Erik said while pointing at the eastern gate. "Let's hurry up!"
Everyone nodded and rushed toward the gate; however, he received a notification again, basically telling him that his plan didn't work in the end.
[MULTIPLE HOSTILE PRESENCES HAVE BEEN DETECTED.]
The five men arrived. Running away at that moment was futile since they were faster than him and could simply capture him; they had to fight and hope that the teachers would arrive here before anything bad happened.
Zachary made a massive sigh of relief once he saw the young man turning around to face them. He believed that this foolish ordeal would soon come to an end and that he would soon capture the young man and successfully complete his mission.
As the students turned to look at the five men, Erik knew he had to prevent two things: the first was clearly avoiding being abducted, and the second was that the guys said something about why they were there that the other students didn't have to hear, particularly about the biological supercomputer.
"So, you finally came..." Erik said while trying to stall for time.
"Indeed, and I suggest you peacefully surrender and come with us..." Zachary replied.
Amber, Floyd, Anderson, Aaron, Mikey, Benedict, Martha, Gwen, and the other students looked at Erik, who knew why these guys were there, and that was these men's target. Clearly, the students had no reason to fight for Erik; the young man knew it. Killing thaids was something, but fighting against people who were much more powerful than they were was another thing altogether.
"Why should I?" Erik said.
"Because if you do not comply, we will kill all the people here in front of your eyes," Death suddenly chimed in with an icy tone.
The students knew how strong these people were and got immediately scared at the thought of the ultimatum they had been given. For them, it wasn't a matter of if; it was a matter of how.
"Who will assure me that you won't harm them?" Erik asked. Aside from his friends, he didn't care about the others and was even willing to use them as meat shields; however, the risk of injuring people like Benedict or Amber irritated him greatly. Death gave him a cold stare. He didn't like when his prey talked to him like that.
"I know what you are thinking," Slice added. "You think you can get away, that with your friends here, you can at least give us a hard time... I will tell you this, kid: This won't work. We killed many people stronger than you, and they all perished despite their best efforts."
Hearing this, the students got frightened even more and knew that there was no point in attempting to fight the formidable men who stood before them. They didn't want to die for another person's problem, especially if they didn't even know him.
"You heard him, guys... Do you really want to risk your life because of that guy?"
Some of them looked at each other uneasily, as if trying to come to a consensus; then they looked at Erik; and, lastly, at the five men, ready to make them face the consequences of their choice. It was clear from their equipment, strength, and demeanor that these guys were the real deal.
"I'm sorry, Erik, but I didn't agree to help you deal with whatever shit you did..." a guy said.
"Yeah, me too..." a girl added.
"I'm leaving," another said.
Erik frowned as the group of students turned their backs on him, even Judith, Robyn, and Elena. He knew that he would have a chance to get out of there only if the other students remained, but now that they were going away one by one, his situation suddenly worsened.
The only people that didn't leave him were his eight friends, who had stayed loyal to him in spite of the other students' desertion; it was a pleasure to see that even Martha and Benedict didn't go away, despite having known each other for less than a month.
Even though his situation seemed increasingly hopeless, Erik found solace in the unwavering support of his eight friends. He felt warm inside when he thought about how much he appreciated their presence and loyalty, especially during such a hard time.
He would make it up to them all if they survived. However, Anderson had just barely half his mana, while Amber was basically without an ounce of it since she had used it all to slow down the five assassins previously.
Besides, it wasn't like they were useful in a confrontation with the five men. However, they remained, so he turned to look at his friends and said, "Thank you, guys..." Whatever happened, he could at least say that he finally had the opportunity to see what human kindness was like.
The young man then turned to look at the five men; he needed to know something before anything happened and asked, "Are you the ones responsible for Mister Fox's death?"
Zachary knew that Erik was done, so he said, "Indeed..."
"So, you are a member of the Crystal Cross Gang. I guess..." the young man added. Zachary didn't answer, but it was clear that he and the others were part of this group. "If you don't mind, I have a question myself," Death said.
"Let's hear it then." Erik was still trying to stall for time; these guys knew that, but were confident enough that they would complete their mission that they didn't even bother. After all, there was nothing Erik and the others could do against them.
"What the hell are they searching for from you?" Death asked. He was too curious to know what the hell was happening.
This question piqued the other person's interest right away. Why were some members of the Crystal Cross gang after him? And what did this have to do with Erik's late employer's death?
"Does it make any difference?" Erik asked.
"You are making it difficult, uh?" Death said.
"Well, not that it makes that much of a difference; after all, you will have your means to let me say whatever you want... no?" Erik sounded fearful.
"Indeed, we can and we will, young man. I guess talking to you more will lead us to nothing..."
However, now Erik's friend wanted to know what was happening.
"Guys, it is clear that the young man is trying to stall for time. He probably asked for help long ago, and I think we don't have much time. Let's get the boy and get the hell out of here. I don't want to face Red Palace's masters..." Death said.
"Agree, he will talk regardless..." Zachary added.
Erik and the others immediately went into a fighting stance, but surviving that encounter was wishful thinking.
"Do you really want to risk your friends' deaths?" Zachary finally asked the young man. Erik felt obviously guilty about this whole situation, and if they escaped somehow, he knew he owed his friends at least some explanation.
"No, but if they stayed, it is clear they want to fight..." Erik replied.
"All right then, this was your last chance..."
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦