A short time has passed since Aron left the cave, while Henry and the others were still unable to break free from the trap that he had set up for them.
"Never have I ever thought a day would come that I would be so greatly humiliated by a commoner of all people. Tsk." Esmeralda complained as she still tried her best to rise but she couldn't.
"Well, it was an interesting encounter at least," Emilia commented before chuckling.
"This isn't the least bit amusing sister! When I see that person again, I will rip him apart!" Esmeralda scolded while Emilia continued to giggle at their predicament.
"I must admit though, these runes are quite interesting. This may be a blessing in disguise. A shame they'll fade soon…" Sebastian, unlike the others, was always more interested in knowledge more than anything else, so seeing these runes that he had never even heard of before had him completely engrossed.
Brutas, on the other hand, was breathing heavily as he wore a look of pure anger on his face but said nothing. Despite his short temper, they had never seen him brought to such a state. And so, even Esmeralda held back her urge to mock him.
"Look, the runes are flickering, it won't be long now before we're free from this trap." Henry observed and pointed out, trying to cheer everyone up. His words only made Brutas attempt to stand, but the crushing weight was still too much for him to handle.
"Dammit! How long must I wait?!" He yelled out as he gritted his teeth trying his utter best to stand.
"Calm down, Brutas, we can't make use of mana in this state. Trying to stand with your physical body alone in this formation is suicide..." Henry had tried to calm Brutas down but as he was doing so, Juliet, who had been quiet all that time, stood up with ease.
"...."
The others simply looked at her with strange gazes as she proceeded to stomp her foot on the ground. The entire cave rumbled furiously from this action while the runes covering the ground flickered madly before vanishing completely.
"Could you not have waited a little bit longer?" Sebastian sighed as he watched the last of the runes flicker and vanish.
"Thank you for that, just what tier is your equipment…?" Henry thanked before curiously asking how she managed that feat because most wouldn't believe someone had that much raw physical strength unless they were of the beast races.
Although such individuals existed, they were quite few, especially among the younger generation in Pesia. The lack of a worded answer made Henry not question her on the matter any further.
"Tch, can we not waste any more time. The servants we left at the entrance must've either caught him or brutally injured him by now." Esmeralda commented as she stretched her arms with a frown on her face.
Brutus had dusted himself off before wiping the blood off his hand where Aron had stabbed him.
"Here, let me heal you—" Emilia came closer and was about to offer aid to Brutas who, without warning rushed off away from the group at a tremendous speed.
"…Or maybe not…." Emilia shrugged as she and the others soon rushed for the exit as well. Juliet seemed to have been deep in thought the entire time.
'That man, he could easily endure it without mana, whereas I needed it to be weakened...' The feeling of being weaker seemed to have Juliet bothered more than anything else despite her still showing no expression on the surface.
"There! I see Brutas! Hey, don't just run off like that! What if there were more traps? I understand that you're angry, but that's no excuse to..."
"!!"
As Henry reached for the exit, they could see Brutas's figure. He yelled trying to get his attention, but got no response as Brutas simply stood there without moving an inch.
When Henry and the others got to him, everyone finally understood why as they looked at the scene before them with widened eyes. Even the level-headed Esmeralda and the stoic Juliet looked on with clear surprise on their faces.
Ten out of the eleven ships they had arrived with had crashed to the ground. Many of their servants and other students they had brought along were either injured or dead.
"If anyone else can move come with me to search for the young lords!" A brown-haired Elven woman that wore silver armor and carried a silver lance yelled out towards the few that survived.
She had blood running down her arm but still seemed determined and full of energy. Before anyone could respond, Henry, who stood some two hundred away, looked to her and spoke.
"Ilia! What happened?!" For the first time during their journey, Henry wore a look of pure anger and worry as he called out to the woman.
Ilia quickly turned to the voice she recognized without fail and got on her knee. Part of her was relieved that her Lord was all right, but another part of her was ashamed of the current scene.
"My Lord, we..."
Ilia could only grit her teeth as she began to explain the events that occurred… In her words, no major fight had taken place. Instead, she was on the deck of the main airship when out of nowhere a large explosion occurred. In one go, every single airship aside from the main one had received heavy damages and began to descend.
The main one although damaged withstood the blast, however many were still injured. The total number of people lost exceeded more than eighty percent.
When she had gone down to try and find them to report what had happened, she ran into a dark-haired young man. But when she had attempted to question him, he brought her to her knees with one blow before saying she was better off worrying about the family heirs.
From there she chose to not pursue the man, but instead gather people to try and rescue Henry and the others and thus bringing them to the current scene.
"I apologize for my incompetence, my lord. I will accept any punishment you deem fit." Ilia expressed and kept her head low.
Henry didn't immediately answer, but instead looked at the scene before him with clenched fists.
"Have everyone still capable enough for battle quickly prepare, we cannot allow him to roam free! Those incapable of moving should await here, my sister's airship should still be on its way." Henry explained to which Ilia nodded as he was still unaware his sister's ship was already taken over.
"It shall be done." Ilia quickly raised her head and gave a bow before leaving to carry out Henry's orders.
"Could this be the work of a high grade item he may have found in the cave?" Esmeralda asked with furrowed brows.
"Whatever it is, he needs to answer for what he has done," Brutas added angrily while Juliet, Emilia, and Sebastian remained silent.
Meanwhile, on a hill roughly five hundred meters away Aron looked back in the direction of the cave and heightened his hearing to listen in on their exchange.
'So he's the brother… they'll be pursing me I better start thinking of how to best handle this. But it seems that I took too long within the cave and Scarlett and the others left.' Aron thought before turning his head and continuing to walk away.