This was the collective thought of many people, not just Rhamn.
Everyone was panicked; no one had encountered a similar situation before. And now they were told someone had to be taken care of.
Even the usually composed people in the group were being nervous.
Of course somewhat expecting this situation, Cyril's group didn't lose their cool as much.
Cedric tore off a piece of his uniform, producing some makeshift bandages.
They were taught first aid before, and thankfully, Cedric had good grades. He treated the students in the best way he could.
"We can't sit here; let's move." Myra's voice possessed some urgency.
At this time, crawling sounds began coming deep from the dark.
After hearing them, Myra came to the front of the group and readied her hand, activating a spell beforehand.
The sounds were becoming louder; someone was approaching, and fast.
Suddenly a reddish, distorted figure jumped out from the darkness.
But before it did any harm, Myra, with great reflexes made a claw shape and pierced the creature in the neck.
It died just as swiftly as it appeared, coating Myra in blood.
She lowered her arm, letting the body drop to the floor.
This allowed the others to take a good look at what tried to attack them.
"A ghoul!? The tower was attacked by demons?" Someone exclaimed in surprise.
"It would've been a shocking revelation indeed, if only we didn't know about it already."
This news only made everyone even more nervous.
It''s true that they were studying in Ailanthus to eventually fight demons, but no one told them it would be that soon.
"What are you waiting for? We should move!" Still not seeing any movement from people, Myra hurried them.
"They can't 'move' in this state. It's better if we find a place to hide and wait for rescue." Cedric had a different idea in mind.
He prioritized the safety of his fellow students. They had three people who couldn't walk on their own.
Myra's face now had a bit of frustration mixed in; she didn't know what to do.
Cyril decided to help out in this situation. "You can stay here and protect them; I will be going on ahead to find an exit."
They didn't need to stay together. Cyril believed everyone here was capable of defending themselves.
Cedric contemplated for a moment and nodded, "That works too."
Then, he turned towards Myra. "What happened to Elvira Arken?" His voice was awkward, tinged with caution.
"I went down before she did anything. But as you can see, she is not here." Myra's voice was resolute and slightly hostile.
This discovery didn't surprise Cedric in any way, judging by his reaction, but Cyril could feel the atmosphere around him become slightly more gloomy.
Maybe he was only imagining it.
With this conversation over, Cyril turned around and prepared to head further in.
He didn't ask if anyone else wanted to stay here. Whoever wanted to go with him would naturally follow.
Myra, of course, went with him; she stuck to his side, vigilantly looking at their surroundings.
Regina wanted to move at this moment as well but suddenly changed her mind at the last second.
It was a mystery what was on her mind; at least she didn't look scared.
After some thinking, Rose decided to go after Cyril. She hurried on to join the group before they left her.
It looks like Clayton and Edmund decided to stay behind.
Honestly, Cyril didn't expect that from his friend; he looked more determined than that before.
"I guess you can't blame him. That's just how people are—who knows how they will behave in reality after talking big?"
Maybe he has a good reason. Cyril still wanted to believe in his old-time friend.
"Cowardice is a good reason"
Out of the original 10, only 3 people were now exploring the dark tunnels underneath the Tower.
On the way, they've encountered many laboratories. Only unknown materials and a bunch of papers were left inside.
Myra quickly looked through every single one, taking all of the papers and browsing the materials, looking for something.
Judging from her frustrated expression she didn't find what she was searching for yet.
Eventually crawling sounds were heard from the front.
This time the ghoul wasn't alone; there were 5 of them all going in their direction.
From his lessons, Cyril remembered that ghouls traced people by their sense of smell.
Chances are in this enclosed space their scent wasn't hard to track.
The group immediately prepared to cast spells at the incoming demons.
After waiting for the right moment, they all activated their spells at the same time.
Myra still used her unorthodox claw technique and quickly approached two to butcher.
She directly pierced the heart of the first one, and with her hand still inside, she pulled the dead body to shield herself.
After blocking the jump of the second ghoul, she reached out with her free hand and ripped out his throat.
The others did not think to make it this bloody.
Cyril decided to try using magic more effectively.
He cast a potent fireball spell at an incoming ghoul; the blast burned through his body, killing him instantly.
The spell didn't end at that; Cyril manipulated the trajectory of the still-flying fireball, hitting another ghoul nearby on the head.
This saved him some mana and effectively dispatched both of them.
There was only a single demon left; Rose charged a spell for a second and sent out a powerful bolt of lightning.
This was a much more dangerous spell than the ones she used back at the academy.
The ghoul was blown away by the blast, his body still convulsing despite being dead.
With that ended Cyril's first fight with demons. Since it was only regular ghouls, it went smoothly.
Looking at the bloodied Myra, Rose showed an uncomfortable expression. "Do you really have to fight like that?"
Myra shook her arms to dry them out and smugly responded, "The claw spell uses way less mana than any of your spells. It's more efficient to fight like this. I recommend you try the same." She nodded with satisfaction.
"Ugh... Is she not afraid of becoming sick?"
"No thanks." Rose didn't think for too long before answering.
Myra turned towards Cyril now with a hopeful look, awaiting his reaction.
"If the situation allows for it." He wasn't one to decline a solid technique, but getting dirty after every fight didn't seem pleasant.
They kept walking on this path until encountering an obstacle and a sizeable hole in the wall.
The road ahead was blocked by a big pile of rubble.
There was an option of blasting the way open, but that would require a decent amount of mana, and they needed to save it for fights ahead.
A much more sensible choice was going in through the destroyed wall to their right.
"Did some demon do that?" Rose asked with a bit of fear.
It was understandable. The walls here were made with solid metal enhanced with magic; to break it, you would need significant force.
And the scene in front of them looked like something big had punched its way through, bending the metal with sheer force.
"Probably a cyclops" Myra's voice became more solemn.
They were large, brutish humanoid demons. They had oversized heads, a single bulging eye, and blackish blue skin, coupled with the usual demon characteristic of having random animal parts.
"I remember Myra promised there would be only ghouls and catchers today." Rhamn had problems with the validity of Myra's words.
"Let's proceed, but be even more careful now."
There was no other way; they went through the destroyed wall.
It led to a wide hall surrounded by rows of room.
This place was littered with the bodies of ghouls and catchers.
"It seems the flying-type demons had less luck escaping their captivity; more of them were lying here than ghouls.
One could see remains of magic cannons lying sporadically around; they weren't enough to contain the demons.
A few ghouls still remained alive, but they were all dispatched by them without any issue.
Aside from Myra, no one else used the claw spell for now.
Stepping over the bodies, Cyril noticed some human bodies near an exit; they were humans in white coats and guards in black armor.
"They are mages from the tower. Were they defeated by a bunch of ghouls?" Rhamn found the situation weird; even students like them can fight ghouls with ease.
Maybe they were surprised? Even a mage would be killed by a well-timed strike from a normal human, not to mention a demon.
At this moment Cyril had an idea.
He came over towards the human bodies and started to rummage in the pile, trying to find something.
"Right, there could be weapons!" Myra understood his idea and joined him in looting.
After thoroughly searching, Cyril luckily found a spear!
It was a bulky black spear with a crystal imbedded on the handle. Once he injected mana into it, the spear shone with a shimmering blue light.
Noticing this, Myra quickly explained, "There is an enchantment on it, magic piercing. It will have an easier time against anyone using a barrier."
Cyril was satisfied with the find and looked at what the others got.
Myra was holding two swords of similar design; after thinking for a bit, she gave one to Rose, who refused to dirty her hands.
Now armed, they had more morale and continued walking in the same direction.
This area was even more barren than the previous one; the confined rooms they found possessed little outside the occasional demon body.
"Was this place a jail?" Rose made a careful guess based on the look of this place.
"Probably," Cyril almost forgot that she didn't know about the demons beforehand.
Soon the group entered a different sector. The corridors became bigger and brighter.
During this time they still haven't found a single living human; it was slightly unnerving.
At this moment, one of the locked doors in the distance was busted open by a demon.
It was a ghoul, but it looked different from the rest. Its veins were visible through its skin, shining with a dim blue light that extended all the way to its hands, where the glow intensified.
His claws were clearly enhanced by magic somehow. "Interesting..."
This still didn't help the demon; he was dead the moment he appeared before their eyes.
With a single thrust, Cyril pierced his heart.
In this new perspective on the creature, he noticed that the magic on the claws of the ghoul feels similar to the enchantment on his new spear.
He voiced his findings to Myra.
"Yes, it's the same magic. The Empire experimented on the ghouls to see if they could make a potential weapon out of them." She answered in a definitive manner.
"What a stupid decision. Did no one among the top think it would bite them later?"For them, the gains outweighed the risks, it seems.
"Does that mean our necklaces are useless now?" Rose immediately began thinking of the worst-case scenario.
One of the reasons she so bravely marched on with them was her belief in the magic item.
"They will not be too common, I bet. We just have to be careful," Myra placated her in a reliable voice.
There was nothing they could do about it but continue forward.
This place started to remind Cyril of a labyrinth; they had walked for 15 minutes already but still hadn't found any exit.
The amount of laboratories and prison cells in this place was overwhelming.
Myra was becoming more and more frustrated. They had been searching through all the rooms, but she couldn't find what she was looking for.
And still they haven't met any living human. There were corpses, but not too many of them.
It looked like most of the mages here evacuated with extreme efficiency or simply disappeared.
"Maybe the breakout happened earlier than we thought? But there were no signs of it above the Tower..." Rhamn was confused by this matter.