Chapter 77: Accident

Just at that moment, the floor suddenly jerked sideways beneath Leon’s feet, causing him to stumble into the wall before he could even understand what had happened. Ahead of him, Caleb dropped to one knee, and his phone struck the ground as he threw out one hand to stop himself from falling.

At the same time, a crack spread across the rocky floor.

"Down! Cover your heads!" Lex shouted.

Even before Lex said anything, Leon had already summoned the Great Swordsman.

It appeared just as a section of stone broke loose above him, catching the first piece against its raised forearm before pushing Leon beneath the shallow overhang along the wall. The overhang wasn’t enough to protect his entire body, so the Swordsman stood over him and used its huge frame to cover the rest.

Leon crouched as smaller fragments struck his legs, while the lamp attached to his bag swung wildly from side to side.

’Get out from under it.’

There was a surveyed side passage only a few steps away. Leon had seen the white plate beside it while they were approaching, and at this moment, it was the closest place he could move to that offered any sort of cover.

The Swordsman stepped between him and the gallery, turning its armoured back towards the falling debris.

Leon didn’t even think about it before he started moving.

Behind him, the woman with the spear caught Nolan by his bag and pulled him away from a large block of stone. The other rear guard shouted something, but his voice was drowned out by another loud crash farther along the gallery.

The floor rose beneath Leon again while he was moving, causing him to fall forward onto his hands. Pain tore across one palm as it scraped against a rough stone, and his side bag swung around before striking him in the stomach.

Before he could fall completely, the Great Swordsman caught his upper arm and dragged him the remaining distance into the side passage.

"Caleb!" Leon shouted.

Through the gap beside the Swordsman, he saw the third-year with one arm raised in front of his face as dust filled the gallery.

A large section of stone dropped between them before Leon could get another word out.

The impact sent air and grit rushing into the side passage. Leon turned his face away and crawled farther beneath the overhang, while something struck the Swordsman’s shoulder with a loud metallic sound.

The Swordsman placed one hand against the wall and braced itself over him, allowing the smaller pieces of rock to batter its armour instead.

Leon’s lamp shone into the dust, but it had become so thick that he could barely even see the ground beneath his face, even choking him.

"Stay low!" someone shouted.

Another voice told the students to move back, but Leon couldn’t tell where either voice was coming from. With all the crashing rocks and people shouting at the same time, it was already difficult enough to hear anything properly.

He tried to push himself farther from the entrance, but the ground shifted beneath his knees. The Swordsman caught him again before his head could strike the wall and held him in place.

Leon remained where he was after that. There was no other cover he could reach before more stones came down, and moving around while the ground was still shaking would only make things worse.

At that same time all these things were happening, farther along the gallery, the ground rose beneath Linda and tilted towards a ledge beside one of the walls.

Bren managed to catch the edge of the rock before he could slide away. Linda grabbed his sleeve, found somewhere to place her foot, and pulled herself upwards as the floor started breaking apart behind them.

Though her reaction was a little slow, her Yeti appeared beneath the ledge shortly after.

A slab of stone fell towards the students below, and the Yeti moved beneath it before bracing one shoulder against the weight. It wouldn’t be able to hold it forever, but it only needed to give the others enough time to move out of the way.

Bren pulled one student into the upper pocket while Linda reached down for the next person.

The slab fell shortly after, but several students had already managed to reach the higher space by then. Dust spread across the gallery below them, hiding everything and everyone they hadn’t been able to reach.

Closer to a lower connection, Seth caught Tessa when she lost her footing.

"Evan! This way!" he shouted.

Evan tried to follow, but the rock beneath his right foot dropped the moment he placed his weight on it, his ankle twisted, causing him to cry out before falling.

Seth grabbed the back of his bag and dragged him away from the collapsing section, while Tessa caught one of his arms.

Together, they pulled Evan against the wall beside the lower passage. He immediately held his right ankle and tried to bring the injured leg closer to himself, but even that small movement appeared to cause him great pain.

Lex was still near the middle of the gallery as he pulled one student behind a thick projection of rock before reaching towards another who had fallen. A piece of stone came towards them, and Lex struck it aside with his forearm while dragging the student into cover.

Once the student was safe, he tried to move towards the next opening. Before he could reach it, part of the wall broke away. The falling stone blocked his route completely, and along with that, he could no longer see the remaining students on the other side.

...

Leon in his own side, kept his face pressed against his sleeve until most of the dust had passed.

The violent movement eventually weakened into smaller jolts, but pieces of stone were still falling somewhere outside the passage. Every impact made him tense beneath the Swordsman’s arm, since there was no telling if it would be followed by another large collapse.

He waited until several more pieces had fallen before checking himself.

His right palm had been scraped open, with dust and pieces of grit pressed into the wound. Leon moved his fingers a few times, and they still worked, both knees hurt, but he could also move his legs when he shifted them.

’All right. Nothing is broken.’ He thought to himself.

He took a slow breath and immediately began coughing because of the dust.

The Great Swordsman remained above him, still holding the same position.

"Wait," Leon instructed.

The Swordsman didn’t move while he reached into his bag and found one of his bottles. He used a little water to rinse the dust from his mouth before pulling his collar over his nose. It wasn’t going to stop all the dust, but it was better than breathing it in directly.

After steadying the lamp against his chest, Leon looked towards the entrance.