Chapter 85: Separated VI

Seth turned towards the voice.

"Mr. Lex!"

His Fire Monkey caught a Splitjaw by its front legs and threw it from the slab. Before Seth could fully turn towards them, another one had already climbed into its place.

Leon followed Seth’s gaze past the stone pillar.

Tessa had Evan’s arm across her shoulders, while the other girl supported him from the opposite side. They were trying to reach the dogleg, but with Evan’s injured ankle, they were barely moving fast enough.

A Splitjaw had gone around the edge of the fallen stone and was cutting across their path.

"Get those three clear," Leon ordered the Skirmishers.

Both moved immediately with speed.

The closer one crossed the open floor and attacked the Splitjaw’s front legs. The Splitjaw turned towards its crescent blades, giving the students enough room to move away.

The second Skirmisher ran along the raised edge beside the wall before dropping between Evan and the creature.

Leon heard something scrape against the stone beside Leon, but the Swordsman stepped in front of him before he could even find where the sound had come from.

A Splitjaw pushed itself out of a low opening beside the exposed edge of the chamber, its jaws snapping shut around the Swordsman’s blade.

The Swordsman twisted its weapon, forcing the creature’s head aside before driving one armoured boot into its body.

"Against the wall," Lex instructed.

Leon helped him into the shallow junction where their passage opened into the chamber. Solid rock protected them from one side, but the other was still exposed to the low opening the Splitjaw had emerged from.

The Swordsman drove its blade beneath the creature’s head and killed it easily, as more scratching sounds came from inside the opening.

"Hold there," Leon ordered.

The Swordsman moved across the opening and remained in place. Whatever else came through would have to get past it before reaching them.

From where Leon stood, the stone pillar blocked most of Seth’s lower body. Seth could see Leon and Lex whenever he leaned away from it, but the rock between them prevented him from seeing the Swordsman guarding their side.

"Evan, can your Boar still fight?" Lex called.

"Yes!"

"Bring it out and keep it beside you. Tessa, use the Hound to cover his right."

The Bristle Boar appeared between Evan and the open chamber. Tessa summoned her Wind Hound shortly after.

"Straight towards the turn," Lex instructed. "Don’t chase anything."

The Hound rushed towards the Splitjaw fighting the Skirmishers and snapped at it.

The creature turned towards the new threat, giving one of the Skirmishers enough time to move behind it and cut into one of its legs with a crescent blade.

The Splitjaw dropped towards one side.

When it tried to force its way past them, the Bristle Boar charged into its flank.

The second Skirmisher drove both blades beneath the creature’s raised body.

"Now. Keep moving," Lex said.

Tessa tightened her hold around Evan, while the other girl helped lift him over a broken edge in the floor. The Boar remained between them and the rest of the chamber as they continued towards the turn.

Leon watched until all three students reached the rising floor before looking back towards Seth.

The Fire Monkey was moving between the broad slab and the gap beneath it. Each time one of the remaining Splitjaws tried to pass, the summon forced it to turn away. It attacked whenever it found an opening, but it couldn’t remain focused on one creature when another was already climbing over the stone.

Seth kept one hand pressed against his injured thigh all through, trying to press against his injury to reduce bloodloss, somehow it hadn’t stopped even then, and he was starting to feel lightheaded..

"Along the back of the pillar," Lex called. "There’s a narrow strip beside the wall. Bring your Monkey down on this side and follow it."

Seth looked behind him.

The strip was narrow, but it connected his position to the rising floor where the others were withdrawing. If he reached it, he could make his way to the dogleg without crossing the broken centre of the chamber.

Seth took one step towards it, his injured leg gave slightly beneath him, but he managed to catch the pillar with his free hand and managed to remain standing.

The Fire Monkey dropped from the slab to cover his retreat.

A Splitjaw immediately climbed across the top.

"Seth, above you!"

Seth ducked as the Fire Monkey jumped and caught the Splitjaw before it could drop onto him.

The movement forced his weight back onto his injured leg. Even from the junction, Leon could see his jaw tighten from the pain, he had barely managed to gain a single step.

Claws struck the stone behind Leon’s Great Swordsman as a second Splitjaw pushed through the low opening, forcing the Swordsman to meet it at the entrance.

Leon looked towards the younger students, confirming that both Skirmishers had reached them. One remained facing the chamber, while the other moved around the dogleg ahead of Tessa to check the path.

"Keep your summons close!" Lex called. "Let Leon’s Summon go first."

Evan nodded.

His Bristle Boar backed up the rising floor, while Tessa’s Wind Hound watched the chamber beside it. The other girl adjusted Evan’s arm across her shoulders before helping Tessa move him around the turn.

After a biref moment, they managed to disappear behind the dogleg. Seth, however, was still trapped beside the pillar.

Leon could send the Great Swordsman across the chamber and it would reach Seth quickly enough, but doing that would leave the low opening unguarded. Anything still inside would have a clear path towards himself and Lex, and with Lex injured, the two of them couldn’t exactly move out of the way quickly.

The Swordsman’s blade flashed while he was still thinking, cutting down two more Splitjaws, while another set of hooked feet scraped over from somewhere farther inside.

Leon stared into the darkness beyond it with no way to know whether that creature would be the last one.

"I can try to reach him," Lex said.

He pushed himself away from the wall, but stopped the moment his injured leg took his weight.

Leon caught his arm.

"Wait. I can cover it."

Lex turned towards him.

Near the pillar, the Fire Monkey forced one Splitjaw down against the slab. Flames streamed briefly from its palm and drove another creature away from Seth’s side as he tried moving again.

The Monkey had to turn with him, and the Splitjaw above it immediately started advancing.

’Another Swordsman can get him away from there...’ He contemplated.

Getting Seth to move wasn’t the only problem, however.

A Splitjaw could still cross the slab and drop onto the narrow strip behind him. The second Swordsman could fight the creatures around Seth, but it couldn’t block every approach while helping an injured person withdraw.

A barrier across the slab would give Seth enough time to limp past.

Leon looked carefully at the chamber.

The barrier had to be placed away from the narrow strip. If the Mage raised it across the wrong gap, Leon would end up trapping Seth behind his own defence, which would only make the situation worse.

He looked between the pillar and the sheltered junction around him.

There was enough room beside Leon for the second Great Swordsman to appear and move directly into the chamber.

A narrow recess opened farther along the wall. It was deep enough for the Mage to stand outside the retreat path, and from there, it would have a clear view of the far edge of the slab.

There was no need to use fire.

Leon checked the dogleg one more time, seeing one Skirmisher that stood at its edge facing the chamber. The other students were safely behind it now.

"Its just keep the strip beside the pillar clear," Leon told Lex. "I’m sending another fighter to Seth."

Lex looked towards the empty space beside him, and for a second there, he didn’t quite get what Leon had just said.

Leon fixed both positions in his mind, placing the second Great Swordsman inside the sheltered junction and the Mage within the recess, before reaching into his summoner’s space.

As soon as he willed it, a second Undead Great Swordsman appeared beside Leon and moved directly into the chamber.

At the same time, the Mage materialized inside the narrow recess. It raised its staff towards the far end of the broad slab, where a Splitjaw was climbing above Seth’s only route of retreat.

"Block that approach, but leave the strip beside the wall open," Leon ordered.

The Mage swiftly obeyed and began forming a barrier.

At the low opening, the original Swordsman drove its blade through the Splitjaw trying to force its way into the junction. It remained across the entrance afterwards, blocking whatever else might be inside while Leon helped Lex move farther beneath the sheltered section,, just when the second Swordsman reached the pillar.