[Time remaining until the decimation of the city:]
[01:36:27]
I stared at the timer once more as we reached the fifth catacomb.
It had been more than an hour since we first entered the sewers.
The journey toward the harbor was not as straightforward as I hoped.
We tried making our way southwest, navigating through the complex underground labyrinth-like passageways.
But, often, we would find ourselves running into a dead end. Obstacles so dense that even my magic could not clear them without opening up a hole to the surface and attracting the attention of the infected.
Fortunately, my detection field managed to discover those dead ends ahead in time. Enough for us to not waste too much of our time and energy with the unnecessary journey.
However, we ended up turning around, going slightly farther from our destination, in order to find a new way forward.
This was the risk of not having a map of the sewers.
Not that the map would be useful, since most of the dead-ends seemed to be recent cave-ins that happened periodically over Tsuchi's days.
Never mind the undead and the overwhelming number of enemies waiting us above ground, if only we did not have to worry of the city getting blown into nothing.
Well, the Quintal Trial was never easy.
We just had to bear with it.
At the very least, we had not encountered any enemy yet in the sewers.
Navigating underground was quite frustrating, but at least we were not risking our lives battling enemies and endangering our escort target.
"How far along are we?"
The young prince asked once more as we were stopping while I surveyed our path ahead.
Few orbs of light were hovering around us to provide illumination. Basic enchantment spell.
"We should have exited the Second Wall district by now, Your Highness."
I replied him.
Earlier I studied the bedrock above us in the fourth catacomb.
Judging by their density, I was certain the city wall was just on top of it. The layer bordering the Second and the Third Wall districts.
"We shouldn't spend too long down here. There is less than two hours left for us to escape the city."
Shanny said.
Darius nodded.
"It might take too much time if we're trying to reach directly to the harbor through these complex sewers. We best resurface soon and use paths we do know, even if we have to risk facing enemies."
"Then we'd want to reach either the Sagonda Plaza or the Welena New Quarter. Depending on the infected prowling the streets, we could reach the harbor in under half an hour from those places. Less, actually, if we're starting on the Sagonda Plaza."
Devisha suggested.
Hearing their discussions, Jonah turned to me.
"Fina, what do you think? Should we focus on resurfacing sooner?"
While keeping my study on our path ahead, I mulled on the suggestions.
"I did say we must risk confronting the enemies if our situation demands it. And we have, indeed, prepared ourselves facing large forces with just the five of us."
I told my comrades.
I went on as I extended my detection field further along our path.
"We'll make our way toward the Welena New Quarter, the closest destination. Once we get there, I'll survey the path underground further again. If there is no clear route toward the harbor, then we'll--"
At the southern border of my surveillance region, something suddenly brushed my mist of mana.
I hurriedly pulled my detection field away and scattered it so it did not trail straight back to me. Back to our party. Back to the prince.
"What's wrong, Fina? You suddenly look tense."
Jonah asked.
Did I look tense?
Well, I should.
"My detection field just crossed with one of another mage."
My comrades firmed the grips on their weapons. The young prince turned pale.
"One of the mages we saw aboveground? Do you think they noticed you?"
Devisha asked, amber eyes looking sharp as daggers above her veil.
"I'm not sure. Our mana did not actually make contact. I simply sensed a slight resonance as I was extending my field. But I'm certain the resonance belonged to another mage's mana."
It would take a highly skilled sorcerer to notice the resonance. Let alone track down the mist of mana I just scattered.
"We should assume the worse and think the mage discovered us."
Darius said while watching warily to our surroundings, arrow nocked to his bow.
"Should we try hunting down this mage then? They could mean trouble if we let them be."
Shanny asked.
I shook my head upon her suggestion.
"We will only be adding unnecessary risk and possibly wasting our precious time. Our goal in this trial is to escort His Highness out of the city. Not subjugating enemies."
I pointed to a path among one of the catacomb's intersections.
"The mage I sensed is in the south. So we'll make our way directly west, nearer to the harbor and away from the enemy. Let's go!"
Upon my instruction, our group immediately ran to the western path.
With the young prince desperately keeping up in the center of the formation, I led us rushing through the underground passageway, navigating through the labyrinth-like sewers based on my previous surveillance.
I still deployed my detection field.
However, it was not as extensive as before since I would like to avoid making contact with the mage again.
This time, my detection field was purely to check whether there was any enemy in our immediate path or not.
We would risk encountering a dead-end this way, but it would be a better alternative than facing a mage whose capabilities we were not familiar with.
[Time remaining until the decimation of the city:]
[01:08:52]
More time had passed as we were running away from the mage.
We fortunately did not encounter any dead-end nor any enemy so far.
Perhaps we lost them.
The mana resonance was indeed quite faint.
The mage probably never noticed my detection field.
Even if they did, I had made sure to scatter my mana mist so they could not track the trail back to us.
The scattered mist was still traceable. But it would take a very capable mage to piece together the residue in time to catch my fleeing party.
We had arrived in the ninth catacomb.
If we took another right in this intersection, we would—Third Circle killing spell.
[Shield]
Clang!
A black sharp tendril bounced off the shield I quickly raised to our side.
Had I been a tad late in sensing the killing spell, and a fraction second slower casting the shield, the young prince's head and a couple of my comrades' would be flying right about now.
"Ready for battle!"
I alerted my comrades.
They all saw the shield I put up and knew where the enemy was coming from.
With the trembling prince kept inside our reverse triangle formation, we faced the mage that tried to ambush us.
"My, my! Aren't you quick with your spell?"
Stepping out of the shadow was a plump woman cladded in pitch-black dress.
Dark mist was oozing from her entire surface. Grim air was emanating from her soft motherly face.
With eyes full of death and a smile full of poison she confronted us.
[Kali Sorceress Lv.25]