The definitive confirmation came from a very frightened Ellys, who also seemed to turn pale when she inspected the surroundings due to Yefeng warning.
And indeed, she began to tremble again, this time with much greater intensity than before.
"Quick, we have to flee... there are too many to handle. The door is the only option. Let's move. I'll lead the way. Sir Cassian, could you take care of Miss Ellys? Sir Yefeng, you're okay on your own, right?"
"Yes."
"Good, that's best. Lys, in the meantime, you can treat Luna."
Cassian agreed with Valeriane's judgment. He himself didn't know if he could handle so many spiders, and some were already poking their heads out of the ground, so without further ado, he picked up Ellys and carried her.
He glanced quickly at Yefeng, who was already ready to run.
With Valeriane leading the way, they all hurriedly left the room.
"H-hey, wait! How can you leave your teacher here? W-wait for me..."
Not far behind, the dragon woman who was performing the funeral service, or whatever it was, noticed the situation and followed closely behind them. Luckily, she was physically fit.
..
.
The group once again entered a semi-dark corridor, dimly lit by luminous moss.
"Careful, there are also some in the corridor in front of us."
Ellys — who was being charged, just like before — warned Valeriane, who was on high alert. She took good note, and just as Ellys had said, three spiders began to emerge from the walls, blocking her path.
Swoosh! swoosh!swoosh!
She conjured three spear again. They flew at high speed and struck the three spiders in the forehead, killing them and allowing the group to move forward.
"We don't know how far we have to run, but I'll pick up the pace to give us more leeway. Can you do it?"
"Y-yes, I'm good at running....huff~ Yeling, don't worry, your brother will protect you."
"I'm fine."
Cassian and Yefeng were fine, and Yefeng certainly seemed to be maintaining a good speed despite carrying his sister.
And Cassian ran as if he wasn't carrying anyone.
"I-I'm the mistress, why are you still making decisions on your own?"
The dragon lady was also running at a good speed, matching Yefeng. And given the situation, no one paid any attention to her comment.
"Hey, Lys, how's Luna? Is she okay?"
Cassian asked. He understood that Ellys was also looking to see if there were any more surprises, but he was still worried about having committed manslaughter for the second time today.
"She's fine. ... She's conscious. She's just pretending."
"...Damn, little angel, you can even see something like that..... What the hell are your eyes...? Ugh, wait, Cazzy, why all of a sudden...?"
"That wasn't right!"
Even for someone as tolerant as Cassian, it was too much that she was faking it, for a moment he also thought he had ended up with a teammate...
So, he tightened his grip, putting pressure on Naelune, to punish her.
"Ugh! I... I did lose consciousness! Uh! Don't get mad! Angelito, tell me you noticed that too..."
"Lys, is what she says true?"
"...Yes, she woke up a moment ago."
"Haahh, see? I wasn't lying. I didn't say anything because I'm not very good at running, so I thought it didn't matter if I kept pretending... Wait, don't loosen up so much! Squeeze harder!~❤️"
"Eh!?"
"ehem!, I mean... I think, on second thought, I feel safer if you grip me tighter. By the way, if you go ahead, I can help little knigth temporarily hold back those in front of us. Just make sure you hold me tight, a."
"...Okay."
Cassian had some doubts, but it wasn't the time to focus on details, and it seemed like a good idea, so he held her tightly and paired up with Valeriane.
"Sir Cassian? If you're coming to help, it's not necessary. Save your energy. We don't know what—"
"Hey, little knigtht! It's not him, it's me. You're really inefficient at managing your mana, throwing spears one after another. This is how it's done."
Naelune said as she looked ahead. At the spiders that were once again emerging from the walls, floor, and ceiling, she formed four spheres of water the size of baseballs.
The four flew toward the spiders in their path, and just before impact, the spheres deformed and, as if turning into tentacles, spread out and wrapped around the creatures, incapacitating them.
She didn't eliminate them, but she prevented them from blocking her path. As they passed by, the spiders were still struggling with the water tentacles.
"Hey, what do you think, little knigth? The important thing now is to flee, not to kill. It's more efficient. I'll take care of it, we don't know how long or how far this will go."
"...Fine. I leave it in your care."
"Yes, leave it all to me..."
Valeriane agreed with the proposal, although she was not a mage, like magic, her skill required mana. And she was not good at managing it, nor did she have as much as a mage.
So she thought it was a good idea to let them take the lead. With Cassian carrying Ellys and Naelune, they were the best ones to lead.
She was going to slow down to take care of the rear... until...
"Better not leave it all to me. Look, there's a fork in the road there. I'm bad at making decisions. I'll leave it to you, Little Knight."
"Haah~... Miss Ellys, can you see what's ahead?"
"Hmm... They both look very similar..."
They were approaching the fork in the road, and Valeriane put aside her complaint about how unreliable Naelune was with a sigh and asked Ellys, who seemed to see things that the rest of them couldn't, but in this case it was useless.
"..."
Cassian, who was also thinking, felt for some reason that it was best to take the left, but as always, it was just a slight feeling that could well be a random opinion.
Rather, at that moment, he thought that instead of Ellys and him, there was someone better to decide.
"Hey, Yefeng, which way do you think is more dangerous, left or right?"
"Haaah... the right... haah... I'm sorry... my stamina isn't that good... it's hard for me to talk while running."
"Oh, no, it's understandable, especially since you're carrying your sister. Hey, Ria, you heard him. Let's take the left, it seems less dangerous."
"Okay, let's take the left!"
With a decision backed up, they finally decided on the left path, but apparently not everyone liked that decision.
"I can't take it anymore... why should I follow them? Why should I run away? I am the one who has inherited the ancestral draconian legacy. I'm not going to run away from mere insects!"
At that moment, the dragon lady, now self-proclaimed heir to an ancestral draconian lineage, stopped and turned her gaze to the horde of spiders that filled the tunnel they had passed through.
Without any fear and with a determined look on her face, she stared intently at her target and took a deep breath.
"Die! Roar of the ancestral dragon!"
She exhaled an intense dark green flame that immediately headed toward the horde of arachnids.
BOOM!!!
Upon contact, it caused an explosion, to the point that it seemed as if the cave would collapse at any moment.
Ssskeee! Ksssssh!
"Haaah... hahaha!!... Simple insects want to mess with this great me? It's nothing but nonsense. Taste my everlasting flames!"
Cassian, who had been paying attention to what he was doing . After the explosion and the blue flame that came out of the woman, he stopped his momentum and looked back.
She was certainly the real deal. Even he felt that he would be fried if that breath hit him; it seemed extremely powerful and worthy of someone who proclaimed herself an ancient dragon.
Although Cassian was also intrigued by how she could speak at the same time as she let out that roar.
"Yes, burn, insects. Hahaha—ah!? Oh!...well, some don't matter if..."
If for a moment he too had believed that they had ended this pursuit, soon, from among the flames—which were supposed to be imperishable—spiders began to emerge in flames.
Although they advanced a few steps, they soon died. But they revealed how the flames were beginning to diminish, showing only a few dozen spider corpses.
"OH NO! Hiiiii!"
And mainly... how more and more came without fear of the fire that finally went out, scaring the woman who immediately turned around and ran in panic.
"Sir Cassian..."
"Eh, oh, yes!"
Cassian, who had been a little stunned by the events, was alerted by Valeriane, who had already started running alongside Yefeng.
"You, big guy over there! Wait a minute, I'm coming!"
"!!?"
Again, as they ran, Cassian suddenly heard the woman's call. And before he turned to see what she wanted, he felt a weight on his back. Then he felt her climbing on him... until he finally felt a weight on his shoulders.
"Well, be grateful. From now on, you are my number one subordinate, and you carry this great me who possesses the draconic ancestral line and—"
"Hey, it's rude to climb on someone without asking and then ask them to thank you. If you're tired, just ask and I'll carry you anyway, you don't weigh much."
Cassian didn't mind carrying someone else; after all, he had plenty of room. But he didn't like this woman's attitude.
It was true that the woman seemed to be what she said she was, but he still had a strange feeling about her appearance and how she acted: they didn't quite fit together.
And well, personally, he was also a little uncomfortable with the way she spoke, and well, that could be the whole problem... but that wasn't the point right now.