Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

They were surrounded by enemies until some huge stone walls appeared before their eyes with a man standing on top of the highest and biggest wall. The man then said something strange before turning back and chattering with someone on his side.

They couldn’t see who was the person that was chatting with that man as they were all on the ground and the figure was hidden by the other walls that were on their way.

The enemy soldiers and agents were all as confused as they were, maybe even more.

“Isn’t that... the soil dude?”

Serria mumbled, sticking her head out from behind the team leader.

“But those are stones... Wasn’t his power controlling the soil?”

Reyan also poked his head out from on top of team leader Dains shoulder.

“They... They are the ones who kidnapped Asa! ASAAA-!!”

.....

“Hey!”

“Stop it what the hell!”

Darren and Carlson suppressed deputy team leader Bray who was about to run out of the building, one grabbing her body and the other one covering her mouth.

“Huh?”

“W-what?”

“Who is that?”

“Sir, what should we do?”

The soldiers murmured, and some shouted, in confusion. They all then turned to look at their deputy commander but that was not much of a help as the deputy commander was also dumbfounded.

In the meantime, the soil dude was still standing on top of the wall like a statue with his hands spread out.

‘Isn’t he afraid that they might attack him?’

He looked defenseless. He wasn’t even holding his spear. If anyone managed to target him from down here, could he block the attack?

It was just when the team leader was wondering about such things that the man opened his mouth again.

“OOOHH!”

And... gasped?

“I... See...”

And said with a voice fairly loud enough for them to barely hear his word. The man then flinched for some reason before shouting out loud.

“I SEE FAMILIAR FACES HERE!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

They all looked at the man in silence.

‘What? What’s wrong with him?’

Why was he shouting such a thing?

They looked up at the man as he finally lowered his arms and stood there with awkwardness.

It was at that moment.

BOMMMMMM

The sound of an explosion was heard from behind the man. It was as if a part of a stone wall had broken and fallen down.

BOMMMMM

Another loud explosion was heard.

“Get them!”

“Kill those people!”

And they could also hear some shouts coming from the other side.

“Just what the hell is going on?”

“Are these other people chasing them?”

“What the hell?”

The team leader raised his hand. As soon as he did that, the group went quiet.

“We are running away from here.”

He whispered to his unit members. The others nodded their heads all at once.

“Can you cast another shield?”

“Just a weak one.”

“I can help you.”

Elsie and Serria acted quickly, casting a shield all around them in the blink of an eye. The shield was weak and thin and it wouldn’t manage to block more than a few blows, so they had to hurry and find a safe location. Fortunately, there were a lot of safe locations for them now. There were numerous stone walls that had risen up from the ground in the shape of a flower. They only needed to reach one of those walls. It wasn’t that they trusted the man who was standing on top of the highest wall and talking to someone, it was only that they didn’t have much choice at the moment.

B-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM

There was another loud explosion. They could hear something bursting and crumbling and dust rose into the air from the other side of the walls.

“Now!”

The team leader shouted before starting to run out of the building, his unit members following behind him. Darren had grabbed Elsie and Carlson was dragging Rai so that they could run without worrying about them falling behind. They used the distractions caused by that loud explosion to move toward one of the walls. The soldiers and agents, too focused on the new possible thread, were too late to react and didn’t manage to get to them.

The walls weren’t too far away from the destroyed watchtower that the group was hiding in, thus, they reached the wall and hid behind it in only a few seconds.

“Gah, damn!”

“Put me down!”

“Are we safe here now? What if that man just attacks us? We will be squeezed between these walls without being able to do shit!”

Team leader Dains looked up at the soil dude again.

BAAANGGGG

An attack that was aimed at the man’s back exploded in the air without reaching him after hitting the magical shield surrounding the man. A layer appeared all around him. It shook due to the impact of the explosion but didn’t break. It was the magical shield that blocked the attack. As if surprised, the man jerked his head to his side and started to yell, though they couldn’t hear his voice from down there.

“Kairen?”

Serria mumbled.

“Huh? Kairen?”

“Kairen is here?”

The unit members turned to her almost immediately.

“I don’t know. I just thought I sensed his mana from that shield over there!”

She shrugged her shoulders.

The man then looked down. They couldn’t see his face. It was hidden under his hood as always, but they all thought that something was different from before.

“Is it just me... or is the black fog that always covered that man’s face really gone?”

Rai commented. He wasn’t wrong. Everyone was feeling the same thing. The black layer that had always prevented them from seeing the man’s face was not there anymore. Now, they could see some long strands of hair poking out of the hood, swaying in the wind.

“They ran away! After them!”

They heard the voices of the soldiers that were running towards them.

“Let’s move!”

The team leader commented again before starting to run again. Simply staying behind a wall didn’t mean they had managed to run away. The wall couldn’t block the attacks aimed at them from all directions.

BOOMMMM

It was then that the earth shook once again as another stone wall started to rise from the ground. The stone wall covered the unit members, blocking the attacks aimed at them.

“Huh?”

“Ah?”

The unit had no choice but to stop moving. They looked up at the man simultaneously, but he was once again conversing with the person beside him.

.....

“Did he just save us, or did he capture us?”

It looked like the man had prevented them from moving and captured them, but at the same time as if he had created a barrier to protect them.

They could see the man move his hand. A familiar soil spear appeared on his palm. He then turned around to move, but he suddenly stopped and started to talk to someone again.

“...”

“...”

“...”

The unit members watched in silence as the man suddenly started to do strange things with the soil. They didn’t really get what was going on so they just stared at him in silence as if they had agreed on that beforehand.

ONNNGGG

Before they knew what was going on, something started to shake.

‘The space? A portal?’

Team leader Dains could understand what was going on almost immediately. It was the space that was shaking. It was a portal. And soon enough, a black-purple portal popped up in the air, floating right before their faces. The unit members all backed away out of the reflex. They didn’t have their weapons but they still made sure to put their guards up.

DANNNGGGGGGG

As soon as they moved away from the portal, something fell out of it. It wasn’t one, but only four things.

“Swords?”

Three black and thick objects that looked like swords and one that looked like a greatsword had fallen out of the portal.

DANNGG

And another sword fell out of the gate once again.

“....”

“....”

“....”

While the team was still processing what was going on, they heard a voice coming through the gate.

“HEEEYYY!!”

And soon, someone stepped out of the gate.

“I’m back!”

It was a teenager, their team member, that jumped out of the portal with a cheerful face.

“A-Asa!”

Deputy team leader Bray jolted forward, pulling the teenager into a hug.

“ACK! Sis! It hurts! Wait I’m going to choke!”

The woman didn’t pay any attention to the girl’s screams and just hugged her as hard as she could.

“Ahem!”

That was probably why she didn’t notice how the atmosphere had gone cold all around him. She didn’t also notice the other person standing in front of the gate, who was the reason behind the cold atmosphere until the person let out an awkward cough.

“...”

The deputy team leader raised her head, only to make eye contact with a teenager that was smiling at her.

“You-”

The girl cut the woman’s words.

“Good... Uhm. Good my friend a day to meet healthy!”

“....”

What?