We had cleared the gap, but the air grew heavier as Hashur took the lead. Sweat slid down my chin, the heat pressing closer with every step. The torch in his hand flickered, then he planted it into the ground, letting its glow mingle with the smaller torches hung on the walls.
That's when I noticed the floor. Beneath the thin veil of sand, stones of different colors formed a pattern, faded squares and jagged lines, like a mosaic half-buried. Some pieces gleamed faintly, others dulled.
Hashur pulled out a small notebook, flipping it open with practiced ease. He stepped forward, placing his sandal on one tone, then another. He stopped, turned back, and said, "Follow my steps. One by one. Let the children go first."
Andrew nodded, ready to move, but Victor shook his head. "I want to stay with Anny. If she makes a mistake, I'll be there."
Hashur stared at him, silent, the torchlight catching on his sunglasses.
Romie broke the tension. "Don't worry. I'll go first, and I'll tell Anny where to step."
Victor looked down at Anny. She gave him a small smile, steady despite the heat.
Romie moved ahead, careful, her feet tracing Hashur's path. Anny followed, her steps light. Andrew went next, then Victor, reluctant but steady. I bought up the rear. The pattern shifting in the torchlight as though the floor itself was watching our moves.
Just like Victor mentioned, the bombs and the mines were casted by their skills. It is quite dumb if the
Hashur mentioned that we may come face to face with a guard. It's clear they're aware, yet they didn't close this slit?
- - -
Hashur's sandals pressed against the patterned stones, each step deliberate. Behind him, the children mirrored his movements, careful to place their feet exactly where he had landed. The air was thick, hot, sweat dripping down our face as the torchlight painted restless shadows.
Romie lifted her foot and set it down— then the ceiling above them groaned. Dust rained down, the stone underneath trembling.
Hashur spun, torch raised, his sunglasses catching the flicker. "STOP!" He yelled. Everyone froze, breath caught in their throats.
The silence stretched, broken only by the faint hiss of sand sliding down the walls.
For a moment, no one dared to move. Then Hashur's voice cut. "We're okay.."
The group exhaled, tension easing just enough to take another step. We pressed forward, following his path one by one.
Hashur halted suddenly. The torches along the walls flickered, their flames guttering as though a draft had swept through.
He stood still, notebook in hand. We stayed silent, watching his moves. Waiting for him to move again.
— All the paths ahead are bombs.
A few gasps could be heard. Hashur turned to Andew, "Touch the ceiling. See if it's fragile."
Andrew stretched up, brushing the stone with the tip of his finger. "Nope. Solid"
Hashur's gaze shifted to Romie. "Use that skill of yours. See the iron bar? Left center?" He pointed his finger. "Climb up and drag it down. It's a lever. Push the wall just enough so we can tiptoe by the side."
Romie nodded, determination flashing in her eyes. She launched her string upward, climbing hand over hand. Sand crumbled from the ceiling, raining down on us.
"Be careful" Hashur called, his voice steady but edged with concern.
He jumped lightly to her spot, watching her progress as she dangled above the path filled with bombs. His eyes flicked to Victor, then back to Romie. We watched her as she reached the bar, fingers wrapped around the cold iron. She pulled. Nothing.
"It doesn't move." She gasped, one hand gripping her string tight, the other straining against the lever. Her arms tremble as she puts all her strength into the lever.
Hashur looked down at us, then back up at her. "Keep trying," he said.
In the distance, he smiled.
- - -
Rubbing the back of his neck, "It's truly unfortunate, having to do all this, all this struggle just to go to the other side of the wall. This is injustice. Don't you agree little girl?"
Anny stared at him, lips pressed tight, refusing to answer.
The torchlight flickered against his sunglasses. He didn't wait for her reply. He stepped closer, and before any of us could even process it, his hand shot out.
He pushed her.
The sudden force sent Anny stumbling forward. Her foot scraped against the patterned stone, the one we all knew was marked.
Hashur stood back, smiling faintly.
Anny froze on the stone, arms stretched out as if balancing on a thin wire. Her eyes dropped to the floor beneath her, wide, unblinking. She didn't move.
Victor launched forward, faster than I'd ever seen him, his shoes scraping against the hard path. Above, Romie dangled from her string in the ceiling's far center, watching with horror.
Then the wall tore open. Dust exploded upward, a deafening blast that swallowed everything. The tunnel roared, the ground buckled, and Romie was flung from her perch, her scream lost in the sand thunder.
- - -
When the dust began to settle, the ceiling above was pierced, a wide hole marking where we had dropped from. Light streamed down through it, cutting into the haze.
Hashur stood in the center, unharmed, his sunglasses reflecting the glow. He did not move, only observed through the settled haze.
Behind him, Romie lay at the far end, coughing blood, her body twisted against the stone. The sound carried faintly through the dust.
Victor knelt down, clutching Anny against his chest. She was limp, fainted, her hair matted with dust. Victor's face was twisted with rage, his eyes locked on Hashur.
In front of Hashur, the remaining stone rose like a shield, blocking the view. They shifted, then dissolved back into the ground. Andrew emerged and I followed, pulling myself upright beside him.
— I suppose 1 bomb wasn't enough to kill 5 people.
Hashur laughed.
I stepped forward, the dust still clinging to my clothes. Andrew watched me from the side, his body tense.
Hashur reached up, fingers brushing the frame of his sunglasses. He slid them off slowly, the light catching on them before he let them fall on the sand. His eyes closed, his head tilted back slightly.
Then he opened them.
The light from above struck his gaze— white, pale, unnatural, with a hollow blackness at the center.
He grinned as if he had the ace up his sleeves.
"HASHUR!" Victor yelled as he charged at him.
I have predicted this would've happened, but just not this way. The moment I heard his name, Hashur. In the original timeline, Hashur wasn't the guy who helped people cross the wall illegally, he was only mentioned during our visit to the Rosette Kingdom. That's when I countered him for the first time. Disguised as a fisherman, he boarded the same ship as us. His only purpose was to get Anny, in which he succeeded out of my own carelessness.
I did not know who they were until Nana told me.
An ancient race, they live on an island isolated just beneath the south of the Victoria Kingdom.
Victor launched at him with great force, closing the distance in a blur. His kicks came fast, snapping through the air, each strike throwing sand upward in violent bursts. The tunnel filled with grit, the ground shaking under his pace.
Hashur didn't retreat. He slipped past every strike with a mocking ease, his hands brushing Victor's legs aside, his grin widening.
— The royal guard of the queen himself, the underdog of the
— Surely, you won't disappoint me.
He moved like he was playing around, each dodge deliberate, taunting.
Victor spun low. Heel cutting across the floor. Sand erupted, a sudden storm that sprayed across Hashur's face. His vision broke.
Victor's next kick slammed into him, the impact sharp, driving Hashur back half a step.
Hashur's smile didn't falter. His hand snapped up, and a black flame rippled into existence— thick, liquid, circling his palm like tar alive. The flame bent around Victor's leg, swallowing the strike, then dissolved into smoke.
Victor immediately jumped back, retreating. This time, Victor hesitated before dashing again. I yelled to stop him. "Fighting him is useless! Get back!"
Victor paused mid-way.
— Oh?
— Don't you know what kinda power he's using? You can't win a fight by just using your raw skills.
— I know what he's using. He's not an [SE] user, nor a techwo user. I was right, we shouldn't have trusted this guy.
His chest rose slowly, his eyes cutting toward me.
Andrew, to my side whispered under his tongue, "This guy…he's a
[ yes…Merlords are the first people. The first 'humans' who roamed Asterra before the Gods descended. They don't use the same power like the rest of us. ]
The sand trickled down in a steady stream, hitting the stone with a dry, faint, tapping.
「 "Kor'th vel ashen" 」
「 "Kor'th vel ashen" 」
Our gaze turned towards Hashur as he whispered unfamiliar words into the air.
His jaw tightened as he continued, louder now.
「 "Velka ir thren." 」
The sand began lifting from the ground, the walls and the stone beneath our feet began trembling. Hashur didn't seem to stop. His teeth were already bleeding.
「 "Seth kor nax." 」
The words left Hashur's mouth, something black and luminous spilled out with them, thick as oil yet burning like dark flame. It slid over his lips, levitating just above his head.
The sand dropped, the walls and the ground were no longer shaking.
A crack of bone caught our attention.
His spine bent, backward, sideways.
Bone shifted with a wet sound as his body twisted into a shape that wasn't human. His feet scraped across the stone, heels lifting, joints locking at the worst angles.
The sand from the ceiling stopped.
Grains hovered in the air, drawn toward him like a filing to a blade.
Hashur didn't seem to have lost control, he tried to speak yet his jaw opened wider instead. No voice coming out.
The magic that Hashur just casted was none other than techro, the only people who mainly used techro were the
It moved immediately. His body blurred forward, faster than thought, faster than fear—straight toward Victor.
A hand—too long, fingers bent in the wrong direction— drove for Victor's heart.
Fwooosh!
Lighting erupted between them.
The sharp edge of the sword flared white as the strike met the blade, electricity snapping outward in violent arcs. The impact rang like a broken bell.
Hashur's body was thrown back, skidding across stone, limbs folding and unfolding as it rolled.
I staggered but held my ground, my boots carving lines into the sand.
behind me Victor was left frozen.
Hashur lay still, smoke rising from his mouth in slow, flickering breaths.
The monster smiled with his teeth.