Another War - 27 Rescue Mission Part 3

They were tailing behind the wolf-like aswang but making sure at the same time to keep a certain distance from the fiend to avoid it noticing them. The aswang led them to a labyrinth-like area where they made a dizzying twist and turns inside the labyrinth. The area was also dim, and good thing that slayers had beyond normal visions. Time to time, Professor Fields consulted with Avatara to check their vicinity for enemies. Fortunately, they hadn’t met any aswang so far, aside from the wolf-like aswang they were tailing.

They were running for an hour already, and the labyrinth looked like an endless dungeon. Later on, they found Sanna tracking behind them which they nodded at her.

The aswang led them in a dark hallway. They could also hear some droplets from the leaking plumbing system above them which was the only noise they could hear aside from their footsteps inside the creepy area.

Then suddenly, they lost sight of the aswang. All of them halted their steps and checked the surrounding area where it could go.

“Did the aswang just blend in the darkness?” Yule asked.

“I won’t be surprised, despite having our slayer’s vision, this is their territory. There might be hidden passages in here,” Professor Fields replied grimly.

They tried touching and placing their palms on the cold brick wall to check if there were hidden buttons that could lead them to their lost target. But to no avail, the wall was just an ordinary wall.

“Let just walk straight ahead and see where it would lead us,” the professor led his students straight ahead and stopped his tracks when they found a cross-path. They were greeted with three hallways – one from the north side followed by the east and west hallways.

“What now, professor?” Sanna inquired, stepping in front and examining the front of the hallways.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

“Avatara,” Professor Fields touched his earpiece to get confirmation on the next path. “Need help on this one. We need to find which hallway that will lead us to the most number of aswang? Can your sensor do that?”

“S-Say what?” Ranger raised his voice, looking startled.

“As I said before, the aswang could lead us straight to the missing student. And the aswang is looking for his pack.”

“But what makes you so sure that the missing student was captured by the aswang already?”

“The girl came down to the Ground with a mission. She wants to prove herself especially to everyone that she can slay an aswang.”

“How do you know that?” Yule was intrigued by the Professor’s statement.

” ‘Cause she’s not the only who’d done it.” Professor Fields pause for a moment recalling a certain memory back when he was still a fledging slayer and a student of the academy.

“Can I interrupt your discussion?” Avatara’s voice popped in their communication earpiece.

“Of course,” Professor Fields quickly replied, shaking away the memory he just recalled.

“I did what you’ve asked and upon checking on my scanner, I can’t find any aswang readings on the three hallways. Or maybe the pack is too deep in the labyrinth for me to scan. So in short, I’m blind in this case. Apology on this one.” Everyone could hear the disappointment in the engkanto’s voice.

“No, it’s okay. I kinda expecting it also. We’re already too deep in this labyrinth, and probably those hallways will lead us deeper from the surface.” The professor put his fingers on his chin, pondering on what to do next.

“Should we split?” Ranger suggested.

“It’s ideal, but I fear that the aswang might ambush one of us. That will spread us too thin, and it will be easy picking for them. I’m thinking that all of us should enter one hallway only. In this way, we could support each other from their massive numbers.”

“So how are we going to choose?” Sanna also agreed on the Professor’s plan. There’s strength in numbers, hopefully, she thought.

“By voting!” The professor offered.

“I guess we have no choice but to vote then.” Ranger sighed, looking disappointed that their fate will be based on voting. “Then I vote to go to the north hallway.”

Sanna started pacing around, looking at the entrances of the three hallways. ‘Where to go?’ she asked herself. Sanna closed her eyes and spoke the first thought that popped in her mind. “East Hallway!”

“Thank you, Ranger and Sanna. It might confuse everyone, but I vote for the West Hallway instead.” The professor smiled at his students. Then he looked at the remaining student who had yet to vote. Yule.

“So Yule, your vote will decide which hallway we should enter. Think carefully.”

Everyone was looking at Yule, expecting his answer. He felt pressured by the way they were looking at him, so he closed his eyes and asked himself where to go. He started clearing his thoughts, and he could hear his breath and the breaths of his companions. He could hear also his pounding heartbeat. He could hear also some other noise. Footfalls from distance?

Yule opened his eyes, and everyone could feel the vibration on the ground. They could feel that there were unknown threats coming from the North and East hallways. Inching closer, the stomping noise from numerous invaders were coming to those hallways.

Then heads from wolf-like aswang started pouring out on those hallways and started flooding the area.

“Should we stick to your idea that we should follow the aswang?” Ranger asked sarcastically to the professor.

“Hate to admit it. But everyone, run inside to the West Hallway!” Professor Fields shouted.

Everyone launched themselves to West Hallway while numerous aswang were tailing behind them.

“To be fair, Professor, I was planning to vote for West Hallway also,” Yule consoled his professor.

“Thank you, Yule for protecting my feelings. But double time on your run!”

The professor no need to remind Yule because the adrenaline was already circulating on his veins, forcing himself to hasten his steps, away from the pack of aswang.