"I don’t think we can get down the stairs," Azul said, watching the Devourers rush toward them.
"Obviously," Zeir shot back with a sarcastic snort. He took a few steps back, then suddenly broke into a sprint toward the wall.
At first, Roxanna had no idea what he was doing. But the moment Zeir threw his body against the stone wall, she understood.
CRACK!
Within seconds, small cracks spread across the surface of the wall, but they weren’t enough to bring it down. Zeir charged into the wall once more, and this time, it finally collapsed.
Azul couldn’t help but feel impressed. "For your information, we didn’t build these walls with poor-quality materials, but—"
"Let’s go!" Roxanna cut him off, shoving him forward as the Devourers closed in and they were only a few steps away now.
Fortunately, the prisoners Zeir had freed earlier started their rebellion. It seemed that their hatred for the Devourers was far greater than their desire to stay alive for a long time.
After all, all the torture the Devourers had put them through had shattered their spirits and their will to live, leaving behind nothing but hatred and the desire for revenge.
"What about Orion?!" Roxanna shouted as they swam out of the tower.
She let out a small yelp when she glanced down, her body reacting as if she were about to fall. A second later, she remembered they were underwater, not on land.
Even so, she instinctively reached for Zeir’s arm, searching for a little comfort.
"I see him!" Zeir shouted. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on Orion, who was surrounded by a swarm of Devourers.
Orion looked completely worn out. His body was covered in deep wounds, and blood drifted through the seawater around him. If they left him there any longer, he wouldn’t survive.
Before another Devourer could drive a spear through Orion’s body, Zeir flicked his wrist. One of his chains shot through the water like a silver snake.
It wrapped tightly around Orion’s waist and yanked him away just as the spear missed him by inches.
"Zeir?!" Orion gasped in shock.
He barely had time to react before the chain pulled him all the way to them.
"Can you still fight?" Zeir asked.
Orion forced himself to nod despite his ragged breathing. "I can... but not for much longer."
Zeir let out a tired sigh. "I don’t think you can," he said. "Just stay on my chain and don’t move anymore."
Orion’s eyes widened. He hated being told to stay out of the fight, especially when they were trapped in a life-or-death situation.
However, he couldn’t do anything because the chain was wrapped tightly around him, leaving him no chance to break free.
"Don’t let them get away!" the Devourers roared.
A rain of spears came flying toward Roxanna and the others, far more than before. This time, the Devourers clearly had no intention of letting them escape again.
Even so, none of them had any desire to back down. They kept swimming forward without looking back, trusting Zeir to protect them.
His second chain whipped through the water again and again, knocking every spear away before it could reach them.
But before they could put much distance between themselves and the tower, another group of Devourers suddenly appeared ahead of them.
"Don’t even think about escaping again!"
"This time, you don’t even have the Kraken to save you!"
The moment they mentioned the Kraken, Roxanna’s heart skipped a beat. She froze, staring at them with fear written all over her face. "What... what did you do to him?"
She hadn’t seen even the slightest sign of the Kraken ever since they escaped from the Fire Field.
One of the Devourers let out a cruel laugh. "That stupid beast?" he sneered. "He kept getting in our way, so we made sure he would never bother us again."
"We cut him into pieces and ate his meat!"
Roxanna’s face went deathly pale. [I knew it! We should never have asked Mr. Kraken to help us!]
[Mr. Kraken... I can’t believe we let you get killed.]
A wave of guilt crashed over her. To everyone else, the Kraken was nothing more than a terrifying demon beast. But after everything they had been through together, Roxanna could no longer see him that way.
"They’re lying," Azul whispered. "When they captured me, I overheard them saying that Mr. Kraken escaped."
Roxanna finally let out a sigh of relief after hearing Azul’s words. She still felt guilty, but at least it wasn’t as terrible as believing she had let Mr. Kraken die at the hands of those scumbags.
"Can you hold Mera for a while?" Azul asked Roxanna.
Without thinking twice, Roxanna nodded quickly. "Of course. Of course."
Azul carefully passed Mera over to her. She couldn’t carry him on her back the way Azul had, but she could at least support him by wrapping one arm around his and helping him stay afloat.
With both hands finally free, Azul took Orion’s spear and aimed it at the approaching Devourers.
"If we escaped once," he said firmly, "then escaping a second time isn’t impossible."
Orion’s spear wasn’t as strong as the one Roxanna had given him before, but it was still far better than being unarmed.
At the same time, Zeir decided to release Orion from the grip of his chain, allowing him to fight the Devourers more freely.
Fortunately, Orion didn’t do anything foolish, like trying to take on even more Devourers when he was barely able to move.
While Azul fought the Devourers in front of them, Zeir held off the ones attacking from behind.
The two of them moved in perfect sync, covering each other’s blind spots so well that the Devourers couldn’t find an opening to reach Roxanna or Mera.
However, one Devourer had been waiting patiently for the right moment. Instead of charging in with the others, he quietly swam beneath them, hiding in the dark water below.
He shot upward, thrusting his spear straight at Roxanna.
"Roxanna!" Orion shouted. "Below you!"