The second day of the week passed like a cold breeze slipping through the open windows of the dormitories. The sort of day that drifted by almost unnoticed. Wor-en’s fourth-years were out, today was the day they went to a dungeon in preparation for the northern expedition. That left Kana and Boris to continue their afternoon battle classes—though even those started late, their professors still returned from escort duty.

  Suri, ever the diligent student of napping, dozed openly in Forms of Mana I. Professor Terry gave her a single glance, then moved on. It seemed he was satisfied that the ever curious Suri was sleeping again today.

  By the third day’s dawn, Kana’s yawn came before her eyes even opened. Suri was beside her in the carriage, taming a halo of wild hair with impatient fingers. They were bound for the monster fields again—same area as last week, different spot.

  The moment hit her like an echo from the past—from somewhere.

  That bone-deep tiredness, dragging yourself somewhere every day not because you wanted to, but because you had to. The dull repetition of it. The way the world blurred until you only noticed the clock and the road.

  Kana’s brow furrowed as the sensation tightened, like a thread being reeled in. Each day’s routine had been pulling her toward… something. A truth she could almost see, just beyond the edge of thought.

  And then—those strange words again. Sharp, foreign syllables. English. Words this world had never heard, knowledge it had never known—at least, not yet.

  Her heart beat fast. She was getting closer.

  She’d felt this before. But not here. Not in this world. Her eyes squinted again but eventually gave up. She came up with more questions—more than before.

  The ride was quiet. Most students floated somewhere between sleep and waking, their heads bobbing with the wagon’s rhythm. Rin, naturally, was already reading, lips moving faintly as she devoured another book.

  “What monster do you think it’ll be this time?” Rin asked without looking up.

  “Probably the same,” Suri murmured, eyes still half-lidded. “I’ve only seen three species in that sector. We might even be back early.”

  Her voice sharpened suddenly. “Wait. There’s… a disturbance in the mana.”

  Kana sat straighter, a prickle crawling along her arms. “It’s strange,” she said, scanning the fields, closing her eyes to focus on her [High Awareness]. “No people nearby. Just us—and the carriage behind.”

  The ground trembled.

  A sharp crack of shifting earth.

  Then, with a grinding roar, a thick, muddy wall of stone surged up behind them, sealing the road between their carriage and the one following.

  The copper-class students spilled out as soon as the rumbling faded.

  “Are you all right back there?” Boris called toward the wall.

  Silence.

  Kana frowned. “They’re still there. I can feel them. Unharmed.”

  Rin exhaled, tension loosening in her shoulders. Their carriage was scuffed and listing to one side, one wheel splintered. The two horses stamped and snorted, blood glistening on one flank.

  Roy, Rin, and Adam joined Boris in calling out, their voices echoing off the high wall made of thick hardened mud, unanswered.

  Kana’s gaze swept their prison. High walls in every direction, stone piled and compacted like a fortress hastily conjured. She could climb it easily though it would take some time—but Suri was already moving. Her form shimmered, a heartbeat later a colorful hawk burst upward into the sky.

  Moments later, her voice came from above, threaded with unease.

  “Someone’s coming. I don’t know them… and there are more than a dozen.”

  Kana’s gut tightened.

  This wasn’t random terrain magic—it was planned and intentional. Whoever had done this had come prepared.

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  Her eyes flicked to the sealed muddy wall behind them. Wor-en was still in the second carriage. Maybe he’d take command there. Maybe. But the thought left her no comfort. If their teacher was trapped too, that meant her group was effectively kind of helpless.

  And most of her classmates… she glanced at them—nervous faces, uncertain grips on their weapons—were still barely above novice level. Suri was steady, Boris dependable, Adam too but beyond that? They were still newbies.

  Her mind tugged at a darker thread. What if it’s him? The shadow man. The figure that had stalked her nightmares since the attack in the academy. If he was behind this, they weren’t just caught in a trap. They were already in his hands and if he had more like him as Suri said there were a dozen people approaching them, they were as good as dead. Or at least most of her classmates.

  Hopefully, she was just overthinking things.

  ….

  It had taken them time—days of preparation, in fact.

  One of the crew, a [Thief] with a knack for trapwork, crouched in the dirt to check the trigger points one last time in his mind. His specialty wasn’t just traps; his class allowed him to store active skills inside a trap, primed and waiting. All they needed was the right spark.

  In this case, that spark was the tread of a horse’s hooves.

  An [Earth Mage] had sealed an [Earth Wall] into the trigger. Another mage, a wiry woman with narrow eyes, had layered in a [Invisible Barrier] to smother all sound inside the trap’s boundary.

  When the magic flared to life below, the thief smiled.

  Perfect. The wall had sprung up exactly as intended.

  Better yet—a stroke of fortune. Even from their perch, high on the cliff’s spine, he could feel the result.

  [Eagle Eyes]

  One of them, [Bowman] nodded and confirming, the plan to separate the two carriages was successful.

  The scene below sharpened until he could pick out the faint glint of weapons and the flick of startled horses’ ears.

  “Luck’s with us today,” murmured the [Bowman] beside him. “That dangerous professor’s stuck on the other side.”

  Balt’s grin stretched, predatory and unhurried. How could any rival outperform this? The coin he’d make from the noble parents—if they saw their precious heirs returned while others lay dead—he would demand an insane amount. And that coin would surely notice them—those top executives of the organization

  So he made up his mind.

  “Kill everyone except the targets,” he said, voice like stone scraping against steel. “Make sure they’re untouched. Not a scratch.”

  “Yes!” his men answered in unison, their voices rolling across the cliff like the promise of a storm.

  ….

  Wor-en’s pulse hammered in his ears.

  These walls weren’t random. He recognized the shape of the trap immediately—too clean. Earth shaped with purpose. Someone had laid this well in advance, waiting for them.

  Why?

  And more importantly—how?

  Only the professors knew the day’s routes, and those details were always locked behind private channels. Unless… someone had leaked them.

  “Kids! Are you all right in there?” His voice tore at his throat as he bellowed. “Kana! Suri! Rin! Adam! Roy! Boris! Andel! Answer me!”

  Silence pressed back. Not the silence of distance, but of a void. He reached out with his awareness—normally as keen as any [Thief]—but felt nothing past the muddy barrier. Not a heartbeat. Not a whisper of mana. As if they were inside of some sort of sphere that he couldn’t figure out what that was.

  He ground his teeth. “Mil. Break it.”

  The [Spearman] nodded grimly, braced, and unleashed his skill in a sharp, driving strike. The wall didn’t even quiver.

  “It’s got mana reinforcement,” Mil said, sweat at his brow.

  One of the [Mage] students tried next—a flare of destructive magic scorching the stone—but the wall drank the energy without so much as a scorch mark.

  Elle York stepped forward, resting her palm lightly against the surface. Her eyes half-closed. “Whoever did this… is strong. These barriers don’t last forever. Hours at most. We'll wait until it's out.”

  Hours.

  If someone was on the other side with the copper-class students—

  He didn’t let the thought finish. Panic was contagious, and his students couldn’t afford it.

  A sudden flicker overhead caught his attention. Something small, winged—a bird—dropped a roll of parchment from the sky.

  Elle bent to retrieve it, reading aloud. “We’re all right. We’ve notified the principal. Someone is going to attack us but we’re going to capture them.”

  She held up the page, smiling faintly. “I can see its rush but this beautiful handwriting is Kana.”

  Wor-en’s gaze tracked upward. The bird shimmered in the light—then unraveled into nothing. His breath caught.

  That was an illusion. Suri’s work.

  So the girl can do that, he thought.

  Elle York frowned, "Professor Wor-en. Like I said earlier, whoever did those are quite skilled. I don’t think the copper class students have a chance.”

  For some reason, Wor-en trusted Kana’s words. Whoever planned this had bad luck. Mountain bandits? Spy from Empire? Sentient monsters?

  But he wouldn’t wait. He needed to come up with something to get out soon. I must help them.