Against the worst odds, the expected army was not there…
And not wanting to waste the opportunity Sirius and Liu moved forward at a fast pace.
They did encounter a handful of straggling mid-tier Platinums on the way out, which proved difficult enough given their exhaustion, but it was nowhere near the apocalyptic swarm they had anticipated.
The path back to the surface was eerily clear.
Sirius understood the battlefield geometry first. A quiet, heavy pride bled into his tired voice.
"They are still outside," he said, gesturing toward the distant exit. "They failed to secure the dragon's core, but they did not give up on us… They held the line. They stopped the swarm from flooding the mountain until the last possible second. That is very likely why this tunnel is empty, they have been guarding our backs this entire time."
