Chapter 72: Taking Action
Although Kazama Chiba was still verbally mocking these villagers as beyond salvation, his body demonstrated extreme honesty in taking action.
The burly villagers who'd been grinning viciously as they lunged toward the children didn't even register what was happening. They only felt an immense force strike them—like being hit full-on by an invisible truck. Before they could even scream, they flew backward like bowling pins and crashed in all directions.
The lucky ones slammed into stone walls and passed out. The unlucky ones plummeted like kites with cut strings straight into that bottomless abyss.
This sudden turn of events left the remaining villagers on the outer perimeter completely stunned.
"Wh-who's there?!"
The village chief watched in horror as his subordinates were wiped out in an instant. He was completely dumbfounded.
He looked around frantically but saw nothing.
This cunning old fox immediately understood he'd encountered something truly dangerous—an existence with genuine divine power.
So without even leaving any parting words, he scurried like a frightened rat into a hidden passageway nearby, fleeing faster than a rabbit.
"This..."
The female teacher held several trembling children in her arms, staring blankly at the now-empty altar.
The wind still blew, but that uncomfortable scorching heat had been driven away considerably.
A blurred human silhouette flickered in and out of view in the wind, finally coalescing into the form of a young teenage boy.
"Can you still walk?"
Kazama landed on the edge of the altar. Without even glancing at the unconscious villagers, his gaze swept over the injured teacher.
The teacher stared dumbly at this savior who'd descended from above.
At this moment, even if Kazama had looked like a beggar, she would've seen him through a six-foot-thick holy light filter.
"Yes! I can walk!"
The teacher snapped out of her daze. She didn't know who this suddenly appearing boy was, but the fact remained that he'd just saved them.
"Thank... thank you..."
"Stop. Save the emotional speeches for your memoir later. If you can walk, get these students out of here now."
Kazama pointed toward the exit.
"If you don't want to die here, don't look back. Just keep running until you're out. I still have business to handle."
The teacher was overwhelmed with gratitude and was about to gather the students to leave when a chubby boy tugged at her sleeve with a tearful voice.
"Teacher... Urushihara... Urushihara's missing!"
The teacher's face turned deathly pale. Only then did she remember that the socially anxious little girl had apparently darted into another branch tunnel during the chaos.
Immediately, she was so anxious that tears welled up. She urgently begged Kazama to help.
"Wait! Please!"
"There's still one child! She ran into that other passage! That girl's introverted—without someone to help her at a time like this, she'll definitely die!"
The teacher had completely latched onto Kazama as her lifeline and was practically ready to kneel before him.
"That way... the village chief said that direction is a dead end with very high temperatures... Please, I'm begging you, save her! She's a good child, just a bit... a bit afraid of people..."
Faced with the teacher's plea, Kazama didn't make any absolute promises. He only mentioned that he happened to be heading in that direction anyway—if he encountered the girl, he'd pull her out, but if he didn't run into her, that would just be her bad luck.
"I'm heading that way to investigate anyway. If I run into her, I'll grab her. But if she's already cooked, there's nothing I can do."
With that, he didn't waste more words. He wrapped himself in an even thicker wind element barrier and ran toward that steaming passage.
The teacher watched the boy's silhouette disappear into the darkness. She bit her lip, knowing she couldn't be a burden here.
So despite the severe pain wracking her body, she acted like a mother hen herding chicks, loudly calling to the remaining students.
"Everyone stay close to me! Run!"
The group stumbled and rushed toward the exit.
Just as they were about to escape the cavern, that village chief who'd already fled somehow popped out from some rat hole again, bringing several villagers to block their path.
"Stop! You're all offerings to the mountain god! You can't leave! If you leave, the mountain god will be enraged!"
The old man was hysterically roaring, his expression twisted like a demon's.
Although he couldn't mess with that terrifying force from earlier, if he let these sacrificial offerings escape and the mountain god went hungry, he—the high priest—would definitely be the one to suffer in the end.
If this had been half an hour ago, the well-educated female teacher might have still tried reasoning with him, might have even compromised to protect the children.
But now, looking at that ugly face that had nearly killed all the children, seeing his fanatical appearance still treating human lives as worthless as grass...
Her rage meter maxed out instantly.
"Screw your mountain god! You decrepit old bastard! Eat my fist!"
The teacher unleashed the dirtiest profanity of her entire life.
She charged forward and, using every ounce of strength remaining in her body, unhesitatingly swung her already bloody and mangled fist, smashing it squarely into that old bastard's nose.
"WHAM!"
The punch landed solidly. The village chief hadn't expected this previously submissive woman to actually attack. He screamed and fell backward, blood gushing from his nose.
"You can go down there and explain yourself to that bullshit mountain god!"
The teacher was like a mother lion protecting her cubs. That momentum actually intimidated the remaining villagers.
Taking advantage of the opening, she led the students out of that hellish cavern and dove straight into the bus parked by the roadside.
"Driver, start the engine! Pull onto the main road and wait! It's not over yet... it's not over! That Urushihara girl still hasn't come out!"
She sat in the passenger seat discussing with the driver, but her eyes remained locked on the cave entrance, silently praying that the miraculous boy could work a miracle.
...
Meanwhile.
Kazama Chiba was moving rapidly through that narrow passage, enduring heat waves hot enough to roast a person dry.
The deeper he went, the harsher the environment became.
Here, the rock walls had turned dark red, and the air was so distorted that even his vision became blurred.
"This hellhole, and that girl actually managed to run in here?"
He frowned and increased the output power of The Windy card, forming a layer of rapidly flowing air insulation around his body.
Finally, after turning an almost ninety-degree sharp corner, he spotted that small figure at the end of the path.
Urushihara Michiyo was curled up in a slightly recessed corner of the stone wall, like a frightened hamster.
Her consciousness was already fading, her small face flushed an unhealthy red, unconsciously murmuring "don't come near me."
"Found her."
Kazama strode forward quickly.
Good news: she was still breathing. Bad news: she'd already passed out from the heat.
He immediately manipulated The Windy card to create a stream of cool, moist air, carefully wrapping it around the girl's body.
The refreshing wind instantly enveloped the girl, like placing her inside an air-conditioned room.
As that terrifying high temperature was blocked out, Michiyo's tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly, and her rapid breathing became more stable.
Kazama crouched down, half-lifting her to lean against his chest, pulling out his water bottle from his backpack and carefully feeding her a little water.
"Cough... cough..."
The cool liquid moistened her parched throat. The little person in his arms finally showed signs of movement.
Taking advantage of the moment while she regained consciousness, Kazama raised his head and surveyed his surroundings.
This was a massive underground space.
Or more accurately, an enclosed underground lava lake.
Aside from the entrance he'd come through, steep rock walls surrounded them on all sides. And ahead lay a vast expanse of churning golden-red magma.
"Glub... glub..."
The magma surface constantly burst with enormous bubbles, producing muffled rumbling sounds.
After listening to those sounds for a while, they almost sounded like some gigantic creature snoring.
"Is the magic source beneath this?"
Kazama narrowed his eyes. The magic concentration here was frighteningly high—so much so that it was already beginning to interfere with his spiritual vision.
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