The last option

On the other side of the church, the group of young nobles were gathered in one of the many rooms in the church. It was the morning of the sixth day since they had arrived at the church and there had been no sign of Atlas since they had encountered Hanert and the message he had left on the wall.

"We can't continue like this; we only have food for about four more days" Danield said while he was sitting on one of the beds with his back against the wall.

"Then what do we do? We have no idea what to do to get out of this damn place"

Rort responded curtly, sitting in front of the bed where Hanert was lying with his eyes closed.

Since they had found Hanert, the young noble had not responded. He even slept and ate if they gave him food, but it was as if he were a body without a soul.

"…"

Danield was left speechless. They had spent several days trying to find ways to escape. They had toured the entire church except for two areas, the door at the end of the hallway with chandeliers or the room that led to the basement of the church.

"That commoner disappeared without a trace, but we can assume that he is dead"

Danield grimaced slightly as he heard Rort.

He knew that Atlas was the strongest among them all, but since they never found him, they could only assume the worst.

"We can investigate the basement…" Danield suggested, being the last option that they had left. That door at the end of the hallway simply wouldn't open no matter how hard they pushed, so they decided not to waste any more energy and focus on other things.

"The basement?" Akrin asked into the air without addressing anyone in particular.

Since the day Danield defended her from the armors and she had been wounded in the torso, the young girl had always stayed close to him as much as possible.

At the mention of the basement, everyone fell silent. Even Rort didn't want to go down there. No one knew what was downstairs, but they all shared the same sensation, fear.

"Unless we find another way, our only option is to go down…"

There was no guarantee that there was anything down there to help them escape.

"…But" Akrin murmured, if it was possible, she didn't want to go down under any pretext, but at the same time, she wanted to escape more than anything else.

"Our only option, huh? I guess it's true"

Rort tightened his sword seeing the state of his friend, then stood up and looked at the others seriously.

"We can't stay trapped and die here… it would be a shameful death" Rort was noble, he had been born and raised like that. He had seen his parents being noble and an idea had formed in his head. The worst thing for him and for the honor of his family would be to disappear without a trace. "We have to fulfill our obligations as nobles"

Rort's words were somewhat accurate for everyone, but if Atlas were with them, he would surely mock silently to himself.

"W-when will we go?"

For the first time in the conversation, Benedetto spoke.

Immediately the gazes of the three fell on him, then Rort said: "When? Of course, at this moment"

The others instantly became tense. They were already aware that they couldn't put it off for long, but it was too sudden, or so they wanted to think.

"Do you have anything else to do?"

Everyone spent their days without much to do, other than walk around the church trying to look for a hidden path or something similar.

Rort was silent after that and looked at Hanert.

The others began to prepare, but mostly mentally, since they were really ready even hours ago.

Danield noticed Rort and asked: "Are you thinking about taking him?"

Rort looked up, meeting Danield's blue eyes.

"We may find the way out down there… and we may never come back"

Rort feared that if he left Hanert resting in the room, they might leave without him, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to return later to help him. In everyone's mind was the portal of the ruins that they had used to reach the church, but none of them were aware that it had been destroyed.

Danield looked at Hanert, but avoided saying anything. Since they had found him, Hanert seemed to be in a vegetative state, as if he had suffered a terrible accident.

His body had some wounds that he had scratched himself for some reason, but other than that he seemed to be completely fine physically.

Danield, Akrin and Benedetto... even Rort knew that Hanert's condition was alarming, but none of the three dared to say anything so as not to anger Rort.

Finally, Rort made a decision and lifted Hanert by his shoulder, then looked at the others and nodded.

"Let's go"

Soon, the three of them left the room and walked to the door that led to the basement. They had explored the chapel, seeing the chained arm which gave them chills. They also read the mural, but they did not understand much of it, so they gave it little importance.

Danield stood in front of the door and looked at the others.

Akrin and Benedetto looked at him in silence, Akrin being quite close to him. Meanwhile, Rort was carrying Hanert.

Swallowing, Danield turned his head and focused on the door.

'Well... here we go'

Placing his hands on the surface of the door with his arms outstretched, Danield pushed the door slightly and the stairs leading down were revealed before them.

Danield firmly gripped the hilt of his sword and drew it, pointing it forward without forgetting to use his aura, enveloping the edge of his sword in light.

At the same time, Benedetto created a sphere of light and guided it forward, illuminating the path.

Then, with a silent nod, Danield took the first step.