CHAPTER 39: Trapped?!

Lian and Seline exchanged a perplexed glance as the fear of what those words meant rose like a tide, a chilling wave threatening to drown their hopes.

"No return portal? How will we get out then?!" Seline shouted, her anxiety growing stronger.

"I have no idea… maybe we just have to wait," Lian murmured, his gaze lost. He had long thought about his return, about life at the academy.

But now…

Freddy, who until that moment had not spoken, suddenly approached the two.

"This can only mean two things," the man said, walking slowly, his body covered in wounds and fresh blood still dripping.

"Either that was not the boss—" his words paused, creating a moment of palpable tension, the air thick with unspoken dread.

"—or we cannot get out of this place at all; we are trapped in an unstable Gate…"

"… for now," he added quietly. Even he did not believe those words and did not want to create false hopes for the kids.

Silence.