Oliver dragged the people he had saved through the tunnels towards the exit.
Suddenly, the mink appeared, floating next to Oliver,
"You are not going make it," it said.
It was looking fearfully towards the south as it spoke.
"What?" Oliver asked in panic.
"The Mountain King attacking." Its voice trembled. "You won't make it out—the mana like a comet. The impact similar, large. The mountain destroyed. Ahhh." The mink squealed at the end. It was speaking broken English in panic.
'There is no other way.' The hair on its body stood up as it thought. Finally, it made a decision.
The mink suddenly glowed brighter.
"Oliver, this is the least I could do for you." It knew there was no going back.
The mink was trapped in the ancient temple beneath the mountain. It wouldn't be able to escape from the attack of the mountain king. There was no point in trying to escape.
But it might be able to save Oliver.
So, it decided to help by staking it all.
"What are you doing?" Oliver asked.
"Thank you for your help." The mink said and closed its eyes.
Suddenly, the ghostly form of the spectre turned into bright light as mana surrounded Oliver. His body turned weightless, and he soon understood what it meant.
The spectre body of the mink was disintegrating as it surrounded Oliver and the rest with mana.
"I will send you out."
He heard the feeble voice of the mink as the last remaining part of its body faded and dispersed.
Shortly after, Oliver and everyone else levitated and flew rapidly out of the mountain.
Oliver didn't know what to do or say.
Although his heart felt heavy, he accepted its kindness.
Within seconds, Oliver and the rest exited through the front entrance. But their bodies didn't stop there.
It flew in a straight path towards the south, above the treeline.
Oliver felt the cold evening air slamming against his face. In the far distance, he could see a small light.
'It is the mana the mink was talking about.' Oliver, who couldn't use mana, still felt the power of the attack just by looking at it.
Although it was kilometers away, he could see and feel the threat. The hair on his body stood on end as his body flew rapidly.
However, his mind was still lost in thoughts.
'I wanted to ask it one last question…'
'Was it the one that released the monsters within the outpost?'
Although he knew about almost everything that occurred inside the mountain because of the memories the spectres shared with him, he still had this one doubt.
'No, the demons didn't revolt as I expected. The team of soldiers sent to collect the blood was not the trigger. And the humans had no reason to destroy the outpost. The only remaining one was the spectre.' Oliver thought.
"Sigh."
'It will remain as an unanswered question…'
By the time his thoughts reached this point, the brightly glowing ball of mana that looked like a shooting star lit up his surroundings.
"BOOM!"
Creating a sonic boom, it flew over his head towards the mountain.
Oliver, flying in the air twisted his head towards the direction of the mountain. He had already travelled about five hundred meters from the mountain. And yet, he felt his heart drop at the scene that happened before him.
The mountain that once stood tall, with a height of hundreds of meters, disintegrated from its base as the new sun rose from the north.
The mana comet had stuck the base of the mountain, colliding with enough force and energy to wipe it cleanly out of the surface of the planet, only leaving stains of molten soil and rock where it once stood.
The rest of the mountain turned to dust and molten debris as it flew north. There was no research outpost or anything recognisable within the area the mana bomb struck.
There was no need even to ask what happened to the monster that was about to become an abomination.
*GULP* Oliver swallowed hard, nervously. Without the Mink's help, he would have been part of the floating cloud of dust.
Suddenly, his body that was flying south lost support and fell to the ground. Oliver quickly used his ability to move the fifteen bodies that were falling with him to safety.
The mink is dead, he soon realised.
However, there was one more problem still left for him to deal with.
The shockwave from the explosion was about to reach him.
Without a delay in his movement, Oliver quickly covered everyone's head with the blood. Then he pulled them closer and moved behind cover.
Except for injuries to the head, most other injuries can be healed in today's day and age. So, he protected them while risking his life. Then, closed his eyes and crouched behind cover as he braced for impact.
"Hm…"
He heard the thunderous sound of the explosion, but there was no shockwave.
Five hundred meters was the distance the shockwave could cover in less than two seconds, so what happened?
He should have felt the impact by now.
Oliver slowly opened his eyes to look around.
Suddenly, he noticed two people standing in front of him.
One was a familiar elderly man wearing combat armour, and the other was a younger man in his forties. Both of them were standing in front of him, releasing a tremendous amount of mana into their surrounding, solidifying the air around them.
"Headmaster. I think you need to pay me extra for this." Oliver spoke slowly.
Before he left for the expedition, he had asked for payment for the work he was about to do. And they had agreed to give him a fair wage.
But looking at the current situation, he indeed deserved more.
"Let me think about that." The headmaster gave a vague reply.
Oliver nodded as his lips curled up.
The sudden relief that safety brought made him release his control over the blood surrounding him. Although a million questions flowed through his mind, he suppressed everything and collapsed onto the ground.
The blood flowed back into his body as he healed himself.