- Oliver -

  "OH! Fuck!" was the only thing Oliver could express as he fell.

  He thought that maybe he would see his whole life pass before his eyes or even that his mind would bck out before he hit the ground.

  Unfortunately, our imagination isn't always ected to reality. He fell for less than a fra of a sed. The impact made him expel all the air from his lungs, and the pain in his back made him spend a few seds trying to recover.

  Luckily, he had his armor activated, which protected his head from the fall.

  ‘It still hurts like hell!’ he pined in his mind.

  "Oliver?" An shouted upon seeing the cloud of rocks and ice. "Oliver?!"

  He wao respond but was still rec.

  "H-Here!" he said.

  "Whew. Looks like he's okay," An calmed down.

  Isabe and Katherine were still sprawled on the ground, rec from the jump.

  Oliver slowly stood up and looked upward. The hole was still hard to see, but gradually, the dust settled, and he could see An's face.

  The two boys waved happily that he wasn't dead.

  Isabe and Katherine walked to the opening and began to observe the damage done.

  "Does anyone have any rope?" Katherine asked.

  "Maybe in the supply bag?" Isabe replied.

  An opened his bag and found some teens, dried food, and water, but no rope.

  "Nothing in mine, maybe yours," he responded.

  Each of them had a kit slightly different from the others but no ropes.

  "We could try calling one of the captains," Isabe suggested. She looked at her gau and poio the ground, rep a trapped student.

  +1 Point - Cave discovered ?? Rescue request sent. Please wait in line. (5 requests ahead)"Maybe it'll take a while," she ented. "There are still five people ahead of us."

  Oliver tried to look around, trying to figure out where he was. He had fallen into a sed level of the cave, something like an antechamber with two paths ahead.

  "'t you fly with Oliver?" An asked Isabe.

  "No, my power isn't that stro," she expined. "I only apply it to myself and for a short period."

  "Guys, down here, there's another path; there must be some other exit around," Oliver shouted.

  "We could just jump down and join him; at least we keep sg points," An suggested.

  "But then the captain would have more people to rescue," Isabe ented.

  "I don't think we'll have time to decide that," Katherine pointed out.

  Raaakk!

  She could see the first cw of a Goblin breaking through the ice that blocked the corridor.

  "If we don't go down now, we o run and abandon him," she expined. "I've already made my decision."

  She took two steps back, sprinted, and jumped into the hole. In a few seds, she hit the ground and rolled to lessen the impact; even so, she could feel the pain spreading through her legs.

  Oliver, who was looking around the cave, only heard the sound of the impact eg off the walls.

  "Fu—" The girl bit her lips to avoid uttering a cuss. Her eyes filled with tears, but she wao keep her posure.

  An and Isabe watched everything from above, still surprised that she had jumped. However, as soon as she recovered on the ground, they could hear more shrieking from the Goblins. Where before there was only the arm of one creature, now there was the head of one and several others digging through the ice.

  The two stood up, making the same decision, and jumped. Like Katherihey soon discovered how bad that jump was. However, none of them inteo hold back their screams.

  "FUG HELL!" An and Isabe shouted upon hitting the ground.

  Oliver approached the others just in time to see the result of their falls; looking up, he saw that the first Goblins had already broken through the ice wall. However, none of them seemed willing to jump or desd into the hole.

  "Shit! Why are there Goblins here?!"

  "Who drew their attention?"

  "Run, there's another exit ahead!"

  He could hear the shouts of Damian's group as they returo the crossroads.

  ‘Now, this problem is yours. It's not settled yet, but at least you won't have this exam so easy,’ the boy thought.

  As soon as the group recovered, they could resume looking around and expl the cave.

  "I found two paths leading out of this chamber; it seems both haven't been explored yet," Oliver expined, pointing to the paths ahead.

  An and Isabe were still getting up when Katherine was already walking toward the fork.

  "But whie should we follow?" the girl asked.

  "Acc to the map, the right side would lead back to the exam area, while the left, depending on the distaakes us outside the allowed area," Oliver expined.

  He showed the gauo the girl, who agreed with the path. Soon, the four moved on.

  "We're getting points," An noted. "We really are the first ones here."

  The group walked a few more minutes until they found another chamber. This one was enormous, much rger than the Goblins' ir. But what mainly caught their attention was what was oher side of the chamber—there seemed to be excavation equipment scattered about.

  he equipment, various broken stones and rocks were scattered along with several holes in shallow excavations.

  "Did we walk far enough to enter one of the mines?" Isabe wondered.

  "Impossible. The mines are in the mountain area; we're still south of the city," Oliver expined.

  The four also noticed that the chamber was much hotter than any other pce, to the point that there was no more ice or snow on the ground, only bck rocks.

  They walked carefully to the other side of the chamber. The tools looked like manual excavation tools, but their sizes were strange.

  "Could they be for Mechas?" Oliver asked the others.

  "No way. Mechas need bigger tools than these, and mini-Mechas aren't used for excavation," An ented.

  While An, Oliver, and Isabe analyzed the materials scattered on the ground, Katheri moving foing to the end of the chamber and what was beyond the corridor to the left. She suddenly froze; her heart started to beat faster, and excessive adrenaline prevented her from reag.

  She deactivated the armor under her face, trying to breathe. Upon seeiate, the three started to worry.

  "Are you okay?" Oliver asked.

  "Shhhhh!" was all she could utter. Katherine's hands trembled, but her face best showed her emotion; she ale with fear, tears streaming tinuously from her eyes.

  Oliver didn't know what was happening. He walked over to her, pulling her back to the group. When she finally moved from her spot, it was his turn to look at what was beyond the chamber.

  There was a sed, even rger chamber; however, besides the usual bck stone floor, rivers of va cut through the hall, with a few built bridges for movement. But the most frightening thing was beyond the va rivers.

  There were twe tower-like structures made of stone aal with gigantic doors. However, the main problem stht at the entrance of the structures. Two tall creatures with tusks protruding from their mouths, each holding a hammer almost the size of their bodies. Gray uarded the pce.

  "Shit," Oliver whispered.

  He could uand why the girl had despaired. Seeing an Ork is like fag humanity's greatest fear, especially for those who saw and lived through the war. Actual killing maes were just over a hundred meters away.

  Oliver returo the group. He held Katherine's shoulders, giviime to breathe and calm down.

  Isabe and A after Oliver to see the se before them. They also returned pale, though not to Katherine's extent.

  "Are you okay?" Oliver asked Katherine.

  She nodded while wiping away her tears. "Yes, yes. Sorry."

  "It's all right," he tried to reassure her.

  "I've seen several of them in csses; even some have tried to infiltrate Mars. But never so close," she expined. "At least not sihe st wave."

  Oliver uood there must be more than just a on fear of Orks. However, it wasn't the time to think about that.

  "W-what are we going to do?" An asked, stammering.

  "We have no way back. There's no way to climb up; we try the other path. However, if Orks made these caves, there's a ce we'll find more of them," Oliver ented.

  "Made by Ork?" Isabe questioned.

  "I'm not sure, but it's quite possible. They were certainly digging something around here," he expined, pointing to the tools. "Perhaps the same thing MechaCorp is ied in."

  "Maybe we alert the captains and move up the priority list?" An suggested.

  "Maybe. It doesn't hurt to try," Oliver replied.

  An walked back to the entrance of the sed chamber, pointed his gau, aed 'report anomaly.'

  +30 Points - Ork found ?? Rescue request sent ?? [ERROR] No unication received [ERROR] ??"Fuck! We're without tact."

  GCLopes