Elane’s first instinct was to turn around.

But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Where would they even go if they did? Back to the boss’ chamber?? That was even more idiotic than pushing forwards towards the source of those sounds.

She wasn’t stupid enough to suggest they go running back deeper into the nest and trap themselves there, but the urge still remained.

The sounds ahead were wrong in a way that made her skin crawl, after all there were far too many impacts, far too much violence packed all into one area that it confused them.

What could possibly require so many people to be fighting at once...?

A possibility came to both Rohan and Elane’s minds, but they refused to confront it right now.

Rohan felt the same as her.

He didn’t show it openly, but his grip on his spear tightened from worry to the point where his tendons on his forearm stood out like cords.

"A battle..." he muttered. "And not a small one."

Elane nodded grimly.

"There are too many distinct sounds, its unmistakable. And I think I can hear shouting... faint voices, at least."

That meant humans.

At least one side of whatever was causing all the commotion up ahead had to be human, or at the very least human-like enough to use weapons and shout while doing so.

But the chances of the latter were even lower. They were way too far away from any other Alien race’s territory in the Origin Realm for them to show up here.

It sure as hell changed things for them though. Whether it was good or not was yet to be seen.

Rohan exhaled slowly and forced his thoughts into order.

"Okay. Let’s think."

Elane looked at him.

Rohan kept his voice to a whisper, partly from caution and partly because it helped him focus and settle his own nerves.

Elane had already confirmed that she could hear faint voices or shouting, so the same could happen to them if they weren’t quiet enough.

"There’s only one route out of this crevice. We already know that. If we turn around, we’re just running back to where we came from, with the added risk that the E rank Elite might have returned by then!"

Elane’s lips pressed into a thin line.

"Which means we still have to go towards the fighting eventually, whether now or later."

"Exactly."

That answer left a bitter taste in their mouths.

The choice before them wasn’t between danger and safety, it was between choosing to face it now, or even later with a possibility of it being even greater.

Elane glanced back over her shoulder into the dim tunnels behind them.

The air back there felt emptier, hotter, and the glow in the veins had dimmed enough that the whole nest looked more lifeless than before.

It didn’t feel like a place they could hide in and wait out all the fighting.

Especially not with a huge glowing flower to give them away — like a bonfire in the night.

’Besides, we really don’t want to have to spend the whole 7 days inside this godforsaken nest just waiting the fighting out.’

While doing that would at least ensure the safety of the Lava Hellebore once they returned back to Earth — then came the goal of transporting it and finding a place to store it.

Not to mention that they would have wasted 7 days of their precious training time before taking the assessment for Primus university.

No. They definitely couldn’t take that route.

"...At least if there are humans up ahead, we might be able to talk."

Rohan gave a short, humorous laugh at Elane’s suggestion. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Or get stabbed the moment they see what we’re carrying—"

"—Besides, even forgetting the huge flower over my shoulder, they are in the heat of battle right now. They might just attack us anyway through sheer adrenaline, not realising we are also human until later."

Elane’s eyes flicked to the Lava Hellebore slung over Rohan’s shoulder.

’Yet again more issues for us caused by this thing.’

But she knew it was far too valuable to give up on.

Rohan suddenly grimaced, a thought coming to mind.

"What is it?" Elane asked.

"Do you think it could be Rudith’s group?" He questioned.

Elane almost wanted to dismiss that possibility on the spot, but she knew he might be on to something.

"If they survived the initial fight against the E rank and somehow made it back to safety — then they could have returned for a second try with a much stronger force to back them up!"

"...Fuck. You might be right." Elane agreed.

Rudith and the others had already made it quite clear to them when they first met them that they were the only ones who knew about the Beast nest in this location. Sure, there was a possibility that others might have discovered it in the week they’d been away.

Rohan was reminded of something he’d heard of in his youth.

’Occam’s Razor. The simplest answer is usually the right answer...’

If that was the case and Rudith had returned with a much larger force, then things were extremely bleak for them.

There was no doubt that they’d recognise he and Elane at a glance, considering they — specifically Rohan — was the reason their plan failed in the first place. Rohan was the one who alerted the E rank Elite to Sarah’s intrusion, so they were sure to hold a grudge over that.

Eventually, Rohan grit his teeth and came to a decision.

"Fuck it! We only have one option ahead of us anyway! The only exit is that way, so all we can do is continue pushing forward until we reach them. There’s no use making assumptions and theories before we even get a chance to look at what we’re facing."

He returned to his march through the tunnels once more, Elane following swiftly behind.

But they were noticeably quieter with their movements. Now that they knew there was something ahead, they had to be all the more cautious with concealing themselves.