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He fled. It would have been nice to capture Horatio, especially considering their files didn’t have much information on him, but Dimas would probably need to use pan-moc in order to do so, and it was much too early into the siege to be going all out. If he didn’t conserve his strength, he and Iziol would end up too exhausted to fight when they were truly needed. ‘Were you able to analyze Horatio’s ability?’

‘No,’ said Iziol, apparently focused on their mission again. ‘There was too little to go on. I would need to see what else he can do with it.’

From his vantage point above, Dimas could see more Blackburns pouring out of Marshrock from different places. No doubt, Carlos and Lorenzo would be in need of his assistance very soon. He dove back down to go look for them.

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The ground above them trembled, and trails of twinkling dust shook loose from the freshly materialized ceiling.

‘Sounds like the battle has started,’ said Garovel privately.

Their underground party numbered eight strong. Him and the three Najirs, along with four Rainlords--two destruction users for the tunneling and two integration users for the construction of the net.

Hector had carefully slung his shield over his back, positioned low so that it couldn’t accidentally touch his bare neck and cause the pain that Sazandara had warned him about. It felt a little awkward there, but as long as he didn’t need to sit down, he figured he’d be fine.

All things considered, Hector wasn’t sure how much use he would be here. If they got attacked, the onus of protecting them would largely fall upon Lord Asad. But then, he supposed that was nothing new to him. It seemed like he was always relying on better fighters to do the real work. Hector just hoped he’d be able to find some small way of helping.

Asad also decided to handle the maintenance of the tunnel. Mushy didn’t even begin to describe the ground here, and Hector could see veins of muddy water through the transparent ceiling and walls--which Asad made from crystallized quartz, according to Garovel’s assessment.

They’d only just begun, but so far, progress seemed smooth. Flashlight in hand, Hector looked at his copy of the map, which said that their first checkpoint was located fifty meters from where they’d started. The net itself would form a rough circle beneath a section of the city, capturing not just Marshrock but also a few of the neighborhoods around it. One of the other tunneling parties would have to go through a river, Hector noticed. He didn’t envy that group.