The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1359: The Price of Recklessness

It worked.

...Until it didn’t.

For a whole good moment, the pirates who had been quarreling about why nothing was happening actually rejoiced! They were already imagining the kind of endless riches they’d end up with now that they’d managed to pull it off.

It was as if they had completely forgotten just how pathetic and stressed they were only moments ago, even going as far as to link up together because they figured the cause was one pirate’s lack of spiritual energy.

"What kind of weakling—," they said.

And when nothing terrifying showed up... "Let me do it," they said.

And when something finally happened... "Shit! Finally!" they said.

And yet, even faster than that entire prelude to the fiasco were the mortified screams that immediately followed.

Because whatever ended up gracing their eyes was most definitely supposed to happen...

The main issue was, for something started by a bunch of uninformed idiots, how come the innocents needed to pay?!

For when the massive cracks that had everyone holding their breaths forcefully knitted back together, the space that had been occupied by all sorts of distressed people ended up completely empty—leaving behind nothing but a crackle of static in their wake.

__

However, things were a little different for another group, who initially feared they weren’t going to make it in time.

Because instead of the same deathly silence, what could be heard was the full force of someone who’d only been able to internally vocalize.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Clearly, there was a reason why the heavens had decided that one particular blonde should simply sleep through emergencies. For those accompanying him were now experiencing firsthand what could happen when the normally peace-loving creature was actually awake during one!

Then again, who would’ve expected their current emergency to suddenly come with another one?!

Had the blonde known, wouldn’t he have simply decided to take a nap and wake up once everything was over?!

But they hadn’t known!

Heck, how could they have possibly anticipated something like this when even that suspicious pirate, who’d been acting like some cryptic fortune teller this entire time, looked absolutely horrified when the ground beneath their feet practically split open?!

Uh-huh.

And that was how the group, who had forcefully departed ahead of the very people they were supposed to return to, suddenly found themselves falling to their deaths.

"..."

"..."

Well, at least that was how one Oliver Mylor would forever remember the experience.

Granted, it hadn’t actually been his eyeball that had nearly kissed a protruding edge, but his husband’s, who had done everything he could to protect him—but what was going to happen to Kyle would end up affecting him anyway, so it was still a life-and-death experience he wouldn’t forget!

Just as he wouldn’t forget how they managed to remain in midair, as his good brother kept them all afloat with his wings made of brilliant flames.

__

Two people on his left and another two on his right. That was how Luca was currently holding on to the rest of their group as he gritted his teeth and called out, "Hold on to each other, everyone!"

His brilliant wings of flame beat furiously against the air, struggling to arrest their free fall under the combined weight of five people. At the same time, spiritual tendrils surged from his body, wrapping tightly around Kyle, who was holding Ollie protectively in his arms, while another set secured itself around his husband’s waist.

As for Xavier, he had somehow managed to grab hold of the telepathic pirate by the leg!

The golden-eyed cadet felt a chill run through his entire body.

They’d been caught completely off guard, worrying about a whole different set of people only to end up in a situation of their own.

And if... if he’d reacted even a second later, not only would they have plunged straight into the dark abyss below, but Kyle might’ve been severely injured by one of the jagged edges protruding from the walls along the way!

Worse yet, Xavier, who’d managed to wrap a protective arm around him as they fell, would’ve undoubtedly tried to break their fall using his own body!

Luca trembled at the mere thought.

He knew his husband would probably argue that he could’ve activated his spiritual barrier to protect them, if only to reassure Luca that he hadn’t been thinking of putting himself in harm’s way. And knowing him, he’d probably insist that he wouldn’t have done anything reckless when they shared a life anyway.

But how could the returnee simply accept that when he’d clearly seen the distraught yet determined expression on the Prince’s face as he reached for him?

Then again, even setting that aside, there was another problem that would’ve rendered most excuses impossible.

For Luca was almost certain that, for one terrifying moment right after the ground had opened beneath them, none of them had been able to access their spiritual abilities at all!

A big fat nothing.

It was like that terrifying moment just before a sudden drop, when their stomachs seemed to lurch into their throats and their entire bodies went strangely weightless. Except the sensation was not only overwhelming enough that they could hardly breathe, but actually incapacitating enough that spiritual energy simply refused to flow like usual!

For a moment there, they were completely vulnerable.

Luca had genuinely thought they were done for, and if not for his good brother’s frantic screams snapping him out of his shock, he might not have recovered his senses in time!

Then again, now that he could finally draw a proper breath despite the crushing strain of keeping everyone afloat, he wasn’t entirely certain their current predicament was any better.

Because since when was getting swallowed whole by a rift a better alternative?!

Likely never.

So just as he managed to barely illuminate the space around him, the cadet who once had a stint as a theoretical Guide thought hard about how to explain things.

Though before he could even come up with the right words, the issue turned rather dire as his good brother yelped, "Hey, Mister! You’re not dead, are you?!"

"Huh?"

Luca’s head whipped toward the direction where his brother’s finger was pointing, and what do you know—instead of the ultra-mysterious pirate they’d been trying to get a read on since earlier, what they had hanging with them was an ultra-bloodied version!

"!!!"