Suddenly, the sound of footsteps stopped.

I looked at Oyado, and she looked back at me. Her expression was filled with confusion, as if she didn't know why the footsteps had stopped either.

Oyado waved her hand, signaling that she would go and investigate.

I shook my head and quietly summoned an ice shield, extending it in front of me.

Snap!

Almost at the same instant, an arrow pierced through the shield on my hand. Although the arrow got stuck in the shield afterwards, the fact that it could penetrate my ice shield meant that the archer on the other side was definitely an occupation of level 20 or above.

Suddenly, I thought of something and immediately summoned a thicker ice wall, blocking the passage. Then, I grabbed Oyado and swiftly retreated five meters backward.

As I had expected, a flash of a blade cut through the ice wall, splitting it in half. The person on the other side then kicked away the split ice and walked in.

"I say, Bai Yueguang, is it really a good idea to attack without even looking at the person?"

"Tsk, I knew it was you. I just wanted to test your abilities."

"Test my ass! My skills failed too, you know! Do you want to get me killed?"

"Is that so... But it seems like you have good abilities, being able to dodge that attack is quite impressive."

The person who walked in was indeed Bai Yueguang, with Hei Luoli following behind him.

He pretended to take out a device to ignite a fire and then used a fire magic spell to relight the lamp.

"Tsk, as soon as I saw that arrow coming, I guessed it had to be you. The only ones who use bows and arrows in this academy are you guys, right? Though this academy does have some use for them, but others use crossbows."

"I see. So you quickly assessed that I might launch an attack and dodged it directly. Well, let's put that aside for now. Is it just the two of you here?"

"Of course not... Come out, they are on our side."

After my words, it took a moment before Princess Cher and the others walked out from their cover.

"So it's Bai. With you here, we are much safer."

"Why?"

"Because, according to what you just said, the enemy can petrify magic from a distance, but cannot petrify physical attacks, right?"

"Oh! That's a good point!"

Suddenly, Princess Cher's words made a lot of sense!

"Even so, it's still difficult for me to land a hit on that guy. With a distance of about twenty meters, although my sword is fast, the opponent's agile body has evaded my attacks many times."

"Have you already fought against them before?"

"Yes, we initially planned to find the others first and then escape, but we encountered Medusa near the library. My first attack killed her because she tried to petrify my attack, but when she realized my attack couldn't be petrified, she switched to a complete evasion strategy."

Hearing Bai Yueguang's words, I couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

So that's the case. Medusa has resistance to tangible magic attacks and evasion against high-speed actions. This puts our mage abilities, Bai Yueguang's sword strikes, and Hei Luoli's arrows in a stage where they can be defended against, right?

Hmm, even though I don't want to admit it, it seems that the Medusa our opponent is using is a monster that completely counters our abilities... According to the available information, only one elementalist and a berserker have been able to defeat her in history.

Quickly approach and deliver a fatal blow to the opponent!

But the problem is... it seems that our berserker Aliyah is not here... Could it be that the opponent took advantage of this opportunity to attack us?

But what's the point of the opponent doing this? Turning us all into statues and then collecting us?

Indeed, Medusa usually doesn't destroy enemies turned into statues... No, if that's the case, maybe the opponent's goal is not just us, but...

All the students in the academy!

Although there are many ordinary students in our academy, there are also many noble students among them! If they were all captured, the entire Western continent would be in a hostage crisis!

Ah, I see. So the opponent attacked the academy for this reason! A dual effect!

And the abilities we have to fight against them in the academy are basically restrained. Bai Yueguang's sword skills, Taishi Xi's long halberd, none of them can withstand the attacks of many opponents and break through by force. It would be fine if it's just one, but if many Medusas attack together, we have no chance of winning.

Ms. Mary's magic gun... although it has an RPG form and a sniper rifle form, neither of them is a weapon for fighting against numerous enemies.

Dale's items... I hope he has something really powerful, otherwise we will definitely be done for!

But first, we need to find them. Only Ms. Mary and Dale are left, but we can't communicate right now.

In short, without guarantees, we'd better escape first.

"Well, let's leave here and consider our options. Princess Cher, you said there is a passage to the underground ruins but you don't know the entrance. In that case, do you know if there is any passage marked as extremely dangerous and not allowed to approach?"

"Eh? If you put it that way, there really is such a place!"

Princess Cher answered almost without thinking.

"When we obtained the right to use this passage, the person in charge of leading the way clearly stated that there is a path we are not allowed to take."

"Well, that's convenient. It's really nice to have something like that."

I nodded.

"But that dangerous path seems to be our exit. If we want to leave, we have to walk that path."

I looked at everyone.

"Does anyone object?"

"No."

"Of course not."

"I don't mind."

"Although I know you don't want to cause too much trouble, hiding here is more dangerous, after all, the monsters outside could come in at any time. Sitting and waiting is definitely not the right choice."

"I understand that."

One of Princess Cher's guards nodded.

"In the current situation, we can't rely on the outside, although it's also dangerous to some extent. But based on your previous performance, I think we can trust you."

"It's really great to get your approval."

I smiled.

"Then let's go, towards that passage..."