The rock that separated Nezha group from the other side was a circle rock gate, it was ancient one-time use gate which could be opened by moving the bronze stake that was used as a latch to obstruct the rock off. With a push, the rock would be moved by gravity. This type of gate was assumed to be used in cave dwelling at Cappadocia in turkey to prevent against the invader.
Nezha opened a little gap by slightly moving the stake and saw a light from the other side.
"What's happen?" the female cousin asked Nezha who standing still.
"This is wrong."
"What's wrong?"
"Look at the map, this is a secret passage, this is our position. Behind this rock is the big room in this hill cave. To keep it a secret, our ancestor sealed this room from the crossroad of the cave. But there is a light coming from the gap I open."
The position of the exit was at the end of the room, it was at the opposition from the entrance with nothing to cover for them, it would be impossible to hide from the enemies sight if they tried to get out. Not counting the sound that would occur when the rock move.
"This mean…"
"There is an enemy."
"Nezha, if it was really an enemy, can we fight in this condition."
"… No…."
Nezha turned back and looked at the other people following him from behind.
Although these youngsters were received the good training in both magic and martial art compare to the outside, there were no real veteran fighters, only a group of greenhorn never fought with the real human enemies under life or death situation.
Despite that, there was a chance that the enemy they gonna faced were veteran soldiers.
Against newly recruited unit, if by any chance they could land a surprise attack when they were facing with the newly recruited that would even the odds a bit to Nezha's side. But in case that the enemy was in full gear and well organized, his chance was still too low even when faced with newly recruited soldiers.
That was the case they were completely fine. To make matter worse, they were not. All people in Nezha's group were either exhausted from the journey or poisoned from the toxic gas, no one was in the condition to fight.
Nezha's people were all capable of using magic to some point but using magic would create alarm as they were only less than five hundred meters from the wall and the empire headquarters.
Since magic was convenient many used it in everyday life, Nezha did not forbid them from using a little magic to provide oxygen and water when they walked pass the wall and already at behind enemy line.
Although it was allowed still only a little, because if they used too much at once they afraid that enemy detector would notice the eerie. However, Nezha used some light magic to provide a light every time it ran out and stopped using a torch as he was afraid of an explosion which was common in the tunnel without the modern ventilation system.
If it was Nezha alone he believed he could run away with something he brought with, but there was none with these burdens people.
"Those ancestors should make more effort when building this escape route, it was too short." Nezha criticized his ancestors for their effort that although good was a little bit less for the situation at Nezha's hand.
It was not those generations of Akkee sect patriarchs wrong as who could imagine that one day the whole continent which never united would be under the sole rule of a man. This distance should be enough and it was almost, if not by the pure coincidence one of the empire archwizards was too eager to killing a time by blasting rock for practice.
"We could not go forward and we could not go back, what are we gonna do?"
"It's not like I don't have a secret under my sleeve, but this weapon was not something easy to use either."
Nezha would not use a grenade in the cave, it was the last resort of last resort. Anything that could go wrong would go wrong, he must found another way to escape.
"Nezha, we should not have a problem with food and water for at least two days, shall we wait here?"
"No, we did not know whether this is the enemies camp or not. If it was the enemy camp, we would be in the worse situation when our foods run out. And we also need to treat those suffering from toxic gas."
"Should we heal them?"
"That was not good, our nutrients was insufficient and we are lacking rest. To heal them we may not be able to resupply our own forces, I will not allow that without no knowledge about the enemy first.
"I understand." The female cousin nodded showing her acknowledge of Nezha's words.
Nezha felt a bit guilty as he already used his healing magic for his mother because he could do it without chanting nobody knew that Nezha using magic. His mother was now fell asleep on Nezha's back, but in fact, she already fell unconscious.
"Nezha, some of our guys started to fall asleep. Should we rest for now?" Some boy asked Nezha.
"It seemed we need to rest first and continued observing for a day." The female cousin seemed to agree with the propose.
There were other things Nezha forget about gas like Methane gas.
Exposure to high levels of methane gas depleted the oxygen level in the body, would cause difficulty in breathing and suffocation, thus the person can become unconscious. Also due to the depletion of oxygen in the body, it gave rise to poor judgment and inattentive.