It took a while to get rid of Jack's shackles as well, but now they could finally breathe and move freely again.
The most direct problem averted, Teo took in the surrounding room with greater focus, and even Jack hurriedly jerked his head left and right, evaluating their new situation.
It was a small room, or rather, a cell, barely 10 square meters in size. The floor was covered in moist stone tiles and was exceptionally dirty. The walls were monotonous and free of windows.
There was not much here, apart from scraps of straw, rat feces, and naked stone. Teo focused his attention on the other side of the chamber instead.
A thick wooden door, lined with metal reinforcements and a small barred window, was covering the only exit.
"Well, that's one step further," said Jack optimistically.
"It won't help much if we can't get out completely. We made a lot of noise, and somebody could check on us at any time!" Teo was not in the mood for small talk right now. They would have to get through that door — asap!
"Maybe the door is weaker than it looks?" Jack suggested jokingly, not believing it himself.
"It should be! It looks like a normal door, at least. I doubt it can compare to an alchemical alloy," responded Teo while collecting and compressing Mana in the palm of his right hand.
A sizzling, blue ball of energy rapidly grew in front of the boy and emitted an ominous glow.
"Step back, I'll take care of that!" he prompted, and Jack was all too happy to oblige.
*WOOOOMMMM*
A loud explosion rang out as wood and metal pieces splintered and flew against the opposite wall. If they had not been heard yet, they had been now.
They hurriedly dashed through the ruined passage into a small room connected to several similar cells, but before they could make it far, a door opened, and two guards stepped in, fully armored.
'Guards' was a blatant overstatement though since they more closely resembled mercenaries, but they were obviously here to guard the cells nonetheless.
They did not waste any time on words and directly charged at the duo; their rusty swords raised high. Teo was already prepared and intercepted them with a quick Mana Barrier, buying enough time to reposition themselves properly in the anteroom.
There was a fat man with an unshaven beard and a tall one with a glaring scar on his neck, running from his left ear all the way to his shoulder; both were dressed in light leather armor.
"Look wad' wa got here, Jimmy. Where'd those mágots crawl out?" said the tall one with a nasty smile, speaking in a creepy dialect.
"Karl, are you shure we should not shound the alarm?" said the thick one, heavily lisping.
"Don't ya be such á killjoy, Jimmy. We can sound'em alarm when wa done havin som fun, na?" said 'Karl', while slobbering his yellowed teeth with his tongue.
Alright, those two were a creepy couple, and the boys had no intention to get to know them up close and personal. They would, however, have to go through them to reach the door leading out of the room.
"You get the fat one, I'll take care of the creepy one," delegated Teo, already preparing to attack. He did not have the time to contemplate the moral consequences of a life and death battle yet, but if he would not attack first, they would.
"They are both creepy though... alright, alright, leave it to me!" joked Jack, but quickly became serious again under Teo's desperate gaze.
However, before they could prepare any Magic attacks, the fatty was already charging at them. Understandably, he did not respond well to being called fat and creepy at the same time by some precocious kids.
It was not a particularly skillful attack, he came at Teo with a simple upward swing from the right side, but his superior combat experience allowed him to secure the first move for himself — and thus, the advantage in the encounter.
Without any weapons or armor, Teo could not block the hit straight on. He would have been physically weaker than his assailant anyway, so he tried to take a step back, keeping his opponent at bay with a quick-cast Mana Bolt.
The room was not very long into this direction and after a large step, Teo almost had his back against the wall now. However, his improvised Mana Bolt hit the mark with only a slight deviation of its trajectory and struck the plump man on the right shoulder, throwing him off-balance and giving Teo more time to think.
Before he could come up with any contingency plans though, Jack had already conjured a flaming sword in his hands and charged to defend against their attackers. Using the aftermath of Teo's Mana Bolt to his advantage, he managed to land a good hit on the leather wrist guard of the man.
Unfortunately, Jack did not have access to a real sword and was only swinging around a compressed rod of Fire Elements, devoid of a physical core, so it passed right through the attacked arm and only left a few scorch marks. It would be difficult to strike down his opponent without being able to block his attacks or inflicting physical damage.
By now, Teo understood Jack's intention to follow the initial plan and began the preparations to engage their second enemy as soon as he tried to interfere in Jack's standoff.
Just as Teo finished preparing a thick sheet of Mana, which he could activate as a fast barrier when necessary, the tall man charged too, rapidly approaching the brawling couple in the middle of the room while snickering.
He swayed a bit to the left side and struck out with his sword, which would hit Jack in a matter of seconds as he was too occupied to dodge it.
Already expecting this situation, Teo activated the Mana Barrier, which he had positioned between Jack and the slick man, with a smile — yet it remained untouched. It was a feint!
The man spun around his own axis and used that velocity to continue his sprint towards Teo, who was staring at him in despair.
Jack had never been his target in the first place. He just wanted Teo to waste his best shot to try and protect his friend so that he would be left defenseless himself. What a cunning plot.
Now the slender man was fast approaching Teo, his sword thirsting for fresh blood.
The Mana Barrier had already been solidified and could not be moved in time, yet he would also need a few seconds to weave together a new spell. It was time to improvise.