The Lieutenant's team materialized through the portal in full combat formation five soldiers moving with the coordinated precision that came from years of joint operations. Each bore specialized equipment: crystallized essence reserves strapped to their belts, portable barrier generators humming with protective energy, and weapons designed specifically for dimensional threats.

"Move out!" The Lieutenant's voice carried the kind of forced confidence that young officers used to mask their terror. "Northeast bearing, combat pace. We've got fourteen minutes forty seconds."

They ran.

The corpse-field was even more treacherous than it appeared from the portal's threshold. Bodies stacked in configurations that created false paths, the ground slick with decomposition fluids that had been fermenting for weeks. Cracks from the earlier dimensional disturbance had left fissures that dropped into darkness, forcing constant route adjustments.

The tracker pulsed in the Lieutenant's hand, its display fluctuating wildly as dimensional interference fought against the resonance crystals' signals. The readings would strengthen for a few seconds, pointing clearly northeast, then dissolve into static before resolving again.

"Signal's unstable," one soldier reported, her enhanced perception scanning for threats. "Could be genuine corruption, could be the realm destabilizing."

"Or could be survivors trying to stay hidden," another soldier countered. "Dampening their essence signatures to avoid predators would create exactly this kind of intermittent reading."

They'd covered half a kilometer when the first beast found them.

A Razorback Prowler burst from behind a corpse-pile, its chitinous armor gleaming with predatory hunger. The creature had been drawn by their movement, their essence signatures, the promise of prey that wasn't already dead.

The team's response was immediate and brutal. No extended combat, no testing defenses just overwhelming force designed to eliminate threats in seconds. Two soldiers created a crossfire of compressed air strikes that forced the Prowler into a kill zone, while a third's earth manipulation erupted spikes that impaled it from below.

The entire engagement lasted four seconds.

"Contact eliminated. Moving." The Lieutenant checked the tracker. "Eleven minutes twenty seconds remaining."

They pressed forward, and the signals were growing stronger. Not just one or two badges, but multiple distinct readings that suggested a group. Students who'd survived together, who'd found each other in this nightmare and held their position.

At the one-kilometer mark, they encountered more resistance. Three Prowlers this time, coordinating their assault with pack hunter intelligence. The soldiers formed a defensive perimeter, their barrier generators creating overlapping fields that absorbed the initial strikes while they eliminated targets with clinical efficiency.

But the engagement cost them precious seconds. "Nine minutes forty remaining," the Lieutenant reported as the last Prowler collapsed. "We need to accelerate."

The tracker's display suddenly stabilized, the interference dropping away completely. The readings were clear now, unmistakable six distinct signatures, all clustered in one location approximately eight hundred meters ahead.

"There!" A soldier pointed toward a collapsed section of terrain where the corpse-field gave way to jutting rock formations. "The signals are coming from that area."

They closed the distance at sprint pace, weapons ready, expecting ambush at any moment. The rock formations created a natural maze, and the tracker's signals were emanating from somewhere within.

"Hello?" The Lieutenant's voice echoed off stone. "This is Academy rescue! If anyone can hear me, respond!"

Silence, except for the distant sounds of the realm's continuing destabilization.

Then, from deeper in the formations: "Rescue?" The voice was female, weak with exhaustion but unmistakably human. "Are you… are you actually real?"

"We're real!" The Lieutenant felt relief surge through him. "How many are with you?"

"Six of us." The voice was growing stronger, closer. "We've been hiding here since the first day. Heard fighting in the distance but couldn't risk moving."

A figure emerged from between rock formations a girl who looked barely seventeen, her Academy uniform torn and stained, her face gaunt from days of survival on minimal resources. Behind her, five more students appeared, each showing similar signs of prolonged hardship.

The Lieutenant's team moved immediately into extraction mode. "Medical assessment, quick triage. We've got seven minutes to get back to the portal."

One soldier distributed emergency rations while another checked for serious injuries. Most of the students were suffering from dehydration and exhaustion, but ambulatory. No critical wounds, no obvious corruption.

"Can you run?" The Lieutenant asked the girl who'd spoken first.

"If it gets us home? I'll fly if I have to."

"Good answer. Formation rescued subjects in the center, soldiers on perimeter. We move fast, we don't stop for anything. Six minutes thirty seconds to portal collapse."

They retraced their route at maximum sustainable pace, the rescued students drawing on reserves they didn't know they had. Behind them, the dimensional disturbance was accelerating the realm was coming apart now that whatever apex predator had maintained it was presumably dead.

At the half-kilometer mark, a Storm Wyrm descended from the crimson sky, electricity crackling across its scales. The creature had been drawn by their concentrated essence signatures, twelve humans moving together through territory it considered hunting grounds.

"Contact aerial!" The Lieutenant's team shifted formation instantly, barrier generators angling upward to create overhead protection. "Keep moving! We'll handle it!"

Two soldiers engaged the Wyrm with coordinated strikes, their abilities creating a zone of hostile air currents that disrupted the creature's flight patterns. It wasn't enough to kill, but it bought time precious seconds while the rest of the group continued toward the portal.

"Three minutes!" The soldier carrying the tracker called out. "We're not going to make it at this pace!"

The Lieutenant made a tactical calculation that violated every evacuation protocol. "Soldiers split formation! Two stay with rescued subjects, three engage full combat to clear the path ahead!"

It was a desperate gamble, reducing their defensive capability to increase speed. But the mathematics were brutal: arriving thirty seconds late with everyone meant dying thirty seconds from home.

Three soldiers including the Lieutenant surged ahead, their Master-rank trained combat abilities creating a corridor of devastation through any beast foolish enough to block their path. Behind them, the remaining two soldiers shepherded the rescued students with everything they had.

The portal came into view that shimmering breach in reality where Leo and Hestian still stood guard despite their complete exhaustion. The two Masters had positioned themselves as living barriers, using the last dregs of their reserves to keep the threshold clear.

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