The pulverized marble dust of the six Holy Golems had barely settled on the pristine floor when the air in the Deep Vault changed.
It wasn't a subtle shift, rather the ambient Holy Mana, which had been thick and suffocating, suddenly snapped taut, vibrating with the aggressive tension of a drawn bowstring.
"We're out of time," Elena whispered, her elven ears twitching as she dropped her combat stance. "The ambient pressure is spiking. The interrogation teams upstairs must have triggered a Cathedral-wide lockdown."
As if responding to her words, the golden, glowing runes that lined the cavernous subterranean walls violently flashed from a warm yellow to a blinding, angry crimson.
*VWOOOOM.*
A secondary set of heavy iron portcullises slammed down behind them, sealing off the corridor they had just used to enter. The escape route was cut.
