Chapter 67: Ripples and Sparks

Aiden sighed, as he already guessed, what was going to happen when he did not see the quest completion notification when he exited the illusion. Transforming his arms once again and focusing on the old hermit, he said.

"Lily, hope you have rested enough..."

Lily's voice sounded from behind. There was no hesitation, nor any fear in it.

"Of course brother! Let's do this together!"

As she said that, she already had an arrow placed in her bow. Stretching the bowstring, she closed her eyes, and silently muttered the chant to Naone to bless his next attack.

"Oh Naone, gentle and kind mother of all elves, please bless this arrow and guide it to the hearts of our enemies! Please let this unworthy one stand strong against our enemies! Roaloth tha inneth!"

Releasing the bowstring, she watched as the arrow turned into the familiar light green beam of light and closed in on the old hermit who until now hadn't moved an inch. He was just staring at the teenagers with her black creepy eyes devoid of any emotion.

Meanwhile, Aiden was focusing on his system and was checking the old man's aura hoping to get some estimation about his strength. He was also standing ready, in case he made a move, ready to intercept and block his path.

[Currently, the only thing I can say Aiden is that he also has a Nightmare residing inside him. This one, however, seems to be much stronger than the ones in the illusion. However, I can't provide any estimation unless he makes a move. Sorry, Aiden, he is blocking our attempts at scanning, so we can only analyze his power by his attacks.]

'It's okay. We will know how we stand shortly.' Aiden replied. He was a bit surprised when he heard the prayer Lily whispered before her attack and was even more surprised when she saw the arrow changing into a new energy projectile.

Unfortunately, as the light beam was about to hit the old man, it got suddenly blocked by the air as a previously invisible energy barrier sizzled up, eating up all of its power. Small ripples could be seen spreading all around the old man as the full power of the attack was swallowed up.

The old man didn't react to the attack at all, instead, he just kept staring at them with his creepy smile.

"This isn't gonna be that easy…" Aiden muttered to himself.

Before he could ask, as if reading his thoughts, Enya's voice already resounded inside his head.

[No need to ask Aiden, this attempt did not give us any valuable information. I already expected him to have some sort of defense up since it blocked our attempts at scanning. However, Lily's attack was fairly powerful, and the barrier had no trouble blocking it. Try bombarding it together, I need more data!]

Turning to Lily, Aiden smiled.

"Sis, let's attack together! We need to push through his shield if we want him to take us seriously!" he exclaimed.

Giving him a thumbs up, Lily cheerfully replied while she picked another arrow out from her quiver.

"Yes! Let's do it together! I refuse to believe that we can't get through! Together we are unstoppable!"

Aiden nodded his head in affirmation, then focused his attention on the task at hand. Remembering events from the past, he realized the best approach would be to use the [King's Grip] the thick black miasma that he gained as a mutation from the Worgen form he gained.

Activating the innate ability, he could feel his pores all around his skin open up and ooze out the disgusting black fog. Thankfully while it wasn't much, he still could maintain a basic level of control over the direction it spread.

Willing it to attack the barrier in front of him, he opened up his eyes and watched as the smoke slowly crept closer to the old man.

Lily seeing his brother already in action, aimed once again and muttering the same prayer as before, released the string.

As the light green energy beam crashed against the barrier, the black smoke also began its work causing light sparks to sizzle at the point of impact, while at the same time ripples began to spread from the point of impact where the small explosion the light beam's crashed into it.

This time the ripples didn't seem to cease that easily as before, while the black smoke continuously caused sparks to fly off.

"Continue shooting Lily! Try to aim where I'm attacking with this smoke! Don't give up, we are making progress!"

Aiden exclaimed looking at the results. Agreeing, Lily quickly grabbed another arrow, and soon another light green energy beam crashed into the barrier causing yet another wave of ripples to spread.

Meanwhile, the old man was still standing motionless inside the safety of his barrier. He kept his full black eyes on the duo while also smiling eerily. Since the beginning of the battle, it hasn't spoken a word, nor made any move.

'If my guess is correct, he will not do anything until we can actually make it past his incredible protection.' Aiden thought to himself.

Enya's mature voice soon resounded inside his mind.

[That is most likely a correct assumption Aiden. So far other than confirming that this barrier is very high-level magic, we couldn't gain any useful information. But, judging from the level of this spell, we could safely assume the battle will be incredibly difficult.]

'Yeah, I know...' Aiden replied. Sighing, he looked at Lily, who was continuously shooting.

"Lily, I only have 1 more quiver full of arrows, so try to conserve as much as you can. You have around 20 more shots, and we will need everything we have in the battle ahead. Let me finish this up myself, while you relax, and prepare yourself for the actual battle, okay?" Aiden suggested.

He didn't want Lily to join him up close on the battle, as while he still had multiple trump cards in his repertoire, he wasn't sure he could protect Lily against the unknown.

" But.. *Sigh* alright brother, I understand. Give me the last quiver and I'll prepare while you finish this up then." Lily reluctantly agreed. She wanted to help her brother, but she knew that she had to conserve her shots and her energy. She could already feel her stamina draining.

Plopping down to the ground, she watched the battle as her mind wandered back to the memories where she learned these magical chants.

'These chants I got from those memories are really taxing on me… Still, I wonder… Did those memories come from my mother, or from someone else? But the High Priestess kept calling me Sister Madeleine, just like my mother… Hmm, once we are out of this place, I will need to talk to Granny about these.'

All the while sparks kept flying as the black fog kept its relentless attack on the barrier. Aiden wasn't sure how much more until it finally breaks but judging from the constant ripples he was sure it shouldn't be that long.

---

Inside the cozy hut, Granny and Number 3 were sitting in front of the crackling fire and were sipping their usual, afternoon tea.

"Seriously, that second part is way too hard for them. They can't possibly win there, and you know that! What's your goal here?" Granny asked with a concerned expression.

Placing his cup down the table, Number 3 smiled at Granny.

"I know what you are thinking. I'm not that cruel. I don't expect them to win. As you have also seen, during all these trials and tests that we placed for them, they successfully have grown from small, frightened children, into fearsome and brave warriors. I'm sure you are proud of them just as much as I am.

You know just as much as me how cruel the world outside is. The threat of death or an even worse fate is always out there, you can never know when you go to sleep at night if it isn't your last.

The whole point of this last trial is to experience this feeling, the loss and the threat of death. Both of them solved it brilliantly, and the second part is to work together and falter against a foe that they have no hope to win against."

Sighing, Granny placed her cup down to the table and looked at Number 3.

"I get that, I was there when we created the trials. But, please be honest with me. This Nightmare… did you place it there? What is it?"

As Granny mentioned the black miasma that appeared during the last trial, the smile that was on Number 3's face, morphed into a troubled expression.

"I… I… *sigh* That's something I cannot talk to you about, I'm sorry. All I can say that it is a product of The Organization and that I have complete control over it, don't worry. I will not let the kids come to any harm."

Granny only gave her a look, as she picked up her cup and sipped from her tea. After a good minute, did she finally respond.

"You better be. You know who I am… or more precisely what I was and what I am capable of."

Number 3 picked up her cup and gulped before she sipped from it. She did not look at Granny but kept gazing at the crackling flames.

I know…' she muttered to herself.