Chapter 96 - Oxymedize

"Here." Petunia whispered to the guards following her and pointed at the tunnel where the Crones brought Von and Lei in. 

Right after Petunia's encounter with the Queen and after helping the Crones get out of the Queen's senses safely, she immediately followed after them and took note of the routes they took, avoiding the most secured parts of the Castle and using a forgotten underground tunnel that was almost connected to the basement where they were just hiding in that morning.

"Where are you going, Pet?" the Queen asked when Petunia tried to go away from her subtly.

"Uhh, I forgot something at the library." Petunia said and laughed awkwardly.

"Oh," the Queen nodded and let her go. "Go to my office immediately, okay? I can't believe I almost skipped work today, *yawns*" 

Upon hearing the Queen yawn, Petunia suddenly had an overused idea popped into her mind once again.

'I should make her sleep again so she wouldn't bother with our operation later.." Petunia thought but was conflicted about whether to follow after the Crones first or lose them while making Halma sleep again.

"Petunia!" Fily shouted from across the hallway.

"Fily! Thank goodness!"

"Is that Fily?" Halma asked with a smile after seeing her second most favorite person on this team.

"Yup." Petunia smiled and signaled Fily to slow down.

When Fily finally arrived before Petunia and the Queen, she immediately took a ninety-degree bow which Petunia took as an opportunity to pass the sleeping potion to her.

And when Fily's confused expression met Petunia, she only widened her eyes at Fily while looking at her and the Queen back and forth which Fily immediately understood what she was trying to say even without words.

"I shall go now." Petunia said and took off as fast as she could to catch on to those sly devil incarnates a.k.a. the new generation of Crones who made deals with the devil for more power.

When Petunia arrived at the dead-end where the Crones brought Lei and Von earlier, she could immediately tell that there was something wrong there, like the wall was not supposed to be there and there was this more powerful distortion in her senses that she could easily tell was the same work of these Crones.

[Petunia: Fily, is something supposed to be here?] Petunia asked Fily through the Stat-hut which she immediately answered.

[Fily: Yes, there's a useless elevator over there.]

[Petunia: Elevator? What's that?]

[Fily: Something like a moving room, wait I'm coming over there.]

[Petunia: Is she asleep?]

[Fily: Sooner or later. I added a clear powder to the syrup and mixed it with her usual bath wine which she will most definitely take later while taking a bath so she's surely going to go to bed again after her bath.]

[Petunia: Okay, good job. Where are you at?]

[Fily: Living room.]

[Petunia: Oh my god that's so far! We don't have much time left! They might have gone somewhere untraceable already!]

[Fily: Don't worry, I know this place like the back of my palm, including all the secret doors and passages that used to be very useful back in the day when this castle was still on the ground.]

[Petunia: Okay, I trust you. But please hurry, I'm getting worried about them now.]

[Venedette: Where are you guys at?]

[Petunia: Dead-end. Are you coming?]

[Venedette: No, I'm going straight to the village.]

[Petunia: Okay, that's a better call. We'll take them from all sides.]

"Petunia!" Fily shouted from a distance.

When Fily finally arrived in front of the supposedly 'dead-end', Petunia immediately gave her the same healing potion for quick recovery which let them explore the hidden elevator more.

"Wow, this is the first time I've heard of this thing. What do they use it for?" Petunia said while admiring herself from the mirrors on all four walls of the elevator.

"It helps you go up and down at a certain point," Fily explained briefly while thinking about all the time that she spent running around this castle with that weak body of hers.

*Ding!* The elevator rang while the doors automatically opened before them.

There they found old debris of a fallen building under the castle which if Fily could remember clearly was a small mall that was built back in the 19th century before this castle was restored above it.

"This is new," Fily said after seeing the very poorly dug tunnel in front of them.

But what fascinated Fily the most was the glass from the old mall building that was reflecting the lights perfectly from the entrance until where they were standing as if it was calculated perfectly to do so.

"Wait." Fily gestured Petunia to get away from the old glass shards that were reflecting a straight line of light across this dark tunnel.

"I think this light is their key," Fily whispered to Petunia which Petunia only understood when the door to the tunnel was closed from the Crone's side and they were left inside the small and damp tunnel alone, only with Petunia's glowing gummy cloud once again.

"So that's how they were able to pass through the protective bubble," Fily said after finally getting the genius behind these old monsters.

"What? What did they do?" Petunia asked desperately while consciously trying hard not to make any loud noises or bump into the fragile glass shards and break them.

"Angles. They made the passageway underground so the bubble would be less stronger down here."

"And the lights?"

"Lazer lights, like Halma's lazer eyes. When the sunlight refracts on many different layers of  oxymedized crystal, or oxymedize painted glass, they could create a disruption to the waves of the bubble without being noticed!" Fily said as if she was getting excited from all these theories.

But what worried her the most, was the fact that she knew all of this.

"How come I have never heard of that compound before?" Petunia asked and looked at Fily suspiciously.

"Because I have greater knowledge than you," Fily said confidently which convinced Petunia easily.