Chapter 97 - Certain Glass Shard

"Finally!" Petunia said after arriving in front of the wooden door where the long and narrow tunnel led them into.

"Wait…" Fily said while catching her breath.

When Petunia noticed Fily having a hard time breathing after that lengthy walk, or jog, or walk-run, she immediately pulled out a healing potion and gave it to Fily out of concern, "Here."

"Thank you," Fily said and drank the potionlike water. Somehow, Fily had been drinking more healing potion than water lately and she had been getting used to it, which was bad, but since healing potions taste better and have more benefits than water anyway, Fily just saw no use in complaining about it at all.

"Let's go?" Petunia asked after seeing Fily's energy going back to her.

"Wait," Fily said again and gestured to Petunia to light up the candles on the hanging candle holders beside the arched wooden door in front of them. "I think that's their base right there." 

"Their base? That easily?" Petunia asked while lighting up the lights automatically with her magic lighter wand..

"Yes. Crones aren't the type who make very complicated puzzles since they know more than anyone that they would be the first victims of their traps and puzzles." Fily explained while looking back at the light system that the Crones used to get through the protective bubble.

"But… aren't they supposed to be cunning?" Petunia asked again after finishing her job.

"They are good with their old school tricks which they mostly use on naive children but they're still not that good with advanced technology."

"But then, if what you're saying is correct, then how could they even come up with this madness?" Petunia said while gesturing at the pattern in front of them that the refracted lazer lights did open and disrupt the bubble border perfectly.

"Exactly," Fily said while trying to get wind of where she had seen this pattern and type of tactic before.

"Did they get some help from someone as intelligent as you?" Petunia said which made Fily's heart beat faster than ever, not because of fear but because of the excitement of being challenged by this certain someone, once again.

"Maybe," Fily said with a smile that freaked Petunia a little bit.

"Uhmm… so, are we going to destroy it?" Petunia asked nervously while glancing at the door behind them where she could hear several voices inside. Seems like Fily was right, those voices seemed like the Crones with some other old guys which convinced Petunia even more that this might already be their base behind this door.

"Let's destroy it," Fily said and grabbed a stone from the floor.

"Whoa, wait… are you actually just going to destroy it?" Petunia said while glancing at the medium stone in Fily's hands.

"Yes," Fily said with a smile before smashing the nearest oxymedized glass beside her.

"Hey…" Petunia said and went in front of Fily for support when she almost fell down.

"Was that an earthquake?" Petunia asked which made Fily even more excited.

"It is, and I think I know what's happening here." Fily said but was immediately cut by Petunia when she heard the people on the opposite side of the door whispering to each other about the earthquake.

"They felt that too!" Petunia whispered to Fily aggressively before removing the fire from the candles and looking for a place to hide in this ruined underground building. "Quickly, hide!!"

As soon as the fire disappeared from the candles, the pattern quickly disappeared which made the light earthquake stop.

At the same time, some Crones from the base opened the door and looked for disruption in their system but thankfully for Petunia and Fily, the Gummy cloud hid them inside its opaque form and amidst the darkness of the tunnel!

"Nothing here!" a crone said after looking inside the dark tunnel where she couldn't really see nor sense anything thanks to her weak senses and her laziness to check even more.

"Phew!" Petunia exclaimed when the Crone closed the door to their base immediately, bringing her Cloud back to its glowing form for light and Petunia scouting the perimeter beyond the door for more cautions with her super senses.

[Venedette: What was that?]

[Fily: Sorry, my fault.]

[Venedette: What happened? Are you okay? Where are you?]

[Petunia: I accidentally shattered a certain glass shard and we're in front of the enemy's door.]

[Venedette: And where is that? I haven't seen any of them here yet.] 

"Where is she again?" Petunia asked while fixing the shattered glass with her gummy control.

"Village." Fily simply said while thinking about the logic behind this pattern.

[Fily: We're under Yuphoria. You know the old building here buried beside the castle? I think they built their base over here.]

[Venedette: That can't be. Yuphoria and Gamora's village is so far away from each other…]

[Fily: Which leads me to my next speculation, I think these Crones have a network of underground tunnels in this island.]

[Venedette: Which could explain how they were able to avoid being caught by our guards or the public…]

[Fily: Yes.]

[Venedette: Any way we could know every single tunnel they built?]

[Fily: Actually… I think I can find a way to do that.]

[Venedette: Okay, very good.]

"Done!" Petunia said and lit the candles again that made the light disruption active again. "What were you guys talking about?"

"The Crone's tunnel system," Fily said while Petunia already backread to their messages.

"Oh, so what do I do now?"

"Observe their movements and warn me if someone's coming."

"Okay, Roger that." Petunia said and moved her ears closer to the door for more efficiency.

"Now for this pattern," Fily said and smirked.

Somehow, she could already guess who helped those crooked Crones and how they were able to make such plans without even having the brains to do so.

"Are we going to destroy this tunnel?" Petunia asked out of the blue.

"Yes, why?"

"I don't think there's another way out of this place except for this tunnel." Petunia said after removing her ears from the door.