I dodged another arrow, while slowly moving backwards, looking around and searching for shelter against these rains of arrows. But there was none, the three of us was being overwhelmed by them.
"Let's resist, atleast until the attacker has run out of arrows!"
I exclaimed, dodging another one. Keeping [Probability Pryer] active has helped me, but it was draining my innate spirit. Far too quickly and exhausting me. If that was the bow-user's plan was to do exactly that, then we were in trouble.
Isabella redricted another arrow away from herself and glanced at me, breathless, her lips moving.
"We should focus on trying to get to the attacker before we run out of innate spirit!"
Zeke nodded his head, barely dodging another arrow this time aimed at him. Not bothering to look at us, but he replied.
"I agree with, Isabella. But right now, there is no way for morgz and me to get up on that platform. You'll have handle this isabella."
Isabella exchanged looks with Zeke and nodded her head, before turning to me.
"Alright, I'll do it. Good luck!"
Just as Isabella was about to create a windcurrent, to lift her up to the platform. A much safer way of getting up, instead of climbing and leaving us defenseless— an arrow was shot directly at her.
Once again, Isabella was able to redirect it easily with her mastery over the wind, but this one was different. I heard a faint ticking sound from behind me.
"What's that sound?"
I murmured to myself, glancing back. I saw several arrows plunged to the ground behind me, behind us. The sound was coming from this way. I Looked back at Isabella and Zeke, they both seemingly haven't noticed.
Isabella was focused on generating the wind current, even with her current mastery, it required alot of concentration, that meant she couldn't even be distracted for a second. Thus, Zeke, was standing beside her and helping her deal with the incoming arrows. Dropping them to the ground, whenever he wasn't able to block one and was stabbed.
The ticking noise grew louder and faster. For some reason, my heart started racing.
Even Zeke seemed to have noticed it too, his shoulders tensing, as he stared down at the arrows through his mask. Then, he turned towards Isabella and urging Isabella to quicken, desperation evident in his voice.
"Isabella! Now! The upward draft! Quickly!!"
Isabella seemed confused and annoyed, but she said nothing and quickly realized the gravity of the situation. Now, not bothering to create a perfect upward draft, just one enough to get them far away from the arrows.
With [Probability Pryer] still active, I finally saw what was about to happen in the next few seconds.
"All arrows will violently explode, 100%…"
My eyes widened. Then, I turned towards Isabella, reading the probability of her being able to create the upward draft in time.
"A Upward draft being successfully created in time, 0%…."
'Shit!'
My legs were moving before I already knew it. The ticking growing louder and much faster, signifying that the explosion is near. There is no way we can survive it, not with that many arrows. How did the bow-user do it? I didn't know, nor did I think about it. Right now, what mattered was saving myself.
I didn't even know where I was running. All sounds just blocked out of my ears, as time itself seemed to slow down. Looking back, I saw the tip of the arrows growing brighter, as if ignited by a flame, then expanding. It happend slowly for me, but in truth, all this happend in less than a second.
Instinctively, I had run towards Isabella and Zeke. Her face was full of despair, I didn't quite see Zeke's expression, but I could see that he was sweating and trembling. My hands easily wrapped around them, jumping them out of the way towards the cage where Mova was kept in.
**BANG!**
The ground shook violently, rocks falling from the 'sky' and flames burning inside the dungeon. I held on to Zeke and Isabella tightly, coughing slightly as I inhaled the smoke— the explosion didn't just leave behind a gaping hole inside the dungeon, but it left behind powerful flames, taking up the already limited oxygen.
I was hiding behind Mova's cage. I recalled him saying that I couldn't destroy it, no matter how powerful I became. So, I took my chances with his words and tested it out— turns out, he was right. There wasn't a single bit of damage done to the cage, even the flames didn't dare to come close to it.
Zeke was the first to recover. For the first time, I saw his face. The mask he always wore had been taken off due to the limited oxygen, he was coughing violently.
"Let's get up to the surface. Now."
I stared at him for a moment. It was just as I suspected. Zeke had decent facial features, with raven-black hair and grey eyes, but it was ruined by the ugly burn marks on his face. He was missing a nose, an eye and ear. Zeke looked terrifying and hideous.
But I didn't stare at him for long. Looking down at the unconscious body of Isabella in my arms, I nodded my head. She had pushed herself to the limit trying to create that updraft, knocking herself unconscious due to running out of innate spirit. It was my first time seeing such serious backlash from using up too much innate spirit, i took note of not pushing myself too much in the future.
"Let's go. Quickly."
I said, weakly. Getting up on legs, I supported Isabella in my arms. Making sure to crotch down, not inhaling the smoke, I started making my way to the wall, looking around warily for the bow-user, but there was no sign of them. I spared a glance towards Mova, who had been silent, then continued walking.
Both of us didn't speak. Too exhausted to do so. Carefully placing Isabella on my back, her arms around my neck tightly. I started climbing the rocky walls with great difficulty, Zeke climbed up beside me, offering help whenever I was struggling or threatened to fall to the pit of fire beneath.
'If only Isabella didn't knock herself out…'
I sighed to myself. She could of easily removed the smoke and put out the flames with a burst of wind, but we just had to be unlucky. It didn't matter, though. Right now, focusing on What-If's isn't gonna get me through this.
As I continued climbing, I felt Isabella's grip around me tighten. It almost choked me and made me panic, but she relaxed it. Resting her chin my shoulder, I heard her speak weakly.
"What….happend?"
I was focusing on climbing, taking a pause and responding to her question. I was a bit surprised she regained consciousness so quickly, but it was good thing.
"We will tell you later. Just relax."
Isabella seemed to have realized the situation and tried to weakly using the wind, removing the smoke from the area. But Zeke shook his head.
"Don't push yourself, Isabella. We are close to the surface of the tunnels."
Isabella widened her eyes seeing Zeke faceless, but tactfully didn't say anything. She just relaxed against me, holding on tightly so that she doesn't fall. I heaved a breath, feeling her press against me. It was already hard enough trying to climb, trying not to inhale smoke, but while carrying her?
I didn't complain. She did so much for me after I passed out after the fight with Dorian. This me repaying the favor.
After a few minutes of difficult climbing, we had finally made it out. It was Zeke who reached the top first, looking down at us with his terrifying face, he held out a hand to help me up. I nodded my head and reached out, grasping on to his hand, slowly bringing myself and Isabella up to the exit of the dungeon.
"Finally…."
I slumped on the ground, losing all strength in my legs. Isabella slowly untangled herself from me and relaxed down beside me, her chest rising and falling with each breath. We almost suffocated inside there, so finally taking in oxygen, filled me with a profound sense of relief.
I looked back up at Zeke, who had dusted off his mask and put it back on.
"Sorry for bringing you here. It was my fault we all almost died…."
I sighed, feeling a tinge of guilt. I had thought that maybe, Mova had taken a liking to me. But that was my arrogance talking. Because of it, all three of us almost died.
Isabella frowned and slapped my chest, albeit weakly.
"You're damn right it's your fault…"
Zeke chuckled.
"It's alright. You made up for it by saving our lives in the end."
I sat up on the ground and closed my eyes in frustration, running a hand through my hair.
"But still, we learned nothing useful from Movarathos. Then, we get attacked by some bow-user and almost die….this was such a waste of time."
Isabella shook her head, as she slowly sat back up as well, regaining some of her strength.
"No, it wasn't. We will have to face that bow-user sooner or later, anyway. It's a good thing we gathered information on how their arrows work. Like you said, let's first find Nico…."
Just as we both stood up, we heard a sound coming from the end of this tunnel. Footsteps, I immediately realized. All of us went silent, preparing for a confrontation. I had summoned [Fool's Rapier] and Zeke had got into a defensive stance, while Isabella was forced to hide behind me, as she didn't have any innate spirit to spare.
The sound of footsteps grew louder and louder. I heard faint snippets of sentences.
"—he has gone?—"
"—not sure—"
"—got lost?—"
"—let's be—"
The voices sounded familier. Too, familier in fact. From the footsteps, I realized it was three people. This could be bad. I immediately knew who they were….
From the corner, three people revealed themselves. One was a women with long blond hair, gem-like ruby eyes and flawless creamy skin. The other was a tall, slender man with raven-black hair, wearing a comedy mask. One side laughing, the other side screaming. The next one to appear was bit on the shorter side, wearing only a loincloth. He had unwashed blond hair with bangs, pale, youthful skin….
Nico, the fake Isabella and the fake Zeke.
"The duplicate's!"
I heard Isabella exclaim from behind me. Her voice echoed throughout the tunnels, causing the three of them to come to a stop.
Immediately, I had [Fool's Rapier] ready for a fight, Zeke into postion as well, as he regarded the fakes carefully. Turning my attention towards Nico, I spoke.
"Kill them, Nico! They are fakes! Get away from them!"
Right now, I wasn't sure I was in the right state to be fighting them. But if Nico joined us, then it would make things easy. It would almost be similar to bullying them, four on two.
Nico turned to me, his gaze distant. He regarded us in silence, then nodded and turned towards the fakes, a kick to the side of the fake Zeke without any hesitation. The fake managed to dodge, then stared at him shock and anger through the mask. The fake Isabella spoke up.
"He is lyi—"
Nico cut her off.
"He's not."
I smiled. That was quite easy. Much easier than I expected, but this worked in a favor. With Nico now on our side, we can easily kill these two fakes. The two fakes I met first when all of this began.
"Let's get them and assist Nico."
I said to Zeke and turned towards the fakes. They didn't even have time to react, as all four of us was suddenly pounced on them, their faces filling with a terrible sense of despair.
The sounds of fighting filled the air….