Chapter 19
The party was able to enter the gate right before the lava filled the floor
All were panting very hard
"Cant be-lieve it, we actually- actually made it" said Merlin while breathing heavily
Suddenly a weird noice came, when they looked, they saw that the ostro's butt was on fire as he barely made it
"Peeeeeeeeeekeeeeeeeeek !!" Ostro screamed
"Merlin, could you do the honors " asked riley who was starting to get uncomfortable
"Sure" said Merlin as she extinguished the butt flame
"Are you sure, it was okay to leave lugh like that" asked merlin
"You are worried about the wrong person, merlin, he'll probably rest on the 7th floor for a while till that lava goes back to normal" said riley
"You are righ--"
"You are.wrong ! " said Lisa interrupting merlin
"Right before entering the gate I looked back and saw lugh lying on the ground not moving" said Lisa with tears in her eyes
"Not moving ? But he was just fine before" asked concerned sreya
"He has never been fine, when I saw lugh the first time in the academy after weeks, I noticed it , his mana wasn't as dense and vast as the first time I saw it, not to mention he was constantly getting weaker and weaker day by day" said Lisa in sad tone
[ she is telling the truth, I also noticed many changes in lugh] riley thought to himself
"He exerted himself beyond his limits to protect us, he--"
"Lisa !, it doesn't matter if he has mana or not, he is someone who can sit at the top even with the manaless body, this lava is so insignificant for lugh, it might not even be a threat" riley said cutting off Lisa
" we have come this far, so, why don't we trust him one more time " said sreya with a warm smile
Ostro came close to Lisa pecking on her shoulder with its beak and said
" peeeeeeeeeeeek"
"See, even that thing says lugh is fine" said Merlin translating ostro's speech
"Woah, you've gotten quite good At understanding the ostro, haven't you" said riley
everyone had a quick laugh
[ brother is playing it off, but, a while ago his hands were trembling, but, he doesn't show just how much he is worried] sreya thought
"Let's not waste anymore time and by the way, make sure to leave lugh's bag here, he'll need that stuff and food after he gets back" said riley
They did as told and started to descend to the 8th floor
After opening the gate They went in and what they saw was a huge hall
There were 8 giant soldier statues standing near wall of the floor and at the end of the floor there stood a giant throne, sitting on top of it was a giant statue with a crown
" what the heck"said riley
"What are we even supposed to do here" said Lisa
" true, the gate is not here anywhere," said sreya
"Do you think the gate is hidden somewhere,
Like behind one of those statues" said merlin
"For some reason,I'm getting a feeling that those statues can move" said Lisa while looking at a statue
" if these statues can walk, than that king statue must be the boss of this floor" said riley
Merlin couldn't take her eyes off of the statue
As she was looking at it, the eyes of the statue glowed Red
" what????"
In a blink of an eye all of them were in front of the statue
"What just happened " exclaimed riley
Although they all took a fighting stance, but, they all were scared and not prepared for what just happened
" I saw that statues eyes glow red" said Merlin
"So did I " said Lisa
"Its eyes glew red?" Asked sreya
" it was only for a moment, but, when it did we ended up here" said riley
""YOU MORTAL'S MUST ANSWER ALL MY QUESTIONS TO PROCEED TO THE NEXT LEVEL, YOU WILL GET THREE CHANCES TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, HOWEVER, IF YOU FAIL TO ANSWER MY QUESTION, YOU SHALL PERISH""
Said the talking kings statue
"That statue just talked?" Said terrified merlin
All were freaked out by the giant talking statue
"We can go to the next floor unharmed if we answer all your question, is that right"
asked riley while sheathing his sword
"" AFFIRMATIVE ""
"Dont worry, we got this, are you all ready" said riley
After getting their thoughts together they nodded in agreement
"We are ready to answer your questions" said riley
"" FIRST QUESTION
WHO HAS THE STRONGEST HEART ""
"What?? Who has the strongest heart, any ideas" asked riley
Merlin
"What does this question even suppose to mean? "
Lisa
"Strongest heart, what could it even mean"
Sreya
" by strong heart it could be referring to health, will power, or even bravery "
Lisa
"What if it doesn't mean any of that and is just a way of saying it "
Merlin
"What do you mean"
Lisa
" for example, heart could be referring to a centre of something or someone maybe even a magic source"
Sreya
"Magic source does make sense"
"" YOU HAVE TAKEN TOO LONG TO ANSWER""
suddenly two statues standing near the entrance to the floor started to move towards the throne where the party stood shocked
"I got this"
said Lisa as she stood between the party and the approaching statues
Vongeruzroa materialized in to Lisa's hand
As she pointed it towards the approaching statues she said " Nova Flare" which targeted the statues and caused an explosion which destroyed the statues
Merlin remained flabbergasted
"When did you learn that spell" asked riley
" I learned it when lugh used it in the 6th floor" said Lisa
[She saw it being used once and mastered it, what a genius] Merlin thought
" Wait " said Merlin as she started to look around the room
Merlin turns towards the king
"The answer to your question is-"
Everyone looked towards merlin with confused expression
" The Hero of Demise Raeos Skaradia"
"" CORRECT ""
"Merlin, but how?" Asked riley who could nt believe what just happened
Both sreya and lisa remained quiet eager to hear merlins answer
"Look at that " said Merlin pointing at a crest on the shoulder of the soldier
" the crest with a rising sun in the sky and rising moon in the ocean is the crest of a kingdom which existed about three centuries ago,
the kingdom that perished due to the catastrophic hero is known as the kingdom of Orchania, after putting two and two together the hero was the only answer " said Merlin
" woah really" said sreya
" Well, I knew you had interest in history, but, couldn't have expected it come in handy at this time" said Lisa
"Even I didn't " said Merlin
"THE SECOND QUESTION
FROM WHERE DID THE ENEMY OF ALL LEFT THE WORLD
"enemy of all?, does it mean the hero" asked Lisa
"Yes, it has to, the Orchania kingdom fell to the lonesome power of the hero, and many other kingdoms followed shortly after that" said Merlin
"Do you know where he died" asked sreya
"Yes I do, but, I'm not sure" said Merlin
"Dont worry merlin, I think we should give it a try" said riley supporting merlin
"OK, The answer to your question Is, The enemy of all left this world on a mountain " said Merlin
"" WRONG "" statue's eyes turned red and the broken statue regenerated and the two statues started moving
" what, these statues can regenerate" said Lisa before blasting them off
" what happened" said Merlin who was shocked
" Merlin, what's wrong , think about it" exclaimed riley
"No i did, he did die on the mountain" exclaimed merlin
" what's the name of the mountain, maybe we need the name" said riley
" think , think, what was the name of the mountain" Merlin said to herself in a tensed voice
Meanwhile Lisa was stopping the statues by destroying them, but they kept regenerating
"Damn it" Lisa screamed and continues
A large stone fell near the ostro scaring it, as it ran away another stone fell infront of it, it ran in another direction, but the same kept happening
Meanwhile Merlin kept brainstorming to remember the name and finally
" The answer to the question is --"
"Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek !!!"
Merlin was cut off by the scream of the ostro who was at its wits end
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"" CORRECT ""
All their faces turned pale in confusion they remained speechless
"" THE ENEMY OF ALL LEFT THIS WORLD ON THE PEAK OF MOUNTAIN SIEGLYMPHUS ""
" whaaaaaaaaaat theeeeeeeee heeeeeeeeck !!!!!!" All screamed in unison including the ostro "peeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!"
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" welll, that just happened " said riley
" that was amazing, ostro" sreya said while petting it
The ostro was blushing
[ did that ostro just blushed] All thought in unison except sreya
"" THE THIRD QUESTION
WHO IS THE ENEMY OF ALL ""
"What?" Exclaimed merlin
"Isn't it too obvious, after the previous questions " said riley
Merlin
" that's the thing, its too obvious hmm, let's go back a bit, the first question was, who had the strongest heart, the answer of which was the hero"
Lisa
"The second question was from where did the enemy of all left the world, we answered that question while taking the hero as the enemy, although our first attempt failed, but it just needed a more precise answer"
Merlin
" no matter how much i looked into it, the only information about the hero i could find were his crimes"
Riley
" so, it's safe to assume, the answer is the hero"
Merlin nodded and turned towards the statue
" the answer is the hero Raeos Skaradia " said Merlin
"" WRONG ""
The statue's eyes turned black and pupils turned red as it started shedding black tears
[ if not the hero then who] Merlin thought
"MERLIN ! WATCH OUT" Merlin looks infront to see the giant foot of the statue approaching to crush her
The giant statue stonps on Merlin and dust and stone debre flew everywhere
After the dust started to fade, merlin was revealed to have fallen to the ground and riley holding the giant foot of the statue
" damn you sure have one giant foot, unfortunately, I don't have a feet fettish " riley said before pushing back the statue back to its throne
"Huh, what!?" Allarmed riley looks to his right side to see a soldier ready in stance and hits riley with its spear and riley crashes in a far wall
"Brother! " Sreya screams after she noticed another soldier statue approaching the injured riley
As it thrusted it's spear at riley, it was stopped due to a shield formed by sreya
When sreya closees her fist, the statue completely crumbles to the ground
"Thanks sre" riley notices something
The kings statue had stood up , infront of it they all seemed like buggs waiting to be squashed
The statue lifted it's leg up and pulled it back,it then kicked forwardly in air
The Shockwave generated by this movement was so strong and immense that the whole party flew and even the statues crumbled
The whole party ended up hitting the walls
Lisa got hurt on the head very hard and fell unconscious
Merlin after hitting the wall was again hit by the the crumbled stone statues thrown away by the Shockwave
She suffered a lot of injuries
Riley was buried under the crumbled statues
Sreya stood up with shaky leg only to be surrounded by the regenerated stone statue's
She booked at Lisa who was unconscious on the ground
A stone statue was about to swing down his axe at Lisa
"LISA !" Screamed sreya creating a magic shield surrounding Lisa, although the shield broke with a single swing of the axe, it still ended up destroying the statue
Meanwhile Merlin gathered her mana and took out the statue's surrounding her, but, in doing, so, further exhausted herself
[ No, no there must be a way, there has to be] steya thought
Statue's started regenerating
[ there has to be !!]
Kings statue started to move towards them
[ think !!!!]
The statues regenerated
Then suddenly something clicked in sreya's mind
"MERLIN !!!!" sreya screamed towards Merlin
Merlin looks at sreya
"Quickly, tell me, what was the hero doing on that mountain !!! " asked sreya hurriedly
"Wha--t, he- he was in a battle" answered
merlin
"Battle?, against who, who else was present on that mountain "
sreya screamed as she gathered last of her mana to create a magic barrier over all the members
"According to t-he legends they say that the hero of calamity was fighting the Apostle on that mountain " said Merlin
"Apostle !??" Suddenly something flashed in sreya's mind
The statue broke the barriers, sreya and merlin were able to dodge their blows, but, Lisa was lying unconscious
The statue lifted it's axe aiming for Lisa
Sreya turns towards the kings statue who was right in front of her
"THE ENEMY OF ALL IS"
The statue swings down it's axe at Lisa
" Derga Myrdth !!! " screamed sreya
All the statues in the floor stood still
Riley, who was half burried , merlin injured and sreya completely out of mana looks at the king without blinking for even a second
A single drop of sweat falls from riley's face
THE KING'S STATUE STARTED TO SMILE
A SMILE SO DREADENING THAT THEY COULD HEAR THE BEATS OF THEIR HEARTS
"" CORRECT
YOU ALL HAVE EARNED A RIGHT TO PROCEED"
SAYING WHICH THE KING'S STATUE BREAKS DOWN RELEASING MANA WHICH HEALS AND REPLENISHES THE PARTY'S MANA
Sreya quickly got herself together and ran towards Lisa
" Lisa, Lisa, wake up" she shakes Lisa to wake her
Lisa started regaining consciousness
She got up in hurry and looks to see the statues had dissappeared
"What happened here" asks confused Lisa
"After we answered the last question correctly the king dissappeared " explained sreya
"You guys found out the answer " asked Lisa
"Sreya did" said riley with a smile of a proud brother
"What was it?" Asked Lisa
"That's the confusing part Lisa, the answer was something none of us expected, the answer was Derga Myrdth" said Merlin
"Derga ? As in the kind god the church worships," said Lisa
"I know you all have a lot of questions, but, please understand that I can't give you any answers " said sreya
[I can't share such a heavy truth with them, that'll only put them at risk, not to mention it will put lugh in a difficult spot, but, what lugh told me back then was true, just how much of it was true?] Thought sreya
"We all survived thanks to her, i don't think we should ask her when she doesn't wanna answer " said riley with a smile
"True, in the end we came out safe" said Lisa
"Another thing, where is our ostro friend, he has our luggage" said Merlin
Ostro then comes from behind the stone rubble with teary eyes
Merlin started to pet the teary ostro, which gets startled by a noise
The throne crumbled to pieces revealing the gate
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