"No! Please no!" She begged as her body started to tremble but the two figures kept moving forward.
"You lost like that despite using your void skill. You were supposed to show to that prince brat that our Nightingale family is the strongest family out there. And yet you lost." A harsh deep sounding male noise echoed around the soundproof room.
No matter what happened inside the room, no noise would travel outside. This meant that what happened inside would stay inside.
"But he was trained by the demon queen herself!" She protested but the two figures now stood a few feet away from her.
Cowered in the corner, she couldn't help but feel like a prey who had been cornered by the hunter. But here, the hunters were none other than her parents.
"And we trained you ourselves." Her mother said in a silencing tone.
And with that, the pain descended on her body.
"Haah… Haah…" Zoe suddenly woke up. She looked at the ceiling of the earth fortress before taking some deep breaths.
It had been indeed a very terrible moment for her when she had lost to Aiden in the second year advancement test. The pain from having her darkness void broken had been painful enough but after returning home, another hell had awaited her.
If not for the fact that Zoe had to fight again the next day, she was sure that she wouldn't have been able to move for at least two weeks.
But because of her match, she had been spared with beatings on her spine, shoulders, and knees.
'That was a good nightmare.' Zoe then thought with a sigh before standing up from the bed. She stretched her body for a few seconds before moving out of the fortress.
The sun was already up in the sky and judging from its position, noon would approach in two to three hours.
After going out, Zoe saw Alex calmly sitting down on a bench while enjoying the sunlight. Neither Will nor Aiden were anywhere to be seen.
So Zoe just decided to go and sit beside Alex.
"Good morning Alex."
"Good morning."
The two greeted each other and silently enjoyed the sunlight falling down on their bodies. The demons of the demon realm knew how important sunlight was so they were enjoying sitting in it.
"So you woke up huh," Aiden muttered as he suddenly appeared near the duo.
But neither of them was surprised by this. They had already gotten used to Aiden popping up at unexpected times.
"So what did you bring for food?" Alex casually asked as Aiden grinned and showed them the stuff he had brought.
It included four bananas, two dozens of strange red-colored berries, and four rounded fruits that looked like a mixture of apple and orange.
If not for his inspection skill, Aiden would have only brought the bananas. After all, he wasn't a botanist. Who wanted to be a botanist anyways?
"Let's just eat this and leave a few things for Will," Alex said with a sigh as the trio quickly ate their food.
Will loved to sleep till the later part of the day but since the group had to leave for the capital that day, he woke up after an hour or so.
After eating, the group went towards the place where the five men were lying unconscious. The biggest question now was how they could take the men back to the capital.
One way to do this was to make Aiden use his shadows to travel to the capital alongside the five men.
Will could then somehow manage to take Alex and Zoe back with the use of his lightning element. But this plan had many flaws.
So instead, the group decided to divide the number of men between two groups. Will and Alex would take the life mage, the fire mage, and also one of the wind mage while the remaining two will be taken by Zoe and Aiden.
In this way, Alex could take one of the mages alongside him through the use of his earth element while Will could take the other two. So after careful planning, the group set out.
Alex and Will were the first to go and a few minutes after their departure, Zoe and Aiden also set out.
'I wonder whether this skill would work as a mass teleportation one.' Aiden then thought with a curious expression. His shadow walk skill could teleport multiple people alongside him.
But since Aiden had only gained the Way Of The Shadows V2 skill last night, it was his first time using it.
< Host, just concentrate on the shadows of the people you want to teleport alongside yourself. >
Aiden then focused on Zoe's shadows as well as the two men's shadows. He then used his skill and thought about moving in the north direction.
And all four of them were instantly teleported in the north direction. Satisfied with the working of the skill, Aiden soon started to move at a faster pace.
He wanted to catch up with Will and Alex as soon as possible and with the speed, he was moving at, it might happen very soon.
But neither he nor Zoe realized that they had already passed Alex. This was because the latter was actually moving below the land and no one could pinpoint his location in this way.
However, the two of them soon saw Will but it looked a though Aiden couldn't catch up to him. After all, the lightning element made the gap between the two of them widen.
But a few minutes later, both Aiden and Will stopped in their tracks. Zoe also realized what was happening as she turned her gaze around the surrounding trees.
Standing on one of the tallest ones, a masked man in black clothes was looking at the group. He was wearing pure black clothes like the shadow element users in the capital.
But unlike them, his mask was completely different.
It was bright red in color and had a black symbol on the forehead. But the trio couldn't make out what the symbol looked like.
The masked man didn't say anything and raised both of his hands forward. The trio knew that he wasn't calling them for a hug but was instead about to unleash an attack.
"Zoe, how long does your paralysis curse last for?"
"An hour or two at the maximum." She instantly replied and understood the meaning behind Aiden's words.
After quickly chanting the spell on the two men, Aiden teleported himself and Zoe near Will.
But before she could use the spell on the people Will was carrying, the man launched his attack.
"Explosion!" Even though the man didn't take the name of the skill, the attack was enough for the trio to know about.
Flames exploded from both of the man's hands and as soon as they came in contact with an object, they exploded.
Uncontrolled bright orange flames rose in the sky while spreading across a small area. Will, Aiden, and Zoe had already teleported away but in the process, Will had dropped behind the two mages he was carrying.
"This is not going to be easy." He then muttered under his breath and Aiden and Zoe could only agree with him.
The man battling them was an explosion mage.
"No! Please no!" She begged as her body started to tremble but the two figures kept moving forward.
"You lost like that despite using your void skill. You were supposed to show to that prince brat that our Nightingale family is the strongest family out there. And yet you lost." A harsh deep sounding male noise echoed around the soundproof room.
No matter what happened inside the room, no noise would travel outside. This meant that what happened inside would stay inside.
"But he was trained by the demon queen herself!" She protested but the two figures now stood a few feet away from her.
Cowered in the corner, she couldn't help but feel like a prey who had been cornered by the hunter. But here, the hunters were none other than her parents.
"And we trained you ourselves." Her mother said in a silencing tone.
And with that, the pain descended on her body.
"Haah… Haah…" Zoe suddenly woke up. She looked at the ceiling of the earth fortress before taking some deep breaths.
It had been indeed a very terrible moment for her when she had lost to Aiden in the second year advancement test. The pain from having her darkness void broken had been painful enough but after returning home, another hell had awaited her.
If not for the fact that Zoe had to fight again the next day, she was sure that she wouldn't have been able to move for at least two weeks.
But because of her match, she had been spared with beatings on her spine, shoulders, and knees.
'That was a good nightmare.' Zoe then thought with a sigh before standing up from the bed. She stretched her body for a few seconds before moving out of the fortress.
The sun was already up in the sky and judging from its position, noon would approach in two to three hours.
After going out, Zoe saw Alex calmly sitting down on a bench while enjoying the sunlight. Neither Will nor Aiden were anywhere to be seen.
So Zoe just decided to go and sit beside Alex.
"Good morning Alex."
"Good morning."
The two greeted each other and silently enjoyed the sunlight falling down on their bodies. The demons of the demon realm knew how important sunlight was so they were enjoying sitting in it.
"So you woke up huh," Aiden muttered as he suddenly appeared near the duo.
But neither of them was surprised by this. They had already gotten used to Aiden popping up at unexpected times.
"So what did you bring for food?" Alex casually asked as Aiden grinned and showed them the stuff he had brought.
It included four bananas, two dozens of strange red-colored berries, and four rounded fruits that looked like a mixture of apple and orange.
If not for his inspection skill, Aiden would have only brought the bananas. After all, he wasn't a botanist. Who wanted to be a botanist anyways?
"Let's just eat this and leave a few things for Will," Alex said with a sigh as the trio quickly ate their food.
Will loved to sleep till the later part of the day but since the group had to leave for the capital that day, he woke up after an hour or so.
After eating, the group went towards the place where the five men were lying unconscious. The biggest question now was how they could take the men back to the capital.
One way to do this was to make Aiden use his shadows to travel to the capital alongside the five men.
Will could then somehow manage to take Alex and Zoe back with the use of his lightning element. But this plan had many flaws.
So instead, the group decided to divide the number of men between two groups. Will and Alex would take the life mage, the fire mage, and also one of the wind mage while the remaining two will be taken by Zoe and Aiden.
In this way, Alex could take one of the mages alongside him through the use of his earth element while Will could take the other two. So after careful planning, the group set out.
Alex and Will were the first to go and a few minutes after their departure, Zoe and Aiden also set out.
'I wonder whether this skill would work as a mass teleportation one.' Aiden then thought with a curious expression. His shadow walk skill could teleport multiple people alongside him.
But since Aiden had only gained the Way Of The Shadows V2 skill last night, it was his first time using it.
< Host, just concentrate on the shadows of the people you want to teleport alongside yourself. >
Aiden then focused on Zoe's shadows as well as the two men's shadows. He then used his skill and thought about moving in the north direction.
And all four of them were instantly teleported in the north direction. Satisfied with the working of the skill, Aiden soon started to move at a faster pace.
He wanted to catch up with Will and Alex as soon as possible and with the speed, he was moving at, it might happen very soon.
But neither he nor Zoe realized that they had already passed Alex. This was because the latter was actually moving below the land and no one could pinpoint his location in this way.
However, the two of them soon saw Will but it looked a though Aiden couldn't catch up to him. After all, the lightning element made the gap between the two of them widen.
But a few minutes later, both Aiden and Will stopped in their tracks. Zoe also realized what was happening as she turned her gaze around the surrounding trees.
Standing on one of the tallest ones, a masked man in black clothes was looking at the group. He was wearing pure black clothes like the shadow element users in the capital.
But unlike them, his mask was completely different.
It was bright red in color and had a black symbol on the forehead. But the trio couldn't make out what the symbol looked like.
The masked man didn't say anything and raised both of his hands forward. The trio knew that he wasn't calling them for a hug but was instead about to unleash an attack.
"Zoe, how long does your paralysis curse last for?"
"An hour or two at the maximum." She instantly replied and understood the meaning behind Aiden's words.
After quickly chanting the spell on the two men, Aiden teleported himself and Zoe near Will.
But before she could use the spell on the people Will was carrying, the man launched his attack.
"Explosion!" Even though the man didn't take the name of the skill, the attack was enough for the trio to know about.
Flames exploded from both of the man's hands and as soon as they came in contact with an object, they exploded.
Uncontrolled bright orange flames rose in the sky while spreading across a small area. Will, Aiden, and Zoe had already teleported away but in the process, Will had dropped behind the two mages he was carrying.
"This is not going to be easy." He then muttered under his breath and Aiden and Zoe could only agree with him.
The man battling them was an explosion mage.
