WebNovels

Chapter 72 - CHAPTER 072 (1000 Power Stones Bonus Chapter)

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CHAPTER START---

Walking through the dark caverns beneath Tenroujima, Macao holds a purple flame in his hand, head on a swivel as the clicks and crunching around him grow louder. He flows more Magic Energy into the flame, desperately fighting the darkness of the pathway while constantly glancing at the ground, avoiding roots and loose rocks along the journey.

'I thought these caves were supposed to have those bugs…why the heck is it so dark!' Macao feels something touch the back of his neck and leaps forward, startled out of his steady control and pushing more Magic Energy into his flame.

The entire chamber is engulfed in purple radiance, revealing hand-sized beetles coating the walls, ceiling, and floor around him. Each is covered in a black and green carapace, and screeches as his light dazes them.

Macao screams, and the beetles rush him. "Get away!" In his panic, he spreads the flames across the floor, only to feel beetles fall from the ceiling onto his head and back, biting into his flesh and trying to crawl into his clothes.

"Ahh!" his scream echoes through the chambers as a purple Magic Circle forms below him. From it, purple flames engulf his entire body before spreading outward, incinerating everything in the chamber.

In a different chamber, along a far less troublesome route, Wakaba puffs on his pipe and enjoys the calming stroll through Tenroujima. This pathway is well lit with harmless glowing bugs, and he can't help but giggle as one lands on his nose, tickling him.

"Hehe," he gently brushes it aside, still keeping his guard up and expecting trouble. "Maybe I got a peaceful path."

He walks farther in and comes across an area where the walls have water pouring out of them, flowing across the floor and seeping into a hole on the other side of the path.

Wakaba narrows his eyes at this, and uses his Smoke Magic to create a hardened layer of smoke atop the floor. He then carefully walks over it before dispelling his Magic and kicking a large rock onto the flowing water.

The floor crumbles away, crashing into an underwater river, and he can't help but step to the edge and look into it. He sees massive eels, brimming with electricity. The water is too dark and deep for any more than their silhouettes to appear as electricity dances across and between them.

"How the hell am I supposed to survive that?" he wonders while continuing his journey. "Well, Master Makarov did say some paths would have underwater sections, ugh. I hope nobody has to deal with those eels. But I'm sure the old man has a system in place to prevent anyone from dying…probably."

Minutes later, Wakaba refills the tobacco in his pipe and wipes the sweat from his brow while entering a much larger chamber closer to the surface.

"Those bugs breed like crazy because of the heat here, but I need to get off this island before I melt," he says while looking around the chamber.

He sees the moss-covered floor and walls, along with a hole in the ceiling for light to pour through. Yet it was blocked by a Barrier that hosted the Fairy Tail emblem. There was also another pathway ahead, much larger, with a natural light at the end of it.

But that too was blocked with a similar Barrier, but this one had his name on it. Wakaba frowns while looking around, only to find a similar cave entrance above the one he had exited from. However, this one was pitch black, with a growing purple light inside.

'Purple, huh? It could only mean one idiot,' Wakaba takes stock of everything at his disposal, including the pond at the far side of the chamber. 'I can get into the water if he uses anything major. Tire him out that way. From the looks of it, he's probably had to fight, while I just had to walk here.'

His thoughts are interrupted as a screaming and flailing Macao falls out of the tunnel, landing face-first on the mossy stone floor. The Barrier makes a bell toll sound and adds Macao's name to the list, signalling that a victor must be decided before it opens.

"Macao!" Wakaba rushes over to his friend, thoughts of victory and strategy tossed aside at the sight of Macao's injuries. His clothes were torn, and his body covered with deep bite marks and small burns.

"I hate it here," Macao says as he rolls over, greedily taking in air to calm himself. "Stupid damn bugs!"

Wakaba inspects Macao's body, and breathes a sigh of relief as they're only small cuts and bruises along with the burns. "You'll be fine, but you should probably head to the base camp for some medicine. Those things could be poisonous."

"Yeah. I'll go when this part of the trial is over," Macao sits up and looks around, spotting the Barrier. "Damn."

"Yeah, sorry, old friend, looks like only one of us can get through."

"Well, at least let me catch my breath first," Macao says, taking out his flask while Wakaba helps him stand. "What the hell was on your path anyway?"

Wakaba shrugs as his friend sips the rum, already feeling it dull the pain. "Just some traps. Those underground waterways are filled with all kinds of Magic Beasts, don't fall into them."

"Well, I can see daylight through the Barrier, so I doubt we'll have to be in these caves again," Macao offers his friend a drink, but Wakaba refuses. "Suit yourself."

Macao walks to the other side of the room, emptying his flask along the way, then turns to face his best friend.

"Sure you don't want a few more minutes?"

"Nah. Master said as soon as we're out of these caves, he's starting the next part, so this is still a race."

"I'm just worried for my friend, that's all," Wakaba sets aside his camping gear, and Macao does the same. "How about you let the better man win? That way, you can go get healed up faster. Master would probably let you call back to the guild, too. I bet Enno would be happy to console you and nurse you back to help."

Macao smiles as they take dueling positions. "I bet she'd be even happier to celebrate my promotion with me."

"Well, she is a dreamer, guess you both have that in common," Wakaba forms fists of hardened smoke at his sides and takes a combat stance.

"Dreams become a reality today!" Macao holds a purple fireball in each hand and prepares to charge his friend.

But before either man can make a move, the Barrier rings once more, and the name 'Oberon Alkwan' appears on it.

"Shit," they mutter simultaneously.

Macao drops his combat spell, as does Wakaba, and they both walk to the middle of the chamber.

"I thought Barriers don't work on him. What's going on?" Macao asks.

"How the heck should I know. You've spent more time with him, you tell me."

"Not that much more," Macao looks around the chamber. "Where the hell is he even coming from?"

Moments later, the pond across from them erupts, splashing water all across the room and soaking both men.

They leap to the opposite side and take fighting stances, but are shocked when a 50ft -15m- long electric eel lands in the middle of the room. Crackling blue lightning dances across its body, and Macao instantly evaporates the water around them, preventing it from flowing through the water and electrocuting them.

The eel flops about for a moment, suffocating in the air, and they can't help but notice that some of the teeth in the many rows of its mouth are broken and bleeding. The blue electricity dancing across its pale yellow skin subsides seconds later, and another splash pulls their attention to the pond.

Oberon rockets out of it, holding a sphere of golden light in his right hand, completely dry, and lands near the creature.

"See, I told you not to bite me," he says to it while using Gravity Magic to hold it still, inspecting the mouth while it snaps at him. "Looks like three of your teeth broke. I'll have to take them out so you don't get an infection."

Macao and Wakaba share concerned glances as he's oblivious to them on the other side of the eel. He pins down its head, keeping its mouth open, and uses Gravity Magic alongside a Light Construct pair of pliers to quickly remove three teeth from the creature.

It relaxes for a moment as the pain subsides, and before it can remember the fact that it's suffocating, Oberon waves his hand and uses Gravity Magic to toss it back into the pond, laughing as it splashes water everywhere.

"Master Makarov wasn't kidding when he said there are awesome Magic Creatures on the island," he mutters to himself while inspecting the teeth. "I wonder what kind of souvenirs the ones at night will have. But…I'll just settle for pictures. I don't want to bother them too much."

Oberon takes out a Storage Card and places the teeth within it, only now looking around at the chamber and seeing the Barrier.

"Huh?" he reads the name and looks confused while turning around, not seeing anyone else in the chamber with him. "The Barrier must be wrong then, because…I'm not detectable to Invasive Magics any—"

He feels something crash into his healthy right side, and turns to see Wakaba and Macao deactivate their invisibility to strike him.

Their fists crumble against his Cosmic Barrier, breaking their fingers as he gives them an obnoxiously cheerful smile.

"Hey, guys!" he says as they leap away, clutching their injured hands. "This island is pretty awesome! What did your routes have?!"

CHAPTER END---

Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]

pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]

You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]

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