Chapter 68: Into The Cave Once More
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With Lowen's newfound speed, his body would barely touch the ground before once more flashing by like a blur. Moving through the forest, Lowen was like a ghost in the night. The sight of which, most would assume was a simple figment of the imagination. As Lowen continued forward, he wondered how much strength he could have attained had he become a 2nd circle earth mage but thinking things over, he knew it wasn't possible at the moment. There were two main reasons for this. The first reason was, that when he first became a mage, the effects had left him unconscious for hours afterward and Lowen had no time to waste, right now, every minute counted. The other reason was the most important, Lowen had no clue how to become a 2nd circle mage. He hadn't been taught. He only became a 1st circle mage basically through luck as well as picking up on the subtle clues Roland had let slip. All he had to do was connect his soul with his mage core. If he didn't already know how to control his soul, then he simply wouldn't have been able to become a mage or he would have had to take Roland's apprentice deal. After becoming a 1st circle mage, he still knew too little about magic. To become a mage he now understood perfectly, forming his 2nd circle and advancing to the next stage though, Lowen was completely ignorant. If he survived this predicament then afterward he would ask Roland about it. If Roland would teach him, however, that was a different matter entirely.
After only a few minutes, Lowen had arrived at the edge of a campfire, walking over, it was only now that Roland had noticed his presence. Standing up, Roland immediately turned with his cane at the ready. As magic filled his cane with power, Roland shouted in fright.
"Who is it? Who has come? One more step and I'll burn you to ash."
Lowen chuckled lightly before he stepped out of the shadows. Just as Roland was about to ignite the small figure in front of him, he recognized that it was Lowen and abruptly took a step back whilst lowering his cane. Looking at Lowen, Roland's face was covered in both confusion and shock. Looking this small boy over, he could no longer feel any energy whatsoever coming from him. The mysterious power that Lowen once had, had now vanished into thin air, not only that, his earth energy was no longer present as well. A mage core, which nearly everyone in the world has, Roland could no longer feel its presence coming from Lowen. Staring at Lowen, Roland couldn't help but wonder if this truly was Lowen. Raising his cane once more, he pointed it at Lowen and in an apprehensive tone he asked.
" Lowen...is...is that really you?"
Lowen with a simple thought, the aura around his body dissipated into nothingness and the concealed energies within, once more revealed themselves. With this reveal, Roland once more looked shocked. Lowen enjoyed this stupid look Roland had but knew that there was no time to mess about and gave a simple explanation.
" It's me relax, I've simply entered a new stage. if it wasn't me, you'd have already been dead."
Roland subconsciously gulped in fear, he couldn't help but agree with these words. He had completely felt nothing when Lowen approached. If this person in front of him truly wasn't Lowen and wanted him dead, then he'd be dead.
"Entered a new stage, how? It even allows you to conceal yourself in such a matter, what sort of spell could do such a thing? Light magic, dark magic, I've never heard of earth magic being capable of such things. Yet even if it was light magic or dark magic tricks, I should have still been able to feel the elements around you, yet when you approach me, instead of an abundance of magic energy, it's like a blank void. Lowen...how did you do it? Is it something you're willing to teach....me?"
Lowen listening to all this shook his head.
"I'm not inclined to explain and there's no way you can learn it. Just be satisfied in knowing that our mission now holds a higher chance of being successful."
Roland was annoyed with this answer but hearing the rest of this boys words, he became curious.
"Higher chance, you mean there's still no guarantee?"
*Sigh*
Lowen walked over to Bren and saw that he was still unconscious, placing a hand over his body, Lowen began healing him at a faster rate, nearly double what it was previously.
"My powers may have grown but it's mainly just in strength and speed. This time, without Bren, I'll be facing 2 mages at once, as well as hundreds of goblin soldiers. Not only that, I've never faced a water mage before. Earth I know from my experience with Sid as well as my own powers and fire, I know most of the advantages as well as weaknesses from what you've taught me but I've never encountered water magic and I have no clue on what Rize is capable of. Plus, as you can see, old man Sid isn't with me, he wasn't much help. In the end, he could only give me these and they're merely to borrow."
Lowen pulled out the three statue cores and showed them to Roland, Roland gave a small nod and the two began thinking of their next move. As the two discussed their next moves, Bren groggily opened his eyes and began to cough out dark thick blood painfully. Lowen was already by his side and continued to pass him ki, healing him bit by bit. Although Lowen was healing Bren's body at an incredible speed, Bren had terrible injuries. Cuts, bruises, broken ribs, and even damaged organs. That second circle earth mage had really dealt out a beating. Bren fought through the pain and slowly sat up. Seeing that he was still alive but had failed in rescuing his nephew, a few bitter tears rolled down his face. Who knew what pain and suffering his nephew was facing at this very moment. Bren couldn't help but wonder why Rize had taken his nephew and not him. It was now that Bren finally noticed strange energy filling his body and healing him. Looking at Lowen, he could tell it was coming from him and although he didn't know how an earth mage was capable of such a feat, he could feel that this energy was only helping him and wasn't harmful in any way. Bren felt thankful for Lowen's help but looking at his face you wouldn't know it. His expression was one of pain and sadness.
"Bren, try to relax and don't resist this energy. Just breathe, it's going to be okay."
Bren once more felt bitter hearing these words but took them to heart and did his best to just breathe and relax in silence.
"Bren, now that you're awake, I was just talking to Lowen and we want to make another assault on the cave. Do you think you can fight?"
To this question, Bren wanted to desperately say yes but knowing his body's condition, he knew for sure that he wouldn't last but none of that mattered, if he could move then he would fight. Before he could say anything though, Lowen spoke for him.
"No, his body is a mess and at the rate, I'm healing him, it could be another seven or eight hours before he'd be in any condition to fight. With our time limited, I have to go in alone, otherwise, who knows what will happen to Clovis. Right now they've had him for at least 7 hours. we need to hurry and we need a plan fast."
Bren could not say the words he was just about to say, instead, he looked at this small boy with respect. Even though the two of them had both just had their asses handed to them, this boy was ready to go back in and this time with no backup. But Bren couldn't allow this in good conscience.
"Lowen, thank you but I can't ask you to do this. I can't ask you to go in there and sacrifice yourself, even...even for my nephew."
Bren choked up on those last words but still, he said them. Even though he cared about his nephew more than anyone else in the world, he couldn't ask this small child to go in there by himself. The two had gone in there and nearly died and now Lowen, a child, wanted to go in alone. This would all but guarantee his death and that didn't sit right with Bren.
"Lowen, Bren is right, you can't go in there without some form of backup. Even if your strength has grown, there's no guarantee you'll be able to survive. I don't know what they plan to do with Clovis, and at this point, I'm afraid we'll have to give up and seek help from the capital. If you and me both guard here we may be able to prevent them from leaving this cave. Bren can head back to the capitol and bring more battlemages with him. You said earlier that you were able to prevent Rize from controlling Bren by sealing his hearing and only when you two were exhausted was he able to almost take over your minds. If we have multiple battle mages and you seal off all of their hearing then that should be enough to finish these bastards once and for all. Hell, if Bren was all right now, with your newfound strength, I'm sure the two of you combined could defeat them. Unfortunately, though, our one and only battlemage is useless."
Bren gnashed his teeth in anger at Roland's harsh words but he knew he was right. He knew right now that he was in fact completely useless and if he were to go, in this state, he would only be a burden, nothing more. As Roland and Bren, we're stumped on what to do, it was actually Roland's words that brought an idea to Lowen. With this idea, his eyes grew excited and he almost began to shout but he quickly composed himself. In a calm voice, he said.
"Wait a second, a battlemage, that's it. Our battlemage may be useless but this isn't our only battlemage."
Roland and Bren both held an expression of confusion but Lowen ignored them and continued.
"A battle mage, we have another one."
Roland and Bren both looked around trying to spot this other battle mage but of course, they saw no one. Lowen gave a small chuckle and began to explain about the battlemage he had come across being held in the depths of the goblin's cave. Lowen had told them how the man being held had been tortured and was covered in scars but when Lowen had looked into his eyes, they were still burning with the will to live. If anyone wanted the taste of revenge, that man definitely would. After a minute or so, Lowen asked the two their thoughts. Roland stood up and began pacing back and forth while mumbling a few words, after a moment, he stopped and asked.
"Lowen, can you do it? Can you actually do it? To sneak past all those goblins, break into his cell and release him. How do you know if his body is even capable of fighting?"
"He's definitely capable of fighting otherwise what point will there be in keeping him in such thick chains. Not only that, he was behind a huge thick door made out of some type of metal, which my fist are not capable of breaking. To go through so much trouble to hold him, there's no doubt in my mind he can fight. As for sneaking past all those goblins…"
Lowen didn't even finish his sentence, instead, his body flashed and disappeared, vanishing in front of the two and before they knew it, Lowen had reappeared. Holding out his hand, he held two hairs in his fingertips, one red and the other black. Looking closely at the hairs, both Bren and Roland could tell that it was theirs, both of their mouths gaped open in shock.
"Not only that, now that I can hide my magic, that earth mage as well as Rize won't even know I'm coming, I can do this, trust me."
Bren seemed to be convinced by this display but Roland still held some worries. Sitting back down by the campfire, he then began going over everything he knew about water magic as quickly and as efficiently as possible. He told Lowen about water magics strengths and weaknesses and everything he should look out for. Lowen took every word seriously and committed it all to memory. After Roland finished, Lowen nodded a few times and turned to leave but Roland stopped him. Shoving something into Lowen's hand, Roland whispered a few things to Lowen and wished him good luck. Lowen at first was shocked by this but understanding the situation and the chaos that would ensue if Rize was not stopped, Lowen knew this item would only be another advantage for him. Turning around, Lowen said nothing more and rushed to the cave. Putting the item away, Lowen activated his aura and his magic presence and ki energy seemed to disappear from this world. Lowen thought about the plan they just went over and if it was just relying on that, then Lowen still wouldn't be as confident as he was right now but because he had entered the aura body stage, he was now capable of one more thing. With a devious smile, Lowen rushed to the mouth of the cave. At the entrance, again, there were five goblin soldiers guarding the cave. With a simple move, Lowen grabbed five rocks and with a flick of the wrist, the rock's flew out with Incredible precision.
*Thwack* *Thud* *Thwack* *Thwack* *Thud*
Each of these goblins skulls was penetrated and crushed instantly, they had all died before they even hit the ground. With a powerful dash forward, Lowen disappeared into the cave.
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