2.23 The Remaining Trials - Part 1

"What! but how can that be?" Princess Anna asked in surprise.

"I don't know. She could be in some kind of trouble, we will need to hurry," I replied.

"And what about Billy and Drake?"

'Oops! I was so worried about Marina that I forgot to check Drake and Billy.'

"Wait, let me check."

I closed my eyes again and tried to feel the mana inside the labyrinth.

'Looks like Flare is with her.'

I could feel Flare's presence near them. The golden concentrated mana was easy to notice but somehow it felt weaker than how it generally felt when we were outside.

[Flare, can you hear me?] I tried contacting her telepathically.

[Yes, master.]

[How are things there? Are Drake and Billy alright?]

[Billy was injured so I healed him, but both of them are unconscious. And I don't think they will wake up anytime soon. Their life is not in danger so they will recover in due time.]

[Okay, please keep an eye on them. We will go on ahead.]

[Yes, master.]

[And also, Are you alright? Your flames look weaker than normal.]

[I think that is because someone is controlling the flow of mana here. I am not able to absorb it in abundance as I can outside. There is no need to worry.]

[Okay, take care.]

[Y-yes]

'Does she sound happy?' I thought, but this was not the time to be thinking too deep into that. So, I cut off the telepathic connection and opened my eyes.

"They are alright for now so let's move ahead."

Everyone, including me, was a little relieved to find that out. Since Flare was there, we could now move on ahead without worrying about them.

Without wasting time, all of us entered the next room which would be the venue for our next trial.

It was a large room with irregular walls and ceiling, similar to the one from the trial of strength. There were doors on all four walls including the one that we entered from. The door on the left and right walls were huge at least 8-10 meters tall and 5-6 meters wide. The blue crystal at the ceiling was illuminating the room but the light it was emitting was a bit dimmer than the earlier ones.

"Welcome to the trial of teamwork."

When we heard the Voice of the Labyrinth say that, we prepared ourselves. We hadn't fought together in a while, but I was hoping that I will be able to cover up others where needed.

All our eyes were focused on the two doors on the left and right side as it slid open with a heavy metallic sound. Something with heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards us.

All of us were on guard waiting for whatever was about to come. And what entered from the doors were a huge Sand Golem from the right and a huge Fire Golem from the left.

Right after the Golems entered, the doors behind us slid close.

'Man, worst combination that we could ask for.'

The sand Golem looked somewhat like a huge walking statue while the Fire Golem was a huge black armor with a burning skull as its head.

"We need to attack them together and destroy their cores. They will restore themselves unless we are able to destroy their cores," Princess Eliane said.

It was a good plan that would have probably worked if there was only one Golem. But with the two of them coming towards us, it would be hard defending against both of them. And on top of that, their elements complimented each other well.

I was thinking of a plan, but before I could come up with it, the fire Golem, which looked like the aggressive type, attacked us with several small fireballs.

Its aim was off so only 2 of those several ones could actually hit us. But before they could even reach us, Princess Eliane blocked them using a 'water shield'.

"Guys, can you keep them distracted? I will try absorbing the surrounding mana and when they get weak, you guys can attack the cores," I said to which everyone else nodded.

Arica and Princess Anna couldn't use water magic so Princess Elaine was the only one who could effectively defend against the attacks from both of the golems.

I closed my eyes and started concentrating the surrounding mana into a sphere like before. When there was only a little mana left in the room, I opened my eyes.

Everyone looked alright since it looked like Princess Eliane was keeping them distracted with water magic. But it looked like she was running low on mana. But the effect on the other side was much greater. The Sand Golem had turned into a pile of sand with a brown crystal over it while the Fire Golem had disappeared without a trace with just the red crystal left on the floor.

Arica attacked the red crystal with her sword and shattered it into pieces. It lacked enough technique to make a sharp cut but had enough force to shatter it. Princess Anna followed Arica and attacked the brown crystal with 'wind slash' and chopped it into two.

'So, this is what the Voice of the labyrinth meant when it said, 'the trials will be meaningless'. But I think we still had pretty good teamwork.'

The creatures that are completely made up of mana cannot sustain their forms in its absence. This was a useful technique, but it came with a toll. After I released the mana that had been collected into the sphere, I couldn't stand for a while.

Even though my body still felt heavy, I stood up after a while. This time it was even more exhausting than before since my body hadn't completely recovered from the earlier one. And, on top of that, this room was a lot bigger. But I wanted to reach the top as fast as possible.

"Well, what's next?" I asked while looking towards the crystal at the ceiling. Though it felt like the Voice of the Labyrinth was speaking directly into my head, I had a feeling that it was coming from the crystal.

Right after I asked that, the door in the front slowly slid open.

All of us walked to the next room through the door that just opened. It was a small room similar to the one from the trial of wisdom, but in the center, there was a huge hourglass.

"Welcome to the Trial of patience!"

"Trial of patience?" Princess Anna asked.

"You will need to wait here for the sand to fall down completely," the Voice of the Labyrinth replied.

The rate at which the sand on the hourglass was dropping, it would at least take 7-8 hours.

All of us sat on the floor and waited for a while. I was so impatient that every minute felt like an hour. The rate at which the sand was dropping felt slower and slower.

"It's going to take forever like this," I said in irritation.

"What other choices do we have?" Princess Eliane replied. Despite the calm words, she herself looked impatient. Elves were supposed to be a calm creature, so our humanness was probably rubbing off on her.

'Do we really need to wait that long?' I thought as I tried looking for any other alternatives.

"You guys are way too impatient. We have been at it for hours; don't you think we should rest for a while before moving ahead?" Arica said in an annoyed tone.

"Wel-"

When I was about to say something, I realized that she was right.

'Even though she acts carefree most of the time, she is really considerate when the time comes.'

"Yes, you are right," I said after taking a deep breath to which she responded with a small smile.

Next Chapter: The Remaining Trials - Part 2