All Good Novel
Chapter 43 The Creeping Shadows
43 The Creeping Shadows
After not an hour, not two, but FIVE, Stark opened his eyes as he had decided to take a break and sleep. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Five meters away from him were Orasio and Hero, and he woke the latter up.
"Hm~ what?" Hero opened his eyes and rubbed them, confused about his surroundings for a minute since he was still in a daze, "Oh yeah, we need to kill the last guardian…"
Orasio on the other hand hadnt slept at all, instead he was inspecting his shield, just waiting for the others to wake up but not wanting to disturb them.
"Finally," he sighed then pointed at the last path, the one with the number 3 engraved on the effigy's forehead, "Let's go."
The other two nodded, and this time it was the shield user that took the lead toward the mirror down the stairs.
They approached the mirror door, and passed through it without saying anything to one another.
~CRACK~
After their eyes adjusted to the feeling of passing through the mirror, they found themselves in a large, enclosed chamber with hundreds of mirror around.
'What the fuck?' it wasn't just the walls that were filled with mirrors, but the floor and ceiling too.
In all directions they could stare at themselves, which made the atmosphere of this room feel very eerie.
"Hm~ really feels like the final chamber before the big boss, doesn't it," Hero smiled.
"Well, it probably also means it's the hardest guardian, doesn't it, so watch out," Stark replied while looking around.
Each of them took a step forward…
And then…
~SLASH~
~FWISH~
~CLANG~
Three sounds resonated not in the distance, but behind the boys.
Right as they took a step toward the center of the mirror chamber, three shadows appeared behind each of them, ressembling the three participants.
And so what had to happen happened.
Stark's shadow didn't have any weapon, but it tried to punch and kill him regardless, unfortunately for it though, Stark saw it coming thanks to "Focus", and swiftly avoided the attack.
Orasio's shadow had a shield, just like him, and tried to use [Explosive Shield] on him, but right as it was about to attack, a barrier former around the red-haired boy and protected him from the assault, it was almost as if he knew what was about to happen, or maybe there was always such a barrier to protect him at all times?
And as for Hero…
"-8738!" he was cut in half by his shadow as he didn't have his swords in hand and no way to really know they were coming.
And just like that, his life ended.
[2 participants remain]
Hero's shadow immediately disappeared after killing its owner.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" Stark stepped back as he saw Hero's body fall to the ground, "God damn it!"
A true classifier should always be ready in case of an attack, and this surprise one served this purpose: those unable to react accordingly would be killed.
Safe to say that even if Boxer and Dreamer had reached this room alive, they wouldn't have been able to defend themselves and died anyway.
Only the strongest will escape the trial, after all.
"Hm~ This room is filled with mirrors, and these shadows look just like us," Orasio scratched his chin while thinking, "I guess they are shadows of ourselves, we're gonna have to fight them."
[Glass Guardian #3: Creeping Shadows]
[They are shadows of yourselves, defeat them to continue or succumb to your own powers]
"I guess that's why it's called glass purgatory?" he shrugged.
Orasio and Stark had backed away from them, but they were now able to see them clearly: their entire bodies were formed of some black aura, except for the eyes and mouth which were red, they looked exactly like them, and also used the same weapons/skills.
Basically… they were fighting mirrors of themselves.
Stark in the mean time activated [Domination] and [Perception] to analyze the two shadow before them.
…
[Name: Creeping Shadow - Stark (GUARDIAN)]
[Level: 20]
[Stamina: ???]
[Speed: ???]
[Defense: ???]
[Skills: Perception, Domination, Focus, Aura Smash, Clone Frenzy…]
…
[Name: Creeping Shadow - Orasion (GUARDIAN)]
[Level: 20]
[HP: 10000]
[Strength: ???]
[Stamina: ???]
[Speed: ???]
[Defense: ???]
[Skills: Domination, Swing, Ally Protection, All-Time Barrier, Explosive Shield, Block…]
…
"They are both level 20, I don't know about the stats but probably the same as us, also they have our skills and have 10k HP each," Stark informed Orasio.
"If they were shadows of ourselves, they shouldn't have this much HP," he shrugged while smiling, "Looks like that trial really wants us dead, it's basically us but stronger."
"Yeah well, since we know ourselves best, you take care of your shadow and I take care of mine, alright?"
Orasio nodded, then summoned his shield and engaged with his shadow head on.
Stark rushed forward, attempting to engage the shadow of himself as well.
"Aura smash," his fists began glowing with that crimson aura, and he sent two attacks at his shadow.
But…
"AuRa SmASh~" the shadow mimicked him, and the two crimson fists collided with one another, resulting in no damage being dealt to either party.
"Alright, I see how it is now…" Stark smirked.
Orasio, too, had faced the same situation and was trying and failing to hit his shadow copy with his shield.
~SLAM, SLAM, SLAM~
Stark approached his shadow and attempted to punch it, but it only ended in both of their fists clashing with one another.
"-1! -1!"
The damage they were receiving was almost non existant, but if they kept going like this, they would surely lose.
[HP: 2492/2500] while the shadow had 10000, it wasn't fair to begin with.
And so after a few minutes of constant fighting from the two participants, they backed away as their shadows just weren't receiving any sort of damage.
"This isn't working," Orasio remarked.
"No shit, sherlock, they are us but better, you are the one that said it, they keep copying us but have more HP so if this keeps going we're just gonna die," Stark rolled his eyes, he didn't expect this to be the most annoying battle.
"I have a solution then, a risky one but surely we can manage," Orasio smirked.
"I think I already know what you wanna do," Stark sighed, but knew deep down this was the only solution.
"Well then, let's do it!" Orasio laughed, it was almost as if Hero hadn't just died in front of them minutes ago that they already moved on.
Stark and Orasio switched positions, meaning that Stark was in front of Orasio's shadow while Orasio was with Stark's.
They switched shadows, it was more risky, but the only way to truly win.
"Let's do this, fake Orasio," Stark positioned his fists toward the shield wearing shadow, and it smiled at him in return.
Of course, fighting each other's shadows meant they would both need to defeat a better version of their companion, which almost seemed counter intuitive, but oh well, who cares.
[3…2…1]
[FIGHT!]
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