The late Professor Neshal was right. For a single Warden keeping two arrays at the ready was impossible and so were two different Wardens activating both their arrays at the same time.
Unless, of course, they shared a mind link that allowed them to synchronize their very thoughts and perceptions.
‘As soon as we are done casting, I want you to use Invigoration and recover your strength. An array is too much of a burden for your green core. I want you at 100% to face that Odi’s anatomy model.’ Lith thought.
‘But the strain on your body…’ Solus objected.
‘I don’t give a damn about having a perfect body if I’m just going to die like a lab rat at the hands of those madmen!’ Lith cut her short. ‘Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself. If something happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself for dragging you to Kulah.’
“Jump on my back and strike at their power cores on my mark.”
“I can’t see their power cores, you dimwit.” Morok replied.
“My Soul will light your way.”
Morok was about to sneer at the happy-go-lucky bullshit Lith had just spewed when the hybrid unfolded his wings, using a flight spell, air magic, and air fusion to fly as fast as a bullet.
When the Flesh Golems noticed them, Lith activated his Earth Blocking array while Solus used her Air Blocking and used light magic to draw an X where the construct’s power core was located.
A second later Morok’s hammers had smashed their target while Lith’s Orichalcum glove had pierced his own. Lith used Invigoration on the door in front of them to release its lock while keeping an ear on the creatures’ last breaths.
< "Grid. 325627. 32562…"> The female construct said while searching for Lith’s eyes with hers.
< "893465. 893465. 8934…"> The male Golem repeated his message as fast as he could, but to Morok it was gibberish, so he ignored the construct.
Lith didn’t miss that the door in front of them just had a card reader, making such numbers pointless. Two small wisps of light came out of their remains, but instead of shooting towards the ceiling like had happened before, Lith saw them getting sucked through the door and into the Reactor.
“What the heck was that?” Morok asked, but Lith could only shrug in reply, reverting to his human form. The door clicked, revealing an enormous cave, at least thirty meters (100 feet) high and 50 meters (166 feet) wide.
In the middle of the cave, there was a pillar made of metal and mana crystals that pierced the only part of the ground not covered by the metal plates, digging deep into Mogar’s crust.
Even though the pillar was so tall that it reached the ceiling and was larger than any tower either Rangers had ever seen, they could barely distinguish its features. In front of them, there was a green grid made of energy that blocked their path just a couple of meters from the door.
“So much for our blitz.” Morok whined. “How did you miss something this huge?”
Lith had no idea how to reply since both he and Solus could only see it with their conventional sight. The energy net was invisible to their mystical senses.
The Tyrant had enough surprises for a lifetime, so instead of trying to Blink, he tried and failed to open a Warp Steps on the other side of the grid. Somehow the two points in space couldn’t be connected.
“I could say the same about your eyes.” Lith said, noticing that the Odi had crushed the holographic pad on the outside, leaving only the one inside the barrier intact.
“Grid. 325627.” Lith repeated, sending a tendril of mana through the barrier. He could still reach the other terminal with spirit magic. Or so he thought until a fizzle and a shower of sparks crushed his hopes.
“This is not magic.” Lith said understanding the nature of the obstacle in front of them. “Nor is it a spell, a construct, or an array. This is pure mana, without an energy signature that I can recognize.”
They couldn’t afford to waste time, but Lith was actually thinking out loud to better study their situation and giving his partners the means to help him. He noticed that just like normal barriers, the grid didn’t completely seal the cave from the external world.
Light and air could still pass through, so all he had to do was follow the Odi’s lead when they had forced the Assistants to leave the camp.
“This is going to hurt.” Lith said while generating a strong light from a high point behind him, making his shadow grow long enough to reach the holo pad. Then, he infused his mana into his own projection, to give it life as he had already done in the past.
“That’s amazing! What do you call that spell?” Morok had never seen such a trick, not even from his father.
“It has no name.” Lith was too focused and embarrassed to tell him that his personal variant of spirit magic had a cringy name like “Demons of Darkness.” Lith had used that name during his mission in Zantia for his play with Friya.
The thing on the other side was half shadow and half made of Lith’s mana, so he knew that it was only a matter of time before the barrier recognized it as a threat or at least an anomaly.
“3-2-5…” The shadow needed to be solid to interact with the pad. At the three Lith felt his skin crawling. At the two, the green energy of the barrier started to seep into the dark streak connecting Lith to his double, forcing him to double his focus to counter that invasion. At the five, it was as if he was touching a live wire.
“6-” The green energy was now invading his body, charring Lith’s feet while it worked its way up
“2-” Lith was forced to use darkness fusion to cut off his pain receptors and a massive amount of mana to stop the grid from reaching his mana core.
“7!” The green dot on the pad was replaced by a red one as the grid disappeared.
Morok Blinked right behind the Reactor, bringing Lith with him and preparing for the arrival of the enemy. Lith was doing his best, helped by Solus, to cleanse his body of the still lingering green energy.
His mana core was shaken from both the assault and the strain it had sustained, to the point that Lith didn’t feel safe using Invigoration. If his mana core mistook the pure mana for world energy, there was no telling what damage it could inflict upon him.
Only when his body was once again filled with mana carrying his own energy signature did Lith use his breathing technique to heal his wounds. Solus didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was almost charred from the waist down, but the hunger that overwhelmed Lith once he was able to stand on his own again wasn’t so kind.
Lith had started gulping down the second of Solus’s disgusting nutrient tonics when two more Flesh Golems appeared. Life Vision allowed him to see that Jiira wasn’t with them.
Also, they had Warped right next to their fallen comrades, which likely meant that the grid was off-limits to them as well.
