Deep in thought, I began to circle the room.
"I wonder if these riddles are the same for all pairs."
A puzzle that required two people capable of doublecasting... I doubted that many people besides Celeste and Philemon would be able to solve it easily.
"Sophia... I hope she got another enigma to deal with. I doubt Skylark would let her just cut the exit door open."
But as worried as I was about her, it was better to concentrate on my own problems.
"Sophia's so smart... she'll find a way around it."
«Penny... are you able to doublecast? Just a tiny little spell would do...» I asked, already knowing the answer in my heart.
«No... I'm sorry,» Penny replied gloomily.
«I see... don't worry. I'll think of another way.»
"Well... what now? Wait, maybe the solution is much simpler and I'm just overthinking it."
I was a bit wary of randomly activating the statues. Dungeons were known to employ traps to prevent people from trying to solve puzzles by randomly trying solutions.
But time was ticking and we couldn't afford to spend too much of it on the first, and possibly easiest, trial.
«Get behind me, Penny. I'll try and open the door.»
Once the girl had complied, I pointed my wand at the dragon statue.
«Fireball!»
As my spell collided with it, the dragon's dull eyes lit up with a red glow and...
«Water shield!»
My water barrier barely made it in time to save us from the huge jet of flame that had erupted from the statue's jaws.
We began to cough from all the smoke caused by that sudden attack. Fortunately, the passage we had come through was still open, and, as the smoke dissipated, the air soon became a little more breathable. Meanwhile, the dragon had reverted to being nothing more than an inanimate statue.
"As I thought... just hitting it with the right element won't keep it active forever."
This was not the only problem though. It seemed that if you activated a statue something dangerous would happen.
"This is very bad..."
At the moment, the maximum number of statues we could activate at once was three.
"And that would leave us with no way to deal with what happens when we do... Maybe if I go for the fish statue the room will start to fill up with water..."
I was at a loss.
"If only I could cast 3 spells at once, but no way that's... wait a minute..."
Suddenly, thinking about the possibility of triplecasting, something had come to mind.
"Aldric... is that how he did it?"
Over the past few weeks I had done my best not to think too much about my battle with him, if I could even call that one-sided beating a battle.
But now I had just realised something.
"The way he was able to use two spells at once... while at the same time being completely immune to my attacks... what if he was triplecasting a barrier from the start? That would explain a lot... But this... won't get me anywhere. Even if triplecasting is theoretically possible, I definitely don't have time to learn how to do it right now!
I can barely handle doublecasting. There must be an easier way to deal with this puzzle. It's the first one after all."
«Liz... I'm sorry I haven't been much help,» Penny said sadly, looking at me as I pushed my brains out.
«It's ok, I'll find a way out.»
Then it came to me.
"The only way to solve this puzzle with 3 spells is to activate two statues with a single one."
But that was easier said than done. Spells that used more than one element at a time were not common, but they did exist.
Casting them, however, was another matter. They required an incredible amount of control to shape mana into two different forms. And they were usually way too destructive.
I happened to know one but...
"Meteor... my strongest spell uses both fire and earth, but if I use it in this small room..."
Then, looking at the big fish's stony scales, the solution came to me.
"It's very risky but we have to try."
«Penny, I need you to cast Wind Stream at the angel statue when I tell you, ok?»
The girl nodded:
«I can do that much.»
«The timing is going to be tight, we've got to jump through the door as soon as it opens. Now get back behind me.»
I positioned myself near the exit, on the side with the big fish statue.
«Alright... I'm going to count to three.»
Timing the spells would be the challenge.
Meteor had a slight delay before impact and I needed to cast it on the giant, while charging it with enough power to hit the dragon with its fiery shockwave.
"I hope the Earth statue's effect isn't too bad... we'll have to endure it for a split second at least."
«3.»
«2... Meteor!»
A flaming boulder appeared on the ceiling, starting its descent onto the stone giant..."
«1! Water Shield!»
«Wind Stream!»
As the meteor reached its target, an explosion of fire erupted from it. My water barrier was just in time to protect us from it, while its edge touched the fish statue, soaking it.
Luckily, both the dragon and the angel statue that Penny had cast her own spell on began to glow at the same time.
«Got it!»
As the door disappeared behind us, I threw myself backwards, grabbing Penny by the shoulder and dragging her with me.
But before I could make it all the way across the exit, rock spikes erupted beneath us.
"Shit!"
Before we hit the ground I felt a sharp pain near my ankle.
«Penny, are you all right?» I asked as I tried to stand up, but my leg gave up immediately.
«Yes, thankfully I... oh my goodness Liz!»
«I-it's fine...» I said, biting my tongue as I teared up in pain.
A stone spike had reached my lower leg, where there was now a deep, bleeding gash.
«What do you mean "you're fine"?!»
Penny moved to my side and, after forcefully tearing a piece of cloth from her skirt, began to press it over the wound.
«Ouch!»
«Sorry, but we need to stop the bleeding! I need to press really hard.»
"She acted really quickly..." I thought, gritting my teeth, "she didn't seem the type to keep her cool in a situation like this."
After a bit, the bleeding seemed to stop.
«Mmmh, if we leave it like this in the open, with all this dust around, you could get an infection...»
«Wait, let me try something...»
As I had done during the battle, I passed my wand over the wound.
«Heal!»
The wound slowly closed. When the incantation was over, I watched the result of the spell with disappointment.
"Man… I just can't get how healing spells work."
The wound was far from healed, but at least it didn't look like it would begin to bleed again if I moved.
«Woah, you can even cast this kind of spells!» exclaimed Penny in amazement.
«Sort of... I'm very bad at them... I don't really understand how mana interacts with our bodies. I'm terrible at buffing spells for the same reason.»
«If you call this being bad at it...» Penny said with a bitter smile, «you know... I actually wanted to be a healer, but I can barely deal with a small scratch.»
It was not very surprising. Talented healers were actually very rare among mages. That was one of the reasons why I had been amazed at how many extremely good ones there were at the Academy.
«How about becoming a doctor then? We had a very good one in my little town. He treated everything even without magic!» I said, as I used a water spell to clean the dried blood from the wound.
Penny shook her head.
«My parents would never let me do that. Honestly, even being a healer was a bit of a long shot. But at least that job has some kind of prestige... but a normal doctor? No chance. I was supposed to get married after I finished school anyway...»
"The more I learn about the life of nobility, the more I'm glad to be a commoner... but now is not the time to think about this kind of stuff. We took far too long in the very first room... we need to get a move on."
«Let's get on with it,» I said, getting up again. But as I put my foot on the floor, a new tinge of pain assaulted me.
«Does it still hurt?» Penny asked worriedly.
«Yeah... and I can't really move my foot at all from some reason...»
«Oh... seeing were the wound is, your tendon may had been damaged.»
«Oh... is that bad?» I asked. Before getting into the Academy I had zero experience with injuries after all.
«Of course it's bad! Your foot is probably going to start to swell soon..."
«You sure know a lot about this stuff... or maybe I'm just ignorant.»
"The way she talked about it, it didn't sound like it was very important to her... but I bet she put a lot of effort into trying to become a healer. I hope one day she will succeed. But first I have to get her out of here alive."
«Fixing a tendon is definitely beyond the reach of my healing spells. I seem to be able to walk anyway. So let's just keep going, slowly but surely.»
«Doesn't it hurt?» asked Penny, biting her lip.
«Don't worry, I endured worse. It will be fine,» I said, trying to cheer her up, while trying my best to not scream in pain.
"I just hope that the other tests won't require me to run or we are doomed."
We slowly made our way through the new corridor. I continued to scan our path with my mana, allowing us to avoid the new traps the dungeon had in store for us.
Soon the darkness around us began to lift once more.
"It seems like the second trial is upon us."
The room we entered was much larger than the previous two, but just as bare, appearing to be a large, circular arena.
"I don't think we're going to be dealing with statues this time. It looks like we'll have to fight something."
But I was not entirely right. Soon something began to rise from the floor in the centre of the room.
A large stone golem stood before us, its featureless head almost touching the high ceiling.
"This is where having Sophia with me would make things extremely easy... my spells aren't going to make a dent in this thing, are they?"
But I decided to try anyway:
«Flare!» I shouted, aiming for the construct's head.
«Fireball!» Penny shouted from my side.
But none of our spells seemed to have the slightest effect on the creature. With surprising speed for its size, the faceless being launched itself at me.
I tried to dodge, but the wound on my leg made me stumble immediately.
«Stone Shield!» I shouted before the golem's fist slammed into me.
The barrier cracked, but seemed to withstand the blow.
«Penny, cast a water spell!» I shouted.
«Ok! Water Cannon!»
The jet of water she conjured was not very strong, but it would do the trick. As soon as it reached my barrier, I made it disappear, so it could reach the golem.
«Blizzard!»
Icy winds began to blow on the construct. The water that covered it began to freeze instantly.
"Of course, this will only slow it down, but... it will buy me time. If magic doesn't work..."
After smashing the floor with a spell, I began to condense the debris into a solid stone sphere.
"Time to give you a taste of your own medicine!"
Before the creature could free itself from its icy prison, I began to pummel its limbs with the sphere I had created. Soon the golem fell forward, stripped of its legs and arms.
It did not take long to shatter what was left of it.
«Nice teamwork, Penny!»
«You could have just doublecasted...»
It was true, but I wanted to let her do something and feel useful.
But our troubles weren't over.
"Of course, this way way too easy..."
A fire had broken out in the center of the arena.
"Looks like this is another elemental themed trial," I thought, looking at the new fiery foe that was starting to blaze before us.
«Keep casting water spells, Penny! Water Cannon!»
Our jets of water collided with the fire elemental, but it didn't seem to work out the way I thought it would: our spells had evaporated without reaching their target.
"That's just crazy... but wait... it's getting so hot in here..."
Before I even noticed, sweat was dripping from my temples. The creature seemed immobile and didn't look like it was about to attack, but the temperature in the room was rising drastically.
"Shit... it wants to boil us alive."
I walked over to Penny and pulled her close to me.
«L-liz... w-what?» she said, panting.
«B-blizzard!» I shouted again, pointing my wand at us.
My spell gave us a moment's relief. But soon the heat began to rise again.
"Shit... a fire so hot... water doesn't work on it... how do I deal with it..."
It was hard to even breathe with how hot the room had become.
"Breathe... of course!"
«Stone Barrier!»
Walls of stone closed around the elemental, hiding it from our sight.
"I just have to suffocate it"
But I soon realised that it would not be so easy.
"No way... it can melt even solid stone... but then I just have to..."
«Stone Barrier!»
I continued to replenish the barrier with new stone for what seemed an eternity. Penny joined in as well, doing her best to help me.
Finally, the stone stopped melting and, as I hesitantly lowered the barriers, only ashes remained on the ground.
"Phew... It took a while, but we are okay... I wasted way too much mana though. Hopefully this is the last one..."
But as I thought that, something dark seemed to appear in the centre of the arena. But after a split second, it was gone.
"Did I imagine that? No, I clearly saw something."
I looked around carefully until I saw it: something was moving in Penny's shadow.
«Penny, look out!»
I tried to sprint towards her to push her away, but this time I landed directly on the ground.
"This fucking wound!"
But there was no time to get mad about it: Penny was being lifted up by a huge claw of shadow that gripped her neck tightly.
My heart stopped for a moment and a scene I had done my best to keep locked away in the deepest recesses of my mind came back to me.
"Amy... no..."
«L-liz...»
Penny's choked voice brought me back to reality.
«Light!»
A beam of light struck the claw, causing it to retreat instantly.
"Oh, that was easy...!"
The claw instantly sprouted from my shadow. I was just in time to cast a beam of light from my hand before it grabbed me.
A frenzied series of attacks began. The creature tried to jump out of every dark corner of the room, and I kept directing my beam of light to stop it.
"This is going nowhere..."
I could've conjured a much stronger light, but that would've drained my mana even more.
"A shadow creature... of course!"
«Typhoon!»
Before the creature could attack again, I directed a very strong current of air towards the torches that illuminated the room, plunging it into complete darkness.
"In total darkness… there are no shadows," I thought, pleased with my intuition, as I heard the exit door shake and open.
«All clear!» I said cheerfully, using my wand to make light.
Penny was still on the floor, massaging her throat.
«Liz… thank you for saving me...»
«No worries, I mean… I'm also saving myself!»
But this cheerful attitude was just another facade.
"My mana... does not look good... suppressing that fire elemental has really drained me. If this is not over soon, we might actually die here".
I held out my hand to Penny, who took it with a grateful expression. The image that the shadow creature's attack had conjured up in my mind was still etched in my retinas.
"I won't let it happen again…" I thought, as I helped her to her feet.
It was time to move on through another narrow corridor.
«How long can this go on…» I sighed.
«Liz... you're tired, aren't you?» asked Penny.
«No, don't worry... I'm just a bit bored of going through the same layout over and over again. That shitty old man could've found us a more exciting dungeon!»
«Liz... stop lying to me, please,» Penny blurted out after a moment of silence.
«...»
For my part, I could only remain silent.
"Crap... I've been found out... am I that bad at lying? I'm pretty sure Sophia bought my act..."
But that thought just suddenly made all the guilt I had suppressed come back.
"What am I doing... I thought I'd learned my lesson about being honest with people since I confessed to Sophia, but now I'm back to hiding my true thoughts.
Sophia... after I told you I wanted a relationship where we could lean on each other. If I get out of here, I need to apologize to you. And I need to do the same with Penny too..."
«I know I don't have any right to be angry with you, since you're pretty much having to carry me around this place, but... stop it, please. You have been off since this morning. You're clearly trying to encourage me, but while I'm weak, I'm not stupid, Liz.»
«I'm sorry. I didn't want you to lose hope and give up…» I said, lowering my eyes.
«I'm not going to,» Penny said firmly, «I have a friend I want to spend more time with outside here. She has been the first person to be sincere with me in a long time. So don't start doing like the others, okay, Liz?»
«Penny…»
"The way she can be so decisive even though she's very weak… she kinda reminds me of her. So... I should be honest with her. She can take it."
«All right, I'm sorry. I was just trying to act tough... I'm really spent. My leg hurts like hell and my mana reserves are not looking good.»
«Well... now I don't know if I did the right thing in asking you to tell the truth,» Penny said with a nervous chuckle, «I'll try my best to help you in the next trial though.»
«Let's hope this dungeon is almost over. I should be able to handle at least one more room. Look, the darkness is beginning to lift, the next trial must be close.»
The new room we entered was virtually identical to the previous one, this time though a shapeless, silvery mass awaited us in the centre of the large circular arena.
"A slime maybe?"
But the blob soon began to change, taking on a new form.
"Oh… fuck."
A girl with silver skin stared at me. Though her eyes were colourless, I could easily see in my mind the emerald pools I so loved to lose myself in.
The perfect copy of my girlfriend, Sophia Thornton, unsheathed her blade.
"If this thing can actually copy her innate power... we are completely fucked."
One thing was certain, I knew that I would enjoy this duel against her much less than the previous one.