Chapter 216: Old Grandma Ruby
"Ummm...Well...My dear nephew, not everything is smooth."
After Emily's sudden words, James's face turned white. He suddenly started to check his body and realised that he was not missing any limbs. The fact that he could not find any faults in his body could perhaps mean that there was an internal fault that he did not realise.
"What is it?" James asked with great concern and it didn't take long for him to get an answer.
"If you have a mirror in your inventory, it would be better to check it yourself." Vlad suddenly said.
At these words, James's anxiety was strangely aggravated. It would be quite justified to say that he was frightened, thinking that his handsomeness had disappeared in a rather egotistical way.
Suddenly, he reached into his inventory, only to find that, like most things, the mirror was among the locked items.
"STUPID FLOOR TRIAL!!!" shouted James. He couldn't even look at his face because of the test the tower had given him.
As he wondered what was going on, he had a neat idea that he couldn't do anything right now. He would put all this in the back of his mind, but what he had to do now was to leave this damned dungeon.
"Let's go," James said suddenly and then pulled the spirits outside into the ring.
"Don't you feel tired? You should rest," Emily said suddenly, but the answer to that question was already obvious. James wished to leave this stupid dungeon as soon as possible.
After the second room left him, he waited in front of the huge doors of the last room.
Clutching the holy sword Clarent and Selene's Throwing Knife, which he had recalled, he took a deep breath and then pushed the huge doors open, thinking that waiting would not change anything.
It was pitch black inside the room, James couldn't see a thing even with his night vision. The room was blocking out any ability the supreme goddess had given him.
James realised that his body was going crazy with adrenaline. There had never really been a time when he couldn't see anything, even in the darkest of situations the ability Nyx had given him had helped. Right now she was no different from a blind person and it was quite frightening.
"You're finally here, welcome."
James suddenly heard a voice inside his mind, and it wasn't that of any of the spirits in his ring. It was quite thick and incredibly dominant, and even if James could stand it, he could feel his Mind Palace ability being shaken to its core.
"You must be the owner of the dungeon, pleasure to meet you," James suddenly said. Knowing that this person talking to him had a connection to Desmond was the only thing that gave him a little comfort.
"Hmmm...you're a lot thinner than I expected. Desmond told me that when my heir enters the tower and confronts me, he will be quite strong."
James shook his head as the thick voice said this, and his ego, pride and dignity were crushed by its words.
"I'm said to be quite strong, I mean for my level and experience," James suddenly said, and then the voice echoed in his mind again.
"You're talking rubbish. I can see your age, and judging by this, you have only reached this level after spending time in the tower, and you are praising yourself when you should be ashamed."
Smiling after these words, James said, "There has been a misunderstanding. It's been almost two years since I entered the tower, it's not what you think."
As James said these words, the voice that had spoken to his mind disappeared and the darkness in the room suddenly disappeared.
James saw a winged, humanoid being sitting on the floor at the far end of the room after the lights came on. The being appeared to be a woman, but it was clear that the voice James heard in his mind belonged to a man.
"Hmm...So you've made it this far in just two years. Not to mention the fact that you found the relic ring and on top of that you were able to take Vladimir's soul. If it's as you say, you've already surpassed Desmond's development."
When James heard this voice again, he heard the voice of a very elegant woman.
After looking at her carefully, he saw that everything from her wings to her hair, from her hair to her eyes had a red colour. The woman herself, except for her light skin colour, had an appearance that encouraged live flames from every part of her.
"Be careful James, one of the six mystical beasts in the tower stands before you, do not disrespect it, only Chaos can save you if you do."
James was about to compose himself after Vladimir's words echoed in his mind when the woman's voice was heard again:
"Vladimir's words are quite true, my dear child. It is a beautiful sight that Vladimir has been able to forgive himself after a very long time, I wonder if you have found Juliet's soul, can you answer that?"
James shook his head in amazement as she spoke these words and then began to question who this woman was and how she could hear the voices echoing in his mind.
"You...How? I did not?" James said with great astonishment.
"Oh come on...I'm a mystical beast. Even if we are not as powerful as Supreme Dragons, we are mystical, created by Chaos, we are as powerful as gods. There are 6 of us, but there used to be more. Being able to read your mind is only a small part of my power." the winged woman said.
"But... How can I defeat you? If you are so powerful, if you are so powerful that you can even keep master Vladimir in this dungeon, how can I harm you?" said James, there was nothing he could do.
With those words James saw a smile, the winged woman in front of him seemed to be trying hard not to laugh.
He didn't know what was going to happen, dying was the last thing he wanted to do after all.
"But...how can I defeat you? How can I harm you if you are so strong, so strong that you can even keep Master Vladimir in this dungeon?"
With these words, the winged woman who held her laughter forcibly suddenly began to speak:
"As you know, my name is Kutlu, but I want you to call me Grandma Ruby, after all, Desmond considered me his mother."
"Umm...Well...Grandma Ruby?" was James's bewildered reply, completely confused after she introduced herself with both names, Kutlu and Ruby.
"Excellent. Now for your final test, little one. Whether or not you die here is entirely up to you. All your abilities will be locked and the lights will be switched off again, if you can avoid the incoming attacks as much as I want you to, or rather as much as I want you to, depending on the number, you will pass the test. You will take a test where your speed and stability will have to work." old Ruby said and the lights slowly started to switch off after these words.
"I hope you survive, little one, I don't want to disappoint Desmond, but if you disappoint me there will be no reason for you to live," Ruby added and with that, the last light in the room went out.
James was left alone in the darkness again. When he tried to use his abilities, he realised that everything was indeed blocked.
Even his Aura of Chaos ability was strangely blocked. James didn't even know if such a thing was possible until now.
Still, there was something James could use. The elements themselves did not count as abilities like aura or magic.
"Is the use of the element forbidden, Grandma?" James asked without missing a beat.
Ruby smiled, even though no one could see her, and thought to herself, "Clever boy."
"Free," Ruby muttered, her smiling tone letting everyone know that she was trying hard not to laugh again.
James smiled when he heard those words and thought that he could be prepared for whatever defence he was going to put up.
He had suddenly released 8 Sacred Fire and then waited for the flames to try to light up the area.
Yet almost nothing happened. Yes, the flames were around, but there was almost no brightness that caught James' eye.
"How come?" Ruby suddenly said to herself, of course, she recognised the flames in front of her, she was a being born of flames. The flames were impossible not to recognise.
James began to wait for the attacks he had to defend against.
Just then a sound piercing the air rang in his ears and he was suddenly pulled backwards from the side from which the sound came.
"CHING!!!!"
A sound like metal being struck rose into the sky and James zoomed in on the flames, trying to see what he was avoiding.
After moving the flames around for a while, he saw that a huge arrow, almost four centimetres thick and perhaps fifty centimetres long, was lodged in the ground.
"No kidding?" James said, shuddering as he realised that it was a huge arrow that he had managed to avoid at the last moment. He knew that if even one of these arrows hit him at this speed, it would pierce through him.
He was indeed in grave danger. He was in a daunting...no, deadly danger.