104: In the shadows

Maria almost slipped over the pile of rubble she had left when she knocked the wall down. She had not wanted to do that initially but had decided to take the chance in the end. If she brought the cave down on herself then that was it. Maria had survived worse and she always had her magic to rely on.

And then she had found the elder brother and decided to join the coward. Her clumsy actions had caused Maria to slip and they also presented her with the perfect opportunity to tease her target.

Much to her surprise, the guy had snapped back. He did have a backbone and Maria had observed it before when he had tried to take Nao on. Maria only needed to ignite his spirit to get him fired up.

"By the way, how do we take down this barrier from the inside? I don't see any mechanism and your friends were less than helpful" the guy asked with a confused face. Not that Maria faulted him much. Nao was not the best of explainers and it showed far too often.