Chapter 66: The Hero (2) (1/2)

Back in the pocket world, Lily was still resting on the ground. A couple of hours have already passed since she finished her test, with no sign of Aiden returning.

Tilting her head towards the old hermit, she asked.

”Do you know how long we need to wait until Aiden returns?”

The hermit still standing still in front of her with eyes closed, shortly replied with his raspy voice.

”Time… flows differently… on the outside... Then inside… We can't tell…. How long…. The illusion is…”

”Time flows differently? How long was I inside then?” Lily asked.

”1 hour…” the old hermit replied curtly.

”1 hour only?! I was in for several!! How is this possible?!” she exclaimed, shocked. He wasn't sure how much time she spent inside exactly, but it had to be at least 5. No matter, this new information raised several alarms inside Lily's head. If 1 hour counts as 5 inside the illusion, then what is going on with Aiden?!

”This time… uhm, difference… is it the same as Aiden's illusion?”

The old hermit shook his head before slowly answering.

”No… It is different… for the both of you…”

With a troubled expression, Lily sighed and plopped back down to the ground. With this, she had no idea how much time had passed for Aiden and couldn't even predict when to expect his arrival.

”Huah… where are you brother, and what are you doing?!” She asked looking at the starless scarlet sky.

---

Back in the illusion…

Inside the main hall of the Academy, there was a fierce firefight happening between the terrorists and Aiden. His figure could be seen flickering back and forth amongst the terrorists, deftly avoiding the storm of bullets that were hailed at him.

His increased stats were so out of the world compared to everyone in this 'world', that he looked like some kind of superhero straight out of a comic book.

He wasn't attacking the terrorists, he was just merely avoiding. Actually, he didn't really know what to do. First, he thought that by making sure that his friends would be safe he would fulfill the requirements for this illusion, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Right now, he was thinking if he either needs to sacrifice himself to make sure the rest of the guests have a chance, or the point of this trial would be something else.

There was also the matter with the quest. So far, he only had small success, he banished 3 Nightmare Spawns but made no progress on the optional objective. In fact, he had no idea what it even meant.

'Do I need to kill this group, or just keep them occupied and let the others escape? Hmm…' he was thinking inwardly while keeping up his pace.

[Aiden, whatever you decide, making sure the guests can escape would be a good idea. Lowering the risk of causing innocent casualties, and then you could resolve the situation will be beneficial for the completion of your quest.]

”Yeah, you are right…” he muttered. In the next moment, he flickered to the pair of terrorists closest to the guests, and with a hit on to their chests, he flung them across the hall.

”Run! Escape now! Don't look back, just run out of the building and find help!” he shouted to the frightened group. ”I will keep them busy, but you have to be fast unless you want to stay here and die!”

As he finished, he flickered once again and appeared next to the leader, who still had trouble breathing, thanks to his earlier strike.

He punched again, making sure that he used just enough power and momentum that the leader of the terrorists would still be able to take it. Still, the man was already heavily injured and spent, so even this small attack pushed him back several meters and caused him to cough up some black substance.

With difficulty, he stood up. What surprised Aiden, was that instead of blood, a black thick substance oozed out from his injured body. The leader snickered as he looked at the boy with raging in his eyes. ”I'm not going down easy as the others!” he groaned. His hatred and his anger rose to new heights as he looked at the boy.

The rising emotions clouded his mind, he could no longer think rationally. The mission no longer mattered, the only thing that did, was this monster in front of him. Only by making sure that he would send him to hell would his soul find peace.