For a moment there, it felt as if the entire corridor was full of the exploding translucent bubbles. Panic struck the Raven Heart trio. The blast from each bubble was loud but relatively harmless, but with so many appearing at the same time, coming from both the front and the back, they had no way of telling how much damage could be done if they were to be set off at the same time.
Once again, both Shade and Raven reached out and placed their hands on Kite’s shoulders. Activating his ability, Kite then took a knife and threw it, popping the first bubble.
A cacophony of loud blasts washed over the corridor, as if a long batch of fireworks had been set off at the same time. Even if the created force wouldn’t have been enough to harm the heroes, the sound itself would have been enough to pop their eardrums.
By detonating the bubbles before they could get close, and with his ability activated, Kite made it so the three of them safely phased through the blast, suffering no damage in the process.
The surrounding fog dispersed farther than before, momentarily returning the corridor to its natural clear state. The long red carpet and the rest of the floor were entirely soaked. The chandeliers remained in place despite everything, without a single one breaking.
Finally able to go farther than a couple of meters, the three were able to confirm that there were no more explosive bubbles heading in their direction. None were coming from the front, and none were coming from the back, either.
"What in the world is going on here?"
No sooner had Kite asked that question than the fog returned. It flowed toward them like a tidal wave, both from the front and the back, crossing the same distance at the same speed as if intending to crash into the trio at the same time.
The clash was entirely silent, the peacefulness of it all disturbing the Raven Hearts. When phasing through things, they couldn’t see or hear anything. The only sensory input they get comes from the vibration absorbed by the soles of their feet, the only part that remains tangible to avoid them sinking into the floor.
"This is starting to get on my nerves..." Said Kite.
Things would have been a lot better if their enemy had gone for an attack instead of these eerie tactics, forcing them to be on edge the entire time.
"Hey Shade, did you see anything?"
"No, nothing..." Shade shook his head. "It was empty... at least the area that had been cleared from the fog."
"Let’s move." Raven gave the order soon after. "Before more of those things arrive."
"I don’t like where this is going, leader." Said Kite. "Maybe we should leave it to those frosty guys. They’re more suited to deal with this kind of stuff."
"It’ll take them a while to come down from the upper floors," Raven said. "We don’t have the time."
Regaining control over the security system was their utmost priority, so they had no choice but to keep going after the suspect.
The three took off running, intending to reach the edge of the area that had previously been cleared before slowing down once more. With their senses impaired, they were forced to slow down and proceed with caution, relying on their ears more than they relied on their eyes.
They soon reached an intersection, which presented them with the dilemma of choosing which route they should take. After checking the state of the shadows in each corridor, they decided to go south, since it was the path where the fog had spread the farthest.
Not long after they made the turn, more bubbles appeared in front of them, slowly floating in their direction.
Kite was about to throw another one of his knives at it, but Shade grabbed his arm.
"Don’t." He said. "Its shadow is different."
The fog might have made sensing them difficult, but the differences were still there. He could tell that this particular bubble had a darker shadow than the rest, which meant it wasn’t as translucent as the others.
"Should we just let it pass through?" Kite asked.
"No," Raven said. "We will retreat and detonate it first."
The other two understood the logic behind their leader’s decision without him having to explain it. They needed to know what made this new bubble different from those they encountered before. Otherwise, they might make the wrong decision if more show up going forward.
The bubble was approaching them at a leisurely pace, so the three heroes were in no hurry. Once no less than ten meters separated them from it, Kite took aim, tightening his grip on the throwing knife as he braced himself.
Somehow, he felt that the carpet under him had absorbed a lot more water than everything else, making it feel quite mushy under his feet. He tried not to let it bother him and focused on his task, his eyes locked on the target.
His arm whipped, and the blade took flight, its lethal point cutting through the mist as it headed for the vague round silhouette. They all expected to hear a much louder explosion than before, but the only thing that reached them was the dull sound of metal piercing stone, alerting them to the knife having landed somewhere.
They all noticed the round silhouette quickly shift and realized that the knife had bounced off its surface. The faint sounds of a balloon bouncing around served as more proof, but when they got louder, hinting that the bubble was getting closer, they all sensed the imminent danger they were in.
As they backed away one more step, Kite was about to activate his ability when a translucent screen suddenly rose in front of him. His mind couldn’t even discern what it was before it felt the hands that had been resting on his shoulder move.
The bubble reached them at the same moment, and as if a seal had been released, it suddenly bloated and bulged, then it disappeared, releasing a devastating boom that reverberated through the surroundings.
Raven went flying. He instinctively raised his arms to shield his head but forced himself to remove them, all of his concern moving to Kite, who was the closest to the source of the explosion. He forgot all about his other teammate until a pained groan reached his ears. His head snapping to the left, he saw Shade’s body bending as it came to a sudden halt.
Someone had tackled him from behind. Their shape was vaguely humanoid, but because they were entirely shrouded in fog, it was impossible to tell what they actually looked like.
Not that it mattered.
Raven hadn’t bothered with studying the stranger’s appearance at all. As time seemed to slow down, his eyes remained locked on his teammate, or rather, he was looking at the blade protruding from his stomach, its edge bathed in crimson. The exploding bubbles have been decoys all along, and though the last one was quite powerful, it was clear that the real attack was never meant to come from one of them.