Chapter 291 Light Dome

"You kept all these away from me," Carl said, looking directly into Jude's eyes from where he was standing.

They were in Festus' living space, a convenient place for them to talk things out.

"You had already risked your life looking for me and you also had to compensate the families of those soldiers who died out there," Jude said, getting up from where he was sitting. "I didn't want to involve you in my problems, I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"Yeah, and when have I complained about getting hurt while helping you, after everything you did for me at the academy, I would do anything to help you no matter what," Carl said. "I thought you knew me better by now."

Jude didn't say anything as he stared at his best friend, Festus didn't want to get involved at least not now as he was grabbing himself a drink in his kitchen.

"You're right Carl, I should have at least told you but…."

"But what?" Carl asked.

"Everything that has been happening so far, I just can't think straight," Jude said, slapping his forehead.

"That's why you don't have to deal with all these alone," Carl said.

"I'm not dealing with it alone, I have Tauriel and Tuchel to help me," Jude said.

"Maybe they are not enough and you need more help," Carl said.

"Yeah," Jude said, nodding his head.

"Has the problem between the two of you been resolved?" Festus asked after stopping behind Jude.

"Yeah," Jude said, turning to Carl with a warm smile on his face.

"Ok, I'm glad to hear that," Festus said, sitting down on the seat opposite where Jude was standing.

"Is there really no way for you to help us stop the elves?" Jude asked after turning to him.

Festus let out a deep sigh as he brought up his staff and dropped it on the table.

"You said it yourself, their king is a powerful wizard who you were able to escape because you were wearing a piece of the stone of Avalon," Festus said.

"But there has to be some way we can stop him," Jude said.

"He has the staff of vagus young one, that makes him a force to reckon with. I don't think he needs an army to wipe out the whole of Asaka." Festus said.

"What?" Jude said.

"He can do that?" Jude asked with a shocked expression on his face.

"The staff of Vagus can do anything, the only way to stop him is to place stones of Avalon all over Asaka and make his magic ineffective," Festus said.

"Exactly we," Jude said.

"Where exactly are you planning to get a large supply of stones of Avalon?" Festus said.

"No not that, I know stones of Avalon are rare to find but can't you cast a spell that can stop him from entering Asaka?" Jude said.

"Yeah," Carl said.

"There is a spell that can keep him and his soldiers out but it won't take him long to break through it," Festus said.

"Yeah, we just need you to hold them back while the soldiers set traps for them," Carl said.

"Exactly," Jude said.

There was a moment of silence in the room as Festus looked up at the two young knights and then slowly brought his gaze down.

"You may succeed in dealing with his soldiers but none of your tricks will work on Ashburn as long as he is with that staff," Festus said.

"I've knocked the staff off his hand again before and I think I can do it again," Jude said.

"It's not going to be as easy as you think," Festus said.

"I know, we only need you to hold them back," Jude said, making eye contact with Festus.

Festus picked up his staff from the table and began to mutter some words before he tapped his staff on the table.

A white glowing dome had covered the table now as the two young knights were trying to figure out what it was about.

"Try breaking the table," Festus said.

"Huh?" Jude said.

"Use your sword," Festus said.

"Okay," Jude said as he unsheathed his sword and raised it above the table.

"I really don't want to break your table Festus," Jude said.

"Just do it," Festus said.

Jude quickly brought his sword down trying to slice the table but as soon as his sword made contact with the surface of the orb, white energy burst through it and that energy alone was enough to send him and Carl flying backward until they had crashed into the wall.

"You should have told me to move." Carl groaned as he slowly got up from the floor.

"What was that?" Jude asked slowly, getting up from the floor.

"Light dome, an energy field used to keep out both physical and spiritual materials," Festus said.

"It's just like that shadow enchantment," Jude said.

"Yes, only that it doesn't have an infinite power source," Festus said.

"Okay," Jude said.

"I am going through with your plans but I won't do it secretly," Festus said.

"Huh?" Jude said.

"I would love to speak to Roy before we go through with any of these," Festus said.

____ ____

With the first level of the archery competition done it was time for Lieutenant Kate to call out the scores just to make sure everything was transparent.

"For the first level Brad Gregory secured the maximum points which is a hundred points, Brolin Thawn also secured one hundred points.

"Bella Ramon secured a hundred points and so did Reynold Fall, Robin Lane managed to secure seventy-five points and Ciara Holmes secured ninety points."

"I got the lowest point," Robin said with a low voice.

"Maybe you'll do better in the next level," Ciara said.

"If this was the best I did in this round it's unlikely that the next round will be any better for me," Robin said.

"Just aim for their head and you'll be okay," Ciara said.

"That should have been a hundred for her if the time wasn't so short." Ace said.

"Yeah but they all got the same time for their shots," Luis said.

"Level two of the competition will begin now." Lieutenant Kate said. "Brad Gregory please step up."

Brad slowly walked to the marked spot after hearing his name and was waiting for Lieutenant Kate's signal now.

One thing he and everyone in the arena had noticed was that the dummies were moving two times faster than they moved in the first level.

This was a given considering the fact that this was the level two part of the competition.

"For this level, you also get the same time, fifteen seconds and your time begins now." Lieutenant Kate said.

As soon as Brad heard that, he quickly reached into his pack and took out three arrows which he quickly fitted into his bow.

"I was really looking forward to another ten arrows trick," Monica said.

"If he shoots ten arrows at once, he may miss some shots given that the dummies are faster now," Orah said.

Brad wasn't hesitant to take his shots as he had already studied the dummies and their speed level while waiting for Lieutenant Kate to give him the go sign.

He shot out three sets of three arrows before shooting out the last set which was just one arrow and all of them were headshots.

'It's as though he knows where the dummies are going to be next and just shoots casually.' Luis thought.

'It looks like he's shooting casually but he is being really careful.' Lena said.

"Nicely done Brad." Lieutenant Kate said as her voice resounded in the arena.

*****

Mass release goals...

Normal update: 2 chapters daily

1 magic Castle or 300 power stones= 1 extra chapter

2 magic castles or 500 power stones= 2 extra chapters

3 magic castles or 700 power stones= 3 extra chapters

4 magic castles or 1000 power stones= 4 extra chapters.