The moment those words left Liam’s mouth, the atmosphere inside the cavern changed completely.
Until now, he had been reacting.
Reading.
Learning.
Allowing the witch to dictate the rhythm of the battle while he adapted to her illusions.
That phase was over.
The old witch sensed it immediately.
The smile that had slowly returned to her face stiffened as an instinct buried deep within her screamed at her to create distance.
She obeyed without thinking.
Her frail body leaped backward with surprising agility, disappearing behind layers of intertwining vines as dozens of illusions blossomed around her once more. Ten identical figures appeared at different heights inside the cavern, each one carrying the same twisted smile and the same pair of glowing green eyes.
"You’re dangerous..." she muttered, her voice coming from every direction at once. "Far more dangerous than I expected."
Liam stood in the center of the chamber with his eyes still closed.
He neither pursued nor answered.
He simply listened.
The cave was no longer silent.
Mana pulsed through the crystal walls like blood through veins. Tiny vibrations traveled beneath the stone beneath his feet while the countless vines brushed against one another, creating a constant rustling sound that would have overwhelmed an ordinary person’s senses.
To Liam...
The noise gradually organized itself.
Every illusion remained empty.
No heartbeat.
No breathing.
No living presence.
The real witch continued hiding among them.
She smiled from somewhere inside the darkness.
"So you’ve decided not to rely on your eyes anymore."
Her laughter echoed softly.
"Then let me attack the one thing you still trust."
She slowly raised both hands.
The green crystals embedded throughout the cavern suddenly brightened until they illuminated every inch of the chamber.
An unnatural vibration spread through the walls.
Then...
Every single vine stopped moving.
The silence lasted only a heartbeat.
Boom!
Thousands of roots erupted from every direction simultaneously.
Unlike before, they didn’t attack in waves.
They attacked together.
The ceiling collapsed beneath the weight of enormous thorn-covered roots while the walls split open as thick tendrils burst outward like the limbs of gigantic serpents. Even the floor beneath Liam cracked apart as sharpened vines lunged toward him from below.
The entire cavern had become a weapon.
Liam inhaled quietly.
His body moved.
He stepped half a pace to the left.
A root burst through the space where his chest had been.
He leaned backward.
Three more swept harmlessly past his face.
His right hand shot outward.
Bang!
One genuine vine exploded into splinters beneath his fist.
Without stopping, he pivoted.
Another attack came from above.
He caught it.
His fingers wrapped around the thorn-covered vine before twisting violently.
Crack!
The entire length of it snapped apart.
The witch watched through one of her illusions.
His movements...
They were becoming smoother.
Every exchange made him harder to deceive.
"No..."
She whispered.
"You’re learning too quickly."
She stretched both arms outward.
The shattered vines immediately began growing again.
New roots burst from the broken ends as if they had never been damaged.
Within seconds...
The cavern was restored.
Liam noticed.
So she could regenerate them.
Interesting.
That meant destroying the vines accomplished nothing unless he defeated the one controlling them.
The witch suddenly laughed.
"You figured that out?"
"Good."
"Then let’s see how long your stamina lasts."
The cave shook again.
This time the vines didn’t attack Liam directly.
Instead they wrapped around the crystal formations lining the chamber.
With a violent pull...
Entire crystal pillars were ripped free from the ground.
One.
Three.
Ten.
Massive glowing crystals, each weighing several tons, floated into the air before being hurled toward Liam from every direction.
The air roared.
Liam remained perfectly calm.
He stepped forward.
The first crystal crashed down.
Boom!
He punched straight through it.
The enormous formation shattered into thousands of glittering fragments that scattered across the cavern like blue rain.
The second followed immediately.
He ducked beneath it.
The third came from behind.
Without turning, he kicked backward.
Bang!
It exploded upon impact.
Crystal dust filled the air.
The witch smiled.
She wasn’t trying to crush him.
She was taking away his senses.
The glittering fragments spread throughout the cavern, bouncing off every surface and filling the air with countless tiny impacts. The constant rain of crystal shards produced thousands of overlapping sounds, each echoing from different directions until the entire cave became a chaotic orchestra.
Mary watched with pale face as she would’ve struggled to hear her own heartbeat inside this chamber.
The witch wanted exactly that.
If Liam relied on hearing...
Then she would drown him in noise.
She watched him carefully.
"Now..."
"Find me."
Liam didn’t move.
The crystal rain continued falling around him.
Sharp fragments struck the floor.
The walls.
The vines.
Every sound merged into one endless storm.
He remained perfectly still.
Then...
He smiled.
The witch frowned.
"What’s so amusing?"
Liam answered quietly.
"You’ve misunderstood something."
"Oh?"
"I don’t listen for sound."
His voice remained calm.
"I listen for life."
The witch’s expression changed.
Before she could react...
Liam disappeared.
Boom!
The ground burst apart beneath his feet.
He shot across the cavern at terrifying speed.
Not toward any illusion.
Not toward any visible movement.
Toward an empty corner hidden behind a curtain of vines.
The witch’s pupils shrank.
"He found me again!"
She thrust both palms forward.
The vines surrounding her surged together, weaving themselves into an enormous wall dozens of layers thick. Thorn after thorn intertwined until the barrier resembled the trunk of an ancient tree.
Liam never slowed.
Bang!
His shoulder slammed into the wall.
The first layer exploded.
Then the second.
The third.
The fourth.
He tore through barrier after barrier until only a few metres separated him from the real witch.
For the first time...
She looked genuinely terrified.
She immediately bit down on one of the bone charms hanging around her neck.
It shattered.
Dark green mana erupted from the broken charm before swallowing her entire body.
Liam’s hand reached forward.
His fingers closed...
On empty air.
The witch vanished.
He stopped.
Eyes still closed.
Silence returned to the cavern.
Then her laughter echoed once more.
But this time...
It sounded much farther away.
Much deeper within the cave.
"Very impressive..."
Her voice drifted through the darkness.
"But if you think that was my final trick..."
The crystals lining the deepest part of the cavern suddenly began glowing an ominous crimson.
"...then you’ve only just arrived."
The entire mountain trembled.
The crimson light spread through the cavern like blood flowing through veins.
Every crystal embedded in the walls pulsed together, their glow growing brighter with each passing second until the entire chamber was bathed in an eerie red light. The temperature dropped sharply. Even the air itself felt heavier, as though the mountain had suddenly awakened from a deep slumber.
Liam stood perfectly still.
His eyes remained closed.
His breathing was slow and steady.
Far away, the witch’s laughter echoed once more, but it was different this time. There was confidence in it again.
"You forced me to use this."
Her raspy voice rolled through the cavern.
"You should feel honored."
The ground trembled.
The vines covering the walls suddenly began withering.
They shrank into black dust before being absorbed into the glowing crystals, and in return the crystals shone even brighter than before. Streams of crimson mana flowed toward the deepest part of the cave where the witch had hidden herself, feeding into her frail body until the wrinkles on her skin tightened and the crooked spine she had carried straightened slightly.
She was becoming stronger.
Not younger.
Simply... stronger.
The pressure radiating from her body doubled.
Then tripled.
Mary would’ve struggled to breathe if she were still inside.
The witch slowly floated into the air, suspended by crimson mana as hundreds of illusionary copies surrounded her once again.
"You’ve adapted to my illusions."
"So I shall simply overwhelm your senses."
She stretched both hands outward.
Every illusion suddenly came alive.
This time they weren’t merely visual tricks.
Each one released mana.
Each one disturbed the air.
Each one produced footsteps.
For the first time since Liam had closed his eyes...
His Aether Sense hesitated.
The witch laughed triumphantly.
"There."
"I’ve finally blinded you."
Hundreds of witches charged him together.
Every direction screamed danger.
Every direction felt alive.
The cavern erupted into chaos.
Liam didn’t move.
The first witch reached him.
A claw swept toward his throat.
He caught it.
Smoke.
An illusion.
Another attacked from behind.
He ignored it.
A real vine struck his ribs.
Bang!
He slid several metres across the cave floor.
Another illusion rushed him.
He countered.
Nothing.
A genuine thorned whip lashed across his shoulder.
Blood splashed onto the stone.
The witch laughed louder.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Illusions mixed perfectly with reality until even Liam could no longer distinguish them immediately.
For the first time since entering the cave...
He was losing.
A thorned vine wrapped around his left arm.
Another caught his ankle.
A third struck his back hard enough to crack the stone beneath him.
The witch floated above him, smiling victoriously.
"You see?"
"You are powerful."
"But power means nothing before experience."
"I have hunted inside these caves longer than your bloodline has existed."
She slowly descended.
"You adapted."
"I adapted faster."
The old woman raised a hand.
A spear formed entirely from condensed crimson mana.
Its tip pulsed with terrifying energy.
"This ends now."
She hurled it.
The crimson spear screamed through the air.
Liam remained still.
His eyes stayed closed.
Then...
He smiled.
A small smile.
Almost imperceptible.
The witch frowned.
"What?"
Liam spoke quietly.
"I’ve been wondering..."
The spear came closer.
"...why someone as cautious as you..."
Closer.
"...would suddenly expose herself."
The witch’s eyes widened.
Expose...
Herself?
The crimson spear reached Liam.
He sidestepped effortlessly.
The attack missed him completely before exploding against the cave wall.
Boom!
The entire mountain shook.
Dust filled the air.
The witch’s expression slowly changed.
"You..."
Liam finally opened his eyes.
Golden light flickered within them.
"You made one mistake."
He looked directly at her.
"You thought I was relying on my senses to find your body."
"I wasn’t."
Her smile disappeared completely.
"I was waiting..."
Liam bent his knees.
"...for you to become impatient."
Boom!
The cave floor exploded beneath him.
He vanished.
The witch instinctively created hundreds of illusions.
They appeared between them instantly.
Liam didn’t even glance at them.
Dragon Step.
His speed multiplied explosively.
The illusionary witches blurred past him.
The real witch hurriedly crossed both hands.
An enormous wall of vines erupted before her.
Liam punched once.
Bang!
The wall exploded.
She created another.
Bang!
It shattered too.
Another.
Another.
Another.
Each one lasted less than a heartbeat.
Fear finally overtook the old woman’s face.
"No..."
She stepped backward frantically.
"No!"
Bone charms hanging from her neck shattered one after another as she desperately activated every defensive spell she possessed.
Magic circles filled the air.
Illusions layered over illusions.
Walls appeared.
Floors shifted.
The cave itself twisted.
Liam walked through every deception as though it didn’t exist.
There was no hesitation left.
No uncertainty.
Only certainty.
The witch turned to flee.
Too late.
A hand wrapped around the back of her neck.
She froze.
Liam stood behind her.
His grip tightened.
The old woman trembled violently.
"Wait..."
Her voice cracked.
"We can make a deal."
"I know things."
"I know why this world is changing."
"I know about the darkness."
"I know about..."
Liam interrupted her.
"You tried to kill her."
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