Elemental Cats

The door flew off its hinges and slammed down on the floor with a resounding crash.

Toz looked out through the open doorway at the large area outside the dark gray stone cube. He wasn't quite sure what to think since it seemed like the ones who made his jail weren't very creative.

After the second layer that blocked Toz's cell from outside attacks was another third layer. But unlike the gray stone cube that only had a single cell inside, the white cube was large enough to hold several tens of the individual cells. Toz didn't know if he could call it a room since it was so spacious. Aside from the cells dotting the ground like black eggs on a white ground, there wasn't anything inside it.

Toz looked around the room after he stepped out of his cell.

After jumping on top of his grey cube, he saw the four walls clearly. But he didn't see a doorway anywhere. However, he wasn't going to look for a way out until he found the cats. Since they were in a similar state of isolation as Toz had been and were also captured at the same time as him, it would be weird if they weren't in one of the neighboring grey cells.

The large white space had enough space to fit more than ten cubes within, but since they were relatively far apart, there were only nine cubes in total. Toz's cube was in the center, so he didn't have a clear direction in which to begin, so he just picked a random cube and headed toward it. He hoped that his inclination would react if he got closer to the cubes, but it seemed like the isolation managed to prevent that.

Since he couldn't tell if the cats and Brunswick were in any of the cells, Toz began thinking that they might be in another cell with similar isolation but with less security. Toz didn't think it was likely, considering they had displayed strength similar to his during their short tussle with Yill. But he had to be prepared for the reality that he wouldn't find the cats, even after cracking open the other eight cells in the white room.

Well, that was a matter for when he actually managed to open the cells. Opening the grey cubes from within wasn't much of an issue since the enchantments were directed to defend against attacks from the outside. Unfortunately, Toz was outside the cubes, so if he wanted to open them and look for the cats, he would have to exert a great deal of effort.

Toz carefully approached the cube since he didn't know if the defensive measures would activate on presence alone or if they only reacted to attacks. But since his cube hadn't reacted in any way, he figured the cubes most likely only responded if someone tried to attack them directly.

The cube and door looked exactly the same as the one that Toz had been in, but he used his mana vision to confirm the effects of the enchantments. After confirming that it would be near impossible to break through the door, Toz raised a hand while his mana vision was still activated.

He wanted to repeat what had happened when he used fire to escape his own cell. However, since he had tunnel-visioned on his magic during that time, he wasn't sure what he had done. He could only try and replicate it by following a similar process.

But this time, he wasn't going to use fire.

Fire magic would be effective if all he wanted was the destruction of the enchantments, but it would only work if he had sufficient firepower, which he wasn't sure he did. However, there was another way to render the enchantments useless. And that was to attack them from the cube's inside.

The problem came with attacking the enchantments from the other side.

A simple test proved Toz's guess that the enchantments could defend against Dissolution. They also prevented space magic from crossing, so trying to activate space magic on the other side of the door and attack the enchantments would also prove to be a strenuous task.

But just because it would be challenging didn't mean Toz wouldn't be able to do it, especially with the support of his mana vision.

He was still discovering what the mana vision could do, so Toz didn't set any limits on what was possible, and one of the things he wanted to try out was to combine it with his elements. And the first element he got the opportunity to do that with was the space element.

Toz didn't know what to do, so he did as usual and followed his instincts.

He roused his space mana, filling his body and mind with it, just like he noticed what had happened when he used fire magic.

After filling his body, the space mana spilled out of Toz before disappearing. The space mana appeared again in front of the door to the cube. The enchantments' light proved that they did indeed prevent space magic from crossing into the cube. But it seemed like the cube's enchantments were focused solely on defense since there didn't seem to be any enchantments on the verge of retaliating or counter-attacking.

Since all of the cube's enchantments were concentrated on defense, it would probably be a little tougher to reach the other side. It would be harder, but it would also help Toz discover the limits of his mana vision.

Toz looked at the cloud of space mana floating in front of the door and, like he had done with his fire magic, dedicated all his focus to it, ignoring his surroundings. It was a little risky, considering he was in the middle of a prison break, but there didn't seem to be any guards on the way yet. And if they were on the way, just a little slow, Toz hoped his instincts would react in his stead and alert him if there was any danger.