After a while of deliberation, Takoon called over two of the members to him. He spoke to them for a bit and then the two members gave him a nod before they disappeared into thin air.
As they left, my drones came back with a notification notifying me that there were no threats. I kinda guessed that was to be the case since the drones were a new addition to my kit and they were low levelled. That being said, it's too early to say we're in the clear.
We're in a barren wasteland with only ruins to indicate that there was once civilisation here at a point in time. I would be amazed if we were to find out later that this whole place was just an illusion and that those ruins over there are just a distraction.
Not a moment later, one of the scouts returned and gave Takoon his report. Takoon nodded and the man disappeared once more. Takoon then gestured to all of us to follow him as he led us through the barren wasteland. Once we started to move, everything felt real, that this was really happening, my first ever raid.
We strode through the wasteland, nothing around but the solid ground beneath our feet as we walked. The forest was gone as was the village and the fields. Where there should be a giant mountain just ahead of us, that was gone too.
With nothing around, I wondered how this dungeon worked. If Zilma was really the boss of this dungeon and the four heroes as the secret boss, I wondered how all of this would work out?
The only reasonable theory would be the fact that this whole place could be an illusion created by Zilma.
It felt strange, why was this plane so flat? Beside the plaque I've found earlier, there's nothing at all that indicated that this was once, Demon's Land.
We walked for a while and periodically, the scouts reappeared with their reports. Slowly but surely, I started to see the frustration on Takoon's face. He was pissed and I could tell that the gears were turning very fast inside his head.
I found it uncanny, as I looked around more, I found that this whole place resembled a bit like the outback only more barren and less hot. The only thing that's missing was the fact that if I was standing in the middle of the Northern Territory, in the heart of the outback and looked around as I was right now, I would be thinking, where was Uluṟu? But in this case, where was the mountain that held a capital?
I turned around and where there should've been a forest, was replace with red, red dirt. The portal that we went through had already long disappeared and now if I were to spin around, all I could see was red dirt, we'll… apart from some of the foliage I could see, scattered in various spots.
Takoon, on the other hand, was now looking around in all directions. The group chatted amongst themselves about the situation.
"I can see now why this is an S rated dungeon," Pyrus commented aloud.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"From all the raids I've done, this by far is the most difficult to comprehend. We're out in the middle of nowhere, exposed and are likely to be sitting ducks."
"So you think we're in some kind of trap?" I asked knowing what he's going to say.
"Maybe…," Pyrus closed his eyes for a second before opening them again and widened as his face showed emotions of fear.
"What's wrong?" Naimse asked as she scanned his face, her face was now showing some concern.
Pyrus's eyes started to darken before engulfing into pure blackness.
"Adventurers!" Pyrus spoke in a voice not of his own.
Everyone in the group all turned their heads to Pyrus.
"Welcome to my domain. I am Zilma, Demon King of Hilliox! You have entered my land and I don't take kindly to intruders. Please go back to where you came from and never to return, refuse and spend the rest of your days here."
Silence fell on us as the air thickened with fear. Pyrus who's been possessed by Zilma looked around with a grin on his face.
I was about to say something but Takoon beat me to it.
"I am the captain of this team and an admin to the High Flyers Guild. Demon King, prepare yourself! We are no pushovers! We will conquer this dungeon and receive our just rewards!"
"Oh really? Tell me, how will you accomplish this?" Pyrus eyebrow arched and stared at Takoon.
"My team will find you and kill you!"
"How?"
"What do you mean how?"
"..."
"..."
"You're the captain and yet you still haven't found out the predicament that your in... I'm a bit disappointed really. Well... that's not true, two people from your team already have and it's intrigued me that they haven't spoken up to you, the team captain, about this."
Takoon narrowed his eyes and looked around.
"Who? Who's been keeping information from the me!"
No one answered. I didn't, that's for sure. I knew Zilma was talking about us, me and Pyrus and from the way he spoke, he was trying to rile Takoon up. He's plotting something and I needed to becareful. I could feel Lucifer's emotions radiating and I hoped Zilma couldn't feel it
"Ahahaha!~ You're the captain? Pathetic! I have never seen a leader such as yourself, with such a terrible attitude. I hate leaders such as you the most. Don't give me that look. You say your the captain and yet your not the strongest in your group. Such weakling. Ah... I'm bored right now. Entertain me adventurers! Let's have a little bit of fun! Try and escape my Illusion! Good luck adventurers!"
Zilma laughed once more before he left Pyrus as he regained control of himself.
"W-what happened?" Pyrus asked in a daze.
"You were possessed by the demon king..." Namise whispered to Pyrus.
Pyrus eye's widened.
"Okay guys!" Takoon shouted which drew everyone's attention to him. "We will split up into two groups. I will take one group and Pyrus will take the other!"
"What?! Me?!" Pyrus eyes widened even more.
"Yes, you. You were possessed by that bastard that talked down to me and I don't like that. I will also not play this game of his. I'm no prey for him to toy with. We will split into two teams, our current team is too big. If we split up, we might cover more ground. Alright, now..."
Takoon pointed to members and asked them to step over to his side. He picked all of the ranged attackers, all but one spellcasters, some bruisers and tankers. I had to inner laugh at what he was going for. He's team consisted mostly of damage dealers. Our team on the other hand was well balanced even though there was only one damage dealers on our team. I say we was a balanced team because we are, thanks to the Shadow Legion. He really didn't consider taking a healer, I half expected him to take Namise but he didn't.
Namise smiled at me when I looked at her. I think she was happy that she was with us and not them.
"Okay my team, let's move!" Takoon took off with his members trailing behind him. None of the others in his team looked fazed at the comp... I guess they all also have the same mindset as Takoon.
Pyrus looked around and sighed. I had taken note of everyone in our team. We had four tankers, three healers, two bruisers and one spellcaster.
Pyrus cleared his throat.
"So... what the fuck just happened?"
"You're the new captain for our team!" One of the tankers laughed as he slapped his hand onto Pyrus's back.
"Are all of you okay with this?" Pyrus asked as he looked at each of us. Some of them shrugged their shoulders as their answer to Pyrus whilst others kept quiet. I on the other hand gave him a thumbs up and Namise gave pyrus a small nod.
"Okay... I will be the team captain and as the captain, I won't allow us to rush into this without figuring out what our plan is first.
"How the fuck are we going to break a illusion?" asked the spellcaster.
"There must be a weak point somewhere in this illusion, we just have to find it," Pyrus responded after he thought for a bit.
Is there a weak point to a illusion I wonder...
{"There is master."} Lucifer's voice echoed in my mind.
What's the weak point?
{"A illusion is only as powerful as the caster. Zilma is cunning, I'll give him that but he's not as powerful as he think he is. To break the illusion, all we have to do is to exert more power than him. Once our power overcomes his, the illusion will break. It's that easy. Master you're the only one in this team that can exert that much power and that's because you have us!"}
I had to chuckle inwardly at that.
"Ryan?" Pyrus called my name.
"Huh?" I turned my head to Pyrus.
"You okay?"
"Um... ya?"
"Do you have any ideas on how we should approach this?" Pyrus asked with a frown.
"Yes."
Pyrus face lit up.
"You do? Tell us!"
"We will exert more power than the demon king and break the illusion."
"Exert more power? Hm..."
"I get it!" shouted the spellcaster. "If we were able to exert more power over the demon king, then the illusion will lose it's affect. The illusion is only as strong as it's caster. But wait... the caster is a demon king... How are we going to exert more power over a demon king?"
"Easy, I'll do it."