TO THE TREE OF A REALM (1)
Syton furrowed his brows after examining the cards he got from the three deras. Stalane noticed the change Syton's expression.
"What's wrong?"
Syton shook his head before he tore the card into two.
"What are you doing?!" Stalane shouted in shock.
Syton stared at Stalane's eyes then told her honestly what he have discovered.
"We've been walking in an illusion all this time. Those three deras you've just defeated was one of someone's illusion. I've confirmed this when I saw the cards information. It was left as blank. It looked like the person who cast this high-level illusion still left some flaws" Syton explained.
Stalane widened her eyes. She looked around the area and used her enhanced eyesight to look for the person who casted such illusion.
She can't believe she got fooled!
A moment later, a woman wearing a beautiful white skirt and a purple long gloves, appeared behind a tree. She walked calmly and elegantly towards where Syton and Stalane were. Her mustard ombre hair fluttered as she walks, and her emerald green eyes were fixedly looking towards Syton.
By the looks of it, she was the one who casted those illusions.
"I'm sorry for that. The illusion was not meant for the both of you. It was meant to at least slow down those people who was trying to kill me and my friend" the woman apologized.
Then a man showed up from behind of another tree. This man was wearing a black sleeveless collared shirt and black cargo shorts. His eyes were red and his hair was black.
Stalane whispered the lyrion spell 'notitia' to get their information. But it looked like these guys were using the 'corium' spell to hide their information.
"Kill?" Syton asked.
Stalane observed the two new person that appeared before them. She was unsure if they are a foe or a friend. Although, her guts was saying that those guys mean no harm on both of them.
The woman nodded to answer Syton's question. "Oh, you're still a rookie so you might not know that there are a guild who kills their co-braver"
"Isn't that not normal?" Syton asked when he remembered how Stalane got targeted by the 8 bravers.
"Well, there's some certain situations when a braver must kill for their main quest. But for this situation, those bastards from that guild targets whomever they want as long as their leader said so. You could think of them as a guild that was only made for a reason to kill their co-bravers" the woman explained.
Stalane silently looked at the guy who was wearing all black. The guy was just casually standing behind the woman. The guy stared back at Stalane for a moment before bringing back his eyes towards Syton.
"Then why didn't you canceled the illusion when we were fighting against it?" Stalane asked.
The woman smiled at Stalane, "Didn't you guys wanted to test your skills? That's what I felt when I saw the eagerness on your eyes earlier. To be honest, I was planning to but I saw how the two of you were having fun. I didn't want to ruin it for you. Don't worry, I still set the illusions' skills to a level that both of you could handle."
That somehow irked Syton, and he felt somehow insulted. He now doesn't know if the strength and experiment he just did was real or not.
Syton feel like this was a deja vu, during the times he went to train under Lilia's illusion. Her illusion really played him around.
Syton and Stalane remained silent, waiting for them to tell them their purpose or at least introduce themselves.
The guy understood the meaning of their silence.
"I'm Logan, a swordsman. She's Amoura, an illusionist. We are from the guild called Annex. We are now heading to the Tree of a Realm and it has a connection to the subquest that we've got from our guild" the guy named Logan explained.
Both of them nodded and waited for Logan or Amoura to continue.
"We've learned earlier that both of you are still a rank 5H bravers. If you want, we can offer the both of you some protection and guide you towards the Tree of a Realm as well" Amoura continued.
Syton felt suspicious.
"What's on us?" Stalane was the one who lead the negotiations when she felt that Syton was feeling wary of them.
Stalane also felt the same way as Syton, but her instinct was telling her to join up with them. She also felt that these two were being sincere on their offer and they have nothing against them.
"Well, we want both of you to become our decoy from the person that was hunting us"
Stalane and Syton got alert from what they heard. But Amoura immediately tried to calm them down.
"No, no. We won't let the both of you get hurt. It is us they want, not you" Amoura said.
"Then how do you want us to act as a decoy if we are not even their target?" Syton asked in confusion.
"Just like what you did earlier. They were focused on your fight from my illusions that they mindlessly fell into a trap that I've set up. Don't worry, both of you just need to act how you normally do. We'll do the rest to slow them down since we can't kill them just like how they want to kill us" Amoura explained.
"Are we gonna fight an illusion again?" Syton sarcastically asked.
Logan nodded. "Probably, since both of you still can't handle the deras that resides around the area of the Tree of a Realm. Don't worry, we'll kill all the possible threats so both of you could arrive safely at the Tree of a Realm"
Stalane raised her right brow. They won't be able to handle the deras? Are they mocking them?
She was about to retort back but Syton was the one who answered them. Stalane got shocked by the reply that Syton gave.
"Okay. You deal with all of them, but we will handle ourselves on the way back"
Syton felt Stalane's questioning eyes, so he smiled to reassure her.
He knows that the way to the Tree of a Realm is so dangerous, however he believed at their current strength.
But in order to be perfectly sure that they would be able to safely get pass through all the hurdles on the way to the Tree of a Realm, they do need a guide who is already an expert. These two bravers that suddenly appeared before them was a perfect guide for them.
He will sweetly take his time to analyze all the deras and the traps that they'll pass through, so they would be able to get out on their own.