They only needed to walk for a little while before they reached the trees, so they decided to take a short break in case another monster appeared.
Chu Mal-Chin used the excuse that he needed to use the bathroom, so he left the temporary camp they set up and placed a teleport anchor down.
A chest cramp was immediately formed as Chu Mal-Chin get the affects of pushing his power.
He sucked it up and teleported back to Sirvana, it had only been 2 hours and 15ish minutes since he had left her.
As expected, Sirvana was still there. Having been tied up tightly on top of a narrow, shaky vine provided no chance for her to escape with no gift.
Sirvana felt the sudden presence and opened her eyes. She stared at Chu Mal-Chin with hatred.
"Don't worry, you won't die….probably." Chu Mal-Chin added. His trip to the trees went easily as he knew the unique structure of the gate, and he even went inside the small hole.
Once inside, a notification popped up.
[Hidden Instance automatically activated when 2 or more participants enter for 3 minutes.]
He was surprised as the system hadn't mentioned any thing of the sort, but it was good he found out.
Grabbing the bound Sirvana, he teleported inside the hidden scenario and put her down. She huffed as she immediately retreated away from Chu Mal-Chin.
"Aya, don't worry. No monsters will be here, yet." Malso comforted her. "Nothing against you really~ just amount it to bad luck." He waved then teleported away.
After teleporting, the pain in his chest got worse. Quickly recalling the no longer needed teleport anchors, he made his way back to the camp.
"Since you're back, let's go." Samuel said. It seems the 2 annoying bastards were already done resting as they had already gotten their gear ready.
"Bleh, what a short break." Orchid complained.
"We have limited time after all, can't help it if one of us can't keep up." Andras's bad mood from last night seemed to have finally disappeared, as he had a neutral face instead of a frown.
"Tch." Orchid clicked his tongue and they resumed back to traveling. Upon entering a clearing of bushes, they were greeted by the sight of 2 enormous trees.
Pretending to look around, he "accidentally" stumbled onto the hole. He shushed the conversing Samuel and Andras.
"Is that…a person?" Orchid seemed shocked as he peered into the hole.
Intrigued, they both followed up behind Orchid and peered into the dark hole.
However, Andras's gut soon started ringing alarm bells as he felt mana gathering beneath him. He unsheathed his sword but it was too late.
The vines that Orchid had grown from his cards already pushed Andras, just as his sword cut them in half.
Samuel wasn't so lucky as he got pushed violently into the hole by the vines.
As they fell, they saw Orchid creepy mask staring at them. He raised his hand and waved.
"Have safe travels…my companions." Orchid laughed as they fell into the dark hole.
"That bastard-!" Andras heard Samuel swear before they both hit the ground, and the hole was sealed from above.
—-
Groaning, Samuel rubbed his back as his eyes adjusted to the dark cave. Looking around, he saw Andras getting up like him and…Wait, is that-?
"Sirvana!" Samuel rushed over to the bound Sirvana, and untied the ropes. He crushed the shutter item in his hand ruthlessly, it's debris scattered onto the ground.
"Urgh, damn it. That 2 faced bitch got you guys as well." Sirvana cursed as the cloth tied around her mouth was broken.
"Can you explain how you got kidnapped?" Andras stood by the side as Samuel untied Sirvana.
"Ugh, yea. That bastard had been planning for a while, came earlier in the day and caught me off guard." Sirvana got up shakily, and Samuel helped support her.
"Earlier? We were with him for pretty much the whole…oh." Samuel realized mid sentence.
Although Orchid knew them and their relations, the both of them had enough information that could be counted on 1 hand.
The only thing they were certain about were his gender, eye color, his card ability, and his voice if that was even his real one. They knew he had a teleportation related ability but they didn't know the specifics of it.
"Where did he hide you?" Andras thought before asking another question.
"I'm not sure, he transported me onto a high lead sort of platform. My abilities were sealed so I couldn't get off, that creep left me in the sun for 2 hours." Sirvana did indeed look dehydrated and tired.
Samuel brought out a small flask of water he had in his sub space, he looked towards Andras and they both nodded.
"It must have been during that time when he scouted ahead for us." Andras was a little suspicious at how long it took for him to come down, but he passed it off as Orchid trying to sneak in a break as he was panting slightly earlier.
Gulping down the water hungrily, Sirvana breathed in relief.
Samuel clicked his tongue. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted that bastard." To think that he let his guard down so easily.
One little instance where Orchid had helped him and he was already offering his exposed back to him with no suspicion. Atleast Andras noticed before he was pushed down…
"No use mulling it over now." Andras grasped his sword tightly, as it began to illuminate. "It seems we got pushed into a hidden area." He said as he turned towards the small hoard of undead, slowly surrounding them.