"Who's your leader? I'd like to talk to him."
"R-r-right away!" One of the Evil Spirit almost squealed like a little girl, making Yuuta almost flinch. Fortunately, he was able to keep his composure as the Evil Spirits made way for them.
To Yuuta, it sounded like a squeal of a little girl, but to Miki and Yua, it sounded like a terrifying ear-splitting screech that sent tingles down their spine. Not only were they genuinely scared of the Evil Spirits, they were beginning to be wary of Yuuta, who could communicate with them.
Sensing their unease, Yuuta turned back and smiled at them. "This is just the Skill I got after completing my Exclusive Quest of mapping the Spirit Jungle, you don't have to be that scared."
"Then... where are we going right now?"
Yuuta gulped but he didn't answer. If he had said that they were going straight to the lair of the Evil Spirit in order to take them out, they would flip out. The last thing he wanted to happen was for both Miki and Yua to panic and cause a ruckus, alarming the Evil Spirits that had all the power to take them down easily even though they have the Black Grsrzy Scarf and the Holy Sword of Light and Truth with them. Although Yuuta couldn't really see through the actual stats of each Evil Spirit, he could tell that they were stronger than Miki and Yua combined. Of course, that's because there were hundreds of Evil Spirits here.
"Yua, can you hear me?" Yuuta muttered underneath his breath, stealing a glance towards Yua.
Yua nodded. She could tell that Yuuta was about to tell her something important so she decided to wear her most serious face as she intently bore a hole on Yuuta's nape with her eyes.
"When you were taken by Aarkra, I'm sorry if it made you remember that experience, the Sacred Stones members put up some sort of shield that trapped him, right? Do you know what it's called?"
"Yes, that's a Holy Seal, any Evil Spirit trapped within that Seal cannot escape it. And then, those with the Holy Element could easily fire skills at that Evil Spirit and kill it." Yua whispered back. "Although that's a roundabout way to kill an Evil Spirit, that is also the only way."
"Miki, can you do the Holy Seal? You do have the Holy Element, right?"
"I do have the Holy Element... but I haven't used it that much. I've heard of the Holy Seal but as far as I know, it can only be performed with two Holy Element users." She answered. "And even if there were another Holy Element user here, I still wouldn't be able to do it because I don't know how to."
"That's fair. I'll try to think up of something." Yuuta responded as he put the Black Grsrzy Scarf back in his inventory. He also advised Miki to hide the Holy Sword of Light and Truth for now and told her to be prepared to draw it out at all times.
Although Miki agreed and obliged, she still wasn't sure where they were going. It was already in the middle of the night but they're following Evil Spirits somewhere. It is certainly suspicious but she decided to trust Yuuta this time, regardless of what would happen.
The Evil Spirits continued to lead them deeper into the forest and as they did, the atmosphere became colder and colder. No one knows if it was because of the ever-increasing headcount of the Evil Spirits or if it's the forest's true nature. Nevertheless, they pressed on, with the Evil Spirit and Yuuta on the lead.
From time to time, Yuuta would speak in an ominous and unintelligible language and the Evil Spirit would respond. Unbeknownst to Yuuta, he was speaking the language of the Evil Spirits. For him, he was speaking in human language but what comes out of his mouth was totally different. This made Miki and Yua feel even more uneasy. But then again, they don't know what's happening so they didn't address Yuuta about it.
"I'm Abhr, the highest-ranking Minth in this forest." One of the Evil Spirits introduced himself to Yuuta, slightly bowing down to show his respect. He wanted to get on Yuuta's good side so he would reveal where he learned their language.
"Minth? What do you mean Minth? Aren't you all Evil Spirits?"
"Evil Spirits? How rude! We aren't evil spirits! We are Minths!" Abhr angrily pointed out, and then he cleared his throat. Remain calm, Abhr. He told himself. There was no way this mere human could get the better of me by calling us Evil Spirits.
"So you're Minths, huh. Are you a different race that resides in the world of Lucid? Or did you come from another dimension?"
Abhr stopped going forward for a few seconds before answering. "No, we are not a different race. And we did not come from another dimension. We are from a different planet, a planet that revolves around the universe. And every time we find an inhabited planet, we leave our species there so we could continue our race to secure that we wouldn't go extinct." He continued.
"But our leader like it here. That's why he wants to conquer the whole world of Lucid and make it our secondary planet. Although the humans here have the means to fight against us, they're relatively weak. And so it's only a matter of time before we conquer the whole planet."
"Are you sure you should be telling me all that, Abhr?" Scratching his head, Yuuta couldn't quite make heads or tails out of Abhr. He seemed so relaxed that for a moment, Yuuta thought that he could actually persuade him to join their side instead of fighting for their leader.
"Why shouldn't I, you're dead meat anyway. And also, do you think this is the first world we've conquered? Our leader is quite used to it. That's why there's no need to hide our plans on the inhabitants of this world. As soon as we stepped foot on it, there's no way we wouldn't be able to conquer it."
The overwhelming confidence coming from Abhr made Yuuta remember what Kazunari told him a few hours back— that there's a powerful Evil Spirit (Minths) that has created a dimension to their world. And for some reason, the creators of the VRMMORPG Lucid Dream Server managed to link to it and make Head Gears out of it. In turn, these Head Gears could easily connect someone's mind to the otherworld, the world of Lucid. Technically, this connection is what's enabling the person to lucid dream but in reality, their minds are forcibly linked to the world of Lucid, giving them access to it. This is like a power cord connected to a socket, there was no difference, and Yuuta could finally slowly figure out the secrets of both worlds.
Therefore, he also concluded that the world of Lucid is, in fact, a different world. It made perfect sense! Otherwise, the 'jumps' happening from one world to the other would be unexplainable. And it's not like those occurrences (like the Lance-guy and the Broadsword guy jumping from a tall building) are just hallucinations. It was even shown on tv.
Everything that happens in here and in the real world is real. There's no mistaking it. And these Minths are deeply connected to it because it's their dimensions in the first place that enabled the connection of the real world to this world. Or so, that's what Kazunari told him. Yuuta didn't fully trust him. And that's the sole reason why he decided to reunite with Lav Kravia from the Beginner Village. But for now, he had to comply with these Minths, or else he might accidentally incur their wrath on him and his company.
"We're here," Abhr announced once they reached a cave in the middle of the forest.
From afar, the cave had the illusion of being small. Upon closer inspection, however, the cave was twice as tall as Yuuta and probably a few kilometers deep. Using his All-Seeing Eye Skill, Yuuta immediately mapped out the initial parts of the cave. if he wanted to see more, he'd have to go deeper into it.
Gulp, there was a feeling of uneasiness creeping up on Yua and Miki while they watched Yuuta step foot into the cave, There were no hints of nervousness in his expression but somehow, they still felt nervous. 'I mean, a rational person wouldn't go into a dangerous cave, what is Yuuta doing?' Miki asked herself.
However, going into a dangerous place is better than being separated from your party members. With a changed mindset, Miki and Yua delved deeper into the cave with Yuuta in front. Deep inside, they hoped that the entire situation was just a dream, despite having no chances of it being a dream.
"Yuuta," Miki called out since she couldn't take it anymore. "Are you sure we have to do this? Our goal is to get to the Beginner Village as soon as possible. Why are we getting sidetracked here?"
"Don't worry, this will all be over soon," Yuuta assured her. "Just stick close to me. It would be bad if you get lost in this cave."
The cave branched out into three parts in total and their group went through the middle path. As usual, Abhr took the lead, and Yuuta and the others followed suit. The pitch-black darkness of the cave, along with its musty and cool atmosphere didn't help with everyone's nervousness at all. In fact, even Yuuta, who is exceptionally adaptive when it comes to danger, was feeling rather nervous as the chill crept up and down his spine. From time to time, he would steal a glance towards Yua and Miki, only to find out that they were not worse than him. They may be shivering but at least they didn't feel nervous.
As they delve deeper into the cave, it came to the point when Yuuta could barely see the surroundings even though his eyes grew quite accustomed to the dark. Despite that being the case, he found out that closing his eyes made him sense the surroundings a lot more because he's used to it. That's why, when Yua and Miki couldn't see a thing anymore, they relied on Red grabbing him by the hand as he pressed forward. From time to time, Yuuta could be heard clicking his tongue— a skill that enables him to see without the use of his eyes, courtesy of his self-taught echolocation.
Meanwhile, the Evil Spirits, or rather, Minths, were a bit perplexed because the group of teenagers didn't require their assistance as they navigated through the meandering cave. They thought that maybe the teenagers had a little bit of bat blood in their system or something ridiculous as that. But then again, they couldn't find the right timing to ask them about it so they decided to continue minding their own business.
"Hey, young kid! What do you think you're doing? You're walking right into your death!" Someone whispered to Yuuta, much to his surprise.