These humans must have known their agenda beforehand and must have convinced the child with the purple eyes to go to the Pyramid jungle where they felt he would be safe. These kinds of people who were against their aim to seek the worth of the one with purple eyes were considered enemies.
The tree women shared themselves into two groups. Some fought against Hillary while others attacked Nicole.
Their attacks were heavily brutal and nonstop. Bone-cracking kicks found their way into Hillary's sides. Despite that, she fared off equally with her sword.
One of the tree women stretched her hands forward and green vines began speedily crawling their way towards Hillary but she swiftly cut through each one of them. That just happened to be the beginning.
More plant attacks were directed at her and she countered them with ease with her skill which gave her an advantage over theirs as she could not only control plants too but the ground.
Tons of mud spikes popped out from the ground. The tree women successfully dodged them except for one of them through which two spikes had violently gone through her stomach. On the spot, she dispersed into pieces of dead and shrunken leaves that were soon carried away by the winds.
"It could only mean their cores are located in their stomachs!" Hillary alerted Nicole who quickly put this into action. The golden spear in his hand drove through the stomach of the tree woman who was closest to him, not only killing her but turning her into a gold statue.
"Feast on my cursed spear!" Nicole shouted as he delved further into killing the others left.
"They have found our cores. Isn't it better we retreat?" One of them had asked their leader.
"I believe so," The leader nodded. She blew a loud whistle for the rest of her team left alive to react to as a sign to retreat.
Thick vines stretched out from the ground acting as a platform for them to quickly move out from the sight of the humans.
"What were those things and what did they want?" Nicole was quick to ask.
"I'm lost at what just transpired myself," Hillary replied. "But for now let's keep our eyes and ears wide open in case something like that happens once again."
"Sure," Nicole nodded and they continued moving forward.
*. *. *.
The spaceship had come a long way, although it was barely enough to be referred to as a long way as regards the distance left before they would reach the Pyramid jungle. The flying machine came to a halt and landed on the ground as requested by the passengers. Anytime people were on a journey they would stop most of the time to kill beasts along the way and sometimes to even train. Being in a vehicle for hours on end or even long months would be thought of as idle. At times these feats helped in strengthening journeying players for game rounds.
A flat board stretched out from the ship to the ground, on which they walked down on.
"A breath of fresh air at last," Cheryl sighed.
"It's been like years in the ship even though it's barely even half a day," Roy shook his head and stretched his arms followed by a long yawn.
"But it's better to answer the call of the Panthers. It's always been considered a good omen," The gem floating in the air beside Chase spoke.
"Yeah, we all know that. Otherwise who would sacrifice a year just to visit the home of beasts," Roy said. "Anyways let's get moving. This area looks like it should be full of beasts. We could make a lot of money and skills from beast cores."
"We can make money off beast cores?" Max asked as they walked. It was the first time he had heard of such.
"Are you sure you're a player? If not for the rank on your wrist I wouldn't believe you no matter how much you tried to convince me," Cheryl shook her head.
"Who in the world of Harbingers Of Death doesn't know that?" Roy looked at the purple-eyed boy in surprise.
"Me, I guess," Max shrugged.
"So that means you only earn gems after surviving game rounds," The gem spoke.
He wouldn't put it that way. The system gave him quests to complete within every game round and that determined if he would be rewarded gems or not. Did other players earn gems through selling beast cores and surviving game rounds? Things were different between the special one who had a system and other players who didn't.
"Yes," Max said. These people seemed like good people to him but then no one could be trusted and he couldn't tell them of his system. Especially when someone like him was referred to as a special one, there would always be people out to kill him. He had watched movies and played games like that. Ending up in such a situation was a difficult one for him but if he was ready to survive he would have to strive harder just to get stronger and achieve the goal that had made him eager to stay back in the game.
They walked further into the place that looked deserted till the spaceship behind them could no longer be seen.
[ You have entered into the territory of the Wehyns ]
' Wehyns?' Max lifted an eyebrow in question.
[ Wehyns: Creatures with a high passion for jewelry and sparkling objects. Known as renowned thieves that can fool even the wisest of men ]
' Not the territory of thieves.' Max shook his head.
"It isn't supposed to be hard to find beasts in this kind of area," Cheryl pouted her lips as her eyes searched through the place filled with nothing but mountains engraved with blue crystals in sight.
Roy and Chase began heading towards the mountains.
"Some beasts have this tendency to be sneaky and hide themselves in high or secluded places," Roy said. Cheryl and Max agreed with his words and followed behind them.
The mountains were huge and tall but it didn't take them much time to get halfway through.
"What are these crystals?" The gem sounded overwhelmed as Chase crouched to examine them.
"I don't think you should be touching crystals on a mountain in the middle of nowhere," Max advised. The abode of jewelry thieves never ceased to amaze him with the touch of sparkles. They always had such good taste.
"It's just a mountain, dude chill," Roy laughed.
Chase shook his head.
"I don't think so," The gem said as he pulled a crystal out with force.
A deep prolonged loud noise came in the form of a strange cry.
"Oh shit!" Roy cursed under his breath as black metal covered him up from his feet to his face.
The mountains in the place started rising just like the one they were on. These mountains weren't mountains at all instead they were cyclop creatures with bodies similar to that of a tortoise and their crystal engraved shells which looked exactly like mud and the group realized the noises were from these creatures.
The former mountains rising from the ground had caused them all to fall back onto the ground they had come from.
' Why wasn't I able to tell that these weren't mountains?' Max wondered as he and the others were back on their feet.
Name : [ Cyclop Wehyns ]
Rank : [ Grade 7 Divine beasts ]
[ Beasts with the camouflage ability to merge perfectly into the ground and seal their presence away. Leaders of the Wehyn tribe and protectors of the Wehyn territory ]
A wave of energy came from the beasts and the whole of the area shook. A strong force came upon the group as a result and they struggled to hold onto trees around for safety otherwise they would be blown away to their deaths.
"Don't die you guys! We still haven't arrived at our destination!" Roy shouted as he managed to fly in the direction of a cyclop beast but was unexpectedly stopped by a massive attack of crystals that pierced through his body and he dropped to the ground, unmoving.
AUTHOR'S NOTE :
It's an honour to know that there are people out there willing to read my book and those reading it already. I want to say a big thank you for giving this book your time. This author requests that this book receives as much support as it can to build a better future for it. Please sit tight and progress with me further on this journey of twists and turns. Thank you all so much.