'Hey... I'm tired. You take care of this.'
'Finally!'
'And don't even think about doing something stupid!'
'Fi~ne...!'
Seraph's expression suddenly changed; his eyes burned with twisted madness and a mad smile appeared on his lips.
"What do you mean we're not running?!? You don't intend to fight that thing, do you?"
"Don't waste your time, Shadow. He won't listen to you in this state. The best thing to do is just to step back and assist him in the fight."
With that, Kai sped up a bit, caught up to Seraph, and took Morgan off of his back.
"Thanks, Kaito. Noisy was restricting me."
After that, they split up; Seraph continued running directly while the others headed in different directions. Soon enough, the Named Walker appeared. He was a true monstrosity towering at least 15 meters above them. He resembled a very fat hybrid between a human and a boar. Instead of eyes, he had two dots of pitch-black darkness that were reeking of dark blood. His ears were enormous resembling that of elves.
"Blusher, restrain him!", Seraph.
"Got it!"
Lucy extended her hand and big black chains appeared from the ground and tied both hands of the Orc. However, a second later they were chattered by his overwhelming force, but that single second was all it took Shadow and Kai to get behind it and attack him with their weapons. Smiling Shadow's sword and Silent's daggers made enough damage to make the Walker scream in pain. The Orc turned around and swung his arm targeting them, but his punch hit only the ground which cracked and debris flew in every direction. Meanwhile, Kai used his footwork techniques to get behind him again. On his back, Morgan was drawing her longbow. She shot multiple arrows at once and the poor Walker let out another roar of agony falling to one knee. By then, Seraph finished preparing for his attack, black flames ignited on his sword as he was sprinting toward the enemy. He jumped, disappeared for a split second, and then reappeared behind the kneeling creature whose head was sent flying while being consumed by those flames. His body fell to the ground also getting burned.
"Nice work guys, but we should hurry and leave unless we want to fight it again. The respawn rate inside the forest is also faster than light.", Shadow.
"Yeah, let's go. I'm tired.", Morgan.
Although, their battle didn't last longer than a dozen seconds, fighting at their speed put a lot on their minds. Mental stamina was the most important thing in the Dream World, and now, they were running low on it.
'Switchback. I don't want him knowing anything more.'
'Is it time already? But I want to play a little more.'
'NOW!'
'Fine!'
Seraphim's expression was back to normal now. They gathered and continued their run.
They still had to fight some more along the way, but no opponent made them stop.
"Hold on a little longer... We're almost there!", Shadow.
Just as he finished saying that, the number of trees decreased, and a beam of light became visible at the end of the way. There, there was a large space without trees with a very large temple at the center. It was surrounded by various buildings. As soon as they exited the forest, they heard the voice of the Dream Host:
[Congratulations, brave Dreamers! You are the first ones to discover the Hidden Dream: Maya.]
[The Hidden Dream will now be added to your Dream Helmet.]
[You can now directly transport to the Hidden Dream.]
"What the hell is a Hidden Dream?", Morgan.
"It seems that Zephyr has also hidden Dreams in the Dream World. Maybe there is one for every Clue.", Seraph.
"Let's not think about that at the moment. For now, let's explore this city.", Shadow.
"Shadow is right. Let's focus on the things in front of us.", Lucy.
"Trickster, you spend the whole day studying the Maya civilization. Mind giving us a tour?", Kai.
"Yeah, sure."
***
"...and that circular platform with aligned openings, or windows if you want, is an observatory. It is a place dedicated to studying celestial phenomena such as the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. So yeah, that's about it. Any questions?"
"Yeah... Are the people here usually this shy? Ever since we set foot in the city, they have been observing us from inside their houses. Are they afraid?", Morgan.
"Of course they are. Up until now, no one outside their city managed to get here. Even last time, I wasn't able to enter it because there was a protective barrier I couldn't pass. That's why I asked for your help, but now it seems to have magically disappeared."
"Maybe Zephyr put it just in case someone managed to cross the forest before he announced the existence of the Clues.", Seraph.
Suddenly, the natives around them panicked and started closing their windows one by one. The group was very confused and they began turning left and right trying to understand what was happening.
"There!"
Morgan pointed toward a very large building next to the temple. In front of it, there was a large group of men walking in their direction. They were all wearing the same dress. Gold shining armor, red capes, and silver helmets with transparent visors. Once they reached where the Dreamers were, a man stepped ahead and said in perfect English:
"Strangers! You have been invited to the Grand Palace by his majesty. Be honored. Don't resist and come with us. If you don't comply, we will have no choice but to use force."
Kai was suspicious of them. He said:
"Trickster, I believe that this is a trap. What do you think?"
"I say we should follow them for now. Who knows? Maybe they will take us straight to the First Clue. If things go south, we can always fight or run away. It's not like we'll die for real. Any objections?"
They all shook their heads.
"Mr. Knight! As you can see, we don't intend to cause any commotion. Please lead the way!"
With that, they started walking behind the knights. It is true that Seraph is the one who decided to follow them, but he also was suspicious of them due to the reactions of the natives from before.
"It's going to be alright guys. It's not like they're going to use us as sacrifices for gods or something!", Morgan.
A deep frown appeared on Seraphim's face.
'Idiot! Why did you say that out loud?!'
'Hehe... looks like you'll be fighting gods. Well, good luck in advance. Not like it will make any difference anyway.'