Chapter 330: Forest of Chaotic Illusions! Part-5.
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"Can you sense where she went?"
At Lia's question, Kai replied in a calm voice,
[Yes, she took a different path but is also heading towards the deeper area, just like us...]
[We will likely et her in the core area if we keep going...]
Lia nodded her head in response to those words.
"Good, thankfully she escaped the siege of those illusionary ants too..."
Lia and Selain were separated during that sudden siege of the ant colony; both of them were forced to escape on separate paths.
Thus, Lia was concerned about Selain's well-being, and she asked Kai to detect her situation. Thankfully, Selain herself is a strong person, so she successfully made it out of the siege too. "Good, then we should keep heading deeper too-"
Just when Lia was about to start moving again, a familiar person appeared nearby.
"Ah, so you were here. I have been looking for you everywhere, Lia."
All of a sudden, Rio appeared in front of Lia; a rare happy smile hung over his face, and he looked more handso than usual today.
"W-what? How is-"
Lia was confused for a mont, but then suddenly her eyes turned cold, and she swung her sword.
[Silver Lion Swordsmanship: Thousand Claw Thrusts!]
Lia twisted her wrist a bit and did a thousand-sword thrust attack on Rio in a matter of a single second.
"Don't try to imitate him, you pathetic monster!!"
When Lia's sword hit, the illusion broke apart, and a weird plant fell to the ground and turned into ashes.
Lia cald her trembling body and organized her thoughts.
[Kiddo, I am impressed! you figured out that was an illusion much faster than I expected...]
Kai had already seen through that illusion at the very first mont, but he didn't tell Lia about it because he wanted to see how Lia would handle it.
And she handled the situation much better than he expected her to.
She only hesitated for a mont and then figured out the situation easily.
"Of course! I can easily see if it's the real Rio or not... That illusion was very low quality..."
"It didn't have that sa 'Vibe' that Rio has-you know, that feeling of being 'Detached' and 'Indifferent'...."
"Also... if it were Rio, he could have easily dodged my attack without blinking an eye..."
Lia shook her head and started to walk deeper in the cave.
And she actually encountered the sa situation quite a few more tis; those sa weird plants kept coming with various illusions of Rio.
So were sending flying kisses at her, and so were trying to hug her. Although the scene seed quite pleasing to the eye, Lia steeled her heart and made through it without batting an eye.
'I can just ask the real him to smile at ! I don't need these fake ones!!'
Lia kept shouting these words in her mind as she pushed through the area where she was being forced to see Rio again and again.
It was really a test of will; if it were soone else in her place, they would have already fallen for this trick after being deceived.
...
"Phew~, I finally made it through that area..."
Lia heaved a sigh of relief after she finally escaped from the area filled with dozens of illusion-showing plants.
[A special kind of spell is placed upon that area... it was likely utilizing your own mory to create illusions...]
[This is one of the most lethal types of illusion... other illusions are made to target people at random...] [But this type of illusion targets everyone on a personal level... If soone has recently lost a loved one and encounters this illusion...]
[I think this illusion will make them suffer even more in that scenario... a truly terrifying technique.
Kai rarely talks a lot about anything, but today he couldn't help but elaborate further about this illusion technique.
It's so unique that even Kai is impressed by it.
[Well, I am a spirit being... Spirit beings themselves are half real and half illusions... so it doesn't work on ...]
Lia sighed at those words and said,
"I bet it won't work on Rio either..."
Kai also agreed to Lia's words.
['Sword Intent' is a direct counter to 'Illusions'. He can easily counter these things and remain unaffected... sa goes for Link; if he keeps his 'Dao Rhythm' active, he will also remain unaffected...]
Actually, Kai didn't know that Riya also awakened a 'Legendary' ability, which is the 'Heart of Eternal Nirvana', so she won't be affected by the illusion either.
All in all, each and every mber of Team Astra is more unique than the others.
Each one of them has their own strengths and amazing abilities.
(We aren't counting Fade and Kira as mbers of team Astra anymore; they were only part of it until the supre tournant arc...)
...
Lia walked deeper into the cave, and after another few hours of walking and killing a few more illusion monsters, she finally reached a massive open area.
'Is this the deepest area?'
At Lia's question, Kai replied,
[Yep, this is it... that girl, Selain, is also about to arrive; maybe you should wait for her here for a few
minutes...]
Lia nodded her head and waited a few minutes.
She saw many other openings to this massive underground open area, similar to the passage from which she ca.
She glanced around and noticed that the whole area was empty; there wasn't a single soul in
sight.
Lia wanted to go and investigate things on her own, but she waited for Selain to arrive after
hearing Kai's advice.
A few minutes passed by, and Selain ca out of a nearby passage.
Her clothes seed more haggard, and she looked more exhausted than Lia.
Actually, she was targeted by more ants when Lia and she escaped; moreover, she doesn't
have the guidance of a strong person like Kai, so it was more difficult for her. When Selain noticed Lia, she imdiately rushed over and started to complain in an
aggrieved tone.
"Ugh... You know what, I saw illusions of my father! My father is a calm and strict person, but those illusions were actually smiling at
and being all lovey-dovey... I nearly fell for that!!"
"Agh... I barely escaped from getting pierced by a stone spike that ca flying my way when I let my guard down and allowed that illusion to pat my head..."
"Sigh... and then I actually saw illusions of him again and again... It was pure torture!!"
"Whoever made this place is likely a very cunning person!"
Just when Selain was complaining, a sweet and gentle voice rang out in the open area.
"So you two are finally here? It's been a while since anyone made it to this stage..."
A beautiful lady, wearing dark green clothes with mysterious patterns, appeared.
As if an illusion had been created, Lia and Selain found themselves standing in a gigantic
fighting ring.
And the mysterious green-haired lady was sitting on a high throne, overlooking the scene.
Lia glanced at the other party and asked in a calm voice.
"Uh, who are you? And can you please tell us what's going on here? We were on our way to a different place, but our teleportation altar seems to have faced so error..."
"And we ca here by accident-"
Before Lia could finish her words, the dark green eyes of the mysterious woman shined, and
she said,
"Accident? Hmm? Did they not tell you about the true nature of the 'Festival of Dragons'?...
huh? That's odd..."
"Forget it; let
tell you about it if they didn't... By the way, I am Ayla, the protector of this
forest and the leader of the Tree n race..."
Hearing that na, Selain suddenly said,
"Ah! So, you are the famous tree spirit that has been said to be living in the forest of chaotic
illusions!!"
"I rember now! My father once told
about you when I was little! I nearly forgot about
it!"
Ayla nodded her head in response to those words.
"I am surprised that there are young dragons who still know about ..."
"Well, that matter aside, I have been living in this place since the ti when my race left their ho and decided to live under the protection of the dragons..."
The tree n and tree sprits used to live in the outside world, but their hotown was destroyed by the Demon Race during the thousand-year war, and just like the fairy race, they ended up living under the protection of the Dragons.
Ayla was just a young kid when they ca here, but now it's been more than a millennia, and
she's beco the only SS-ranker of her race.
In other words, she's more than a thousand years old, even older than the Dragon King
himself.
A peak SS-ranker who has been protecting her race for millennia now.
"Aside from my role as the leader of my race, I am also in charge of helping in conducting the
'Great Dragon Festival'..."
"Truthfully speaking, it's actually a training session under the disguise of a festival... and I am one of the few SS-rankers who are in charge of conducting this festival..." "Congratulations, you two! You have passed three of the trials out of the four trials I have set
up... Only a few people have ever made it this far when faced with my tricky illusions..."
"You two are quite strong... I appreciate your efforts..."
Although Alya's voice seems gentle and soothing, the more she talked, the more Lia and Selain frowned; they both kept feeling a strange, ominous sense in their hearts.
...
Author's Note.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
Question of the day:
What do you think is the main motive of this 'Festival'?
(Tell
your thoughts in the comnts.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comnt your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.
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