BXBX NOVEL Chapter 326: Forest of Chaotic Illusions! Part-1.
Chapter 326: Forest of Chaotic Illusions! Part-1.
Hearing Lia's words of concern, Selain sighed and said,
"Okay, I will come clean then... We are lost; we are stuck in this 'Forest of Illusions' and it seems that if we try to go out, we somehow end up where we started..."
Selain glanced at the compass in her hand and sighed.
The compass was clearly working just fine, but the problem is that when she tries to go in the direction where the nearest city should be located, they both end up reaching the same place they started at.
"The odd thing is that if you try to leave, then the illusion activates, but if you try to go deeper in the forest, then it's normal as if the illusion doesn't even exist..."
"No matter how you look at it, this place is quite bizzare..."
Selain and Lia had seen quite a few animals that were walking on two feet when that shouldn't have been possible for them.
Then there was a flock of birds that were using their wings to swim in the lake instead of flying, and they also saw a crocodile that was somehow flying in the air when it didn't even have wings or anything.
It was literally floating in the air.
They saw carnivorous animals eating grass and herbivorous animals trying to kill each other. Everything in this place is so bizarre and weird that the whole forest gives off ominous vibes. The two of them dare not land on the ground, as the moment they try to go down, the trees start attacking them wildly by swinging their branches.
Lia glanced down and saw a tree strangle a group of chimpanzees to death, and then a massive mouth opened on the tree trunk and swallowed the group of chimpanzees.
"These things aren't trees... They are sentient creatures..."
Selain also nodded her head in response to those words.
"I can sense a strange mana fluctuation from them... It's likely that the illusion in this forest is because of the existence of these trees..."
"But I think even if we destroy the whole forest, this illusion will not break, as it's already quite solid in this whole area itself..."
Just when Lia was confused about what to do next, Kai appeared on her shoulder and said,
"Find the core of this illusion; it's likely that this place is more of a 'testing ground' or something like that..."
"If you can find the core, I think it would be possible to leave this place..."
Selain was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a cat on Lia's shoulder, and her eyes shone with excitement.
"Whoa- such a cute cat! You have a very adorable, familiar Lia!"
Selain, being a young dragon, doesn't know about Kai's real identity; she has no idea that this small cat has killed dozens of dragons in its time.
If it were any other older dragon who was knowledgeable enough, they would have been terrified by Kai's mere appearance.
Lia, who knew about it all, scratched the back of her neck with an awkward smile on her face and said,
"Well, let's try out the solution he told us first... We should look for the core of this illusion... Although I don't know its authenticity, it's worth trying..."
Selain stopped staring at Kai's fluffy and soft body and became serious again.
Kai, on the other hand, used Lia's mana to spread out his mana detection's range and then tried to figure out the general direction of the so-called 'Core'.
After a few seconds, Kai shook his head and said,
"Okay, I have good news, bad news, and very horrible news... Which one do you want to hear first?"
Hearing Kai's words, Lia was surprised.
Kai is a very powerful being; for him to say that he has 'horrible' news means that something really bad is going on.
It is quite rare for Kai to be so distressed.
"Er... l-let's start with the good news and then go to the others..."
Hearing Lia's words, Kai nodded his head, and his cat eyes turned serious as he said,
"The good news is that I can sense the general direction of the core... It also proves that there indeed is a core here, and we can use it to leave..."
"The bad news is that the core is located in the deepest area of this forest... which means you would need to fight hordes of monsters to reach that place... There are even flying monsters in the way..."
"The distance alone will take at least a week to travel at normal speed... It's quite a bad news, as the whole forest is filled with weird but strong monsters..."
At Kai's words, the expression on both Selain's and Lia's faces turned solemn.
Lia sighed and asked,
"And what is the 'horrible' news then?"
Kai sighed and said,
"The horrible news is... that the so-called 'Core' is likely a genuine 'Demi-god'... As a literal
SS ranker, it's impossible for the likes of us to use or destroy that 'Core' as we are too weak for
that..."
A complicated look appeared on Lia's face as she said,
"So, what you are saying is that a literal SS-ranker has the free time to be sitting inside a forest for no apparent reason? Why are they even in this place, in the middle of nowhere?"
"That's so weird..."
Even Selain shook her head and said,
"Er, I have never heard about an SS-rank dragon that is living in the forest of chaotic
illusions..."
Lia suddenly glanced at Selain and asked in curiosity,
"Could it be that it's a wood type dragon... You know, a 'Green Dragon' or something like
that?"
Selain immediately shook her head at those words and said,
"It's impossible; the so-called 'Green Dragons' don't exist... There are no dragons who can control 'wood' or 'plants' like the Elf's..."
"They used to exist, but they went extinct long ago in the first few years of the thousand year demon extinction war... I have read about it in history books... but the reason for their extinction isn't mentioned..."
"I speculate it was likely related to demons..."
Just when Lia and Selain were talking about random things, Kai suddenly interjected and said,
"Well, if it's not a dragon, I think I know what it might be... Okay then! Let's go to the deeper area of the forest then!"
With that said, Kai disappeared once again, showing that he wasn't going to help Lia in person to get through this massive forest.
[Consider this training; maybe you can learn something new after fighting for a whole week
straight...]
Lia couldn't help but sigh at those words.
'Ugh, my familiar is so useless... I wish I had summoned a beast like Liam; his summoned
beasts are so obedient and good to him...'
'Forget it; standing here won't bring any results anyway...'
Lia glanced at Selain and said,
"Although I don't want to, let's cooperate for the time being..."
Selain also nodded her head and said,
"Hehe, well, I don't mind helping you out; just keep in mind that I won't back off so easily just
because you consider yourself Rio's girlfriend..."
The two of them flew straight towards the deeper area of the forest and brought out their
respective swords from their sheaths.
Lia smirked and said,
"No matter how hard you try, I won't admit defeat in this matter. Rio saved my life more than
a dozen times, and I can't give him up to others... I would rather die than retreat in this
matter..."
Selain smiled playfully at those words and said,
"Oh, you are more determined than I thought... Forget it; I am more curious about the method
you used to actually charm a guy like him?"
"Unlike others, he seems so immune to charm and everything; how did you make him fall for
you, Lia Silver?"
Lia sighed at those words and replied in an uncertain voice,
"Actually... I don't know myself; it just kind of happened, I guess... Although I can read his expressions a bit, even I don't know what goes in his head most of the time..."
Lia remembered the time when she used to not like socializing; it was just two years ago, but now it feels like such a distant memory.
"I used to be such a rude and anti-social person... I wonder why Rio fell in love with someone like me... I guess I was just too lucky at the time..."
"I must have done many great deeds in my past life that I got to meet someone like him... He seems emotionless but is caring and protective, which kind of makes me think I don't deserve
so much love..."
"A guy with a warm heart indeed..."
Selain didn't interrupt Lia's continuous praises for Rio; she wanted to know more, so she kept
listening silently.
'Sigh... These two are so in sync with each other... I seriously feel like a third-wheel now. I am
starting to think I have no chance now... It makes me kind of jealous just how much they praise
each other...'
Just yesterday, Rio was praising Lia for saving him, and now Lia is praising Rio too. It's as if both of them are just the perfect match for each other.
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
Question of the day:
Why do you think Rio fell for Lia?
(Tell me your opinion in the comments...)
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