Chapter 52 - Forest Of Silencing Illusions (Part Two)

Lucas set a timer on his mobile, and the countdown was still going on. "So far I have only found two points. There must be more points", he thought as he looked at the countdown timer. There was an hour and thirty minutes left. He drew his findings on his mobile, as he was looking around in a certain direction.

He then moved forward and looked at the place that he was about to check. "If my calculations are correct, this place must be the place where the formation must have its next point or pillar", he thought. Just as he was about to reach the place, a monster popped in front of him. It was a minotaur.

"Well, every one of these pillars has these things guarding them. I hope they aren't as hard as before because my time is running out", he thought as he pulled out his blades, ready to face the minotaur in combat.

The Minotaur roared and huffed as it began to charge towards him. It kept its head like a bull and came in for a headbutt. Lucas smiled as he jumped over the head, and swung his blade to its neck. "Clang!', came a sound like metal clashing. "What in the world is that?!", he thought as he used his [Inspect] on it.

[Steel Minotaur - Legendary Tier Beast]

[It can manipulate steel around and inside its body, using it to harden at places it deems dangerous. Weak against Intense Heat Magic]

Lucas didn't want to rely too much on his magic, as that would make his blade skills rusty. "If only there was a way for me to integrate them both", he thought as he looked at the Minotaur. He began to infuse his Fireballs together, and created the [6x Fireball], and cast it on the Minotaur. It roared as it was set on fire, and it burned to death.

Lucas then looked at the tree and saw a mark on it. "That's the third tree in this formation", he thought as he marked the place. He then proceeded towards the next place which he thought should be the direction. He trotted and looked at the remaining time, and there was only an hour left.

"I don't want to use [Dash], but I can increase my agility if I activate my boots", he thought and did the Nazi salute, which activated his boots, increasing his agility. He began to run towards the next position, and when he neared the place, he prepared another [6x Fireball], ready to blast the first beast he sees. But a fireball was thrown his way, and he dodged it.

[Fire Minotaur - Legendary Tier Beast]

[It can manipulate fire around and inside its body, using it to attack and defend. Weak against Intense Ice Magic]

"Ah. This is something unexpected. I never thought that I would meet something like this here", he thought as he changed the spell into [6x Icicle], creating an icicle which was the size of a normal one, but ice particles and water were swirling around the Icicle, giving it a mysterious vibe.

He threw it towards the Minotaur, and it instantly froze on the spot. When it was about to begin to melt the Ice by streaming out fire from its nostrils, Lucas held his hand out. "Let's try this", he thought and began to concentrate on his Icicle. Then he felt the water droplets in them, and he began to redirect them into the Minotaur's nostrils, blocking the fire that was about to melt the Ice.

He then snapped his fingers, and instantly the Minotaur began to freeze from the inside, thus killing it without the need of him to use his blades. The Minotaur didn't know what hit it and died in vain. Lucas smirked as he fell to the floor, one knee into the ground. "This is taxing. I do need to practice this skill more", he thought.

This was Mana Manipulation. He always felt that the icicle he threw had a connection with him even after the enemy was frozen. he wanted to test out this theory, and it worked for him. But sadly, as he was not used to manipulating Mana, he got extremely tired. He then sat down and began to breathe, recovering his stamina.

After recovering in ten minutes, he went looking for the fifth mark, which was supposedly the last mark, and then move to the center of the formation. He walked towards the final mark, and he found three Minotaurs standing there in wait for him. "Oh, that's great. Dealing with even one of them is tough enough for me", he thought as he looked at them

He then used the [Inspect], which gave him joyful Information. "Luckily, it's the Steel, Fire, and Ice Minotaurs. Let me use the [6x Fireball] twice, then the [6x Icicle] to finish the final one quickly", he thought as he prepared the spells.

He first threw the [6x Fireball] towards the Steel Minotaur, killing it instantly. The other minotaurs began to be vigilant, and it began to patrol the mark around, to find the intruder. Lucas used his Art of Stealth, and he began to sneak around undetected. He used the next [6x Fireball] and took out the Ice Minotaur.

He finally stood in front of the Fire Minotaur, with a [6x Icicle] in his hand, and lodged it towards the Minotaur. He used the same technique as last time and killed it instantly. He then took notice of the mark, and he began to calculate the center of the formation.

"Only forty-five minutes left", he thought as he moved towards the center. He began to run, and jumped into the trees, leaping from one to another like a ninja. He reached the center in mere minutes and he looked around to find the minotaur that should be patrolling this place.

He jumped down the tree and found the mark he was searching for. As he was nearing the mark, the ground turned to mush, making it hard for him to maneuver in it. Then popped out a bunch of Venus Plants, and they were looking at him like they had found their prey. "Great, just to walk into this plant trap", he thought.

He then felt a branch wrap around his legs, and it restricted his movements. All he wanted was to escape, and he cast [Fireball], on himself. He began to burn, but it didn't affect him. It burned the branches that were wrapping around him. It also made the mud around him softer, making him sink deeper. "This is a double-edged sword. For now, let's see what these branches are going to do", he thought as he allowed himself to be wrapped by the branches.

It lifted him out of the mud, and he saw the Venus traps coming towards him. They opened their mouths wide, and acids were dripping from the tips of their mouths. "They're drooling, and this is disgusting", he thought as he looked at the faces.

[Venus Human Traps - Advanced Tier Beasts]

[They use the Acids to digest the humans, and they lie in wait for their prey to drop their guards down. Thus allowing these plants to be the perfect assassins]

"Wow, such a good description. Does this mean that they have little to no battle prowess?", he thought as he cast a [Fireball] towards the Venus Trap, and it burned to death. "What about Ice?". he thought as he threw an [Icicle].

[Congratulations! Icicle has leveled up!]

[Mana Consumption 7 --> 6]

"That's great. Now, to only make sure that these two level up evenly. If there was an EXP bar on them, then I would know how to bring them to the same level", he thought as he threw Icicles towards the rest of the Venus Human Traps, freezing them in place.

He then cast an [Icicle] on the mud, making a solid ground for him to stand on. He kept casting [Icicle] as he walked towards the tree. After nothing down the point, he held it and looked at it intently.

"Okay, follow my instructions, and you will be able to set up a counter. Remember, you only have five minutes though", reminded Valentine as he began to instruct Lucas on the Counter-Formation.

Lucas ran towards the trees, and just about five meters next to them, drew the same mark on another tree, only in an inverted fashion. He followed the same and did it to all the five trees, and he came back to the center. He drew the same, and he began to chant a spell as he stood near the center mark.

"Ek, Lucas Heart, hereby soalioioi niyofrce zefrni ekce liertu heavens. Grant netu liertu piliratucesalier lifr counter lierekpi formation, alicetu waratualion lierekpi illusion! waratualion!", he chanted. (I, Lucas Heart, Hereby call upon Thee in the Heavens. Grant Me the strength to counter This Formation, And break this illusion! BREAK!)

After he chanted, he dropped a drop of his blood on the ground, and there was a dark red light that rose from the ground, signaling the counter of the formation. Lucas then saw the mist began to disperse. The man he came in search of was in front of him, picking out herbs. He turned around and saw another mark on the place there was a mark.

"Change Of Plans. This will only hold up for the next three minutes. You will have to escape within that time. This is a layer formation. Be quick. I will tell you everything later", said Valentine as he urged Lucas to make his move.

Lucas sprung into action, activating his boots instantly. "No time to hesitate", he thought as he jumped straight at the man, and tackled him.. Lucas didn't have time to look at his face, and he lifted him and placed him under his arms.