163 Journey to the starting line (2/2)

Lilith and the rest of the group twitched a bit as they heard that.

”What kind of spells...?” Leona asked.

”All kinds... Summoning spells to bring as many powerful monsters as possible, teleportation spells to make you get lost inside of it and ending up walking in circles for days, maybe months, time spells to make it so that the hours pass by much slower outside than inside to make sure that no one can send help, or even notice that you're gone for that matter...”

”Well, sounds fun... Good luck guys!” Joseph mentioned as he kept hearing about how stupidly dangerous this place was and decided to make a complete turn to walk the other way.

”Wait!! I'm coming with!!” Xadi yelled as he leaped out of Detra and landed on top of Joseph.

Detra simply grabbed the two before they could run away by latching onto the kid's shirt.

”Relax you two... You won't be entering the forest with us...” she said.

”We won't...?” Joseph asked.

”You won't...” Detra confirmed, ”The forest is only for experts, not for amateurs... If you and the girl tried to take it as well, you would be turned into minced meat in no time.”

”... Amateurs...?” Joseph repeated while looking confused.

Detra then looked up and stared at Leona.

”Here! Catch!”, she said as she threw Xadi at her.

”Uuhh... What do I do with this...?” Leona asked while holding Xadi with the tip of her fingers as if he was a dirty piece of clothing. Xadi himself was looking very angry from being held up like this.

”You and the frog will be in charge of these two kids,” Detra explained.

”What??” asked Leona, Xadi, Claire, and Joseph at the same time.

”Seriously, what is it with you people and the word 'what'...? In case you don't know, apparently the people from crossbow girl's world have much more power when it comes to magic than the people from here...”

”Evlin, her name is Evlin, its really easy to remember... You don't need to call her crossbow girl every time you talk about her...” Marcus whispered.

”Anyway...” Detra continued while ignoring Marcus, ”Your job is to teach these two as many spells as you can... Any kind of offensive magic that might help us in the battle with Mia.”

Ellie finally had her attention captured and stared at Detra, ”Wait... I thought I was the one who would fight Mia...”

”Oh, and do you by any chance plan to take on her army of spirits, possessed mages, monsters, and demons, all by yourself??” Detra asked.

”Oh...”

”We need as much firepower as we can get our hands on... And if these two can be half as useful as you and your dumb aunt tend to be, then its already a great start.”

Xadi and Leona looked at each other and then looked at the two kids by their side. Leona then became a little worried.

”I... I never had an apprentice before... I don't know if I can do this...”

At this moment Lilith approached Leona and placed her hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

”Just try to look at your students and do your best to understand them. Find out how much they can do, what they excel at, what they lack, and what they need... You can do this!” Lilith stated, trying to share the same words she heard from Evlin that she used during Ellie's training.

”O- Ok... I'll try...” Leona replied.

”The rest of you...” Detra continued while staring at Marcus, Lilith, and Ellie, ”We will be entering the forest!”

And just as she said that, the group finally reached their destination. A huge collection of trees of all types and sizes, making it look like someone took the time to collect more than twenty different species of trees and planted them all next to another, creating a somewhat overpopulated collection of types.

”By the way... Detra...” Lilith said while approaching the former goddess as she tried to contain her glare, ”What exactly was this treasure that was being kept and who was trying to guard it??”

”Hana's dumb berry tree...” Detra mentioned bluntly.

”What!!??” reacted Lilith, Marcus, and Leona with a united shock.

”Yeah... Seems like we just can't scape her legacy no matter where we go...” Detra admitted, ”This is the place where everything started... The tree that gave birth to the three types of energy that almost tore the world apart from making people all around go crazy in trying to fight for it... We are about to enter Hana's personal garden...”

West simply hovered in front of the group and bowed while pointing at the entrance with an open palm and one hand behind her back.

”So... Who wants to go first?”