164 Do your best! (2/2)

”Because I said so!! Now stop whining and just do what I told you!!” Detra rebutted.

”Or what?? You can't force me to do this! What're you gonna do? I'm already dead and I can't feel pain! Face it, you have nothing on me!”

”You don't say...?” Detra glared at him for a few seconds and grabbed the toy by its leg, ”Tell me Mr 'Stuck in a body that can't die', how would you like if I tied up your arms and legs and buried you twenty feet below the ground?”

”W- What...?”

”I wonder what it would feel like... To spend days... months... maybe years... completely imprisoned under the soil... Every day starting at nothing but darkness while hearing the sound of the bugs crawling all over you, constantly wishing that someone will find you, wondering if you will ever see the light of day again... Hoping that something will happen to just make it all end so you can finally rest in peace...”

”...”

”Sounds like a fun time?” Detra asked while placing her index against her lips.

”... ... ... I... I'll do it... Please don't bury me...” Xadi begged while shaking his whole body.

”About time...” Detra said while releasing her grip on him and letting him fall on the floor. She moved towards Leona and gave a few warnings, ”Keep your eye on this one... You never know what goes through his head.”

Leona just stared at Xadi glaring at Detra.

”Is it really safe to take him with us?” she asked.

”Not one bit...” Detra admitted, ”But he is... Or at least used to be, a powerful mage... Try to make use of him!”

”... Understood...”

The two groups were finally ready. Detra, Ellie, Marcus, and Lilith were about to enter Hana's garden while Leona, Raphael, and Xadi would teach Joseph and Claire basic magic. Detra looked at her group and gave the word to finally start their mission before entering the forest.

”Let's go”

Part 2

At first sight, the forest didn't seem all that different from any regular agglomeration of trees. There were a couple of things out of the ordinary such a the plants all having different colors making it feel like they were walking inside of a giant rainbow, some of the vines and roots would often start moving by themselves, and massive surge of magic energy could be felt flowing in the air.

The group seemed to be very calm all things considered. East was walking in front trying to path out the area and remember where she was and where she wanted to go. Marcus was all the way in the back trying to stay as far away from his mother as possible. Lilith was trying to walk by Ellie's side, watching over if she needed anything. Finally, Ellie was just moving in silence without saying a word waiting for Detra to tell her what to do.

”So what exactly do we do now, East?” Lilith asked in order to break the silence.

”Our first goal is to reach the third inner ring” Detra responded.

”The what...?”

”Third ring. This entire forest is a series of walls made of trees that are circling the original channeling tree that's located right in the middle. There are several rings circling the entire place, each one with its own type of magic trap set to deal with the intruders, which in yhis case, would be us!”

”And why is it so important to get to the third ring?”

”Like I said, each ring is set with a different type of magic. The third ring is charged with time magic. This will allow time over here to move much faster than out there. This will give us more room to breathe and a chance to properly sharpen the young miss's skils!”

”I see... So all we need to do is deal with all the other rings on the way until we reach the third ring.”

”Very good!” Detra praised sarcastically while clapping her hands, ”Would you like a cookie as a reward?”

”Ugh....” Lilith glared at Detra with despise.

Ellie then tried to speak as well, ”How long until we reach the third ring?”

”Depends on how long it takes for us to deal with the rest of the rings... But I would prefer to get there before our seven days are over at the very least...”

Detra then noticed that all three of them suddenly stopped moving and were now looking at her with their eyes wide open.

”What...? Did I step on something?” Detra asked.

”Days???” Lilith shouted, ”It will take days for us to get there??”

”Well, duh!? How big do you think this place is? Hane created this forest to guard her tree, her personal source of magic energy, remember? Of course, getting there will be hard! Which is why we need to keep moving at all times!” Detra explained as she returned to the path.

But not even a moment after she gave one step further, a huge sound of something approaching could be heard.

The group turned their attention to the source of the sound and spotted something approaching from deep into the woods.

”Mmmm... We must be on the ring of summoning magic...” Detra analyzed while the rest of the group assumed their battle stances.

The creature finally came out to show its form. Some kind of feline beast walking on all fours with three tails behind its back. It looked like a jaguar that was as tall as the trees itself. Its fur was colored in green and several spikes could be seen forming a line behind its back, all drenched in red. Between his eyes, a huge horn that was glowing with a soft golden light.

Lilith stepped forward with her silver sword in hands, ”Everyone stay back, I'll han-”

Detra raised her hand to stop her speech and moved behind Ellie to push her towards the beast a little bit.

Ellie was staring at the feline monster that kept gazing at her looking like it was wondering what she would taste like.

”All yours,” Detra said.

”All... mine...???” the girl responded while shaking a bit.