Chapter 380 - Caught between the rock and a hard place(Part-1) (1/2)

It had been a few days since that day and as rest of the cultivators had arrived back at their home base a meeting was held discussing the ordeal of the entire day, and it was decided that their group would be divided into three, the bigger part of the groups would be dedicated on searching for dangerous beasts like that of 'One-Eyed Sword Raksasha' and possibly try retrieving another piece if possible otherwise they would keep track of it until the rest of them would gather and then they would kill it.

All the cultivators agreed upon the plan as it was the safest, they cannot risk their dwindling numbers very much not to mention because of idiocy of some amongst them their number has already been decreased by 12, as such they were not in the rush to make it even lower by taking unnecessary risk.

Talking about unnecessary risk Ryuu knew it was something unavoidable when they stepped inside this place but the lure of precious treasures in the form of herbs, techniques, weapons amongst many things was too great for cultivators to not pay attention to, he himself stepped in for glory did he absolutely have to enter the place, no but he did so because he wanted to overcome the legends created by his predecessors.

The rest of the cultivators who were not actively searching for the beast would break into two groups with one of them staying inside the strong hold and always ready in case of some emergency comes up and the last their duty was forging, hunting and gathering food, water and if possible medicinal herbs.

Even if many of them did not want to they still decided to press forward after all even if they were in the Fourth level their harvest of precious treasures and what not was nothing note worthy, the first level almost all of them had to pay beast nucleus as a toll to move to the second level, and second level the thought of it was nightmare to many, the third was another disappointment though the collection of beast nucleus and essence meant that it could help in cultivation for some and may be earn some money after they leave here nothing more and fourth was another disappointment it was true that they had ventured into a place full of medicinal herbs and plants and what not it was nothing spectacular in fact it was a disappointment when compared to the stories of Eden, most if not all the herbs and plants they found here could be very easily found and were in abundance outside even the rare few good herbs they got their hand on were only good for selling them for some pocket change.

Ryuu was navigating through the swamp along with Frost Flames for few hours, they had been assigned on hunting duty, and now they were making their way to one of the areas where they had laid traps a few hours ago.

It has been a few days since Ryuu found Frost Flames to be an extremely pleasant company not to mention she was skilled as she well managed to get along with him extremely well whether they were on battlefield or not.

As they moved Frost Flames was regaling him with an incident during one of her travels making Ryuu laugh hard as he wiped out the tears that seemed to form as he wheezed out some words, ”That was so hilarious please if all of your journeys are like that then please allow me to accompany you next time.”

Frost Flames let out a small giggle as well which Ryuu found extremely refreshing and preferably better than the cold and detach look she usually had on her face as she spoke, ”And Maia was like…..”, whatever she was going to say did not get passed her lips as she tensed, only for Ryuu to tap on her shoulder as he whispered lowly to her, ”Do not stop act as if it that thing is not following us but at the same time stay on your guard.”

Frost Flames gave a small but all most unnoticeable nod as she spoke, ”Brother Ryuu , after we get out of Eden you will have to accompany me to that place it seemed to be interesting.”

Ryuu nodded as he spoke with a smile, ”Of course why not sister I would love to.”, they bantered with each other before Ryuu spoke with alarm, ”Frost it seems we have already fallen into a trap.”

Frost Flames was taken aback before she spoke with slight tremor in her voice, ”You are kidding right?”

Ryuu had already drawn his sword as he spoke, ”No we are not we already had been ensnared in an illusion as such we are going on in circles for quite some time now, that tree over there we have passed it at the very least thrice and it can be mere coincidence we are feeling something is following us but do we hear anything, smell nothing except the KI of the being but most importantly why are we walking when we could easily fly.”

Frost Flames opened her mouth to retort only for her to acquiesce to Ryuu as she spoke, ”How do we get out of the trap.”