The second female lead Dual Cultivates

"This place gives me the creeps. The trees look like they are changing shape every few seconds. I cannot take it anymore. I want to go home." Venus complained.

Maria had noticed the oddities as well. But she had chosen not to speak of them just yet. She wanted to observe a little more before reaching any conclusion.

"You think so as well? I swear that tree used to be much shorter than 6 feet a few seconds ago. It looks like it's over 10 feet now." Kuro added.

Venus and Kuro had a running commentary going on. Maria added her opinion when she felt like it was needed. But not too much.

Yuuki seemed to be the only one without anything to add to their observation. The youngest had a nostalgic look on his face.

"Should we seek shelter for the night? The sun should be setting soon." Maria observed. The day-night cycle seemed to have returned to normal in this forest.

"We shall. I'm sure there is a habitable cave somewhere nearby. I'll go and check." Yuuki sounded confident in his assumption. If not for them getting lost and Maria's system keeping track of their moment, Maria would have assumed that Yuuki knew this place.

The kid came back after a ten-minute interval with an unreadable look on his face.

"I found a cave we can spend the night in," Yuuki explained before anyone else could ask any questions.

"Great. Finally, we get to rest. Let's hurry on over." Venus cut in before anyone could question the younger. No one had the heart to contradict her words and followed after Yuuki.

However, Maria observed Yuuki subtly positioning himself after Kuro. It was a position she was vaguely familiar with. But from Kuro,'s perspective.

Nao often used to stand guard behind her when she was afraid for Maria's life.

"Everything ok? You can tell us if there is. a problem with the cave idea. We can camp outside as well." Maria suggested.

Her words caused Yuuki's face to pale a little. But the beast averted his eyes away from Maria when he shook his head.

"Hurry up. Is this the cave?" Venus asked as she pointed to a dark entrance. It did look like a cave, but one that was often found in a horror story.

Every instinct in Maria that was afraid of the haunted stories urged her to not step in. But Venus seemed to have no such filter.

Kuro did not seem to fear the cave either. His steps caused Yuuki to start walking as well. Maria was the only one who did not move.

The cave gave her a bad feeling. It felt 'real.' It was difficult to explain Maria's feelings in words to an external party.

Ever since entering the mist, Maroa had a feeling of her surroundings not being real. She could touch and feel them without any problem but it felt like this space was a dream.

The biggest evidence was the presence of their physical stuff. Maria's inventory had stuff she remembered not bringing with her on this journey.

"Maria. Hurry up and come inside. There is a pond here with fresh water." Venus called. The call finally managed to make Maria move.

As much as she did not like this cave, she did need to restock on water. Fresh water was a luxury the group did not have throughout the day.

The cave was larger than Maria had expected. The rocks looked comfortable to sit back and relax on as well.

"This cave is great. But it would be better if it was a little more spacious." Venus commented. Maria rolled her eyes as she took the seat beside Venus.

It was after half an hour that Maria noticed an oddity. The cave ceiling seemed to be a little higher than before. Maria wasn't sure about her observation and decided to ask around.

"Hey, isn't the ceiling higher than a few minutes ago?" Maria asked. The trio in front of her lifted their heads to check as well.

"It is? I can't tell. I think it was always that high?" Venus replied. Not that Maria had expected her to take notice.

Kuro seemed undisturbed as well and resumed his previous actions. But Yuuki gave her a solid 'let's talk alone' gesture.

Maria decides not to drag the topic out and waits for Yuuki to explain. The next fifteen minutes passed in silence.

"I'll go and refill our bottles. Maria, accompany me this time." It did not take long for Yuuki to make his move. Maria was worried about leaving their vulnerable two alone but decided to follow Yuuki anyway.

The beast would not dare to put Kuro in any danger.

"So you observed it as well. This place is changing every few seconds." Yuuki did not beat around the bush.

Maria nodded in agreement. She had noticed that but there was more to her observation than that.

"It is not changing randomly either. It's responding to our thoughts. The lengthening of trees, and the type of environment we saw, all were a direct result of what we wanted to experience." Maria added. The more she spoke, the more certain she felt.

"The cave changed when Venus mentioned it being bigger. But the other two did not notice." Maria had found that odd as well. Odd, but not out of character for them.

"Can this be a coincidence? Them not noticing these things? Venus is not the most observant person in the world" Maria asked.

But Yuuki shook his head.

"Even if they see no observer, they should have noticed these changes. They are not subtle. And I noticed another thing. These changes are not being prompted by you or me. Just by those two." Yuki added.

Marks thought back to all the incidents she could find in her memory and realised that Yuuki was right.

Had it been her, Maria was sure she would have seen Gerna's native flowers in this illusion.

"So, it only responds to certain individuals?" Maria asked. She could not figure out why the illusion changed for only certain individuals. Was it a princess thing? A bloodline thing?

"No. I don't think that's the case. I think it's a magic thing. Both your magic and mine are primarily outside of Jamaica's influence. I don't think it can affect us." Yuuki observed.

It was a hold assumption to make when they had no evidence. But strangely enough, Maria did believe those words.

"Let's assume that it's true. Then, how should we use this information?" Maria asked. Since Yuuki had brought this topic up, Maria hoped that he had a solution for this as well.

"We need to make them show us the way to the pond. If this place is responding to their beliefs, then they are the only ones who could lead us to the curse-breaking pond." Yuuki's words made sense.

Maria did not like the possibility of creating the two most unreliable people she had the displeasure of meeting, but there seemed to be no other way out.

"I agree and we should-" Maria started before she felt her system interfere. The timing was admissible and problematic as well.

[Initiating future vision. The actual result of the visions may change depending on the actions taken in the past]

'Kuro and Venus looked back at Maria with twin faces of disbelief.

"Are you sure this is going to work out? I don't feel like this place is changing much" Venus complained. But Maria could see her trying hard to think.

Nothing happened. The pond at the corner of the room stood still and the cave still retained its initial structure.

But there was a disturbing air around them now. Maria felt her system blazing in warning but she felt like she could not move.

The magic did not seem to be happy at being forced to make itself change conscious

"You should not have played with fire. Once you are aware of the changes, I can't allow you to leave this place." Maria did not see the attack coming.

Not that she was the target of the attack. The huge body that leapt out of the water headed toward Venus.

Kuro noticed in an instant and tried to push Venus out of the way. But the monster was too huge and hit the mark.

Maria could not see Yuuki anywhere but he had to be nearby. Maria didn't hesitate to attack the monster but her attack phased through that giant body leaving no marks.

"Who are you? Where are you?" Maria feat on edge. The voice echoing around the cave seemed to have no starting point. It made Maria's head ache.

It felt like it was something directly inside her mind. And she did try to force it out but she could not find the origin.

'System, how is that person?' Maria questioned. The system was not responding to her stress.

[The user is not authorised to know the identity of higher-ups. The system cannot help the user.]

Higher-ups? So this person was someone from the upper realm?

"Rot here. I won't allow those who break the rules out of my space." The figure spoke before Maria felt the voice disappear from her head.

And with that, their only hope of escaping as well. This could not be allowed to happen at all costs.

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