The forest outside the town’s borders stretched far to the north and west. The Adventurers Guild was located in the northwest, in a clearing free of trees, though it was still technically surrounded by the forest.
That was the planned meeting place between the organization and the nobility of Borderward.
Eyolian had her doubts about how this would play out. After all, half of the town’s forces were supposedly trapped there.
Regardless, she did what everyone else did—she remained silent, keeping her thoughts to herself.
The path ahead was growing narrower due to the tightly packed trees, forcing the group to break into smaller units while still maintaining their larger formation.
Eyolian was paired with another knight and two mages. Her group exchanged only the bare minimum of words—greetings and nothing more.
They walked through the dense trees, with two orbs of light illuminating the area around them and their path forward.
Eyolian took the rear, the other knight led the way, and the mages remained in the middle, as they were the weakest physically.
Her senses remained sharp, scanning her surroundings, but no matter how hard she tried, the forest around her seemed to swallow any truth she sought to uncover.
A formation, perhaps? she wondered, though she wasn’t sure.
Formations were rare and difficult to construct. Who would go through the trouble of setting one up in a forest filled only with weak magical beasts?
If the formation had a purpose, like keeping powerful magical creatures away from a town or something similar, that would make sense. But if what was dulling Eyolian’s senses was truly a formation, it only meant that this mysterious organization was flaunting its power and superiority.
So far, Eyolian was still unaware of any concrete plan they were supposed to follow—if there even was one in the first place. Everything felt random and spontaneous.
If they were trying to lower the organization's guard with this display of weakness, it would not be an act at all—it would simply be the truth. What was the point of sending forty people in without a clear strategy?
Or were they perhaps relying on the Imperial Knight? If that was the case, it would be a mistake. In most situations, numerical superiority trumped overwhelming strength.
Despite her thoughts, Eyolian continued moving forward, curiosity driving her more than anything else.
Her sharp eyes pierced through the darkness, landing on Noah’s drenched figure, rainwater soaking him from head to toe.
She had not been paired with him as she would have preferred, but she would find him soon enough. Protecting him from death—though she doubted he would need the help.
It was a strange feeling. Noah was the weakest among them, merely an ordinary human. Yet, in Eyolian’s eyes, he seemed like the least likely person to die, as if the odds of that happening were nearly impossible.
She hadn’t forgotten Noah’s words when she had saved him from falling. He had said he wouldn’t die completely from such a height.
Eyolian had thought about his words often, but she could not bring herself to believe them.
Stolen story; please report.
A small part of her mind hoped to see how that would work, but the other part wanted Noah to stay alive.
In the end, those were just her thoughts. She could always ask if they became close enough. But Eyolian doubted that would happen, especially not from her side.
She shifted her gaze away from Noah, scanning her surroundings. In the suffocating darkness of the deep forest, orbs of light flickered here and there. Each orb or pair of orbs indicated the presence of another small group.
At the beginning of their journey, the lights had been close. But now, they had grown so distant that the farthest one seemed to be about ten minutes away.
‘That’s strange.’ Eyolian thought.
She looked back at Noah and Lord Garrett at the front, only to find that they had vanished. Their light still shone ahead, illuminating the darkness, but they were now too far away to make out any details.
Eyolian did not panic. She merely shifted her focus from one orb of light to another, from groups that had been near them, only for them to be impossibly far the moment she turned her attention away.
‘An illusion formation or a formation that interferes with the senses.’ she concluded.
She turned to her three companions. They also seemed to be on edge, but no one was willing to voice their concerns—likely a matter of pride. No one wanted to be the first to admit discomfort without solid proof.
But Eyolian had no such worries. She took a deep breath and voiced her thoughts. “Something is wrong. My senses aren’t working properly. And the group is more spread out than it should be.”
The other knight and the two mages turned to her. In any other situation, they might have scolded her for showing weakness during a mission. But now, they almost seemed relieved.
One of the mages, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, spoke with a serious expression. “Good observation, knight. What do you propose we do in this situation?”
Eyolian nearly laughed. The woman was turning the situation into a lesson, as if she already knew the answer but wanted to test the younger ones.
Eyolian didn’t comment on it and kept her tone steady. “I suggest we regroup with another small unit to confirm if my instincts are correct. If they aren’t, we continue as planned.”
It wasn’t a grand strategy, but Eyolian had other reasons for suggesting it. By moving in a way the formation’s controller might not expect, she could determine the type of formation based on how it reacted to their attempts.
Eyolian shifted her gaze to the three in front of her. They seemed to be seriously considering her proposal, but what else could they do except agree?
The knight in the lead spoke first. “I’m fine with that.”
The mages followed suit.
“Very well.”
“Lead the way, Lady Knight.”
Eyolian did just that and took the lead. Her senses were still being suppressed. But as the seconds passed, they only became more clouded. She could barely hear the sound of her own footsteps on the damp, muddy ground.
And it wasn’t just her hearing that was affected—her vision, which had been perfectly fine moments ago, was also losing focus. No, more precisely, it was becoming sharper—but only on the wrong things.
When Eyolian tried to focus on the orbs of light around her, her vision instead honed in with laser precision on the tiny raindrops falling through the tree canopy above.
She contemplated the strange sensation for a few moments longer before reaching a conclusion.
‘Either a dual-layered formation creating illusions and targeting the senses, or two separate formations performing each function separately.’
Eyolian leaned toward the latter. The way her sight and hearing were affected was too distinct, making her barely able to perceive the illusion aspect at all.
She didn’t want to risk playing along any further. A surge of mana coursed through her body, flowing toward her mind.
In an instant, the haze in her mind vanished, restoring all the senses she had lost.
The sound of raindrops piercing through the tree canopy and striking the wet ground returned in full clarity. The mud and small puddles squelched beneath Eyolian’s feet with each step.
But she did not take another step. She halted, scanning her surroundings.
The white orbs of light were still visible, but Eyolian could now clearly tell they were mere illusions.
She turned to face her supposed companions—but found herself completely alone in the dense forest, in the dead of night.
Eyolian did not panic. She slowly, carefully, unsheathed her sword.
And in a sudden motion, she slashed through the fabric of the illusion, cutting down a masked figure who had been taken completely off guard.
Blood spilled from his severed head. Yet, before Eyolian could even see his body hit the wet ground, the illusion began to form again.
Eyolian assumed a defensive stance, but her mind remained calm, analyzing her surroundings.
“This is going to be difficult.”
She didn’t bother whispering it.
