Chapter 75: Spirit of the Wood(2)

"Take a seat."

Yulia nodded and sat down. Luke also sat down at the opposite couch and started to speak.

"I want you to come with us."

Yulia seemed baffled at the sudden invitation but soon turned back to normal. Luke look at this with a smile, it seems that what he read about her being the calm one was true. She then started to speak in a serious voice.

"Why should I follow you?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders and spoke.

"Don't you always dreamt of traveling the world? Priestess of Darkness, Yulia?"

Yulia frowned, as expected, he knows more about her. Knowing that fact, her way of tone is no longer respectful.

"Don't call me that."

Luke smirked and spoke.

"Do you want to travel somewhere that nobody else would ever gone to in the whole world?"

Yulia frowned. She then asked with wariness.

"....Where?"

Luke looked at Yulia with cloudy eyes. He then spoke with a very open and inviting smile.

"Mystical forest."

"What?!"

Yulia's eyes widened and she was so shocked that she almost jumped out from her seat while looking at Luke who is smiling calmly at her. Luke then asked her a question.

"So, want to come or not?"

Yulia was speechless. She then started to think and bit her lip while frowning.

It is true that she indeed wanted to travel to rare places in the world but mystical forest? Her first ever travel is in the mystical forest? That is what she ever dreamt of doing! Luke's offer is really tempting, especially for her but she can't just blindly come with someone she barely knew. Luke notice her hesitating and spoke again.

"Don't worry, we are not bad guys. I also have a priestess friend that wants to make friends with you."

"....Another priestess?"

Luke nodded and smiled.

"She is the priestess of Light."

Yulia's jaw dropped. Light and Darkness, it really doesn't get along really well but they are really close. Like two sides of the same coin. And meeting a priestess of Light, not a regular one, is what you'll call a miracle. In the temple of Darkness, the priests always teaches her to not be hostile to the Light and accept it. That's why the Light and Dark temples are in a very close relationship since ancient times despite being the direct opposites of each other.

In the ancient times, when the first pope of light and darkness were born, they said the gods spoke to them to not see each other as enemies but rather as equals. But because the God of Light was known for his hatred to dark things, the temple of darkness became skeptical but still became friends with the temple of light while maintaining their rightful distance from each other.

Hence, having the direct children of those two said Gods meet each other in one place is something that should be recorded in history. It seems like Yulia still hasn't completely got rid of the teachings of her temple and she is really now tempted to go.

"I-I'll go! But if you do something funny I'll curse you."

Luke stared at Yulia with disbelief. The temple of darkness is popular for their curses and relation to anything dark. They can curse people just like how witches does but much more powerful. They say that if a priest of the God of Darkness cursed you once, a scythe will be always near your neck everywhere you go. That is also how Yulia slaughtered thousands of demons and monsters in the war with the demon world.

Luke sighed and speak in reassurance.

"Don't worry, I won't harm you."

Yulia looked at Luke with suspicion. She heard that Luke is the one who cured princess Alexia. Around the castle, his name is everywhere and his favorability skyrocketed when the staffs saw how their beloved king is acting close to Luke. Yulia gulped.

'It should be fine right? And if I come with them, I will no longer have to be a maid anymore and I can also explore the place that I always wanted to go in my dreams.'

Yulia started to trust Luke just once. It shouldn't be too bad right? He's a hero and a savior of the princess. What could go wrong?

---------------

'This..... This is terribly wrong.'

Yulia looked at the Dark and dead 'mystical forest' with utter shock and disbelief.

They are now in the Dessert of souls, one of the ten forbidden places in the world. And in the middle of this deadly dessert there is a lively forest in the middle, like an Oasis but hidden with an invisible barrier and mana.

And this mystical forest is currently covered in withered souls everywhere. Yulia's stomach started to hurt. She is super sensitive to withered souls ever since she began being a direct priestess of the God of Darkness. She then heard Luke's blank voice.

"Welcome to the mystical forest."

"W-what happened here? T-this is not what I imagined it to look like."

"Of course, nobody expect it to look like this so...."

Luke smiled and patted Yulia's shoulder. Yulia looked at him with a confused face. Her face is sweating and her stomach is really not in a good shape, this always happens whenever she is exposed to withered souls.

Spencer looked at Luke and sighed, he knew that something out of place would happen whenever Luke smiles like that while Liam and Julius looked at Luke with a worried face. Meanwhile, Eleanor and some fairy royal guards behind her are looking at Luke smiling widely. How can he smile in such a difficult situation?

Eleanor couldn't keep her curiosity and asked with worry.

"Luke, do you perhaps already have a solution?"

Luke smiled warmly at Eleanor. Which made her gasped in both relief and shock.

'He has an answer, thank god.'

Eleanor felt deeply relieved when she saw Luke's dependable smile. Luke didn't noticed Eleanor and the Knights sigh of relief behind him and focused on Yulia.

"Why don't you gather all the withered souls in one place? Aren't you quite good at stuffs that are related to death and darkness? Gather all the withered souls and we'll take it from there."

Yulia looked at Luke annoyingly.

"Did you brought me here.... Just to use me to gather withered souls?"

Luke looked at Yulia with shock.

"What? Of course not. Think of this as a cleaning program for the environment. Once we clean this, won't we enjoy nature more?"

Yulia suddenly felt an urge to punch Luke in the face. Luke saw her glaring at him and thought...

'She looks exactly like Selena. Is this a popular thing among priestesses?'

Luke then suddenly remembered the glare Selena was giving him when they were saving the Gron people. Luke just shrugged it off and tapped Yulia's shoulders and whispered in her ear.

"Don't you want to see how this forest will look like without withered souls? Even though all the plants and trees were dead, once we clean this up, it will naturally grow back. We can always come back here when this place is restored."

Yulia frowned and pushes Luke away. Luke smiled and gave her space. Yulia just sighed and focused on the withered souls in front of her. She wanted to immediately get rid of this stomachache so she needs to get rid of the withered souls, fast.

Shwaaaa

Black light appeared on Yulia's hand and streams of liquid withered souls started to come up towards the sky one by one. While Yulia is on intense focus, the fairies of the fairy kingdom looked at Yulia with surprise, they didn't know that Yulia was a Priestess of Darkness and so is Spencer, Liam and Julius. Only Luke and Nash are the calm ones about it.

· Thank god that you didn't have to do that reckless thing you did last time. I thought you were going to solo the withered souls again Dad!

Luke nodded in agreement with Nash. If Luke hasn't found Yulia on time, he would've absorbed all of the withered souls on his own again and cough blood. What's worse, he might die this time seeing the amount of withered souls that can cover a whole big ass forest.

"Ugh."

Luke heard Yulia's soft groan and focuses on her. It seems like the amount of withered souls was too much for her and was about to help her but he felt a strong grip on his arm that almost made him wince in pain. He then frowned and looked at who it is and saw Liam holding his arm with a serious gaze directed on him.

"Liam, what are you doing?"

"I should be the one asking that to you brother. Do you plan on helping her?"

Luke was silent and Liam frowned. He then spoke in a stern voice.

"No."

Luke frowned and went back to his place. Liam's face earlier was so scary that he couldn't say yes. Luke just sighed and looked at Yulia slowly gathering all the withered souls in the air. While Yulia is gathering withered souls, Luke spoke to Nash.

"Nash, get Bell over here."

· Hmm? Okay!

Nash seems to understand Luke's intentions and immediately fetched Bell. After a few minutes, a teleportation circle appeared beside Luke. The fairies were alarmed at first but when they saw Luke's calm face, they also calmed down. They then saw a red haired man appearing besides Luke. Bell frowned at Luke as soon as he arrived and spoke.

"What it is this time?"

Luke spoke to Bell while still looking at Yulia and the withered souls.

"Do you want to get stronger?"

"Why asking me something so obvious?"

Luke smirked and pointed at the withered souls orb that is slowly forming up in the air.

"Then absorb that."

Bell looked at the enormous amount of withered souls that is gathering in the air. It's true that he'll get a lot times stronger when he absorbs all of that but...

Bell frowned and looked at Luke with a thug-like face.

"Want me to die?"

Luke sighed.

"As expected, that amount is too much for you huh? Hmm.... Ah!"

Luke snapped his fingers and smiled at Bell who is looking at him with a weird look.

"Why don't we give some to your witch friends back in the empire?"

Bell was silent for a moment. Before Bell could even speak, Luke spoke again.

"If you witches want revenge, it is only natural to get stronger right?"

Bell seemed to get where Luke is going and nodded slowly. Luke smirked and spoke to Bell and Spencer that is behind him.

"Bell, consume the amount of withered souls you want from the orb up in the air. Spencer, gather large quantity of large glass bottles. Liam, help him out."

Spencer just sighed while Liam just nodded. They then teleported back towards the island where all the empty bottles from the used potions to save the Gron people are dumped, the size of those bottles were quite large and that is exactly what Luke was talking about.

Luke saw Bell approaching Yulia. Bell then touched one of the streams of withered souls connected towards the large orb. The stream of withered souls then started to flow towards his body. Once Bell's body was covered in withered souls, he then drank the rest nonstop. Yulia and the fairies looked at this with shock.

"W-wait, could he be...?"

"A witch..."

Yulia and the fairies looked at Luke with shock. Luke noticed their stares and smiled at them.

"Not all people related to death and darkness are bad. People just usually use darkness and death to anything evil hence misunderstanding the individual natures of witches and other dark species."

"Ah."

Eleanor gasped while Julius was smiling gently at Luke. They then thought at the same time.

'He is a man with no discrimination.... Such a kind and equal man.'

Witches and other people related to darkness are always considered as bad to the people. People either abuse them or ignore them like they don't exist. But Luke, his sense of justice and kindness is so strong that they can't see any flaws in it. He just sees people base on how they act and not where they came from. This fact is engraved in their minds forever.