Chapter 31 : Pure Deception on the Lake

There were huge mountain peaks everywhere, and it was not possible to see the horizon. From this place where Ryouta was standing, it was as if he was inside a maze of mountains.

Each of the mountain peaks broke through the clouds, they were like towers heading towards the highest levels of the sky.

What was most strange was the scattering of forests around the mountains. There was a light forest on a slope, and there was a dense forest between the slopes. Inside a certain slope, it was not possible to see what was inside. The trees were in several shapes. The trees were lined up in varying sizes, and there were black and green. And yellow.

This was it - the puzzle of the Adelaide Mountains

Ryouta bathed for the first time in warm, soft sunlight, which was as different from the desert as the sky and the earth.

This scene was like a masterpiece by a blind but professional artist.

Ryouta's gaze was slightly hidden by his hair, though a little light could be seen reflecting off of it.

'Hehe, did his eyelashes move a little again, is it his emotions?' The savage did not look at Ryouta and stepped straight forward.

"Human, your training today is simple and easy to understand," the savage said and managed to attract Ryouta's attention.

Seeing Ryouta's concerned expression towards him, the brute pointed towards a forest at the bottom of the slope, "This is a dense forest, I call it - Polluted Lake, your task is easy, there is a monster with a red color essence - Reflection of Lake,"

The savage stopped his words and a mysterious smile appeared on him and continued: "I want you to bring me his body without any damage. This is easy, isn't it?" in a threatening tone as he pointed towards Ryota. The savage threw a dagger on the ground, "Your work will be through this dagger. During your sleep, I made it for you." "The monster did not wait for Ryouta's response and without hesitation, he disappeared directly with his aura towards the cave.

'Lake Reflection, is it some kind of skill like camouflage, it would be difficult for me to detect the real body but still if our mana essence were the same then this would be different.' Ryota organized his thoughts.

From beginning to end, his expression did not show any shape. It was indeed the nature of the savage to manipulate him as he wanted, but this only benefited his progress.

'If no one perseveres, how will he get what he wants? If I don't take a step, when will the time be? Hmph, what is this? A monster of mana essence is nothing but a spoil waiting to be slaughtered, Ryouta thought, and the tone of his thoughts was as hard as a rock.

Ryouta activated his Mana Essence and sent several thoughts towards him.

Immediately his feet glowed and he disappeared from his place.

He had already headed towards the—dense forest

At this moment, in the place of Ryota's disappearance, the body of the huge savage gradually appeared, as if it were removing a curtain from his body.

'Hehe, did he think that I would pass up an opportunity like this to witness his true colors?' He was just using a concealment skill in order to make Ryouta unaware of him.

This was one of his basic skills as a professional hunter. 'He doesn't know, but this monster from the polluted lake can copy all of his opponent's skills that he sees.'

He wants to see how this human will finally act when his true nature is revealed.

Swoosh tak

A thin body passed through the bush and only his black image was reflected, the long curly hair swayed on his body, on Ryouta's dead eyes there were pupils that moved between the depths of the forest to explore.

This forest was a little strange. The red trees seemed to him as if they were moving, and the green trees around them were different.

It was still and there were several sounds coming out of it. Ryouta ignored the strangeness of the trees around him and gradually light began to reflect from his vision.

It's the lake!

Many algae were wrapped around the lake, and the light of the evening sun was reflecting from it, sparkle after sparkle. Every step Ryota took, a sparkle was reflected in his eyes.

Ryouta arrived at the lake and his steps stopped, 'This lake is a polluted lake, so where is the monster inside it?' Ryouta activated his mana essence and lowered his body and placed his hand on the ground, 'The ground barely showed any signs of life, it's empty,' Ryouta didn't think. This monster may be lifeless.

A robotic presence like a doll. 'The monster said that the monster was a red mana essence at the same level as mine.' What this half-beast thinks is just fulfilling his inner desires and he doesn't know, hmph, is he trying to bring back his old past with me?' Ryota already knew the monster's movements from the previous days' training inside the cave.

Rattling, rattling.

'Hmm,' Ryouta's thoughts were interrupted by a voice that appeared behind him, but he did not try to turn around to see it.

He was in a sitting position until now.

There were red trees behind him, yet the sound of previous footsteps suddenly stopped.

From his sitting position, Ryouta's thoughts suddenly moved, and a hidden flame appeared behind his palm.

Inside his palm, the yellow flame gradually began to turn into a blue flame.

This was a skill that Ryouta invented during his days in the desert. In every thought created, essence is consumed. Every thought has a mass and a price of essence. 'If this monster had the skill to camouflage—

Without any warning, the red trees behind Ryota exploded and burned like crazy.

The trees contained spirits and were burned without mercy by the flames of Ryota. They became unsupervised, moving around the place.

None of them left Ryota Yaflat and all the trees were burned. Suddenly the trees started moving towards the lake.

Ryouta was by the lake, how could he leave them? Even if he left them, was there a guarantee that he would not be burned!

"Burn

The flame in Ryota's hands intensified and moved between the palms of his two hands.

The color of the trees started to turn into charcoal. There was no life left for them, and after several final steps from their miserable rescue, the trees finally fell.

I became dust carried by the wind, Ryota gave nature looks and was interested Elsewhere, 'These trees had a different sense of life. There was no essence inside them. Are their bodies themselves jewels?' Ryota looked at the black dust several meters away from him and felt as if he understood these life forms.

The trees were of different shapes and had many colors, and the colors were like the order of mana levels, red, green, and blue. These were the types of trees that Ryota had seen so far.

'This half-beast, not telling him about this forest intelligence is making me waste a lot of time.' Ryouta raised his body to stand and—

"Ah." At this moment, Ryouta suddenly felt a sharp pain behind his back. He lowered his head and saw a spear-like water column piercing his chest.

Easily

the lake !

Ryota turned back and his eyes widened in fear and dissatisfaction. Ryota's expression was like that of someone who was shocked by reality and disturbed.

The waters of the previously lifeless lake began to rise and began to form into the shape of a strange body with three heads and four arms.

Suddenly, a column of water gradually rose from the surface of the ground and its destination began to reveal. It was the spear-shaped arm that pierced Ryota's chest.

Eagerly

The sharp hand broke away and pierced Ryota's chest, and blood burst out of his chest like a suppressed fountain.

Ryouta looked down and could see his liver and heart sliding out of the hole in his chest like.. garbage.

"H-This hurts, this... I'm still...." He didn't even finish what he said, and another sharp hand penetrated, and this time it was on his head.

Ryouta's head exploded like a watermelon on the ground, and the inside of his brain appeared and scattered on the ground, merging with the water inside the sharp hand.

This figure materializing from within the lake was a monster – a reflection of the lake with an essence of red mana.

From the beginning, the lake monster wasn't inside the lake, it was actually the lake itself.

The trees that Ryouta was burning previously were nothing but a camouflage from the lake. They were a camouflage in order to make Ryouta lose his attention, and the moment he discovered a loophole, the lake monster would kill him.

This was his usual method of killing!

This human was unforgivable, he had placed his rotting scent inside his precious forest.

The lake monster loved humidity, and his hobby was enjoying the sunlight that penetrated from inside the trees.

The water inside the lake danced and its hidden appearance was gradually revealed.

deep !

The lake at this moment had become like a black abyss, it was actually hiding its essence through its skill.

Camouflage!

Not only that, but the lake monster had two skills, camouflage, and copying. The lake monster was an element in itself, and without destroying its essence, no one would be able to kill it.

water !

It will regenerate, and will start copying the skills of its opponents, and will try to camouflage itself. The lake monster was almost invincible.

Ryouta's previous death was actually a result of the lake manipulating his actions to make him lose focus.

And he killed!

"Hehe, that's right, human, without a way to isolate the essence from the lake monster's body, he will never die.

At the same time, on a tree trunk in a cave facing the lake. The savage stood up and there was a wide smile on his face, 'It's interesting that you can manipulate the monster just by faking your body, is it an illusion skill?' The savage watched the surface of the lake from this tree in high quality.

He had watched Ryouta from the beginning. His strange movements made him a little surprised. 'After he arrived near the lake, he was able to find out the truth about those trees just from a little observation. After that, he created a body identical to himself and injected it with many ideas. As for the real body, it was behind a trunk. A tree, that's how it was.' The savage remembered what had happened.

The whispers of the green trees and the ability of the red trees to move were only camouflage from the work of the lake monster to hunt its prey after distracting them.

Ryota's discovery of this observation only from the limited information he possessed was truly impressive.

Ryouta, in those moments before, had made him astonished, 'It has become really clear now. The level of this human's thoughts is hidden, and after pressing him, he began to reveal himself. I cannot wait to see his true image.' The savage thought about what he might do next time, and he could hardly suppress his excitement.

How long had it been since he had been able to feel the taste of this world.

'Oh, has he finally started moving?' The savage's sharp eyes glowed and his gaze penetrated the surroundings of the lake as he felt the movement of a body inside the trees through his senses.

'Hehe, my trap worked, it was right to use an exact copy of my thoughts, it's a shame that it consumed half of my essence in case something happened, but it doesn't matter, now that I can recognize the lake monster's tricks, dealing with it will be easy,' Ryouta thought and was His shape is unclear behind a tree trunk inside the forest.

He was secretly watching the death of his second body and his mind was analyzing everything that he saw as incorrect.

'In truth, the surface of the lake is not thin. The lake monster has activated his camouflage skill on it. If I can guess, his mana essence is present in the depths of the true lake.'

'My previous conclusion that these trees do not have essence saved me, and I did not hesitate to make an exact copy of me. It is unfortunate that they consumed half of my essence. In this way, combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.' Ryota's mind was ablaze with sparks, 'One of the methods I can use is to isolate the essence.' About the body, but this skill will require a lot of ideas, and I only have half an essence.' Ryouta's gaze moved around the place and he was looking for a solution to his tasks.

Ryota did not know that the lake monster had another skill - copying.

But this skill had already been tried previously by the lake monster against him, but how could a water squeezer use fire?

The lake monster was unable to copy his skills and ended up killing him without pleasure.

At the moment .

'Found her,' Ryouta's eyes sparkled with a cold light, and his body lightly disappeared into the darkness and merged with it.

On a slope facing the surface of the lake, a body shone and appeared in... !