Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 155 - To Invite Attention

Since it was obvious they were in pixie territory, the next steps were clear. They had to find someone pixie of importance that would talk to them.

Lumi turned on his heel and headed back the way they came, Lena following close behind without question.

"Lena." Lumi spoke, softly. "Back off a bit, make sure we’re not being watched."

"Kay!" Lena stopped following, and instead began examining the trees.

While she did so, Lumi reached the ship again. He had parked it to explore an area for potential pixies. Now that he knew he was in pixie territory, it was time to hide the ship. He shoved it hard into the foliage, stuffing branches and leaves on it until it had become part of the very floor.

Lena watched him from the corner of her eye. When Lumi walked back, she lightly commented. "Are you hiding it from the pixies? They can still find it if they are perceptive. It’s still risky."

"Yeah." Lumi replied simply.

Bringing the ship deeper was impossible. Leaving it here was dangerous. There wasn’t a good option, only the least bad one. That was why he did what he did..

And with that, they left it behind.

As Lumi and Lena moved deeper into pixie territory, there was no map guiding them, no landmark to aim for, no plan beyond forward. The forest grew denser, the light more fractured, colors slightly too vivid—as if reality itself bent just a little differently here.

They didn’t have a destination. To anyone else, such a plan was the strangest part and made no sense. How could you just wander around aimlessly with such a complicated plan such as sabotage to cause internal strife?

That was their mistake, however. The plan was anything but complex. When it came to pixies, the internal strife already existed. Any group had those willing to betray each other on the spot over nothing.

"Are we just... wandering?" Lena asked after a while.

Lumi nodded. "Yeah."

She blinked, then smiled faintly. "I guess that fits."

Lumi shrugged. "We don’t know where they are. So we force interaction."

They’d follow the same plan they already agreed on.

If they were attacked, they’d retaliate.

If someone talked, they’d talk.

...

"I have a bomb!" A sharp cry came out as a pixie suddenly flew into their faces.

"What the-" Lena wasn’t off guard, as she quickly began to chain cast holy arrows and teleport out of the way. Though she was certainly caught off guard mentally.

"Above!"

Lena’s voice snapped through the air as three additional pixies appeared.

"Void Sphere." Despite him being in light mode, the fact remained that against groups, void sphere was highly effective. He sent the ball spiraling across the trio, causing the them to all teleport away.

"I... have a bomb?" The first pixie added weakly, confused. Wasn’t it supposed to be a threat? Was it being ignored?

Lumi’s eyes flickered, focused on the trio. He raised his wand at them. "Lance of Light!"

"B-but..." The pixie seemed rejected. Why was it being ignored? The humans had turned their back on it. That...

It glanced up. At least... maybe it can get a free kill. It extended its claws, and rushed at Lumi’s back.

Slick!

The pixie instantly found itself with a lance through its body. Two more followed, turning the pixie into gore.

[EXP +232]

Lumi had never aimed his wand at it, making assume it was being ignored. In truth, it was the intended destination of his spell all along.

"Holy Arrows!"

Lena’s voice followed immediately, her wand raised. From its tip, arrows of pale yellow energy formed and launched in rapid succession, each leaving a faint trail of light behind them.

Her target immediately teleported away, but that was the wrong answer.

"Gah!" It was instantly struck.

Teleport did not mean to go anywhere you wanted. It came with distance limits. Given that...

"Holy Arrows! Holy Arrows! HOLY ARROWS! Ehe~ this is so fun! Holy arrows!"

It was rather easy to cover a large area with spells.

A second pixie had ended up caught in the barrage, and instead tried to weave through. It would be impossible at close range, but from the distance, it dodged the entire thing. "Die!" It snapped, raising its wand.

"No-" It saw a lance about to strike, and quickly teleported away... straight into one of Lena’s holy arrows. A glowing arrow clipped its wing, disrupting its movement just enough for another to strike center mass. It fell without a sound.

The last of the pixies did not panic. It flew back, respecting their power. Yet clearly it had an idea in mind. It smiled with a strange, wild expression that didn’t quite fit the situation. Then it lunged, and flashed out of existence.

It teleported directly in front of Lena, claws extended, aiming directly for Lena’s legs.

"I wonder-!"

It never finished the thought. A lance punched through it mid-sentence, and then it was riddled with holy arrows, cutting it off completely and stopping it where it stood.

Lena lowered her wand slowly, her gaze lingering on the body. " What was that? They really don’t hesitate, do they?"

"No," Lumi replied, looking at the body contemplatively. "They don’t."

That was the thing about pixies. They weren’t suicidal. Despite appearances, they didn’t want to die. But they also didn’t place the same weight on life as humans did. If there was a chance, any chance, that something interesting, beneficial, or even just interesting could happen, they might take it.

The thought alone was enough to drive them. "I wonder if I can break her ankles and retreat safely?" It didn’t have to be smart, or necessary. It only had to be possible.

And for them, that was enough.

They kept moving, and the attacks kept coming. Sometimes it was merely one or two pixies, and sometimes it was more.

Hours passed like that.

They would move around, end up in a fight, win, repeat. It turned into a steady cycle that demanded focus but offered no surprises.

By the second hour, Lena exhaled softly after another skirmish. "I leveled up." She looked at her panel.

[Level 31]

She didn’t know what was coming over her, but she felt strangely down. Not even about leveling, just in general.

"Me too." Lumi replied.

[Level 35]

"Pixie territory is insane." Lena muttered. "They are all like... tiny little versions of me."

"Hm?" Lumi casually responded. "I don’t think so."

"They are unreasonable." Lena responded. "Crazy, intelligent, but crazy."

Lumi gave a small chuckle, then responded in earnest. "Lena, darling. You are reasonable."

"Alright..."

They kept on hunting until their hours ran out and they were forced to log out.

When they returned the next day, something had changed. They hadn’t gone far before encountering another group of pixies, but this time, the reaction was different. The pixies didn’t attack. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The moment their eyes met Lumi and Lena, recognition flickered across their expressions, and they froze.

Lena beat Lumi to the punch. "Hey!" She waved her hand to them. She still remembered that the mission was to find an important one to talk to.

"Hello~" She gave what she thought was a friendly grin.

Then, without hesitation, the pixies retreated, vanishing in quick flashes of teleportation.

Lena slowly put her hand down. "I... think I scared them. Am I that scary?" She looked to Lumi and flashed a grin. "Well, I AM pretty scary, hehe. I scare away all the guys! Except you, mwah~ I love you."

She shook her head. "No but seriously, what was that? Should we chase them?"

Lumi shook his head without hesitation. "No."

"Okay~" Lena didn’t ask.

It didn’t take very long. Just a dozen minutes later, the answer to what had occurred revealed itself.

It started as a faint whirring sound, which quickly began to get louder and louder. Then it became visible, there were dozens of pixies hovered in a loose but unmistakably organized formation rushing towards them.

"Hm." Lena examined what was coming. She tilted her head. "Do we die here? I haven’t died yet. How’s the respawn?"

Lumi shook his head. "It won’t come to that."

He gazed up at the incoming crowd. It wasn’t just a mass of fairies. At the front, three figures flew at the front.

The leader was immediately obvious. She was larger, stronger, clad in polished silver armor. Beside her stood two others, smaller and visibly weaker than the leader, but still far beyond the average pixie.

Lena inhaled quietly. "...Those three."

Lumi nodded. "Yeah."

Lumi’s gaze sharpened. He began to analyze the crowd.

The weaker pixies fell in the mid to high twenties. Strong in numbers, but irrelevant individually..

More importantly, he turned his gaze to the leader.

[Level 49]

He turned to the two smaller ones.

[Level 41]

[Level 40]

The leader stopped a couple dozen feet before Lumi, and stared at him with a sharp gaze. Her high pitched voice echoed loudly. "Why are you here?"

"Pfft." Lena could barely contain her laughter. She straightened her back and forced herself to maintain a serious face. She couldn’t help it. The pixie sounded like a baby babbling. How was she supposed to take it seriously.

A couple pixies glared at her for that.

Lumi paid it no mind. Instead, he responded to her question with a different question. "Are you loyal to the queen?"