The Demon King's First General
Chapter 145: Desert Illusion

Chapter 145: Desert Illusion

"Such precise movements, truly commendable," Zeno stated upon shortening the distance between him and Sinclair.

Meanwhile, the Apostle of Justice just shrugged off his comment.

"Let’s continue moving," she said without any hint of emotion in her eyes.

Despite all the questions that kept piling on her head, she chose to keep her silence.

’I’ll investigate him afterwards; destroying the facility comes first,’ she conveyed inside her thoughts.

Then, after a few hours of constant travel, the sun was already scorching hot, and due to the lack of moisture and having no clouds to reflect the sunlight, the desert felt a lot hotter than the other places in the Plain of Fantasies. Sinclair stopped for a while and wiped the sweat dripping on her forehead. The extreme heat caused her to search for water to quench her thirst but found nothing—not even a single drop.

"I will die first from this," she complained, whispering in silence.

The next second, she saw the demon stop and turn around to look at her.

"Do you need some water?" He asked.

He was smiling, but for some reason, Sinclair found it annoying.

"I don’t need such—" she answered, but couldn’t finish her sentence as she made a few steps forward and saw the city walls from a faraway distance.

’I never knew that such a place existed here,’ Sinclair thought.

"We can stop there and take some refreshments if you want," Zeno stated.

But Sinclair was quite stubborn; she shook her head and continued to walk.

"I can still manage, and besides, it’s only a few hours, and the sun is about to set," she replied.

Upon hearing her statement, Zeno didn’t push his suggestion any further; he just chuckled and took a second to glance behind.

’You know what to do,’ he said in his thoughts.

. . . . .

At the same time, several kilometers away from Zeno and Sinclair’s current positions. A group of people were following three footprints on the sand.

Based on their attire—faces covered with bandannas and cutlass swords hanging from their waists—they were desert bandits. They noticed the footprints an hour earlier and decided to pursue the owner of them.

"I just hope that the people behind these footprints are worth following," one of the bandits stated.

His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"I believe that they are not something ordinary; however, to cross this desert with just the three of them is the most foolish thing I see today," said another man in reply to his companion.

After hearing his statement, the whole party had a great laugh. However, their joy was interrupted when one of them halted on their tracks.

"Hey, what’s the matter?" A curious one asked.

The man who stopped was looking at the sand, and the expression on his face was utterly confused.

"The footprints—the other one disappeared," he replied, looking behind them.

At this point, the bandits realized what their companion meant. The previously three sets of footprints were now down to two.

"Maybe one of them just followed behind," another bandit voiced out his speculation.

However, as all of them looked in front, they noticed a woman standing several meters away from them. She was wearing a loose white robe that matched her pale skin. Contrary to this, her hair that reached the sole of her feet and eyes that were so deep had a color darker than black.

"Are you lost, beautiful lady?" One of the men asked, drooling after noticing how gorgeous the woman was.

"We’re lucky," another one added. His gaze was beaming with lust.

The next second, they walked in a hurry to approach the woman. However, as they came closer, they noticed the sudden decrease in temperature. The sun was still scorching hot above, but the breeze turned cold as they continued to take a step.

"Snow?" A bandit said after a snowflake drifted in the air in front of his eyes.

Afterward, a chilling mist appeared and covered the area, blocking the bandits’ vision.

"Prepare for battle! Stay closer!" The man who seemed to be the bandit’s leader yelled as he sensed the danger they were in.

However, not a single member of his group answered.

"Show yourself!" The man yelled. Anxiety was now present in his eyes.

He tried to sense his surroundings, but the mist prevented him from expanding his energy in the place.

Scared out of his wits, he decided to abandon his comrades and run for his life, but the moment he moved his leg, an icicle pierced him at the back of his knee, hindering his steps. The man tried to scream, but in just a few seconds, his body was soon encased in ice.

Then, the woman appeared and walked in front of the ice statue. She caressed the man’s frozen cheek and smiled.

Afterward, she squeezed his face, causing some of the ice to shatter. Then, a blue light wisp came out of the man’s mouth and flew towards the woman’s as soon as she put her blue lips right next to his.

"Ahhh, thank you for the meal," she uttered.

Soon after, the mist disappeared along with her, leaving more than a dozen frozen corpses. As the extreme heat returned, the ice melted in an instant, and the withered bodies fell on the desert sand.

. . . . .

Several hours had passed, and the sun was about to set once again, but Zeno and Sinclair couldn’t still see the end of the desert.

"Are we stuck?" Sinclair asked for confirmation while catching her breath.

"I thought we’d be there before dusk came, but it looks like that would not be the case," Zeno replied with a chuckle at the end of his sentence.

Annoyed by his expression, Sinclair leaped above to see where they were. Behind them, she saw nothing but sand, while in front, she saw the trees lining up in the distance, separating the Beigesand and the Duskstalker Kingdom.

Upon learning of this, she cancelled the platform of energy where she was standing, and she slowly fell to the ground.

"We’re almost there," she said without even bothering herself to look at the demon in the eyes.

She continued to walk, while Zeno followed behind in silence. No one among them uttered a single word, but the smile on the demon’s face was enough to convey that something was wrong.

Another hour passed by, and the two of them were still in the desert; the trees that Sinclair had previously seen were still not in sight.

"What’s this? Is this some kind of illusion?" Sinclair complained at last, and the demon behind him burst in laughter.

"Did you realize it just now?" Zeno replied with a question.

Sinclair glanced at him; her eyes felt tired after the restless travel without any food or a single drop of water. If not for her incredible stamina, she would have already lost consciousness even before entering the desert. Then she inhaled a deep breath to stabilize her breathing and turned around to face the demon.

"Forgive my deficiency, but can you please explain what’s happening right now?" She asked.

"Someone is messing around with our perception," Zeno replied.

Then he faced in his left direction and stomped his right foot on the sand, leaving a deep footprint.

"Originally, we were walking in this direction, but at some point in time, we began to walk on this path ahead," he explained.

Afterward, he went above and gestured for Sinclair to come, and as soon as she did, he started speaking once again.

"If you look at this side, you’ll see nothing but sand." He paused and diverted his gaze to his right side, where creepy-looking trees stood tall before continuing. "However, we got sidetracked the moment you saw those trees. We chose to go in that direction because our eyes said so, but that side and this side are merely illusions created by someone just to fool us."

Then he turned around and pointed at the faraway distance.

"Take a look at those," he said.

Sinclair moved her eyes to the place where the demon was pointing and understood what he meant.

"The footprints. We really were walking in that direction before," she uttered.

The next second, he looked at the demon and asked. "How can we escape this illusion?"

"We just need to walk in the right direction. I think this illusion was placed here to prevent entry into that place. Imagine if a normal human being is here during the peak of the day without any food or water to replenish his energy; he’ll die of dehydration first before finding out that he’s under some kind of illusion," Zeno answered.

Then, like he suggested, both of them agreed to go in the direction where they had previously headed, and after taking a few hundred steps, the silhouette of the forest came into their view.

"Look! There it is!" Sinclair exclaimed, smiling.

However, she stopped all of a sudden, and the smile on her face vanished after seeing a woman dressed in a loose white robe standing from a distance. She pulled her weapon out of her chest.

"For justice, extinguish—" She was about to charge, but the demon pulled her on her clothes, preventing her from doing so.

"Why are you stopping me?" Sinclair shouted, annoyance printed on her face.

"She’s a friend," Zeno replied.

The next second, the woman vanished from the distance and reappeared in front of Zeno. With just a few inches between them, she clung her hands around his neck.

"You took too long to arrive," she said while staring straight into the demon’s dull-looking eyes.

. . . . .