Sera's head was still hurting and she heard shouting coming from all around her. With confusion she tried to get up, but the darkness persisted in her vision... Or at least that's what she thought.
Going on a hunch she held out her hand and summoned a small globe of light. She never really used her light making ability since she could see in the dark and her flames were much more powerful
She only used it now to test something. The small light illuminated their surroundings instantly, which meant the darkness wasn't in her vision at all, but made artificially by some creature.
Putting more essence into the light, its brightness greatly increased. It illuminated everything around her for about a dozen meters.
Her vision went to the ground where David was still lying unconscious. The hearing in her ears were still muffled and her headache only grew.
Still she didn't dare lose focus. Something bad was happening and she needed to figure out the situation as best as she could.
Slowly her armor weaved itself into existence including her helmet. In her hand the beautiful golden glaive appeared. On the armor the small healing elephant charm got placed, which gradually elevated her headache.
With her mind clearer she summoned even more essence and placed it into the light, which originated from the top of her crown-like helmet.
It brightened everything for about 50 meters. She could finally see most of the group fighting some very strange monsters.
They were dark, almost shadowy and nearly formless. When they attacked a claw formed out of nowhere, or a large maw full of razor sharp teeth. One of the sword-bearer's of the Ouroboros Cohort managed to cut one, but the monster just dissolved into dark smoke.
One thing she noted was that they stayed at the edge of her light, seemingly afraid of it.
She placed even more essence into the light and didn't stop until the dome of illumination reached for a few hundred meters.
All the shadow monsters dissolved, but Sera knew they weren't dead. She was sure that those creatures weren't even alive, they were just weapons summoned by some large meaner monster.
The group quickly ran towards Sera. They were all accounted for, but they looked battered to say the least, especially Kathy, who seemed to be barely clinging to consciousness.
"My Lady... Thank you for the save!" Said Kathy before falling down next to David. Her breathing was heavy, but even. She passed out the moment her head hit the grass ground.
"Status?" Asked Sera from the rest of the group. One of the Ouroboros Cohort's members stepped forward. They all wore armor so she couldn't determine who spoke, but it was definitely male.
"We are approximately 50 kilometers from Tekirdag. After the Lady and David had fallen unconscious we tried to make as much progress as possible. We fought multiple relatively easy battles, but as the Lady can see... or more like can't see... Something ambushed us!"
Sera nodded along thoughtfully. If they were 50 kilometers from Tekirdag, that means they already walked 150 kilometers from the point she had lost consciousness. This would've been great news, if their circumstances would be better.
<Nothing>
Description: It's nothing! What did you expect?
Attribute: Does nothing...
Contained Souls: <Dark Summoner – Horror of the 1st Tier>
Seeing the change in the description would've brought a bright smile to her face, but she controlled her facial muscles not letting it reveal anything.
Slowly Kathy was finally awakening. Her eyes tried to open, but the sudden bright light caused her face to scrunch up.
"Weren't we in darkness? What the fuck is going on?" She asked and the others looked at Sera with raised eyebrows as well.
Without any fanfare she turned to them and said her prepared lie.
"I saw through the darkness. It was controlled by a very strong corrupted of the 3rd tier. I threw my spear hitting it, but it didn't die and it managed to get away." Since her voice was emotionless they couldn't guess her lie, still they seemed a bit skeptical, especially Hector.
His eyes narrowed, but after a few seconds he just turned and walked away. The others dropped the topic as well, non of them were dumb enough to try and call out her easily noticeable lie.
The only person who held her eyes was David. He wasn't skeptical, just curious. After a few moments Sera made a small nod indicating that she will explain it later. David just smirked as an answer.
Her eyes turned away from the group and went to the Sun above their heads. There was still close to half the day left, which meant they could make it to Tekirdag if they hurry.
David seemed to have the same idea.
"Okay everyone! Take a small breather, we are moving out in half an hour... Oh, and someone call off the support..." He turned to Sera and smiled as he finished his sentence. "...Seems like we didn't need help after all!"
With just those words David made most of the group forget about her small lie. It was truly amazing how much better he was with leadership than her.
The people she lead was because they trusted her blindly. He on the other hand has earned all of his soldier's respect.
Each of them took some time off. Sera and David ate a lot since they were starving. The others just watched in bewilderment as Sera devoured about ten kilogram cooked monster meat, even David looked at her with a strange expression.
After the half hour was up, they each grabbed their packs and began walking northeast on the last stretch of their journey.
As always Sera and David went a bit away from the rest. They stayed silent for a long while, but eventually it was time for her to reveal another large secret to him.