Cherreads

Chapter 9 - Recon

At the hotel.

"The time has arrived. The intel I received shows she will be available around 2 am. Celestial energy will be at its peak, we can get a reading then." Leon explained to the group. "She doesn't like too many people finding her, this means we will continue to use the cloak and stick together. There's a path in the woods on the outside of ton we can take."

"Can I see the map? I'll go ahead and scout early actually. I can make a round trip quickly." Turquoise said.

"That's fine. Here's the map." Leon hands the map over. "You want to do this alone? You have never been in this area before."

"Practice makes perfect. I'll be fine. This doesn't seem high risk anyway. Might have a spectator but can't be anything too serious. Nobody is out to kill us right?" Turquoise asked.

"Nobody is out to kill us, so go ahead," Amatesa said.

"Great, I'll be back shortly." Turquoise then left the hotel in a flash. She teleported outside to a spot she earlier designated. She pulls out the map and then finds the path they are to take. Instead of walking along the path, she instead travels through the trees, to avoid being easily seen. After traveling for a short time she noticed a group of men grouped up. They looked like they were putting something together. Summoning lines were being drawn on the path. However, this depiction shows the spell is more used as a trigger than a casting. Anyone caught close will trigger it, summoning a beast. Turquoise waits to see what else could be set up. She can hear the men talking.

"This spell should summon a familiar of whatever beast comes through. Rather dragon or lion, it'll summon a feral one that will exceed the original strength and kill them. This will show those beasts for coming into our town." The summoner mage said.

"Hehe, that's gonna show them. You're so smart, Ask." One of his supporters said.

"We need to go, though this won't work on us, we don't want to be around when this goes off. Don't want to be a casuality." Ask said.

"What about the nearby town?" His supporter asked

"We'll come in and save them. I'll use a dispel on the beast but disguise it as a magical blast, so they think I eradicated it. We'll be heroes and receive a reward as well. A few casualties is worth the bigger picture. Let's get moving. The trap should become active in about an hour. We need to be far and safe before it does." Asked said as everyone left. "Seems this will be a perfect trap, my alarms never went off. This couldn't be any better."

Turquoise watched as the mage took his alarms down and then disappeared into the darkness. The circle was completely sealed into the ground and was undetectedable on the surface. Turquoise thought to herself, this is perfect timing. She can disarm the trap before moving forward. She then thought, it is strange that he said his alarm didn't go off outloud, as if he wanted someone to hear it. She then checked ahead for more traps. She used a skill of magic detection to see any lingering magic that could be in the area. She noticed that it wasn't one circle but dozens. She then weighed dispelling the magic or finding another route to take. She realized she wouldn't have the time to put down all of these but she also couldn't leave them for someone else to fall for. She went to the hotel to tell Amatesa.

Leon was staring out the window at this time. "I wonder if she came across any problems?"

"There were some problems, there's summoning traps on the trail." Turquoise said as she teleported in as Leon asked the question.

"That would be..... huh? When did you get back? I didn't hear you." Leon said startled.

"Just now, and hearing me would defeat my purpose. But yes that's something I came across. I didn't see any further activity than that. It's a trap supposedly to summon any feral beast that's similar to another beast that approaches it. We can't just leave it, but I also couldn't take all of them down quickly by myself." Turquoise explained.

"The telling shouldn't take long, we could go around it and then disarm them afterward. There does appear to be another path we can take. The window of opportunity is small, and it's unlikely for anyone to travel at 2 am. If anything does get triggered, I'll deal with it myself, no feral beast can stop me." Amatesa said.

"Then everything is settled. Let's make our move." Leon said.

The group went out to their destination. They took a different path to meet with the psychic. "I'll let you know if anything is ahead, I'll stay discreet." Turquoise vanished into the trees.

They moved around the traps which haven't been sprung yet. Turquoise already circled the area for them on the map to avoid it.

They approached their destination. "The map says it should be here." Amatesa said.

"Oh, we must introduce ourselves. She's here, but cloaked. I'm Leon, and this is Amatesa, she is the one that wanted to meet with you." Leon said to the nothingness.

"Hello, step forward Amatesa. I'll answer what you seek." A voice said in the darkness. Amatesa confused steps forward and then is teleported away. Turquoise popped up from the shadows also confused.

"What just happened?" She asked.

"Pocket dimension. This is how she stays so hidden." Leon explained.

"How did you even find her in the first place? This is extremely hidden." Turquoise asked.

"There are some really talented people who can find anyone, but because of how talented they are, they only share secrets for profits. Otherwise, they would get found out and silenced." Leon explained. "Now, we wait and see if Amatesa learns what she needs so she can move forward with her life."

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