The second female lead Dual Cultivates

Chapter 182 180: Worst Case Scenario

“How much longer will we have to keep moving? I can’t even feel my feet anymore” Maria regretted her decision to travel with a spoilt princess for the hundredth time as she heard the complaints. They had not even been walking that long in her opinion but Venus still voiced her complaints to her.

Maria ignored her and kept walking down the road she had found in the forest. The lively forest provided a decent distraction from the princess’s whine but Maria couldn't help but still hear them.

“The village should be nearby. I can’t help but feel like we are missing something here.” Maria replied, completely hearing the princess’s complaints. She tried to not let the princess distract her from her work but it was a difficult thing to do.

The princess was not only loud but commanded incredible presence as well. The forest sounded a little noisier when she walked through it. Or it might just be Maria’s imagination at work, making her think that.

“You said the same thing ten minutes ago and even fifteen minutes ago as well. Tell me honestly, are we lost?” Venus sounded disappointed but resigned as well when she asked that question.

It was easy for Maria to see how she has come up with that opinion but Maria was not willing to admit that they might be lost. She had her map pointing to the village but it was Maria’s fault that they were not in the village yet.

The map was clear of their destination and Maria had been following it diligently for the past few minutes but it did not seem as if they were making any progress. It seemed as if they were stuck in the same loop.

“We’re not lost, just a bit misguided. I have a map guiding us toward the village but it's a bit difficult to follow for me” Maria was not complaining, she was just stating a fact. It was a coincidence that her voice did not sound like that.

And the unimpressed look on Venus’s face let Maria know what she thought about this situation.

“I see. So we are lost then. Can we at least rest now?’ the princess asked in a neutral voice. She had a ‘why me’ expression on her face that irritated Maria. In her opinion, the princess had done nothing but complain this whole time.

She had no credibility or even a right to complain like this to Maria.

“Fine. we can rest but only for a short while. I don’t trust this forest” generally, a quiet forest was a dangerous one but all the sounds in this forest were putting Maria’s instincts to test.

There was something about all that noise surrounding her that made Maria’s instincts scream at her to stay alert and to be ready for anything. She also felt like she was on the verge of a vision but it would just not come.

And knowing Maria’s luck, she would get that vision at the worst possible time and would not be able to do anything about it afterward.

But maybe Maria could force herself to have that vision? She could feel her magic more acutely even since she had exited Imu and she almost felt like she knew how to make it activate her vision.

“It’s too noisy. I feel like we’re going to get attacked any second. How do you even relax in all this noise?” the princess complained as her body sagged into the tree behind her. Maria was vaguely aware of the spoken words as well as actions.

Her magic was moving in a constant flow inside her veins, urging it to move on the way and to facilitate the movement of her senses. Her surroundings well dulling as well and Maria felt like she was going into a trance.

It was a bad time for her to force her vision but it also felt like the perfect time to try this out. She did not need a big vision, just a validation that she could do this.

[Dulling senses… connecting to the magic core….

User is asked to reconsider their decision to force the vision…..]

The system warned but Maria was too deep to get out now. She needed to reach inside and yank the connection open. She was almost at the gate of her threshold now and she felt her magic escape her hand like water.

But she managed to grasp a small portion of it and it transformed into a crystal ball.

[Forced vision induced…..warning, forced vision induces…..

The user is informed that it might leave lingering mental fatigue once the host emerges from the vision]

Maria did not have enough mental capacity to be able to multi-task right now. She could either focus on the system’s words or force her way deeper into her consciousness.

And she kept on pushing forward and her surroundings changed to the forest she had just been in.

‘Wide eyes looking back at Maria with a hand gripping a knife with blood dripping down it.

“I-I-Never. It’s not my fault. I did not kill him. I promise I did not” that sounded like Venus’s voice but Maria could not hear her voice.

She could hear the child from before, an angry howl mixed in that ever-cold voice of his. It was the elder one as well, the one Maria had dismissed.

But she could not make out where the younger one was. The only thing the clearing had was the elder teen as well as the female pair.

And the dead body of a giant beast lying in the middle of their clearing. It was bleeding but Maria could not feel any life force coming from it.

And the elder teen was not taking it well at all. Maria could feel the magic around them going out of control and she tried to move but she could not. Was she tied down? She did not even have enough energy to change the direction of her face and look at the teen head-on.

And then it drew on her just what could be happening to her. These events were recent and would happen any second now. Her irresponsible body was in a trance and Venus had tried to protect her.

She needed to wake up. She needed to wake up right now or things would take the worst turn.’

‘System, wake me up system’

[User is informed that they would suffer a backlash if they chose to do so. Should the system still progress with the request?]

‘Yes. Now hurry up and wake me up’ Maria huffed as she felt her heart beat painfully, but she did feel her consciousness return to her so that was a plus point for her.

(Remember the deal. For every 100 privilege chapter unlocked, I will do a spicy extra R-18 scene as a side piece. It will not be canon but will be free to read. Also, fill this form https://forms.gle/ZVAyGEKReuxgqvng6. It will be linked in the description as well. This will be open this whole month. Also, no information will be recorded)