But the condition of Romantic was not as optimistic as Brand had imagined, as time progressed, the atmosphere gradually became tense. Only then did Brand realize that the young merchant girl must be hiding a secret unknown to him - an unconscious secret - the deeper the secret was hidden, the greater the harm at this moment.
For a while, the only sound in the air was the tense breathing of the two. The young merchant girl herself slept peacefully, but Brand really feared that she might just sleep and never wake up.
He couldn’t help but glance at the Golden Magic Tree, the connection between dream and reality had become quite fragile, and the Golden Magic Tree could wake up at any moment.
Frey clenched her fist, so nervous that she couldn’t say a word. Brand said they only had five minutes, and it seemed like time was running out, yet Romantic was still immersed in her own nightmare. But she knew this wasn’t the young man’s fault, because this secret was known only by her in Buqi.
She only blamed herself for not informing Brand earlier, but how could she have known the dream was so complex? Brand also didn’t say anything to avoid affecting their mindset, unexpectedly leading to a backfire.
Yet the young man did not fall into pure panic, his thoughts raced, and suddenly threw the Azure Light Piercing forward.
"This sword has exorcism power, let her hold it." Brand said verbally, but he knew that relying on the Elf Sword’s increase in one energy level of Will might allow the young merchant girl to turn danger into safety.
Martha above! He couldn’t help but pray in his heart to the ’Vorn’, the omnipresent Supreme, hoping she would show mercy to Romantic. Perhaps it was the sword’s effect, or Brand’s prayer sensed by Martha, but soon the young merchant girl blinked her eyes and woke up.
She rubbed her eyes and looked at the two of them, stunned for a moment, then happily said: "Frey, you’re here too. Let me tell you, I just had a nightmare!"
"Ah---!" Frey was dumbfounded, then suddenly made a low shout of joy. She didn’t listen to what the young merchant girl was saying at all, instead rushed to embrace Romantic, crying with joy. She had thought there was no hope, but Brand’s method really worked.
"Romantic, you idiot!"
"Frey, Frey, what are you talking about! I’m not an idiot!" Romantic, looking as if she had taken a fatal blow, busily and earnestly defended herself.
On the contrary, Brand, observing the young merchant girl who was suddenly made flustered by the emotional Frey, remained calm. With the infusion of belief and the help of Azure Light Piercing, Romantics’ chance of awakening from deep nightmares was very high, though he worried about what impact that might have on her.
But seeing her dazed look, Brand knew he was worrying unnecessarily.
"Alright, don’t cry anymore." He said: "The Golden Magic Tree is about to wake up, anything you want to say, leave it until after the battle."
The ponytail girl then wiped away her tears and nodded. "What should we do, Brand?" she asked.
"We are not the main characters of this battle, there is a stone cone worm in this valley—"
"Romantic, stop interrupting! Stone cone worms are elemental creatures from Earth Pivot (Earth Element Plane), they are born to be nemeses of the Golden Magic Tree. However, before this stone cone worm matures, the Golden Magic Tree can rely on its massive root system to isolate it outside of the valley. Of course, it takes eighty to one hundred and twenty years for a stone cone worm to mature, and we can’t wait that long, so we need to help it."
"Help it?" Frey asked.
Brand took the Elf Sword from Romantic’s hand and replied: "The Golden Magic Tree is weak, its only offensive means is using its roots to pierce intruders. Therefore, we need to force it to do this, the more roots it pulls out, the fewer roots it will have to guard against the stone cone worm. Over time, the stone cone worm will be able to enter the valley’s interior—"
"But we have only ten minutes, at most ten minutes before the first batch of Withered Beasts floods into the valley. If we haven’t succeeded within ten minutes, you must run to the west without hesitation. The hidden passage is very conspicuous within a valley."
"What about you?" Romantic raised her head.
"Leave the rear guard to the gentlemen, this is the grace you ladies should maintain." Brand saw her smooth forehead, couldn’t help but gently tap it with his hand. He then looked at Frey, the girl was tying up her ponytail behind her head for the convenience of the upcoming battle, noticing his gaze, she nodded at him.