"Then how do you explain the sudden ambush!? I didn't even notice it!"
Hearing her sound and reasonable question, Juder too felt perplexed before he shouted, "How am I supposed to know that?"
Cordelia didn't respond to his vexed shout, more like, she couldn't respond.
'W-what the...'
She was left completely flabbergasted when her eyes darted around to the tree stump they had been taking support on.
'T-this... This...!'
Without even needing to think any further, she realized what needed to be done as she looked at Juder and noticed that the distance between them was less than 5 meters.
'I am physically weaker... It's impossible...'
She knew the difference already as she had carried him here and just now, she had held him up to prevent him from falling face first, causing her muscles to strain and cry out in pain.
However, in the face of the Treant type monster which could easily wipe out every single Examinee, she couldn't think of anything better.
'Obviously, he can't do anything here either... It's just our luck...'
Given their enemy was a tree-shaped monster, it didn't have a mouth to speak or roar, all it had were its numerous branches, roots, and leaves.
All of which it could modify to be sharp and tapered or blunt and hard to waxy and poisonous...
'It has endless options to attack us yet it isn't attacking...'
'Could it be...?'
"A safe zone," mumbled Cordelia after recognising the stalemate situation they found themselves in.
"Safe zone?" Juder repeated with a cobfused tone as she wasn't far enought to be inaudible.
"Yea, a safe zone," Cordelia guloed nervously before continuing, "Oftentimes, monsters don't exit their territories unless provoked, forming a temporary safe zone."
Juder's face arkened after hearing her, responding in an icy tone. "Everyone knows that. How does it correlate to our current situation...?"
'Is he an idiot? Or did he become dumb all of a sudden?' thought Cordelia incredulously as she gave him a blank look, but he didn't care.
"Think about it, why would a Treant move? They usually stay in the place they took root, animating other trees nearby to work for them. But here it is, right in front of us, unmoving!"
"Monsters obviously don't just form their territories anywhere. They only stay around regions where there is a resource."
"Haven't you ever heard of the old saying, 'Danger coexists with opportunity and opportunity coexists with danger. If there is danger, there may be an opportunity nearby, but if there is an opportunity, there must be danger nearby'. "
Judere didn't need to be told twice as he immediately understood the crux of the situation.
"You mean, there is some Hidden Mission nearby?"
"Precisely. But the problem still persists..."
Both looked at the unmoving Treant in front of them, blocking the way ahead with its numerous roots surrounding them from allsides, spare the two and the tree alone.
'So he calls it Hidden Mission?' Cordelia mused in wonder as she called them Hidden Pieces but she thought it msde sense as the 'blue window' also asked to complete hidden missions.
'Ah, right! How could I forget?'
'Clock.'
[14:26:56/24:00:00]
'Shit! So much time has passed!'
Cordelia cursed inwardly as she realised that she had more or less wasted most of time because of Juder.
'No. Don't hit him. No. Don't be angry. He will be my lifeline. I shouldn't hurt him...'
She tried to console herself in a way but her intrusive thoughts didn't lose either.
'A little bit of hitting hurt nobody, yea? It should be okay, no? Should I just smack him and act like it wasn't me? Maybe he'll never know...'
Unaware of Cordelia's evil thoughts, Juder observed their surroundings and was surprised to see that the woman stood right behind him, less than a meter seperating them.
'Is she planning on using me as bait?' thought Juder as his brows furrowed slightly before relaxing as he put his body weight behind him in an attempt to diminish the chances of her pushing him away.
'I hope it isn't so but better be prepared...'
Juder prepared himself for any action she would take to get out of here. Even then, he was gobsmacked by what she actually did, despite his preprations.
Cordelia moved and suddenly appeared in front of him using the wind to support her movements and increase her speed, in result, increasing the force she could apply.
She really risked it by reaching in front of the Treant's blunt root before swiveling on her feet, chabging direction by a complete one-eighty.
As a result, her back got out of the 'safe zone', due to the initial momentum carrying her, momentarily allowing an opening for thr Treant to exploit.
The moment it struck her, her speed exploded as she approached the still dumfounded Juder who couldn't make sense of the current events and looked blankly at the approaching figure of Cordelia clad in white.
Her pristine appearance got sullied as blood leaked out from her mouth and nose but before it could fall down, it got swept up behind her by the wind due to her increasing speed.
Her pained expression along with gritted teeth would make one doubt how could such a beautiful scene be desecrated?
But that was the reality and Juder could clearly notice that she could barely control her movements due to the strong force of the attacking redirecting her momentum, amplifying her speed exponentially.
Unfortunately, he could barely track her with his eyes, let alone react with his body, making one thing painfully obvious in his mind.
'We are gonna collide.'
Sadly, he didn't have any time to move away out of the way and even if he had, he wouldn't have moved.
After all, ehe would directly strike the tree and at best, survive with many injuries. At worst, she would be turned into meatpaste.
Do not mistake him for a kind person, however.
If it was anyone other than the one who saved his life by risking hers, he wouldn't care in the least what fate befell them.
'Damn this crazy woman!'
Just because he didn't want to ower her anything and the fact he really couldn't move, it didn't stop him from cursing this lunatic of a woman.
He didn't even know how could someone be so crazy as her.
Well, Cordelia could be considered crazy if one believed what they saw.
And since she had seen what can't be seen, she already knew this was the best move to get out of the trouble in the best way possible.
'Just a little...'
Crash
With that as the last thought Cordelia crashed into Juder who could barely balance himself but due to the extreme force, he got pushed alongside Cordelia who gripped him.
He tried flinging her off but she held tightly and before he knew it his back reached the tree.
'Damn it! No! We are gonna crash...!