The black ape was too busy fighting Roy. It didn't notice that a gorgeous woman with unparalleled beauty had reached the spiritual tree it was tasked to guard.
Delilah's eyes gleamed with greed as an intense desire flared up inside her when she inhaled the magic fruit's scent.
Her instincts were telling her to waste no time and eat it, but her mind was telling her the opposite. Her desire conflicted with the order of her master, and it drove her crazy.
Her hands wavered as they inched towards the magic fruit.
To eat, or not to eat?
'The enticement it carries is intense, but I can't... let my master down.'
A resolute expression made its way onto her face when her fingers with pinkish tips wrapped around the target of her desire.
She suppressed her greed with great willpower and, with one swift movement, plucked the Seven Stars and Three Blessings magic fruit from the dusk tree, stowing it in her spatial ring.
The other two magic fruits that had barely begun to develop were also plucked and stored.
(The dusk tree is better than all three magic fruits combined. Try to collect it if you think you can.)
Just then, Roy mentally communicated to Delilah as he dodged a swift and powerful punch from the black ape that sunk into the cavern wall and drilled a hole the size of his chest.
Delilah looked in his direction and bobbed her head up and down, 'I will try.'
She grabbed the sides of the dusk tree and squatted.
'Let's do this!'
As she attempted to uproot it, her blue veins surfaced, becoming visible through her skin, her slim and tight muscles bulged, her face heated up, and her feet sunk two feet into the ground.
She groaned as the first attempt ended in failure.
However, her disappointment quelled as she noticed that her efforts weren't in vain. Clear signs were showing it was possible to pull the dusk tree out of the ground.
'I can do it! I just need to continue trying until I succeed.' she slapped her face and got back to work. Her hands were slightly swollen from the previous attempt, but she didn't let that stop her from giving it another try.
Just as she attempted to uproot it a second time, she felt herself being glared at by a beast, and her body stiffened up. This was happening to her a second time, so she knew she was being suppressed by a being whose existence was greater than hers.
The bloodshot eyes of a beast had locked onto her slender and curvacious back that was like an awe-inspiring painting.
These eyes belonged to the black ape. It hadn't noticed anything strange even when the fruits it had been waiting to bloom were snatched by Delilah. But it had realized what was happening when she attempted to take the dusk tree.
Its heart bubbled up with anger as it caught a little rat stealing the dusk tree.
Grrgggrrrrah!
The black ape raised its head and bellowed with rage. Its roar was as loud as the rumbling of the sky but more vicious than one. It ripped through the air and stabbed the young woman like a dagger of pain, almost yanking the soul out of her very existence.
The onslaught of the roar left her shivering and nearly exploded her heart, once more reminding her that the difference between an aura monster and a peak-level weapon master was like Heaven and Earth.
It was a boundary that couldn't be easily crossed. She was a measly little ant before the beast.
"Do you think you can afford to divide your attention?" Roy said as his sword slapped the beast, sending it flying further away from Delilah and the dusk tree. Its body spun through the air before crashing face-first on a stalagmite, reducing it to rubble.
(Continue!) His shout resounded in Delilah's mind, snapping her back to life.
"Thank you for saving me, my lord." she mouthed it out.
The distance and the obstacles between them did nothing to hinder his vision. The movement of her kissable, glossy lips was visible to him as if they were standing close.
He got what she said and replied telepathically,
(Don't thank me when I should be the one sorry for dragging you into this mess.)
He gave her an apologetic look and focused on beating some senses into the black ape with his sword.
A gentle smile appeared on the assassin's cold and charming face upon hearing his words. His slick words and soft expression had touched her blackened heart again. It's not like she had never come across guys who were so good at talking sweet that they could turn sand into refined sugar, but they were merely her target, preys she couldn't be bothered to listen to, while Roy was someone who had a place somewhere in her cruel heart. He mattered to her.
'He is too damn sweet.' she thought as she tried again to uproot the dusk tree.
She yanked most of it out of the ground, revealing its root.
"Once more."
She tried again and completely uprooted it. It was too big to be stored in her spatial ring. The space inside it wasn't as big as Roy's subspace. She had to hold the dusk tree in her hand.
"What now?" she yelled.
"Take it and leave. Go to the end of the right path and wait at the cliff for me."
Roy signaled her to retreat as he stepped between her and the black ape whose face was stuck in a pile of rocks.
"I will catch up with you after defeating the crazy ape."
"I will be waiting for you. You better be there in five minutes, or I am coming back to look for you," she said informally as she followed his command, feeling glad that she would be getting away from the aura beast and reluctant to leave him all by himself.
