294-304

Chapter 294 - Simple Reinforcement

Three days have passed since Lost Isle Alley had been enclosed by a 3-meter high wall.

Anyone with a bit of cultivation could jump over this wall, but when it is guarded by palace guards, they will not dare even if they could. The king had sent his word, and people have been informed that Lost Isle Alley had become a restricted zone.

It was unfortunate that Leon had not received news of any further incidents occurring during these 3 days amidst his frequent visits to crosscheck the formations and array.

That is to say that his adoptive mother and 8 other people were still trapped on the other side. Their situation becomes more unfavorable with each passing moment.

For that reason, he did not waste a single moment to comprehend the formations and array as soon as possible.

Furthermore, according to Leon's adoptive father, Mia should also be on the other side of the teleportation array. He had not seen that little girl in a while. It was tragic how such a young girl had to experience so much danger and hardship.

Leon left his private courtyard immediately. He made a quick stop by the Royal Treasury to pick up some items before heading to Guest Courtyard.

The Supreme Elder, or rather Marquis Haldir now was informed of his visit and was overjoyed.

He had finished his short cultivation session two days ago and went to seek out the prince to express his gratitude. However, he did not get this opportunity due to the prince being busy.

"You finally came to see me, Your Highness. Once again, I wish to thank you for the precious pill you have bestowed this one." Marquis Haldir respectfully expressed his gratitude with cupped hands.

"You're too humble, Senior. It is what you deserved." Leon gestured for the Supreme Elder to be at ease with a wave of his hand. "I came this time to ask you for a favor. I wonder if you are willing to grant it?"

"Just say the word, Your Highness. As long as it is within my ability, I will be most willing." Marquis Haldir agreed without hesitation.

The divine pill was more potent than he had expected, and the loss of cultivation had already been recovered. Marquis Haldir no reason to reject the prince's request.

"Then, I will thank you in advance. It is definitely something you can do." Leon smiled and said, "I need you to accompany me to a place first. Are you free to leave now?"

"Of course. After you, Your Highness." Marquis Haldir gestured.

Leon took the lead with Marquis Haldir in tow. Just as they were leaving, Faelyn caught a glimpse of their figures as she exited her room adjacent to the Supreme Elder's room.

"Supreme Elder! Your Highness!" She called out. As the two turned around, she took the chance to catch up to them. "Where are you both heading?"

"Lost Isle Alley, to do something important."

"Can I come?" Faelyn's eyes lit up before asking with a shifty look, "There's been nothing to do lately…"

Leon felt slightly awkward when he heard this. They had pretty come to a decision to vassalize the elves.

However, they were just missing one final step, the allocation of land for the elves to settle in. A population of 800,000 elves was not exactly a small number.

Leon and Heinrich had to wait for Elizabeth to return to discuss whether they should absorb the lands of the Valaran Kingdom and the Durham Kingdom, transfer the people over to their kingdom, and allocate one of the empty territories for the elves to settle in.

The size of a city had always been proportional to how much the city can feed its people.

The Crawford Kingdom was not as advanced in their agricultural techniques to other kingdoms due to their heavy reliance on beast hunting for meat.

However, if they can have a group of elves to manage their crops, they would be able to experience bumper harvest every cycle. Once that happens, they would no longer lack food supplies and could finally start looking into expanding the Capital.

Leon thought for a moment, before granting Faelyn's request. "Alright, you can come."

The elves were, no doubt, a force to be reckoned with. Their assimilation would be a great addition to the kingdom should the demons or beasts invade them. There was no problem letting them know about what they might face in the future.

"That's great!"

Faelyn rejoiced after receiving Leon's permission. At the same time, her curiosity towards Lost Isle Alley that had caused quite a commotion in the Capital grew.

Their group made their way over to Lost Isle Alley, and a palace guard approached to greet them upon sighting them a short distance away from the entrance.

"Greetings, Your Highness, Esteemed Envoys." Said the palace guard, before carrying out his regular report every time Leon visited during the past 3 days. "The situation has been the same as last time, Your Highness. Lost Isle Alley remained quiet all this while, but the building's deterioration is accelerating."

"Understood. You may return to your post." Leon acknowledged and said.

"Yes, Your Highness."

The palace guard bowed and took his leave.

Under Leon's lead, Marquis Haldir and Faelyn stepped inside the vicinity of the three old buildings just past the earthen wall.

Looking up at the decrepit old buildings in front, Marquis Haldir could not guess Leon's intention for bringing him here. "What do you need me to do here, Your Highness?"

"These buildings are on the verge of collapse, but we cannot allow that to happen," Leon stated. Not planning to hide anything from them, he began to explain, "Within these buildings, there is a hidden teleportation array that leads to demon territory. If these buildings collapse, a spatial rift will open and swallow everything around it."

Having said that much, Leon looked into Marquis Haldir's eyes with solemnness and said, "I need you to use your ability to hold this whole place together and prevent them from collapsing. There must be no mistake. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Marquis Haldir solemnly answered.

Like Leon had said, this was something he could definitely do, but the possibility of failure still made him feel pressured.

"You aren't surprised hearing about demons?" Leon asked with surprise.

"I am surprised, Your Highness." Marquis Haldir stated calmly.

"I am also very surprised," Faelyn added.

Leon looked at them with doubt.

"But you both did not react all that surprised like a normal person would. Can you tell me why this is the case?" Leon asked when a sudden yet subtle creak coming building was picked up, causing his expression to abruptly change.

"Never mind. We can talk about it later. Marquis Haldir, please." Leon gestured.

Marquis Haldir nodded. A few seeds were taken out of his Magic Seed Pouch and infused with wood energy before they were tossed to the foot of each old building.

The seeds germinated quickly and sprouted into small trees with

The marquis stepped forward and placed one hand on the tree before countless vine-like branches proliferated and latched onto the walls of the old buildings while some entered the interior and latch onto the floors and ceilings.

The marquis could see and control everything like he had countless pairs of extra eyes by seeping his consciousness into the plant. It was an ability he called Spirit Vision.

The process was slow and gradual, but by the time it was done, the three old buildings looked like one giant treehouse as it was covered in firm woody branches.

Even Leon could not tell what kind of plant the Supreme Elder had used as its form was altered according to his will to support the old building from gradual collapse.

There was a reason why Leon chose the Supreme Elder for the job rather than having some palace guards reinforce the old building with their earthen abilities.

The Supreme Elder had greater control over his element due to his high cultivation base, and the plant method had fewer risks.

Reinforcing the building would undoubtedly apply some pressure on the old buildings during the reinforcing process. Leon did not dare gamble whether the old buildings would be able to withstand the added pressure before the reinforcement is completed or not.

"It is done, Your Highness." Marquis Haldir stated as he wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead.

"Thank you, Senior."

Shortly after expressing his gratitude, Leon flew into the old building and stood atop the sturdy branches. A single steel ingot appeared in his hand before it grew hot rapidly and melted.

Leon had a casual look like he was not holding molten steel but warm water in his hand. This level of heat did not affect him.

The molten steel was soon dripped through the gaps in the tree branches and rapidly cooled over the countless cracks inside the buildings.

He did not bring enough steel ingots to coat the entire building in metal, but this much work was enough to ensure that it was stable.

"It's done. There's no need to reinforce it further. If someone manages to slip past the guards and purposely destroy the building, it would all be naught anyway." Leon stated after he finished applying simple reinforcements.

"Before something like that can happen, all that is left to do now is… deactivate the array."

To be exact, deactivate the array and modify it to save the vengeful spirit.

Chapter 295 - Modifying Array

Stepping into Lost Isle Alley once more, the place was dark and lightless as usual. Whether it was night or day, this had not changed for the past few hundred years.

The captive vengeful spirit had grown much weaker during this period. Despite sensing another person's arriving into Lost Isle Alley, she did not say anything and remained soulless at the bottom of the well.

Leon did not pay immediate attention to the vengeful spirit as he lifted his head with a narrow but glowing look, seemingly able to peer through the veil of darkness and see the hidden array within the dark clouds above.

The array was like a thin disk of red light. It hovered in the air and rotated at a slow but consistent rate. The portal to the other side laid just underneath the array.

Portal cannot be seen as the array acted as the portal itself. While it is active, people would only need to go through the array from bottom-up to be sent to the other side.

Traces of dark miasma leaked out from the array and spilled into the surrounding area of Lost Isle Alley. Within that small trace of dark miasma, there was an even rarer and fainter trace of darkness profound energy.

Like how humans need air to breathe, dark miasma was the source of life for demons. Not only that, but it was also their source of power. Darkness profound energy was derived from refining dark miasma.

While demons are a very invasive and aggressive race, they cannot survive where there is no dark miasma. Only high-level demons could ignore this restriction.

Aside from drawing in the energy of heaven and earth, the heaven gathering formation and earth gathering formation also acted as a cage that traps the energy inside.

The darkness of Lost Isle Alley was formed because of all these dark miasma and darkness profound energy trapped inside. It is also due to the devouring properties of darkness profound energy that any light source is swallowed shortly inside.

Leon was not fond of the person who set up the formations and array in this place. Still, he had to admit that the ingenious use of the two formations and the single array was impressive.

It also proved that the person was very skilled, possibly peak Tier 4 Formation Master and peak Tier 4 Array Master.

Shooting off his feet, Leon flew into the dark clouds and circled around the array before floating just above it.

Having fully comprehended the Tier 4 Array, it did not take long for Leon to locate the heart of the array and struck it with his own wave of energy.

Akin to being short-circuited, the array was deactivated as its circulation slowed down to a complete stop and hovered motionless in midair with dimmed lights.

The portal to the other side was naturally closed as a result.

The vengeful spirit at the bottom of the well, raised her head and looked up, feeling the changes. Although she was shackled by chains, her power was no longer sapped away by the chains to feed the array above her.

"Who's there? Are you here to save me?" Some hope rekindled in the vengeful spirit's eyes.

"…"

Leon did not answer and continued to focus on the array. Freeing the vengeful spirit was the same as introducing unnecessary risk factors. He did not need to release it to save it.

A spatial collapse would not happen once the array was deactivated. Thus, it no longer mattered if the vengeful spirit dies or the heaven gathering formation breaks at this point.

However, some people still needed saving on the other side. It was inevitable that he would have to go over to the other side to save them, but not without making some preparations.

Thinking to this point, Leon took out his Ravenous Black scribing pen and some conductive Magisteel ingots and began making some alterations to the array's runic lines. The Magisteel was melted and used like solder. He was hijacking the array.

Once Leon was done with the alterations, the array was no longer set to self-destruct from the destabilization of either of the energy gathering formations and form a spatial collapse. It was no longer possible.

That plan had been foiled by Leon.

Leon's eyes soon lingered on a few stones embedded into the floating array disk. There were a few stones embedded in the heaven gathering formation, and he assumed it was the same for the earth gathering formation.

These two formations and array are not powered by spirit energy, wherein his interest lies. The stones were black but semi-transparent like glass and crystals. The black stone glowed with a crimson hue as a different source of energy was stored inside.

It was demonic energy, the primary energy source to power the formations and array. All other energies gathered through the formations were just supplementary to increase the activation time of the array.

"These should be… Demon Cores…" Leon rubbed his chin in thought. "This is a bit interesting."

Demon Cores are found in every demon. It was the source of their power, and their quality varies according to the demon's strength.

For the number of Demon Cores present, it was safe to assume that an equal number of demons had been killed.

The demons were indeed a brutal race. They do not even care for members of their own race and used them as a convenient source of energy for their arrays and formations.

Leon slightly wrinkled his brows at another possibility.

The array and formations might not have been set up by the demons, but by another group that hunted them.

…

Elizabeth led her army and stopped on a distant hill as they took in the breathtaking sight of King City that stood proudly at the heart of the Valaran Kingdom with its highly erected walls.

Lynne and Aria were awed by the vast surrounding farmland and the colossal aqueduct that ran overhead and channeled water directly to the majestic city from the nearby river.

On one side of the large city stood a towering mountain. It was the Blood Mountain where the headquarters of the Bloodfiend Sect was located.

Elizabeth sent out some scouts to search the region ahead. It did not take too long before they returned with intelligence.

"Report," Elizabeth ordered calmly with her sight fixed on the distant city.

"Merchants and farmers alike are entering and leaving the city at will with no security check. The city gates are left wide open, and few city guards can be seen atop the walls, but they are waving a white flag, Your Majesty." A scout reported dutifully.

Elizabeth nodded and issued a command for the army to advance under lead. Aria and Lynne followed quietly by her side, but their eyes displayed a readiness to face any upcoming challenges.

The army advanced with caution, but even after entering the city, no potential enemy was found. The common people simply made way for them and bowed submissively as they were passing.

They reached a large square deeper within the huge city where found another pile of burnt bodies stacked together like they did with the other cities they had passed through.

However.

This time, the number of burnt bodies had reached at least two hundred.

A group of officials waited for them there, and a bulky tanned person stood at the front of them. Seeing Elizabeth's army approaching, the bulky tanned person stepped forward to greet them.

"Greetings, I am Denzell, an elder of the Burning Heaven Sect. May I ask to whom I am speaking to?"

"Queen Elizabeth stands before you," Elizabeth said coolly after signaling the army to halt their steps. "What are the intentions of your sect for being here?"

"Ah, apologies for not recognizing, Your Majesty." Denzell expressed his respect with a slight bow and said, "I am representing my sect to express our wish to establish friendly relations with your kingdom, Your Majesty."

"And these burnt corpses are…?"

"Disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect. You do not need to doubt this. This is our greeting gift to you, Your Majesty. I hope you like it." As if remembering something else, Denzell added, "This letter was personally written by our sect master and carries some vital information you may be interested in. If you would read it, please, Your Majesty."

Elizabeth carefully took the sealed letter from the Burning Heaven Sect's elder.. After unsealing the letter and giving it a quick read, she immediately frowned.

Chapter 296 - News Of The Geyser Kingdom

From the letter, Elizabeth learned a bit about the nature of the Burning Heaven Sect and how they had no interest in expanding outside of the Ishaan Kingdom.

The sect master explained how they were a 'good' sect and did not see eye to eye with an 'evil' sect like the Bloodfiend Sect that treats human lives like dirt. However, they were not as powerful as the Bloodfiend Sect and could not do anything to them until now.

In a few words, the sect master had differentiated the two sects between good and evil.

The Bloodfiend Sect would have been uprooted eventually. Still, the Burning Heaven Sect intervened to establish friendly relations. They believed they could get along well despite there being little to no interaction between their sides due to the great distance between them.

Towards the end of the letter, the sect master expressed his regret that they could not locate the sect master of the Bloodfiend Sect on the Blood Mountain and told Elizabeth to be careful of an ambush.

This was also the cause for Elizabeth's frown as the threat posed by the unknown whereabouts of an enemy Transcendent was quite significant.

The Burning Heaven Sect also did not loot anything from Bloodfiend Sect when they arrived to slaughter all the remnant disciples. The loots were all rounded up and left on the Blood Mountain for Elizabeth to deal with. However, the sect master did suggest that those evil techniques should all be destroyed.

Elizabeth folded the letter after she was done and stored it away in one of her gauntlets.

"Your sect's wishes and gift, I have received them. You can be assured that my kingdom will not be hostile to your sect." Elizabeth said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. If there is nothing else, I will return to my sect to deliver your words." Denzell said politely.

"Leaving so soon? I assume your sect had already returned to the Ishaan Kingdom but does this kingdom holds nothing of interest to your sect? I find it hard to believe that your sect would help us without gaining anything."

Denzell shook his head and said, "That is where you are wrong, Your Majesty. Establishing a friendly relationship with your kingdom would be the greatest gain on this trip for our sect. A Sword Master such as yourself is respected anywhere you go in the Human Domain, even in the mysterious far eastern Geyser Kingdom."

Denzell had not finished talking, but the mention of the Geyser Kingdom quickly drew Elizabeth's attention as she asks, "Why do you say the Geyser Kingdom is mysterious?"

"That's because I don't know much about the Geyser Kingdom, Your Majesty. In fact, I am sure it is the same for everyone. Although the Durham Kingdom and our Ishaan Kingdom neighbors the Geyser Kingdom, not many have the qualification to travel there."

"Why is that so?"

When Elizabeth asked this, Denzell appeared surprised before he had a look of understanding. "It's actually quite old news now, but 300 years ago, the Geyser Kingdom decided to construct a great wall and seal themselves off from the rest of the Human Domain."

"Although it is not as impressive as the Great Wall that holds back the beast invasion from the Wildlands, it is still impressive. Also, border security is very strict. Unless we have a recommendation from someone important there, it is very difficult to enter the Geyser Kingdom."

Elizabeth had a look of doubt after she heard all this. Even if that was the case, people should have attempted entering the Geyser Kingdom illegally, right?

As if knowing what the Crawford Kingdom's Queen was thinking, Denzell said, "You do not need to doubt my words, Your Majesty. Anyone who lives near the border will know this. Of course, people have tried entering illegally, but they have all been killed without exception."

"I can't say much for the rest of the Geyser Kingdom as I am ignorant, but the person guarding the border is very powerful. So powerful that I can confidently say that even if the sect master of Illusory Butterfly Sect and Bloodfiend Sect stood before that person, they would just be ants."

"You speak like you have seen how powerful this person is, personally," Elizabeth said. If what the elder said was true, then this person was also stronger than herself.

Denzell nodded and admitted, "The first-generation sect master and our last sect master were both killed with a single slap from that person."

The elder of the Burning Heaven Sect felt a bit embarrassed as he exposed this part of history from their sect.

Forget about the first-generation sect master, the previous-generation sect master was a person with body cultivation equivalent to the first stage of Transcendent. The sect was overjoyed when the previous-generation sect master had broken through to this level of strength.

However, the previous-generation sect master was too arrogant and decided to challenge the rules set by the Geyser Kingdom by illegally crossing the border openly. He gathered the sect to send him off that day.

The sect had also been confident that nothing would happen since few Transcendents had crossed the borders in the past, albeit while following the regulations. In the end, the sect did not expect that they were sending their sect master off to the netherworld, rather than the Geyser Kingdom.

The elder could still remember the strict and domineering words of that person after slapping their previous-generation sect master to death with a single palm.

"Whether you are Transcendent or mortal, in the Geyser Kingdom, all must respect its laws!" Was what that person had said.

"What about the people from the Geyser Kingdom? Has anyone crossed the border to enter the Ishaan Kingdom?" Elizabeth asked. She was very intrigued by information on the Geyser Kingdom and paid no heed to the officials waiting on the chance to speak to her.

"Yes, Your Majesty. There have been few instances where people have crossed the border over to our side, but we could never catch them to learn more about the Geyser Kingdom. However, one of them had spoken a few words to us before we lost sight of them."

"What did they say?"

"Crawford guard the west, Geyser guard the east. The person said this with a deep sigh." Denzell answered.

"Crawford guard the west, Geyser guard the east…"

After hearing this line, Elizabeth fell into deep thoughts.

"The Crawford Kingdom guard against the beasts of the Wildlands, but what does the Geyser Kingdom guard against?" She mumbled to herself.

"If there is nothing else, I will take my leave, Your Majesty," Denzell said courtly.

The elder of the Burning Heaven Sect was a bit impatient to return back to his sect. He had missed out on quite a few days of cultivation time.

Only by returning to the Ishaan Kingdom could he continue to train in the burning sands of the Ishaan Desert.

"En. The information you provided had been beneficial. If you ever visit my Capital, I will be a good host and welcome you generously."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Denzell bowed slightly with a cupped fist before taking his leave. After he was gone, Elizabeth pushed the matter of the Geyser Kingdom to the back of her mind. It was something worth looking into once she returns to the Capital.

Her gaze soon fell on the officials of the Valaran Kingdom as she rubbed her chin in thought.

"Now, what should I do with all of you?"

Chapter 297 - Searching The Blood Mountain

Once the Queen's sharp gaze landed on the group of Valaran Kingdom officials, the group of officials all had their heart thumped like the gallop of a thousand hooves.

The group of officials all stepped forward and offered their salutations with utmost respect and dread.

"Your Majesty."

"Where is the king?" Elizabeth asked after giving the group of officials a comprehensive look. The king of Valaran did not seem to be among them. After a short pause, she added, "Or rather, is there anyone left from the Valaran royal family?"

When the officials heard these questions, their eyes grew red and became stricken with grief as they dropped to their knees.

"There is no one left… the Valaran royal bloodline ended when his Majesty took his own life." One of the officials spoke.

Elizabeth furrowed her brows at their emotional state.

The Bloodfiend Sect had terrorized and ruled over the Valaran Kingdom for years. If the Valaran royal family died out a while back, Elizabeth found it strange for these officials to be so overwhelmed with grief.

After all, time heals everything, even if scars remain behind.

It was not like these officials were the king's lovers or something. There was no need for them to still be so emotional, not unless the Valaran king took his life very recently instead.

"When did this happen? And why did your king take his own life?"

"Yesterday, Your Majesty… The king took his own life just yesterday. The king's family had been held captive by those bloodsucking fiends many years ago. When the Burning Heaven Sect arrived to help, we led our forces up the Blood Mountain and slaughtered the rest of those monsters."

"However, when the battle was over, and we went to look for the king's family..." At this point, the official tightened his fist and gnashed his teeth. "Those people were not humans. They never intended to keep their promises. The king's family had long departed the world. Their heads were hung in front like trophies."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. If I had not insistently persuaded his Majesty to lead our forces up the Blood Mountain with the Burning Heaven Sect, his Majesty would not have stumbled upon such a scene and taken his own life on the spot. I am to blame for this."

"Don't be stupid. I was the closest to his Majesty. I should be the one to blame for his Majesty's death. If I had just been a little faster, I would have stopped his Majesty from taking his own life."

"You? Don't be ridiculous. His Majesty's cultivation was one step away from Transcendence. None of us could have stopped his Majesty when he is vehement on dying."

The officials blamed and consoled each other.

"Enough!" Elizabeth frowned with impatience. "I did not come here to listen you talk among yourselves. The Valaran royal bloodline has ended. The Valaran Kingdom is without its ruler and heir. What will you all do now?"

The officials glanced at each other with a tacit understanding before lowering their heads to the Queen submissively. They simultaneously spoke, "We were hoping you would take over and lead us, Your Majesty."

"Oh? Don't tell me that no one among you is interested in stepping up to take the throne for yourselves?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, despite expecting this answer. She did not believe that they did not have this ambition.

The officials all had wry, bitter smiles when they heard this.

"Please do not tease us, Your Majesty. Even if one among us has the ambition of a king, if we do not possess the ability of one, we will be leading a path of self-destruction of not only oneself but the kingdom."

Elizabeth nodded with a pleased look.

"Being self-aware of one's abilities is a good thing. Good that you all know that. Very well, the Valaran Kingdom will become part of the Crawford Kingdom. Henceforth, there will no longer be a Valaran Kingdom, and you will all be subjects of the Crawford Kingdom."

After saying this, Elizabeth swept everyone a look. "Does anyone have a problem with what I said?"

"None, Your Majesty."

The officials all lowered heads even more submissively.

To them, the Valaran Kingdom was a thing of the past and had only existed in name ever since the Bloodfiend Sect took over the kingdom. Under their tyrannical control, there was no Valaran Kingdom and only a Bloodfiend Sect.

The Queen was simply making this official with her statement. They were more accepting of this change. Compared to the inhuman Bloodfiend Sect, being under the Crawford Kingdom's ruling was a better choice.

"We pledge our loyalty to the Crawford Kingdom and the Crawford royal family to who we serve."

"Very good!"

Elizabeth clapped her hands together and gave them another look before asking, "Who among you had the highest official rank in the kingdom?"

There were shuffling movements among the group of officials as they separated, and glanced at a single person among them. The person subjected to their stares was the person who blamed himself for persuading the late king to lead the forces up the Blood Mountain, the royal advisor.

"Ahem." The royal advisor coughed. "That would be me, Your Majesty. I was the royal advisor for the late Valaran King."

"I see. You shall be in charge while I am away. The army will be left here for you to command."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The royal advisor bowed.

Elizabeth turned to the rest of the officials and said, "The rest of you will work with him to return stability to the kingdom and record every problem you encounter. I want to see a complete report the next time I return. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good."

Elizabeth prepared to take only a handful of troops from the army and head up the Blood Mountain with Aria and Lynne.

"Hold on, Your Majesty." The royal advisor said after a slight hesitation.

"What is it?"

"Are you returning to Capital? Will you not stay for a bit longer? What should we do about the Durham Kingdom?"

"Leave them be for now. You have the army to help you stabilize the kingdom and guard the Valaran-Durham borders. Deal with things accordingly in my absence, understood? I need to return for some urgent matters, so no, I will not be staying." Elizabeth said decisively.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The royal advisor complied with a slight bitter look. After the Queen left with her small group, the royal advisor glanced at the group of idle officials. "Well, you all heard the words of her Majesty. Time to get to work."

"Yes, sir."

Everyone scurried back to the palace and became busy at once as they begin looking into matters that needed attention.

After Elizabeth left with her company, she headed straight to the Bloodfiend Sect headquarters on top of Blood Mountain.

There were no corpses on their path, and only dried bloodstains left behind amidst the peach blossom. Everyone wore heavy looks as they passed numerous stake-impaled skulls along the way.

They quickly found them were to the main square where a large pile of scriptures and scrolls laid among other items used by the Bloodfiend Sect.

After a quick skim through one of the scrolls, Elizabeth tossed it back into the pile and ordered the troops to burn everything.

Perhaps there might have been something useful amidst the pile, but Elizabeth did not entertain any thoughts of taking any of these filthy techniques and treasures back. She did not want to see another Bloodfiend Sect.

"Search the area and see if there's anything left hidden. Report back to me if you find anything. Go, be quick!" Elizabeth gave out the orders to the 500 soldiers that followed her.

Noticing the impatient tone in Leon's mother, Aria asks, "Is there something troubling you, mother?"

Elizabeth gave her a slight warm smile before she nodded with a solemn look. "En, the Sect Master of the Bloodfiend Sect is still alive and missing. I have this nagging feeling that something bad will happen back at home. We have to hurry back after we are done here."

"What are we looking for here?" Lynne asked, thinking they would have already left if they were not searching for something in this place.

"I'm not exactly sure myself. I have this feeling that there may be some deep secrets contained within this place. The technique practiced by the Bloodfiend Sect is very diabolical and harmful to human life. Considering the current situation of the Human Domain, who would create such a technique? This is something worth looking into."

"Come, we will head to the library to look. We might be able to discover something there.." Elizabeth said to Aria and Lynne.

Chapter 298 - A Deal With The Vengeful Spirit

Back in the Capital.

Having finished with the array's modification, Leon began to tackle the next set of problems that follows.

If he wanted to use Teleportation Array and make the return trip after he was done on the other side, he would have to make sure that there was sufficient energy.

As it stands, he could not afford to wait until the two gathering formations collect the required amount for both trips. Sacrificing the vengeful spirit also seemed like a waste.

Although he could not trust the vengeful spirit, it was not like he did not have any methods to guarantee his safety.

Considering he would not be able to bring others to the other side to help him look for the missing people due to the dark miasma, the vengeful spirit might prove useful in this regard if he can subdue it.

Leon had taken a few Heavenly Crystals, or rather Transcendent Crystals from treasury just in case. The Transcendent Crystals on him definitely had enough supplementary energy for the array.

However, he was still worried about another matter.

The demonic energy contained within the Demon Cores came from different demons, making them violent and unstable. As such, continuous usage would cause wear and tear in the formations and array regardless of his modification.

Although a spatial collapse was no longer possible thanks to his modification, it would still be troublesome if the Teleportation Array suddenly breaks down while he was on the other side.

Yes, it would only be troublesome at best. With Leon's current knowledge, he could recreate another Teleportation Array to send himself back.

But the problem with this was, it would require some uncommon materials and effort to set up the array, something he could not afford to waste his time finding in uncharted territory where safety and danger would be separated by a thin thread.

As such, it was better if he could swap demonic energy out for another more ideal source of energy, something like spirit energy, which was generally used for everything back in the Divine Realm.

Leon briefly paused at this thought.

It had been several days since he left the Grassland Region. Considering the capabilities of the World Tree, spirit energy would have reached a certain level of density and spread out to other regions by now.

To verify this guess, Leon exited Lost Isle Alley straight from the hollow center, flying to the top of the triple building and landed softly on the sturdy frames of branches holding the structure together.

Eyes closed and sense extended outwards, Leon begun to feel spirit energy level in the surrounding atmosphere.

A few moments later, he reopened his eyes with a sigh. The spirit energy level had risen a few degrees and was no longer as scarce as previously.

However, the amount of spirit energy in the Capital was a far cry to what he needed to keep the Teleportation Array up and running.

"It seems I will need to make a quick trip to the World Tree." Leon mused to himself.

This was just right. He needed to check up on the others back there anyway. Also, news of the frontlines reaches the Grassland Region faster than it would reach the Capital.

He could also get a clearer picture of the current war situation.

"But before that, there's something else I need to settle first."

Leon stopped by the edge of the building and peered back down into the darkness of Lost Isle Alley, like he was looking at the well below directly. This was just an illusion. He could not actually see through that cover of darkness.

Although he could alter the formation's functions to disperse the darkness, the faint miasma would harm the citizens living in the nearby area if they were to unknowingly inhale it.

Furthermore, the darkness makes a good cover from prying eyes. With that in mind, it was better to leave the darkness alone, for now.

Leon stepped forward into the empty air, and his body slowly descended back down to Lost Isle Alley. He made his way directly to the center well after his feet touched the ground.

Leaning forward, Leon stared straight down the dark well and said, "Yo, I'm back again. You awake down there?"

The vengeful spirit shackled at the bottom of the well opened her eyes. The proximity of Leon's voice made her rather excited.

"It's you again? Why did you come back? Are you going to help out this time?"

"Well, I could. But why would I do that? Didn't you threaten to kill if you were able to get out last time?"

"W-When did I say that? How come I cannot recall saying such a thing happening? I don't think there is any enmity between us that would warrant your death. Besides, isn't it too much to threaten the person that might be able to help me?"

The vengeful spirit appeared shocked at Leon's accusation. At the same time, Leon had his brows furrowed as he surely felt there was a problem with this vengeful spirit's head—No, mind.

"In any case, that was what you said last time."

Leon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

The vengeful spirit wracked her memory, but she still failed to recall such a thing as a section of her memory was blank. She fell silent, feeling both wronged and depressed.

"Well, it's not impossible for me to help you. However, I have a few conditions you must accept for that to happen."

The vengeful spirit's eyes lit up, and without hesitation, she said, "I will accept those conditions!"

"You will? Even when I have yet to tell you what those conditions are?"

"It doesn't matter. I have been trapped down here for so long. I will do anything if it means I can leave this place instead of just waiting to die." The vengeful spirit said determinedly.

Leon was intrigued and asks, "Even if it means limiting your freedom?"

"This… what are your conditions?" The vengeful spirit asked with embarrassment.

"The first condition is you are not allowed to indiscriminately harm humans without a justifiable reason. The second condition is you need to accompany me on a trip and help me save some people. The last condition is you need to open your spiritual sea and allow me to leave a blood imprint on your soul core."

"I can agree to the first two, but what do you mean by the third condition?" The vengeful spirit asked warily.

The soul core was the most vulnerable part of her existence. If Leon damaged her soul core, it would greatly hurt her if it did not kill her outright.

"I do not trust you, so I need some guarantee. This would allow me to destroy your soul core with a single thought if you were to even have the intention of betraying me." Leon said coldly.

Blood Imprint was the most common method of enslaving people. It was commonly used everywhere in the Divine Realm, except his late father's Divine Kingdom, the kingdom of medicine.

His father had looked down on such a technique because it can make a person do their every bidding, but it will not earn their loyalty.

However, if his late father, the Divine Medicine King, had used the Blood Imprint on his subordinates, how would they have had the chance to betray them?!

The vengeful spirit was silent for a short while before it voiced its agreement.

"Alright."

"Are you sure? There's no going back after this." Leon tried to sound out the vengeful spirit in case it was playing tricks on him. Perhaps he was overly cautious, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"I am sure! Hurry up and get it over and done with! I want to get out already!" The vengeful spirit urged him with gritted teeth.

"Alright."

Leon smiled and drifted down the well. He waved his hand and used Divine Will to part away the darkness gathered at the bottom of the well.

Although he did not need to wave his hand to use Divine Will, he found that it was less taxing on his mental energy this way.

Leon made sure he did not touch the formation at the bottom of the well as he did not want to be ensnared by its shackling chains like the vengeful spirit.

A Peak Tier 4 formation like this one was able to trap almost every Seeking Insight level Transcendents and below.

"Open your spiritual sea," Leon said expressionlessly after producing some light on the tip of his finger.

The vengeful spirit complied soundlessly without complaint as a rift to her soul core opened on her forehead.

Leon bit his thumb and produced some blood essence before allowing it to float in front of himself as he made some hand seals and separated a part of his divine sense and added it to the drop of blood essence.

After this was done, he sent the drop of blood essence into the vengeful spirit's sea of consciousness and imprinted it on her soul core.

"It's done."

The vengeful spirit was quite nervous, but after hearing Leon's words and sensing nothing wrong with her soul core, she was relieved. Her mood quickly improved as she excitedly said, "Help me now."

"I will."

Chapter 299 - I'll Be Okay!

Having successfully planted the Blood Imprint on the vengeful spirit, Leon would naturally carry out his side of the deal. He did not need the vengeful spirit to tell him twice.

"Wait a minute."

Leon lowered his gaze onto the Peak Tier 4 formation below and began to search for the eye of the formation. Every formation had one. It is where the core runic circuit of formation is located.

Once the eye of the formation is located, deactivating the Peak Tier 4 formation would become as easy as turning over one's hand, just like Leon had done with the Tier 4 Teleportation Array.

It only took a few breaths for Leon to find the eye of the formation. Once he saw it, he sent out a wisp of energy into one of the core circuit's runic lines and made it flow in reverse. The formation was shortly deactivated, like turning off a switch after it was short-circuited.

The black chains that once shackled the vengeful spirit soon lost their solidity and loosen their constraints. They slowly faded until they ultimately disperse into the darkness like ashes in the wind.

Leon had his guard up immediately as the vengeful spirit's figure blurred and disappeared. The vengeful spirit was not trying to attack him. It simply shot out of the well to enjoy its moment of freedom.

"Ahhh~! I am finally free! How long has it been since I was able to move this freely?"

The vengeful spirit was ecstatic, hopping, and skipping around with great joy and celebration like a little girl. Seeing the vengeful spirit like this, Leon could not see it as something that would be regarded as evil.

What is good? And what is evil? Was this not something humans came up with? Perhaps he had treated the vengeful spirit too unfairly.

The demons were considered a type of extremely evil race by the Divine Realm and hated by the myriad races. This was without a doubt.

However, this did not mean every demon is evil. There were also good demons among them, albeit extreme few and in between.

If even demons can be good, why can't vengeful spirits?

Leon shook his head as he flew out of the well.

"Do you have a name?" Leon asked with a soft tone.

"Hmm… I think I did have one a few hundred years ago." The vengeful spirit did not notice Leon's slight change in attitude as she pondered his question. "Ah, I remember now! My name is Lumi."

"Then, I will call you Lumi from now on." Leon smiled. "You can also just call me Leon."

"Alright!"

Lumi hummed before mumbling his name to herself repeatedly like she was afraid of forgetting if she did not commit it to memory.

Leon shook his head, thinking that if people did not know Lumi was a 400-year old vengeful spirit, they would mistake her for a lovely 16-year old girl.

"I need to make a trip somewhere. I hope you can behave and stay here until I come back." Said Leon, suddenly.

"Hm? Where are you going? Can I come?" The vengeful spirit asked curiously. She was unwilling to spend another moment in Lost Isle Alley when she had already done so for 400 years.

Leon pondered for a moment before he nodded, "That's also fine, but won't you feel uncomfortable under the sunlight?"

"Ah…" Lumi's eyes dimmed slightly, recalling that she was no longer human but a spirit. However, she cheered herself up with a somewhat stiff smile. "I'll be okay. I'm not that afraid of sunlight anymore."

As Lumi said this, she made some exaggerated masculine poses to tell Leon that she was very strong. That's right, she was already Half Corporeal state vengeful spirit.

Half Corporeal state vengeful spirits were powerful enough to resist sunlight and other yang elements to some degree.

To vengeful spirits, reaching True Corporeal state was the equivalent of humans achieving Transcendence.

At the True Corporeal state, they were no longer semi-translucent and appear no different from any other humans. Sunlight no longer poses a problem for them at this point.

But while Lumi was still Half Corporeal, it is enough to make even knowledgeable Transcendents, wary of her existence. This is because vengeful spirits specialize in soul attacks, making it hard for others to guard against their attacks.

The Banshee's Scream was one such soul attack. It can stun people by shaking their souls directly.

This is also the reason why Leon was so wary of a Half Corporeal state vengeful spirits. They might not be as strong as Transcendents, but they were more troublesome to deal with than Transcendents.

Leon had his considerations for allowing Lumi to tag along. He did not know when Lumi's other personality might take over and go on a rampage. It would be a disaster if he were not present to prevent it.

"Let's go then."

"Okay!"

Leon gave a light smile.

Making their outside, Faelyn and Marquis Haldir immediately greeted them.

"Is everything settled—Who is this… person next to you, Your Highness?" Marquis Haldir said with a rather startled look. The sunlight evidently made the vengeful spirit appear more translucent.

"Are you alright?"

Faelyn gave Lumi a worried look.

"Ehehe… It's a bit hot, isn't it?" Lumi said with a light chuckle as she fanned herself with both hands.

Leon also turned to his side for a glance and became speechless in the next moment.

A little trail of white smoke was seen rising from Lumi's head.

"Excuse us for one moment," Leon said before dragging Lumi back into Lost Isle Alley. Lumi was too surprised by Leon's firm grip on her hand that she did not resist.

Faelyn and Marquis Haldir gave each other a glance. Obviously, the person they just met was not human, or rather… it was hard to call it a living thing.

"Didn't you say you would be okay in front of the sunlight? How was that okay? You were literally burning." Leon admonished with a bit of speechlessness.

Lumi did not reply. Her thoughts continued to linger on Leon's hand.

As a Half Corporeal state vengeful spirit, no human should have been able to grab her so effortlessly like Leon did.

"Are you listening?"

"Ah? Yes!" Lumi finally snapped out of her thoughts and answered. She became slightly embarrassed and began to think about the cause.

"Never mind. I understand why." Leon said with a dull tone.

Leon did not wait for Lumi to come up with a reason before arriving at his own conclusion. Lumi had become weaker compared to her former peak state. This was due to the formation draining her power.

Hearing Leon's tone, Lumi started to panic, thinking Leon was no longer going to allow her outside.

"What should I do? Are you going to leave—"

Suddenly, Lumi's expression became blank before she was able to finish her words. Her pupils became darker, and the surrounding air began to change as malevolent aura spilled out from her body.

'It's happening again!' Leon thought with narrowed eyes and drew his distance.

He did not expect for the other personality to switch over at this moment. What exactly was the trigger?

Chapter 300 - Full Speed Ahead!

With deep black pupils, the 'different Lumi' casually surveyed her surrounding with a careful look before proceeding to inspect her own limbs. Seeing that she was no longer shackled by demon chains, she broke into a wide grin.

It was not long before her gaze fell on Leon's general direction. Due to the faint connection established by the Blood Imprint, she immediately recognized Leon.

"Kukuku… I've said this before that if I were to be freed, I will kill you!"

Having said that, she pounced towards Leon.

Leon was prepared for her attack and had already drawn sufficient distance between them. With a single thought, the Blood Imprint on Lumi's soul core began to vibrate.

Outside of causing the Blood Imprint to explode, which would immediately cause death, the vibration of the Blood Imprint could torment the soul with soul-piercing pain.

The vengeful spirit's attack fell short as it dropped to the ground while hugging its head with both hands.

"Ahhh! What is happening?! What have you done to me?!"

"This is the Blood Imprint Lumi allowed me to plant on her soul core! If you don't want to die, then behave yourself!" Leon said coldly without a hint of mercy.

This other Lumi was malevolent and evil. Ignoring the reluctance in his heart, Leon will definitely follow through with his words if it forces his hand.

"Blood Imprint? My sister did? Ahhh!"

"Your sister?"

Leon narrowed his eyes into slits as he picked up some interesting information.

The other Lumi resisted the pain and got back onto her feet before staring back at Leon with murderous eyes. She did not answer him.

"What kind of damn thing is a Blood Imprint?! You must be the one seeking to harm us! I will kill you!" The other Lumi said while gnashing her teeth with great hatred and killing intent.

"Us?"

Leon frowned and increased the intensity of Blood Imprint's vibration, causing the other Lumi to fall back onto one knee.

"I won't deny that the Blood Imprint is a vile technique, but we had a deal. Lumi accepted the Blood Imprint for my help. I was the one who freed you!"

"What are you even saying? You were the one that freed us?" The other Lumi shook her head vehemently and spoke, "Arghh! I don't know anymore! I don't get it at all! I'm going back!"

Soon, the malevolent aura dissipated, followed by Lumi's scream.

"Ahhh! It hurts! I don't know what I did wrong, but I'm sorry!"

Leon hurriedly stopped the Blood Imprint from vibrating, but Lumi could not endure the pain like her 'sister', fainted.

Leon caught the collapsed Lumi as his brows were furrowed with questions. He felt that Lumi's condition was not as simple as a mental disorder like a split personality but something more complex.

Furthermore, the good Lumi seemed to be aware of the good Lumi, but the good Lumi was unaware of the evil Lumi. It even referred to Lumi as its sister.

It appears that Lumi was someone with a story to tell. He was not so self-centered as to believe that he was the only one with a tragic past. In fact, he was considered more fortunate than most people.

"Now, what should I do with you?" Leon spoke to himself as he stared at the unconscious Lumi in his arms.

…

Sometime later, Leon exited Lost Isle Alley alone. Lumi was nowhere in sight. Marquis Haldir was the first to step forward. Strangely, his first words were not about the vengeful spirit.

"Are you done with everything here, Your Highness."

"For now." Leon nodded before saying, "I need to make a quick trip to the World Tree."

The Supreme Elder and Princess Faelyn were no interested in prying about the vengeful spirit if Leon did not bring up the matter. However, once Leon mentioned a trip to the World Tree, their eyes immediately lit up.

"You're going to the World Tree? Really? Can I come?" Faelyn asked excitedly.

Marquis Haldir did not say anything, but it was clear that the Supreme Elder was also interested in tagging along.

"Are you quick on your feet?" Leon gave Faelyn a glance, wondering where she would slow him down if he was to bring her along. He was only going to collect some spirit energy for the Teleportation Array.

"Are you going to say no if I say I'm not?"

"Yes," Leon said straightforwardly.

"Then the answer is I am," Faelyn said shamelessly.

"…"

Leon was somewhat speechless.

He could tell that Faelyn was not a fast runner. She would not have asked that question otherwise.

As he was wondering what to say, an arriving airship in the sky caught his attention. This airship came from the east and carried quite a fair bit of civilians. At this moment, the airship was heading straight for the workshop tower.

Considering the workshop tower only had four docking bays on its top floor, there was nowhere for the airship to land. All four docking bays had been wholly occupied.

Apart from the Lancaster's transport airship occupying one bay, the other three bays were occupied by one newly completed airship and two other airships in the making.

Leon gave Faelyn a smile and said, "Alright, we'll be taking the airship to the World Tree. If you don't need to prepare anything, we leave right away."

"If you were going to take the airship, why did you need to ask if I was quick on my feet?" Faelyn asked with confusion, before adding, "Oh, I get it. You don't want me to tag along, right? That's how it is, isn't it?"

"That wasn't it. I only thought of it just now." Leon shook his head and admitted bluntly.

An airship travels much quicker than any steam-powered vehicles, but it was not much compared to Leon's own movement speed. However, the travel speed of an airship could increase drastically with good wind.

A bit unsatisfied with Leon's answer, Faelyn still had no choice but to accept it.

"Fine." Faelyn pouted and said, "I don't need to prepare anything. How about you, Supreme Elder?"

"I'm good to go." Marquis Haldir answered with a light smile.

"Then let's head over to workshop tower to borrow an airship," Leon stated, before turning to a palace guard. "I'm counting on all of you to guard this place well during my absence."

"You can leave it to us, your Highness!"

"Good! I'll be leaving then."

"Have a pleasant trip, Your Highness."

The palace guards saw them off.

…

"Father-in-law, I need to borrow one of your airships to go somewhere far." Leon immediately made the request upon arriving at the workshop tower with the Supreme Elder and Faelyn.

"This brat… You only come to visit me whenever you need anything." Ignis grumbled with complaint.

Leon gawked with guilt and embarrassment. He scratched the side of his cheek and prepared to apologize, but the Duke stopped him and said, "Never mind that. You're a busy person, I understand. Hmm… the timing is just right. The new airship needed a test flight anyway."

"However, you will need a crew to help you pilot the new airship. I suppose I need to arrange this for you too. Am I right, boy?" The Duke asked.

"Yes." Leon smiled wryly with awkwardness.

"Alright, just sit around and wait a bit. I'll have it done in a jiffy."

Half an hour later, the Duke saw the new airship take off into the sky with his wife, Amelia Lancaster, by his side. They were rather moved that the newly installed levitation stone was working well.

The first official working levitation stone reproduced by them!

As the airship slowly rose, particles of light could be seen gathering towards the airship. The runic mechanism on the levitation stone was working in full throttle, transforming the light particles into available artificial spirit energy to enable its anti-gravity function.

It did not take long before the airship reached an altitude of 500fts in the sky.

…

On the airship's deck, the crew's captain turned to Leon and asked, "Where are we heading, Your Highness?"

"We are heading to the World Tree. You don't need me to tell you where that is, do you?" Leon said with a joking tone.

"Hahaha, surely you jest, Your Highness." The airship captain laughed.

The World Tree was so big, it could be seen from several tens of thousand miles away, let alone several hundred miles away. Only a blind man would not know where it is.

Shouting out several orders, the rest of the crew got to work, feeding the coal into the combustion chamber to heat the boiler and work the steam engine as the airship propellers begin to spin.

The captain spun the helm, and the airship turned its head towards the direction of the World Tree.

"If you may, I'm in a hurry, Captain," Leon said.

"Understood, Your Highness." The airship captain said before shouting, "Full speed ahead!"

Chapter 301 - Fortune Favors The Bold?

Amidst the piles of black ash and rock-solid soil of the underground space below the dormant World Tree, palace guards and regular soldiers alike gathered before several simple constructs of rope lifts that could take them back to the surface.

Their group was tasked with exploring the unknown underground and collecting various items of value from this designated region.

Few archeologists dedicated to the study of ancient history and relics were transferred over from the Capital to join them during this period while the rest of the kingdom was busy with other concerns.

Lilith had become especially popular among these archeologists due to her profound knowledge of the ancient language.

The archeologists relied heavily on Lilith for simple translation of the ancient texts and relics unearthed in the underground and did not discriminate against her for being a beastkin.

Over time, Lilith was nominated as the head archeologist of their exploration group and enjoyed great respect from the archeologists despite her young age.

In any, when a person is passionate about their area of study, they do not concern themselves with the seniority of one's age and only have respect for the wiser.

To them, greater knowledge was the true representation of seniority and not age. The group of archeologists was precisely like this.

Lilith felt like she had found a place among the humans and fitted right in, but she knew that her current treatment and privilege were all thanks to Leon.

As she thought about Leon, she felt warm and gratified. She wondered what Leon was up to and when he would be returning to the World Tree.

"Stay in line and stick to your group! Do not fall out of order! There is no need to rush. Everyone will get their turn to use the rope lift!"

A palace guard strictly warned to keep the rowdy bunch from falling into chaos.

During this exploration and excavation period, there were two instances where they had overloaded the rope lift and caused a bunch of injuries due to the vine rope of the rope lift snapping.

It was fortunate that the accident occurred relatively early. Otherwise, no one would have been able to survive the full dive of over 3000fts.

Watching the rope lifts finished their returning descent, a palace guard said, "The rope lifts are back. The next group may proceed forward to use the rope lift. I do not think I need to mention this again, but please follow all the safety precautions to prevent another accident."

No one stepped forward after the palace guard made his announcement, causing the palace guard in charge to frown slightly.

"Group Three, that is your call. Please proceed to use rope lift!"

Everyone began to look around with confusion when no one stepped forward after this second call.

"Sir, Group Three is not here." An ordinary soldier from the crowd informed.

The palace guard was displeased, but that was about it. Group delays were a regular occurrence as the subterranean world was dark without sunlight and challenging to keep track of time.

"Alright, Group Four may proceed to use the rope lifts." The palace guard strictly issued.

The depths of the subterranean world were unknown, and they could not account for every danger lurking.

That being said, a list of designated zones that were considered relatively safe has already been established. As long as no one left this designated zone, no punishment would be meted out for tardiness.

"Nice, it's our to turn to leave. Let's go, everyone." Said a person within Group Four.

Large leather and hard grass-woven bags were seen being carried in each of their hands. These bags contained various items ranging from ancient relics, Transcendent Crystals, and books to black ashes, exotic earth soil, and identifiable clumps of alloys.

As every group eventually made their way back to the surface and hand in their loots to keep inventory, they were returned to their camps to prepare for dinner and rest for the day.

"Thank you for your hard work, Howard. Was there any problem with today's work?" A palace guard asked, seeing how the palace guard in charge of the underground returned later than usual.

The palace guard, Howard, smiled wryly and retorted, "What hard work? All I did was stand around, giving orders all day. I'd take this job over looking after his Highness any day. There wasn't any problem, Jack. Just Group Three being tardy again."

"Group Three? Them again?" Jack wrinkled his brows and said, "Might as well let them spend the night down there. That will teach them not to be late again."

"That was exactly what I was planning." Howard smiled.

The two palace guards talked as they made their way over to the storage area. This was where all the loots were packaged into crates and stored away after they had been accounted for.

"We have collected quite a lot of items from the underground, haven't we? There isn't much room left. We might have to expand the storage area." Howard commented as he glanced at the crates stacked as high as twice his own height.

"Nah, that probably won't be necessary. I heard we will be getting an airship to transfer these goodies back to the Capital tomorrow." Jack explained.

"Airship? Are you talking about Brigadier General Rohan's airship? The one carrying a bunch of survivors from Eastfell City?" Howard asked.

"Actually, I heard the airship belongs to General Marquis Hendrick, but yeah, that is the one. There aren't that many airships left in the kingdom." Jack answered.

The two palace guards soon engaged in idle chat as they made their way back to the main camp.

…

At another location, deeper within the subterranean world, a group of explorers was venturing through a narrow earthen passage while holding brightly lit oil lamps.

These people were all from Group Three.

"Dammit, I knew we shouldn't have listened to you and try to explore the ant holes. Look at where we are. Lost! We are completely lost! Should have known when the higher-ups made this place prohibited!" One of the soldiers in the group scowled.

Group Three were part of the explorer's group. They were tasked with finding new passageways and undiscovered areas in the subterranean world. However, they were also aware implicitly aware that the ant holes were off-limits.

Nevertheless, they had entered an ant hole to try their luck. Only with sufficient contribution points would they be able to exchange for Transcendent Crystals.

The king had introduced a contribution system with Transcendent Crystals as one of the many rewards. This was to ensure the explorers' loyalty while they work to unearth the countless treasures waiting for them in the subterranean world.

Everyone was aware that this was part of a scheme to strengthen the kingdom and match the country's ongoing rapid development.

It was a hard-to-come-by opportunity to get their hands on the Transcendent Crystals without breaking the law. They could not let the opportunity slip past their fingers. It would be too late for regrets once the Transcendent Crystals were removed from the contribution exchange list.

"You can't blame me for this. This was what we had all agreed to do. Only by making big discoveries would we be able to earn swift contribution points to exchange for good cultivation resources." The group leader said coldly.

"What the group leader said is correct. We should be figuring out how to get back rather than point fingers." Another person defended the group leader.

Like the group leader had said, they would not have entered the ant hole if they had not all agreed to do it. This is because they all had the same thoughts at that time.

Fortune favored the bold!

"Sigh, there's something wrong with these passageways. I'm sure that we had marked our way here, but these marks had all disappeared." Another member of Group Three pointed out the crux of their problem.

Everyone frowned with heavy hearts at this reminder.

There were far too many connecting passageways within the ant holes, making the place one massive maze. They were smart enough to leave marks to help them find their way back, but they still ended up lost.

"I think we might have missed the correct path a while back." The archaeologist within the group suddenly said.

"What do you mean?"

"The passageways are dark, and our visions are limited by what our lighting shows. It would not have been strange if we had overlooked a crossroad and mistaken for a single passageway." The archeologist explained.

A few faces became deathly pale at this revelation.

"Then what should we do? Continue? Or go back?"

"Hold on. I hear something coming from ahead of us." The strongest of their group suddenly said. The others turned towards the soldier.

"What do you hear?" The group whispered.

"I hear…" Suddenly, the person's face stiffened as he shouted, "Run!"

"You hear run? What do you mean—"

Due to the current passageway being slightly wider, the soldier could bolt past the group and escape ahead.

It was not long before they start to hear the soft but numerous and incalculable tremors. Their faces warped in horror when they listened to the distant 'scree' sound.

"Ants!"

Chapter 302 - Unexpected Disaster

"How can there still be ants?!"

Everyone felt their hair rising with goosebumps and trickling cold sweat as they were terrified by the discovery.

"Who cares why there are still ants! Fucking move it, or we all die!" The group leader bellowed angrily.

Hearing the reminder, everyone quickly turned around and began running. The group leader, who was at the forefront of the group initially, became dead last. If the group were too slow, he would be the first to die!

"Which path are we taking at the crossroad?" One of the members hurriedly raised a question. They had not yet reached the crossroad, but it was not wrong to plan ahead of time!

"The left one!" The group leader shouted. Being pressed for time, he did not have the luxury to backtrack the way they went. He could hear the ants closing in fast.

"Ahhh!

As they drew closer to the crossroad, they heard a painful scream from the left passageway. Everyone's faces fell. The voice belonged to the soldier that managed to escape while they were still confused about the danger!

"Right! Take the right passageway!"

It was a race against time and a life or death situation. Everyone immediately followed suit and entered the right passageway as they sensed the danger from the left passageway.

No one cared whether that soldier lived or died in the left passageway. They were not even sure if they were going to keep their own lives! Why would they have the time to care about others?!

The right passageway led them through twists and turns that were foreign to them. They were made aware that it was an entirely new passageway they had yet to explore.

"Not good! I remember the last crossroad we passed had three passageways! Why are there only two?!"

"Don't tell me it was another crossroad we had overlooked?!"

"Darn it! What kind of godforsaken place is it! We should have never come here!"

"Shit! Shit! Shit! We are all going to die!"

"Shut up and run! If you have the energy to scream, then put some effort into running faster!"

The entire Group Three was thrown into a chaotic mess when their lives were at stake. Running through a maze of endless and narrow passageways, they felt trapped and enclosed.

With the threat of death lingering ever behind them, it was enough to make them go crazy as they ran with all their effort.

At some point, the passageway began to widen enough for them to all run side by side.

"It's open space! We made it out of the passageway!" A person celebrated.

However!

That celebration was short-lived as everyone's joy soon turned to despair when the light from the oil lamp illuminated part of the vast open space.

"No! this is not the way we came from!"

"There are so many ants here! We are really at the end of the road this time." The archeologist said despairingly. Everyone else also felt the same despair, like finding a ray of hope only for everything to just come crashing down rock bottom into the abyss.

Group Three found themselves surrounded by an army of ants. As the ants screeched agitatedly and pounced on them, the entire Group Three was devoured clean without being able to put up much of a fight. Even their painful screams were drowned out by the noise created by the sea of ants.

Surprisingly, the bodies of Group Three did not enter the stomach of any of these low-level ants. Ants brought a mouthful of their remains back deeper into the cave with the crunching sounds of bone breaking as they chewed on it.

After arriving before a humanoid ant that laid on a stone bed, seemingly asleep, the low-level ants each spat out a ball of ground flesh, blood, and bones.

The humanoid ant was the Ant King that led the attack on the Elder Tree before the tree ascended to the world level.

Many parts of the black exoskeletal shells were missing from the Ant King, and numerous cracks were seen in what was left of it. Underneath its black shell was human-like flesh, stained in blood, not of the color, red, but a yellowy greenish color.

It may greatly resemble humans, but it was still an ant at its roots.

The Ant King's chest rose and fell along with the rhythmic beating of its heart. It was heavily injured, but very much still alive.

Screeee!

(Please eat and heal yourself, my King!)

The ants all urged their Ant King to eat. Eating the blood and flesh of humans could help the Ant King recover swiftly!

The Ant King was born different at birth, but it gave rise to the most exceptional innate abilities of them all. Whether it was physical strength or recovery, its capabilities far outstripped any other ant the Ant Queen had ever given birth to.

That is why it is the Ant King! It was the most powerful, and most worthy of leading all the ants!

When the Ant King was born, the Ant Queen was no more. It died giving birth to the Ant King over 400 years ago, which was also around the same time the Hero King disappeared.

The Ant King opened its blood-red eyes. It weakly reached out for one of the flesh balls and proceeded to munch on it. It started off slow but began to increase with speed and vigor with every bite.

After everything offered by the ants was devoured clean, the Ant King's severely wounded flesh began to heal at an incredible rate!

Although the Ant King could not recover its broken black exoskeletal shell, its flesh grew back stronger than ever.

When the Ant King's recovery was complete, the Ant King stood up proudly as a tyrannical aura exploded out from its body.

Screee!

(Thank you, my subjects! Now that I have recovered, it is time to take revenge for our fallen kin! Our attacks may have failed, our numbers may have dwindled, but this, for sure, we will be victorious!)

The Ant King communicated to the ants and infected them with its overwhelming confidence, confidence that came from its increased strength after absorbing the nutrients from the humans!

Scree! Scree! Scree!

(Long live the king!)

(Long live the king!)

(Long live the king!)

The ants rejoiced with excitement and frenzy like a group of devoted believers. The base intelligence of ants was not high, but their loyalty was unquestionable. They were all born for one purpose and one purpose only; to live and die for the king!

…

At the same time, no one on the surface was aware of what was happening in the subterranean world.

Lilith was in a large tent with a group of archeologists studying a select few ancient texts and relics, among other items collected from underground. She found a giant white orb but failed to recognize what it was and asked around.

"What is this thing?"

"Ah, Lady Lilith, I believe this is… hmm." An archeologist proceeded to explain, but frowned when he also failed to recognize the white orb. "Does anyone know what this is?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure, but I heard quite a few of those were found on the first underground floor, where it was full of… webs… hmm?" Another archeologist spoke, before recalling something. "Now that I think about it, isn't this a spider egg? Who brought this here?"

"What?"

Lilith faintly felt something squirming inside the 'white orb' and tossed it away in shock after hearing what the archeologist said. She hates spiders!!!

"Someone, burn this thing!" Lilith frowned, feeling she had forgotten something very important, but could not quite remember.

After watching someone burn the spider egg, only to see a spiderling hatch from it and enjoy the fire, Lilith recalled what the important thing was.

"Oh shit!" Lilith cussed in shock and smacked her own head. How could she forget something so important!!! Only she had seen the Spider Queen survive the fire and become human, but she had yet to inform anyone about this!

'Lilith, ah, Lilith, why are you so stupid?' Lilith blamed herself, believing the human kingdom was going to face another disaster after giving the Spider Queen time to repopulate.

"My word, Lady Lilith. Your language…" The archeologists were taken aback.

"Sorry! I must have been hanging out with the soldiers too—"

Boom!

Suddenly, the earth shook from a shocking and explosive impact.

"What was that?! Did something just explode?!"

"It sounded more like something being struck with great force!"

Everyone in the tent was confused.

It did not take long for chaos to break out as sounds of fighting could be heard outside. Heading out, they saw ants swarming out from under the World Tree and waging war on it.

"Protect the World Tree!"

Elder Evergreen's urgent voice was heard. The tree spirit had entered a dormant state and did not retaliate.

The Ant King frowned when his powerful blow did little to no damage to the World Tree. However, his ruby-like eyes began to glitter when he saw large numbers of humans on the surface.

SCREE!

(Forget the tree and attack the humans!)

The Ant King issued a powerful command to all his subjects across the lands. There were so many humans to aid its evolution!

Chapter 303 - Ant King's Horrifying Might

The battle between man and ant was abrupt and unexpected. No one was prepared for it, and fewer were able to kill the ants.

The black exoskeletal shells of the ants were tougher than the hides of low-level beasts in the Wildlands.

Hundreds of rounds were fired by the soldiers, but not a single ant fell under their barrage.

The ants appeared unscathed, but there were numerous white marks on their black exoskeletal shells with a few cracks among them upon a closer look.

The beast-piercing shells fired by the soldiers were not utterly ineffective against the ants. IF they could concentrate their fire in a single point, they would be able to break through the ant's hard shells.

Unfortunately, there were few skilled marksmen amongst the soldiers to make this possible. They lacked both skills and firepower.

When the ants halted their attacks on the World Tree and began rushing towards the soldiers from the nearby camp, chaos broke out. The soldiers felt despair and the looming sense of death.

Luckily, there were still palace guards and earth spirits present to hold the fort.

"Construct an earthen wall to hold them back! We must contain them! Don't let them break through our line of defense!"

"Dammit! Why are they not attacking the World Tree anymore?! Why are they going for US?!"

"It must be the Ant King giving them the command! The Ant King appears to be more interested in us than the World Tree!"

"Why?! It's not like we were the ones who slaughtered the ants!"

The palace guards spoke to one another as they used their earthen abilities to raise the earth and erect an earthen rampart to hold back the advances of the army of ants that numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

With only 10 palace guards on the scene, they were naturally not enough to construct an earthen wall big enough to cover the entire camp quickly.

Elder Evergreen and his people were able to help with their earth-wood abilities, aiding and reinforcing the earthen rampart.

"Hold your ground and protect the others! I will take care of these ants!" Elder Evergreen spoke with a commanding presence.

After the earthen wall was finished, Elder Evergreen dived straight into the sea of ants from atop the earthen rampart with a heavily slam as rings upon rings of earthen spikes shot out from the ground and smashed into the ants one after another like ripples with Elder Evergreen at its center.

Some ants were directly impaled to death, while others had their black exoskeletal shells cracked badly and launched high into the skies.

One attack, several hundreds of ants, maimed or dead!

"So powerful!"

"Is this the true power of Earth Transcendents?"

The palace guards and soldiers were badly startled and awed by Elder Evergreen's majestic display of strength. They gripped their fists with excitement and determination.

Earth-users were not to be looked down upon!

However!

Contrary to what the others were feeling, the elder himself frowned with dissatisfaction. The ripples of earthen spikes only contained a fraction of his power, but it should have been more than enough to kill all the ants targetted.

Unfortunately, that was not the case! His earthen abilities lacked penetrative power! Elder Evergreen had miscalculated. Hundreds of years of inaction had dulled his battle senses.

Elder Evergreen sighed.

The best way to use the earth is to crush all opponents with its sheer overwhelming weight! But while such methods were efficient for killing, it was also crude and exhausting!

Elder Evergreen could not use such a method. The Worker Ants and Soldier Ants before him were just small fries. He had to conserve his power for the Ant King!

Fortunately, Elder Evergreen was not just any Earth Transcendent. He was an earth spirit that had also gained an affinity with the wood element!

On the Grassland Region, where the fields of greens stretched as far as the eye could see, every stalk of grass—No, every blade of grass could be used as his weapon!

A mixture of brown and greenish energy gushed out of Elder Evergreen before seeping into the scattered grass along the ground, destroyed by his earlier attack.

The grass on the ground was all curled up and listless like broken dolls, but after receiving the elder's energy, they all became sharp and erected upright like they had just received aphrodisiac—Ahem, steroids.

Elder Evergreen dispelled the many pillars of earthen spikes with a wave of his hands and sent the countless straight blades of grass flying into the charging ants like he was tossing knives.

In that instance, the blades of grass proved to be incredibly lethal. With the tenacity of wood, the hardening of earth, the blades of grass diced up the ants into countless pieces.

"Incredible! Such Lethality! I can't believe grass can do so much!"

"You are looking at it wrong! It's because Elder Evergreen is already an almighty Transcendent that grass can produce such results!"

"Yeah, although I already suspected it, seeing is believing. Elder Evergreen really could manipulate both wood and earth!"

"Ha… You have forgotten that there are still another 500 people from Elder Evergreen's village that can also manipulate both elements."

"Who would expect that there would suddenly be so many dual elemental users. Since when did people possessing dual elements become commonplace?"

With Elder Evergreen fending off all the ants, the palace guards directly behind him on the earthen wall had it easy and were able to cheer for him.

At this time, Lilith arrived with the group of archeologists. Seeing Elder Evergreen fighting alone on the other side of the earthen wall, she said, "I'm joining the battle too!"

"You mustn't, Lady Lilith! It is too dangerous! People like us won't be able to do anything in this kind of battle!"

The archeologists were shocked by Lilith's statement. As scholars who have devoted all their time to studying ancient relics and language, the archeologists did not possess much fighting prowess. They had rarely ever cultivated.

Although they were of noble descent, the strongest amongst them were only 2nd step Awakeners, and not even one of them was at the 1st layer of Body Tempering realm.

As someone more knowledgeable in the ancient language yet also younger than them, the archeologists all assumed that Lilith did not possess a single ounce of cultivation.

However, Lilith did not listen to them and directly leaped on the 5-meter high earthen wall and dived straight into the fray.

The group of archeologists was significantly shocked, but they did not overthink. They chased her up the earthen wall and quickly cried, "Quick! Save Lady Lilith! We can't let someone as knowledgeable as her d—"

The words stopped short as the archeologists almost had their eyes popped out of their sockets at the sight of Lilith cracking the head of one Soldier Ant with a single punch.

Gulp!

"My Lord! Lady Lilith was this powerful?!"

"How can a petite body possess such brute strength?"

The archeologists were shocked silly at the sight of Lilith's tyrannical fighting style with her bare hands.

"Please retreat back to the camp. It is not safe for you all to be here." A palace guard said after giving them a sidelong glance. These bookworms might not be so shocked if they learned that the person they much respected was a beastkin.

In the end, two people fighting on the frontline was not enough to hold back the entire army of ants, unless Elder Evergreen took it up a notch. They were only able to cover one side.

The ants began to circle around and attack their flanks, but Elder Evergreen was not too worried. There were still 500 other people from his village to fend off the ants.

Although none of them had reached the Transcendent level, they were not pushovers either. Killing some ants was too easy for them.

Suddenly, the situation took an abrupt change.

"Elder Evergreen, look out!" One of the palace guards cried in warning as he barely kept up with the blurred shadow of the Ant King shooting towards Elder Evergreen like a cannonball with his eyes.

"Hmm?"

Elder Evergreen had been keeping half his attention on the Ant King by the World Tree and naturally knew when the Ant King made a move. However, he was still surprised by the Ant King's closing speed.

"Too fast!"

Nevertheless, Elder Evergreen was still able to react in time. Stomping the ground, ten layers of sturdy thick earthen walls appeared between Elder Evergreen and the Ant King in a straight line.

However!

In the face of absolute strength, the defense conjured by Elder Evergreen displayed little to no effect on stopping the Ant King!

The ten layers of earthen walls were smashed right through as the Ant King continued shooting straight towards Elder Evergreen without losing momentum.

Elder Evergreen was greatly shaken. The physical might of the Ant King was more horrifying than he could ever imagine.

The elder was only able to conjure a last-second earthen armor to protect himself before receiving the Ant King's full-powered punch with his arms crossed in front of his body.

Boom!

The force of the collision was horrifying.

With bone-crunching noises, Elder Evergreen shot back like a cannonball, smashing straight through the 5-meter earthen rampart behind him.

His body continued to crash into several soldiers and tents before grinding along the surface of the grassland. The elder's body only came to a complete stop after rolling some further distance away.

Being shot over 300 yards and turning into a broken mess with all his limbs bending in odd angles, Elder Evergreen's life and death became unknown.

Everyone was full of fear and disbelief as they cried out loud.

"Elder Evergreen!!!"

Chapter 304 - Elder Evergreen's Full Power

After taking down the strongest person from the human, the Ant King did not continue to attack and simply glanced at the humans on to of the earthen rampart with a teasing, yet bone-chilling smile.

(I just took down your strongest expert! What will you all do now? Come! Struggle for me, puny humans!)

Screeeee!

(Go, my subjects! Kill them all! Today, we feast on their blood and flesh! Tomorrow, we take our revenge on the tree!)

The Ant King's cry was not very loud and powerful, neither could anyone understand what the Ant King was saying, but they could sense the killing intent and the omen of death contained within its cry.

Its arrogance and confidence were practically shooting through the high heavens. The human Transcendent went down in one shot, and the World Tree was not retaliating. Who could possibly be its opponent?!

Lilith suddenly found herself in a dangerous predicament after Elder Evergreen went down in a single blow. Being the only person left on the battlefield, she quickly decided that she had to retreat back to the earthen rampart as quickly as possible.

The palace guards were stricken with fear and rooted on the spot under the Ant King's gaze. They were too terrified to make any sudden movements and even forgot to breathe.

Only the earth spirit people were still able to move as they fended off the attacking ants and covered Lilith's retreat.

"This way, Lady Lilith! We will cover you!" One of them shouted as they worked in unison to impede the ant's movements with earth and wood manipulation. Grass grew to vine-like lengths and restricted dozens of ants as they wrapped and entangle them.

Behind the rampart, the ordinary soldiers were free the Ant King's terrifying gaze and were not stricken with fear.

Part of the group quickly made their way over to check on Elder Evergreen and see whether the elder could still be saved.

When they arrived, they almost choked with grief when they saw the gruesome state of the motionless elder's body. It was unknown how many bones were broken, but the numbers would not be small.

"This is horrible! There's no way anyone could have survived a blow like this… the elder… he is…"

"Shut up! Don't say it! Earth-users bolstered the greatest defense while wood-users are known for their great vitality! There's no way a mighty Transcendent like Elder Evergreen could have fallen from just this!"

"Just this, you say?! Did you not see what just happened?! That punch was not something a human can withstand! Even being hit by the force of a thousand trucks would not have been as bad as this!"

"That's right! That was like being hit by a freaking mountain, man!"

"Then, are you cursing the elder to death?! Nothing is conclusive yet! Quickly see if the elder is still breathing!"

The soldiers were divided between optimistic and negative opinions as they glared at each other.

Another portion of the soldiers went to check on the other soldiers that suffered collateral damage from being hit by the flying elder to administer first aid treatment.

All of them were severely injured by the collision, with several bones broken. Unfortunately, some were hit in fatal areas that broke their neck and crushed their organs. These soldiers died on the spot.

"Not good. These brothers can no longer be saved. They're already gone." A medical soldier sadly concluded after inspecting the lifeless bodies.

"Tend to the ones that can still be saved."

"Dammit, what the hell was that thing? I've never seen anything like it in the [Encyclopedia of Insect]!"

"It might be an ant that underwent a second mutation, or it might be an evolved form of the ants."

"Shit, this is too horrifying. That thing is too monstrous! How can we hope to even beat it?!"

Just as they were falling into despair, there was a small commotion over Elder Evergreen's side. The soldiers over there were rejoicing when they saw one of the elder's fingers suddenly twitch.

"The elder is still alive! Quickly help him out—No, do it gently and carefully!" A soldier shouted.

"Cough… No need…" Elder Evergreen coughed and said as his body was recovering quickly.

After opening his eyes, an intense green light burst out, as a tremendous amount of wood energy was gathered towards him in particles of green light.

The weeds and grass within a 100-yard radius began to shrivel up and die when the elder absorbed all their lifeforce and energy.

The elder's body was soon covered in a layer of green light, and all his wounds began to heal at an even more rapid rate.

Starting with the right arm returning to its correct form, the elder used this available arm to bend the rest of his limbs back into shape to save time and hasten the recovery process even further.

After that was done, the elder stood up and cracked his stiff neck with a determined look.

"Are you alright, Elder Evergreen?"

"Will you be okay?"

"Are you going to fight that thing again?"

The medical soldiers gathered around the elder, asked one after another with a gulping expression as they have never witnessed such insane recovery.

The elder was practically on the brink of death. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he returned to a perfect state, full of vigor and majesty.

"I am fine. All of you step back. I was careless just now." Elder Evergreen said with a narrowed look as his eyes burned with battle spirit, and a grand aura began to spread out from his body.

"To compete with that thing, I should have made ample preparation and gone all-out straight from the start! Step back now!"

The soldiers all did as they were told and hurriedly retreated a few steps.

"Haaa!"

With a great shout, the ground cracked as a towering pillar brown, and green light shot out from Elder Evergreen in a surging tide while the surrounding air rippled outwards.

All the soldiers were still standing too close were forced several more steps backward by the wind pressure generated by the elder's explosive aura as he channeled his full power.

The pillar of light was the manifestation of all the energy contained within him. As they seemingly surged towards the heaven, the surrounding energy of heaven and earth also gathered and blended into the pillar of light.

"Earth, come!"

Elder Evergreen slammed his palm into the ground, and the rising pillar of light immediately plunge straight down into the field below.

The earth rumbled, and an enormous amount of earthen mass began to rise from underneath the elder and swallowed him inside. At the same time, a massive crater was formed in the absence of the earth gathered to the elder.

The soldiers had no idea what the elder was doing, but they soon found their answer as they quietly watched the enormous earthen mass formed the outline of a giant human.

The earthen mass compressed, becoming rock-solid and transformed into a colossal rock golem with a pair of glowing green eyes.

The soldiers were awed at this sight.

At the same time, they were concerned if the rock golem was mobile and whether the elder could even see or breathe inside, but their worries were unfounded.

The rock golem took its first step forward, and the earth shook under its sheer weight. It climbed out of the enormous crater and made its way back to the earthen rampart.

"My lord! I've only seen rock golems in picture books for children! I didn't think I would actually get to see one in real life and one as big as this on top of that!"

"The gap between Ranked Awakeners and Transcendents is so vast!"

"Everyone, quickly make way! Getting accidentally stepped on by the rock golem is no laughing matter!"

"That's for sure!"

All the soldiers tried to scurry out of the way, but the rock golem was not moving in their direction. The rock golem was bigger than the camp itself! It would flatten the camp and everyone within if it did not circle around it.

The rock golem moved very slow due to its sheer size and weight, but this spoke volumes of its great power! An attack from a rock golem of this magnitude would definitely be… earthshaking!

However!

Elder Evergreen was not finished with the rock golem transformation!

After the elder controlled the rock golem to step on a fresh patch of grass that had not been withered to death, they proliferated and intertwined themselves around rock golem, like countless bandages.

With each step taken, a new patch of grass would join the mix and add a layer of greenness over the rock golem until it covered the rest of the body in green.

By the time this was finished, the colossal green rock golem was already back on the battlefield as it stared down at the tiny Ant King with its glowing green eyes.

The Ant King looked back at the colossal rock golem with interesting. Unexpectedly, the person behind the rock golem did not die. Does it have the tenacity of a cockroach?!

Scree!

(Interesting human, show me what you got!)