It has been one minute since the whole expedition team had entered the heavenly hemlock forest. For some strange reason, the whole outer region of the forest appeared to be very quiet. Other than the sound of footsteps, no other sound can be heard.
Aditya and Alicia were at the very back. Both of them were walking together without even realizing it. Previously in this kind of situation, the goddess would have preferred to walk with her brother, but now without even realizing it, she had become more dependent on Aditya.
As soon as Aditya step into the forest, he tried to sense everything around him. He silently followed Alicia while trying to sense the presence of any magical animals or mutant fire ants in the forest. But strangely as far as his senses spread, Aditya felt nothing. It was as if the whole forest was devoid of any magical animals or any mutant fire ants.
Around three minutes later, a deep frown appeared on his face. Without saying a word, Aditya took out the Adamantite Doomblade, the Mid 5-star black sword.
Eh!
Alicia was surprised when she felt a warm hand taking her left palm. Alicia looked at the person who was holding her left palm. "Don't tell me the Dragon King is afraid?" Alicia tried to tease Aditya to reduce the tension. But when she looked at this face, she realized that something was definitely wrong here.
Normally regardless of what situation they were in, whether they were in front of her parents, whether they were having a serious meeting or whether they were surrounded by hundreds of 4th-order mutant fire ants, Aditya would always smile, show his calmness, and sometimes even tease her.
But this time, the look on Aditya's face was very different. He was frowning while looking around. Even though Alicia had tried to tease him, he did not show any reaction. If the danger is big enough to make this perverted and shameless dragon serious then everyone needs to be serious as well.
"Aditya, is something wrong?" Alicia asked in a low tone. Her words were only heard by Aditya as both of them were walking at the back. While Noah and Sylvie were walking at the center and at the front.
Aditya finally looked at Alicia. With a serious face, the Dragon King replied. "Ever since we entered the forest, I haven't sensed the presence of even a single magical animal. It is as if all the magical animals in the forest have disappeared."
Alicia also then realized this. Normally when one entered a forest, it was normal to hear various kinds of sounds. The sounds of bubbling brooks, remote and close sounds of chirping birds, buzzing insects, and croaking frogs, all were missing. Strangely the whole Heavenly Hemlock Forest was very quiet. Other than the sound of their footsteps nothing else could be heard.
Another 3 or 5 minutes passed. By now more and more elite soldiers were also realizing this. The nervousness and the tension in the atmosphere only increased with each passing second. Without even needing to be said, everyone was on their guard. But strangely elder Tate looked relaxed.
Sylvie noticed this about Tate. She narrowed her eyes and kept on observing elder Tate. Ever since this expedition mission started, elder Tate has been behaving very strangely. It was as if he had turned into a completely different person.
"Aditya, could it be that the mutant fire ants have killed and eaten all the magical animals that lived in the outer region of the heavenly hemlock forest?"
"The possibility is very high. But if the mutant fire ants did kill and eat all the magical animals, we would have at least found some pieces of evidence. On our path, we did not come across any dead or eaten bodies of magical animals."
"Maybe the mutant fire ants dragged the bodies of the magical animals to the nest and ate them there."
"Maybe or not. I am not sure what happened to all the magical animals that lived in the outer region. Maybe the magical animals were forced to migrate to other parts of the forest when they were under the attack of the mutant fire ants? There are many possibilities. As of now, we can only speculate." Aditya purposely kept his voice low so that only Alicia can hear him. Aditya normally would have shared his thoughts with everyone since everyone here was a team. It was the presence of elder Tate that stopped Aditya from sharing his thoughts.
The expedition team continued to move in silence for another 10 minutes. Before the whole team stopped as they saw or sensed the presence of a 3rd-order mutant fire ant eating a rat. The mutant fire ant failed to detect the presence of foreigners as it was so busy eating the rat that was 3 times the size of a normal rat.
"I will kill it." Tate was about to kill the mutant fire ant when Sylvie stopped him.
Tate did not look pleased when he was stopped by Sylvie. The old man did not even try to hide his displeased face. "Why are you stopping me?"
Sylvie ignored his displeased face and looked at the mutant fire ant. "Rather than searching aimlessly. We can just follow this mutant fire ant to lead us to its nest." Everyone liked Sylvie's plan. However, Tate had different plans.
"We're not sure if this mutant fire ant will head back to its nest after eating the rat. It would be better to kill the mutant fire ant before it senses our presence. If the mutant fire ant senses our presence, it will send a message to its ant queen. This will only make things difficult for us." Mutant fire ants had the ability to send messages to their ant queen.
Sylvie frowned. She glanced at the mutant fire ant that was quietly eating and then looked at Tate. "The mutant fire hasn't sensed us yet. We can silently follow it while keeping a distance."
Tate took a step forward and threateningly looked at Sylvie. "Are you ordering me?"
Hearing Tate's words, everyone else also frowned. This old man was acting like some spoiled rich arrogant young master. "Don't forget that I get to make the rules here. If you don't want to follow my orders, then you can leave or you can die."
Hearing Tate's words, a cold smile appeared on the dark elf's face. The guild leader of the white Lotus guild did not look happy she was being threatened and also disrespected. Every 5th-order or high-order in this world has immense pride in their strength. In this continent, 5th-order cultivators stood at the very top.
Some 5th-orders even considered themselves supreme beings. It was natural for a 5th-order to be full of pride and arrogance. Although Sylvie is not an arrogant person, at the end of the day she is still a beginner 5th-order cultivator who had the power to destroy any 4th-tier kingdom or faction. The fact that Tate openly threatened and disrespected her is not something that she can let go of easily.
"Tate, you old bastard. I still remember the days when you used to lick my boots just to get gold coins. Just because his Majesty has made you the leader of this expedition group that doesn't mean that we have become his slaves. Next time if you don't control your tongue, I will rip off your tongue and feed it to the mutant fire ants."
Sylvie was a calm and chill type of person. She often joked with her subordinates and her underlings. This is one of the reasons why the guild leader is so popular. Unlike most 5th-order cultivators who were arrogant and prideful. Sylvie is a humble person who never looks down on others.
Alicia knew better than anyone else that once Sylvie is offended or angered, nothing can stop her. Although the number of times Alicia has seen Sylvie get angry can be counted by her ten fingers, whenever the dark elf has gotten angry, it never really went well for the people who angered her.
Sylvie did not hesitate to unleash her killing intent on Tate. The old man's face instantly turned ugly under the pressure. Even though both Sylvie and he were in the same realm. The old man wasn't confident that he can take on Sylvie. The power difference between him and Sylvie was very wide. While he was someone who had barely touched the beginner 5th-order mark, Sylvie was someone who was going to touch the Mid-5th order mark very soon.
When Sylvie had released her Aura, the mutant fire ant that was eating the rat instantly felt the Aura of a 5th-order. The mutant fire ant was intelligent enough to quickly send a message to its queen about the whole situation.
"Great while the both of you're arguing, it seems the mutant fire ant has sensed our presence. Now we might have to face the entire ant colony. Now we have no choice but to leave." There is no way the expedition team can face an entire colony of mutant fire ants. Last time Aditya had killed over a million mutant fire ants. But this time, the number might already have exceeded 10 million or maybe even more.
Noah was mainly pissed at the old man Tate. Never did he think that the old man Tate whom his father trusted so much would be the reason for their failure.
Aditya noticed the sudden change in Tate's old. The old man was now smiling while lowering his head. "Hehe! My prince, I don't think anyone will be getting out of this forest alive."
Under everyone's confused gaze, the old took a few steps back.
"Sh*t!" Aditya's face instantly turned pale as he sensed the presence of countless mutant fire ants coming from behind. It was also at this moment Aditya realized that he and everyone has been betrayed. Just realizing this fact, the Dragon Monarch felt endless anger boiling his heart.
Without even realizing it, Alicia noticed red lightning violently flickering around his body. Aditya's hair color also had started turning crimson red as his pupils changed to deep crimson with vertical slits.
"Aditya, what happened?" Alicia worried asked noticing the red lightning violently flickering around his body. The red lightning had forced her to take a few steps back. She also noticed that his body was slightly trembling while his fists were clenched. He was gritting his teethes while staring at the old man Tate.
Aditya said nothing. When he just looked at Alicia, the Goddess of wealth started shaking in fear. Without even realizing her legs were shaking. The goddess was forced to take a step back. It was not just the goddess, even all the elite soldiers, Noah, Nora, Sylvie, and even the old man Tate, all of their faces turned deadly pale as the thick murderous killing intent made them feel suffocated.
When Tate, Sylvie, Noah, Nora, and other elite soldiers stared at those crimson dragon eyes that seems to be glowing in red color, not even the 5th-order cultivators were able to stop their fear.
Especially Tate, the old man at this moment felt he was being stared at by the god of death himself. His arms and legs had started shaking. Drops of sweat rolled down his face and neck. He felt his throat had gone dry as his teethes clattered non-stop. His blood had run cold even though his heart was beating wildly.
When he stared at those crimson-glowing eyes, Tate felt he was staring at his own graveyard. At this moment behind Aditya, he saw another figure. The figure had terrifying red large dragon eyes. The figure's entire body was made up of darkness. From the figure's body outline, it seems a dragon was staring at him
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