Although the Forest Folk warned them about the consequences of not doing the task they had assigned to them, Gerhart and Cethus didn't give a f*ck and were even dying to give them all the middle finger for trying to send them to their deaths.
After several minutes, a sigh escaped Lux's lips before he opened his eyes to look at Pietro, who was looking at him with desperation.
"I'll go and see what I can do," Lux stated. "For the time being, tell the residents to prepare for an evacuation. Abingdon Town is no longer a safe place to live in. Your safest bet is to migrate to the nearest town in order to survive the terrors that surround this town on all sides."
Pietro nodded his head in understanding. In fact, he had already thought that staying in their town was no longer a possibility. He knew that if he waited for help to arrive, the insect colonies around them would just simply grow day by day.
The Mayor was certain that if they delayed their evacuation, they would not have the chance to survive the inevitable calamity that was about to fall on their heads.
An hour later...
Lux and Cethus landed on the ground.
The Half-Elf decided to have a dialogue with the Tetramorium Ants because he was able to befriend the Ants in the Figaro Gardens back in Leaf Village.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Cethus asked with a frown.
"Trust me. I got this," Lux answered with a confident smile. "Ants are my best friends."
The Dragon Born crossed his arms over his chest as he watched Lux slowly approach the entrance of the Ant Nest, which two Rank 5 Alpha Steel-Tetramorium Ants were guarding.
"My Friends, today is a good day, eh?" Lux said with a smile. "Do you mind if we all have a chat about the meaning of life?"
The two Alpha Steel-Tetramorium Ants glanced at each other before motioning for the Half-Elf to come closer to them.
Lux turned his head to look at the Dragon-Born with a smug expression on his face before shifting his attention back to his new-found friends.
However, the Half-Elf only managed to take six steps forward when the ground surrounding him and Cethus burst upwards, revealing dozens of Alpha Steel-Tetramorium Ants, who immediately proceeded to attack them with Acid Spray.
Lux and Cethus immediately flew up in the sky, in order to avoid the sudden aggression from the Tetramorium Ants.
After a desperate struggle to escape, the two finally managed to gain a good distance from the Ants who had started to attack them with their skills, Steel Bullet, which were the size of cannonballs.
This forced Lux and Cethus to fly as high as they could until the lethal balls made of steel no longer posed a threat to them.
"Didn't you say you and the Ants are best friends?" Cethus sneered at the Half-Elf who had coated his entire body with the Favonius Legacy, allowing him the power of flight. "How come your Best Friends attacked you?"
"I did say that Ants are my best friends," Lux lightly coughed before giving his reply. "I didn't say that all Ants are my best friends."
Cethus snorted as he looked at the red-headed teenager in disdain. Clearly, he found the Half-Elf's attempt at negotiation extremely silly and secretly ridiculed Lux in his heart.
"Now what?" Cethus asked a few minutes later as they headed back to Abingdon Town.
Lux sighed as he looked at the Western Regions of the Shaufell Plains.
"I guess we should attempt visiting Isoptera Mountain to see the deceased Mayor's friend," Lux replied. "Maybe that friend will honor his promise to help Abingdon Town once."
Cethus narrowed his eyes as he also looked at the West. Judging by the distance of the mountain, it would take them an entire day for them to arrive at their destination.
The others were going to stay in Abingdon Town in order to protect it. Lux even left Eiko, Orion, Asmodeus, Lazarus, Zagan, and Revon behind to protect the town while he was away.
"Let's go, Cethus," Lux ordered as he summoned Jed mid-air. "The sooner we arrive at our destination, the sooner we can come back."
The Half-Elf didn't wait for the Dragon Born's reply as he urged his Thunder Warg King to fly towards the mountain where the deceased Mayor's friend lived.
The Dragon Born let out a light snort before flapping his wings to follow behind his Party Leader, who was looking for ways to help clear the mission that he had accepted not long ago.
Cethus was aware that trying to help evacuate the townspeople to safety was a gargantuan undertaking.
If they were attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes along the way, they were already lucky even if only hundreds of people managed to survive.
Currently, Abingdon Town has three thousand people. Their mission only required them to ensure the survival of at least a thousand. However, the journey toward the nearest town, on foot, would take at least 10 days--this was an estimate that Pietro had made after careful calculations on the speed of their evacuation.
Since their quest only lasted thirteen days, the Dragon Born believed that the mission required them to hasten their pace.
'I still think the odds are stacked against us,' Cethus frowned as he flew behind the red-headed teenager, whom he had reluctantly accepted as someone stronger than him. 'Anyway, I'll just escape if it gets too dangerous. There's no way I'm going to die while I'm away from Karshvar Draconis.'
The Dragon Born had wanted to accompany Lux in order to find out why he was able to increase his Rank at a rapid pace.
Now that he had seen the appearance of this mysterious mission, which was something he was experiencing for the first time, he firmly believed that he had found the Half-Elf's secret regarding how he was able to increase his Rank in such a short period of time.
