"Then, what about the monster that wreaked havoc in the desert? What if it comes and attacked Lady Heimbra? Then, are we gonna all die?" An expert at Liquefying Realm asked. Just by recalling the intense energy waves from that direction made him shiver.
"I don't think that the monster in the desert will come here in the forest. This place is large and contained an unknown number of fourth-stage monsters. Until now, we only discovered a total of fifty eight fourth-stage monsters. Each one of them is territorial. They didn't like leaving their territory and only come out to fight for the resources. By resources, I mean those super-rare grade fruits and some of them are even guarding legendary grade."
The one that answered was a beautiful pink hair woman. She was wearing a white cloth embroidered with blue linings. Her hair was tied in a ponytail. There was a pair of swords hanging on her waist. She had a heroic aura around her.
She was Yaniesvyl, the Princess of the Heiro Kingdom.
Actually, she was worried about that monster in the desert too. Judging from the energy fluctuations, it was a fourth stage but it possessed unbelievable strength. Well, her words have a point.
Yaniesvyl sighed inwardly. Fight for resources? That's the same reason why the Spring Land was in chaos. They were trying to occupy more land so that the chances of high grade resources falling into their hands would increase.
'If those people knew that there are legendary grades here, they would probably launch a huge expedition.'
The only problem was the monsters that were guarding those legendary grades. Each of them was an extraordinary monster that survived throughout this brutal place.
According to Dream, the carving at the entrance was from an era ten thousand years ago. In that amount of time, a bunch of legendaries would naturally bloom. The older ones were already consumed by top monsters but the recent legendary grades were still present.
There's that Earth Energy Mango guarded by White Prime Apes. Then, there's Freezing Shifting Fruit on the southeast. It seems that the monsters were waiting for the right time to consume those legendary grades.
But fighting right now for those legendaries was suicide without enough force. Yaniesvyl was just a One Shackle expert so she wasn't a match for those powerful fourth stages. The least she could do was hold herself against initial fourth stage. If it was intermediate, high, or peak then she wouldn't last a single minute.
"But Lady Heimbra is different... Once she completely refined the Extreme Poison Field, the poison will kill us whether we like it or not." Yaniesvyl said.
Dream stepped forward and added, "Don't worry, it's not that you will fight for nothing. Once we survive this place, we will give you appropriate rewards for your efforts."
This was the most important thing. Words alone wouldn't move these experts. They had to add benefits to entice them.
In the face of benefits, a lot of experts agreed with their proposal. Yaniesvyl, Dream, and Verto gathered together to start their plan. They had to act quickly or else they would only give Lady Heimbra more time to complete her refinement. It would be too late once that happens.
"Still, didn't expect that she will find the Extreme Poison Field in this realm..." Dream said with a sigh.
"Yeah, this realm is better than I expected. I thought that the ancient ruin is just some random labyrinth but to think that it is an entire realm..." Yaniesvyl said.
"We should just stop Heimbra. Sooner the poison cloud will envelop this area. The strongest creatures will survive but those low-level..." Verto said in a grave tone.
"Okay, let's go."
Everyone finished their preparation in just half an hour.
"Everyone, there is no time to lose. To avoid sudden changes, we should move out now."
Yaniesvyl, Dream, and Verto flew out of the camp. More than a hundred experts followed behind them. Their speed was slow. They were afraid of attracting the attention of some powerful monsters. It would be bad if they fought monsters and lost some people here. Also, their numbers were eye-catching. If they were a little bit careless, a bunch of monsters would attack them.
Still, it was hard for them to not be detected. That's why Verto was flying at the front using an artifact to hide the presence of everyone behind him. It was an orange grade artifact from San Sun Clan. The concealment wasn't perfect but it was enough for them to traverse the forest. As long as they didn't intentionally release their energy, it would be fine.
After approximately two hours of travel, the group finally saw a conspicuous part of the forest. They could see various poisonous plants and trees. There were even poisonous and venomous monsters.
They were here.
They called this place, Poison Swamp. It was a dangerous area filled with poison and dangers. If one wasn't careful they wouldn't be able to leave this area in their life.
The Poison Swamp was approximately fourty square kilometers. It was huge as most of the poison attribute monsters were living here. Thin fog of poison was filling the air.
"Everyone, get ready," Yaniesvyl said and her voice travel through the entire crowd.
The experts prepared their detoxifying potions, pill, or artifacts. They had prepared for half an hour and they even received the support of Yaniesvyl, Dream, and Verto. The three wouldn't come here without preparation or else they would only seek their own death.
If they didn't have anything the poison fog would kill all the low-level experts.
Everything took their anti-poison before heading inside the Poison Swamp. After they entered the swamp, the group quickly met some monsters. Lucky for them, the monsters were only non-evolve and first evolution. With their current power level, it was easy to dispose of monsters up to second evolution stage. Though they would met problems with the third evolution stage, they could still dispose of that level of monsters.
Yaniesvyl, Dream, and Verto led the group carefully. They passed through several poison traps. They even avoided places where the poison was highly concentrated.
One hour later, the group arrived in the deep parts of the swamp. At this time, they already met a lot of trouble and they lost a total of sixteen people. Some of them got caught off guard by third evolution stage monsters, some fell into the poison field area, and some accidentally touch an extremely poisonous tree.
After traveling more, they finally saw some people. But these people weren't friendly at all.
"Poison Demon Palace!" Yaniesvyl said in a grave tone.
The people from Poison Demon Palace. It means that Lady Heimbra was in this area refining the Extreme Poison Field. They only had to search this place and they would undoubtedly find their target.
"I'll handle them quickly," Verto said before he charged forward.
Yaniesvyl turned around and said, "Everyone, we should go and fight the member of the Poison Demon Palace! If you saw Lady Heimbra quickly inform us! You don't need to fight her, me and my people will personally fight her!"
A battle started in the deep area of Poison Swamp. It was a battle against the top faction called Poison Demon Palace. The Poison Demon Palace had a great disadvantage in terms of number but the battle was equal. They were in the Poison Swamp so the environment was favorable for the experts of the Poison Demon Palace.
The alliance had to work together if they wanted to defeat their enemies. It was tough fighting in this environment. Some plants or trees would emit poison when in contact with certain elements like fire or water. The enemies weren't as careful as them. After all, the enemies were poison users so they had some resistance to poison.
Yaniesvyl and Dream flew in search of Lady Heimbra.
...
Souta and Alexander were walking leisurely in the forest.
Souta's hands were inside his pockets as he stared at the dark and starry sky.
"You're lucky, you know. You picked me as your bodyguard." Souta said.
"Yeah, I will not forget your help." Alexander nodded.
"I think no one could defeat me in this entire realm... Oh, is there a fifth stage here?" Souta asked.
"Probably not... I don't know. If there's a fifth stage here, then that will be the strongest in this world." Alexander said. Ten thousand years had passed since he left this realm alone so he didn't know if some monster became fifth stage.
"I see... It's probably not. I overturn the whole desert and it didn't even show interest, not even once. It didn't even glance. Just one glance and I will feel the suppression so it will be enough to sense a fifth stage." Souta shrugged his shoulders.
Suddenly, he stopped on his track as he turned his head at the horizon.
"What is it?" Alexander asked.
Souta smiled and answered, "It's twilight... All of the cells in my body are screaming in joy."
