Chapter 184 - Entering The Second Floor
Seven days quietly passed in the blink of an eye, before an awe-inspiring silver gate stood erected with towering height in place of the sealed entrance.
Leon and Lilith did not leave the area, nor did they stay idle during this time. Two new tents were erected to accommodate them while they cultivated.
Leon had made leaps and bounds in his awakening cultivation thanks to the help of the heavenly crystals. He had successfully raised all his elemental abilities to one star, except his lightning attribute.
He never felt it before, but after raising his fire, metal and ice abilities to the same level, he had a feeling he could merge the three elemental seeds into one.
However, he refrained himself from doing so. He hadn't obtained all five elements yet. He didn't know if prematurely merging three elements would cause irreversible and detrimental effects or not.
"Your Highness, the hunting team has been assembled and ready to enter the second floor. Will you be tagging along? A deep voice was heard from outside his tent, informing him.
Exiting the tent, Leon gazed upon a palace guard with powerful aura exuding from his body.
"You are…?"
"I am Zorbek Haynes, Captain of the south, your Highness." Zorbek introduced.
"Captain of the… south?" Leon asked doubtfully, before he immediately understood. Four directions, four captains.
"I see. Notify the men to ready themselves. I will be joining them shortly." Leon ordered.
"Yes, your Highness." Zorbek answered and left, but not after flashing a few furtive glances at the tent adjacent to his.
Shortly after, His voice could be heard loudly in the distance. Every member of the hunting team knew what they were signing up for. They were already instructed that they weren't required to protect the prince at every moment. This trip was considered part of the prince's training. He could take care of himself.
But who were they kidding? Who was the prince? He was the Queen's darling baby. If he dies on their trip, they can also say goodbye to their heads!
Leon withdrew the black spear from his Worldspace and prepared to call Lilith out from her tent, but he before he could, she already exited her tent on her own accord.
Leon was quite curious how the beasts and beastkins cultivate. Could it be a body cultivation method? Unfortunately, Lilith did not give him any chances to find out from her during the time they were cultivating.
"Let's go." Leon said.
"Alright." Lilith nodded.
It didn't take long before the two arrived at the assembling point located in front of the silver gate.
The hunting team consists of 20 palace guards and Captain Zorbek. Each palace guard exuded an aura that not inferior to Leon and some was even stronger.
To ensure the efficiency and safety of the hunt, all members on the hunting team had been given earth crystals each to cultivate.
Leon swept his glances through the surroundings and noticed there were no longer any shadowguards around. Old man Kasif was also gone. It was apparent that after the completion of the silver gate, they had been given a new mission elsewhere that utilized the skills they trained.
"Your Highness, the men are ready. Shall we begin?" Zorbek asked respectfully.
Leon nodded.
"Open the gates!" Zorbek barked.
Several palace guards began rotating some gears before the heavy silver gate began to open vertically.
Leon couldn't fathom how much the silver gate weighed, but his thoughts did not linger on the topic for long as the darkness behind the gate had grasped his attention.
Light shined into the darkness and illuminated the empty descending spiral pathway leading to the second floor. The pathway that connects the first and second floor was not exactly short.
According to the information provided by Don, it was a two-mile walk. By the time they reach the second floor, they would have already descended more than 500 fts.
When the silver gate fully opened, cool air began escaping from the pathway.
"Interesting."
Leon was immediately intrigued. Why would air escape from the pathway instead of the other way around? Nevertheless, it seems that they won't be encountering any breathing problems as they head deeper underground.
"Move out!"
"Yes!"
Half down the spiral path, the group encountered their first soldier ant roaming alone.
SCREEE!
The Soldier ant immediately spotted their presence and issued a battle cry.
"Leave it for me!"
Gripping his black spear, Leon dashed ahead of the group and straight into charging soldier ant with its powerful mandibles ready to take a big bite.
"Your Highness!"
The palace guards widened their eyes in shocked with their hearts almost leaping out.
Oh no! It's over. The prince was going to get killed straight from the start of their trip.
Charging head on into an enemy's attack was an extreme stupid move! The prince is going to get snapped in half!
However, just as Leon was about to be snapped in half by the powerful mandibles, his speed increased explosively and got underneath the mandibles before snapped shut.
Snap!
The ant's mandibles failed to catch its target. Leon made a horizontal sweep at the legs with his black spear, without any technique or elemental empowerment. It was a normal attack with packed with 1800-jin of raw physical strength.
Shingggg!
Sparks were created as the spear head drew white lines on the ant's left legs, before Leon retreated with a big backward leap.
SCREEE! The ant issued another cry like it was calling for reinforcements.
"As expected! The defensive properties of these ants are quite high like information said!" Leon exclaimed.
However, the information they had were limited and not precise. They only knew the shell-like skins of these ants were tough, but not to what extent.
The ground cracked underneath Leon's feet as he leaped up for follow up attack. The spear shot straight through its head from above, before impaling its brain and killing it on the spot.
This time, he utilized his technique and increase his physical strength by onefold to 3600-jin force. There was little to no resistances.
"A defensive property of roughly 2500-jin force, huh?" Leon concluded, based on the feeling of his two attacks.
"Your Highness! Please don't scare us like that!" The palace guards complained.
"You don't have to worry about me. I will in charge of my own life. None of you will be held responsible if I end up dying here." Leon stated, before saying, "Let's continue.
The eyes of the palace guards almost popped out of their sockets.
To hell with that! If you die here, then we will also not be allowed to live!
They were not assured by the prince's words at all! Only if the words came from the Queen herself, would they be assured!
However, they did not dare to lash out at the prince and could only keep it to themselves as they continue with their journey.
Captain Zorbek was the only person among the palace guards that remained composed.
"Why didn't you go for the head straight from the start?" Lilith caught up to Leon and asked with surprise.
Leon just physical attack was not weaker than her own. That wasn't right. From her understanding of humans, she was supposed to be twice as powerful as humans of the same level, physically.
"I was gauging the appropriate amount of strength needed to kill these creatures as reference for future battles."
"Why?" Lilith asked curiously, before adding, "Does it matter as long as they die?"
"To optimize the efficiency of my kills without using excessive force. If theses insects are anywhere as numerous as the spiders that attacked the Capital, if not more, then we are bound to get caught up in prolonged battles. It will get dangerous if we exhaust ourselves too quickly."
"Make sense."
"Ya hear that, men? Use adequate strength when killing the ants! Don't waste your energy." Zorberk hollered at the palace guards.
"Yes, Captain!"
The group continued down the path.
Suddenly, Lilith frowned and pinched her nose.
"Why is it so smelly here?"
"Argh! It stinks so bad!"
"Urgh, what in god's name is this place!"
The faces of all the palace guards began to turn green with disgust.
Leon also frowned at the unpleasant smell. He circulated his energy and produced an unnoticeably thin barrier around his body that warded off the smell.
Glancing around, he noticed many unnatural pits in the area as if it's been dug by someone.
"I'm afraid this area was where the number one grandmaster alchemist took his dump." Leon commented.
"Then those brown smudges are all human excrete…?"
The palace guards looked around with horrified gazes.
Brown smudges… brown smudges everywhere. Not just in the pits but scattered on the ground and even on the walls!
Bleurghhh! The palace guards began to retch.
"Urgh… no wonder… we haven't encounter anymore ants after the last one cried for help… This…This is a no man's land! Even insects don't want to come near this place!" Zorbek failed to keep his usually stern composure.
They have certainly walked into a shit hole.
"Let's quickly leave this place!"
The suggesting was quickly met with many rigorous nods.
Fortunately, after travelling a few dozen yards, they were able to escape the smelly area. However, they began to encounter dozens of ants.
The group made quick work of the ants before pressing forward.
"Leave the carcasses! We will grab them later when we are returning!" Zorbek ordered.
By the time they reached huge open space of the second floor, they had already slayed more than 200 soldier ants.