Chapter 203 - A Way To The Top
The humanoid ant gave the group one last glanced before it left with the receding army of ants. The group fell on their bottoms after the humanoid ant disappeared from their field of vision.
"That was too scary. This pressure was so much more overbearing and menacing than her Majesty. I feel like I was staring into death itself."
"Right? I felt the same way. With such a powerful presence down here, it's no wonder that the spider queen and her underlings only stay on the first floor instead of making this place their nest."
"Did anyone notice the two figures behind that humanoid ant? It wasn't as menacing, but I felt like it was still more powerful than her Majesty."
"Oi, oi, even if you are joking, that isn't something you say. How can you talk down on our own ruler? Are you forgetting his highness is still with us?"
"Ah, right, right. I'm very sorry, your Highness. I hope you are not offended." The palace guard apologized.
Leon waved it off as he paid no heed to the drivels of the palace guards. It was expected for everyone to be on edge after encountering such a horrifying existence. Not only was its aura extremely powerful, but its killing intent was even more so.
God knows how much lives must have been taken to emit such a strong killing intent. The underground was much more complicated than he had anticipated.
"Does no one have anything to say about that 'humanoid' ant's appearance? How is that still an ant? It was standing on two legs for god's sake!" A palace guard calmed his nerves, before voicing his doubts.
"That's also true. I only saw four limbs. Everyone had at least studied [The Encyclopedia of Insects], right? Even among variations of ants, they have always had 6 legs."
"Oh please, why bother bringing up [The Encyclopedia of Insects]? It is only meant to be used for reference. Have you forgotten what the spider queen that terrorized our Capital look like? Was something like that also recorded in the book?" Another palace guard rolled his eyes.
The previous palace guard felt awkward and scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Enough!" Zorbek silenced the group after noticing the prince's long frown. "Is there a problem, your Highness?"
"Problem? Big problem. We are in deep shit! That thing already marked us. Forget about returning to the surface, I'm afraid it'll be difficult to keep our lives once we leave the protection of the elder tree." Leon said grimly.
"T-That is a pretty serious problem… What should we do now?" Zorbek stammered and asked. As the most educated person in the group, perhaps the prince will have a good idea of how to get them out of this predicament.
However, his hopes were dashed when Leon shook his head and said, "For now, stay within the vicinity and explore the elder tree first. See if we can find anything useful. Also, stay away from that power source. Remember, I can't save you if you anger the elder tree. It treats that power source as its lifeline."
"I see… I guess we can only do that… It's a pity that we didn't bring our stuff with us, otherwise, we could set up our camp here." Zorbek said disappointedly, before glancing at the tree spirit hovering behind Leon. "By the way, your Highness, what is… that thing? I might have heard wrong, but you were communicating to it in the ancient language, weren't you?"
"En, this is the tree spirit of the elder tree. Alright, go search the vicinity now. Make sure to search in groups of at least four." Leon commanded.
"Ah… yes, right away, your Highness."
Zorbek obliged incredulously with his doubts unanswered. Why do they have to search in groups of four or more?
With the last of the ants gone, the elder tree was able to focus on his own self-recovery. Although it was nothing compared to ingesting dozens of tier-1 healing pills, it was still quicker than a human's natural self-recovery rate.
Leon did not require to explain himself and return his attention to the tree spirit, whilst lost in thought.
He came all this way in search of the power source because spirit energy was needed to replicate a working levitation stone, but also, he could use that energy to replenish his divine treasure. But now he found out that energy wasn't quite what he was looking for, and it was also being monopolized by the elder tree.
If he wanted the elder tree to give up on the power source than they would have to replace it would something else. Water and sunlight, it can only be one of these two. Water… the amount of ice he could conjure was limited and would be far from enough to satisfy the elder tree. After all, it relied on the power source for survival since he couldn't get any water or sunlight in this godforsaken place.
"Looks like we can only work towards the sunlight… towards the sunlight…" Leon mumbled before his eyes lit up.
It was too dangerous to go back the way they came, but what about upwards? Not only would they be able to stay within the tree's protection range, but they also have 22 people who could manipulate the earth and open a hole to the surface.
If they make that hole large enough, they could bring down a lot of sunlight for the elder tree to bathe in. The only prerequisite was they had to be able to climb to the top of the elder tree.
He could simply fly up there, but what about the others?
Logically, if earth-users can lift the earth with their wills, then there shouldn't be any reason why they couldn't simply propel themselves into the skies by standing on the piece of earth they manipulate like how his mother manipulate metal to induce flight.
Perhaps, its because the soil from the surface wasn't hard enough to be used a platform and could easily shatter under the earth-users own weight? Is that why none of the earth-users uses this method?
Leon felt that this seemed to be the case. It was impractical without precise control like his fire flight ability. If they weren't careful, they might shatter their own platform due to poor control.
He also could imagine that even if someone succeeded, their platforms could still be shattered and plunge to their deaths if it gets targeted by their enemies.
However, they wouldn't have to worry about that here. The ground down here was so dense in earth elements, it was even harder than normal rocks from the surface. It wouldn't break so easily unless it has been stripped of all its earth elements.
Leon decided that once the palace guards return from their exploration, they will begin flight practice at once. The ground was filled with cracks. It wouldn't take long to tear apart a chunk of earth to be used as their platform.
"What do you plan to do now?" Leon suddenly asked Lilith.
"What do you mean?" Lilith replied with a confused look.
"You followed me into the underground because you were also looking for that power source, or rather the energy from that power source, right? However, it's clear that the tree spirit won't give up the power source so easily, so we must give up on it." Leon continued with a knowing look, thinking it might have something to do with her cultivation.
Seeing that her intentions were seen through, Lilith shrugged her shoulders and confessed.
"You're right, I thought the energy from the power source would be useful for my cultivation, but it seems slightly different from what I had imagined. We seemed to have landed ourselves in a dangerous situation. I can only continue following you for a chance of survival."
As she said this, Lilith rolled her eyes. Was this fella planning to leave her here if she wasn't planning to continue following them?
Leon was surprised when he guessed correctly. He was about to continue asking when he and Lilith were forced to freeze.
The tree spirit didn't understand the human language they two were conversing, but it vaguely understood they were talking about the power source and began to point at them with the tips of its tree roots warily.
They might have been nice people, but if they were also after its power source then they were still enemies.
"Woah! Relax, we don't want your power source!" Leon explained with hands raised in surrender. Lilith mimicked him and did the same.
"Rao?" The tree spirit looked at him suspiciously.
"Really!"
Leon tried to convince it while a drop of sweat dripped from his temples. Those roots were very dangerous! He didn't want to be a bag of bones.
"Quick, give it some more of those healing pills." Lilith urged him.
The tree spirit didn't point away its root tips until Leon tossed over another healing pill for it to eat. However, it did so reluctantly.
It had the thought of threatening him for more, but it knew it was wrong to do so. What if the human decides not to give it anymore after that?
Leon and Lilith both sighed with great relief as they felt like they had just survived a great disaster. The tree spirit had a young mentality, but it was after all an existence that even Transcendents would have a hard time dealing against.
"Your Highness!"
Leon shifted his gaze as he heard the palace guard captain calling him. He looked at Zorbek with bafflement and asked, "You're back already? What's the matter?"
"We've found a vinery staircase on the other side of the elder tree that leads all the way to the top. I made the decision to report to you first before heading up to investigate."
"Oh?" Leon was intrigued by this news, before nodding, "You made the right choice. Gather everyone at the foot of the staircase. We will head up together."
"Yes, Your Highness," Zorbek answered and left.
Leon glanced up with a thoughtful look.
There wouldn't by any remnants of the ancient civilization living up there or something like that, right?