NOVEL WEB Chapter 113: Ant Colony
Kael stood atop a tall tree with his eyes closed, the wind messing with his long silver hair as it fluttered behind him, making the scenery breathtaking.
[Master, you just wanted to hit this pose, didn't you?]
'Shut up!' Kael snorted in response. Well, he couldn't argue since it was true that he wanted to do this for a while.
[Hmm. I have begun to understand you, Master.]
'Good! Then learn something from me too,' Kael said.
[I can't be that dramatic.]
Kael sighed and opened his eyes. He stared into the distance and finally moved. The tree beneath him swayed a little as he jumped into the air.
Silver lightning crackled around him as it soon took the shape of transparent wings behind him. His [Stormborne Wings] had been upgraded a lot during his training sessions, and he had learned to suppress the thunderclap it produced upon activation.
He flapped them and flew forward at full speed.
His patience had been rewarded as all the Stags had entered that small crevice in the hill. He had doubts that he was being duped again, so he had waited, and it seemed his guesses were wrong.
'Let's see what you all are hiding!' Kael approached the hill rapidly as he flew freely in the open sky. This was the fastest method, and since there weren't any flying birds around, he wasn't worried about being noticed either.
As for ground beasts, he was too fast for them to notice him.
Soon, he landed on the hill and let the wings disappear. He closed his eyes and let the [Beast Sense] run wild. He usually kept it suppressed too, as he was afraid some powerful beasts would sense his probing.
Now, there wasn't any need to be careful. Even if there were some powerful monsters nearby, he was alone and had confidence in running away.
Scenes began to form in his mind as he slowly sensed everything around him. His focus was still the crevice in the hill, and he realized there was actually a tunnel there. Read ahead and get updates by visiting M^VLEMPYR.
He followed it and was surprised to see how long it ran underground. He couldn't understand why nature-loving beasts like Stags would roam in these caves.
So he continued his search and moved forward on top of the hill while still having his eyes closed.
'This is gonna take a while.'
There were many smaller tunnels that seemed to be running all around the ground beneath the hill as if it was an ant nest...
As the theory formed in his mind, he frowned and thought, 'No way, right? I didn't find any signs of ants here, and why would the Stags have anything to do with ants?'
Still, he became vigilant and moved around the hill to get a proper map of the tunnels. Fortunately, he didn't need to enter them and could use his Skill to let Alpha make the map.
After almost an hour of moving around, he finally had a map of the underground tunnels and was now sure it really was an Ant Colony.
Though, it would be better to say that it was deserted for a long time now.
He contemplated whether he should follow the Stags or not and decided to go with the flow.
'Yo, everyone, I'll be back in a while or maybe take some time. Take care of yourselves till then.'
[Huh? Master, why are you leaving me with this... woman! At least take back your orders, otherwise you'll find my corpse when you come back.]
Kael rolled his eyes at his overdramatic act and wanted to tell Alpha to see him. This was what being dramatic meant.
[Master, it's fine. I'll handle him. You can remain worry-free.]
[No way! Seth! Master! Save me from her!]
[Pathetic!]
Kael pursed his lips hearing that cold reply from Seth while Jon once again began to shout out his worries.
He shook his head at them and said, "Alright, Kiona, don't bully him. I'll go scout out these guys and see if they will be our allies or enemies."
[Good luck, Master.]
[Thanks, Master.]
Kael smiled and jumped down from the hill. It was quite a tall height, but he didn't care. His landing caused dust to rise, as he planted one punch into the ground.
[You're really recreating all the poses, right?]
'It's my childhood dreams!' Kael shrugged and turned toward the vertical crack in the solid rocky wall.
Without him realizing, Rias appeared beside him and stared at the crack before asking, "The range will be too big."
"I know," Kael wasn't really surprised by her arrival as it happened a lot in the last few days. "You can just accompany them and make sure they remain safe. I'm just going to scout, so you don't need to worry. I won't start the fight without my friends."
Rias looked a bit reluctant to leave him alone. After all, he was the sole reason she was looking forward to her future, so how could she let him run toward the unknown?
"Should I go and scout?" Rias asked.
It would be much easier for someone like her who could use Astral Travel, but Kael had other thoughts.
"Just do as I said. I'll handle the rest."
Saying that, he jumped into the crack where only darkness awaited him. He knew Rias would follow his orders, so he wasn't really worried about his friends.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he found himself in a jagged tunnel that was barely enough to fit him. It was a little surprising to him that Stags actually traveled in such an area.
The question was... why?
So, he set out to find the answers as he ran through the tunnels without worry, following the map Alpha had made for him. If he didn't do that beforehand, he might have really become confused with all the choices.
But he had a clear direction, so his speed was impeccable, and it didn't take him long to cross the complex ant colony to reach the end of a particular tunnel.
However, when he reached there, he had to put a stop to his speed because of what he found.
There was no exit.
'Just as I thought, something is wrong here!' Kael thought as he stared at the dead end before him.
The reason he was suspicious of this end was because the Stags came here, and his skill and senses also couldn't penetrate to show him what was on the other side of this wall.
This was bizarre since his skill could tell him everything about his surroundings—except for this wall. Surprisingly, he could sense the area behind the wall, which was quite some distance away.
In his senses, there was a large world around him which he could sense clearly, but near the center of it, there was a cuboidal block there.
Kael bit his lips as he continued to look at the wall.
'Should I go and check it? It's just scouting, after all? But I didn't tell others about this. Tsk! Curiosity killed the cat, but I'm a Dragon. I'll survive.'
He tried to find excuses to check the anomaly with the wall, but in the end, didn't manage to convince himself.
Curiosity had almost cost him his life a few times, so he was learning to be really careful now.
He was quite sure that this wall probably functioned as some Teleportation Array or something similar to that, so Kael was even more hesitant to enter it.
What if he was spawn-killed? What if the Stags knew they were being watched and had set up a trap?
Even if that wasn't the case, Kael had a guess that they had a powerful leader behind them. And since the Stags were D-Rank, it was quite possible that their leader was C-Rank.
Fighting them in their territory without any plans was quite foolish.
So, he decided to retreat.
'Oh yeah, we did catch one of them, so gotta check if I can get any information from him.'
Thinking of that, he ran back the same way he came from and soon reached the crack from where he had entered.
Sunlight poured in through the small crack, purging the darkness a little, but it was obvious that even this evening sun couldn't do much against the darkness of this ant colony.
The moment he came outside, a figure materialized before him. Who else could it be other than Rias?
"There is a Teleportation Array down there, but I'm not sure about it. We will just have to check later." Kael said as he began to walk toward the forest.
Rias hummed and followed him.
"Don't you think this area is a little too quiet and peaceful?" Kael said, his eyes wandering around the tall trees that filtered the evening sunlight. "I can understand our home's situation, but what is happening here?"
Back in their town, they had the Great Storm Tree which kept beasts away, but what about this place?
It had nothing, yet there were hardly any beasts to be found.