Way of the Knights

Chapter 819: Mystery Solved

—

"…this is your fault by the way." Anne unabashedly told Ellen. 

"It is not!" Ellen replied, "It's this damn realm's fault for existing! I told you, we should just blow this whole thing up!" 

The bickering women didn't remain idle while they argue. Ellen continued released pulses of flames that contained a terrifying heat while Anne summoned a plethora of roots and vines to aid her. 

The two of them are currently surrounded by swathes of insects. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, they also didn't show any signs of stopping. 

The Insects are the worst part about the Critters' Realm. 

It is unknown how many of them are present within this place. For all they know, there could be no limit to their numbers. To make things worse, the insects are not only great in number but also share a hive mind. 

If one sees you, then everybody does as well. This makes it impossible for anyone who enter this realm to succeed in a stealth approach. 

With all this in mind, it is understandable that even Empyreans hates this place. This is also the reason behind the absurd mortality rate of this place. 

"How long will it take for you to analyze these pests? I am this close to launching another sun at them." Ellen huffed. 

"One more minute." Anne replied. She didn't even want to continue bickering with Ellen since she has to concentrate. 

The girls were really in any sort of danger. 

Yes, they are in a tough spot because of Ellen's recklessness but it's not like the situation was life-threatening. Anne was already doing something to calm the situation down. 

One minute passed quick. As soon as the countdown ends, Anne's body suddenly released a verdant glow. She released a pulse that caused the insects to be stunned, followed by a fragrant scent which was pleasing to one's nose.

Well, to a human nose, it is. It's different for Insects though. 

The moment the Insects caught whiff of the scent, they released a sharp screech and began retreating maniacally, flying back to the direction where they came from. 

Anne and Ellen sighed in relief, at least that one's over. 

"Insect Repellant, yay." Ellen scoffed as she kept her sword away, wiping off the sweat that appeared her face. 

"You're welcome, I guess." Anne sighed as she patted down her dress. 

With the Insects gone, the hectic situation stopped. They could catch their breaths now and proceed at their own pace. 

"By the way, the scent wouldn't drive every insect away. I couldn't analyze all of them since I couldn't see the rest." Anne admitted. 

"That's fine. So long as majority of them don't bother us with out work here, we're good." Ellen replied. 

Once the girls fixed their appearance a bit. They nodded to each other and started heading deeper into the Critters' Realm. 

The realm looked like a vast jungle filled with all kinds of creatures. The air was sticky and ominous, its as if its warning people to stay away from it. 

Anne and Ellen were completely unbothered by this. As Anne continued to release that unique fragrance, most of the insects should leave them alone. 

Fairy Evergreen is an expert when it comes to Nature Laws. The fragrance she's releasing is something that he learned how to do by herself. With it, she can mask her presence and blend with her surroundings. A fitting technique for stealth and spying. She obviously could do more than this but right now, this should suffice. 

"We should scout ahead just in case." Anne suggested as they walked closer to the jungle. 

"The heat signals are blurry and weak." Ellen said after a brief period of silence. "How did you do?" 

"The horde that attacked us earlier were just a slice of a the pie." Anne replied, "There's billions of them scattered all across this jungle. One wrong move and we might get swarmed again."

"Huh…that's interesting." Ellen raised a brow. "The Insects didn't register to my senses. They don't have temperatures?" 

She was a bit surprised to be honest. She didn't know that the Insects didn't posses a body temperature. Ellen didn't dare to doubt Anne's sensing capabilities. She believed her when she said that there's billions of them out there. 

It's obvious that Ellen can sense heat signals. If she tried her best, she can probably probe deeper and receive more feedback but that's risky for their current situation. 

Ellen might be reckless at times but she's far from stupid.

"Well, they don't register in my Life Sense – meaning that they're closer to inanimate objects in my senses. Which is why I used Nature Sense instead. There's a lot of them here and the real menaces were the tiny ones. Look out for them." 

"Will do." Ellen nodded as they continued heading deeper. 

Anne already adjust the fragrance she's releasing. It covered both here and Ellen only. This scent should make them blend into their surroundings more to the point that the Insects would just straight-up ignore their presence. 

The jungle within the Critters' Realm was huge. The whole realm was practically it, to be honest. 

As the girls surveyed their surroundings, they saw all sorts of Insects on their natural habitats. It's weird because they almost looked peaceful but in truth, their eyes would instantly turn red then moment they discover a foreign presence. 

Anne discovered lumps of resources here and there. Ellen discovered something gross. 

"Ugh. Poor guy." She sighed. 

Ellen was standing in front of a rotting corpse – which is now reduced into a nest of Insects. She regretted the fact that she saw it because now, the scene were a worm was entering the corpse's mouth only to exit at the ear, cannot be erased from her memories. 

What's even worse is that, she could feel the heat of the corpse's body. 

It registered into her sense and made her feel slightly nauseous.

This man is not alive. There's no way that he would be. The only reason why she can sense heat coming from was because of the pests keeping the corpse's heart intact. 

The heart didn't pump blood, it served as a nursery for larvae. 

This wasn't the only one they found. There are a still more around and there will be more as they head deeper into the jungle. 

"…can't we really blow this realm up instead?" Ellen suggested one more time.

"Focus, Ellen." Anne shuts her down again, "We still haven't finished our investigation. If we gather enough evidence, I'll let you run rampant then." 

"Okay." Ellen nodded. 

"Still, I already saw a good chunk of resources here." Anne added, "Yet, we're not even at the core of the realm yet."

"The resources aren't that impressive." Ellen countered, it was clear that she really didn't like this place at all to say the least. "We don't need them." 

"We will see. Keep your eyes peeled." Anne said. 

The two of them continued on their journey towards the core of the jungle. 

Anne was right when she said that not every insect will be affected by their scent. They encountered a few on their journey who didn't hesitate to attack them on sight. Still, it didn't provoke a huge reaction so they just dealt with them as silent as they could. 

From time to time, the two of them will stop at their tracks and scanned the area around them for caution. 

So far, all the heat sources that Ellen saw were from human corpses. Anne on the other hand discovered more and more resources as they headed deeper into the realm. 

"I want to try something." She suggested. Ellen looked at her with a raised brow so she continued: "I think I discovered how this realm works now. Let's use the Stealth Option of the Council Badges, I will remove the fragrance right after. Let's see if my idea was correct." 

Ellen shrugged and followed her suggestion. She tapped her badge using a unique rhythm and instantly, a film of light covered her body. So did Anne. 

They looked at each other and nodded. Anne then removed the fragrance surrounding them. 

"…"

Nothing. 

There was no reaction. 

Anne looked at Ellen and gave her some signals. They continued moving forward slowly and time passed by, the insects remained still and focused on their work.  action

"Did it work?" Ellen asked softly. 

"I think it did." Anne nodded. "Since the Badge masked our life signals, the insects can't detect us. If they can't detect us, then they won't attack."

"This means that they will only attack living beings with strong life signals.. I think we cracked the mystery behind this realm."