Only You - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Ana knew that a beast would never leave its safe nest easily unless it had to. So, it would be too hard to trick the Three-tailed Aquatic Lizard into getting out of the pool. Even the magical saliva would fail to do that, too.
These factors left Ana no other choice but to try to destroy the part inside its body with the function of absorbing water.
In this way, she could prevent it from absorbing the water in the pool and firing water bombs against her and her war beasts. You would think that this was a piece of cake but it was the complete opposite.
The Beast Encyclopedia did not describe where exactly that part was, so Ana had to find it herself. She thought about it a lot and then decided to dive into the pool to have a close examination on the lizard and find out that part.
When she saw that her two war beasts were fighting furiously with the Three-tailed Aquatic Lizard, she thought that this was the good timing to get into the water because the lizard was busy.
She stealthily dived into the water from the other side and approached it silently. Looking from the bottom of the water, Ana could see that the lizard's body was completely covered by the layer of water film that provided it with strong defensive power.
Its three huge tails were rotating in the water like a propeller producing strong suction power. Sure that the three tails were the parts she was looking for, Ana immediately smirked and swam to the end of the lizard as quickly as possible.
She injected her spiritual power at the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage into the Frozen Wind Dagger. Instantly, the length of the spiritual light of the dagger transformed into the long length like a sword's.
Trying to do her best, Ana flung her Dagger hard.
The next moment, the spiritual light of the dagger dashed towards the lizard and cut off one of its huge tails. As a result, a pale green liquid was gushing out from the cut, contaminating the water in a strange way.
The shooting pain of the lizard who was still floating on the water was reflected in a harsh scream. Its body was trembling violently and was madly thrashing in the water. Its violent motion made the water of the pool onrushing.
Ana was too close to the angered lizard and had no time to get away from it. Thus, she was rolled into the terrifying waves and her whole body was like a puppet in the water.
Suddenly, she was thrown out from the bottom of the pool into the air and showed up exactly on the side of the lizard. The enraged lizard did not only roar at Ana once it saw her, but also hit her with its tails that were originally in the water.
Ana realised that she was in a seriously dangerous situation; however, it was impossible to adjust her position in the air. Thus, all she could manage to do was gather all her spiritual power to resist the violent hit. Yet, the lizard's tails hit Ana so hard that she was forced to fly high into the air.
If anyone else was watching from afar, they would think that Ana was nothing more than a baseball.
The situation kept getting more complicated because just before Ana was about to fall into the water, the lizard gathered a set of water bombs that were twice as big as the original ones and shot all of them towards her.
Her two war beasts, Ananta and Rubygon were not fast enough to help her. If Ana was hit by the bombs, she would be badly injured.
Luckily at that critical point, a colorful light shadow appeared and leaped high toward Ana. Then, she was put on the back of the light shadow and transferred quickly to the ground at the last minute before the water bombs could hit her.
However, as the shadow landed on the ground too hastily, both Ana and the shadow rolled over the ground several times like balls before they stopped. Everything happened so fast to the extent that Ana could not digest what had just happened; she was confused and disoriented.
When she finally came back to her senses, she found the Rainbow Glow Unicorn beside her. Its forelimbs seemed to be sprained and it let out a painful cry.
She was surprised to realised that the unicorn rushed to save her! The Rainbow Glow Unicorn was not fully grown up and it was relatively weak. Thus, it was a wonder that it could save Ana at such a dangerous moment!
‘ Thank you!’ Ana said gratefully as she patted the neck of the unicorn. Then, Ana immediately turned and got up because she had to finish what she started.
She saw that the lizard, who had lost one of its tails, was slowly retreating into the bottom of the pool and getting gradually hidden.
At that very moment, she realised that its defensive water film disappeared, so this was the perfect moment to kill the lizard.
She certainly would not allow it to flee in front of her. She immediately gestured to Ananta to come over to her.
At the same time, she darted to her clothes which she took off before she dived into the pool and took the Dragon Flame Pearl out from the silken bag.
‘ Spirit Possession!’ Ana bellowed one of her powerful skills, and her eyes popped. This skill could instantly improve her power because it fused her spirit-manipulated beast into her body. Of course, her beast would not be harmed.
Ananta, who dashed to her side, was instantly turned into a dazzling light shadow and got integrated with her body. Soon, Ana felt like a stream of spiritual power like raging flames was injected into her whole body.
As a result, her strength even reached the peak of the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage, infinitely approaching the Heavenly Stage.
In addition, she found that her own changes were more obvious than before. She saw that her chest and limbs were all covered with red scales, making her look like a brave warrior.
Ana immediately rushed to the edge of the pool and leaped up high into the air. The Dragon Flame Pearl in her hand instantly shone brightly, like the scorching sun at noon, and then turned into a meteorite with flame, and quickly fell into the pool.
The Dragon Flame Pearl dived into the vortex before the Three-tailed Aquatic Lizard was totally immersed in it.
After a moment of silence, Ana saw a flash of red light shining abruptly in the vortex while the pool was completely boiling.
The following second, a deafening sound rang out without any warning! A soaring water column, mixed with burning flames, suddenly burst out from the vortex.
Then, the lizard's corpse was seen floating on the water.
Ana had finally defeated the very powerful lizard!
After releasing herself from the Spirit Possession state, she swam into the pool and dragged the lizard's corpse to the shore.
She cut into its belly with her Frozen Wind Dagger. After she cut it open, she saw a Water Essence Pill at the medium grade, which appeared so glaring due to its constant absorption of the water essence.
This pill was a rare treasure and its efficacy was even stronger than a Dark Heaven Egg at the medium grade.
Ana finally got what she wanted. She immediately took it out, put it in her silken bag, and collected the samples of scales, blood and other parts of the lizard for her gene research.
She also collected all its parts that she could sell. It was ironic that the lizard who had been so furious just a few minutes ago, became an empty corpse!
When everything was finished, Ana took her two beasts to the side of the Rainbow Glow Unicorn to check it.
Fortunately, it only had one limb sprained. It was such a relief that it was not seriously injured because Ana would have felt so guilty.
After applying the magical saliva to the sprained part, she used two wooden strips to hold its sprained foot. This way, the unicorn could manage to walk.
‘ Let's find a place to rest for a night and set off tomorrow,’ Ana said to her beasts when it was almost dusk.
She immediately took her three beasts away. It was a tough day for all of them, so they all needed to have a good rest.
Ana found a cave on a mountain shortly after setting out. The cave was not too big, but it was big enough to accommodate them. After entering the cave, she kindled a bonfire by using a pile of firewood she had collected along the way.
The three beasts, lying by the fire, soon felt sleepy due to their tiredness and the warmth surrounding them. Yet, Ana was not sleepy at all.
Watching the sparks which were constantly bursting out from the firewood, she could not help but drown in her own thoughts. She was envying the beasts that, unlike her, did not have anything to overthink.
She, on the other hand, was thinking about a woman with a beautiful, peaceful and elegant face. She reminded her of the fragrant lily.
‘ Roar!’ At that moment, Ananta let out a long howl towards the faint moon out of the cave. Its roar seemed to reflect its master's feelings.
Soon, Ananta and the other two war beasts were sound asleep.
‘ On a silent and cold night, a  romantic Charming woman is lost in her thoughts,’ Ana thought teasingly. She couldn't help but laugh, though.
Soon after, Ana regained her usual composure and put on her evil look. If you could see her then, you would say that she looked like a wild wolf that could not be tamed.
‘ Right, Sheridan has taught me the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill. I haven't started researching it yet! It seems that tonight will be another sleepless night for me... I can't even remember the last time I fell asleep at night!’ Ana said and laughed at herself.
The Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill soon came into her mind. She then immersed herself completely into studying it. All she had to do now was to force herself to grow stronger, so that she could regain what she originally had.
At the battlefront in the main camp of the Crimson Dragon Group, soldiers and spirit manipulators in charge of the patrol went to and fro.
The moon had hidden behind thick clouds, as if in avoidance of the tense air that filled the camp.
Amidst the bumbling activity of the camp, chaos had erupted in one of the tents. Multiple voices rose and fell in heated discussions after they had heard the news.
‘ What did you say? The Rough Slope was taken by the enemies? What's the casualty?’ Sara stood up at the news when her body refused to sit still in distress.
She looked down at the spirit manipulator who had just brought the message and urged him to continue.
‘ The whole squad holding the Rough Slope is gone, including two Frontline Commanders.’ The other commanders let out whispered swears and gasps when the spirit manipulator answered.
‘ How could this be possible? The fort held strong two days ago. How come it was taken so easily?’ Marcia and other commanders exchanged confused looks with each other.
Nobody dared to interrupt even though they themselves were dying to know more about the situation.
‘ It appears that the two Frontline Commanders had a disagreement with each other. When the enemy charged, an internal conflict burst in the squad led by the two. The enemy took this opportunity and launched a raid last night and completely defeated our army.’
Dreadful silence fell upon the room. Some of the commanders breathed shallowly, conscious of how loud their harsh breath was in comparison to the tense silence that encompassed the room.
Suddenly, a loud bang broke the strained silence. Marcia and other commanders looked to where the sound had come from.
Sara had one hand on the table and her eyes blazed with anger. The Rough Slope was the most crucial site in the defense line Sara had set up. Now that it was lost, more than half of the parts along the defense line would be affected.
All as a result of the pride and stupidity of two commanders! Nobody could fault her for being enraged.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, what should we do next?’ Marcia asked Sara immediately.
Sara glanced at her in appreciation. She loved her focus and calm in critical moments like this one.
‘ We need to take the Rough Slope back as soon as possible. If the enemy takes this chance to enter the wooded area of our battlefront, we would be in greater danger. I didn't expect the leading commander of the Timber Deity Empire to realise that the Rough Slope was our weakness, and so quickly too.’ Sara had received a report earlier that the general commander of the Timber Deity Empire this time was Alyssa.
She was a famous princess of her country who was gifted in military arts like the deployment of soldiers. She was also very experienced and widely praised as a military talent seen only once in a thousand years.
Now that Alyssa led the opposing army, it felt like a personal challenge to Sara.
Sara was tough and would never easily surrender. She had made a lot of efforts, and got where she was now without much help from others. This situation was only a setback, no matter how much it felt like a slap in her face and efforts. She would definitely hit back.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, let me lead the army and take the Rough Slope back.’ Marcia stepped closer to her and ignored the incredulous looks the other commanders were giving her.
Sara scrutinized Marcia and the other commanders. This time, the Crimson Dragon Group sent three Elite Commanders and twelve Frontline Commanders here. The three Elite Commanders were burdened with critical tasks and had no time to spare. Among the remaining Frontline Commanders, Marcia was the best in military tactics. She was the perfect choice.
They would need brilliant plans and delicate execution to succeed. Furthermore, it would be necessary for them to rely heavily on their brains rather than the strength or number of soldiers they had.
The Rough Slope, as its name suggested, was a slope which was easy to hold but was infinitely difficult to attack. The terrain there was complicated, and it would not be wise to attack it from the front. This made the matter of capturing it complicated and dangerous.
‘ Request accepted. Commander Marin, be careful. They will not surrender easily.’ Sara warned Marcia. She trusted in Marcia's ability. But you could never be complacent in a war. Not if you wanted to win.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, please rest assured! I will definitely take the Rough Slope back. Please excuse me, I will go and start my preparations.’ Sara nodded her permission to Marcia as she watched her leave. She could only hope that the odds would be in her favor.
At the same time, the leaders of the Timber Deity Empire were gathered for a meeting.
‘ Your Highness, we have taken the Rough Slope according to your tactics. However, we only stationed five thousand soldiers in there. I'm afraid they wouldn't be enough to hold it.’ The gathered commanders of the Timber Deity Empire fixed their eyes on the delicate figure in their midst. She looked enchanting but her beauty belied her cunning in battle.
She was Alyssa, the leading general and princess of the Timber Deity Empire.
‘ That's all right. Rough Slope is just a bait,’ she answered with a dismissive gesture.
‘ They can have it back, I don't care. It's just a stepping stone towards my true target.’ A hint of slyness flashed across Alyssa's eyes. A smirk pulled at the corner of her lips. She was in a good mood because the pieces had started to fall into place and everything was going according to her plan.
‘ Then where is your true target?’ the other commanders asked curiously.
They all knew that the Rough Slope was the most important site for the Crimson Dragon Group. They had now taken it and turned the battle to their advantage. As long as they kept holding it, the Crimson Dragon Group would definitely lose the initiative. So the commanders were confused when Alyssa tasked only five thousand soldiers to hold the Rough Slope after they took it. The territory was too good of an advantage to be treated so carelessly, as Alyssa was doing at that moment.
‘ The time has not yet come for you to know. I will tell you when the time is right,’ Alyssa said with a mysterious smile as if she knew something that they didn't.
‘ By the way, has Mr. Sun arrived already?’ Alyssa asked her subordinates, her eyebrows slightly knitted in concern.
‘ He sent word that it would take him some more days,’ one of the commanders answered immediately. Alyssa frowned at the unexpected news but quickly moved on.
‘ This is going to be a tough war. To ensure all the spirit-manipulated beasts are in their best condition, I invited him to the battlefront to adjust the condition of our spirit-manipulated beasts. His presence here would ensure that our beasts would be at their best. Besides, I have prepared several high-quality spirit-manipulated beasts which have the potential to be upgraded. Mr. Sun would be doing this upgrade,’ Alyssa said with anticipation.
‘ That's great! Mr. Sun is the most competent beast tamer in our Timber Deity Empire. It's said that he doesn't even care about fame or money and he is very difficult to hire.’
‘ Right. I also heard that his Beast Taming Skill is unparalleled in the Wild Spirit Land and many nations want him.’
‘ It's said the spirit-manipulated beasts raised by him are the strongest and fiercest in battles.’
The commanders of the Timber Deity Empire shared their opinions loudly, each one excited about the news.
‘ He is the best, but only in the Timber Deity Empire. The best beast tamer in the Wild Spirit Land is Sheridan of the Holy Dragon Empire. He has led an isolated life for many years. But I received a report that he now works for the Crimson Dragon Group, in charge of all the spirit-manipulated beasts of the group. That is the reason I invited Mr. Sun,’ Alyssa said seriously.
‘ I've heard about Sheridan before. As far as I know, he is quite a peculiar guy. Is he really better than Mr. Sun in the Beast Taming Skill?’ One of the commanders questioned her suspiciously. She understood it was not her decision that he found doubtful but Sheridan's ability.
‘ That is why Mr. Sun promised to come. When I mentioned Sheridan to him, he accepted my invitation immediately. He wants to prove that he is the best beast tamer in the Wild Spirit Land. As for who is truly the best, we will know soon.’ Alyssa smiled like the cat that caught the canary.
All the commanders present looked at her in awe, as she stood amidst them with confidence.
‘ Prepare yourselves. We will win this war!’ Alyssa was absolutely a horrible opponent to anyone in the battlefield.
Ana spent the whole evening in the cave, where she studied the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill.
The next morning, she observed the injury on the Rainbow Glow Unicorn's foot and checked if it was healing properly. When she ascertained that the Rainbow Glow Unicorn had healed enough to walk comfortably without assistance, she decided to continue to go to the Myriad Beasts Ground together with the three beasts.
She found that there were more higher level wild spirit-manipulated beasts as she got closer to her destination.
She observed that when she had just begun the journey, the spirit-manipulated beasts she saw were often one-star bottom grade wild spirit-manipulated beasts.
After a while, two-star second grade wild spirit-manipulated beasts replaced their weaker counterparts, gathered around in groups.
As she traveled farther, she started seeing three-star second grade or even three-star third grade wild spirit-manipulated beasts. With this pattern, she expected to see precious and rare spirit-manipulated beasts as she got nearer to their destination. Plus, such spirit-manipulated beasts would surely show up driven by their attraction to Ananta’s savory saliva. Nevertheless, a sense of crisis came over Ana on her way.
As a result, she had to reorganize her objectives and plans. She especially had to dwell on her goals that she needed to achieve while she was in this place.
She determined that the widening of her horizon and collection of information would be her primary objective. Second to this, she wanted to find treasures that could help her make a breakthrough and reach the Heavenly Stage.
Fortunately, none of the three-star third grade wild spirit-manipulated beasts she met later was as tough as the Three-tailed Aquatic Lizard to beat. It was even unnecessary for her to fight against them by herself.
Ananta and Rubygon were able to beat them by themselves, which made her feel absolutely proud of them. All the while, the Rainbow Glow Unicorn only watched the fights from a distance and avoided confronting the fierce wild spirit-manipulated beasts by itself.
Ana shook her head at the remembrance that she had such a cowardly but greedy beast. Along the way, Ana was deliriously happy when she found several extremely rare treasures that were similarly effective as a primary Dark Heaven Egg.
She also met quite a few spirit-manipulated beast species that she had never seen before, which she enthusiastically searched for in the Beast Encyclopedia as soon as she saw them.
Some of them were rare species, such as Nine Tattoo Lion, Black Blood Neofelis and Runaway Cony Cat. None of them proved very capable, but meeting them was a good experience for Ana.
She not only increased her knowledge but also collected many samples. After she beat three three-star second grade Clouded Buffaloes, Ana and the three beasts replenished their strength and continued on.
Before long, Ana saw a vast forest in front of her eyes. Densely distributed, the trees looked so tall that they almost touched the clouds. The sun was covered, and the thickness of the trees muffled the sounds from outside. The forest seemed to be perpetually enveloped in dark mist that added to its already frightening appearance.
As they walked through the place, the strong aura of wild spirit-manipulated beasts came from inside the forest. It felt like innumerable wild spirit-manipulated beasts were hiding in the forest, which ratcheted up its frightening atmosphere to terrifying levels.
‘ It seems that I will arrive at Myriad Beasts Ground as soon as we get past this forest,’ Ana mumbled to herself after careful thought. She was a little bit nervous but at the same time, her body was almost trembling in excitement at the thought of what would happen and what she would find as soon as she stepped foot at their final destination.
From her analysis, the forest could be viewed as the periphery of the Myriad Beasts Ground. They would touch the Myriad Beasts Ground as soon as they passed through the forest. They were still a good distance away from the Myriad Beasts Ground, but even its periphery, the forest, already felt so horrifying and intimidating.
Ana believed wholeheartedly that the Myriad Beasts Ground was an extremely dangerous place. In the past, when she had just arrived at the Wild Spirit Land, Ana had heard that there were many miraculous places that inhabited wild spirit-manipulated beasts. Beast-slaughtering Valley and Cloud Deity Gully were both famous in Wild Spirit Land but they were actually just moderately dangerous places when compared to the Myriad Beasts Ground that she was about to reach.
Side by side, the beasts in Beast-slaughtering Valley and Cloud Deity Gully would look like innocent lambs next to the beasts of the Myriad Beasts Grounds. And there were still many similarly dangerous places in the Wild Spirit Land, still undiscovered and unexplored.
Human population had long been stamped out in the most dangerous places. Only spirit manipulators above the Divine Stage dared to enter there. Despite their skills, they still needed to be very careful when they traveled through those places, otherwise, they could lose their lives at any time.
It is because of this danger that the majority of human population would
never know exactly how amazing the Wild Spirit Land was.
‘ Be careful when we enter the forest, unless you're feeling generous and want to feed yourselves to the other spirit-manipulated beasts here,’ Ana said in warning to the three beasts as she looked at them with smiling eyes.
All the three beasts looked quite vigilant. As spirit-manipulated beasts, their senses were more sensitive, which made them more capable of detecting foreign presence than spirit manipulators. At the moment, they could clearly sense the threats in the forest.
‘ Let's go,’ Ana ordered as she gestured the beasts to follow her.
With a deep breath, she led the three beasts and walked into the forest.
As soon as they entered the forest, Ana saw how the trees blocked the sun's rays and darkened the whole forest.
She walked cautiously, uncomfortable that she could only see things within a few meters. If something dangerous showed up, it would be too near to defend herself.
There were lush plants and trees everywhere, and even the grass was as high as her knees. Ana felt like she was walking in an ancient forest except that there was no naked ape to see. Fortunately, Ananta could serve as a living illumination device.
The moment it lit a flame on its body, the surroundings became more visible. It was a little dangerous because the light could draw the attention of wild spirit-manipulated beasts. However, Ana believed it was better to be attacked when they could see and defend though, than being attacked by some foxy wild spirit-manipulated beasts by surprise and completely defenseless.
When they had fought against the last two groups of wild spirit-manipulated beasts before they entered the forest, Ana had noticed that those wild spirit-manipulated beasts were smarter than those they had met earlier.
They seemed to be capable of an ambush and they could attack them in surprise. But most surprising of all, they seemed to know how to choose an advantageous position.
Therefore, Ana thought that the wild spirit-manipulated beasts became more cautious and intelligent as a result of their living environment—the cruel mechanism of survival of the fittest.
‘ Unlike domestic spirit-manipulated beasts who have masters, the wild spirit-manipulated beasts have no choice but to do their best to adapt to the severe environment they have in order to survive. This allows them to reach their potential, or they could die defenseless. That's the reason that wild spirit-manipulated beasts look stronger than their domestic counterparts.’ Ana uttered her analysis as she stroked her chin slightly.
All of a sudden, a deafening noise, which sounded like the trumpet of an elephant came through.
Ana swore it could wake the dead as she desperately tried to cover her ears.
She noticed the trees a few meters from her began shaking fiercely. Then with a burst of great noise, a group of big trees fell on the ground one by one, as if they were hit by something extremely heavy.
Ana's brows furrowed at the scene. With her eyes, she hinted the three beasts to step backwards immediately. As they moved, the nearest trees started falling as well.
From there, a giant, about a height of five or six meters appeared in front of their eyes. The giant stood upright like a human. Its six arms waved up and down as it walked. It had hoofs for its feet and they looked humongous.
Ana's brain supplied that when encircled, its arms were as tall as two men. The giant could stamp down a tree with a height of more than ten meters with only one hoof. It had a long nose, like that of an elephant's. As powerful as a tornado, the nose could blow big trees down.
Ana felt herself erupt in cold sweat.
She had seen this giant in the Beast Encyclopedia. It could be a Trunk Giant.
According to the Beast Encyclopedia, a Trunk Giant was like a forest guardian. It would walk around the whole forest in a specific route. Along the way, it would clear away wild spirit-manipulated beasts.
In this way, it maintained the balance among species in the whole forest.
Trunk Giants lived only in ancient and sunless forests, which were mysterious and largely unexplored places.
Ana never even thought she would be able to see one. The lowest grade of Trunk Giants were in three-star level, while the highest grade of them were in five-star level, which had the same strength as spirit manipulators at the Supernal Stage. It showed that the highest grade of Trunk Giants were horrifyingly capable war beasts.
The Trunk Giant was also included in the list of war beasts among the spirit-manipulated beasts. It was known for its fierce attack force. Fortunately, the Trunk Giant in front of Ana's eyes at the moment was only of three-star third grade.
Nevertheless, this Trunk Giant was giving out a similar aura to that of Ananta or the Three-tailed Aquatic Lizard they had met before.
‘ Retreat!’ Ana ordered hastily. It was possible to win if the three beasts worked together to defeat this Trunk Giant but it would surely cost them too much.
The first priority of this trip was to stay safe. After all, she was not strong enough to take too many risks. If she acted rashly, she would certainly meet her death here.
The primary objective of this journey was to seek rare treasures in the Myriad Beasts Ground, and the second was to collect different spirit-manipulated beasts' samples.
She didn't want to waste too much time outside the Myriad Beasts Ground when it was so near. Thus, she decided to withdraw first.
Ana and the three beasts made a detour to escape the Trunk Giant that was on patrol.
The Trunk Giant narrowly saw them as they crept away, but fortunately they entered the forest before it noticed them.
Ana felt like she could breathe again when she saw the Trunk Giant as it finally walked away, seemingly clueless to their presence.
She realised that she had underestimated the danger of the Myriad Beasts Ground. It was too risky to pass through the forest in front of it. If it was already perilous along its periphery, how much more within its lands?
The plants in this forest were so dense that they even blocked sunlight. The whole forest was immersed in suffocating darkness. Ana dared not use a light because she wasn't sure yet if they had indeed lost the giant.
‘ For the rare treasures, ’ Ana thought as she walked. She was so close to the Heavenly Stage now, that it would be foolishness not to take the risk.
As soon as she  reached the Heavenly Stage, she could reactivate the Holy Dragon Bead in her body. Although she could only regain part of the Holy Dragon Bead's power by then, that was enough for her to grow stronger by leaps and bounds.
However, troubles kept coming after Ana no matter how carefully she acted. After she and the three beasts had walked for a while, they were greeted with a cluster of Venom Hounds.
This kind of spirit-manipulated beast was hard to deal with, especially since they came in packs. This pack seemed to have at least a dozen, all rabid and looked ready to attack. Poisonous liquid was running over their decayed skin.
Ana knew to keep clear of it and warned her beasts to do the same. As soon as the liquid came into contact with their skin, she knew it would fester.
Ana had met Venom Hounds before, but they were only at the second grade of the two-star level. And the most number of hounds she had ever seen was three, nothing like what she was seeing now.
Dozens of Venom Hounds seemed to have materialized right in front of them, all of them at the second grade of the three-star level.
Even a squad of Earthly Stage spirit manipulators would be hard-pressed to defeat this cluster of Venom Hounds. Obviously, it was almost impossible for Ana and the three beasts to pass through them. Meanwhile, the cluster of Venom Hounds had encircled their prey - Ana and the three beasts. They left no path for escape.
Ana, of course, would never easily give up. With her rich experience in fighting as a guide, she remembered that fire was the mortal weakness of Venom Hounds.
‘ Ananta!’ Ana called. She did not need to say anything at all as Ananta already knew what she wanted.
It immediately roared and ran in front of Ana and the two beasts. Its ruby scale stood up from its body simultaneously.
In a split second, waves of flames spurted out from its erect scale and stretched out on its left and right sides, which shielded Ana and the two beasts behind it. When the cluster of Venom Hounds saw the furious flames, they cautiously kept their distance.
Despite the protection granted to them by Ananta, Ana knew that they still had a dilemma.
If she chose to retreat, she had no assurance they would not be attacked from the back when Ananta had extinguished its flames.
However, if she chose to fight, she would waste too much time at such a stalemate.
All of a sudden, Ana's eyes lit up. She looked at the direction which the Trunk Giant headed for. Then she took out a bottle of the magical saliva and placed it in Rubygon's mouth as she gestured for it to run to the Trunk Giant's direction.
After she was done with that, Ana and the Rainbow Glow Unicorn stepped backwards under the fire shield provided by Ananta.
She was trying to find a safe spot, because a massacre was about to take place soon.
After a while, a strong rumble seemed to grow closer to them. Rows of trees fell down to the ground, and a colossal figure appeared. In front of the figure, a beast was running swiftly towards Ana. It was none other but Rubygon.
‘ Good job!’ Ana patted Rubygon's head and then took the bottle out of its mouth.
Her plan, where Rubygon attracted the Trunk Giant with the magical saliva until it came to their location, had succeeded.
She stared up at the giant as it met with the cluster of Venom Hounds. As the cluster of Venom Hounds saw the Trunk Giant, they all wore submissive expressions. They looked like an embodiment of the classic phrase- dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.
They could instinctively sense how strong and powerful the giant was. On the other hand, when the Trunk Giant saw the hounds, it gave out a deafening roar.
As the cleaner in charge of the forest area, the Trunk Giant immediately stretched out its long, thick nose and swept over the hounds.
Two hounds failed to run away in time and were sent flying against the sturdy trees. They fell to the ground with weak whimpers and groans. As the rest of the hounds saw this, they were enraged. They barked angrily at the giant, green fluid flowing in abundance out of their mouth. Although the Trunk Giant was formidable, its opponents still had the advantage of numbers.
As one, all the hounds left rushed to the giant and attacked at the same time. An intense fight started right away.
The battle caused a great uproar, the giant's loud roar mixed with the snarls and howls of the hounds. While all this was happening, Ana and the three beasts were sitting, far enough away to be safe but close enough that they enjoyed the intense fight.
An hour later, the Trunk Giant had defeated all the Venom Hounds. The hounds were all either badly injured or killed while the Trunk Giant paid a huge price for its victory. The skin all over its body had begun festering and the poison was invading into its body through the skin.
After a while, the Trunk Giant failed to hold on and fell to the ground with a loud crash. It had fought and won in the end, but what a bitter victory it claimed.
‘  It's our time now, guys!’ Ana smirked and swaggered to the corpses with the three beasts.
She took out her tools and took samples from the dead bodies of the Venom Hounds and Trunk Giant.
At the same time, Marcia was headed south of the main camp, towards the Rough Slope.
She led five thousand soldiers of the northeast military camp and five squads of spirit manipulators. They had started off the front-line headquarters yesterday and traveled as fast as they could.
Half a day later, Marcia and her army had arrived in a vast sloping field. It was only one mile away from the Rough Slope.
She decided that it was a strategic area and stationed her army in that field.
As the camp was set-up, Marcia sent for several spirit manipulators. They were tasked to go to the enemy's military camp in the Rough Slope for reconnaissance.
Two hours later, those spirit manipulators came back and reported promptly to Marcia.
‘ They only left five thousand men? Are you sure about that? It's so few.’ Marcia felt that something was off about the whole situation.
Logically, the Timber Deity Empire had spent a lot to occupy the Rough Slope in order to destroy the Crimson Dragon Group's defensive line. Through this, they could take advantage of that position to push the Crimson Dragon Group into a corner.
In other words, as long as the Timber Deity Empire still occupied the Rough Slope, they could intrude into the Crimson Dragon Group through this gap of their defensive line. It seemed to be a careless move for the Timber Deity Empire, that they only stationed five thousand soldiers for such a critical and advantageous location.
‘ Go and check again!’ Marcia ordered after she gave it some thought.
This was a delicate matter. She had to have a clear and accurate information about the enemy's army before she made any decisions.
Only with the appropriate information could she give correct judgments and draw up effective countermeasures. Although the quantity of Marcia's army was also five thousand, she could easily ask for soldiers from other military camps nearby.
In one day, she could gather reinforcements consisting of more than ten thousand soldiers. Thus, what mattered the most was not the quantity of armed forces she brought but how she could quickly get the Rough Slope back, once for all and with the lowest casualty. She needed to hurry though, before their enemies could send reinforcements.
As Marcia was making plans to retake control of the Rough Slope from the Timber Spirit Empire, Ana was advancing to the Myriad Beasts Ground.
She groped her way through the mysterious forests. It was like a maze in which she would never find a way out.The further she went, the stronger the wild spirit-manipulated beasts were. The spirit-manipulated beasts at the second grade of the three-star level were everywhere. They were as prevalent as the rubbish one or two-star wild spirit-manipulated beasts in the previous areas.
On top of that, even the spirit-manipulated beasts at the third grade of the three-star level were also gathered in packs and herds.
Although none were as powerful as the Trunk Giant, it could be their end if they fought against more than one. With this dangers she had encountered, Ana proceeded with extreme care. She gave her utmost effort and chose routes that had no evident tracks of spirit-manipulated beasts.
This strategy did not fully rid her of attacks but it did lessen these encounters which made these situations more manageable.
Ana would have regretted entering the mystical but highly perilous forest if not for the precious treasures it also held. Thanks to the Rainbow Glow Unicorn, Ana had already discovered three priceless rare treasures in only half a day's time.
These treasures were more effective than the Dark Heaven Egg. The discovery convinced her that there must be more precious treasures in her coveted destination, the Myriad Beasts Ground. However, from the dangers that surrounded its periphery and made up its border, one could easily surmise how much more dangers it surely held.
Ana's train of thought was interrupted when she saw that the Rainbow Glow Unicorn seemed to be ready to proceed on their journey once again. She had decided to take a short break before they entered a dim basin which was surrounded by marshland.
‘ Do you sense anything?’Ana tapped the elegant, slim neck of the Rainbow Glow Unicorn as she asked it.
The Rainbow Glow Unicorn raised up its head alertly and then ran forward suddenly. It had taken a few steps as Ana watched until it disappeared.
Ana hinted at Ananta and Rubygon that it was time they tailed the Rainbow Glow Unicorn.
They followed it into the marshland basin which was full of hazardous traps.
Ana and her beasts tensed, as little by little, they traveled deeper into the marshland. It got darker each step they moved forward.
Flying bugs and termites were everywhere and strange growls and howls echoed from everywhere.
Not too long after, they found the Rainbow Glow Unicorn as it stood beneath a tree. It was staring at an abnormally gigantic tree that stood a few hundred feet away. Just its trunk seemed to be at least ten feet in diameter. Its branches and leaves were spread out to shade the surrounding environment. Besides its size, it exuded the feeling of something ancient and powerful. Something that had existed even before all the trees and beasts around were alive.
It had grown in the middle of a swathe of swamp. It seemed peaceful at the first impression, but a closer observation revealed the unearthly power that throbbed within the tree.
Ana wondered what kind of treasure it could be hiding as she checked out the old tree from afar.
It did not take long before she found a tree hole in which some sort of gem kept glittering. She was distracted when all the three beasts suddenly became restless as if they wanted to come closer too. When she saw this behavior, Ana's eyes narrowed in contemplation.
She speculated that it was a spiritual crystal because only this treasure could attract all the three beasts. The spiritual crystal seemed to be endowed with an irresistible charm to any spirit-manipulated beast. It was a unique treasure that was especially effective if she wanted to elevate the star level of a spirit-manipulated beast.
In fact, this kind of spiritual crystal in its lowest grade would give more power if eaten by any beast compared to other rare treasures. It would probably take multiple rare treasures to attain the power that the crystal could bestow.
‘ Hmm, look at you. Your mouths are watering now!’ Ana grinned at the three beasts as she looked at the spiritual crystal in the tree hole.
Since it was dim inside, she could not tell which grade the spiritual crystal was. This was not important though because even the lowest grade of spiritual crystal could be very difficult to acquire.
Rubygon was only a spiritual-manipulated beast at the first grade of three-star level, yet it performed remarkably in their previous fight.
If it would be elevated to the second grade, its performance would improve exponentially. Unfortunately, the aptitude of Rubygon's race - the Bear-tigers - could reach the four-star level only.
It was a relatively impressive rank among the war beasts though nowhere near Ananta's strength.
Rubygon was currently of an aptitude of only three-star level but Ana thought it would be able to exceed that if her research on the gene went well. The so-called genetic modification was what Ana tried to bring into realisation.
So, in order to receive the technique of genetic modification to transform itself, Rubygon needed to be elevated to the third grade of three-star level first. It was not an easy task for a spirit-manipulated beast to elevate itself.
Ananta could be elevated to the third grade of three-star level only because it ate several pieces of yellow spiritual crystal back when they were still in the Palace City. It had also been drinking the magical saliva as its foundation for cultivation. That was why it eventually elevated to the third grade of three-star level in the last match in a short period of time. It was a time-consuming task for a normal spirit-manipulated beast to upgrade itself in every single grade.
The higher the star and grade it elevated, the more time it needed. For example, for a spirit-manipulated beast at the second grade of three-star level, it would take several years to reach the third grade of three-star level if no treasures were used for a boost. That was the minimum time span for a normal elevation; it could take a longer time for most spirit-manipulated beasts.
Not to mention, the time they needed to elevate its star. It could be a lifetime struggle for most! That was why the spiritual crystal was so precious. She was sure every spirit manipulator yearned for it even in their dreams.
They needed it if they wanted to elevate the grades of their spirit-manipulated beasts quickly. All this summed up the reason why Ana was so enthusiastic when she found the spiritual crystal.
‘ Wait here for the good news,’ Ana said to the three beasts. The ancient tree was surrounded by marsh and was at least thirty feet away from them.
The beasts were certainly not able to jump through. Neither was there any space for them to walk through. If she wanted that crystal, she would need to go herself.
With this thought, Ana relieved herself of the parcels she had brought along. She left only the Frozen Wind Dagger with her so she would not burden herself. Next, she observed the marsh in front of her cautiously. When she did not find any suspicious movements or presences, she raised her head to look for a way forward.
She found woody vines suspended from a tall tree's branches not far away. The woody vines were quite long, most of them were long enough to touch the ground. She aimed at a tree which was located nearest to the old tree.
She leaped dexterously and landed on a big and solid branch.
She picked up several woody vines and twisted them to make sure they were strong enough to hold her.
She tied these extended woody vines to the branch of the tree, so that she could slip herself down en route the woody vine.
Lastly, she unleashed a stream of spiritual power to the tree trunk behind her. The spiritual power hit the tree on its trunk with a thump. It formed the reverse-thrust power which pushed Ana and the woody vines together, higher and higher.
The distance between Ana and the old tree shortened greatly.
Ana grabbed the chance and leaped forward to the old tree. She was about to reach it when a long figure sprang up from the gloomy marsh. It looked like a water dragon shot out from the sea which splashed a hail of muddy water.
A giant scarlet mouth had opened and was coming right at Ana. She was dangling on air as a long tongue snapped out like a whip towards her.
Ana kept calm and analysed the situation quickly. She knew that there was not enough time to dodge the whipping tongue since it was too close already.
She quickly drew out the Frozen Wind Dagger and cut into the air which formed a curved spiritual knife edge.
The spiritual knife edge she threw collided with the long tongue. The tongue was derailed from its original direction and bashed Ana on the shoulder. With a crash, Ana was thrown off.
When they saw Ana get attacked, the three beasts beside the marsh became restless and anxious. However, they could not do anything to help her. They had no way to reach her, how could they help her?
Ana was thrown towards the ancient tree, where she originally planned to go. Another unexpected shadow surged up when she was only a meter away from the ancient tree. Another creature seemed to want her, its fierce mouth opened wide towards Ana.
‘ Damn it! Another one!?’ Ana yelled angrily. The wide mouth was so close that she could smell its stinking breath. It was too late to dodge.
‘ Flash!’ Ana shouted and disappeared into thin air.
Simultaneously, several glinting figures flashed above the marsh. When the long shadow saw that its target had vanished suddenly, it slowed down and changed its direction to one of the glinting figures.
While it was distracted, a figure emerged from the spot where Ana disappeared in and violently kicked the long shadow's head. It used the counterforce of the kick and flew backwards. The figure caught a branch that was sticking out of the ancient tree and quickly climbed up.
The figure could now clearly be seen, now that it had stopped moving so fast. It was, of course, Ana.
She contemplated the two long shadows that attacked her, which were crawling freely in the marsh.
They seemed to be some kind of wild spirit-manipulated beast that lived in the marsh.
Ana observed their features and finally recognized what they were.
They were Fly-eye Adders, famous marsh killers. The Fly-eye Adder's retina was crimson in color and sharp enough to see every movement of its prey. It relied on its keen eyes, and could tell the prey's movement pattern which made its attacks precise and fast.
They were viewed as super killers. Before their prey even noticed their presence, they had taken them down. Fly-eye Adders lived and hunted in marshes but could not live outside of them. Thus, they were nicknamed, marsh killers.
The Fly-eye Adder was also cunning. Because they could not leave the marsh, they would try everything they could to attract their prey into the marsh. As long as their prey got into the marsh, everything was under the Fly-eye Adder's control. No matter how strong a spirit-manipulated beast was, they could easily take it down.
‘ The two Fly-eye Adders are both at the third grade of the three-star level. It's tricky to deal with this time. Wait! Could it be... they used the spiritual crystal in this ancient tree as a bait?’ Ana speculated according to her knowledge about the Fly-eye Adder.
It was highly probable that she had stepped into the trap that the two Fly-eye Adders had set up. The three beasts across the marsh could not offer her any help at all.
In other words, Ana was not only trapped but she had to escape all on her own.
Ana had come too far and would never give up easily. She caught a rattan around a nearby branch and then jumped towards the tree hole.
She weaved through scattered vines in the air and successfully landed in the tree hole. She hurriedly grabbed the glinting spiritual crystal but she hesitated as her eyes widened in shock.
It was a blue spiritual crystal, which was superior to a yellow one. It explained why the three beasts were so attracted by it. It was a priceless treasure that could be rarely seen. Every spirit-manipulated beast would drool over the blue spiritual crystal.
As soon as Ana got the blue spiritual crystal, the marsh began violently fluctuating.
Obviously, the two Fly-eye Adders had detected what she had done and were enraged.
Ana hastily caught the rattan once again and kicked against the tree. Behind her, the two Fly-eye Adders fiercely struck where she previously stood but only hit the ancient tree.
It began trembling violently and its leaves fell like rain. With the blue spiritual crystal safely in her grasp, she had to tackle her next problem quickly.
The two Fly-eye Adders would not let her go easily, not even if she gave back the crystal, which she would never do. The marsh was their territory. If she flew over the marsh like what she did just then, she would definitely become their dinner in a minute.
The three beasts got more and more restless as they watched Ana trapped in the tree. They kept roaring towards the two Fly-eye Adders but they could not be provoked.
The two Fly-eye Adders just ignored them and paid full attention to Ana. She was not only their prey but she was also in possession of their precious bait, the blue spiritual crystal. Without that, they would hardly manage to attract other spirit-manipulated beasts to the marsh.
The two Fly-eye Adders kept their eyes on Ana's every movement. No matter how she changed her position, their eyes were strained on her, bodies tense.
Suddenly, one Fly-eye Adder crawled up along the trunk of the ancient tree while the other one guarded the bottom.
The Fly-eye Adder was getting closer and closer to Ana. Its tongue kept on flicking as it crept among the lush branches.
Ana's brows knitted in concern. It would be difficult if she fought on a tree, and there was little room for her to hide.
Although her current strength was a good match against a Fly-eye Adder at the third grade of the three-star level, it was a different story now that she was out-numbered.
Against two opponents, Ana had to fight on her own without her beasts' help. The Fly-eye Adder was only inches away from Ana now.
As its whip-like tongue swept over towards her, Ana jumped up to avoid that attack. With a loud crack, the branch where she stood before broke off and dropped into the marsh. It sunk halfway and bobbed over the surface for a while.
Ana's eyes lit up when she saw that. She shook the blue spiritual crystal in front of the Fly-eye Adder. Provoked, the Fly-eye Adder hissed madly and furiously charged towards Ana.
Ana narrowly dodged its attacks as she jumped from branch to branch. Every branch she jumped on broke off and dropped into the marsh.
A few moments later, almost half of the branches had fallen and it seemed that she had no way to escape the Fly-eye Adder further.
The Fly-eye Adder was about to attack Ana who had no more branches to escape to. However, she purposely fell down the ancient tree and caused the Fly-eye Adder to barely miss her.
The branches that had fallen in the marsh were scattered all over it. Ana fell on one of these branches.
As Ana got up from the branch, she whistled to the beasts on the other side of the marsh and directed Ananta mentally.
She leaped along the branches until she got closer and closer to the opposite side of the marsh. The branches could not last long on the surface of the marsh and had begun to sink.
Ana did not have enough time to cross before they all sank. The other Fly-eye Adder that was waiting at the root of the tree chased Ana once she fell down. Its approach hit some branches along the way and flung them into the air.
Ana took out her bottle with a drop of magical saliva from her silk bag.
She carried this bottle everywhere in case she needed to attract any wild beasts.
She opened the bottle and tossed the magical saliva up in the air. The Fly-eye Adder was attracted immediately by the unique aura of the magical saliva and hesitated for a second.
Ana used this moment of distraction and jumped on the branches that had fallen from the adder's attack.
She used these branches to cross the marsh. Ana hastily jumped from branch to branch, she timed her jumps just before the branches sank. When she was a few feet from the opposite side, another adder rushed at Ana.
It snapped the branch under her feet and sent her flying across the sky. Ana lost her balance in the air and the Fly-eye Adder geared up for another attack, its filthy mouth opened wide.
Ana released her spiritual power, but it missed the adder. This mistake caused her to be vulnerable to the adder's attack because it left her no time for any defensive moves.
At a disadvantage, Ana pulled out the Frozen Wind Dagger immediately and planned to fight. But she couldn't utilize her power in the air without any support.
She was about to be the meal of the Fly-eye Adder. All of a sudden, a swift fire-ball hit the unsuspecting adder. It hissed painfully and slithered away.
Ananta was standing by the marsh with two flaming tails that were still smoking. The flaming ball had come from it. A huge bang sounded as the tree opposite them fell down. It had stood over twenty meters tall, its huge trunk created a big splash and paved a road for Ana.
Rubygon and Rainbow Glow Unicorn were standing at the end of the fallen tree, full of excitement. It's evident that they worked together to knock down the tree.
Ana landed on the dense trunk safely. After it swallowed the whole bottle, the adder broke into a heavy rush toward Ana.
The injured adder had recovered, angered by the flaming ball. Both adders rushed aggressively towards Ana who was standing on the trunk. Ana didn't want to fight with these two adders.
She had gotten the blue spiritual crystal and needed to escape as fast as she could. She raised her hands and released a force of the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage spiritual power.
The power condensed into a nebula of light and rushed out.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The nebula's light broke into the marsh and thick mud splashed up into the air. The mud was a great diversion and it blocked the view of the adders.
When the adders flew through the mud and reached the trunk, Ana had already disappeared.
Ana reappeared nearby the beasts. She seemed to be unharmed but she was a mess with mud on her clothes. The two Fly-eye Adders were furious and made chaos in the marsh. Since they couldn't come up to the land, the adders could not do anything.
Ana left along with the blue spiritual crystal and her beasts.
On Marcia's side, she had stayed up for two days without any action. They had checked repeatedly and she was now sure that the troops camped in Rough Slope numbered only five thousand soldiers without any backup. Thus, she deployed her troops immediately.
Marcia had camped there before and she knew very well where the weakest defensive spot was. She dispatched three troops and launched a surprise attack. One troop was led by Deputy Commander Chen.
They went to the army provisions warehouse of the military camp and set ablaze their enemy's army provisions. When they found out that their army provision warehouse was attacked, Timber Deity troops assembled two thousand forces against Deputy Commander Chen.
At the same time, Marcia led a troop against their base. She was joined by another troop and they attacked the weakest defensive spot as one. It was a testament that a fierce war was coming soon.
Night fell. Fire and smoke could be seen in all directions of the military camp in Rough Slope. Corpses and blood were everywhere, while those who were injured loitered around.
‘ Commander, their remaining force has retreated south. Should we pursue them?’ Marcia looked up at Deputy Commander Chen's question.
‘ No. We have a lot of casualties too. If we pursue them and they receive backup, we will be in a disadvantage. We will take over the Rough Slope. Send messages to our main camp and inform the Deputy Commander in Chief that we have taken back the Rough Slope,’ Marcia ordered. Her tone was sure and strong despite the exhaustion she felt.
Although she had succeeded in her campaign and they were able to take back the slope, Marcia felt that something unusual was going on.
It seemed that the Timber Deity Empire didn't plan to hold the field in the first place. They were too lax and had given up too easily. Her brows furrowed in confusion.
‘ Were they just careless? What was their true intention?’
Soon after, news that the enemies had retaken the Rough Slope reached the base camp of the Timber Deity Empire.
‘ Your Highness, our men were defeated and the Rough Slope has fallen to the Holy Dragon Empire!’ a commander of the Timber Deity Empire reported urgently as soon as he walked into the camp of his top leader.
When the other commanders of the Timber Deity Empire heard the news, they exchanged stunned looks with each other. Although they knew that their princess, Alyssa never intended to hold the Rough Slope, it was still shocking to hear that it was recaptured so quickly.
Obviously, the army that the Crimson Dragon Group sent to the Rough Slope was far from weak.
‘ Which army did the Crimson Dragon Group send to recapture the Rough Slope? How many soldiers did they have?’ Alyssa, who was sitting in the Commander in Chief's position, asked immediately. She seemed quite calm for someone who had just lost a territory.
‘ Your Highness, it is said to be the northeast army of the Crimson Dragon Group. They seemed to have used only a few thousand soldiers to recapture the Rough Slope.’ Alyssa nodded to herself when she heard the commander's answer, as if she had just confirmed something.
‘ Of course... They would not send anyone else,’ Alyssa said confidently as if she planned it as well.
‘ Your Highness, you have already anticipated that happening?’ the commanders wondered immediately.
It had never crossed their minds and yet their princess had already predicted it. This was why they had come to respect her leadership despite her young age.
‘ The commander of the northeast army is someone named Marin. Although this woman is young, she is also very talented in the art of war. In the last confrontation between our two empires, she made our Timber Deity Empire army suffer quite a loss. However, none of the information is valuable. The most important information we received is that she has a secret identity,’ Alyssa said as the corner of her lips curved in a cold sneer. The others could tell she had found something favorable to them when they saw how excited she seemed to be.
‘ A secret identity?’ The commanders on the spot glanced at each other and immediately began to speculate about the commander's secret identity.
‘ She is the niece of the Crimson Dragon Group's Commander in Chief, which also makes her the cousin of their Deputy Commander in Chief, Sara. And her real name isn't even Marin’ Alyssa looked delighted as she shared this.
She knew that not a lot of people knew this secret, even in their opponent's camp.
In addition to Lance and Sara, only a very limited number of highly ranked officers knew about that. Alyssa would have found it impossible to discover this if she was a normal citizen. Fortunately, Alyssa was not an ordinary person.
She planted a spy in the Crimson Dragon Group, and this undercover spy had access to highly ranked officers of the Crimson Dragon Group. After they heard this revelation, the commanders were all shocked.
It had never occurred to them that these leaders could be hiding something like this. They did not realize that their princess was capable of subterfuge and trickery as well which made them respect her more.
‘ Your Highness, does Marin have something to do with your next plan? And perhaps do you know her real name?’ One of the commanders speculated when they realized the pattern of her actions.
‘ As far as I know, she is deeply loved by her uncle, Lance. He treats her like his own daughter. Sara is also very fond of her cousin and treats her like her own little sister. Otherwise, young as Marin, she could never be promoted so fast and become a commander of a military camp. So, it would be natural to conclude that we have found one of the weaknesses of Sara and Lance.... And as for our so called dear Marin.. Yes,  I know who she is.. and Even tho I don't know why she is there concealing herself. Looking at the whole situation it is obvious that she has no intention of revealing herself or should I say she can't reveal herself. That means she won't use her real powers. And we will take advantage of this whole situation.’ Alyssa explained to them with a pleased smile.
‘ Your Highness, are you going to capture Marin alive and use her to threaten the Crimson Dragon Group?’ one of the commanders asked as the other commanders made sounds of agreement. It appeared this was a question that the other commanders had been wondering about as well.
‘ No. Marin is just our bait, while Sara will be the fish. If Marin is trapped in crisis, Sara would never sit still and do nothing to help her cousin. Once Sara is distracted by Marin's safety and does something silly, it will be a perfect opportunity that we can take advantage of.’ Alyssa shared her careful analysis. This time, she was sure that her new plan would work out.
‘ Commander Zuo and Commander Zhou! You two are to immediately lead 20, 000 troops and horses straight to the Rough Slope, and surround it completely. But remember, you are not allowed to launch any attacks against Marin's army. You simply need to cut off the provisions and fodder supply of the Rough Slope. Commander Sun, you will lead 3, 000 troops to the front line of the Crimson Dragon Group stealthily and intercept the provisions and fodder supply of the Crimson Dragon Group. As for the remaining commanders, continue to launch more violent offensives against all the fronts of the Crimson Dragon Group. As long as the fish bites our hook, the Crimson Dragon Group will definitely be defeated!’ Alyssa rapidly assigned orders for them all.
She was trying to use Marcia as the bait which would lure Sara out of her base camp. Once the Crimson Dragon Group lost the command of such a wise Deputy Commander in Chief, they would be defeated easily.
‘ Yes, Your Highness!’ all the commanders shouted in unison.
Meanwhile, Ana was still on vacation and completely ignorant of the serious situation between the two empires.
She had gotten the blue spiritual crystal and quickly left the depths of the marsh.
After that, she found a safe bush where she could rest. There, she rested her body while she meditated on how she could use the blue spiritual crystal to get Rubygon upgraded.
The blue spiritual crystal was one level higher than the yellow one. Thus, it would be easy for Ana to figure out the strong spiritual power the blue one contained.
After Ananta ate a whole yellow spiritual crystal, it was upgraded from a cub with no level of strength to a beast at the second grade of the three-star level. Moreover, a part of the yellow spiritual crystal's spiritual power had been absorbed by Ana herself at that time.
Therefore, it could be seen that the spiritual power hidden in a yellow spiritual crystal was enough to upgrade a three-star spirit-manipulated beast from the first grade to the second grade.
It could then be concluded that a blue spiritual crystal was enough to upgrade Rubygon above the second grade of the three-star level.
Now, Ana just needed to know how Rubygon could absorb the spiritual power of the whole blue spiritual crystal at once.
If Ana fed it the whole crystal, it would surely cause its death. If Ana could use the blue spiritual crystal properly on Rubygon, she estimated that it would make amazing leaps and bounds in its strength in a very short time.
In the case of Ananta, she had multiple yellow spiritual crystals in the past but she was not able to use them properly on Ananta due to her ignorance. It could be said that such rare crystals were wasted by her completely. If she had some knowledge about the function of the crystals, Ananta might have grown stronger than it was now.
Ananta was now at the third grade of the three-star level, but there was still a lot of space for it to be upgraded to the fourth grade. Even if Ananta was the one who would absorb the blue spiritual crystal, it could be ineffective.
This was why Ana opted not to give it to Ananta. As for the Rainbow Glow Unicorn, it was totally not considered unless it would submit to her and show loyalty to her.
She would not be foolish enough to invest her resources in it until it had proved its loyalty. Therefore, this blue spiritual crystal could only be absorbed by Rubygon.
Of course, Ana would not treat the Rainbow Glow Unicorn unfairly. It was because of its guidance that she found the rare blue spiritual crystal.
This was why she rewarded it with three drops of magical saliva in a row. This reward made it so jubilant that it pranced and danced and was in a good mood for hours after.
Just when Ana was going to let Rubygon absorb the spiritual power of the blue spiritual crystal, an unexpected and troublesome problem occurred. The blue spiritual crystal was very special, and it had a strong spiritual power. It could not be separated and only with the consumption of its spiritual power would it shrink accordingly.
Therefore, if a spirit-manipulated beast wanted to absorb the spiritual power in a spiritual crystal, this process must be completed based on the spiritual power contract. A spiritual power contract should be signed between a spirit manipulator and thier spirit-manipulated beast which would then be used as a link. Through this link, the spirit manipulator could inject the spiritual power of a spiritual crystal into the body of thier spirit-manipulated beast.
The problem was that Rubygon was not Ana's spirit-manipulated beast yet. So, there was no spiritual power contract between them. Consequently, it was impossible for Ana to inject the spiritual power in the blue spiritual crystal into Rubygon's body.
At first, Ana was stumped. Common sense dictated that her problem had no solution, but she was far from giving up. She meditated on the problem for hours until she figured out a way.
The Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill could be used to solve her current dilemma!
There were a lot of reasons why the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill was referred to as one of the four masterstrokes.
Ordinary spirit manipulators could not even imagine its miracle and overarching power. And what Ana figured out was to hide herself in the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill.
Sheridan had once told her that the spirit manipulator, who had cultivated the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill, could make one or more parts of her body animalize. Sheridan had shown what the animalization was.
In other words, without Spirit Possession, the animalization could enable the manipulator to integrate the particular power of spirit-manipulated beasts and transform into any part of the spirit-manipulated beasts.
After she studied the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill that Sheridan had imparted to her, Ana found that people couldn't animalize successfully if they just mastered the Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill.
A basic condition needed to be met first. There should be a spiritual power connection between the spirit manipulator and the spirit-manipulated beast.
This spiritual power connection was similar to a spiritual power contract. The biggest difference was that spiritual power contracts were unique, but the spiritual power connection could work on every spirit-manipulated beast including spiritual beast.
It could also connect to more than one spirit-manipulated beast at the same time. Contrary to spiritual power contracts, spiritual power connection was far more complicated.
To achieve spiritual power connection, there were two requirements.
Firstly, spirit manipulators should be knowledgeable about the spirit-manipulated beasts who needed connecting.
Spirit-manipulated beasts should also be relaxed so that they would not resist spirit manipulators. Otherwise, spirit manipulators could be gravely hurt while spirit-manipulated beasts resisted in the process of connection.
Secondly, spirit manipulators must have strong self-control because the process to connect was always very dangerous.
If people met these two requirements, it was possible to achieve spiritual power connection.
At the end of spiritual power connection, spirit manipulators had to engrave a mark on the spirit-manipulated beast's spiritual source through their spiritual power. With the mark, spirit manipulators could connect with the spirit-manipulated beasts at any time.
However, it was hard for spirit manipulators to engrave the mark on the spiritual source because spirit manipulators had to gather spiritual power integrally. If they couldn't hold until the end, it wouldn't succeed as well.
Therefore, the perseverance of spirit manipulators was equally important. That was where Ana got the idea.
If she could achieve the spiritual power connection on Rubygon, there would be a special connection with Rubygon instead of a spiritual power contract. That would help Rubygon to absorb the spiritual power in blue spiritual crystal.
Usually, spiritual power connections were effective between spirit manipulators and spirit-manipulated beasts who followed their masters faithfully.
It was already highly difficult for faithful spirit-manipulated beasts to finish this connection. Thus, it would be pretty much impossible for those who are defiant. In fact, Sheridan had not been successful when he tried the technique. This just showed how challenging the skill was to master.
If possible, Ana would try this technique right there, but many hazards were concealed in the forest. In addition, plenty of time and energy were needed to achieve the connection.
This was why Ana opted to keep the blue spiritual crystal first and tried to figure out what she should do next.
After resting for an hour, Ana and the beasts continued through the forest and gradually came closer to the periphery of the Myriad Beasts Ground.
The subsequent journey would be more dangerous. The closer they were to the Myriad Beasts Ground, the stronger the wild spirit-manipulated beasts they would meet.
Three-star spirit-manipulated beasts in grade three were very common. Occasionally, there could even be wild spirit-manipulated beasts nearly in grade four. That would be horrible!
Ana went forward cautiously so she would not come across clustered wild spirit-manipulated beasts or wild spirit-manipulated beasts nearly in grade four.
They had travelled for about a day and the forest gradually became less dense and much brighter. Faint beams of light cast down over their heads. It seemed that they were about to reach the end of the forest.
Rumble!
Suddenly, Ana heard a tremendous rumbling sound from the left. The beasts circled protectively around her, as if they had detected the presence of a strong enemy.
This made Ana feel more wary. She had never seen her beasts act this cautious before. Even when they met those wild spirit-manipulated beasts nearly in grade four, they didn't act this nervously.
Suddenly, Ana saw a great shadow as it rushed towards them from the woods. The creature was probably as tall as three or four meters. Its figure was unwieldy and huge. It stood as huge as a tank and made the ground tremble under its weight and force.
Simultaneously, its strong power also frightened those three-star wild beasts in level three within a hundred meters. The loud sound seemed to have been a mix of the creature and the noise of hundreds of beasts as they stampeded away.
Ana observed it carefully. She made an appalled face as she realized that the thing was a four-star wild spirit-manipulated beast in grade three.
It had three heads and four huge arms. It looked a bit like a bear with a thick carapace wrapped around its body. Thus, it seemed to be a hybrid of an enormous bear and a turtle.
‘Armoured Oogway Bear!’
As soon as she identified it, Ana remembered all the information she read from the Beast Encyclopedia.
The Armoured Oogway Bear was similar to Colossus. Both of them belonged to the unusual wild spirit-manipulated beasts. The bear's highest star level also had five stars and it always lived in dense and hidden forests. But compared to the overbearing Trunk Giants, the Armoured Oogway Bears were much more docile.
They were herbivores and only attacked others when provoked. This confused Ana because there was nothing in the woods that could dare to provoke the four-star Armoured Oogway Bear. Even a four-star Trunk Giant in the same grade would not dare to fight them.
The Armoured Oogway Bear was famous for its excellent defensive power. No matter how powerful the wild spirit-manipulated beasts were, it was difficult for them to break that invulnerable carapace.
Just in case, Ana decided to move on as quickly as possible. She doubted that the Armoured Oogway Bear would attack them but it was better to be safe than sorry.
The only four-star wild spirit-manipulated beast she met before was the Demonic Devouring Boa. At that time, she was almost eaten by the Demonic Devouring Boa because of Rainbow Glow Unicorn's trap. This incident reinforced her belief that this kind of spirit-manipulated beasts were horrible company.
After all, there was a world of difference between beasts in the three-star and four-star in grade three. The power of the strongest three-star wild spirit-manipulated beast in grade three was equal to that of the spirit manipulator in the preliminary level of the Heavenly Stage.
However, the four-star wild spirit-manipulated beast in grade three was at least equal to the spirit manipulator in third or fourth level of the Heavenly Stage. That was a really big gap. Thus, it would be difficult for spirit manipulators in the Heavenly Stage to defeat a four-star wild spirit-manipulated beast in grade three.
Especially Ana, since she still had a long way to go before she reached the Heavenly Stage.
Ana proceeded along with her three beasts.
The forest was boundless that even the manipulators of the Divine Stage and the Immortal Stage hadn't gotten over the entire forest. Neither did Ana.
Whereas, she plotted to go back after going through part of the forest in front of her. After exploring, Ana felt that it brought her to light again. However, the scene in front of her was disquieting. Her brain stuttered for a flash, and her eyes took in more light than she expected; every part of her went on pause while her thoughts picked up.
Every scene in sight was left in wrecks. Various corpses and bones were noticeable everywhere. Horrible was the mere word that could undoubtedly illustrate the view of the scene. Some bigger spirit-manipulated beasts like crow were eating the corpse of a wild spirit-manipulated beast.
The surroundings were debris of meat and organs, which made one disgusted. It caused a stomach-churning feeling.
‘ Is this Myriad Beasts Ground?’ Ana peeked far into the distance and found another dense jungle, valley, river, and massif after beasts buried ground.
The landscape was out of the ordinary. Flying wild spirit-manipulated beasts in the distance were vaguely visible, which seemed to be extremely dangerous.
However, what Ana saw was merely a small part of the Myriad Beasts Ground. It was perceived that Myriad Beasts Ground was very mysterious and expansive.
Wild spirit-manipulated beasts being seen everywhere implied the horror of the Myriad Beasts Ground.
She now stood at the edge of the Myriad Beasts Ground. Ana could tell the dangerous sense from the corners, stronger than the feeling she could tell in the forest. Although Ana was thoroughly equipped for the scene, she was now getting cold feet.
The Myriad Beasts Ground was riskier than she had anticipated. With a thunderous and triumphant roar, Ana felt prompt nimble-footed appearing in front of her beasts.
With an in-depth exploration, she discovered a Duckbilled Rat, a height of half of a man, was growling at her beasts.
With a feeble trace, it might be solely a beast of the second grade of a three-star level.
Ana didn't take heed on it. She made a gesture to Ananta and Rubygon after she roughly calculated the beast might cause its feet to travel at speed and as light as the paws of a lioness running from the forest.
Ananta and Rubygon darted forward and prepared to play with this Duckbilled Rat. She was left dumb folded, as the rat became aggressive, and like greased lightning, its body began to expand, and its short and small limbs became long and robust. Its trace upgraded into the third grade of four-star level and became a Duckbilled Aggravated Rat.
‘ The wild beasts here can put on a pretense and pretend to be a meek one to attack their enemies?’ Ana uttered as she gawked at it.
In the interim, a few figures were drawing closer, not far off. Ana became cognizant instantly that it was a setup!
Discerning this, Ana called back Ananta and Rubygon and resolved to leave along with her beasts in another direction.
Ana gave it a burl to go back to the forest, but the rat seemed to be conscious of her scheme and blocked her way beforehand.
Right away, a few more Duckbilled Aggravated Rats joined to block her way to escape.
Ana had no other option but to back off in another direction. However, the rats wouldn't grant their prey the privilege to sneak off, so they trailed them afterward.
Ana ran as swift as her legs could carry her along with her beasts at the edge of Myriad Beasts Ground, and the Duckbilled Aggravated Rats were chasing behind them.
She felt her whole body working; her leg muscles ran warm, fresh air entered her lungs, and blood flowed into all her limbs.
After an hour later, Ana dashed into a palm forest along with her beasts. But these rats halted abruptly in front of the palm forest. Later, they lingered around the palm forest for a while and then turned away.
Ana felt relieved like a bouncing ball after the rats exited. But she was also eager to know why they halted abruptly in front of the palm forest and didn't go after her in the palm tree. It was as if the rats were scared out of their wits of something in the forest.
Soon, a black figure over her head replied her. Ana felt it turn to dark and peered up. To her surprise, she found a wild spirit-manipulated beast like a centipede with bat wings.
It was skimming over the sky above the palm forest. There was a continuous trace of the fourth grade of a four-star level beast from the deep of the palm forest. That explained why the rats ceased chasing them and left.
‘ It shall be Four-wing Lame Dragon.’
Ana had read the information about it in Beast Encyclopedia. The Four-wing Lame Dragon was the hybrid of Dragon and war beast. Except flying, it had not inherited a lot of dragon genes. It was a low class hybrid. Despite this, the Four-wing Lame Dragon was still a terrible opponent for the wild spirit-manipulated beasts below four-star level.
Ana took heed that this dragon didn't become conscious that there was something different in the palm forest. So Ana had to keep dumb like a church mouse without swift movement and discern the surroundings.
However, Rainbow Glow Unicorn was about to move as if it had discovered something. In an instant, it hid like gentle nuns from human eyes and flew in the direction of palm forest.
Ana's face fell, and she attempted to stop Rainbow Glow Unicorn. But it receded from view. Then, Ana discovered the Four-wing Lame Dragon was also flying in the direction of the palm forest as if it was enchanted by something.
She furrowed her brows and became cognizant that the forest must be perilous.
She couldn't leave Rainbow Glow Unicorn here alone. After a halt, Ana went after the dragon.
She went carefully along with Ananta and Rubygon in the palm forest. After a while, Ana entered into a valley with craggy rocks of bizarre shapes surrounded by palm trees.
Ana glared up and noticed that the dragon had also halted. Ana concealed between two large stones with Ananta and Rubygon.
The Four-wing Lame Dragon kept fluttering around in the sky as if it was in readiness for something eagerly. With a shriek from the forest, it was the kind of howling that could make one's blood run cold. It pierced the brain and ignited some primeval pathway.
Ana peered and found Rainbow Glow Unicorn appeared at her right stone. It then hopped down from the stone.
‘ What the hell is it doing?’ Ana cudgeled her brains, and she signaled the other two beasts to conceal themselves.
She sneaked off in Rainbow Glow Unicorn's direction. She kept her eye on the ball to avoid attracting the attention of the dragon above her head. If the dragon that had reached the fourth grade of the four stars noticed Ana, there would be disastrous repercussions.
After stepping forward stealthily between a group of boulders to ward off the dangerous Four-wing Lame Dragon flying above the sky of this area, Ana, in the long run, arrived at the boulder where the Rainbow Glow Unicorn had jumped off.
Yet, she didn't see the unicorn there. She thus bypassed the boulder and found herself startled by what was in front of her eyes.
Her face lingered in a skeptical expression, unblinking stare, while her brain desperately scrambled to make sense of it all.
At a distance not far off from where she was, there was an ice cave with its height a few meters. It was made up of sparkling ice crystal, which looked particularly dazzling under the gleaming of the sunlight.
The ice cave was of considerable size inside. Despite Ana being twenty or thirty meters away, she glimpsed a monstrous figure that was moving around in the cave.
What was more stunning, she could distinctly feel the fantastic and powerful momentum emanating from the figure. Thus, in the back of her mind, she thought it should be an exceedingly powerful wild spirit-manipulated beast.
At the same time, its strength should be more superior to that of the Four-wing Lame Dragon at the fourth grade of the four-star level, which was flickering around to pursue its food.
On top of that, Ana discerned that there was an unusually strong spiritual aura in the ice cave. An extraordinarily rare treasure could be where it was radiated.
The Spiritual Fairyland was the sole time she went through this kind of spiritual aura before. At that time, she felt the intense atmosphere from the Heaven Divine Lotus Seed produced by the Heaven Divine Lotus.
‘ Is there a rare treasure in this ice cave that possesses the same function as the Heaven Divine Lotus Seed?’ Ana struggled to figure out while sinking in deep thoughts. The thrilling findings made her eyes lighten up.
At that particular juncture, Ana who was drowning in deep thoughts in a flash felt something pulling the corner of her clothes behind her.
Glancing back in a dash, she noticed a beast emerging out of thin air. It was unquestionably the Rainbow Glow Unicorn she was seeking all the time.
‘ You little rascal...’ Ana uttered helplessly and patted the head of the unicorn.
When she squinted, the unicorn was looking at her innocently, and then a feeling of both rib-tickling and infuriating crept up.
She was so infuriating because she was worried like a cat on hot bricks that after the unicorn ran away randomly like a bat out of hell, she would lose it, or it could get hurt when the dangerous Four-wing Lame Dragon was flying above to search its prey. Yet, she also couldn't help but be amused by its innocent eyes.
The Rainbow Glow Unicorn was not a human, and Ana was conscious of that. So, it had no self-restraint; without a doubt, it would be captivated by rare treasures and dash away to find them. However, she again felt indebted to it; otherwise, she could never get to realize that there was a rare treasure in this ice cave!
‘ You should go back and stay with them now!’ Ana signaled the unicorn to join her other two beasts, Ananta and Rubygon.
Ananta would lend a hand in taking care of the other two beasts. The unicorn seemed to figure out what she said. Then it turned and vanished.
In an instant, Ana felt that something overshadowed her in the sky. She looked up within a twinkle of an eye. Unanticipated, she noticed that the Four-wing Lame Dragon flew down and landed on a boulder that was not far away from her. Then, it faced the ice cave and let out a provocative roaring and murmured like a mountain stream dashing or winding as its torrent strayed.
The sound was so ear-splitting that Ana only felt that the entire ice cave and even the ground under her feet trembled like a leaf.
Shortly after, the figure in the ice cave slowly came out. When she saw the figure showing up out of the ice cave, her eyes narrowed at once.
The huge figure had white fur and its appearance was like both a wolf and a fox. It was burly, about a few meters tall, with two huge heads, quite powerful, hideous, scary, and it had five tails, as thick as a pillar, swinging in the air, making whistling sound. Moreover, its sturdy body revealed a strong sense of sharp chill, which could still be felt clearly by Ana who was twenty or thirty meters away from it.
‘ Oh, it is a five-star wild spirit-manipulated beast!’ Ana asserted in her mind with a slight shock as her eyes widened.
She promptly checked for significant information about it in the Beast Encyclopedia. In two shakes of a lamb's tail, she discovered its corresponding description.
A rare war beast stood in front of her, the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf.
Its most substantial level could reach the six-star. It could take advantage of the power with ice nature. As the descendant of the Ghostly Wolf King which was one of the most mighty war beasts in the Wild Spirit Land and had become extinct and the Mysterious Ice Fox which ranked ninteenth in the spiritual beast qualification list, it had fallen heir to the pre-eminent genes of the two superior races.
It ranked sixth in the Wild Spirit Land's war beast qualification list. However, because the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf was not very prolific, the number of them in the entire Wild Spirit Land was no more than ten, which could be regarded as an endangered race.
The strength of the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf that Ana set her eyes on should be around the fourth grade of the five-star level. It was equivalent to the power of a spirit manipulator at the medium grade of the Supernal Stage.
Getting a glimpse of the Four-wing Lame Dragon on the boulder, the Fox-wolf at once burst out a stupendous ear-splitting roar. The roar was like a demon in torture, cautioning the Dragon not to get closer to its nest.
Nevertheless, the Dragon at the fourth grade of the four-star level did not seem to be browbeaten by the Fox-wolf, which was a one-star level higher than it. The Dragon soon flapped its giant wings, and abruptly, an eruption of brutal, strong wind and a wave of sand were dashing forward the Fox-wolf.
Instantly, the Fox-wolf's burly body leaned forward slightly, giving off a stunning momentum. The mouth in one of its heads opened abruptly and spurted a group of chilly ice balls, bigger and more powerful than the flame balls that Ananta could produce now.
Ana then saw the ice balls looking dazzling in the sun instantly collided with the sand wave. An ear-rending bang rang out and a burst of airwaves outstretched.
As a result, a layer of frost was filled within the area about ten meters around them, and a vertical ice beam radiated. At the place where the two forces crashed violently, a piece of crystal pillar of several meters high was formed at once.
The primary weapon of the Fox-wolf was the destructive Ice Beam Ball, which it could produce at any time.
‘ This five-star beast is petrifying!’ Ana was inevitably taken aback again. Her mouth was frozen wide open in an expression of bemused astonishment.
Another Ice Beam Ball rushed out of the mouth of the Fox-wolf and darted towards the Dragon at a lightning speed like the clappers. The latter soon soared upwards to the sky swiftly like an arrow.
The next moment, the boulder under the foot of the Dragon was utterly smashed into powder at once, and a thick layer of ice was formed on the ground.
Adrenaline flooded in Ana's system. Her heart exploded with fear as it pumped and beat like it was trying to escape. The scene was terrifying. She perceived that the Dragon was not frail.
If such a ball attacked a less powerful spirit-manipulated beast, it would become an ice sculpture in the blink of an eye with no doubt.
However, Ana instantly perceived that something was amiss. Based on common sense and the law of the jungle, she was apprehensive that the Dragon would never pluck up the bravery to make the much stronger Fox-wolf's hackles rise for no reason. Otherwise, it was like digging its grave. So, what was so fascinating to the Dragon that it even dared to jeopardize its life to provoke the Fox-Wolf?
The next second, her concentration soon steered from the exchange of blows between the two beasts to the treasure hidden in the ice cave. Her ultimate goal was to acquire the treasure. So, she twiddled her thumbs enduringly and tight-lipped until she could find the perfect opportunity to enter the ice cave.
At that moment, Ana saw the torso of the Dragon trembling violently, as suddenly, more than a dozen silver silk threads appeared like agile snakes and shot straight to the Fox-wolf. When the Fox-wolf saw the silver threads flying in its direction, it seemed to be a little scared, like adrenaline had flown over its veins and immediately began to conceal itself away from them. Still, it was just not posthaste enough.
One of its hind limbs was still entangled by two of the silver threads. Extremely enraged like flies in a fruit jar, the Fox-wolf exploded a furious howl instantly and pulled it's hind legs hard to get rid of the two silver threads, and the dominant force made the massive torso of the Dragon in the air shake.
At the same time, two Ice Beam Balls were spurted in the air, and one of them hit precisely the right-wing of the Dragon...
The Four-wing Lame Dragon began trembling violently in the air to the extent that it plummeted towards the left side in a matter of seconds.
The Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf did not want to let go of the Four-wing Lame Dragon this quickly, so it ran towards it. Then, it activated its furious chilling aura, which immediately froze the silver threads wrapped around its hind leg. Then, with a strong force, the silver threads were broken.
‘ That's it? The Four-wing Lame Dragon is already over there that quickly?’ Ana remarked with surprise appearing all over her face. She could not believe the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, at the fourth grade of the five-star level, was strong to the extent that it could defeat a spirit-manipulated beast at the fourth grade of the four-star level that easy.
Now that the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf went to hunt down the Four-wing Lame Dragon, its cave was empty and Ana did not want to miss this opportunity.
She wanted to find out the rare treasures in the cave and take them away before the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf came back. Having no time to spare, she made a detour along the side and got close to the cave as fast as she could. After she cast a glance at the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf's back, she immediately got into the cave.
She just wanted the treasure; she did not want to linger in the cave. Unfortunately though, Ana found a terrible surprise waiting for her in there. She was greeted with another Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, a little cub at its first several months.
It didn't even have fur over its body, and it was as small as a puppy in size. Right now, it was poorly curled into a tiny ball at the corner. The little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf groaned with fear as soon as it saw Ana.
‘ Stop that noise!’ Ana said fearfully. Its groan was slightly loud, so Ana was afraid that this little fellow would alert the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf outside.
The first solution to pop in her mind was to pour a drop of the magical saliva in the cub's palm. She then walked to the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf and tried to comfort it. As she expected, the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf was attracted by the magical saliva, but it was still vigilant while glancing at Ana.
However, it failed to resist the temptation of the magical saliva and began licking its palm slowly.
‘ Now you eat the magical saliva and stay quiet, okay little one?’ Once Ana made sure that the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf would stay silent, she started looking around in the cave searching for some rare treasures.
She soon noticed a crystal-like treasure, as big as a palm, bulging on the left wall. The spiritual power around it was even richer and stronger than her Heaven Divine Lotus Seeds.
‘ This crystal doesn't seem to be nature-born,’ Ana murmured to herself touching her chin. But then she remembered the information she read about the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf in the Beast Encyclopedia, and things started to make sense. It turned out that the thing right infront of her eyes now was the Ice Crystal which was formed inside the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, the same way the Three-tailed Aquatic Lizard did.
They were only different in that the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf could only get the Ice Crystal out of its body when it gave birth to a baby. Thus, the spiritual power contained within this kind of Ice Crystal was out of ordinary.
After putting the Ice Crystal in her pocket, Ana turned to look at the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf. Generally, it was very rare to see a Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf.
Thus, the cub in front of her was kind of a unique treasure as well. If she took it back with her and brought it up, it would make it easy for her to be it's master; she would have one more spiritual beast.
However, seeing how strong and furious its mother was, Ana immediately gave up that idea. After all, its mother was at the fourth grade of the five-star level, so it would kill her if she tried to steal its child.
The important thing was that she had gotten an Ice Crystal, which was an even better treasure than the Heaven Divine Lotus Seed. Indeed, she made a fortune in this cave, so she could not let greed eat up her rationality. Otherwise, she would pay for it sooner or later.
Ana took a final glance at the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf and was reluctant to leave, but she soon made up her mind and was ready to go. Unfortunately though, a colossal figure suddenly appeared in front of the cave bringing a strong wind along with it.
Ana's heart almost jumped out of her chest because she thought that the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf had returned. However, when she looked up, she saw that this was another Four-wing Lame Dragon, at the third grade of the four-star level.
Ana immediately hid herself at the corner. She then secretly looked at the Four-wing Lame Dragon because she could not get her head around the reason why the Four-wing Lame Dragon was here.
Once the Four-wing Lame Dragon entered the cave, it glanced around until its eyes caught the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf.
Its giant body trembled with excitement once it saw the cub. Obviously, the Four-wing Lame Dragon was coming here for the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, in the first place.
The little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf was frightened by the colossal figure in front of it. It was shaking and making fearful cries.
‘ Could it be that the two Four-wing Lame Dragons have been working together? One is in charge of distracting the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, and the other is in charge of kidnapping this little fellow? Oh my God! They are indeed assholes, but smart as hell! ’ Ana 's thoughts kept rushing and she finally understood everything.
She now knew why the Four-wing Lame Dragon kept provoking the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf. It was all part of the plan!
Knowing that little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf was in danger, Ana could not help but take out her Frozen Wind Dagger. She realized that this was the perfect timing for attacking the Four-wing Lame Dragon because it was distracted by the cub.
Ana flashed behind the giant body and channeled her spiritual power, which was at the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage, into the Frozen Wind Dagger.
As the dazzling spiritual light appeared around the Frozen Wind Dagger, Ana brandished it towards the Four-wing Lame Dragon. With a perfect arc in the air, Ana aimed a forceful attack right at its tail.
A resounding bang echoed in the cave. The attack exploded at the tail, while the spiritual light was still glinting. Its blood kept spurting out that Ana could even see a vague image of its tail bone.
The Four-wing Lame Dragon let out a painful cry, and its body immediately stood straight making its head hit the ceiling. The powerful impact caused the whole cave to shake violently as if there had been an earthquake. Fragment stones kept falling upon them, which made them believe that the cave was about to collapse at any minute.
Ana dashed up and got the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf in her arm at once. Simultaneously, she activated all of her spiritual power while rushing out of the cave as quick as a lightning.
The Four-wing Lame Dragon could not let Ana take away the little fellow, so it shook its body and shot out several silver threads towards Ana.
In a blink of an eye, those silver threads caught up with Ana. As they waved violently behind her, Ana got cut by their touches. They were so sharp that Ana 's body got covered with wounds in a few minutes.
No matter how painful these cuts were, Ana did her best to run out of the cave. The Four-wing Lame Dragon was chasing after her.
Ana's attack had truly infuriated it to the core. It seemed to be going really crazy because as it ran through the entrance, it didn't bend down to get out, but directly hit through the wall instead.
The collapse frightened the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, and it cried out loudly.
Hearing its own child's cries, the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf turned back in a hurry. As it ran towards the cave, it saw its baby lying in Ana's arms and the Four-wing Lame Dragon chasing after her. Naturally, it immediately roared angrily and dashed up.
Ana could not believe that this whole situation was real. The Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf before her and the Four-wing Lame Dragon behind her could easily kill her. She was just trying to help the little fellow at first, how did she get herself into all this mess?
Instantly, Ana discerned the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf trailed after her as tempest chased flame for its child. Once she gave the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf back to it, she would be fine.
However, when she was about to throw the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf back to its mother, the four-star Four-wing Lame Dragon at the fourth grade, which had been shot down before in a blink flew from a boulder on the other side and blocked Ana's way.
It shuddered its sturdy body vehemently, then dozens of silver threads shot together towards Ana. Her heart startled when she saw the dozens of menacing silver threads. Instantaneously, she got a weird sense from them. If she weren't able to evade them like the plague, she would be doomed.
For that reason, she waved the Frozen Wind Dagger in her hand quickly to burst out several rays of the spiritual light. Meanwhile, she spared no effort to dodge the silver threads.
Boom!
A fulminate noise burst out when the spiritual light shattered with the silver threads. While there were still a few silver threads continuously running towards Ana, in a blink of an eye, they were swift enough to arrive before her.
At that point, fretted about the security of its child, the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf suddenly shot an Ice Beam Ball, which accurately exploded before Ana and flung the silver threads away.
Again, Ana, without precaution, was shredded off as well. Unfortunately, she fell heavily on the ground.
‘ Damn it!’ Ana howled like a distressed infant for one affectionate look, one gentle, loving word for her pain.
Thanks to the protection of the spiritual power at the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage, she suffered no more than a fall. However, before Ana could get up, the four-star Four-wing Lame Dragon at the third grade snapped the slightest chance available and flew over to her, where other dozens of silver thread were released.
After having a hunch that things were getting pretty hot, Ana hurried like a torrent through a strait to roll on the ground. Puff!
Several silver threads missed her and fell on the ground behind her, inserting into the ground as deep as three inches.
Instantly within a blink of an eye, the Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf hopped up in a trice as the cold air around its body surged.
In a second, the rest of the silver threads were frozen so that Ana was saved. However, before Ana could sigh relief, the Four-wing Lame Dragon pounced on her like a kite on a chick once again.
Its mouth with pliers intended to bite the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf in her arms.
‘ When can it halt...’ Ana sighed in powerlessness and flurried as a fish landed on a grassy bank with a pointed hook through its gills as she glanced around. She found on the left side behind her was a slop that was overgrown with weeds and trees.
Without re-evaluating, she dashed like moon-ray flashes through the drifting snow in the direction of the slope carrying the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf. Then she curled up herself and spun down the slope.
When the Four-wing Lame Dragon arrived at the edge of the slope, it recognized that Ana had disappeared among the bushes down the slope without any trace. Thus, it broke out a rumbling roar in an indignation like an enraged panther.
Before long, a wounded and devastated figure emerged from a bush and peeped right and left. She uttered a whiff of relief after she was sanguine that there was no peril around. She looked back and peered the trembling Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf and the two Four-wing Lame Dragons on the slope.
Her eyes were apprehensive. She was still in a state of shock. Ridged as a board, she was unable to fathom what had just occurred. With one dumb move in the battle just now, she would have shuffled off the mortal coil. She appeared to be lucky as a rabbit foot this time.
At the moment, Ana felt that something was floundering in her arms.
She stared down and noticed the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf was still safe and sound. It was wiggling freely without barrier as if it had no slightest idea about what had transpired. Now it stared at Ana with its innocuous eyes.
‘ Little thing, they almost murdered me for saving you! But I won't send you back to your mother because I don't want to be subjected to that again. You can tag along with me. If it were not for me, you would have already been looted by the Four-wing Lame Dragons,’ Ana uttered as she tenderly stroked the head of the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf.
As luck would have it, she got something positive out of misfortune. She felt so lucky as a five-time lottery winner to have such a rare little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf.
However, Ana quickly discerned a profound atmosphere around her. It emerged that there was a gazillion wild spirit-manipulated beast concealing in the dense forest nearby.
The deeper she set foot on the Myriad Beasts Ground, the more perilous things she would come into contact with. She had met a five-star spirit-manipulated beast just now. It could tell that if she continued her way, she might see more robust ones.
Of course, Ana didn't arrange to proceed further. If the Duckbilled Aggravated Rats hadn't chased her, she wouldn't have set foot in the palm forest by accident with her three spirit-manipulated beasts.
Then Ana took the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf to seek a way. Since the forest was too dense, she was even hard to tell the direction.
However, with her connection with Ananta, she could dimly identify the direction of its aura so that she could search for the way out following the aura. However, before she could proceed further, the little Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf mewed like cat one would mistake to be out of starvation or something else.
Though its voice was meager, after it mewed a few times, Ana took heed that something dangerous had laid in the bushes around her.
Upon sensing some red flags, she without further ado jacked up her spiritual power and sprinted in a direction with all her brawniness.
She progressed forward along the slope and finally found a path leading up to the top of the slope.
After a while, Ana engaged her three beasts that were seeking for her. They girdled Ana in a flicker of an eye, and they cried their hearts out in a gentling voice like an eagle released, revealing they were on tenterhooks about her.
‘ I'm great. Anyway, we shall depart here at the earliest. The Myriad Beasts Ground was full of danger,’ said Ana.
Flashing back on the spine-chilling escapade just now, Ana didn't dare to retake bold action. So she brought her three beasts and Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf and went back along the original road.
After going through the palm forest, they eventually left the dangerous Myriad Beasts Ground and landed in the previous forest.
Ana felt out of harm's way in this forest than in Myriad Beasts Ground. At least there would be no four or five-star level spirit-manipulated beast. Later, Ana uncovered a concealed and secure cave, and she confided Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf to her beasts' watch.
Later she hid in the cave. Taking two drops of magical saliva, she shut her eyes and began to heal herself. After twenty-four hours later, her serious injury was cured, and her spiritual power recuperated utterly.
Ana stepped out of the cave and discovered her beasts seized a female second grade of the three-star level spirit-manipulated beast that just gave birth. The second grade of the three-star level beast was nursing Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf.
It seemed that the Fox-wolf got a wallop of it very much.
‘ I assume someone is going to look after this Fox-wolf.’ Ana grinned, that sounded like a brook flowing merrily through a well-lit wood and began to think about her next move. She contemplated pursuing the treasure in Myriad Beasts Ground. But it was indisputable that the Myriad Beasts Ground was more dangerous than she had imagined. So she had to nullify her objective.
Anyway, Ana got one Water Essence Pill which was superior to an intermediate Dark Heaven Egg, the Ice Crystal, which could rival Heaven Divine Lotus Seed and some other priceless treasures better than a preliminary Dark Heaven Egg.
These treasures could succor her to practice for a while. So she wasn't on pins and needles to hunt anymore.
‘ This forest is a wonderful one, and dozens of races of spirit-manipulated beasts live here. Moreover, this area is stashing lots of priceless treasures. Although only a few treasures are pretty excellent, a little is better than none. Thus, I am going to devote myself to prepare and cultivate these treasures in the wood. So I could enhance myself for several levels.’ Ana cleared up her mind.
Her competence was more vigorous contrasted with some of the manipulators, but there was yet a long process to go between the preeminent manipulators and her.
She stepped into the Myriad Beasts Ground was because she was pursued massacring all the way. At that time, she couldn't even secure herself well.
Ana was determined like the iron-jawed lady in a spectacle to practice Mysterious Beast Transformation Skill and sought to establish spiritual power contact with Rubygon. But these were her near plan and would take her a period to do this. So Ana commenced working out in this wood, capturing wild spirit-manipulated beasts and compiling diverse specimens.
At the same time, Marcia just seized back Rough Slope, but two days afterward, she was encompassed and suppressed by Timber Deity Empire. The Rough Slope was in danger again.
Sara in the main camp of fronts received this dreadful news and convoked three Elite Commanders and all of the Frontline Commanders to endure the new situation.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, their conduct is grotesque and awkward. They didn't take up cudgels for the Rough Slope after we restored the Rough Slope. But later, they deferred armies to beleaguer us there. What are they organizing? Do they have any intrigue?’ one of the three Elite Commanders asked inexplicably.
All three Elite Commanders were battle-hardened, but even they didn't understand the enemy's ploy. Other Commanders bowed and commenced discussing and mumbling.
They were also unfathomed by the enemy's movement.
Sara furrowed her brows, and she also felt something was awry when she received the news that Marcia seized back Rough Slope. It was a walk in the park to recapture Rough Slope, and she couldn't help pondering that their enemy had any other arrangements.
Timber Deity Empire wouldn't waste their time and forces in seizing the land. Twenty thousand forces besieged Rough Slope from Timber Deity Empire before she could figure out their plot.
Their movement was unduly fast, and Sara even didn't have time to ponder about the whole thing.
Sara was apprehensive that Timber Deity Empire had organized this a long time ago. But she was nevertheless ambivalent what their motive was when they besieged Rough Slope after giving up defending it. Timber Deity Empire's action was too hasty, and it struck Crimson Dragon Army an unprepared.
Now the two forces were confronting each other, and Crimson Dragon Group could spare no forces to rescue Rough Slope from the siege.
‘ What about the Rough Slope?’
‘ According to the up to date news, a range of a thousand meters around the Rough Slope has been beleaguered by the armies of the Timber Deity Empire. However, what is so uncanny is that they haven't commenced any ambush to the Rough Slope.’
‘ What on earth is the purpose of the Timber Deity Empire?’
‘ If they carry on doing that, even if they don't charge the Rough Slope, the northeast army led by Commander Marin will be too weak as a lamb that can't stand the weight of its wool to hold a fight in the sparseness of army provisions and goods. ’
The Commanders were all laden with an epidemic of anxiety. Their thoughts scattered like there was an electrical storm in their head, too many short-circuits to make any sense.
Compared with losing the Rough Slope, the loss of the northeast army would be a fatal blow to the Crimson Dragon Army, which was now a lack of troops. The contending armies at the Rough Slope had been absolutely exterminated before, which garnered the plight of the military strength to be nitpicking.
Though the headquarters had acquiesced to send reinforcements, since the Crimson Dragon Group was culpable for safeguarding the territory of the Holy Dragon Empire at the Gehenna Border as well as the towns and the cities at the border, the reinforcement which had to be dispatched from the armies stationed at the towns and the cities at the border and carried out preparation in order before they could set out should spent at least half a month in turning up at the Rough Slope. Besides, the quality of the soldiers was another dilemma, so the reinforcements could not be released for a moment.
At present, due to the extreme incursions of the Timber Deity Empire, all the fronts were short of military strength. Once soldiers were dispatched from those fronts, jeopardy would be declared.
After all, thousands of soldiers were far from adequate since the Timber Deity Empire sieged the Rough Slope with twenty thousand soldiers. Thus, at least twenty thousand soldiers should be dismissed to come to the rescue of the northeast army. If not, any small number of soldiers were worthless.
However, based on the prevailing condition of the Crimson Dragon Army, it wasn't competent to fix the obstacle. A modest shift in the Crimson Dragon Army may alter the condition as a whole. This was a hard nut to crack of Sara.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, I figure out we should convey the major force in the front line to come to bail out the Rough Slope.’
‘ That's true. The Timber Deity Empire has bitten more than it can chew. We must confer them a lesson...’
‘ The Timber Deity Empire has twenty thousand soldiers. If we likewise move soldiers of the same number to integrate with the northeast army at the Rough Slope, we will unquestionably attack them on the hop.’
The Commanders rendered proposals one after another and called for battle duties.
‘ No, we can't dispatch armies now,’ Sara responded, swaying her head.
The overall structure shouldn't be disordered to deal with the vital condition in the Rough Slope.
Upon hearing Sara's response, the Commanders all stared at each other speechless in confusion. Their faces stuck in an incredulous expression. As usual, they weren't be able to recognize the prevailing condition as Sara had done.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, why shouldn't we dispatch armies?’
‘ Because it is a setup.’ Sara uttered in a no joke tone, her eyebrows furrowed.
‘ A setup? ’ The Commanders' faces darkened into a look of astonishment. Their brain desperately scrambled to make sense of it all while standing as gormless as a guppy. They hadn't expected that their enemies would have a plan A, B and even C just in case.
‘ Though right now I don't figure out the real motive of the Timber Deity Empire's siege of the Rough Slope, I'm sure the whole thing is a setup. So we shouldn't react hastily and blindly. It is attainable that if we tincture our armies to the Rough Slope, they grab the golden opportunity to ambush our fronts...’ Sara concluded, having a wild guess about the possible situation if she came to the rescue at the Rough Slope.
‘ But if the twenty thousand soldiers of the Timber Deity Empire snap off an ambush to the northeast army at the Rough Slope, they would have no choice but battle against them till they all succumb. What's even worse, once the Timber Deity Empire seizes the Rough Slope, it is arduous as to grasp a shadow for us to retrieve,’ one of the Commanders said.
‘ Of course, I am aware of the essence of the Rough Slope, but I don't think we should do anything before we uncover the real motive of our enemies. Besides, in theory, if the Timber Deity Empire uses the Rough Slope as their counter to wheedled to us to exit the fronts, they won't assault it now, so we don't have to get overwrought about the safety of the northeast army for the time being...’ Sara scrutinized.
‘ How many days can they cling to life with the army facilities carried with the northeast army and the army provisions left by the defending armies at the Rough Slope? ’ Sara sought the Commander, liable for the military supplies.
‘ I got wind that the provision store has been burnt down in the last rude awakening tip and run raid, so I guess almost no army provisions are left there. The northeast army made a whistle-stop march this time so that they only gripped army provisions for less than five days. In this way, they could only survive for about ten days,’ the Commander replied.
‘ Ten days?’ Sara said with a steamed up expression. She must come up with the solution in ten days, or once the army provisions ran out, the northeast army would topple without a clamor under the siege of the Timber Deity Empire.
‘ Convey a message to Commander Marin. Tell her to hold on, and I'm certain I will find a way to rescue them,’ Sara ordered after plunge.
‘ Yes, madam,’ one of the guards in the tent answered back and turned away abruptly.
Then, the Commanders also departed from the tent one after another. However, by the skin of one's teeth had one wave tapered off when another rose. Bad news arrived in a whirlwind chain.
‘ Deputy Commander in Chief, lately, the transportation team of the logistic camp was bombarded by the enemy.’ One Commander reported to Sara as he hurried like one distraught to the tent.
‘ How about the casualties?’ Sara asked in distress.
‘ Thanks to the new transportation route map, the casualty is small. The transportation team has retreated to the logistic camp by another route with army provisions and goods. The supplies of army provisions of some fronts may be affected, but it is not something to create a mountain out of a molehill,’ the Commander answered back.
‘ That's perfect. Dispatch two thousand soldiers from the main military camp to the logistic camp. In such a burgeoning condition, supplies of army provisions and goods must be assured,’ Sara summoned. She finally gave a breath of relief like a bouncing ball.
Fortunately, like one born on a lucky star, the transportation of army provisions and goods was running smooth, or it would pile up calamities on the Crimson Dragon Army, which had already been enslaved.
‘ Fortunately Ana has depicted the new transportation route map and the new transportation method, or I will utterly be worn to a frazzle from disquietude. What is she doing now? If she was here, what kind of solution would she pop up?’ Sara figured out, a light glimmering in her eyes.
Again she summoned the Commander to retreat.
In the next few days, Sara contemplated for the solution, but she got no clues. Her mind was starting to fail, like an engine that turned over and over, never kicking into action. As they had in prospect, the twenty thousand soldiers of the Timber Deity Empire hadn't invaded the Rough Slope.
However, she got more worried. It was like someone had poured gasoline onto the spark of fear in her belly. Even though the Timber Deity Empire didn't make any move, they could get the Rough Slope effortlessly when the army provisions of the northeast army ran out.
In this case, Sara could be confident that the Timber Deity Empire just made use of the Rough Slope as a bait to induce her to send armies to come to the rescue of the northeast army there. They had hit her soft spot, so she distressed herself about whether she should send troops or not.
‘ The Commander in Chief of the Timber Deity Empire is so sharp that I have been torn between two...’ Sara thought with brisk eyes, clamping her fists.
‘ Come in!’ Sara howled abruptly. Promptly, a guard came in the tent.
‘ Convey a message to the logistic camp that I want to lay my eyes on Ana,’ Sara ordered. The guard nodded and turned away.
‘ Though I am unwilling to turn to her, she is infallible most of the time...’ Sara mumbled to herself.
In the interim, at the campsite of the Timber Deity Empire troops in the frontier, Alyssa and several Commanders were pricking their ears to the latest report on Commander Sun's activities in the tent.
‘ What? He failed to seize their provisions and fodders despite several attempts? What in God's name has Commander Sun done?’ Alyssa asked, boiling with anger as her brows furrowed, discontent written in her eyes.
The pressure of this raging sea of anger was evident. It seemed that she was quite pissed off by her subordinates' inability to intercept the enemy's provisions and fodders, which should have been a walk in the park as she perceived.
‘ By the expression of events the Crimson Dragon Group has altered a lot in both the route and the mode of transit. Everything is distinctive from before. They took a weird and elliptical path. We have kept a close stare on them, but every time they managed to wriggle away. Besides, when the provisions and fodders passed by places where they were most prone to be intercepted, they would be accompanied by the front line troops. As a result, Commander Sun didn't even have any golden opportunity to triumph,’ the spirit manipulator who was presenting the report disclosed.
The sight of the visible fury on Alyssa's face made him drip drops of sweat on his forehead. He was apprehensive as a dog being attacked by a coyote that Alyssa would unleash her annoyance on him.
‘ Tell Commander Sun to verify the method of transit of the Crimson Dragon Group as promptly as possible. However complicated it would be, we have to pitch in disarray their supply of provisions and fodders. It's very paramount for our future strategies. If he fails once again, I don't want to see him set his foot here again,’ Alyssa ordered instantly.
‘Yes!’ The spirit manipulator bowed to her before he departed without the least hum and haw.
‘ What is transpiring with Rough Slope? ’ Alyssa summoned someone else without taking a breath.
‘ Your Highness, the Crimson Dragon Group hasn't conveyed any indication of operation,’ a Commander announced.
‘ Sara implies to be more patient than I assume she is. But we are all aware they will be stripped off the Rough Slope sooner or afterward. I don't assume she would just relax and twiddle her thumbs for such a thing to arise without executing anything in an attempt to avert it. I believe she will take action sooner or later. Otherwise, she will witness us beat the northeast military and seize Rough Slope hastily with her own eyes,’ Alyssa said, blinking her beautiful eyes. Racking her brains, she lingered beyond a reasonable doubt she would make a clean sweep.
Just as she had anticipated, ten days thereafter, the northeast military guarding Rough Slope ran out of all food and fodders. Depression saturated the air in the whole camp.
‘ Commander Marin, why hasn't the Deputy Commander in Chief dispatched troops here? She doesn't want us to be stuck and perish here, does she?’
In confusion as a soul heavy-laden with a trouble that would not depart, Deputy Commander Chen asked Marcia in a tent at the military camp.
‘ I'm afraid the Deputy Commander in Chief is in a sticky situation too. After all, a lot of troops are required to rescue us from the siege at Rough Slope. But it is impractical to draw out so many troops from the front line,’ Marcia explained considerately.
She had unraveled the Timber Deity Empire's real ambition since they had sieged Rough Slop for many days but still hadn't launched an attack. Therefore, she was conscious it was back-breaking for the front line troops to rescue them from the siege.
‘ If that's the case, what's our next move? It's not appropriate for us to sit down and wait for death here,’ Deputy Commander Chen said, burning with anxiety, pacing back and forth like a caged tiger.
‘ Convey a message to the main camp and notify the Deputy Commander in Chief that we can hold up five days at most. Five days thereafter, if she isn't competent to extricate us from the siege, we will have no way out but to give up Rough Slope and try to break through.’
Of course, Marcia would never just stick around and watch the northeast military, which had become powerful under her command, be wiped out by the main force of the Timber Deity Empire. When vital, she would choose to make them practically safe at a precise cost.
After giving her an acknowledgment, Deputy Commander Chen swung around and took off from the tent. Before long, in the main camp at the front line, Sara received the message from Marcia.
Her brows furrowed as she was perturbed. But Ana made her more galled with all guns blazing.
Several days ago, the logistic camp had reported to her that they couldn't trace Ana anywhere.
At the most hair-splitting moment, when she was in greatest need of Ana's help, she disappeared in everybody's sight, as if she had vanished into thin air.
‘ Let me administer five more days to her. If she still doesn't manifest herself by then, I will make her remorseful.’ Sara muttered to herself, infuriated like a raging storm.
Four days later, the figure of someone that suggested to crop up from a rubble dump cropped up outside Ana's residence.
The woman was befouled from head to toe. Her clothes were worn-out in pieces, and her hair was bedraggled. A big bag weaved by rattan was on her back, in which there were a variety of things. It looked like she had just picked odds and ends from debris dumps. However, she was treading on the heels by three daunting beasts. On the back of one of the beasts, a small figure was sleeping tight.
‘ Ultimately, I'm surfacing back!’ Ana sighed a sigh of relief when she walked into the residence. After removing everything from her back and body, she stretched herself to unwind. After working out for more than two weeks in the forest, she felt like she had turned into Tarzan (women version).
‘ I perceive my treasures are too hungry,’ Ana mumbled. As soon as they cropped up in her mind, she went down from the courtyard to the underground den.
She wanted to inspect the Queen Dark Heaven Insect and the three Dark Heaven Insects. Before departing this place last time, she had left an amplitude of soil enough for them to eat for half a month in the den.
Now when she arrived at the den, she saw there was no trace of any soil at all. As rapidly as they arrayed their eyes on Ana, the Queen Dark Heaven Insect and the three Dark Heaven Insects besieged her. They looked as hungry as a wolf.
In a hurry, Ana reached out a bottle filled with magical saliva and offered them a few drops to diminish their hunger slightly. Then she roughly tidied up the den.
During this process, she found all the three Dark Heaven Insects had oviposited. There was one middle grade Dark Heaven Egg and two basic grade Dark Heaven Eggs.
After picking up the Dark Heaven Eggs, she retired back to her residence. She took a carriage to dig a lot of soils and transported the soils back to the den.
Then Ana began categorizing and organizing all the things she had brought back, consisting of a great number of specimens of various species of wild spirit-manipulated beasts as well as many precious materials and exquisite matters from three-star wild spirit-manipulated beasts and even some four-star wild spirit-manipulated beasts.
After she wound up all these things, Ana had a shower. When she put on clean clothes, finally she felt like she was a human being again.
Since she had retreated from people's sight for a long time, she figured out it was time to go back to the logistic camp to review on the situation.
Thus, she instructed the three beasts to watch after Ghostly Ice Fox-wolf, while she herself took off for the logistic camp.
As shortly as Ana sauntered into the gate of the logistic camp, she peered two people speeding to her in haste. They pumped their legs, gaining momentum with each push. They were Isis and Joss.
‘ Ana, how could you recede from view for so many days? But by good luck you're finally here. The Camp Director has been desperately seeking for you like a needle in a haystack. I'm hesitant he's about to go frantic. He said that everybody in the logistic camp will have to live on air if we still can't locate you.’ Isis shouted her lungs out as soon as she caught sight of Ana. Her voice was as loud as the storm wind that tumbled the main.
‘ Why is he so nervous? What transpired?’ Ana inquired, grimacing.
‘ It's best if you ask the Camp Director by yourself,’ Joss responded instantly.
Ana nodded to him. Later she went to Louis' tent. When Louis saw Ana going into the tent, he felt like he eventually captured a life-saving straw.
‘ Ana, eventually you're back,’ Louis screamed in great excitement. But very soon, he retrieved his usual composure.
‘ I discovered you have been searching for me, sir?’ Ana inquired serenely.
‘ It's absolutely urgent, so I'd better cut a long story short. The Deputy Commander in Chief wished to meet you ten days ago, but I just couldn't find you anywhere. I had no choice but to spill the beans. As a result, the Deputy Commander in Chief sounded to be extremely resentful. Four days ago, she said that all the members of the logistic camp would be punished if she couldn't see you before tomorrow,’ Louis explained concisely.