Novel Full Chapter 1707: Climbing To The Top
Chapter 1707: Climbing To The Top
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The clear blue sky with a hint of orange, the bright sun above the horizon, slowly descending.
The beautiful, wide oasis, blue in color, constantly waving with its waters, so big it covered an enormous area within the even larger crater.
This place was once known as just the “Crater Oasis” by the ancient Wind Tribe.
However, now, it was different.
Quetz gasped in disbelief, noticing the immense greenery everywhere, a sight so rare for him, used to fly and live in the arid deserts, that he could hardly believe it.
The beautiful greenery decorated the oasis, large and noisy jungles filled with life and creatures roaming everywhere.
Gigantic and colorful forests made of enormous carnivorous flowers, fruit-yielding trees to the distance, and even an area where spiritual crystals grew out of the ground like sharp spears of many colors, glowing brightly twenty-four hours a day.
The sheer elemental and spiritual essence of the entire place, the gigantic amount of lifeforce he could sense, there were millions of living beings there, no, perhaps billions if little bugs and critters were included.
It was no longer the ordinary crater oasis with enormous mountain-like surrounding cliffs, now it had become a Sanctuary of Nature in the middle of this unforgiving desert.
“It’s beautiful…” Quetz smiled, shedding a tear. “I never imagined this place, this arid desert… could harbor such beauty. This place, without a doubt, is a Sanctuary.”
“Yeah… it took us all a long time to get it this way,” Agua nodded. “W-Well, I wouldn’t say that we did it all ourselves, mom said that when we arrived here, the jungles were already expanding. The Great Spirit of the Oasis is the one that began to spread life and greenery.”
“I see…” Quetz nodded. “That spirit certainly didn’t exist before… Perhaps with the death of the previous Great Spirit of the Cliff Winds, a new one came here to take his spot… Perhaps a much more benevolent one, I hope.”
“She is! Although she may be very serious, she’s a good spirit that protect us,” nodded Agua. “We love her like a mother.”
“That is relieving to hear then,” Quetz said as he smiled. “I would… love to explore this entire place… Would you guide me though it, Agua? Later… of course.”
“I was planning to, so of course,” Agua nodded. “Once we’re done with the ant extermination business, we’ll return back home. I am sure my people will be happy to see you. They might even create a whole celebration for finally finding a member of the Wind Tribe alive…!”
“Oh… I-I would rather not bother you with such things… celebration? But why? that’s… I don’t deserve any of such things…” Quetz sighed.
“I-I’ll try to tell mom to not do anything flashy for now…” Agua nodded. “Um, anyway, should we continue?”
“Yes… I’ve decided to walk with you. I suppose… It’s much better this way,” Quetz descended into the ground. “I also need to… well, to exercise. Living as a monstrous bird for so long has made my body stiff…”
“Okay then,” Agua nodded. “But aren’t you very strong? I remember Aquarina said you were Tier 8.”
“Tier 8? But I was… I remember I used to only be Tier 5 when I was given the Wind Blessing,” Quetz said. “But… you’re not wrong, this power I feel… the strength of my beast form isn’t exactly gone.”
As they walked and reunited with Aquarina and the rest, they heard him talking.
“Perhaps you grew stronger over thousands of years,” said Aquarina. “Even if you didn’t really want to… But that depends on a lot too. Does your transformation give you a temporary buff? If that’s the case, then the buff might have merged with your true self already, maybe due to living thousands of years like that.”
“Hmm…” Quetz thought about it, remaining mostly in silence. “Perhaps… I am not so sure myself but… I’ll have to see what I can truly do.”
After that, they moved forward, moving up from the cliff became easier as they found a rather large road that led upwards on a zigzag shape.
It was still full of holes, falling boulders, and large cracks, but it was still much easier. Running wasn’t an option though, and they had to be careful with each step they took.
Monsters became less common here, only little critters here and there appeared somewhere, but they weren’t that common anymore.
And things started becoming hotter, as the group began sweating more than they imagined, the sky also turned slightly darker, and the smell of smoke and ashes permeated the surroundings.
“Hey, what’s going on right now? It’s super hot out of nowhere!” Said Silvia.
“It’s easy to tell that we’re getting closer to the Giant Fire Ant Nest,” Justicio explained. “We might be just around the corner, probably.”
“Yeah, but it’s definitely hotter than down there,” said Aquarina. “I guess the cold temperatures of the oasis kept the heat down, but up here where there’s only wind and the dryness of the steppes out there, no such thing.”
“Hmm? What’s… that?”
Quetz was surprised as he saw something emerging across the cliff as they climbed up.
Finally arriving at the next large open area, they finally saw it quite clearly.
It was a huge volcano, or something imitating one.
It was actually built out of gray and black ashes, and the saliva of the Giant Fire Ants.
The volcano-like thing was actually the tip of their nest and was constantly letting out flames and lava.
“It’s huge…” Silvia said. “Is this what volcanoes look like?”
“Yeah, most likely, right?” Justicio asked.
“Yep,” Aquarina nodded. “But they’re usually so much bigger than this though… That thing is just an imitation of one. But it is still surprising how far the ants would go to recreate a suitable home for them. There’s even boiling lava inside, it seems they really plan to weaponize this and use it against the oasis and its people…”
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