Chapter 209: In a dangerous situation

Mosquito’s true form had been injured.

And ever since then, she had not stopped roaring and hurling insults at Raticati.

After finally venting some of her accumulated anger, Mosquito flapped her wings and hovered over the enormous second underground floor.

Her eyes were filled with hostility.

— You damn filthy intruders!

— Why did you invade my poor home?!

— Tell me why!!!

Raticati, however, showed no fear.

Or, at least, he did not let it show.

After Ruby placed him in a relatively safe location, he immediately straightened his clothes, raised his small staff, and began negotiating.

— Miss, we are merely a group of treasure hunters who came here to search for some treasures.

— As long as we can find what we are looking for, we have no intention of becoming your enemies!

Raticati could be a coward when it came to combat.

But when it came to negotiation...

That rat truly possessed an unusual talent.

He knew exactly how to speak.

And, most importantly, he knew how to make a proposal seem much more advantageous than it really was.

Ruby, on the other hand, clearly had no patience for it.

She cast a contemptuous glance at Raticati and remained at a distance, watching Mosquito’s every movement.

Negotiations only worked when both sides possessed something the other wanted.

Raticati had the bomb detonator.

Mosquito had overwhelming strength.

Without that balance, there would be no negotiation. There would only be slaughter. Besides, strangely enough, most of the treasures Mosquito had accumulated were of no real use to her.

She had gathered those things simply because she liked them.

Giving away some of them should not be that painful.

But there was one thing that deeply irritated Mosquito.

The feeling of being robbed.

For a long time, she had been the true sovereign of that dark forest.

All the plants and creatures living in that region knew of her existence.

Demons that managed to please her were given a larger portion of the territory near the ruins.

When she was in a good mood, Mosquito would release a little of her elemental energy.

To those demons, even a small amount was an unimaginable gift.

They would become so happy that they practically cried with gratitude.

But when she was irritated...

It was different.

She could simply restrict the flow of energy.

And then the demons of the forest would begin to grow restless.

Some would eventually get into conflicts and kill one another.

Then the entire underground world trembled.

BOOOOM!

The ceiling cracked.

Large chunks of stone came crashing down.

A cloud of dust filled the hall.

Mosquito raised her head.

— Damn... damn...

Her expression became even more furious.

— There’s another group of bastards causing trouble up there...

I knew exactly who they were.

The five Pseudo-Mages.

My situation was also getting worse and worse.

Mosquito seemed to want to immediately go upstairs and destroy them.

But she couldn’t.

She looked at her true form.

Then at Raticati.

Another tremor ran through the underground world.

This time, one of the walls exploded.

Mosquito clenched her teeth.

— You damn bastards...

— As soon as I go upstairs, I’m going to catch every one of you and torture you in the cruelest way possible!

Then she made a decision.

The enormous flower hall began to twist.

Dozens of vines emerged from the ground.

They moved like living fingers and grabbed a huge amount of treasures hidden inside the room.

Then everything was thrown in front of Raticati.

— Take this and get out of here now!

— The next time you dare to invade my territory, I will kill you, even if I have to destroy my own home to do it!

She took a deep breath.

— And leave the crystal behind. Run!

Raticati narrowed his eyes.

He did not trust her.

— You want us to hand over the activation trigger right now?

— Aren’t you asking us to be killed the moment we leave this place?

— Who guarantees that you’ll keep your word?

Mosquito nearly exploded with rage.

— Take these things and give me the trigger as soon as you leave this territory!

She pointed toward the exit.

— Now!

Even her long insect-like nose seemed to twitch with irritation.

Raticati, however, was a talented rat.

He reached inside his clothes and pulled out a huge bag covered in patches.

He began putting everything inside.

Everything disappeared into the sack.

When he finished, Raticati slung the bag over his back.

It was so large that it almost completely concealed him.

— Ruby, let’s go!

Ruby did not need to be told twice.

She opened her black wings, grabbed Raticati, and took flight.

Mosquito remained motionless, watching the two of them leave the second underground floor.

As soon as they were gone, she raised her hands, and the dark vines began to grow within seconds. Enormous stems and roots intertwined throughout the entire space.

She was sealing the passage.

From that moment onward, she had no intention of allowing any intruder to descend so easily again.

And there was another thing. After that, Mosquito began following them upward.

When the three of them finally emerged from the entrance to the ruins, a devastating sight appeared before them.

The Dark Forest had been transformed into a battlefield.

Trees were destroyed.

Mosquito remained silent for a moment.

She slowly raised her magical bow.

She pulled the string.

More than a hundred black arrows appeared simultaneously.

Then she released the string.

SHHHHHH!

The arrows tore through the air.

Mosquito turned toward Raticati.

— As soon as you give me the magic trigger, you can leave.

Her voice was cold.

— I still have a few scores to settle with those bastards who destroyed my territory.

Raticati and Ruby exchanged a glance.

Then Raticati carefully took out a small crystal.

He gently tossed it toward Mosquito.

— One more thing.

— That Level 3 Acolyte who controls the Shining Light Giant...

— He is my master.

— If you help us defeat those outlaw Pseudo-Mages, we promise never to enter your territory again.

Mosquito looked at the crystal.

She sensed the magical connection and felt that the object was linked to the detonator.

Then she placed the crystal inside her black armor.

— Get out of here.

— If I see you again, you’ll regret it.

The next instant, her body transformed into a streak of black light.

She shot toward the battlefield.

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Meanwhile...

I was experiencing something very close to despair.

It was not an exaggeration.

I was genuinely desperate.

Those five Pseudo-Mages had been pursuing me relentlessly.

And I no longer knew how much longer I could maintain this situation.

Both legs of the Shining Light Giant had disappeared.

The two crystal cores responsible for gathering the Elemental’s energy had been destroyed.

The lower half of its body no longer possessed a proper structure.

The chaotic wind accumulated there could barely maintain a small vortex.

Its golden armor had been completely destroyed.

Pieces of it continued to fall.

And finally...

The Wind Elemental’s core was exposed inside its white, misty body.

If that core were destroyed...

The Giant would disappear.

The Giant had already lost an absurd amount of power.

That was why I no longer dared to make it confront the five of them directly.

It simply used Light Leap repeatedly to escape their magical attacks.

And I was hiding inside the Black Rock Basilisk.

Or rather...

Inside what remained of it.

The poor Basilisk dragged its half-destroyed body through the underground world.

Its rocky scales were cracked.

Entire sections of its body had disappeared.

Even so, it continued digging.

It continued carrying me farther away.

But I knew it would not be long.

Before one of those damn Pseudo-Mages forced me to leave the underground again.

He did not need to attack me directly.

It was enough to interfere with the connection between the Basilisk and the Earth Elemental.

Normally, to the Basilisk, the Earth Elemental was like an ocean.

It could swim through it and move freely.

But Netalp transformed that ocean into something resembling a solid mass.

With every attempt to advance, the Earth Elemental pressed against the Basilisk’s body from all directions.

It could no longer remain hidden.

I was forced to ascend, and the moment I emerged... the five of them would attack together.

The lower part of the Basilisk had already been destroyed by Hegel.

That ten-year-old boy who used the Blue Fire Elemental.

Afterward, the five Pseudo-Mages attacked together.

The impact had practically destroyed it. If I had not summoned another Basilisk at the right moment to divide their attention...

I would probably already be dead.

....

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