Chapter 375 -: 374 Mantis

Chapter 375: Chapter: 374 Mantis

Julius and Rosalina moved deeper into the Crimson Forest, with Julius taking the lead. He had already seen this place through the memories Destiny had shown him, and surprisingly, those memories had not been from some distant past.

They depicted the forest as it currently existed, which meant that even though the Crimson Forest was vast enough to make navigation difficult for almost anyone else, Julius had a fairly clear idea of where they needed to go.

He occasionally adjusted their direction after recognizing familiar landmarks from the memories, guiding Rosalina through enormous trees whose crimson leaves blocked most of the sunlight above them.

The deeper they went, however, the more dangerous the forest became. Beasts began appearing from every direction, some emerging from the dense undergrowth while others descended from the branches without warning. ℯ

Julius and Rosalina initially dealt with them without much trouble. Rosalina’s sword flashed through several beasts before they could even approach her, while Julius dealt with the others using his own abilities.

Neither of them needed to use their full strength, but the number of beasts continued to increase until it became obvious that killing them was pointless.

There was simply no end to them.

"They’re everywhere," Rosalina muttered as another group of beasts moved through the trees in the distance.

Julius glanced around before nodding.

"Yeah. At this rate, we’d waste more energy fighting them than we’d spend getting to our destination."

Rosalina’s rose-petal eyes slowly opened, and the surrounding space seemed to become slightly distorted.

Her ability spread over the two of them, concealing their presence from the creatures wandering through the forest.

Julius followed by suppressing his own aura as much as possible, making the two of them almost impossible for ordinary beasts to notice.

Once they stopped drawing attention, the beasts gradually moved past them without realizing that their prey had been standing only a short distance away.

With that method, their journey became much smoother. They no longer needed to stop every few minutes to fight another creature, allowing them to travel deeper into the forest while conserving their strength for whatever Destiny had actually sent them here to find.

"Once we awaken the third ability, then what?" Rosalina suddenly asked while following behind him.

"Well, Destiny has prepared for me and you to enter the 101 treasure tower, so we will go there."

Rosalina remained silent for a moment before nodding slightly.

Julius was particularly confident about his own future strength. Destiny had told him that after awakening the third ability, his eyes would allow him to see countless possible futures.

He could already see the future to some extent and, more importantly, alter it by making different choices based on what he saw.

If the third stage truly allowed him to perceive countless possibilities simultaneously, his ability to manipulate events would become terrifying.

And Rosalina’s third ability was arguably even more absurd.

Her 2nd awakening granted the ability to manifest illusions into reality, and she would eventually possess the ability to break fragments of reality.

Julius wasn’t entirely sure what the full extent of that power would be, but he knew enough to understand that very few people at the same realm would be able to fight her directly.

They continued flying for several hours, occasionally descending when the trees became too dense before rising again once the path opened up. Eventually, Julius noticed a subtle change in the atmosphere.

The oppressive aura surrounding the deeper portion of the forest became considerably heavier, and even the beasts they could sense from afar were fundamentally different from the creatures they had encountered earlier.

Julius slowed down.

They had finally crossed the threshold into the central region of the Crimson Forest.

From this point onward, the beasts were Celestial-ranked creatures, beings whose strength could rival an Infinite Core Spell Caster. Even Julius and Rosalina couldn’t afford to attract unnecessary attention here.

Fighting one of these creatures might be possible if they were desperate, but doing so would almost certainly attract other beasts, and that was the last thing they wanted.

"Stay low," Julius whispered.

Rosalina nodded as she further concealed their presence.

Fortunately, Destiny’s memories had shown him a path that should lead directly toward the place they were searching for. If everything went according to plan, they wouldn’t need to remain in this region for long.

Fortunately, the place Destiny had shown him...

Julius suddenly stopped. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

His expression changed instantly. Something sharp and deadly tore through the air toward his neck.

Julius reacted almost entirely on instinct. He twisted his body backward and rapidly increased the distance between himself and Rosalina, the sharp edge passing through the space where his neck had been only a moment earlier.

His eyes narrowed as he looked toward the attacker, finally seeing the creature that had approached them without making a sound.

A Black-Eyed Terror Mantis.

Julius’s pupils contracted. Even Rosalina’s expression changed.

A Celestial-ranked beast.

Neither of them had sensed it approaching.

The Terror Mantis remained motionless for a brief moment, its enormous body blending into the surrounding crimson vegetation. Its black eyes stared at the two humans as its scythe-like forelimbs slowly shifted into position.

Julius and Rosalina immediately summoned their weapons.

Neither of them intended to fight.

They both understood the difference between their current strength and that of a Celestial-ranked beast. Even if they joined forces, defeating this creature would be extremely difficult, and the battle would inevitably attract the attention of other powerful beasts.

Their objective was not to prove that they could kill everything standing in their path.

They simply needed to survive.

The Terror Mantis suddenly blinked.

Julius’s pupils contracted as he desperately searched for its presence, but there was nothing. The creature had disappeared from both his vision and his perception, as though it had been erased from existence.

Then it reappeared beside his right side.

Julius gritted his teeth and immediately reached toward the empty space beside him.

"Space Bomb!"

The surrounding air warped violently. Space itself seemed to twist around the Terror Mantis’s abdomen, stretching unnaturally as a terrifying force attempted to compress and tear apart the area occupied by its body.

For the first time, panic appeared in the Terror Mantis’s eyes.

It reacted instantly, abandoning its attack on Julius and blinking away from the distorted space.

But instead of retreating, it appeared beside Rosalina.

Rosalina’s eyes widened.

For the first time since the battle began, genuine panic flashed across her face. She immediately attempted to summon her sword, but the Terror Mantis had already noticed her reaction. It recognized the hesitation in her movements and instantly understood that she was vulnerable.

Its scythe-like limb swung toward her neck.

There was no time to dodge. The blade passed cleanly through Rosalina’s neck.

Her head separated from her body in a single motion, and her blood sprayed across the ground as her body collapsed beneath her. The Terror Mantis paused for only a moment before lowering its head and licking the blood from its scythe.

Then it turned toward Julius, Julius stood completely still.

However, there was no panic on his face.

The Terror Mantis stared at him, apparently confused by his reaction. It had expected the death of his companion to provoke fear or desperation, but Julius merely watched it with an almost unnaturally calm expression.

The Mantis blinked.

Then it slowly raised one of its scythes and stabbed it directly into Rosalina’s corpse.

There was still no reaction from Julius.

The creature pulled its limb back, clearly becoming annoyed by the lack of response.

Then, without warning, a sword pierced directly through its heart.

The Terror Mantis’s body froze.

Its black eyes widened as it looked down at the weapon protruding from its chest. For a moment, it couldn’t understand where the attack had come from. The sword vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving behind a deep wound that continued leaking black blood.

At the same time, another sword appeared in Julius’s hand.

Blood dripped from its blade. Julius casually flicked the weapon, sending the black blood flying from its surface.

Then he looked toward the Terror Mantis.

"Finish it, Rose."

The moment those words left his mouth, the Terror Mantis understood.

The creature immediately backed away.

It had chosen the wrong opponents today.

Their physical strength might have been inferior, and their rank might not have reached the Infinite Core, but their abilities were simply too troublesome. One could manipulate space while the other could deceive its senses and create attacks that it couldn’t properly understand.

The Terror Mantis had no intention of dying here.

It turned around and attempted to escape through the canopy, its body moving faster than most creatures could even perceive.

But before it could disappear into the trees, a blade flashed through the air.

The Terror Mantis’s body froze.

Its head separated from its neck. As its severed head flew through the crimson canopy, its black eyes widened in disbelief.

The woman it had killed moments earlier was standing behind it.

Rosalina’s head was perfectly intact, her body unharmed, and a faint grin rested on her lips as she looked at the dying beast.

"It was nice knowing ya," she said casually. "Now you may rest in pieces."

The Terror Mantis’s consciousness faded as its head fell through the crimson leaves.