Through the thick forest trees, following the dirt road, a line of seven carriages slowly advanced. Petra hummed a little tune, swaying back and forth on top of the carriage.
After a few hours, Wind couldn't help but ask, "Hay, where do you live exactly? How deep into the forest are we going?"
Petra paused, realizing that she had forgotten to tell the girls where they were going.
Petra looked at the grumpy little girl.
She had forgotten that Wind seemed to be from a noble background. If she knew that Petra lived deep in the forest like some kind of savage, then how would she react.
Petra's eyes moved to the drivers she had hired to drive the carriages.
It's best for them not to know, she thought to herself.
"You'll know when we get there. No rush."
Mell nodded. "What we need to do is make sure the carriages are protected."
Rose grumbled, wondering if she should go back and try her luck with the bastard back in town. She felt like this was a one-way trip.
Nebula didn't mind the journey, and she didn't have high standards for living conditions.
Time passed, and the carriages eventually reached the point where Petra had paid them to drive. Petra thanked them and let them go. Because Petra had not paid for the horses, the drivers used them to return.
The five girls were left in the wilderness, and the seven carriages full of cargo were undefended. One was waiting, one was worried, one was annoyed, one was simmering, and one was silent.
Wind couldn't help but ask, "What are we waiting for?"
Petra kicked a rock with her little foot. She grumbled. "First, let's deal with our tail. It's better to deal with them now than get attacked in our sleep."
Rose and Wind suddenly became alert.
They looked around, finding nothing.
Petra pointed towards the sky.
There, a small black dot had been circling around, following them ever since they left the city.
"That's a spy from the Silver Eye. You can hire them to track a target. My guess is that we should be expecting company shortly." Nebula looked towards the sky and nodded.
Petra snapped her fingers, and the long tongue of the frog shot into the sky and ripped the bird from its flight. It was dragged down, becoming the big black and green frog's lunch.
The three girls looked on in amazement.
One had to know that the reason why the Silver Eye was one of the most annoying powers on the continent was because of the difficulty of attacking them.
Shortly after, the 'pursuers' arrived.
A group of armored cavalrymen came galloping down the dirt road. A cloud of dust was left in their wake, and they seemed to have no intention of stopping.
Petra suddenly frowned.
if they didn't stop, then wouldn't they destroy the carriages?
Petra suddenly had an idea.
Her little eyes looked at Rose inquisitively.
Rose felt the questioning gaze and suddenly felt embarrassed. Just like what Petra was thinking, these people were probably here for her.
Rose reluctantly nodded her head.
Petra grinned.
Since they wouldn't slow down, then they can all just die. The little girl whipped her hand, and a cloud of purplish blue smoke shot out and filled the forest road.
Seeing this, the cavalrymen did not stop. Instead, they increased their speed, intending to break through the wall of smoke as quickly as possible.
When their horses carried them through the smoke, screams of horror immediately sounded from the cavalry.
Before they could even exit the cloud, their bodies were stripped of their flesh and cleaned up neatly. Pristine skeletons, shining weapons, clattering armour, and bags of loot were all ejected from the cloud of fog and fell in front of Petra's feet. Whether it was horses or men, they had all been stripped clean.
This terrifying scene not only shocked the pursuers, but the four women finally realised what kind of terrifying existence had taken them in.
Petra paused her hand and pointed at the fog.
The fog spiraled like an undersea current and was violently sucked back into Petra's body.
The little girl wiped her hand on her robe and skipped over, beginning to collect her loot, completely ignoring the few surviving men.
In the back, one of the men roared. "Do you know what you have done! You have declared war on the whole of Sevensen City!"
Petra looked over, realizing that this man seemed to be slightly different from the surrounding knights.
He was tall and very thin. He didn't wear armor and didn't have a sword. There was the crest of a three headed lion embroidered in the center of his mantle. The man had long black pants and a white puffy shirt. On the side of his neck, a large vein throbbed violently.
Petra tilted her head. She looked towards Rose as if to ask if this was the guy.
Rose, slightly pale, nodded his head.
"Sir, I think you have a misunderstanding. I have nothing to do with this. It's your reckless driving that caused this disaster. Next time, please stay to the side, like a good and upright citizen!"
The man's eyes widened in fury.
'Do you know who I am! I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth! I'll massacre your family and flay you alive, little brat!! When I'm done with you, I'll sell you to the brothel to be tortured day in and day out!"
Petra didn't even flinch at the threat.
This man would probably do that.
Unfortunately, he still didn't seem to know that he had kicked an iron plate. Either that, or he still had something to rely on.
Petra looked around, trying to figure out what the man was thinking.
He roared to the few survivors. "Go back to the city and tell Pillia what happened here! Make sure each of their faces is on a wanted poster by sunset! 10,000 Crystal Coins, courtesy of the Black Lion!"
When the few survivors heard this, they quickly spun their horses and galloped away.
Petra shook her head.
She just couldn't figure it out.
Petra snapped her fingers, and the 10 meter long centipede that had already returned to its normal size exploded forward. Like an extending bridge, it reached out from Petra's position, passed over the head of the hysterical idiot, and crashed down onto the few retreating horsemen.
The moment before it could devour them, a sword light slashed out from the forest.
The sword light met the centipede's carapace, resounding in a loud screech. Although it didn't manage to cut through, it still left a large scar on the side of the centipede's head, knocking it away and managing to save the few galloping knights.
The centipede retracted to Petra's side, rolling around in pain.
Petra watched coldly as it wriggled around, screeching.
Her bright and innocent eyes slowly turned cold.
For those more sensitive, even the air seemed to carry a chill.
Her gaze shifted to the swordsmen, who had just emerged from the forest. This was likely the annoying man's backup.
The knight met Petra's ice-cold eyes.
Even for a battle-hardened master like himself, he felt apprehensive looking at the deep abyss hidden in those bottomless black eyes.
He almost felt like he had returned to his youth, when he first faced a dragon. Its unconcealed disdain for all life loomed over him, treating him no different from the ants on the ground. He could feel the rage slowly bubbling up through the little girl's eyes.
He quickly adjusted himself, quickly making sure his young master was not injured, before standing between Petra and his young master.
"Young master, let's retreat. She's not strong, but she's very dangerous."
The man from the 'Black Lion' gritted his teeth. "I want her alive, by all means necessary."
The swordsmen nodded.
Petra remained silent. She was currently trying to process why she felt so angry. Was it because he had hurt one of her contracted beasts? Petra didn't think so. This inexplicable rage seemed to come from somewhere different.
Her bottomless eyes looked at the man.
"Is it worth it? I mean, fighting us?"
The man ignored the question, readying himself to attack
"You will definitely die, and so will he, so what's so valuable that you would exchange your lives for it?"
The swordsmen chuckled.
"Little girl, you don't seem to know who I---" "It doesn't matter. Both of you will die."
The swordsmen didn't fly into a rage after being interrupted. He just shook his head.
Petra looked at him, this time with slight pity.
"It seems like you won't listen." Petra just shook her head. "Then, die."
Petra didn't even have to move. The swordsman was suddenly shocked by the blood curdling scream from behind.
He turned around to find that his young master had collapsed. Thick purple veins ran through his skin like spiderwebs. He convulsed, alternating between choking, and screaming. He clawed at his throat, his eyes almost popping out.
The swordsmen suddenly understood.
He snapped towards Petra, looking a lot less composed.
"Where's the antidote!"
He roared, locking onto Petra.
"I asked you, was it worth it? Even if you kill us, you'll both still die, so what's the point?"
The swordsmen finally took her words seriously.
"if you don't want to be hunted down by the Black Lion, hand over the antidote immediately!"
Petra shook her head. 'Black lion this, and black lion that, what the hell was even the black lion?'
"I keep asking, what's so important that you will trade your life for it? You can't seriously be here just for Rose, right?"
The swordsmen gritted his teeth.
In truth, he really was here just for his young master's plaything. This kind of 'mission' was something that couldn't even be officially reported.
Although Rose did in fact have a special identity, the man on the ground was in no state to explain it.
"Do you know, even if you hide in the Green Wind Forest for the rest of your life, you won't be able to escape the pursuit of the Black Lion!!"
Petra just sighed.
There was no point in talking to the man.
She finally understood how painful it was to talk to these web novel fodder villains.
"Look around you. How are you going to escape? Also, do you think that those guys who ran away are alive? Dummy~."
Petra's words were like a sharp bell. He realised that his senses seemed to be weakening as well. He was also poisoned! He looked around, only to find hundreds of eyes shining brightly in the shadows of the surrounding forest.
"What!"
Those were not the eyes of a human.
Hundreds of 'ants', each the size of a man, emerged from the surrounding forest. They completely surrounded the area.
Unlike normal ants, these ants had much thicker limbs and only stood on their back four legs. Their two front legs seemed to have been transformed, making them slightly closer to hand like appendages. Each massive ant radiated the aura of a seasoned veteran, clearly bred for war.
It wasn't only the man who felt scared.
Other than Petra, all the girls immediately became very alert. Only Nebu had a contemplative look on her usually stoic face.
Petra looked at the man, not hiding her hostility at all.
Her voice seemed to change, her tone no longer like that of a child.
"Did you know, long ago, there was a very special ant?"
"Back before the Elfefalein Empire was founded, there existed a long period of chaos, one filled with many miraculous species and legendary existences? This was called the Age of Chaos."
"This ant was unlike other ants. It never fit in, it never followed the colony, and it wouldn't accept its fate. Ants only live a few years. This special ant was unwilling to accept that. It lived in a world of kings. Some ruled the lands, some ruled the sky, some ruled the sea. Some were larger than mountains, and some could cover the sky with their wings. So, this ant, feeling it was unfair, began to dream."
Petra took a step forward.
"It wished for power, it wished for life. It wanted to rule over countless kings, it wanted to reach the stars. It wanted to know what was beyond the last horizon."
"This small ant left its brothers and traveled the earth on its own. Its life was like a flickering candle, each moment could have been its last."
Petra's eyes deepened.
"This ant devoured the blood of the Sky King. It picked up scraps from a battle of godlike proportions. The small ant risked it all, just for a drop of blood, struggling to even approach the fight."
"It succeeded, it grew, and it extended its life."
"This ant continued risking its life. Fight after fight, it hid in the shadows, devouring the blood of the most powerful beasts in the world."
"During this time, its countless brothers had died, the lifespan of an ant was exhausted, but it remained, it 'Persisted', and continued to dream. The high elves founded their empire, ending this era of chaos."
"The ant was lost. Its 'prey' had disappeared, replaced by these elves. Not knowing what to do, it decided to pass on its dream. Like these strange pointy eared monsters, it created an Inheritance."
"It bore three children."
"The Ant King passed down its Inheritance to its three children."
"Its first child was crushed under the foot of a passing elf."
"Its second child disappeared, dragged into the abyss by the waves of the earth."
"Its third child, enraged by the fates of its sisters, became one of the most terrifying creatures to exist during the Golden Age."
"The Warlord Forge, an Ant Queen that was a beast unlike any other."
"It built an army, copying the high elves, and passed down its knowledge."
"The high elves fought a long war and eventually destroyed the first 'Calamity Species'. But what they didn't know was that the true ant king had never taken the stage. The calamity that almost wiped out the high elves was the mere incidental rage of its third daughter."
"Nobody knows what happened to the Ant King, but until now, the Calamity Species known as the Warlord Forge had never appeared before the public again."
Petra tilted her head.
"At least, not until now."
"You can be the first experiment, for the revived torture techniques of the high elves."
She smiled, looking at the first wave of 'Warriors' created by the ant queen.
"He's all yours."