It was a normal day in the Ethereal Empire. With a million guards being placed in Rose high hills city, the people felt safer. Things were beginning to calm down. More than 3 hours have passed since the expedition team left Rose high hills city.
Capital of Ethereal Empire,
While the Emperor was having a meeting with the royal officials, the Prime minister suddenly came running to the throne hall without any warning. "Your Majesty, all the elite soldiers except for Coby whom you had sent to the expedition team have died. All of their life crystals have broken down."
"Wha...What...did you say?" Ronnie narrowed his eyes while taking a deep breath. He carefully looked at his prime minister and put his full focus on his prime minister fearing that if he did not focus enough, he would hear the wrong things. At this moment Ronnie looked very dangerous. His eyes had turned cold. The way he looked at the prime minister made others feel as if the Emperor is going to slaughter them.
"Your Majesty, all the elite soldiers that we sent have been killed. Around 10 minutes ago, all of their life crystals broke down at the same time." For the next 5 seconds, everyone stared at the emperor in silence. Everyone was already feeling scared. The Emperor was someone that no one wanted to mess with. When this man lost his temper, things can become very chaotic.
However contrary to everyone's expectations, the Emperor instead took a deep breath to calm himself. Ronnie clenched his fists as his eyes turned red. The coldness in his eyes only increased. The cold and ruthless Emperor also looked a little fragile and weak. There was a trace of fear in his eyes but no one noticed. The Emperor's biggest fear, fragile and weak side was his own children. Ronnie loved his children so much that he was willing to do anything for them.
"What about you Alicia and Noah?" Ronnie asked in a choked tone. At this moment, the man who was sitting on the golden throne wasn't the Emperor of the Ethereal Empire, rather he was the desperate father who wanted to know about his children.
It was no secret that this time, his Majesty had allowed the Crown prince and the princess to join the Expedition team. One of the reasons why Ronnie agreed to send Noah and Alicia is because the expedition team had 3 beginner 5th orders and the most powerful and capable elite soldiers of their Empire. Not to mention Aditya who had the power of a million troops. His ability to fight multiple enemies made Ronnie believe that nothing can happen to the expedition team. But it looks like he was wrong.
The prime minister took a deep breath and then looked at the Emperor's face. Even though this wasn't the first time the prime minister had seen the Emperor angry, this was the first time, the prime minister felt that the Emperor might lose his sanity if something happens to his children. "Your majesty, you can rest assured. His royal highness and the Princess are both alright. Not just that even Nora and Sylvie are still alive. As for Tate, he died around 30 to 40 minutes ago."
After the prime minister's words, the entire throne hall fell into silence. Everyone in the throne hall felt relieved that the Princess and the crown prince were alright. But the news of Tate's death made them sad. It was not that anyone in the throne hall was emotionally attached to Tate, everyone felt sad because Tate was one of the pillars of the Ethereal Empire and his death left a gap that will probably take a long time to fulfill. It was certainly not easy for a faction to have a beginner 5th-order cultivator. The number of resources that a faction must put into raising a beginner 5th-order is just too many. Not to mention the fact that not every cultivator had the talent of reaching the 5th order.
Hearing the Prime minister's words, Ronnie sighed with a relieved look. Fortunately, nothing happened to Noah and Alicia. Ronnie was now beginning to regret his choice of sending Noah and Alicia with the expedition team. If he can reverse time, then Ronnie wouldn't have sent Noah, Alicia, and Aditya with the expedition team. As for Aditya, Ronnie wasn't sure if he was alive or not. The life crystal was a unique type of crystal that was attached to the life of a person. Normally a cultivator must put a drop of his blood to bind the life crystal with his soul. If a cultivator dies, the life crystal will also shatter. Big factions use this method to know if anything has happened to their faction member. Since Aditya did not have a life crystal, no one knew if he was alive or dead.
'I don't think Aditya is dead. Based on what Noah had told me about Aditya's powers, he can kill hundreds of Peak 4th-order mutant fire ants in an instant. There is no way he is dead.' As much as Ronnie hated Aditya for stealing his daughter and becoming his daughter's boyfriend, Ronnie truly didn't want Aditya to die. In his opinion, Aditya was a genius. Despite being only 19 years old, he already had reached beginner 3rd-order. This was a feat that not every genius was capable of accomplishing. The fact that he can fight higher-order beings so easily and effortlessly makes him even more of a genius. This kind of talent was born once every 500 years.
'Still, never did I think that out of the 94 best elite soldiers of the Ethereal Empire, 93 would die in less than 3 hours. I think the expedition team must have been attacked by the mutant fire ants.' Ronnie let out another sigh. He massaged his forehead using his right palm while thinking about the mutant fire ants.
"Your Majesty, I am afraid the expedition team must have been attacked by the mutant fire ants. Should we send another team to rescue the Princess and the Crown Prince?" Ronnie did not reply immediately. He was lost in deep thought.
'Since 95 of the 100 expedition team members are dead, it's safe to assume that Sylvie has managed to use the artifact that I gave her and has managed to teleport with Alicia, Noah, Aditya, and Nora.' This was the most logical conclusion that Ronnie can think of.
'However, there is a very high chance that the teleportation crystal has just teleported Alicia, Noah, Aditya, Nora, and Sylvie to a different part of the Heavenly Hemlock forest.' The teleportation crystal teleported randomly. Given that the expedition team was inside the Heavenly Hemlock forest, there is a high chance that Alicia, Noah, Aditya, Nora, and Sylvie have been to a random part of the Heavenly Hemlock forest.
'I just hope that they don't get teleported to the core region of the Heavenly Hemlock forest.' Ronnie could only pray for everyone's safety. He didn't want anyone else to die. Each of their deaths will have a massive impact on him and on the lives of millions of people.
"Someone go and call Elder Ronan. This time I will be personally going to the Heavenly Hemlock forest." Ronnie stood up and then began walking down the stairs with the intention of preparing for an all-out war with the Mutant fire ants.
-
-
Scene change _
"Does anyone have anything to eat?" The beginner 5th-order Succubus shamelessly asked for food in this situation. Hearing Nora's words, everyone opened their eyes and stopped meditating. She had just interrupted Alicia, Noah, Aditya, and Sylvie from cultivating.
Sylvie couldn't help but frown. "I am surprised that you have the appetite to eat food in this dark cave."
The Succubus cutely giggled causing her bosom to sway. "Darkness is the perfect place to drink some....cough I mean eat."
Sylvie felt like she had made a mistake. "If I had known that you would be this perverted, I wouldn't have bought you with us. Maybe eating those mutant fire ants' liquid.....I mean meat would have filled your stomach."
"Hmph! You virgin old hag."
Sylvie's right eye started twitching when she was called a virgin old hag. "What did you say?" Sylvie gritted her teeth in anger and asked in a deep tone.
Nora looked like she didn't notice or just didn't care about Sylvie's anger. The Succubus sneered at Sylvie and replied. "I said the virgin old hag. You're so old yet you can't find a partner. But look at our Noah. Even though he is just 22 years old, he already has lost his virginity."
Cough!
Meanwhile, Noah couldn't help but cough in embarrassment. He pretended to not notice the shocked look that his little sister was giving him. Noah was a healthy young man. Since he had a fiance, he had done it with her a few times. Never did he think even in his wildest dreams that this Succubus would expose his deepest and darkest secret.
"What?" Sylvie was shocked to hear that Noah already had lost his virginity. She can still see the image of naked little Noah running around and playing with a stick. Suddenly Sylvie started to feel very old.
"If I am not mistaken he has done it last Friday." Nora proudly exposed the crown prince's secrets.
"Can you please stop talking about me?" Even in the darkness, everyone was able to see Noah's red face. The crown prince felt like crying except his eyes had no water in them. Now he even had lost his image in front of his little sister and his brother in law.
----------------
Really Thank you very much to all those who sends support with valuable golden tickets. I hope we can keep it up!!!