21 hours later,
In a dark underground chamber, a beautiful-looking woman wearing a red gown could be seen sitting on a throne that was made up of gold. At this moment, the woman sitting on the throne was having a frowning expression on her face.
The dark underground chamber was illuminated with a special kind of magic stones that can only be found in the Heavenly Hemlock forest. These magic stones were known as solar stones. The reason these magic stones were known as Solar stones is that by absorbing a very tiny amount of mana, these stones can shine very strongly. The solar stones have been placed all around the underground chamber. Each solar stone was radiating a different type of color.
Behind the throne that was made up of gold, there were more than hundreds of treasures lying around. These treasures varied from gold, silver, solar stones, mana stones, and dragon grass to all kinds of treasures that any cultivator in this world would desire. However, the woman sitting on the throne didn’t seem to care much about these treasures.
The Ant colony began taking over the Heavenly Hemlock forest by killing all strong magical animals in the heavenly Hemlock forest, while doing that, the mutant fire ants found many kinds of treasures and even some mines. Right now, the only thing that the queen lacked was enough food for her entire colony. Every single day thousands of mutant fire ants died from hunger. Hunger has driven the mutant fire ants to the point where the ants wouldn’t even hesitate to eat one of their own kind.
If the queen had not used her powers and stopped the mutant fire ants, all 1st-order and 2nd-order mutant fire ants would have started fighting among each other and would have eaten each other. To prevent this from happening, the queen was forced to attack the human city. However, the food they managed to secure from Blackwood city would run out in a few weeks. Meaning their hunger was solved temporarily. In the long run, they would have no choice but to attack the Ethereal empire to secure their food. As for the magical animals that lived in the Heavenly Hemlock forest, almost every single magical animal was killed and eaten by the mutant fire ants.
At this moment the queen of the mutant fire ant colony was talking with an important person. His name was Ashley and he was the Peak 5th-order cultivator that the organization has sent to help her with the plan.
[Ashley, have you found them?] The frown on the queen’s face deepened. All of the children had spread all over the Heavenly Hemlock forest. By now, her children had searched every single corner of the forest yet they couldn’t find their target.
[I have searched for them outside the Heavenly Hemlock forest, unfortunately, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Speaking of outside, I have bad and also good news for you. Which one do you want to hear?] Ashley asked while chuckling. He can only imagine the queen’s expression.
Sigh!
The queen whose human name was Scarlet couldn’t help but sigh. Everyone in the organization knew how bad her situation was. Sometimes Scarlet even thought of abandoning all of her children and just go somewhere else. Every day it was a headache to secure enough food for the entire colony. Even the fishes in the rivers and lakes have been emptied. As a result, the queen had long stopped laying eggs fully knowing that her new children won’t have food for them.
[I will go with the good news first.]
[The good news is that the Crown prince and the princess hadn’t reached the Ethereal Empire yet. This is where our bad news comes in. As the crown prince and the princess hasn’t returned, the Emperor is now on his way to the Heavenly Hemlock forest with an army of 2 million.]
Crack!
Scarlet couldn’t control her strength and ended up cracking the armrest of her throne. For a moment the queen did not respond back. Ashley knew that Scarlet was having a tough time. To be honest, he felt pity for the woman. Ashley also hated and look down upon Scarlet at the same time. Ashley was a human and seeing what the ants have done to so many innocent people, somewhere in his heart Ashley felt sad and angry. If Scarlet wasn’t a part of the organization, then he would have been the first to kill her and destroy her ant colony.
After a moment Scarlet finally got hold of her emotions. Another sigh escaped from her mouth as she raised her head and looked at the empty space while deeply thinking about something.
After nearly 5 minutes of silence, Ashley heard Scarlet’s response.
[So, The original plan of attacking the Ethereal Empire cannot be implemented. Did our leader tell us what we should do in this situation?] The plan to attack Blackwood city was also made by the leader. While the organization wanted the destruction of the Ethereal empire, the queen wanted to attack the cities and find food for her children.
[Yes, the plan has been altered slightly. Originally the Ethereal Empire was going to become our battlefield. But the Emperor has decided to bring his army here, the Heavenly Hemlock Forest will become the battleground. I hope you’re prepared to face the Ethereal Empire.]
Scarlet remained quiet for another few minutes before breaking the ice with another question. [I am sure that Ethereal Empire will have multiple 5th-order elders on their side. I will need some help if I want to win the war.]
Originally the queen had 20 beginner 5th-order mutant fire ants. A few days ago one of the fifth-order ant was killed by a woman named Sylvie. Yesterday, the red dragon killed 7 of her fifth-order ants. This has left the queen with 12 fifth-order mutant fire ants. However Scarlet knew that the Ethereal Empire had a Peak 5th-order elder who can easily slaughter 12 of her beginner 5th-order mutant fire ants. Once that happens, the whole tide of the war will change. Even if the queen had millions of ants under her control, in front of a Peak 5th-order cultivator, the word ‘millions’ will be nothing but a big number.
[Don’t worry, the organization has sent two more Peak 5th-order cultivators beside me to help you out.] Hearing Ashley’s words Scarlet sighed in relief. The queen felt as if a big burden has been lifted from her chest.
[Should I stop looking for the Crown prince and the princess?] Scarlet knew that it would take some time to assemble all of her mutant fire ants. All of her ants were spread in every region of the Heavenly Hemlock Forest. 𝒊𝓫𝓪.𝓬𝓸𝙢
[Actually, it would have been much better if we could manage to capture the Crown prince and the princess before the war started. We can use them as a bargaining chip. However, without your ant army, winning this war is impossible. So yes, stop searching for the crown prince and the princess and start assembling your ant troops. Meanwhile, I will continue my search.]
After the communication with Ashley ended, Scarlet again sighed as she stood up from the throne. From her storage ring, she took out a diary and a pen and started writing something. At the same time, she used her powers to call every single mutant fire ant to the southern part of the outer region of the Heavenly Hemlock forest.
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Scene change_____
Another 10 hours passed,
Swoosh!
With his fully healed wings, Aditya landed right before Alicia. Currently, they had come out of their hiding. “How is the situation?” Sylvie asked.
Aditya shook his head with a confused look. “All the Peak 3rd-order or 4th-order or 5th-order mutant fire ants have already left the core region. As for the beginner 3rd-order or 2nd-order or 1st-order, mutant fire ants, these ants are also moving in the direction of South.”
Around 5 hours ago, Aditya noticed this change. All the powerful mutant fire ants had already left the core region. This made the Dragon king a little confused as he couldn’t understand what was going on.
“Do you think this could be a trap set by the enemy to bait us out?” Alicia asked.
“It could also be possible that father is going to attack the mutant fire ants. Knowing father, I am sure by now he already is moving his Ethereal troops toward the Heavenly Hemlock forest. I think the ant queen is preparing to fight the Ethereal troops.” Noah knew his father very well. He was personally taught by his father for years. After Olivia and Noah’s 3 mothers, Noah was the next person who knew the Emperor the most.
Ronnie has been teaching Noah ever since Noah was 7 years old. It was not so difficult to think about what his father is going to do in this situation.
“In that case, we should head in the southeastern direction. We will take a detour so that we don’t meet the mutant fire ants.” Sylvie, Alicia, Nora, and Noah, all four were very familiar with the terrain of the Ethereal Empire and the places outside their Empire. But Aditya didn’t know much about the terrain as he wasn’t a native of the Ethereal Empire.
“If we head in the Southeastern direction, we will reach the border of our neighboring Empire. From there we can easily return to the Ethereal Empire and then join father in this war.” Since his father already had bought his army, Noah was planning on joining the war. The same could be said for the Succubus Nora, Sylvie, and also Aditya. As for Alicia, even if she wanted to join, Aditya, Noah, and her Emperor won’t allow it.
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