The doctor looked at the soldier lying on the ground, entangled by many branches, struggling in pain. He gritted his teeth, pulled a military shovel from his backpack, and charged forward, swinging it forcefully at the branches covered with fresh flowers.
Thump!
But due to his lack of strength, one swing failed to completely cut the branches, only severing one or two. When he tried to swing again, a large number of branches, like in the previous scene, wrapped around his entire body, along with the military shovel in his hand.
Clang~
Suddenly, streaks of white light flashed. When the doctor recovered, Captain Orson had already carried him out of the flower sea.
"Ah ah ugh..."
But the soldier who was previously responsible for protecting the doctor's safety was still entangled by a large number of branches. A slight "crack, crack" sound came from his body. The soldier's eyes widened, and he quickly fell silent.
"Damn it!"
Captain Orson looked at the suddenly rioting sea of flowers, his face grim.
"Flamethrower soldiers!"
Captain Orson shouted loudly. Immediately, ten burly soldiers carrying military flamethrowers charged forward and pressed the switch, aiming at the rioting sea of flowers.
Boom!
Flames instantly erupted from the muzzles. The sea of flowers immediately began to burn fiercely with "crackling" sounds. The countless fresh flower branches tried to break through the flames, but after a brief struggle, they turned into ashes and dissipated in the flames.
"Fortunately, we just entered here, otherwise..."
Captain Orson felt a chill in his heart. If they had completely entered this sea of flowers, their thousand-man army would probably have been immediately scattered. At that point, even using flamethrowers would only accelerate their own demise.
At this time, in the flower sea area where Illumi and the others were located.
"Send a small Falcon drone to check the situation in the back."
Illumi looked at Pride. Pride lightly nodded his chin. His finger lightly swiped across the screen.
Click!
Among the thirty Avenger soldiers, one of their supply backpacks opened with a crack, slowly opening.
Buzz~
A small Falcon drone slowly took off. It hovered above everyone's heads for a circle, then "swished" and vanished in an instant, like an afterimage.
"These guys, what on earth do they have in that super large backpack?"
Beyond's team was once again startled by this unit. They actually had this kind of thing in their backpacks? How much stuff did they carry?
"The army used flamethrowers. The flower sea branches are indeed attacking them. But with flamethrowers, there are no problems for now."
In less than five seconds, the situation of the investigation team behind them appeared on Pride's screen. Pride reported the situation on the screen to Illumi, and also to the other members present.
"Why didn't they attack us?"
Beyond pinched his chin, his face grim with thought.
"The reason is unknown. Should we continue to advance? Now that we know these branches can move, if we still advance, we might encounter something."
Cervantes frowned and looked at Beyond. According to his cautious personality, he should retreat and merge with the investigation team behind them, then analyze the situation to see if they could change routes.
"Then let's go back."
Illumi spoke. Since they knew there was danger in this sea of flowers, they couldn't continue to advance. They would only encounter greater danger.
"What? Why not just ignore them?"
Greed's face showed displeasure. He didn't want to care about any Kakin Empire investigation team. Anyway, they were just using the Kakin Empire's channels to go to the Dark Continent.
Now that Envy had figured out the trade procedures between the Kakin Empire and the Gatekeeper, and they had successfully arrived at the Dark Continent, the Kakin Empire was useless.
"The investigation team and the army are still useful."
King Bradley glanced at Greed, his expression serious. There were many talented people in the investigation team. They might be useful in future explorations. Moreover, a thousand-man army could play a powerful role when encountering crises.
It wasn't that they had to cut ties with the Kakin Empire's investigation team just because they came to the Dark Continent. A better option was to use each other.
Anyway, they had plenty of supplies and time, so they weren't afraid of wasting time by taking a detour.
"Since they didn't attack us, there must be a reason. Perhaps it's related to numbers. We only have fifty people, while they have a thousand-person investigation team. Perhaps they were only attacked because their numbers were too large."
As Pride spoke, he continued to look at the screen, where the army had already retreated from the flower sea.
But for some reason, even with the rain, the sea of flowers was still burning wildly due to the flamethrowers, which might cause a serious forest fire.
"I think we either speed up and leave this forest, or we go back now. The fire will spread quickly, and it will be too late then."
Pride's face was solemn. He held up the tablet in his hand, letting everyone see. The Hunters in the investigation team all had good eyesight and could clearly see the sea of fire on the screen, their faces showing hesitation.
"Let's go."
Illumi walked directly to the back without waiting for Beyond to answer.
"Beyond..."
Cervantes looked at Beyond with a questioning tone. Beyond didn't respond and directly followed Illumi's footsteps. Seeing Beyond's actions, Cervantes understood his meaning. The fourteen people followed closely behind.
They were all experienced Hunters; some things didn't need to be said aloud.
"The fire is spreading further."
In three minutes, Illumi and the others had only walked three minutes and already saw the raging forest fire ahead. The flames even climbed up the thick tree trunks to the very top.
Even with the light rain now, it still couldn't stop the spread of the fire.
"Strange, why are only the flowers burning?"
A Hunter in the team noticed a strange phenomenon and couldn't help but ask.
The others, reminded by him, immediately noticed this strange phenomenon. Whether on the tree trunks or on the ground, only the strange fresh flowers were burning, not the trees.
Hiss!
Suddenly, a hissing sound came from a distance. A dinosaur-like monster, as tall as an adult human, emerged from the sea of flowers and charged towards Illumi and the others.
To say it resembled a dinosaur meant its physical characteristics were like a dinosaur's. However, the back of its head had structures resembling split petals, and they were of various colors, just like the petals in the sea of flowers.
It moved very fast, faster than ordinary Hunters. In an instant, it was about to charge in front of Illumi and the others.
Thump, thump, thump...
But before it could get close, five Avenger soldiers simultaneously pulled their triggers. Blood immediately gushed from the "dinosaur"'s body. It fell heavily to the ground with a "bang," closed its eyes, and lay motionless, on its last breath.
"What kind of creature is this?"
Natalie, the biologist, was the first to step forward, wanting to observe it.
Hiss~
But unexpectedly, this creature wasn't completely dead. When Natalie approached it, a mouthful of green liquid suddenly sprayed from its mouth, "splashing" onto Natalie's combat uniform with a "splatter."
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
White smoke immediately rose from Natalie's combat uniform, mixed with a foul odor.
"This liquid is corrosive!"
Natalie reacted quickly. She immediately took off her outer jacket and threw it on the ground. She pulled out a pistol and continuously fired "bang, bang, bang" at the creature's head, which was already on the ground, until the magazine was empty.
Hiss, hiss~
Whimper, whimper~
Squawk squawk
The fire spread. The originally humid air quickly became dry. More and more small creatures appeared in this forest, and strange cries were incessant.
"This is not important now. Let's leave this place quickly."
Someone reminded them. Everyone came to their senses and immediately sped up. But the next moment, everyone stopped.
Boom... boom... boom...
Whether it was in front or behind, left or right, ear-splitting footsteps echoed everywhere, as if thousands of troops were running.
Clatter, clatter...
It wasn't the sound of rain. It was the large number of raindrops on the leaves above their heads, due to the ground vibrations, that continuously dripped onto everyone's bodies and foreheads, sliding down their foreheads, noses, lips, and finally dripping onto the ground.
"Hey, hey, is there a huge monster about to emerge?"
Greed's expression was excited, and the corner of his mouth curved into an arrogant, sinister smile.
He learned from Illumi's words and V5's written records of Dark Continent exploration that the Dark Continent was extremely dangerous. But until this vibration appeared, they had been safe and sound. He had long been impatient.
Now, a situation that met his expectations finally appeared.
"Pride, did you see that?"
Illumi looked at Pride with a solemn expression. At this moment, the boy's expression was also serious. He handed the tablet to Illumi, letting him watch.
On the tablet screen, there was a spectacular view from high above the forest, overlooking the entire forest. The Falcon drone had already flown to a height of two hundred meters, scouting the vast forest they were in.
Boom... boom... boom...
On the screen, near the forest fire, the branches of towering trees suddenly trembled. A massive creature was clearly moving rapidly in the forest below, but due to the tall trees, they couldn't see what was below.
Beep, beep...
Illumi lightly swiped his finger across the screen, manipulating the Falcon drone to fly to one of the vibrating areas. As the drone's altitude decreased, the view continuously dropped.
When the altitude dropped to twenty meters, the target causing the ground vibration finally appeared on the screen. It was a humanoid behemoth covered in colorful flowers, with various thick roots twisted and entangled, forming an upright walking creature.
This upright walking monster was enormous, estimated to be over ten meters tall. It could truly be called a "giant."
"This is... a treant?"
"No..."
Illumi frowned slightly. The "giant" in the video had many tree roots on its body and was covered in flowers, which instantly reminded Illumi of a strange creature from a blockbuster movie in his previous life.
But when he zoomed in and observed carefully, he found that beneath the body made of tree roots, there was also flesh-like tissue hidden.
"What did you see? Let me see."
Beyond saw Illumi's face change drastically. He leaned closer, stretching his head out, acting as if they were very close friends.
Illumi's face was calm. He didn't refuse.
🔥 WANT TO READ AHEAD? STOP WAITING!
Consider to Support this story and get instant access:
✅ 400+ Advance Chapters (Binge the next arcs right now!)
✅ 2 New Chapters Updated Daily!
👉 Patreon.com/flokixy
🛍️ Want full story bundles? Access them directly on Patreon without a monthly commitment!
Thank you to everyone supporting the daily updates! ❤️