"Anita, can you devour those?" Arlo pointed at what remained of the ant's corpses with an unsure expression.

"Yuck!" That was the only reply he received from his summon in Arianne's embrace.

'Well, I doubt she could absorb anything from that...'

Arlo looked to his side, "Are you okay, Joe?"

"Y-yes..." Joe responded before he continued in a hushed voice, "Sorry I couldn't help."

Arlo could read Joe's expression so he smacked him on the back, "I couldn't do much either. Don't beat yourself over it."

"Ouch! That hurts you i*iot!"

"Haha, that is more like it! You have been acting strange since we left the academy."

"...sorry."

"You know I am here for you, right?"

"Even though I am useless?"

"Who told you, you are useless?" Arlo looked at him with raised brows. Joe evaded his gaze, but Arlo could read from the emotions in his eyes, that that was how he truly felt.

"Have you forgotten you were the one who saved me when I almost died in the crimson forest?"

"Huh!?" Joe looked at him with a blank expression.

"You gave me that miracle pill, so I am sure you are not useless."

Joe quickly grabbed his groin as he looked at Arlo with a wary expression.

Arlo's expression crumbled under the stare of the two girls, "What the hell are you touching?"

"...no-nothing!"

None of them knew that Joe's greatest safe was his underwear, and he planned to keep it that way.

"So..." Arianne's sweet voice brought the two friends out of their weird conversation.

Joe couldn't help but marvel at the three before him,' They are all incredible!'

In terms of looks, Arlo, Arianne, and Ella were the creams of the top he had seen, especially among their age mates. And nothing else needed to be said about their unrivaled talents. He couldn't even tell who had more potential among the three but if he was to take a guess...

His eyes shifted to Arlo, whose hair had grown longer after over a month of not cutting them.

His instincts told him that he was a monster even compared to Arianne and Ella. He was simply unique.

'And he called me his friend!' Joe squeezed his hands together, 'I must live up to his expectation!'

Slowly but surely, Joe started changing.

"..I have studied the area we are in with my divine sense."

Arlo's expression became serious, and even before Ella could voice her thoughts, his voice resounded:

"And what did you find out?"

Ella had already returned to her normal self as a few locks of her purple hair covered her droopy eyes that studied Arlo briefly.

"There are two tunnels about fifty meters ahead of us!"

Arlo didn't doubt Arianne for a second. Unlike him who could barely cover a large distance with his divine sense, Arianne was in a whole different league even when compared to ordinary vampires far above her age.

"The problem now is which tunnel to take?" Arlo voiced his thoughts.

There was a brief silence as they thought about how to approach the situation when Joe broke the silence:

"Arianne, do you know where the tunnels lead to?"

Arianne shook her head, "They are too deep for even my divine sense to cover."

"Since we don't know where they lead, why don't we just pick one?"

A stunned look appeared on Arlo's face, as he realized Joe's reasoning was rather correct.

Was there a need to overthink when they didn't even know where they were?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Of course, we should go together, and not break up!" Joe quickly added.

*Smack!*

"See, you are not that useless." Arlo smiled lightly.

"Ouuuch! Can't you just touch me like a normal person?"

Arianne ignored their antics and looked at Joe, "Coward!"

Arlo's smile became strained while Joe scratched his head embarrassedly upon having his thoughts exposed.

"Hehe!" On the other hand, Anita giggled at their exchanges.

Looking at the three, Ella couldn't help but smile, 'They are very comfortable around each other.'

While she felt happy for Arianne, a part of her also envied her as it was something she lacked.

Suddenly...

*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!* A loud shriek echoed around, shaking the eardrums of Arlo's group. They couldn't help but cover their ears, while Arianne quickly controlled her spiritual energy to block her ears, as Anita was lying in her arms.

A few moments later, the strange cry slowly died down.

However, none of Arlo's group moved neither did any of them talk as they all felt the strange atmosphere that filled the air when the cry died down.

Sure enough...

Not even five breaths later, the ground underneath them shook greatly.

"Wh-what is going on?" Joe became pale. Even the pitch-black snake had its eyes opened wide, but Joe and the others were too flustered to care.

"Something is approaching!"

Ella spoke as she looked behind them.

"It's not only from behind, it's from all directions!" said Arianne, as she could sense more subtle changes with her divine sense.

The intensity with which the ground shook increased while the sound of strong but hurried footsteps entered the ears of Arlo and others.

Without a word, they quickly got into battle positions as they readied themselves.

But a moment later, Arlo, Arianne, and Ella's faces turned pale while Joe almost fainted from fear as he watched the colony of ants that marched toward them.

'We can't win...' Arlo arrived at this conclusion instantly after seeing the number of ants before them.

But soon after, his expression hardened, 'But we will won't die like that.'

He was prepared to fight with all his cards and bring as many ants as he could take with him to the grave. Judging from Arianne and Ella's expressions, it was clear they also had similar thoughts.

Only Joe was different, as he had already burst into uncontrolled tears.

Arlo stood at the forefront of the group and prepared to clash with the first ant when his expression changed. His movement came to a quick stop and soon after the waves of ants passed by him.

Their steps were hurried as if they were rushing to get somewhere in time. In the process, they ignored Arlo's group. In fact, they didn't seem to care about the uncleared remains of their follow ants still on the ground.

*Haa!* Ella was the first to break the silence as she released the breath she had been holding in.

"Wh-what is going on?" For the first time, Arianne's voice shook with uncontrollable fear.

Arlo wiped the sweat that had unconsciously pooled at his forehead and looked in the direction the ants left with a serious expression, "...it must have something to do with that strange cry from before."

"Either way, I don't want to experience that again," said Ella, as she felt inwardly glad they survived such an ordeal.

Arianne looked at Joe's wet face and couldn't help but shake her head but this time she didn't jab at him.

"What is wrong?"Ella suddenly said as she gazed at Arlo's unsightly face.

Arianne who was looking at Joe quickly shifted her eyes to him, "Arlo?"

Arlo didn't reply as he listened to Old Bro's voice in his mind with an ugly expression.

<< You had better hurry after those ants. If not you will regret it. >>

Arlo's mind spun. He knew Old Bro wouldn't speak nonsense when his life was involved, and he knew that, unlike Arianne, he would definitely have found out more about their current location if not the entire secret realm. After all, he was a supreme treasure and was one not even from the mortal plane.

It was because of that, that his expression was ugly, as he knew he was wasting time and might lose whatever the ants were going for.

Arlo took a deep breath and looked at his companions, " I have to chase after the ants."

Arianne, Ella, and Joe had blank looks on their faces. But Arlo didn't care as he had to hurry.

"You guys should follow another path. We will meet up aga..." Before he could finish his sentence, he was cut by an angry cry.

"What are you saying? We are a team and wherever you go, I go!" Unexpectedly the cry came from Joe. Unlike his earlier scared look, he had an angry expression on his face as he glared at Arlo.

Arianne and Ella became stunned once again. But Arlo smiled instead, as he felt warm in his heart.

'That is right, he is still the same person.' He could still remember how Joe refused to reveal his identity in the crimson forest the first time they met, and that was why he was the first friend he made in his life.

Ella looked at Joe in a new light, while Arianne spoke as she smiled at Arlo, "You heard him. If the weakling can stay, then nothing much should be said about me, right?"

Arlo smiled, "Right!"

"Hey, must you call me that?" Joe shouted at Arianne, but upon receiving her glare, he reverted to his normal self and shrank back.

Arlo ignored them and quickly looked at Ella, as he was pressed for time.

"I will go anywhere Arianne goes!"

Arlo nodded his head in understanding, "Then let us hurry."

He quickly took the lead and ran at full speed as he followed the path the ants had left in.

'I hope I am not too late.'

.....

A mountain of red bodies packed around two small figures. The surprising thing was that the mountain of bodies shook occasionally, showing that they were still alive. But pressed under the crushing force of gravity multiplied by 5 times and the weight of their unusual exoskeleton, they couldn't move an inch toward the two humans, bringing about an astonishing sight.

Miller was on his knees as he panted for breath. With blurry eyes, he looked at Tina's shaky figure as she stood with her hands stretched out at her sides.

"Tina..."

Tina's suit was fully soaked with sweat, while short gasps left her small pink lips.

But even in that condition, she fixed her eyes in one direction and ignored the mountain of red ants towering around her.

Following her line of sight, Miller looked through the gap in the bodies to see a six meter tall ant surrounded by four red ants. Unlike the other ants, the four ants had patterns on their shells and from the way they were acting, it seemed they were guarding the six meter ant at their center.

The light of hope in Miller's eyes died down as he gazed at the unique ant standing on both legs like a bipedal creature. He could still remember the fierce shriek it had released and the ants that had stormed there soon after.

'Just what is that?'

The two intelligent eyes of the queen ant was locked with Tina's and from the light flickering deep within them, Miller could read the emotion of the bipedal beast.

It was amusement!