A strange silence enveloped the desolate gorge.
Rose, Kai, and Ella sighed in relief when they saw the red ants not move to attack them, as they studied the blue slime releasing the aura of their queen.
They all fell to the ground and gazed at the colorful sky as they panted for breath. Even Arlo was no exception. His last attack with Ruler's authority had rendered him entirely spent.
For almost five minutes, Anita's body kept trembling as she released a terrifying yet Nobel aura.
'It's done!' Her voice resounded directly in Arlo's head causing an excited smile to light his face.
As if sensing his emotion, Anita's body suddenly underwent a huge transformation.
She turned into a bipedal no different from the appearance of the previous queen. Only her eyes that shone in a blue light were different.
At the same time Arianne finished her transformation, all the red ants bowed toward her. The same went for the winged male ants.
Arlo's eyes trembled from excitement when he saw this sight, while the others including even Arianne and Joe had widened eyes.
Arlo had assured them that he had a way to ensure that the red ants wouldn't attack them after killing the queen, but they didn't know it was this.
Looking at Anita who moved and lowered her head to snuggle towards him, with the red ants bowing in the background, Arianne and the others couldn't help but have the same thought.
'Isn't he practically the king of the red ants?'
Rose swallowed in fear. She could still remember how she cursed at him and could only hope he wouldn't hold it against her.
However, contrary to what she thought, Arlo bowed his body ninety degrees to the ground:
"Thank you very much! I wouldn't have been able to accomplish this without you."
The others thought he was thanking them because of the red ants he now had under him, but only he knew that the red ants were just the tip of the iceberg of the rewards he obtained.
Just the dramatic boost in Anita's strength was enough to make him happy, not to mention the pure Ki that Anita had absorbed from the queen. Ki, that could be used to directly boost his cultivation. Of course, that was if he could connect with his body laws.
"Anita, command the ants to move into the tunnels."
Anita nodded her head and went silent for a moment.
After a short while, the ants started moving orderly into the tunnels.
"Haa, with that out of the way..." Arlo paused before looking at Rose and Kai, "I am Arlo. These are Arianne, Ella, and Joe." he pointed at them as he introduced them.
"It's nice to meet you." He stretched out his hand in a handshake.
Kai looked at him for a moment, before shaking his hand.
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"I am Kai." With that, he retracted his hand and went silent, his stoic look already back on his face.
Arlo shook his head wondering how this was the same person that had a maniacal look on his face as he split the ant queen into two.
He extended a handshake to Rose, however the latter harrumphed and shifted aside, "Who wants to know you? I don't know why that third wheel, Iroko, and sleepy head are following you like a leader, but I don't see anything special about you other than your pretty face."
The side of Arlo's lips twitched, while Joe questioned in his mind as he felt something jab into his heart, 'Me? The third wheel?'
Arianne on the other hand seemed to have something to say, but Arlo quickly cut in before another argument began.
"I want to head directly into the second zone, would you like to follow me?"
He could still remember the voice that echoed directly in his mind immediately after entering the secret realm. Now that he left the ant tunnels, that feeling had increased more.
Looking at the mountain floating deep within the realm and unobstructed by the smoking screen of the inner zones, Arlo felt his heart itch.
Unexpectedly, the reply didn't come from Rose and Kai to whom the question was asked, but instead from someone in Arlo's group.
"Are you crazy?" Ella raged. She looked at Arlo as if he was crazy. She couldn't see him anymore as a boy with an otherwordly appearance but as a crazy little boy with suicidal tendencies.
Instead of answering her, Arlo looked at Arianne and asked, "Arianne, will you follow me?"
With barely any delay, Arianne responded, "Sure!"
Arlo turned back to Ella with a smug smile.
"You-you..." She pointed at him with a trembling finger, as she seemed stumped of what to say.
Rose held the excited Kai back as she looked at Arlo with a piercing gaze. Even though she had said she didn't understand why the others were following him, the truth was that she couldn't measure Arlo's depth. She could still remember how Arlo had not only frozen her but everybody around him. It was a divine ability almost comparable to her eyes.
"We could barely hold out against the beasts of the first layer. How do you think we can handle the second zone?"
Arlo nodded, and without even thinking about it for a moment, he spoke words that surprised not only Rose but even Ella who was against his idea.
"We have the ants."
Unlike them who were outsiders, the ants could pass through the lakes without undergoing any form of trial. Besides, the ants were monsters that couldn't be compared to any other beasts in the first realm. They were simply terrifying and Arlo didn't doubt they would be any less in the second realm.
.....
Only a few remained on the lake separating the first zone from the second. The majority of the others had already entered while the elite few had even ventured deep into the second zone.
The werewolves moved in packs of five as they tore through every obstacle in their path.
The vampires turned into fogs or bats as they knocked down every monster they encountered with only their spiritual energy.
Two other groups stood out among the others.
The first was a group of four with pointed ears. Their features were finely chiseled, creating an air of elegance and sophistication. Almond-shaped eyes, sparkling with otherworldly wisdom, gazed upon the world with serene and timeless grace.
The elve's complexion was fair, almost luminescent, and adorned with subtle, intricate patterns reminiscent of nature's delicate designs. Silky, flowing hair cascaded down their shoulders, echoing the hues of the forest.
Cloaked in attire that seamlessly blended with the enchanting surroundings, these elves embodied the timeless allure and ethereal charm that was characteristic of their mystical kind.
Against any monster that dared to attack them, they simply summoned their elementals to take care of them. The elementals, which were nature's spirit, wielded the atmospheric mana to conjure attacks of their respective attribute and wreak havoc on the daring beasts.
The last group stood out even among the elites. The team was composed of merely two figures, a male and a female. And unlike the elves who had pointed ears, the two appeared more human. The only outlining features were their red skin which showed that they might not be uniquely human. The seals in the form of tattoos on the back of their hands showed that they were different from the other cultivators currently present within the secret realm.
A raging bull seven meters high with the cultivation of peak-level master realm suddenly sprung up from within the shrubs around the trees and lunged at them.
The girl merely raised her hand and punched out. But this simple action decimated the region tens of meters before her, while the lunging beast was eradicated by the sheer overwhelming force and its blood evaporated from the shockwave.