Chương 433: Chapter 404: Ohhh, These Trees Are So Beautiful

"Oh, I love this stage! Everything is so peaceful here," Elara cheered, jumping up and down. She was a verdant mage, and such a beautiful forest was her natural domain. Elara could feel the intense aura of these trees simply by touching them.

"The trees in the last stage were so evil, but these are gentle giants. I don't want to leave this place at all!"

"Can't you be quiet for a second, Elara? There are far fewer candidates in this stage, but that doesn't mean we can just be this loud all the time," Braxton shouted upward. He was the leader of their party—broad-shouldered, in his forties, and wielding a heavy class. They had two more mages and two assassins in their group, but Braxton and Elara were the strongest members—though one of them had been constantly distracted ever since entering this stage.

"I'm so sorry, Braxi, but I'm just so happy! This stage will be the best of them all," Elara beamed back.

"Alright, good that you're in such a good mood, but don't forget this is a dangerous treasure hunt. Why don't you come down here? I found a special fruit, and I'm curious if I can pluck it without getting a bounty," Braxton said. He was standing on a branch fifty meters below Elara, in front of an enormous red fruit the size of his own body, growing from an equally ridiculous flower. Braxton still remembered the earlier warning about the prince, who had received a bounty of eighty thousand credits.

The prince was one of those lunatics up on the top of the leaderboard, so it probably didn't matter much to him. But if good old Braxton got a bounty like that, he'd have real problems. Braxton and Elara had worked well together in the tutorial, but they couldn't compare to those powerhouses at the top of the rankings. Hopefully they would never meet one of them. Braxton had dealt with enough crazies in the tutorial—people forming kingdoms and even buying palaces in the system shop.

All stupid, power-hungry abominations in his opinion. The moment he recognized someone from the leaderboard, he would run for his life. Elara landed beside him on the branch, eyes widening at the sight of the red flower.

"Oh, what a beautiful fruit! It's one of the seedlings of this tree and becomes a powerful ingredient for my magic," Elara smiled, stretching out a hand that began glowing green. A moment later, the fruit plummeted out of the flower and landed at her feet. Before anyone could react, a warning bell shrieked through their minds—far louder than the last time, when the prince had damaged the forest. Warning Thalion destroyed the future of this forest, leaving it to rot and die.

Killing him will reward an additional five million leaderboard points.

"Five million credits?! What has that crazy bastard done now?" Braxton cursed, drawing his two axes and readying himself. The sound of groaning, splintering wood filled the jungle. The bark of the trees was darkening with every second.

"Oh no… what happened to you? No no no…" Elara shouted, horror in her eyes as she desperately tried to heal the trees. Nothing changed, and Braxton's worry grew. They were quite high up in the trees—and he could feel a killing intent, strong and unmistakable, coming from above.

"Quiet—something is coming…" Braxton said, quickly shoving Elara behind him and suppressing his aura. The rest of the party rushed back to regroup so they could face the approaching threat together.

"Defense formation, and retract your auras. Maybe we can hide from whatever is coming," Braxton muttered, stepping closer to the slowly perishing flower in hopes it would hide him and Elara. Whatever was coming was incredibly fast and far too strong for them. High above, Braxton spotted blood-red streaks racing toward them with insane speed. He had barely formed a thought before something slammed past the branch where the assassins were hiding.

Braxton turned his head in slow motion—just in time to see two lizardmen standing in the dust cloud, each holding the corpse of one of his comrades while chewing on their necks. Two more impacts echoed to the right. Braxton spun around to see two more of those demons—birdfolk with the same glowing red eyes.

"Oh god—vampire birdheads!" Elara yelped, stumbling backward. Braxton wanted to help, but something incredibly fast was coming straight for him. He shoved Elara out of the way while activating all his boosting skills to power himself up. He had no hope of winning, but he would still try his best. With his boosting skill active, he was fast enough to dodge the lizardman that came crashing down at tremendous speed. It looked like the others, but was far more muscular. You might be reading a stolen copy.

Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Braxton could see how the creature was about to launch at him and kill him with a single strike—when a sharp voice echoed from above.

"Enough blood for you. Let them be." Braxton's eyes shot upward to see a man with white hair and crimson glowing eyes standing on a tree branch. His eyes held conviction and far more power than any of the attackers—and that alone sent cold sweat running down Braxton's back. The shock didn't even allow him to blink as he stared up at the man. Human – Level 80 What? An F-Grade? No—this was the first position on the leaderboard. Wait. The first position is only F-Grade?

The thoughts shot through his mind as he watched the human jump down beside them and casually place the red fruit Elara had pulled from the flower into his spatial amulet.

"You probably don't want to stay here. We weren't that far ahead. You were quite lucky that I'm already so far ahead in points," the man said before turning into red mist and shooting downward. The red abominations were already heading the same way, and now a loud buzzing came from above.

"Did he… did he just steal my loot?" Elara murmured, completely perplexed. Braxton had other concerns as he looked up and saw thousands of insects swarming toward them. He quickly realized there was only one way to escape the enormous swarm—and that was to follow the first position on the leaderboard and the red abominations who had killed their comrades. They had only met those comrades after the tutorial, in one of the small cities built by some higher-up.

So the loss wasn't the biggest problem—but Braxton still didn't want to follow these crazy bastards. Swallowing down his anger, he grabbed Elara and jumped after the party of six. He activated a gravity spell that made him heavier, accelerating his fall. Normally he used it to anchor himself to the ground, but now it let him move faster than ever before. The wind roared around him as he fell faster and faster. Elara didn't complain; instead, she used her magic to push the large branches aside.

"I don't think it's a good idea to follow them!" Elara screamed as they picked up even more speed. They could now see the abominations and the human again, shooting downward with incredibly efficient movement skills.

"It's not like we have another option and he saved us from those creatures!" Braxton yelled back. He knew exactly what Elara was thinking, and he didn't like it either, but there was no way he could hide from the armada chasing them. Braxton infused more mana into the spell that made him heavy as a boulder, and they sped up even more. Soon, they actually passed the human, who looked at them with mild confusion before something incredible happened.

One moment, the man with snow-white hair and crimson eyes was there— and the next, there was an eagle with feathers sparkling with electricity. The eagle angled its wings and slipped beside them, folding them in tight to dive. Like this, keeping up with their speed was effortless for him. The only one really struggling was Elara, who had to bend enormous branches out of their way before they collided.

"Wha–t–t! What are you?" Braxton blurted out, staring at the eagle beside him, who was also watching him curiously.

"I'm curious—why haven't you left this trial?" the eagle asked, using the same voice the human had used before, just a bit raspier. Braxton, of course, noticed that the first position on the leaderboard had completely ignored his question, which was expected. No one liked talking about their class, skills, or rarities. That was doubly true for those at the very top.

"I have spent one thousand five hundred years preparing to join this treasure hunt. I would rather die than leave it without any gains!" he shouted back, enraged by the eagle's almost dismissive tone. The eagle seemed to have expected that answer and sped up, diving downward without bothering them any further The descent took hours and hours, and the buzzing above them never stopped. They were much faster than the bees, but the swarm still didn't give up.

So far down, they could no longer see the sun, but it was obvious that the light was fading and that somewhere above them, the zone was shifting again. Elara was exhausted, and they had to find different ways to continue their descent. The eagle had meanwhile transformed into a black abomination, feeding from the dark bark of the trees whenever they made enough distance to do so safely. The vampire bird and the lizardfolk abominations stayed close, killing every beast they passed without mercy.

Then they spotted the zone of nothingness approaching from the right, and the group shifted direction instead of just moving downward.

"Don't you know the location of a safe zone?" Braxton yelled at the man, who stopped only a few branches below them.

"No. We will simply have to run until it stops," the man replied in an almost relaxed tone. Braxton couldn't believe how calm this guy was. Death was coming from above, and a zone capable of annihilating them was closing in from the side—yet this man didn't seem worried in the slightest. He didn't bother explaining anything else and simply pointed forward before moving on, the red creatures following him. Braxton didn't like it, but after exchanging a look with Elara, they followed as well.

So far it seemed the human wasn't hostile, and choosing another direction on their own would be suicidal. Together they moved forward and downward at nearly the same pace. The buzzing had noticeably grown quieter after the shifting zone approached, but it was still there. After a few more hours, they finally entered a safe zone. Still, the human didn't stop and continued his rapid descent.

"Hey! What are you doing? We're safe here—and the few bees left aren't even a danger!" Braxton shouted after him. The human didn't even slow down enough to answer. Two things sparked inside Braxton at once. First—anger. Second—curiosity. Why was this man still going downward? He would find out. Elara, meanwhile, seemed to have only one emotion and it wasn't a peaceful one.

"Hey! I want my fruit back! I found it first and you stole it! Y-Y-You thief!" Her head was turning red as she screamed after the man, chasing him furiously.