In the capital of the Gabriel (Swordsman) Empire, Gabriels City (City of Swords), upstream of the Claudina River, near the area of the Elitechra Academy, under a ten-thousand-year-old tree at the highest point of the Elite Plains, Bella’s little adventuring team located this ancient tree in search of the “Star of the Sky” fruit, quickly arriving at the area near this large tree.
Not only is the “Star of the Sky” exceptionally beautiful, it also has special abilities. The reason why Bella is looking for this flower is also out of treasure hunting reasons. Her little team consists of Collapsing Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita, Devouring Holy Dragon Lolita, Cursed Demonic Dragon Stimmons, Renegade Kriss, as well as the quasi-Sword God twins, Calman and Cahlia, a rather majestic lineup.
For the Calman and Cahlia twins who are seen as top experts in the eyes of humans, their combat ability is bottom of the barrel in this team made up of top villain bosses. They’re more like lackeys. Lolita and the others could tell how strong they are at a glance but since Bella doesn’t mind, they also tacitly accepted their joining the team.
Nobody knows the name of this tree that has been growing for tens of thousands of years any longer, but no matter what it is, that amount of time is enough for amazing changes to happen. This ancient tree is estimated to be several hundreds of meters tall and its shade covered a very big area of the Elite Plains.
Even if it was broad daylight right now, the sun is unable to penetrate through the shade of this tree. Anyone walking under it could even feel a strange breeze. As soon as they entered the tree’s shade, they were welcomed by a cold breeze blowing past them. Under the tree are many scattered human skeletal remains, all unlucky people who died there. Due to the various terrifying legends surrounding this tree, nobody dares to come by to clean up the remains, allowing the corpses to decompose here.
Bella also saw the Demonic Being coiled on top of the ancient tree, the large python that attacked the eight Sword Gods back then. The snake’s body is black in color and it was trying to intimidate Bella and the girls with its huge, blood-red eyes. There’s no way for them to estimate the size of this humongous snake but seeing that its body was coiled around the tree, this guy might be about as long as the tree is high.
Other than that giant snake, all sorts of other venomous snakes are coiled around the tree. These snakes are also considered Demonic Beings as their body all emanated demonic energy. They were one dense clump, but fortunately, that doesn’t scare Bella. Otherwise, there’s no way the battle can go on. However, it still feels kind of nasty to be stared at by tens of thousands of venomous snakes.
“Woah, so many snakes! Bella, why don’t we leave for now? We didn’t bring any antidotes with us.”
“You girls can just sit and watch, snakes aren’t so hard to deal with.”
Calman and Cahlia tried to persuade Bella to retreat. Their little team didn’t bring any antidotes for emergency use so it would be trouble if they were poisoned. Bella did not accept that advice, however. She just about knew the attributes of that giant snake, and it’s not an Abyss Demonic Being, just a Demonic Beast that has cultivated for over ten thousand years.
Since the God World has been destroyed, there were no gods here to guide it into ascending into a Holy Beast after it cultivated to a certain level, so it continued hanging around this big old tree. In the end, under the intervention of a certain Demon King, it did not turn into a Holy Beast, but rather fell to become a Demonic Beast. This Demonic Beast that has been cultivating for over ten thousand years only appears in legends. Other than for a few special areas such as the Abyssal Region, it’s difficult for most Demonic Beasts to cultivate even for a few hundred years. Even those who cultivate up to thousands of years are rare.
This type of Demonic Beast that has cultivated for over ten thousand years is considered a legendary existence. Sword God level experts of the Human Race are not capable of fighting them. However, the three lolis behind Bella are dragons in their original form. They have long existed for far longer than ten thousand years, so this giant snake can’t even be considered a baby in front of their eyes.
Under the threats of Lolita and the other lolis, this ten-thousand-year-old giant snake didn’t dare to pick a fight with them. Dragons are a threatening existence to snakes, especially the legendary Dragon Races like Lolita and the girls. In the midst of this confrontation, Bella made a move. The “Star of the Sky” grows right on top of this ancient tree. If they don’t off this giant snake, then it will get in their way.
The Demon King who brought this ten-thousand-year-old snake under her control did not appear. She was likely hiding in some secret corner somewhere, watching the entire scene. Bella still has two hidden flowers to find so she won’t keep up this charade with this snake. She took out a javelin from her storage ring and, in a cold white light, the javelin was shot straight towards that giant snake.
The snake had no choice but to greet her in battle. It opened its mouth to spit out its icky green venom with strong corrosive abilities. It can easily dissolve any victim it touches. When the giant snake attacked, its underlings attacked as well. Tens of thousands of venomous snakes fell to the ground in a spectacular yet terrifying scene.
Calman and Cahlia held their swords nervously. They really had the intention to retreat since this giant snake can easily crush the strongest Sword Gods of the Hilikas family. They are the juniors of the Hilikas family and haven’t even trained to become complete Sword Gods yet so they are no match for this giant snake. However, it doesn’t seem as if Bella and the others had any intention of running.
So, even if they wanted to run away, their feet temporarily stopped. Even though Bella and the others weren’t Sword Gods, they did not appear to be afraid at all. If they ran away from fear, then the dignity of the Hilikas family would be lost. No matter how much they feared these snakes, in order to upkeep the image of their family, they can’t throw in the towel here.
The lolis behind Bella made their moves. Who knows when but a skeletal puppet with a terrifying face had suddenly appeared in Euphenisia’s hands. The mouth of this skeleton puppet was opened wide, and Euphenisia threw it out a short distance ahead. The venom spat out by the giant python was all sucked into the interdimensional space in the skeleton’s mouth. None of it splashed onto Bella and the girls at all.
Lolita turned the black parasol on her shoulder lightly and a Devastation Barrier appeared around them. The venomous snakes that fell down all turned into dust as they collided with the shield and scattered. They did not even have the time to make a single sound before they disappeared into dust.
The rest of the venomous snakes on the tree were just about to retreat after seeing this scene, but it was sucked into the mouth of the skeleton puppet thrown out by Devouring Holy Dragon Euphenisia. Before the giant snake that spat out its venom had any time to retreat, it was hit right in its huge red mouth by Bella’s javelin. The javelin has Cursed Demonic Dragon Stimmons’s power on it, which completely ignored the defensive boundary of the giant snake.
After a short pause, the snake fell with a bang, smashing down onto Lolita’s Devastation Barrier and quickly disintegrated into ashes. Bella felt a little sad that it died so fast, so much so that she didn’t even have the chance to retrieve its ten-thousand-year-old Demonic Core before it disintegrated into ashes and was dissipated by Lolita’s devastation energy.
“Lolita, you’re way too fast. You turned it into dust in an instant. We haven’t even warmed up yet!”
“Euphenisia, I don’t remember you enjoying devouring a Demonic Beast with trashy attributes like these. The qualifications of this snake is just so-so to me.”
“Stimmons, you laid out a lot of curses just now. You had hundreds of those on Bella’s javelin just now, so what do you mean you haven’t warmed up?”
After the ten-thousand-year-old giant snake was offed in seconds, Lolita and the girls began chatting without even a change in their expressions as if what happened just now was just daily trivialities. Their expressions were all very calm. Bella turned around and looked behind her and saw the horrified expressions of Calman and Cahlia. This entire scene had overturned their worldview. The twin sisters were completely shocked to the point where they fell to the grass at the terrifying power of Lolita and the girls.
To be able to kill a ten-thousand-year-old Demonic Beast in mere seconds, this strength is no longer something a human can easily obtain. It has long surpassed the limits of the Human Race. Before this, they even thought that these three foreign-looking, weirdly-dressed lolis were only Bella’s ordinary maids, but who knew that their strength could far surpass a human’s.
“What’s wrong, Calman, Cahlia? THe three of them were just playing around casually so don’t mind them. Let’s go and look for…”
“Big Sister Bella, Big Sister Kriss, we still have some business to attend to so we’re heading back first. Let’s…play again next time.”
“Big Sister Bella, I’m going back with my big sister now. We wish you luck.”
Before Bella could say anything, Calman and Cahlia quickly left. They had to go back and report to the Hilikas family. The Hilikas family must not know how strong these three lolis are. Kriss looked at Bella with a smile on her face, obviously expecting this result from the start.
Kriss also has no idea about the extent of the abilities of the three, but since she is a Renegade, she herself had ridiculous amounts of power, so she wasn’t really that surprised at their power. The key point is, they’re all in the same point so there’s no need to be afraid of your own allies.
“Bella, these loli maids of yours are too scary, they even scared off the Hilikas family girls. Why don’t we arrange for some people to drag them back? Otherwise, the Hilikas family is going to find out about their power.”
“No need, Kriss. I’ll pay the Hilikas family a visit after I find all three flowers. It’s good to give them a little head start. By the way, look. That there should be the Star of the Sky.”
“Huh? Wow, what a beautiful flower!”
After the giant snake was offed in seconds, the venomous snakes residing in the tree were all cleared away by Euphenisia’s devouring power. After the Demonic Beasts disappeared, the Star of the Sky appeared. Previously, Bella thought that the Star of the Sky would grow at the very top so she was wondering if she should chop the whole tree down if they couldn’t climb it.
But the Star of the Sky wasn’t that far on top and they were able to see it quite quickly. It was a type of flower that looked just like a sparkling star. If you look at it from afar during the night, they really look like stars littering the night sky. After Bella climbed up a short distance, she picked the flowers.
That Demon King did not appear. Bella figures she’s probably hiding at the top of the tree. Just now, that Demon King must have seen Lolita and the others when they were fighting. Just like Calman and Cahlia, she may also have been stunned by their terrifying power and did not dare to come out to provoke them.
“What’s up with this terrifying Demon King? Where did she summon these terrifying beasts?! Is she a fool? The beasts she summons are all stronger than herself!”
The female Demon King hiding in the tree was puzzled by Bella’s behavior. Through a mirror, she was able to see the terrifying moment when that ten-thousand-year-old giant snake was offed. Lolita and the others have definitely exceeded the average strength of a Demon King. For a Demon King to summon a Demonic Being that they couldn’t control was just like suicide in her eyes.
“What’s that silly Moon Demon King doing? She hasn’t contacted me yet. Huh…You’re not the Moon Demon King, who are you? What are you looking for me for?”
“What…You’re acting ahead of schedule? Can you male Demon Kings talk to us before you do anything? Didn’t you agree to leave this place for us to take care of?”
A strange black shadow appeared in the shadow before the loli Demon King. This guy’s entire body was covered by a dark shadow so his appearance could not be seen. However, from how the loli Demon King was speaking, he seems to be one of the Twelve Demon Kings as well. However, they weren’t really on good terms and the way they spoke was full of sparks.
“You guys are too slow, I’ve already found where the Hilikas family is located so I’ll be borrowing your puppets. The decisions that were made in the Demon King meeting is still valid and this place will still be your territory after the deed is over.”
“Wait, there are…”
The dark shadow cut off contact with her before the loli Demon King could even respond. She looked at Bella and the others who appeared again on the screen as well as the lolis behind her. She originally intended to tell the other person about them, but who knew that this guy would be so impatient and cut off contact with her without hesitation.
“Forget it then, your own loss. Hmph. Big naughty sister, since you have three terrifying girls guarding you, I’ll let you go for now. But why don’t you stay here for a couple more days?”
After obtaining the Star of the Sky, Bella’s team took the opportunity when nobody was noticing them to walk to a secret location, a secret cave where the “Boon of the Land” is located. This legendary cave is not as terrifying as the ancient tree. Legend has it that there is a deep underground labyrinth in the cave and anyone who enters will never be able to return to the ground.
This underground cave wasn’t that scary. The “Star of the Sky” that Bella obtained earlier can be used to light the way. After entering the cave, she took Bella’s hand and walked in. They were able to see everything in the cave under the illumination of the Star of the Sky. After they were able to see, the myth was dispelled. Due to the special atmosphere in the cave where illumination magic is unable to be used, others couldn’t see the situation down in here so rumors went out that there was a labyrinth inside.
There isn’t any labyrinth here, just an underground military base. Bella saw a lot of extinguished forges with remains of weapons abandoned on the ground. From the handle of the weapons, these are not meant for human use, but rather demons. Most of them can’t be used by humans and it was hard to tell as the weight alone was impossible for a human to handle.
There’s a nine out of ten chance that the people who got lost in this cave were exterminated by the demons here. Since the Hilikas family’s ancient tree was under the control of the giant snake, the attention all throughout the years were paid to that tree while rarely did anyone give any concern to this underground cave. To have been hidden near a human academy campus for so long, who knows how many weapons and equipment these demons have been collecting for the Demon Kings in this underground base.
The demons aren’t interested in the famous flower nicknamed the “Boon of the Land”, so no matter how beautiful that legendary flower is, it’s no more than a weed in the strange aesthetics of these demons. The “Boon of the Land” is a rainbow-colored flower but the shape was not as special as the “Star of the Sky”. However, it can change into different colors at different times, and it wasn’t limited only to the colors of the rainbow.
Bella and Kriss lowered their heads together and carefully picked the “Boon of the Land” from the ground. Like before they picked all the flowers so to not to give any others any opportunities to get them. Now, only the “Spirit of the Sea” is left. Once they collect that, then Bella’s goal in this “Famous Flowers” event would be achieved.
“Bella, do you think the Boon of the Land is prettier or the Star of the Sky?”
“Me? I think you’re the prettiest one, Kriss. These flowers are just an accessory!”
“Geez Bella, you’re doing it again. Who’s…asking you that? I’m just asking you about the flowers!”
“There’s nothing wrong with my answer, Kriss. What’s more, you’re also my…Watch out!”
Just as Bella was about to confess, a violent earthquake hit them. Bella jumped to Kriss instantly and protected her underneath herself. A few boulders fell from the top and crashed into Bella under the collapsing of the cave caused by the earthquake, but they broke into small pieces of debris as they hit Bella’s own Demon King barrier and did not hurt them.
As a military base for the demons, an earthquake should be no problem, so things didn’t collapse too badly in the earthquake. Bella and Kriss were lucky enough to avoid having been buried alive by this event. Lolita and the girls who were waiting outside so as to not interrupt their little date quickly came in to look for them after the earthquake hit.
“Bella! Thanks, that wasn’t an earthquake just now, was it?”
“No, Kriss. If it is, then it should’ve started from underground, but that force was aiming underground.”
“Mistress Bella, Big Sister Kriss, why don’t…you continue after we head out?”
“Lolita, even you girls are disturbed. So what happened out there?”
