Green Monster Epic

Chapter 1078

The advantage of striking first now seems to have little effect.

Although Allen and the dragon, two powerful figures, took advantage of their location and spent a few extra hours searching, they did encounter several teams emerging from the ruins. However, the thing they were looking for was not in the hands of these team members.

Once the temple and other wilderness forces from the Windpeak Ear Caverns set foot in the forest, Allen and the dragon found themselves at a disadvantage due to their limited numbers and search tools.

The temple forces had been plotting the maze ruins for years, so they naturally had other preparations. Even a dragon could think of ways to familiarize itself with the earth's veins. With so many strategists cultivated by the temple and so much time to spare, how could they not find more practical, convenient, and effective methods?

The half-elf ranger fled through the damp, fetid jungle, carefully dodging various creatures of unknown origin that darted out of the mist from time to time. Her body constantly sent her signals of hunger and fatigue, but she couldn't stop herself.

Every time she wanted to give up, Martha couldn't help but think of the strange magical item that had mysteriously appeared in her hands. She then imagined the wonderful life she would have after taking it out of the forest and delivering it to the grand auction house. Her brain became exceptionally excited, secreting various hormones to numb her body, continuing to provide her with the motivation and mental support to move forward.

The mist around her gradually thinned, as if an invisible beacon was reminding Martha that her chosen direction was correct.

However, as Martha trudged along, she unknowingly became covered in humus that emitted a foul odor, attracting countless mosquitoes and flying ants to swarm around her.

Martha was long accustomed to such harsh environments. She had even experienced situations far more brutal than this. Apart from occasionally removing and flicking off leeches and other insects that clung to her skin and sucked her blood while running, she couldn't spare the time to deal with the harmless bites of flying ants and mosquitoes.

Several tiny flies, no larger than grains of rice, had been clinging to Martha since they first latched onto her, never letting go. Even when Martha, a high-level ranger, increased her speed rapidly, leaving most of the flying insects behind, she couldn't shake them off.

If Martha could calm down and observe carefully, she might have been able to sense some anomalies from the flight paths of these flies constantly hovering around her, such as their unusually fast flight speed and resilience, or that the center of their flight was not so much herself, but the crystal box tightly treasured on her chest.

As the flying ants constantly twitched the fine, hair-like antennae on their heads, sensing a certain aura in the air that ordinary people couldn't detect, they soon quietly landed on Martha's dirty leather armor, crawling along the seams of the armor, eventually stopping at the place on the inner lining where the exquisite crystal box was placed.

The flying ants, groping closer to the crystal box, touched the smooth surface of the box with their tiny antennae, and then the antennae began to absorb the faint magical power emanating from the sealed crystal box.

As the gathered magical power gradually thickened, the antennae on the flying ants' heads began to emit a faint glow, and their wings also began to flutter.

Almost at the moment when the antennae of the flying ants flickered with light, somewhere in the forest more than a hundred miles away, a legendary druid in the strong team from the Oak Church lit up his eyes and exclaimed in surprise: "Found it!!"

Seeing the sudden reaction of his companion, a half-orc powerhouse, wearing a coarse linen robe and sporting a bald head, who led the team, suddenly disappeared from his spot and reappeared next to the druid a dozen meters away as if teleporting.

The half-orc's strong, powerful right hand rested on the druid's shoulder, and the two figures disappeared again in front of the three or four other companions around them. After a split second, a strong sonic boom and shockwave exploded from the place where the two disappeared, causing the other three powerhouses to sway unsteadily.

At the same time, on the other side of the forest, there was another team of three or four powerhouses, one of whom was wearing an earth-yellow divine robe and a oak leaf holy emblem on his chest, which had already indicated the affiliation of their team, which was the Church of Nature that had been leading and dominating the Mansa Wilderness for hundreds of years.

At this time, the most conspicuous member of their team was not the seemingly high-ranking cleric, or the lizardman powerhouse who carried his hands behind his back and exuded an imposing aura, but a strange tree with a volume of only about three meters and a somewhat distorted appearance.

Calling it a tree is not quite accurate. A more accurate term should be a treant with a humanoid appearance: on its round, thick trunk, one can vaguely see facial features resembling those of humanoid creatures, but the dark brown, undulating bark-like skin conceals these features, making it difficult to see clearly if one does not observe carefully; also, its limbs are formed by intertwined branches, with a few scattered leaves swaying in the wind, but their movements are as agile and graceful as venomous snakes, and filled with a hint of strangeness.

On the withered trunk, the treant's eyes were not open, the upper and lower eyelids closed to form a curved slit, and at this time it was in deep meditation.

The lush, verdant canopy above its head rustled, moving without wind, infecting the surrounding trees to echo in unison. The entire forest was now linked to this treant or tree man in front of them, and endless information flowed into the treant's sea of consciousness through the roots that were deeply embedded in the earth.

During meditation, the treant's mind was filled with an endless stream of various information. Most of this information, collected from the plants in the vast forest, was vague and useless, but after the treant's skillful screening, it could always discover much useful information.

"Two thousand meters southwest at a 50-degree angle, a seventeen-meter-tall red hazel tree tells me that a group of powerful creatures, numbering about 15, are hidden beneath its canopy. It should be a team exploring the ruins."

"Extending three thousand meters beyond that location, the forest plants have discovered another group of powerful entities."

"..."

"Ten thousand meters northeast at a 23-degree angle, the vegetation there tells me that a faint aura is slowly moving towards the edge of the forest. Mixed within that aura are traces of weak magical energy, likely insect companions cultivated by a druid."

The treant, specializing in this, categorized and analyzed the various useful pieces of information, and verified them against the information obtained from the church before this trip. After expending a great deal of energy and mental effort, the treant gained some insights.

"The probability of that target being the objective of this trip exceeds 30%. It is advisable to proceed and investigate."

The Church of Nature had always been suppressed by the Oak Throne in its early years, so its foundation was definitely not as deep as the Oak Throne's. Its research into the legacies of the Goddess Mansha and the ruins she left behind was also not as specialized. However, this also allowed them to focus on monitoring the movements of the Oak Throne's search teams while studying Mansha's ruins, hoping to pick up any advantages behind them.

Even the methods used by other church teams with historical heritages much older than the Church of Nature to track the ruins' control core might be detected and discovered by the treant, who now possessed the entire forest as its eyes and ears, allowing them to follow behind and take action.

"... The experts from the Oak Throne have already made their move. The most powerful aura and another aura are currently heading towards that target!!"

"The probability of that target being the objective of this trip has increased by 30%!!"

"Go!!!"

Within the team, a clergyman whose aura reached the Saint level, upon hearing the treant's report, his eyes flashed with a sharp light and his energy surged. He took the lead, flying madly towards the direction the treant had reported.

Following closely behind him were two other powerhouses whose strength was also above the demigod level, leaving the treant, whose roots were still deeply embedded in the earth, integrated with the forest, behind.

In the southeastern part of the Misty Forest, another team composed of several powerful centaurs focused their gazes on a single point. In the sky above, a miniature humanoid creature with two pairs of thin, light wings like dragonfly wings was dancing in the air, attracting the surrounding natural spirits like sparkling fireflies.

Allen and the dragon Figglas continued to search the forest like headless flies. Along the way, they encountered two or three more groups of adventurers who had been ejected from the ruins. However, due to the power behind them, Allen still dealt with them as before, letting them go after sensing that they did not possess what he needed.

Although it seemed aimless, if one could overlook Allen's trajectory from a third-party omniscient perspective, one would find that although their movements were often winding and twisting, the final result was that they were getting closer and closer to Mansha, whom they were seeking.

Allen certainly did not have as many methods as the temples and churches, but the influence derived from his possession of the Greenwild Plains Guardian authority naturally created a certain connection between him and the control core that originated from the remains of the Goddess Mansha.

This connection, combined with Allen's own powerful intuition, although Allen himself had not yet grasped the key to it, his intuitive instinct could guide him towards the direction of the control core.

"... I think that searching without a clue like this will only end up benefiting those guys who came later!!"

Figglas spoke with resentment. They had found several groups coming out of the ruins, and seeing their large and small bags and weapons and equipment filled with magical energy, he knew they were easy targets.

But Allen, who was usually decisive in killing, behaved indecisively in front of these harmless insects, completely lacking the power that a Saint should have.

"Here!"

Allen also knew that it was not easy to get a greedy dragon to give up prey that it had a firm grip on. The fact that the other party was willing to cooperate so well was due to their close friendship, so he had to give something in return to appease this powerful partner.

A crystal clear box whistled towards the dragon's ferocious and huge head. As the dragon exhaled, the crystal box, carrying considerable force, finally stopped steadily in front of the dragon's pair of vertical pupils, each more than a meter in size.

"Hmph!! Don't think you can buy me off like this!!"

The proud dragon's tone no longer contained any resentment at this moment, because it clearly saw the item contained in the crystal box, which was a delicious food with a perfect color, aroma, and taste that it had not yet tasted.

The grade of the food that could be collected by a 'God of Food' would definitely not be low. In this regard, Figglas understood Allen's personality very well.

"Hehe ~ ~"

Watching the green light of magical transformation rapidly spreading over the dragon's body, Allen just shook his head and smiled speechlessly.

At this moment, a violent shockwave suddenly burst out in the Misty Forest, tearing and pulling apart the surrounding mist. Then, a strong surge of magical power, like a rising sun, was reflected in the spiritual worlds of Allen and Figglas, two top powerhouses.

"Huh??"

"Go!!"

The two spoke in unison with surprise. At the same time, Allen's mind suddenly turned and made a decision. His figure transformed into a sharp arrow, heading straight for the place where the magical power surged.

Figglas was only one step behind. While putting away the magical dish he had just obtained, he transformed into his true dragon form again, following closely behind.