I JUST WANT A PEACEFUL LIFE

As someone that wants the best for Anna, Angus and Jayna sometimes feel pretty conflicted about her destructive behavior. Still, they never show it as they always wish Anna to choose her path.

Jayna knows the feeling of not being able to choose her path from her and Fire Phoenix's experience. She will never let the same thing happen to Anna. Meanwhile, Angus is taking this more seriously.

With his deep knowledge of martial arts, he is not only proficient in combat but also knows a lot about spirituality and the mind. He knows someone that, being caged and controlled, will never be able to reach their maximum potential and beyond.

Like when he is interested in Jayna, Angus knows Anna's talent is enormous and maybe stronger than him. If she wants, she could even use any skills/spells without being taught like him.

She couldn't do this because she didn't like to think about complicated stuff while imitating or using new skills/spells need a lot of deep analysis and thinking.

Like any master in his previous life, Angus really wants to teach Anna to reach her maximum potential or surpass beyond it. He didn't want Anna to meet any spiritual bottleneck like Angus and King Leon experienced.

After torturing all the survived Vitas to death, they finally get information about Vitas's mercenary group.

"Hmm… So, they have one sixth and two fifth grades. They are quite strong for an independent mercenary like our kingdom squad." said Aunt Extalia.

"Yup. Moreover, they also have around fifteen fourth grades and dozens of third grades. No wonder Uncle Jade is helpless fighting them." added Angus.

"Still, I could handle all of them alone." chimed Aunt Extalia.

"In a frontal battle, yes. But, they always hide deep underground. You also hear them. They even create their own base camp underground." said Angus.

"Then, let's just destroy their camp." said Aunt Extalia.

"That's the problem. We don't know where this camp is." said Angus.

"Really? Don't you have some amazing large detection skill?" asked Aunt Extalia in confusion.

"Yeah. But, they seem to use some barriers to prevent my detection skill. My skills range a few kilometers away in all directions. Yet, I didn't sense any trace from them besides these guys. I doubt they will stay more than a few kilometers deep underground." said Angus.

"I could run around the area and look at them more carefully, but I doubt I could sense them." added Angus.

"Tch… What a coward!! Hiding like a mole." grumbled Aunt Extalia.

"Don't worry. Although it is not according to my initial plan, they are already trapped the moment they investigate us." said Angus.

"What did you mean?" asked Aunt Extalia.

"I asked for some help from Shadow Squad before I came here." said Angus.

"You what?? Wait… How did you… Did Leon tell you?!!" said Aunt Extalia with a surprised tone.

"Yeah. He suddenly told me all of this kingdom's important stuff." said Angus.

"No wonder. He asked me to escort you. Angus, I know you don't have any interest in ruling the kingdom. But, I hope you could help our Heart Kingdom in time of emergency." said Aunt Extalia seriously.

"The only reason Leon shares this kind of authority with you despite your apathetic behavior is that he wants you to become one of the strong pillars of the kingdom. I hope you can become like us when the time comes." added Aunt Extalia.

"We will see that later. Anyway, let's search for their camp first." said Angus, trying to divert the topic.

Then, they run around the area while Angus uses [Great Mana Echolocation] once in a while. After a few hours of running around, Angus is confident the Vitas mercenary uses some kind of barrier to prevent his detection skill.

Rather than Vitas, Angus finds more about the Nergal's spies and a few small teams. Unfortunately, none of them could handle the speed of Crimson Flash.

All of them were knocked down before they could even react by Aunt Extalia. With the combination of Angus's large detection and her speed, they will never be able to detect Angus' group or escape.

Seeing Aunt Extalia knock down the others efficiently, Angus knows the woman is very experienced in this task. In less than an hour, they eliminate all the spies in the surrounding area.

As they walk around the prairie, Angus notices the whole area seems to be a massive grassland without any trees or rocky terrain.

"Angus, look!! Everything is green and looks so wide." said Anna while running around.

"Anna, wait!!" as Jayna follows the little troublemaker.

Angus let the girls play around while he observed the ground and the surrounding grass.

"This place is not natural… No, it looks natural but not at the same time." muttered Angus.

"Find anything?" asked Aunt Extalia, who suddenly appeared beside him.

"Nah… I think my previous guess is, right? They have some kind of barrier to prevent any detection." said Angus while cleaning his hand from dirt.

Seeing Angus not only observing the ground but the nearby grass, "Did you find something in the surrounding area?" asked Aunt Extalia.

"If I am not wrong, King Leon and King Andvari fight in this place for hours and create a massive concentrated mana turbulence, right?" said Angus.

"Right. What about it?" asked Aunt Extalia.

"Don't you find it strange that no plantation, beast, or even animal on this grassland? The only thing that grows here is only a few harmless insects and this common grass." explained Angus.

Moreover, this grass growth is very extraordinary. But, after growing at a certain height, they stop growing. There is also this unnatural fast-moving wind around this area." added Angus while feeling the air with his hand.

"Hmm… Some experts and researchers said it is the side effect of concentrated mana turbulence. But, as you said, it is weird for only grass and a few harmless insects growing in this area." said Aunt Extalia as she realized the weirdness.

Suddenly, Anna approaches Angus while holding something in his hand.

"Angus, look!! I caught an octopus!!" said Anna while holding a small bleeding octopus in her hand.

"Anna, where did you get that?" asked Angus.

"Ahh… I found it on the nearby grass. It tried to hide in the ground like a mole. But, Anna is smart and held it before it could enter the ground." replied Anna proudly.

"Err…" Angus didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, the whole area is trembling. The entire Humnia Grassland is shaking without stopping. At the same time, King Andvari, who resides on his Fortress' border, instantly looks at Humnia Grassland.

"Something is coming!! Contact our spy in the grassland!!" commanded the King to his assistant.

'What is this presence?!!' thought King Leon while ready himself.

The same situation also happens in the Windshire Fort. Like King Andvari, Jade also feels a sudden ominous feeling from the center of Humnia Grassland.

"Angus and Extalia are still inside there. Damn, I should have known they are a big magnet for trouble. Zeth, take a few of your fastest men and bring the Duchess Amberblaze's team back!!" commanded Jade to one of the ex-Sur elders.

"As you command, Chief." said Zeth, ex-elder of Sur Village.

Feeling the unstable ground, Angus immediately grabs Anna and Jayna before moving a few hundred meters away from his location [Beast Walk]. Aunt Extalia also does not stay idle and follows Angus.

Suddenly, a massive tentacle appeared from the ground in their previous location. The tentacle is similar to the one that the octopus has, but it is enormous. The tentacles have diameters of a few hundred meters around.

Seeing the size of the creature's tentacle, 'No wonder I couldn't sense it. Its size is too large to be detected.' thought Angus.

Like how travelers thought the world serpent tail was a mountain, Angus also couldn't perceive the creature because of its ridiculous size. For him, he just thought the enormous tentacle was something like natural hard ground, stone, or others.

Angus and Jayna may often find giant beasts/monsters inside the Endless Battlefield. They even see a monster like a dragon in the dimension exit. But, they had never seen a creature this huge. Even Jayna knew no creature this big in Fire Phoenix's memory.

"Wooaahhh… It's huge!! Hey, is that your daddy or mother or both?" asked Anna leisurely while shaking the octopus in her hand.

"Anna, stop!!" said Angus as he didn't stop running.

As if the tentacle knew it was Anna who stole its child, the tentacle slammed in their direction with a speed that didn't match its size. Angus and the others could only see a vast shadow cover the surrounding area.

At this moment, Aunt Extalia has already taken out her greatsword artifact and is ready to defend them.

Just as they clash with the huge tentacle, "Go, Onyx!! Anna chose you!" said Anna while throwing Onyx to the incoming tentacle.

Instantly, the small Onyx becomes bigger and matches the tentacle's size. *BOOOM* A massive shockwave release from their clash. Angus and the others were even thrown away from the airwave it produced.

Feeling the strong presence of Onyx, the tentacle hit the ancient snake beast again. However, Zokline is not an ancient beast famous for its hard scale for nothing. *HIISSHH* Hissing loudly, the provoked Zokline became larger and bigger.