Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

According to the underling, their group have suffered heavy losses as soon as they entered the Ancient Treant territory and were nearly wiped out if not for deciding to retreat immediately. The situation could have been worse had they delved any deeper.

Laris observed the condition of the man and couldn't help but curse out internally. Even for him, a level 311 [Dual Wielder] it was asking too much to handle a single Ancient Treant by himself. All he could do was stall it by dodging its attack, forget about dealing any damage much less defeating it.

An Ancient Treant was the next evolution of the Elder Treant which had lived for more than a thousand years and had accumulated a rich amount of mana from the mystical veins inside the earth.

A single Ancient Treant was so strong that it could evenly match with any one of the seven swords from their guild. The strongest entities in their guild. That is to say that a single Ancient Treant was as powerful as the top seven members of their guild.

Even their entire guild would be wiped out if they delved deeper into the Ancient Treant territory, forget about the lots of them.

If the remaining Forest Spring Spirits have escaped inside the territory of the Ancient Treants, he had no other choice but to give up on them. He wasn't going to take the risk of delving into their territory knowing their strength full well.

No matter how unwilling he was or even if his heart bled from the loss, he could only give up. But his main concern wasn't the normal Forest Spirits but rather the Forest Spring Royal Spirit that Miser told him about. A single royal spirit orb was incomparable to any number of spirit orbs.

That royal spirit was his only hope that could make up for this blunder. The Forest Spring Spirit village was brimming with more than two hundred spirits, but he was only able to accumulate less than a hundred spirit orbs. The rest either self-destructed their spirit orbs, got killed in the process or managed to escape inside the Ancient Treants territory. If he wanted to redeem himself, the royal spirit was his only choice.

Laris asked impatiently "what about that Little girl? What happened to the team that went after that girl?". He didn't want to reveal the identity of the little girl, that is why he asked in a roundabout manner.

There was no answer from his team members and just when he was starting to get annoyed, the underling that gave him the report earlier stepped out. "Sir Gelgar the team that went after that little girl are all dead. We went to check the area where we found their bodies and discovered that they didn't die from the treants but from a large-scale explosion that occurred in that area".

Laris was stunned, he didn't expect to hear such an answer. "Hmm? a large-scale explosion! What do you mean?" Laris immediately became concerned and asked immediately.

The subordinate gave him the full details seeing how grave the expression of Laris was. "It was like this.....". After listening to the report, he became aware that the group that was after the royal spirit died near the place where a fight had occurred recently. Laris believed that the team that was after the royal spirit girl, most likely died after getting swept up in the range of the explosion that had erupted from a fight.

He couldn't help but make an ugly face when he thought about the cause of their death. "Those fools" he cursed.

But thanks to them, he was at least now aware that there was a big fight that happened near the territory of the treants not so long ago. It seemed that other than them, there was somebody else deep inside the Ghatly winding Forest who had also infiltrated the territory of the treants.

"If that is true, then it is bad" Laris thought. If the actions of their guild was revealed, his head was sure to roll. Even if his big brother was one of the Seven Swords he would be able to do anything to change that.

Although the sight of the explosion was the only clue he had, he couldn't miss it. Laris immediately ordered, "Thoroughly search the place where the fight had occurred. I want somebody to be there as a lookout all the time".

After giving his orders, he sighed and fell inside his thoughts 'Was it Dale's team who intruded the treants territory?. If it's them then it's natural that they would be attacked by the treants and in that case, he might know about the little girl. If the girl wandered into Dale's team then the situation can still be salvaged. I must make contact with Dale'. Thinking so, he immediately went inside the house.

Laris was quite close but even he couldn't have imagined that it was Simon's magic that had wiped out his team members. Even the person himself wasn't aware that he had accidentally wiped out the team that was after Cecilia with his magic while focusing on the Elder Treants.

--------

Speaking of Simon, he was currently inside his dungeon making preparations to rescue the Forest Spring Spirits that had been enslaved by Laris. He looked at the participants- Irene, Cecilia, Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse before asking "Are you guys ready?".

Cecilia looked at Simon with amazement and her small mouth made an 'O' shape. Right now, Simon looked exactly like her, and even she couldn't spot any difference. If it wasn't for his voice still remaining the same, he would appear just like another version of her.

Simon had used the Elixir of Metamorphosis that he bought from the [Shop] to morph into Cecilia. Elixir of Metamorphosis was one of the items he listed in the shop in his previous life. Fortunately, even after the merger between the [Main menu] and dungeon menu, most of the items listed in the [Shop] such as the Elixir of Sacred Sanctum were still there along with the items from the dungeon menu's [Shop].

The Elixir of Morphosis just like its name, allows one to freely morph into anyone they want to change into. As long as they had seen them before, the user can morph into that person and take their appearance. Of course, there were some drawbacks such as the voice which couldn't be changed. However, it wasn't an issue this time.

To initiate their plan, he needed to morph into Cecilia because only this way he would be able to lure them out of Cecilia's village and rescue the enslaved Forest Spring Spirits in the meantime.

Simon who now looked exactly like Cecilia patted the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse and said "Look after her alright". He pointed at Cecilia.

The warhorse neighed loudly and thumped its forelegs into the ground as if saying 'leave it to me'.

Simon was a little worried about Cecilia who had no combat abilities and had no means to protect herself. He had to make sure that no harm comes to her during the process. Even while having Irene nearby, he still felt that it was better for the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse to accompany Cecilia. That way she would have additional insurance. Irene who was quietly looking from the side had an aura as peaceful as a frozen lake. But her eyes weren't calm whenever they looked at Simon.

For the past few days, she had been amazed by him again and again, and even now when he morphed into Cecilia. She looked at Simon, although he looked a little comical in Cecilia's appearance and with that voice of his.

But she was amazed by his resourcefulness and his determination to not put Cecilia into any danger and instead becoming the bait himself.

In the past few days, she came to understand the temperament and nature of Simon quite a bit. He was the kind of guy who did things that others couldn't even imagine nonchalantly and would write it of as something inconsequential.

Stubborn to the extreme, easy-going and had an unfettered will that wasn't bound to anything. He was the type of guy who would confront all his troubles without running away and when he puts his mind into something, he would never back away from it.

At this time even Irene didn't realise that she had unknowingly started paying more attention to Simon.