Chapter 49 - Poison Quarry
"Yes, Lieutenant !" the party replied as they formed four lines. The three spirit realm experts each took one side with Kuo being at the front and Hao Xuan and the four newbies right next to him.
Mason and Aria were enamored by the surroundings. There were strange noises coming from all around them. The trees were so tall that you couldn't even see the canopy. Barely any light got through. and it looked like the sun had just set even though it was only about 1 p.m.
"I hate bugs," mumbled Mason while looking left and right and rubbing his arms as if brushing off something.
"How could you be scared of bugs? You can squish them with one foot," asked Mia in disdain. She as a girl was perfectly fine with the creepy crawlies yet this guy was acting like a lunatic.
"That's why they are so scary! They can be anywhere and you won't know it. If they were bigger I could fight them like any other beast without a problem," he explained his phobia.
"That's the exact opposite. If they are that big then you SHOULD be scared," Mia said looking at the trees as if a distant memory suddenly had come up.
Hao Xuan stayed silent and listened to them talk while holding onto the bronze token that First had given him to find the caravan. They cut straight through the jungle towards the caravan for about an hour and a half until the token went haywire.
"Hmm?" Hao Xuan stopped mid-stride and frowned looking at the token. Aria was so engrossed in talking with Mia that she didn't see him stop and ran straight into him.
Hao Xuan paid no attention to it and was still looking at the token. "I-I'm so sorry Captain!" she said and bowed several times.
Kuo stopped and turned around when he heard the commotion and walked up to Hao Xuan.
"Aria, we are in a mission, you should always have your full attention on your surroundings. This is an actual mission and not training. You could lose your life in a second," he said sternly, looking back at her.
"Y-Yes Lieutenant! I'm sorry," she repeated and bowed once again.
"Hmm. Captain, what's wrong?" he nodded at Aria and then turned towards Hao Xuan and asked quietly.
"The token stopped working. It was fine a second ago," he replied still examining it.
Kuo also looked at it and the pointer that was supposed to be pointing straight ahead was now going around in circles.
"That's not good," he mumbled.
"Do you know anything?" Hao Xuan asked looking up.
"Yes, this only happens when there are extremely dense and potent sources of spiritual energy nearby. They interfere with instruments like these. but more importantly, if there is such dense spiritual energy here than there must be extremely powerful beasts as well along with even some other species perhaps."
"That is not going to make this mission any easier is it..." Hao Xuan said with a sigh.
"Everyone, be on your toes. The spiritual energy is way too dense further ahead. I am increasing the difficulty of the mission to Grade 3B," Kuo spoke into the Red Legion ID badge.
There were five main danger levels for missions. With 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest. Each grade had five more categories depending on a number of different factors. The subcategories were from A to E with E being the lowest difficulty.
Anything from Grade 4 and above was for profound level experts only and was a death sentence for anyone weaker.
The Poison Quarry was one of the unexplored regions of the Mei Kingdoms. No large-scale explorations had taken place here because the foliage was extremely dense and would basically grow back with a few days. No one ventured into the deeper parts of the region so they weren't aware of such areas.
That was why it was only graded at 3C and the Mad Saints entered without much thought.
"Yes sir!" everyone replied in hushed voices and took out their weapons, going on full alert.
"Alright, let's keep moving then," Hao Xuan said when he saw that everyone was ready. They still went completely straight, cutting through everything in their path, that is until a mountain blocked their path.
"Should we just climb it?" Hao Xuan asked looking at Kuo.
"That's not a good idea. We really have no idea what kind of beasts call this place home. There could be some flyers here which make it ten times harder for us to continue, and who knows, we might even lose someone," he replied shaking his head.
"Alright, let's go right then. No use thinking about it," Hao Xuan said and started walking without waiting for a response.
Kuo looked at his back and sighed. Ever since they left the town Hao Xuan had been much quieter and didn't interact with others unless needed. Maybe he shouldn't have been so protective of him back then.
"Let's g-"
*SCREEEEEECH*
Just as he lifted his hand to tell the party to continue an ear-piercing screech interrupted him.
"The hell!?!"
*ROAAAAAAAAR*
Another sound wave hit them, this time strong enough to push a few of the soldiers back.
"Careful!"
Screamed the female Spirit realm expert and slammed her staff down into the ground with full force, creating a barrier covering the party.. As soon as the barrier was created a massive boulder fell down on top of it, burying them completely.