"Theo!" Ana shouted after seeing a six-legged creature approached him and almost slammed one of its legs.
As if he had prepared for it, Theo used his Blink to appear on top of the monster and covered his spear with the Magic Power Expansion and struck its body.
The monster obviously wanted to protect itself and turned around, but two giant spikes emerged from the snow and locked the head. It took the monster two seconds to break free from it, so Theo used that chance to hit the head as hard as possible.
Bam.
The creature dropped to the ground and Theo hurriedly leaped off the body. Soon, two big Magic Bullets hit the monster at the same spot, creating a huge crack on its skull.
After that, a giant snowflake sent its freezing cold wind into the brain, killing the monster from the inside.
"It's dead," Ana shouted.
Theo nodded and turned to the right, finding many corpses, including Supreme Rank Monsters' corpses lying on the ground. There was only one monster left which was soon killed by Lorenzo.
They had been fighting for a whole hour to kill all the monsters and depleted so much Magic Power during the battle because their opponents were Supreme Rank Experts.
Luckily, there wasn't a single Mythical Rank Expert in this area since the Poison King hated them. If not, they would have been wiped out.
After waiting for a moment, they regrouped in the middle of the corpses, looking at each other.
Some of them were panting, while some seemed to be fine. Though, those who were close to Supreme Rank were the only ones that looked alright.
They had fought ten Supreme Rank Monsters after all, so Theo and the others were a bit tired.
If not because of Theo's continuous control over the battlefield, they would have more trouble than this and might end up getting separated.
While panting, Luka asked, "So, what's the plan for this one?"
They immediately looked at Theo as he was the leader of this group. Although they didn't admit it, Theo's leadership had been ingrained inside their heart.
Theo fell silent for a moment and turned his head. "Ava."
Ava winked her eyes and gently hit her chest while making a smug smile. "Kyu."
"Okay. I will be letting you lead the group after this if you're that confident." Theo smiled. "For now, we will have five minutes rest. Recover your breath first before we continue."
They nodded and started touching the monsters to get their Skill and Material Cards.
While waiting, Agata came to Theo with a serious expression. "I know that you're confident with this plan, but I want to ask before this… Do you have any backup plans?"
Theo looked at Agata and smiled. "Don't worry. I never underestimated my opponent, especially since we're dealing with the Poison King. I have some escape plans ready in case we fail."
Alea took a glimpse of Theo's face and realized he wasn't joking or lying. Hence, she retracted her gaze and waited patiently.
She didn't know why but she felt awkward after meeting him again.
The past memories couldn't help but resurface as she muttered inwardly, 'Back then, I was too naive to see the problem I created. And I still had the audacity to ask for his help. Even back when we were dealing with two Supreme Rank Monsters, he deliberately caused the accident so he could tell me we were even.
'I knew he did it because he had let go of his past. However, it was frustrating.
'After that, Grandmother returned home for the first time and gave me this opportunity.
'It was clear that Grandmother received this reward because she taught Theo. It ended up pushing me away from the Griffith Family or the Eilric Family's control, allowing me to decide my own fate.
'Still, he ultimately became everything that helped my path this whole time. From my trauma to this power…
'If I could repeat the day I met him, I would do it better.
'I want to thank him.' Alea bit her lips and sighed. 'I have trained these few months tirelessly, yet, the gap between us is practically nonexistent. He can even surpass me anytime.'
'In the past, I had the power and courage to do it, but I never did it. And now, I want to repay him, but I have nothing to offer him despite having the courage and planning to do it.'
She closed her eyes in disappointment. 'I am sick of receiving everything. I also want to give something back.'
She clenched her fists before eventually shaking her head, putting her thoughts in order again. 'Either way, let's focus on the present problem. If we fail this, there won't be tomorrow.'
Ana seemed to have noticed Alea's change of expression but didn't say anything. She was already aware of Alea's feelings, but there wasn't much she could do.
After all, even she didn't know what Theo lacked anymore.
Theo wasn't unaware of all this as he continued organizing his plan inside his head.
After a while, the group continued their journey with Ava and Theo running at the very front. They moved between woods, looped around a certain spot, and hid when monsters came to them.
It was hard and slow progress, but the group didn't plain, considering they didn't wake the tree up while conserving their energy.
They managed to slip past numerous monsters without a single conflict.
This showed how reliable Ava was. Theo, her owner, also had his fair recognition since he managed to tame Ava.
There were only two miles left after the last teleportation and it took them an hour to finally arrive at their true destination.
Their destination was yet another plain surrounded by a thin layer of ice covering the river that circled the area. There was only a single tree in this snowy plain.
'So, that is the Poison Tree.' Theo and the others widened their eyes.
The tree had a green trunk and its branches spread to all directions, spanning over a hundred feet radius.
The black leaves added an eerie feeling in this snowy field, but their eyes were locked on to the six fruits hiding between the leaves.
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