In the deathly quiet forest, the phone ringtone was piercing.
A two-meter-tall Chimera Ant crushed through the undergrowth, arriving before the phone.
The light from the phone screen reflected in the Chimera Ant's round, pitch-black eyes, merging with a sense of puzzlement.
This Chimera Ant was not a low-level soldier ant with simple intelligence.
In the Chimera Ant hierarchy pyramid, from bottom to top: worker ants, soldier ants, Officers, Squadron Leaders, Royal Guards, Queen.
This Chimera Ant was at the Officer-level. In terms of intelligence, it wasn't much different from Squadron Leader-level Chimera Ants and also knew how to speak the common tongue.
"What is this thing?"
The Chimera Ant with obvious mantis characteristics picked up the phone, looking puzzled.
In the Republic of East Gorteau, where mobile phones were prohibited, many people didn't even know what a phone was.
Moreover, this Chimera Ant might not necessarily retain any memory related to phones.
He turned the continuously ringing phone over in his hands, feeling no threat whatsoever.
Crunch.
Careless, he broke the phone. The ringtone stopped abruptly.
"Oh, broken."
Watching the phone fragments scatter on the ground, the mantis ant cast a cold glance, then left the spot.
Meanwhile, in a small town at the eastern end of the Yorbian Continent, nestled against mountains.
Pokkle frowned, a flash of worry in his eyes.
Ding ding.
Seconds later, his phone received a location information from the Republic of East Gorteau within the Mitene Union in the Balsa Islands.
'Has something happened to Ponzu?'
Pokkle's heart tightened. He quickly ran towards an inn in town.
Biological Hunters had many branches. Pokkle was a Beast Hunter, Ponzu was an Insect Hunter, and there were other classifications like Bird Hunter.
Being in the same circle and examinees from the same year, they had exchanged contact numbers after getting their Hunter Licenses.
In the following days, they frequently exchanged information.
Thus, they naturally established a relationship of [Safety Contact].
Just now, Pokkle made his scheduled call but couldn't get through. Ponzu's number automatically sent location information, indicating the phone was destroyed by external force.
Pokkle had reason to suspect something happened to Ponzu. So he wanted to inform the team leader, then leave the team to follow the location information to East Gorteau to check.
The temporary inn had five floors, and the first floor was a restaurant.
When Pokkle entered the restaurant, the leader and the others happened to be coming down the stairs.
"Hey, perfect timing. Just in time for a meal."
There were four people coming down. One of them was Dafifi.
He greeted Pokkle, who had just entered the restaurant, while leading the other teammates towards an empty table.
Pokkle was anxious but obediently walked over and sat down.
Their team consisted of five people, all Beast Hunters.
This team mission was to search for traces of an unknown mystical beast in the Coco West Forest.
It took a total of one and a half months. Just yesterday, the team completed the task and emerged from the forest, temporarily staying at the inn to jointly discuss and review the mission, hoping to gain some insights.
The review discussion would last at least three days, a rare opportunity for experience exchange.
As a junior, Pokkle cherished this opportunity. However, Ponzu's situation was unclear, so he had to give up this chance.
Fortunately, the mission was already complete...
Pokkle sat quietly, watching Dafifi take the menu and order a large pile of food.
Patiently waiting for Dafifi to finish ordering, Pokkle then brought up his request to leave immediately.
"You're leaving?"
Dafifi was quite surprised.
The review exchange had only been going for one day.
He could see Pokkle's desire to improve, who wished he could ask a hundred thousand 'whys', hence the surprise.
"Yes."
Pokkle nodded apologetically, then roughly explained the reason.
"East Gorteau? I've been there a few times. That place prohibits bringing communication tools across the border," Dafifi said, stroking his chin.
Hearing this, Pokkle was taken aback. He didn't know that.
"Illegal entry," The man with sunglasses beside him concluded. He was also a Beast Hunter named Wayne.
This conclusion was obvious.
Dafifi didn't state his opinion but clearly shared this viewpoint.
Pokkle, however, looked embarrassed. He only knew Ponzu usually worked in teams, not the content of her missions.
However, the information exchanged so far had always been useful, indicating their operational scope was mostly in the wilderness.
"Can you show me the location information?" Dafifi looked at Pokkle.
Pokkle handed over his phone without a word.
Dafifi took the phone, looked at the location information, a flash of a strange look in his eyes.
He returned the phone to Pokkle, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "May I ask presumptuously, is your friend a Pro Hunter?"
"Yes. We got our licenses in the same period. She also knows how to use Nen."
"Solo operation?"
"No, she's always operated in teams. Moreover, among her teammates is an expert."
"Is that so..."
The strange look in Dafifi's eyes deepened.
Pokkle didn't understand. The other three at the table silently listened in.
"If we categorized danger levels for magical domains, secret domains, mountains, forests, swamps and such places, then the Coco West Forest we recently went to has a danger level of B."
"But the place in the location information..."
Dafifi pointed at Pokkle's phone and said, "Has a danger level of only F, second from the bottom."
"Huh?"
Pokkle couldn't help but look down at his phone.
He had just come out of the Coco West Forest and had firsthand experience.
'By comparison, a place with danger level F shouldn't cause trouble for Ponzu, right? Especially since there's an expert in the team.'
"Sometimes, the cause of danger can also be human-caused disaster," Dafifi said.
Pokkle's face changed slightly. He decisively said, "Sorry, I want to set off immediately."
"Don't rush. That's just my speculation. If it were human-caused, you probably wouldn't have received location information. In any case, calm down first."
As Dafifi spoke, he just saw the waiter bringing food over. He said, "Eat first, then you'll have strength to work."
"..." Pokkle.
Dinner was served, but Pokkle didn't have much appetite and ate little.
Dafifi finished eating, then let out a sigh and said, "I plan to go to East Gorteau. How about you?"
As he spoke, he looked at the other three teammates at the table.
The three exchanged glances. Two immediately politely declined with 'schedule conflicts'. Only Wayne agreed.
Dafifi expressed understanding. After this meal, the review exchange couldn't continue, so they went their separate ways.
After seeing off the two teammates, Dafifi led Pokkle and Wayne to take a car to the airport.
On the way, Pokkle apologetically said, "It's all because of me."
Wayne didn't comment. Dafifi, however, said calmly, "I trust your judgment of your friend's strength. So I'm very curious what happened there."
"If we rule out human-caused disaster, then the other possible reason is what I want to know."
Dafifi didn't spell it out, but he knew that when such phenomena usually occurred, it could be caused by unknown creatures, not excluding the possibility of unknown mystical beasts.
Five days later, Dafifi's group of three legally entered the country, heading directly to the location in the location information.
On the way, they passed through a deathly quiet, blood-stained village.