Before long, the trees began to thin, and soon, the forest suddenly opened up.
A large open space appeared ahead of them. This part of the forest was a clearing, but within this clearing were patches of isolated woodland dotting the grassy landscape, while countless trampled footprints covered the ground and led ahead.
Petra discovered that in that direction, there was a faint commotion.
She wobbled a bit, then scaled a nearby fallen log.
Her little legs flailed as she climbed her way up.
"...Hm?"
After obtaining a better view, she discovered that several groups of people were running across the clearing, no, they seemed to be chasing someone…?
She pursed her lips, then using one hand as a visor, she narrowed her eyes and looked into the distance.
Their target was a chubby young man carrying a small wooden bookcase that was strapped to his back. It was difficult to see his face from here, but Petra felt as if he was a bit froggy.
The young man looked exhausted. His face was pale, and sweat covered his forehead.
Behind him, several people, each clustered into groups of five to ten, were not far away.
"Stop running, you pig!"
"Hand it over! Don't you dare sell it!"
"Damn fatty! You can't escape!"
These people pursued him from behind.
Like the group Petra had met before, all these people were from the Blue Sea Guild.
Petra's mind turned, and she thought back to what she knew about them.
They were a massive organization of seafaring merchants, or at least, that was what they called themselves. In reality, they were a group of bandits, pirates, mercenaries, and smugglers. Their influence stretched across all continents and countless shipping routes. Even the major factions preferred not to offend them unnecessarily.
Looking ahead, they were slowly converging on the chubby youth.
"...I wonder why they're chasing him?" Petra muttered while rubbing her chin.
…Nobody knew, but for those that did…
Yikes!
Petra could only watch as the young man disappeared into the distance. The Blue Sea Guild followed shortly afterward, and the clearing slowly returned to its quiet state.
A few minutes later—
BOOOOM!!!
—!
The entire forest suddenly–shook!
Birds exploded into the sky as Leaves rained from the trees.
A shockwave blasted out, shaking the forest.
Foosh!
As she was blasted back, Petra nearly jumped out of her skin.
She tumbled off the log, her twin tails whipping around violently as Rose and Lira looked toward the distant horizon with serious expressions.
"...That sounded pretty bad!"
Lira nodded.
Another shockwave rolled through the forest, and while Petra was propping herself back up, smoke rose from somewhere far away.
Seeing this, Petra's expression turned interested.
She immediately stepped forward.
"Let's go look!"
Without waiting for a response, she started running.
The four girls paused, then hurried after her. As they advanced, something became increasingly obvious, and that was that they were moving in the same direction the chubby young man had fled.
Not only that, but they weren't alone. More and more groups of people appeared, most of whom were from the Blue Sea Guild, but many were not. Cultivators, adventurers, bounty hunters, and treasure hunters—everyone seemed to be converging toward the same destination. Whatever caused that explosion had attracted a lot of attention, and not everyone had seen the chubby youth.
As Petra continued, eventually, another group of six emerged from the trees not too far ahead. These were even more people from the Blue Sea Guild, making Petra question just how many of them had entered the secret realm.
One had to know that it wasn't actually that cheap to register…
The two parties slowed simultaneously, and the atmosphere immediately became tense.
Several guild members narrowed their eyes.
Petra looked at them like a curious baby, but Rose and Lira seriously examined them. Wind remained expressionless, and Mell just gave a quick and polite smile.
The members of the Blue Sea Guild stared back cautiously.
For several long seconds, nobody spoke; they just continued towards the depths of the forest ahead while paying attention to the group parallel to them.
The fog drifted silently between the trees as they slowly advanced. Petra could see a strange look on their faces, clearly deciding that whatever lay ahead was more important than picking a fight here and now. The fact that they were even considering it left Petra with a bad impression, but in all truth, she was also thinking about the exact same thing.
Without another word, they split away and continued deeper into the forest.
Petra watched them leave.
Then she looked toward the direction of the explosion.
The ground still faintly trembled from time to time, and something was still happening in the distance, but what could have caused such a terrifying explosion was beyond her.
That didn't feel like a low-level explosion!
Third order? Fourth, fifth? No, it felt even stronger…
But how could such a thing appear in the secret realm?
Judging from the number of people gathering, something valuable had just been discovered, that's why so many people were drawn in. Coincidentally, this so-called treasure just happened to appear in the direction of the froggy youth.
Interested, Petra's eyes immediately sparkled.
She picked up the pace.
-
Swoosh!
Petra appeared atop a massive branch that was resting just beneath the lower part of the canopy.
The fog here was much thinner than below, but in exchange, a strange chill seemed to drift through the air and intertwine with the foliage. The leaves gently swayed while a pale mist rolled between the trees beneath her feet.
From atop the enormous branch, Petra crouched down and peered through the leaves like a tiny little predator stalking its prey.
"…Found you~!" She muttered, her eyes narrowing with a grin.
Below—
The chubby young man with the wooden bookshelf strapped to his back was currently surrounded by a group of rough-looking practitioners from the Blue Sea Guild.
He had already been knocked down and was currently collapsed on his butt, sweating profusely.
Surrounding him, there were at least fifteen of them, and this only accounted for those that had already arrived. Judging from the nearby voices, there were more groups gathering.
Some held curved blades and others carried hooks, nets, and even harpoon-like weapons.
None of them looked particularly trustworthy.
They were definitely bad people, but just how bad was up for debate…
As for the young man himself—
This was a strange, chubby young man.
He had the face of a frog. He was ugly, but in a cute-ish kind of way. He looked like a beastman, but was undoubtedly human, with short black hair and big black eyes. Between this youth and Petra's frog, Petra would choose the frog every time.
On his back was a small bookcase, clearly filled with books, which was strange for a man who was so fat that he looked like it was already difficult for him to walk. The bookcase had been cracked, and the books contained within it were spilling out.
Petra looked at the literature that had been scattered across the forest floor with a faint grimace.
Seriously, this guy…
"You fat bastard! Just hand it over!"
"Hand over that fucking drawing of senior sister!"
The chubby young man nearly cried.
"I'll kill you!"
"Damn pervert!"
"I-I already told you people! I-I didn't see anything! S-she was, I-I was just—"
"Bullshit!"
One of the guild members spat onto the ground.
"Do you think we're idiots!?"
"How dare you peep!"
"Pervert!"
"Lecher!"
"Toad the Toad, erm… no wait—!"
The surrounding guild members immediately burst into maddened laughter.
From the tree above, Petra blinked in confusion.
If it really was what she thought...
Then oh boy…
She quietly wondered what exactly had been drawn, but judging from the things on the ground and the unending flood of curses mixed with slurs, she felt as if she already had an idea. With a flick of her mind, her mental energy swept out and scanned the surrounding scene. With eyes filled with a bit of guilt, she casually scooped up a certain booklet that seemed to have just been drawn from the scattered contents on the ground.
It silently swooped up the tree, then landed in her hands.
Petra rolled her eyes, then, peeking through a single hand's worth of fingers, she scanned the drawing and nodded a few times. 'Indeed, this so-called senior sister is a beauty—BANG!'
Wind smacked her on the head, then confiscated the drawing. After taking a quick glance, Wind's ears reddened, and she tore the book apart using wind magic.
Meanwhile, the youth, Toad, had his face turned completely red with humiliation.
"I-I-I DIDN'T! I said it already! Why don't you believe me!? Boohoo!"
Unfortunately…
Nobody believed him!
One of the Blue Sea Guild members suddenly lunged forward with a hooked blade.
Toad squealed, scrunched up, then somehow—
Whoosh!
—He dodged like a nimble little fairy!
Everybody, Petra included, looked at him in shock!
The hook completely missed, but another attack came from behind. Without even seeing it, Toad conveniently stumbled sideways and accidentally dodged it. When a third figure swung their club, Toad tripped over a root and narrowly avoided the strike by complete coincidence.
Everyone looked at him incredulously.
Petra's eyes slowly widened.
She watched this Toad continuously and accidentally dodge every single attack like some heaven-blessed child of luck.
Fuck!
Who was this fatty!?
Who was the real Heavens Chosen Child!? Damn it! She didn't see Elena dodging like this!
The entire scene instantly became chaotic.
The guild members rushed him together, while weapons flew everywhere.
Toad continuously screamed while rolling, stumbling, crawling, and flailing through the forest like a terrified frog trying to escape traffic. His legs kicked wildly through the air while he desperately jumped around, repeatedly avoiding the onslaught of over fifteen people!
To Petra's complete shock—
Every single attack missed!
For literally several full minutes, the members of the Blue Sea Guild failed to land even a single hit.
This continued, until finally—
Smack!
The sound of a crisp slap echoed through the forest.
One of them managed to slap Toad directly across the face, and this instantly froze the surroundings.
Silence followed.
Toad froze in place, unmoving and stunned.
Petra dramatically gasped.
Even the surrounding guild members paused their assault to look at what they all felt was a miracle.
In the silence…
"Damn pig! Now that you're caught, hurry up and—"
"…Ah, uh?"
Hoooong!
But just then—
A protective jade talisman hanging from Toad's waist suddenly erupted with a brilliant emerald light!
Soon, right next to the two, a transparent figure appeared out of thin air.
This was a beautiful woman with amphibian-like features, smooth pale green skin, long slender legs, and two beautiful black eyes. Her face lacked a visible nose, while faint patterns spread across her cheeks like ripples in water.
This jade beauty, cough-cough, this shimmering sister—
Ahem!
Her projection calmly looked around before slowly turning toward the man who had slapped Toad.
The air seemed to freeze.
Her eyes, which were serene and lethargic a moment ago, instantly became bloodthirsty.
BOOM!
A mind-numbing killing intent exploded from her figure!
"How dare you attack the Crown Prince—!"
The surrounding guild members froze.
The woman slowly raised her delicate hand, then, "—Cease to exist for me!"
BOOM!!!
Following those words, the Seventh Order projection sealed inside the jade erupted with world-destroying power!
Woosh!!!
The attack was absurdly simple, a mere swipe of the hand.
Yet it instantly obliterated the dozens of Second Order Blue Sea Guild practitioners, turning them into clouds of blood mist before erasing them from existence entirely!
At the same time—
A horrifying wave of pressure exploded outward!
The forest shattered, the trees snapped apart, and the nearby earth collapsed.
Even the surrounding space seemed to crack and become even more unstable!
Petra and the surrounding onlookers were blasted backwards like cannonballs while a tsunami-like shockwave erupted through the surroundings!
While flying through the air, Petra's eyes sparkled brilliantly, but Mell and Wind, who were currently hanging onto Petra for dear life, felt an extreme chill in their hearts!
Because although Petra did not realize it—
This attack felt extremely similar to the gigantic explosion from earlier!
Which meant—
This protective jade might not be a one-time-use treasure!
Fuck!
Wasn't this protective artifact a little too sensitive!?
Fuck!!
Wasn't this thing supposed to be a life-saving object!?
Fuck!!!
Just what kind of background did this froggy freak have!?!