248 What?!
Ace and Layla were currently sitting on a stone platform inside a cave. After consuming deer soup, they did not hunt magical beasts again because it suddenly rained.
Not only that, but the rain was getting heavier by the minute, and thunderclaps kept echoing throughout the entire area.
Luckily, they found a cave near where they cooked the deer. Otherwise, they would have been drenched by now.
"My luck is really bad today." there were two reasons why she said her luck was bad.
First, they had killed many magical beasts but they only got three beast cores. Lastly, it suddenly rained, and the rain did not seem like it would stop anytime soon.
"Hehe." Ace chuckled.
Layla shifted her gaze from the bonfire in front of her to Ace. "Why are you chuckling, Ace?"
"You are like a kid when you keep complaining like that." He told her the reason why he suddenly chuckled.
"It can't be helped. I'm angry right now." She wanted to get stronger so that she could stand next to him and help him when he was in a tight situation.
But the heavens did not seem to want to grant her wish because she felt like the heavens were making it difficult for her to get beast cores.
Of course, she still remembered that she could absorb energy directly from nature, but absorbing energy in the beast core was much easier.
"Instead of complaining, how about you absorb these beast cores now?" from his point of view, complaining was useless because it would not change the situation.
"Alright." Layla agreed instantly. "Please protect me, Ace."
"Un." He nodded his head.
Then Layla began absorbing the beast cores.
Time went by quickly, and without realizing it, it was already 08:00 pm.
At this moment, Ace was cooking dinner for them. Even though it was Layla's turn to cook, he decided to make dinner because Layla was still absorbing the beast core.
Ace also had called Scarlett and told her they would stay the night in the forest because it was still raining heavily.
After the dinner was ready, Ace sat next to Layla again.
'She is still absorbing the beast core.'
A soft smile spread across his face as he stared at Layla.
Even though Layla wanted to empty the beast core, she stopped absorbing it because she could not focus when she smelled the delicious aroma of food.
'This delicious smell of food makes me hungry.'
She opened her eyes slowly before finally walking closer to Ace.
'This food looks so tasty.'
She sat on his right side.
"Let's eat." He smiled softly as he gave her a wooden bowl and spoon.
Layla wasted no time and consumed the food.
'This deer meat is so tender and delicious.'
She smiled happy as she ate her food.
"I'm glad you like it." He knew she liked the food because it was written on her face.
'Luckily, we still have some deer meat from earlier. Otherwise, we will definitely starve tonight.'
He smiled softly at her.
As he was consuming his food, Layla suddenly said something shocking, "Ace, I love you!"
The corner of his lips twitched.
'Isn't it too easy to win your heart?'
He did not expect her to say something like that.
"Your cooking is so delicious, Ace." She stated.
"Thank you." He smiled softly at her.
After dinner, they set up a tent and chatted there because it was still raining heavily outside.
Of course, Ace created two clones to protect them because they were in a cave, so they could not let their guard down.
"By the way. When will I get my reward?" Ace, who was lying on the folding bed, inquired.
To his surprise, Layla suddenly kissed his lips.
"Mmmuuccchh." After kissing him, she embraced his right arm.
"Only a kiss? Isn't this different from your previous promise?" even though he said something like this, he was happy deep inside him.
"I only got three beast cores, so your reward is a kiss." She told him the reason why he only got a kiss.
"I see. Then we should try our best to get a lot of beast cores tomorrow." He acted as if he wanted something more than a kiss.
"That's right. We should try our best tomorrow." She uttered.
After talking for about two hours, the duo slept.
----
The following morning, Ace looked for fruits and vegetables around the cave. They ate deer meat yesterday, so he wanted to eat healthy food this time.
'I hope I can find delicious fruits later.'
He was alone because Layla was making a fire in the cave.
'Hmm? What kind of fruit is that?'
He saw a fruit similar to mangosteen several meters in front of him.
'System, analyze that fruit.'
He wanted to know whether the fruit was edible or not.
[Host, it's edible.]
Ace wasted no time and walked toward the fruit tree.
"Hey, did you know Dezmavas came to our place?"
"Dezmavas? Really?"
"I know about it too. I heard he wanted to do something and asked Queen Vianola, King Eldrin, Queen Pyria, and King Zelphar to cooperate with him."
"I heard he wants to attack Nightshire City."
Three 3-star magical beasts talked about the hot rumor in the forest.
Ace, who happened to hear their conversation, stopped his footsteps and hid behind a tree.
'Nightshire city?'
He peeked at them carefully.
'Turtle, giraffe, and parrot.'
He finally knew who they were.
"Then do you know why he wants to attack Nightshire City?" the giraffe asked curiously.
"Rumors have it he wants treasure." the parrot responded.
"Treasure?" the giraffe was startled. "What kind of treasure is this?"
Like the giraffe, Ace was also shocked.
'Treasure? There is a treasure in our city?'
He kept eavesdropping on their conversation.
"I don't know." The parrot did not know anything about the Rainbow Pool.
"You don't know about it?" the giraffe shifted its gaze from the parrot to the turtle. "Do you know about it, blue turtle?"
"I also don't know about it." The blue turtle responded, "But I know it's a great treasure, and it's hidden in Nightshire City."
He then continued, "This treasure is also the reason why Nuvias and his underlings attacked Nightshire City five years ago."
Ace widened his eyes in surprise.
'What?! So, this treasure is the reason why countless magical beasts attacked our city five years ago?'
He finally knew the reason why countless magical beasts suddenly attacked Nightshir City five years ago.
"Hey, do you think Dezmavas will succeed in conquering Nightshire City later?" even though the giraffe knew how powerful Dezmavas was, but the citizens of Nightshire City were also strong.
"I don't know." The parrot responded, "But there is a possibility that he will succeed in conquering the Nightshire city because they will attack with a large number of troops."
"With a large number of troops? Do you know how many troops they have now?" the giraffe asked curiously.
"I don't know how many troops he has, but the total underlings of Queen Vianola, King Eldrin, Queen Pyria, and King Zelphar are ten thousand." The blue turtle knew about this because his brother was King Zelphar's underling.
"Ten thousand?" Ace mused.
"Then do you know when they will attack Nightshire City?" the giraffe inquired.
"I don't know." The blue turtle and the parrot responded in unison.
Shortly after that, these three magical beasts stopped talking and left that area.
At first, Ace wanted to attack them to get more information, but he changed his mind when fifteen magical beasts suddenly appeared.
No!
It was not like he was afraid of them.
He just knew the best decision he had to make at that time.
There were two downsides if he decided to attack them.
First, his chances of defeating them were only fifty percent. And lastly, it would attract even more magical beasts to that place if he fought them.
Not only that, but they would most likely keep silent about their plans to attack Nightshire city because he knew they were not leaders but followers.
These were the reasons why he decided not to attack them because the best decision was to inform Scarlett about their plans as quickly as possible.
'I have to protect Nightshire City.'
He also did not want Nightshire City to get destroyed because he considered it his hometown.
'I have to go back immediately and tell Scarlett about this.'
With that idea in mind, he left.
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