"My castellan, what"s the matter?" The two veterans heard McQueen"s call and rushed into the house, greeting McQueen.
McQueen pointed at the bed and shouted, looking like he was out of breath, "Dismantle this bed, I suspect there is a magic beast beneath!"
"Magic beast?" The veteran"s face blanked and he looked at McQueen dumbfounded. Why would you look for a magic beast? Can you not just sleep? How can a magic beast hide in the bed? I have already tidied up the house and there was never any sign of any magic beast. "My castellan, what kind of magic beast would hide here?"
"Don"t worry about what magic beast it is, just dismantle the bed. I"ve always virtuous and decisive, how could my guess be wrong." The yellow hair on McQueen hair stood up, making him look grand, combined with his weird looks, it made him look extremely unnatural.
The veteran had no choice but to get to work dismantling the bed. The bed was firmly embedded into the base. The veterans tried using their hands but to no avail. They had no choice but to take out their swords and hack away at the wooden board. The veterans still had strength and the wooden board was shattered after a few swings, exposing the black base of the bed.
McQueen and the two veterans peered inside at the empty darkness.
The two veterans shot a look at McQueen, thinking in their hearts about how they were right that there could not be a magic beast hiding there.
McQueen was confused. The grumbling sound clearly came from there so how could there be nothing? Unless he was too hungry and started hallucinating? No, he had to take a closer look, maybe the magic beast was small and they had missed it.
There was another rumbling sound. This time, all three of them heard it clearly. The two veterans looked at each other and then at the base of the bed. The sound had come from under the base of the bed. McQueen lifted his head smugly, shouting, "Keep digging, I told you there was a magic beast!"
The rumbling sound was very powerful, definitely not something produced by a small animal.
The veterans nodded carefully, one splitting of to get more people while the other sized up the base of the bed. McQueen stood at the side doing nothing. How could the castellan personally take charge when the bed was so dirty and dusty?
At this time, Bruce and the veterans completed their search through the town and rushed back. Bruce personally came down to the house, with some other veterans, to see what was the commotion was about. "How was it? Can you see anything?" McQueen asked the veterans in front.
"There seems to be a hidden pa.s.sage under the base of the bed but the entrance is clearly not here."
"Then start searching. I want to see what kind of magic beast would dare to reveal itself here." Bruce ordered domineeringly.
McQueen was getting ready to blame Bruce if some high level magic beast appear due to his arrogance.
Half a day went by and they still could not find the hidden entrance. Bruce waved his arms and said, "Forget it, I"ll smash it apart. All of you stand clear, I"m using the tiger smash skill!"
Tiger smash, a high tier axemen skill, one of the more extravagant offensive skills.
After the bang subsided, a large hole appeared. A bunch of veterans peered in, holding their weapons, getting ready for a fight. McQueen also peered inside the big hole, into the secret tunnel that seemed endless due to the largeness. Clank, the rubbles at the entrance of the hole moved.
The veterans surrounded McQueen with their weapons at the ready, looking alertly at the big hole.
Under the veterans" gaze, something crawled out of the hole slowly, emitting the same rumbling sound.
"What? A spider? A spider with a human"s face?" McQueen saw the magic beast from the gaps between the veterans and could not help but exclaim. This magic beast looked prim and proper, significantly different from the average wild beast.
"Presumptuous and insignificant human, how dare you address the great bug people as such." The spider opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercingly sharp sound. The spider was about the size of a millstone with green patterns over its body and was able to speak with its mouth.
"Monster…" McQueen was about to shout out his thoughts when his mouth was covered by Bruce"s big hand.
Bruce bowed deeply to the big spider and said, "Esteemed bug person, please forgive our foolishness. We are an army from the Kingdom of Soladin and did not know that you would be here."
Bug people? What is that? McQueen was stunned, Bruce was being extremely respectful, even more than when interacting with McQueen the castellan.
"I"ll forgive you based on your ignorance. As for why we are you, you don"t have to know about that." The big spider"s sharp voice became slightly gentler as gazed over the crowd with a cold look. Anyone who was looked at felt a sense of paralysing fear emerge.
This was especially so for McQueen. He almost wet his pants after the spider looked at him. It was not the gaze but rather the appearance of the spider that scared him. A spider with a human face with an stare full of emotions could only be described as a nightmare. Even though McQueen was an experienced MMORPG player with countless of monsters slayed but an animated monster definitely could not match up to a real one.
"Much thanks to your forgiveness dear esteemed bug person, is there any other thing for us to know?" Bruce"s forehead had a few drops of sweat as he thanked the bug person.
"That"ll be all, you guys go ahead and busy yourself with your tasks." The big spider returned back into the hole, leaving the group of veterans to stare at each other.
"Let"s get out quickly, we leave after lunch." Bruce said in a low voice and left the house quickly as if a big grey wolf was chasing him.
The big group of veterans finished their lunch in a rush and left the small town of Rafael under Bruce"s hurrying. Only after a few kilometres of quick marching did they stop due to McQueen"s incessant complains.
"I"m tired, Bruce, is that thing really that scary? You look like a dog whose owner has died with how scared you look." McQueen mocked Bruce resentfully. McQueen"s thin legs felt like they were about to break from the long run.
"My castellan, please be quiet." Bruce stopped McQueen with a sense of mystery. Seeing the other soldiers look at him with the same lack of understanding, he sighed, "Yes I was frightened. That encounter was too dangerous, too intense! Have you guys ever heard of the bug people?"
"No." The crowd shook their head as one.
"Where should I start from. This intelligent species appeared a long time ago and are very powerful." Bruce seemed to be reminiscing some past memories as his voice turned ethereal, "The bug people lived in the wastelands of the United Nations of Schindler. Originally, they had their own country called Azjol Nilab, named after their king, Spider Queen Azjol Nilab. The variety of bug people are very complex and I"m not sure about the details but I do that that any bug person who can create the illusion of a human"s face is at least of the Ultimate cla.s.s."
"Ultimate?!" McQueen shouted in surprise. That had to be a joke, an inconspicuous spider being of the ultimate cla.s.s? It would not be appropriate to label them as magic beasts but they do look weird for an intelligent species.
"The bug people are very moody and don"t interact much with humans, hence my request for everyone to leave the area as soon as possible." Bruce stood up and look towards the mountains ahead, "We"re almost reaching the magic cave, everyone take the chance to rest up, we won"t have such a chance once we enter the magic cave." Bruce laid down on the gra.s.s and got to sleep. The Pifa Continent was no longer the same as before, with all the dangers around, they could not afford to be caught off guard.
What they did not know was that after the bug person entered the hidden pa.s.sage, it waited for McQueen"s people to leave before sprinting through the long-hidden pa.s.sage until it reached the door to a huge cave.
"Moños Chagowski, you"re back." From the cave came the voice of an old lady, as if it had experienced a significant pa.s.sing of time.
"My king, Moños has returned." The big spider grovelled on the ground, pushing its head deep into the dirt as if it was insufficient to express its respect.
"How has the thing been settled so far?"
"My king, the humans on the surface has already dispersed, in order to prevent bloodshed, Moños has chased them away, they will definitely not obstruct our plan." The spider answered obediently.
"This plan has been in the works for very long, there must not be any errors, you have done well."
"Thanks to my king for the praise, Moños has not done enough."
"Go ahead first, keep on observing them and notify the rest. Keep your spirits up, if anyone screws up and affects my plan, I would definitely not show mercy." The old lady"s voice rang as a murderous aura flooded the hidden pa.s.sage. Even the big spider shook in fear despite it being of the ultimate level.
The owner of the cave has a strength that could not be measured.
"My king, please rest easy, Moños will be stricter in his supervising, there will be no errors."
The old lady"s voice was silent. The big spider waited for a moment before slowly retreating back into the hidden pa.s.sage before sprinting through the complex tunnels once again. No one would have imagined that under the small town of Rafael lied such a world.
The sun was setting, turning the clouds red.
On the surface at a patch of gra.s.sland not far away from the magic cave, Bruce was leading a hundred veterans to carefully search through the gra.s.sland for hidden dangers. McQueen, on the other hand, had a piece of foxtail gra.s.s in his mouth as he followed the army. The area around the magic cave were just these hills. How could strong could any magic beast hidden here be? According to the unwritten rules from stories he had read, powerful magic beasts belong in deep mountains and thick forest where there are few people.
"My castellan, it"s time for you to drink the medicine." Bruce"s voice rang beside McQueen"s ear.
"Alright, time for the medicine. All those beasts better stay away, both monsters and beautiful ladies shall have their knees turn weak in front of me… Ah, I hope this medicine works!"
McQueen tilted his head and downed the entire tube of the deep blue colored blood awakening medicine, looking forward to the activation of the medicine.