Chapter 79: Chapter 76: I Am Proud! I Am Victorious
By the ti the team of four had finished collecting their spoils and erged from the cave, the sky had completely darkened.
The nights in the Silent Forest had no chirping insects, only a strange whisper that echoed through the woods—the sound of the region’s unique Magic Trees breathing.
Countless Magic Plants began to reveal their true forms.
Glowing mushrooms dotted the forest like stars, and phosphorescence flowed along the branches of ancient trees, dyeing the surrounding mist in dreamlike colors. The sight was just like the Pandora Planet from the movie *Avatar* in Allen’s past life—so beautiful it was breathtaking.
"It’s... so beautiful here," Lina murmured in awe, gazing at the wondrous sight.
"Beautiful things are often the most dangerous."
Allen took a mont to admire the scenery, then glanced at his weary teammates and broke the silence.
"Let’s camp in the cave tonight. It’s safer than outside."
No one objected. After the battle, Allen had established his authority within the team.
After setting up a basic warning Rune Array at the cave’s entrance, the four of them took out their sleeping bags and began taking turns on watch.
That night, Allen slept soundly.
But Baston and the other two barely slept a wink. The shock of their imnse new wealth, combined with the adrenaline from surviving the ordeal, kept them in a constant state of hyped-up excitent.
Baston polished his beloved Tower Shield over and over, while Bruno hugged his cobblestone, muttering to himself as if planning how to spend the windfall.
Fortunately, the night passed without incident.
The next morning, as the first rays of sunlight pierced the thin forest mist, the four packed their gear and stepped out of the cave.
However, the sight before them left everyone stunned.
Hovering silently above the ruined campsite they had passed the day before was an Alchemy Airship, painted jet-black and marked with the silver insignia of a scale.
Below the airship, three Advanced Apprentices in black uniforms were expertly surveying the scene.
Their movents were efficient and their auras were potent. They carried themselves with a grim seriousness, and one could tell at a glance they were not to be trifled with—a far cry from ordinary apprentices.
"The Disciplinary Committee."
Bruno lowered his voice, his expression instantly tensing. He had clearly recognized the uninvited guests.
The Seven Towers Alliance’s Disciplinary Committee was responsible for maintaining internal order and handling cases of apprentice casualties. They wielded imnse power.
Its mbers were elites selected from senior Advanced Apprentices, all with exceptional combat skills. They were widely recognized as the toughest group in the academy—people you did not want to cross.
Rumor had it the compensation was excellent, so many Advanced Apprentices in need of money scrambled for a chance to serve a term.
Their presence was obviously due to the two dead apprentices.
Just as Allen was contemplating their next move, the other party spotted them.
With a wave of his hand, the leading Elite Captain had his two subordinates fan out into a combat formation. They moved silently, their coordination seamless as they surrounded Allen’s group.
The captain in the lead was tall and thin, with an aquiline nose and eyes as sharp as a blade.
He looked Allen’s group up and down. His gaze lingered for a mont on their travel-worn appearance and sowhat shabby equipnt before finally settling on Allen, who stood at the front.
"Who are you people? What are you doing here?"
His voice was cold, carrying the tone of an interrogation.
Lina and Bruno, visibly uncomfortable under his intimidating presence, subconsciously shuffled closer to Allen.
"We’re Advanced Apprentices on a mission here."
Allen replied calmly, taking out his ID card.
The Elite Captain scanned it with his portable device, and Allen’s information appeared on the screen.
"Allen Wesren... first-year Advanced Apprentice, School of Alchemy. Currently on his annual mandatory mission: hunt Crystal Shell Burrowing Insects in the Silent Forest."
He frowned, eyeing Allen with suspicion. His gaze then swept over the three behind him: one burly, one scrawny, and one with wandering eyes.
"Just the four of you?"
The contempt in his voice was undisguised.
Clearly, he found their group’s strength to be lacking.
"We’re investigating the deaths of several apprentices. We found intense residual Magic Power and signs of a battle at the scene."
The Elite Captain said coldly,
"You’d better explain why you ca from that direction."
He gestured toward the cave behind Allen’s group.
Allen calmly explained that they had been tracking Crystal Shell Burrowing Insects.
The captain scoffed. "Nonsense. Crystal Shell Burrowing Insects? The residual Magic Power here is far too intense to have been caused by one or two of those things."
"Perhaps you’ll understand if you go down and see for yourselves."
Allen didn’t argue further. He simply stepped aside, clearing the path to the cave entrance.
A flicker of vigilance flashed in Carl’s eyes, but his supre confidence in his own strength kept him from hesitating.
He shot a look at his subordinates. The three of them remained on high alert as they followed Allen’s group into the gloomy cave.
When they passed through the long, narrow passage and reached the vast underground cavern, the sight of the frozen, hellish landscape made the pupils of all three Disciplinary Committee mbers contract sharply.
The entire cavern was a battlefield, ravaged by so great beast. The ground was coated in a thick layer of frost. The massive carcasses of burrowing insects and the shredded remains of plants were frozen together, forming a grotesque, icy sculpture.
The aftershocks of frenzied elental energy and psychic contamination still lingered in the air.
The Elite Captain strode over to the enormous corpse of the Burrowing Insect Queen. He stared at its back, which had been completely stripped of its carapace, and then at the surrounding roots of the Joyous Thorn, utterly shredded and frozen into solid blocks of ice. He gasped.
"This... Did an Official Wizard pass through here?"
One of his subordinates asked in horror.
With their trained eyes, they could naturally discern the sheer brutality of the battle.
Three adult Crystal Shell Burrowing Insects, a Queen, and a dangerous Joyous Thorn that was at least twenty years old...
Even their elite squad would have to pay a heavy price to take down a force like that.
However, at that mont, a proud voice that clashed with the tense atmosphere rang out.
"It wasn’t an Official Wizard!"
Baston puffed out his broad chest and took a step forward, his voice booming.
"We did it! Pretty amazing, huh?"
Allen: "..."
He tried to shoot Baston a look to stop him, but it was too late.
Baston’s face, which practically scread, ’Aren’t you going to praise ?’, was beaming with simple pride.
In an instant, all three of the committee mbers’ gazes zeroed in on Allen, making him extrely uncomfortable.
If their looks had been contemptuous and suspicious before, they were now filled with outright disbelief and scrutiny.
The Elite Captain stared hard at Allen and asked, enunciating every word, "Is what he said true?"
Allen sighed inwardly.
This stunt prompted Allen to ntally log "The Unpredictability of Teammate Behavior" as a new research topic in his Dseek.
At this point, there was no longer any point in hiding the truth.
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