Dungeon Of Pride, Laplace

Even though Aldebaran could have provided him with no information about the enemy, as this was a trial for Simon and something that he needed to do with his own strength, they still chose to do so.

From this one could tell how much Aldebaran favoured him. Although they did not say that themselves, providing information on the enemy could only mean that they wanted him to succeed.

And frankly, Simon had no complaints with the trial since it was continuously pushing him an helping him to grow stronger.

Because of the promise he made with Aldebrana and the forest spring sprits, he felt the need and urgency to get stronger every day.

Subjugating the Seven Kings of the west, once he completed the trail, Simon wondered how stronger he would become by then.

"By the way, why is that treant all messed up and bruised?" Simon pointed.

Not far away from their resting spot, was an ash black ancient treant with its branches broken and trunk cracked, making a sorry sight. For some reason, Simon felt a familiar aura from that treant.

"Hmph, Master does not need to worry about that old tree. He got what he deserved" the Valkyries replied fuming at the treant.

Simon sighed, he did not know what happened while he was gone; however, they were on foreign territory, it wasn't a good idea to beat someone else's subordinate.

"Are you alright?" Simon approached the ancient treant and asked.

"Yeah… don't worry about it" The ancient treant replied sluggishly. Although the injuries on its body were heavy, it was slowly recovering from them using its [Root] skill and absorbing the mana from the mystical veins underneath the ground.

"Your voice seems familiar, have we met before?"

From Simon's point of view, all the ancient treants looked the same. Maybe it was possible to differentiate them a little with their colour; however, one needed a discerning eye for that.

"I'm Balsa, a loyal servant of the king of the ancient treants. You met me some time ago when you visited the Ancient Treants territory with a forest spring spirit girl".

Simon made a knowing nod after the ancient treant introduced itself. He finally understood why he felt a familiar aura from this treant and why the Valkyries beat the crap out of him.


It turns out that the Ancient Treant was the exact same one that fought against him and blocked his path when he visited the Ancient Treant's territory for the first time. No wonder the Valkyries flipped out at him after all this guy used his high level at that time to suppress Simon.

It appeared that the Valkyries didn't forget about any of the grievances that their master had suffered in the past. 

Now that Simon knew who this guy was, Simon gave a bitter laugh and helped the treant. at that time, it couldn't be said that either of the party was wrong. Balsa was just doing his duty, hence Simon did not have any negative feelings towards him.

"I'm amazed!!"
"Hm?" 

The Ancient Treant suddenly started talking about the past.

"I'm amazed that you became so strong so fast. It has only been a few years since the last time you visited this place. At that time, it took all you had just to stay on your feet under the pressure of my aura. However, now your strength and increased to a level where even I feel a faint pressure from you"

"Well yeah, a lot of things happened since then" To Simon, this level of growth felt normal considering the things he had to go through. However, to a third person, his growth was nothing short of extraordinary.

Even if one searched the entirety of Althaea, one wouldn't be able to find a single being capable of growing at a blindingly fast rate like Simon. After all, there are several factors to levelling and numerous barriers and bottlenecks in the way.

It shouldn't be possible for anyone to level at such an insane rate. Considering that, Simon was truly an exception among the exception.

Of course, this astonishing growth was only possible because of the numerous circumstances he had to face. But the large part of it was due to the effects of the First Fragment of Pride.

If not for it, even with Simon's superhuman perseverance and endurance, he would still be struggling to achieve the level he had now. That being said, the fragment of pride was a part of him, so it can be said that it is through his own strength that he achieved his current level.

Simon exchanged some small talks with Balsa, it turns out that this guy was quite good once you get to know him. 

After a while, Simon returned back to his subordinates and got ready to move. He got a report from the Revenant Crows acting as his eyes inside the territory of the harpies that their forces have moved their search to a different side. 

No was the time for them to rush towards the centre of their territory.

------- 

On top of a tall mountain piercing through the clouds, Sitting on her throne loftily, was a woman of seductive beauty. She had a pair of black wings decorated with beautiful black feathers, light purple hair, soft white skin and talons for legs.

Much of her skin was exposed displaying her alluring curves while the rest was covered by an armour that gave off a light green shin. 

The woman was a Harpy; however, unlike her race which had a malevolent face, she was born with a beauty that could only be described as extremely alluring. coupled with her desirable body, she radiated a wild sexiness whose every move and gesture carried unimaginable temptation.

The woman had her eyes closed as she lazed on her throne. Her shapely hand was casually playing with a necklace that she snatched from one of her prey. Below the throne stood numerous harpies respectfully bowing their heads.

Who could the woman commanding respect and awe from all of the harpies around her be then the Queen of the Harpies?

Melinda who had her eyes shut, suddenly arched her brows. Her body moved and she instantly appeared at the edge of the mountain gazing down at the land below.

Even though her eyes were closed, it seemed like her gaze could penetrate through the clouds and look below without any problem.

Her movements naturally caught the attention of her subordinates.

"My Queen, is there something wrong?"

A few high levelled harpies asked. They were her personal guards and different from the disposables scurrying below.

"I felt like something was spying on me"…

"That cannot be, only a few races in the entire ghastly winding forest is capable of flying at this altitude. I didn't sense any of them entering our territory" the guards spoke looking all around the sky.

"Hmm… that's weird my [Evil Eye of Clairvoyance] clearly felt something. Tell me did we find those intruders yet?" Melinda mused before asking a question.

"My Queen, the search is still on. The intruders somehow disappeared from our sight but we are searching for them everywhere" the subordinate reported shaking his head.

"Is that so? Should I use my [Limitless Seeking Eye] to find them I wonder"…

"Please wait my Queen" While Melidna was musing whether to use her Evil Eyes or not, her personal guards hurriedly called out.

"My Queen, the Evil Eyes consume a lot of your mana. You have already exhausted yourself heavily by activating the [Eight Inner Eyes] for the Six Nether flower. Please refrain from using your evil eyes for now and conserve your mana. Leave finding those intruders to your subordinates, we vow that we will soon find out their location".

"Alright, I will leave it to you all and focus on my recovery"

Melinda decided. She was just about to return back to her throne when a deep and sarcastic voice sounded out from behind.

"Sorry for throwing a cold bucket on your parade, but I don't think you will be able to rest". Several figures pierced through the cloud and materialised on top of the mountain.

"[Ice Phoenix Sigh]… release"

The moments those words were spoken, their auras flooded out and their presence could finally be felt.

The group that appeared in a grand fashion was none other than Simon and his party.

"A Demon Noble?" the high levelled harpies alerted by the presence of the demon, took to the skies and flocked near their queen as if trying to shield her from any unexpected attacks.

"How did they arrive here? What are the guards below doing?"…

"Worry about that latter, protect the queen first"…

"There are only five of them, we can easily overwhelm them with our numbers"…

"That may not be true, our opponent is a demon noble. Where the hell did they come from, and why did they invade our territory?".

Seeing the harpies busily clamouring something, Simon gave a big smile and introduced himself.

"Ah, my bad for the late introductions. You see I'm a Demon Earl who lives nearby and these are my subordinates. I was just passing by and thought that I should give the queen of harpies my greetings".

The harpies looked dumbfounded, who in their right sense would invade someone's territory just to greet them? Be that may, they were not idiots. They could see that the demon had some scheme planned in his mind.

If it was some other time, they wouldn't have hesitated to start a fight with him to chase him out. However, the demon had caught them at a bad time.

Starting a fight right now when their queen is exhausted was a bad idea. Hence even though they were furious at his sarcastic remarks, they had no choice but to tolerate it for the time being.

"You have given your greetings, now scram".