While the group was walking further, Neil was thinking about the state of the compound when they got there. The pit he saw on the ground was obviously made by the dragon, so it meant Grey was able to hit it. He didn’t just hit it, but he hit it fiercely.
‘If the dragon could make such a deep crater from his attack, will any of us be able to survive it?’ This was the question he was asking himself over and over again.
From what the twelfth prince previously said, it wasn’t hard to know his reason for following behind them. He wanted to collect the treasure by force.
‘Wait, how could I be so foolish to follow them. If we encounter the dragon or that guy and the prince wants to collect the treasure, neither of them would listen to my explanation, they would kill me, instantly.’ Neil thought in fear.
The others seemed to have been blinded by greed, so they forgot about the fact that they couldn’t fight against the dragon. If Grey was capable enough to fight it to that extent, doesn’t that mean that Grey was almost as strong as the dragon?
How could the twelfth prince dare to think of forcefully taking something from someone as strong as that?
Neil immediately decided to warn them, “Don’t you think this is a bad idea?”
“Huh!” The twelfth prince stopped to look at him.
“You know, trying to steal the treasure from that guy.” Neil explained.
“What are you even saying? If you don’t want to come along, then beat it.” The twelfth prince said while waving his hand as if Neil was an annoying fly.
Neil stopped and wanted to leave, but then he thought about the fact that the twelfth prince was his cousin, he shouldn’t just let him walk towards his doom without trying to convince him.
“Think about it, didn’t you see the outcome of their battle? If that guy could fight against the dragon to that extent, it means we can’t take him on.” He continued convincing the twelfth prince.
But this time, the twelfth prince didn’t even bother to spare him a glance. How could Neil say he should forget about a treasure that belongs to a dragon? He must be sick in the head if he would let such an opportunity slip by.
Neil got a little annoyed when the twelfth prince ignored him, he decided to warn him for the last time, if he didn’t listen to him, then it wouldn’t be his fault if anything happened to them.
He was once again ignored by the twelfth prince.
“Fine, I’m leaving then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Neil immediately stopped following the group and changed his direction. He didn’t want to be near them nor the dragon.
The twelfth prince and the others continued running for another fifteen minutes, slowly getting closer to where Aetonth was resting.
_____
Deep in the forest.
Aetonth was resting beside a tree with its eyes shut, its shut eyes suddenly snapped open and they looked ahead of it a little surprised.
‘Why would these little brats follow me?’ It thought as soon as it sensed the twelfth prince and his group.
It didn’t go too far from where it fought against Grey. But given the speed of the twelfth prince and his group, it looked far.
It continued monitoring them and soon quickly figured out something. Aetonth had lived for a long time, so it knew greed whenever it senses it. Even though the twelfth prince hadn’t appeared in front of it, it had already noticed the greed in his eyes.
‘Heh! Looks like I’ll kill someone after all.’ Aetonth thought.
Compared to Grey and Void, it did not pity anyone else. Okay, it might not really have much of a pity for Void, but it wouldn’t kill him, unlike these morons who were running to their deaths.
It shut its eyes waiting for them.
Another one minute passed before the twelfth prince and his group got to where Aetonth was lying.
“Look, it’s the dragon. Do you think it’s injured?” One of the youths whispered on seeing that Aetonth had its eyes shut.
“Maybe, let’s go closer. It would be best if it’s injured, we could kill it then. A dragon’s heart is a supreme treasure.” The twelfth prince said.
He felt like he had hit the jackpot, and even started thanking Grey for wounding the dragon. Now, all they had to do was finish the dragon and they would be able to acquire its heart.
‘When I see that boy, I’ll thank him for this gift. Before I take the treasure he stole from the dragon.’ He thought a little excited by the prospect of obtaining the dragon’s heart.
Since Aetonth was an Ice Dragon, its heart would be more beneficial to a Water Elementalist, but the twelfth prince didn’t care. The little benefit he could get from this would make his Plane skyrocket. He might even get the chance of reaching the Sage Plane within five years. That was a Plane he didn’t even think he might reach before his life runs out.
There were a lot of people who had been stopped in the Overlord Plane for so long, yet, none of them could find a way to breakthrough. He had heard of a rumor in the palace about there being a Sage Plane Elementalist in the palace, but he couldn’t confirm it.
The twelfth prince and his group edged closer to Aetonth. Their hearts were beating wildly just thinking about what they were about to do.
As soon as they got within five meters of Aetonth, they attacked.
The moment they released their attacks, Aetonth who previously had its eyes shut, opened them and stared at the group with curiosity. It didn’t even try to dodge the attacks.
Its transparent armor appeared on its body and easily blocked their attacks.
In the group, the twelfth prince was the only one who had managed to get to the Third stage of the Origin Plane, the other two were just in the Second stage. And unlike Grey, they didn’t even have attack power that was stronger than their stages.
After blocking their attacks, it stood up and looked at them with its large eyes, there was a hint of playfulness in them.
The previously silent forest turned noisy by the screams of terror from the twelfth prince and his companions.