A few minutes later, they reached the end of the treasury and there are three other passageways. Mariposa pointed that the middle one is where she could feel the vibrations the most and that the Compound Eye Orb is where the signal is the strongest. They headed to that passageway, but Adrian told Mariposa something that shocked her before they passed through.

“There is something hiding inside this treasury.” Adrian suddenly announced to Mariposa which made her go wary of her surroundings.

“Hiding? There is nothing here but overgrowth.” Mariposa stated as she looked at the surroundings.

“Something is definitely here as I could smell the thick stench of death. Even Sirius cannot detect what it is, but I am very confident when it comes to things like this. The moment that we take off the skill effect from Sirius, something or someone will immediately attack.” Adrian explained but Mariposa could not believe what he is entirely saying.

“We should find the Compound Eye Orb first before lifting the skill that Sirius is using then. You can also tell me if what you are sensing has weakened as we are still a bit far away from the relic.” Mariposa proposed as it might just be an area that Adrian is feeling wary about.

Sometimes being super sensitive has its downsides as they could sometime feel the emotions of the area. This is one of the suspects of Mariposa when it came to the gut feeling that Adrian is telling her about.

It might just be the vibe of the place as even she feels something odd but not enough to warrant heavy caution. The people that stored items in their treasury will surely not place traps inside the actual treasury as it will potentially damage the things inside of it. Only a fool will do something like that.

When they met the end of the passageway that they are traversing on, a wide space filled with treasure could be seen by them. Mariposa did not care for the other treasures as her first priority is none other than the Compound Eye Orb.

She expanded her senses and managed to pinpoint the location as it is just behind a mountain of treasures and placed inside of a stand. The stand is decorated with vines and the like while a glass dome is protecting it from the exposure of the outside world. Mariposa is about to reach her hand and grab the Compound Eye Orb when Adrian suddenly warned her. 𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮

“The dreadful feeling of death that I have felt has suddenly become stronger. If you touch something of the material plane, then your camouflage from the shadows will immediately be broken. I will just remind you of that.” Adrian stated as he wanted to give Mariposa a moment to prepare herself is something should really pop out from the area.

They three of thm re perfectly obscured from vision but that did not mean they could do whatever. The moment that they touch something from the material world then they would be ejected from the shadows as it is not part of the shadow world.

“If something were to show up then immediately recall me back.” Mariposa stated as Adrian seemed serious and did not joke about the matter.

Mariposa thought that it is best to heed the warning of her helper than dismiss it without reason. She is not the type to be overly confident on herself. Her sensing abilities must also have been dampened due to the fact that the Compound Eye Orb is emitting this rejuvenating buzz that increases her stats.

“It would take about three seconds to fully incorporate you back into the shadow world. You must also not get hurt or attack something in that timeframe. You must best avoid the attacks for you to be safely pulled back.” Adrian stated as he told the limits of what he can do for Mariposa.

Mariposa agreed as she had a deep breathe in order to concentrate. Her eyes filled with determination then suddenly reached out to the glass dome of the Compound Eye Orb. The moment that her fingertips touched the glass, she was ejected from the shadows.

If one were to describe what it looked like, then a shadow from the ground extended like a tentacle from the ground and touched the glass dome. The moment that the shadow tentacle touched the glass dome, Mariposa’s figure emerged as if the shadow ejected her. The visual looked like the shadow receded from her fingertips towards the ground.

The moment that Mariposa’s figure is revealed, numerous vines suddenly shot towards her. She did not expect that reaction as she did not see any monster in the surroundings. The vines literally sprouted from the darkness around her.

She immediately used her best evasion skill as her body became butterflies that scattered throughout the area. The butterflies then came back together in a swarm and manifested as Mariposa. Adrian did not dilly-dally as he immediately told Sirius to get Mariposa back to the shadows.

Thankfully, the evasion skill that she used does not affect the allies that she has so Adrian could pull her into the shadows while the butterflies were still converging. Mariposa got shocked as she almost felt that she could have gotten one shotted from those attacks.

“I guess I have truly underestimated an S rank difficulty mission. It seems that getting inside of the stronghold is not the most difficult part of the quest.” Mariposa stated as she had a look of fear at the vines that slowly receded back into the darkness. .

All of them could see that the vines looked like they were looking for something but receded back to the darkness when its search bore no fruit. The fact that something this powerful is guarding the treasury meant that there must be something extremely valuable that the Plantae are protecting.

“If it is just the Compound Eye Orb then they would definitely not bother with this great security. Also, I could feel that the thick scent of death does not come exactly from this room but elsewhere. Could this room actually be part of the other passageways that we have seen earlier?” Adrian stated as this tight security is not warranted for the Compound Eye Orb despite being a relic of the Insectoids.

“I feel like I have seen those vines before, but I cannot remember what it is.” Mariposa stated as she tried to remember those vines. She could vaguely remember that it was not the first time that she encountered that type of scenario. She shuddered a few seconds later as she finally remembered.

When she was just a fledgling Insectoid, one of the pets of the Queen of the Plantae attacked the village that she was in. Since she was the protégé of the Monarch of Butterflies, a royal guard is always stationed near her in the beginning. One of those pets that attacked the village is a giant man-eating monster plant.

She got caught by that plant trying to save the life of a small insectoid girl and is about to be eaten when the royal knight assigned to guard her cut it down mercilessly with all his might. This was the feeling that she could remember as that royal knight told her that it was actually just a graft of the monster plant and not its main body.

“This is bad as that thing could only have been a graft as the Plantae Queen never lets her pets wander off far from her. But to think that a graft has already grown this strong then that means that the Plantae Queen must be as strong as all of the Monarchs combined.” Mariposa thought as there is only one ruler for the Plantae but numerous for the Insectoids.

One might think that the presence of numerous Monarchs would pose a threat to the Plantae Queen but that is not true. The Plantae Queen does not move recklessly because each Monarch of the Insectoid is stronger than any of her personal guards but she as strong as three of four Monarchs combined.

If all her pets are added into the analysis, then the Plantae Queen and her pets are equal to all of the Monarchs combined. She does not recklessly conquer the lands of the Insectoids in fear that one of the Monarchs might use a sneak attack on a different territory. This is why there was a stalemate when it came to the war between the two factions.

That stalemate became non-existent when the Plantae received aid from the followers of the dark gods which tilted the war in their favor. Mariposa could not think of what to do next as she knows that monster plants are much more different than other soulbounds because they mostly move on instinct. Monster plants also have a wide field of vision and could even split themselves via scattering or grafting.

Mariposa explained everything that she knew about monster plants to Adrian as both of the needed to come up with a strategy. They could not think of anything until Mariposa noticed one of the system notifications that showed up in her screen.

You have temporarily been granted the skill ‘Compound Eye’ by being in close proximity to the Compound Eye Orb.

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