Chapter 174: In the Crystal basin.

In the frozen wild lands, Zyra was on the hunt for the dew flower. She adjusted the heavy fur collar of her thick winter coat and let out a long, foggy sigh. She was in a place she couldn’t point out on any known map to humans. It was the third time in the frozen wild lands, and yet she could easily get lost still, if she didn’t have the system to guide her.

Originally, it was just supposed to be just her and Bianca on this trip. But Bianca had spilled the news to Hunter and her husband, ever the overly cautious worrywart had told her that either she adds more escorts or she waits until he was back. If she insisted on going alone, he would call Tessi to teleport him back.

So, Zyra had given in and accepted the company of Tessi, Yanxi and Xavier. It made their squad a group of four__ plus one uninvited parasite: Achilles.

Achilles had tagged along without an invitation. He had practically skipped behind them for the first two miles, humming a cheerful tune because he genuinely believed they were taking a pleasant stroll into the famous Fruit Forest. He was dreaming of exotic, sweet fruits the whole way.

Then Zyra suddenly stopped, turned around, and pointed in the exact opposite direction of the forest which Tessi had already pointed out to him.

"Wait," Achilles said, freezing in his tracks. His jaw dropped as he looked at the snowy wasteland stretching out ahead of them. He threw his hands up in the air, flailing dramatically. "That is not the direction we are supposed to be heading in. Also, why did nobody tell me that this place was a freezer. I am not skipping because I am having fun, I am doing so to keep warm."

Zyra rolled her eyes and threw her hands up, mimicking his whiny posture word for word, tossing her head in mock agony.

Bianca caught the performance and burst out laughing, clapping a gloved hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. "You brought yourself, brother. Nobody invited you!"

"I did not want to miss the expedition besides with Ocean’s death confirmation, I am in the mood for a fruit smoothie!" Achilles grumbled, crossing his arms and stomping forward anyway, shivering violently.

The news on Ocean’s death had come twenty minutes ago, accompanied by a video of the shooting, captured by Lincoln. Achilles thought it was overkill, but this was to be expected when you sent Bullet to do the job. The good thing was that with him, there was no possibility of the dead coming back to life because a shot was missed.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Zyra said as they resumed their walk.

Oddly enough, the deeper they marched into the wildlands, the stranger the environment became. The land made absolutely zero sense. The thick snow beneath their boots began to thin out, turning into wet slush, and the biting wind gradually softened into a strange, muggy heat.

"This place is just weird," Xavier muttered, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Since when did frozen wild land have warmth on a large scale?"

"Everything in the world is strange lately, just watch your step," Tessi warned, keeping a hand near the hilt of her blade.

Before they could even appreciate the warmth, the real nightmare arrived: glass mayflies.

They weren’t dangerous, and they didn’t bite, but there were millions of them. Their tiny, crystal-like wings reflected the ambient light, creating a blinding, buzzing cloud that swarmed directly into everyone’s faces.

"Get away! Shoo!" Achilles yelled, swatting wildly at the air like a madman, only for three mayflies to fly straight into his nose. He sneezed violently. "They’re everywhere!"

"Swatting them isn’t doing anything," Bianca said, frantically fanning her sleeves. "I can’t see two feet in front of me! What are these things?"

Zyra pinched the bridge of her nose, thoroughly annoyed. In her mind, she called out to her system. "Beauty, got anything for this annoyance and a name for it?"

A sweet, electronic voice chimed directly inside her head.

[Ding! Meet the beautiful glass mayflies. Host, I have specialized water sprays that are extremely effective! The canisters look small, but don’t be fooled__ each one holds ten liters of pressurized salty water that these mayflies absolutely hate. One spritz and they will flee like there’s a plague outbreak!]

"Good. Give me five." Zyra thought.

She pulled the small metal canisters from the beast pocket and tossed one to each person. "Spray yourselves and the air around you. Trust me."

They didn’t hesitate, rushing to use the spray as ordered. The moment the fine mist sprayed into the air, the cloud of glass mayflies let out an eerie, collective buzzing noise and scattered in terror, vanishing into the mist within two minutes.

Achilles looked down at the tiny canister in his hand, squinting at it in sheer wonder. He pressed down once more, watching the misty contents clear evaporate in the air. He nodded in deep approval. "Okay, boss lady. I don’t know where you pull these gadgets from, but this one actually earns my respect. We have a problem of flies in the capital. Could this work on them, my only Zyra?"

"Save your compliments," Zyra said dryly. Even now, he was thinking of sales.

They continued forward until the terrain flattened out into a massive, shimmering crystal basin. Giant, quartz-like spires jutted out from the ground like frozen lightning bolts. They stopped, a heavy silence settled over them.

No wind. No insects. No sound at all.

Zyra stopped dead in her tracks, her hand dropping to her weapon. "It’s quiet. Way too quiet. I don’t like this."

"My legs feel heavy" Tessi admitted, leaning against a low crystal outcrop. "Can we please just take a quick breather?"

"I second that," Achilles panted, dropping his shoulders. "My energy feels drained from walking so long. Looks like we have to go around this sink hole. That makes our journey twice harder."

Zyra looked around, scanning the looming shadows. The sky above was rapidly darkening into a deep indigo. "Fine. Ten minutes. Only ten. It is a terrible idea to rest in the dark out here, and we can’t use bright flashlights__the light will just pull every beast in the basin straight to us."

Achilles rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Yeah, yeah, we get it, Mum. No lights, no noise."

He waddled over to a massive, cone-shaped tree that looked like it was made of white jade and leaned his back heavily against its trunk.

Zyra fished out a few energy supplements from her pouch__ small, pills that restored stamina. She tossed them around. "Eat up. We move as soon as the ten minutes are up."

"Ah, sweet relief," Achilles muttered, popping the supplement into his mouth and swallowing it down. "Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Is this in the supermarket?"

Bianca groaned. "Will you ever stop?" She moaned. He never shut up about money, no matter how much he had. Truly, it was a disease.