Annoying or not, Elane was convinced.

He was right! Why should they give up on something as priceless as this E rank Commander tier treasure just so they might have a slightly higher chance of making it out alive?

The hesitation in her eyes faded. She looked down at the Lava Hellebore resting beside them, still giving off that faint, profound pressure even while it was no longer connected with the rest of the beast nest through the intricate root system.

Despite how light it felt to hold, just knowing what it was somehow made it feel ten times heavier.

They were just two lowly F rank newbies, what right did they have to hold such a priceless treasure? Only Rohan was considered a genuine Elite thanks to his Firestone Skin, but even with that, everything they had didn’t even amount to 1% of the worth of this single flower.

Even not knowing what its actual use was didn’t matter.

Just the rank and tier it had made it worth more than their entire lives. ’How are we going to lug this thing around Erenhot’s streets without practically drawing the attention of every powerhouse there? With something like this in our possession, the laws of the Federation mean jack squat. We’d be swamped with Awakened trying to take it away from us within seconds if they found out what it was...’

Rohan was unfazed. No matter how dangerous the situation was, no matter how much it felt like they had just stolen something that they might pay a huge price for later on, abandoning it now would be the kind of mistake that haunted people for the rest of their lives.

Elane sucked in a breath and stood back up.

"We still need to get out of here asap."

Rohan grinned, though it looked more savage than pleased.

"You got that right."

He picked up the unassumingly light flower and slung it back over his shoulder, secured with his left hand so that he could still have his spear free in his dominant hand.

There was no room for celebration or time to marvel at the priceless treasure.

Right now they were still in the most dangerous situation they could find themselves in while in the Origin Realm.

"Let’s move," Rohan said, earning a nod from Elane.

***

Time passed as the two slipped back into the labyrinthine tunnels of the beast nest. The temperature immediately cooled down back to comfortable temperatures. In fact, it was even cooler than the surface at the moment thanks to them being hundreds of metres below the surface.

Sunlight occasionally cascaded through to them where the tunnels met the open air of the crevice above, but it didn’t happen often. The ants clearly preferred their nest to be more closed off than open air.

One thing the two did notice quite quickly was that the orange glowing veins all across the walls and ceiling were starting to dim. Most definitely because they’d stolen away the source of this phenomenon, which brought them even more worry.

Now anyone or anything else inside the nest would know that the treasure located at the very core inside the boss’ chamber had been stolen, alerting everything there to be on the lookout for it.

And considering there was only one way in and out...

An ambush could be waiting for them right at the entrance of the crevasse. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

’We can prepare for that, at least.’

Their disposable Genetic Armaments would come in very handy for a job like that. Especially now they were evolved to Elite tier.

"This way."

Elane glanced at Rohan. "You remember?"

"Some of it?"

His memories of their first time inside the beast nest were a little hazy, and it was harder to navigate under the darker areas, but some tunnels were still familiar to him.

Until they eventually reached a point they both vividly remembered.

"This was where we fought the horde of Worker Ants," Elane murmured as they passed into a wider stretch of the tunnel. The stone still bore marks from old impacts — gouges in the walls and dark stains here and there drew a bleak picture of the battle they’d once fought.

At that time, they had no idea they were being set up as bait.

They kept their pace up, not stopping despite reminiscing over their previous time there.

For several long minutes, things remained eerily quiet.

There was still no sign of any worker ants and, more importantly, a lack of a certain E rank Elite beast.

Just the two human Awakened moving through an empty beast nest, as far as they could tell. And it started to get under Rohan’s skin.

’Something feels off.’

Why was this place so quiet? Why was there a lack of any movement whatsoever? Just what the heck happened after they were whisked away back to the outside universe!?

"I have no complaints so far." Elane commented, delighted that their time so far had been much more leisurely and relaxed than they’d prepared for.

’Perhaps all the remaining Ants and the E rank Elite were drawn away by Rudith’s group after Sarah was spotted.’ Rohan mused.

His mouth moved as he was about to answer Elane, but both of their eyes widened and they came to a complete stop.

They heard something. It was so faint, Rohan barely even noticed it at first, so he left it down to Elane who had her Enhanced Senses Gene to rely on.

She closed her eyes and stilled her entire body so that she could concentrate entirely on her hearing.

A distant sound carried through the winding stone passages ahead. Something Elane immediately recognised.

Metal on stone. That unmistakable scraping they’d heard all the time when fighting in this same enclosed space over a week prior.

"...A battle."

Rohan’s expression darkened. Elane had just confirmed his worst thoughts.

"It’s not just a small skirmish either. I can make out dozens of uniquely identifiable sounds scraping against the tunnel walls..."

Both of their hearts tightened.

What should they do now??