Chapter 243: Hiding

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami clenched their fists as adrenaline began pumping their veins from the sense of dread. Almost immediately did their Spirit Sense brazenly go off to alert them to significant threats to their lives.

The presences specifically coming to them were a squadron of seven. And though they all were far weaker, their Spirit Senses could still identify the power level slowly walking towards them.

'Seventh level Heavenly Kings!' Darcel, Aniela, and Masami simultaneously thought out loud in their minds. 

If this was still before the Mercenary Exchange Event, the trio would disdainfully scoff at this kind of power.

However, now, the trio felt incredibly strange. No longer can they casually play around with groups that have only average prowess. They all felt honest to god fear. 

This kind of fear had varying levels of impact on the trio's mental state.

Darcel had always prided himself on making any foe significantly weaker for a time and making powerful women is Darkness servants. Aniela had always taken absolute joy in making her enemies freeze as if time had stopped for them.

And Masami would be pleased with burning her foe to unbearable degrees with her flames that surpassed even Darcel and Aniela's flames. 

But, now, their bloodlines no longer had the ability to do any of that. At least, not to an absurd degree like before.

It was a hard-hitting realization the trio had experienced while traversing the more tree-dense area. Furthermore, the trio also wasn't naive enough to believe this squadron group would simply leave them alone.

Even as their cultivation realms are pitifully low, Aniela and Masami had divine appearances any men would want to covet for themselves. 

While it's true Masami may be the daughter of one of the strongest men in the whole Icy Cloud Province. It is also true her fame is remarkably less known because of her lower talent. 

And the trio didn't have to be insane geniuses to know what would happen if Aniela and Masami gained the attention of a vicious Mercenary member.

In the instance their Spirit Senses went frantic, Darcel immediately grabbed both Aniela and Masami's hands. Without waiting for their reaction, he quickly shuffled behind enormous trees, making sure they were out of sight from that squadron group route.

Shuffling so close together would always be a warm moment for the trio. 

But this time, all three were feeling their breathings get increasingly hitched. Darcel kept his eyes on the lookout. And without taking his attention off from his surrounding, he began telling the girls,

"Remember, we do it exactly the same at last time. We can't make any mistakes now." 

Aniela and Masami nodded with solemn expressions morphing onto their faces. There weren't any casualness or humor in their tone now when facing off against Heavenly Kings. 

And then, within Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's soulscape space, their Darkness soul link stared to writhe.

The same Darkness essence energy ran through their bodies as they all became perfectly connected at the same time. And almost instantly, by the power of their Darkness soul link, Darcel, Aniela and Masami masked their presence.

It had happened nearly instantly when the trio had only gone only several feet from the spot the yellow-eyed woman stripped them of their powers.

At that moment, the trio had found out the hard way that they couldn't so easily mask their presence perfectly on their own. When they were just nearing this foresty area, a random Heavenly King Spirit Monster had ferociously lunged at them!

The trio was nearly taken all off guard because they all had believed that they perfectly masked their presence! 

However, that Heavenly King Spirit Monster quickly proved them wrong.

They didn't even bother trying to fight that beast. Even before it got close, the three of them were tremendously pressured by its Heavenly Aura. 

Not even when they activated their bloodline powers' extremely limited state did it help alleviate the immense pressure.

Their only options then were to simply run as fast as they could. 

And when they had believed they ran far enough, Darcel made them all huddled up together. As they stopped moving, Darcel assumed their Darkness soul link had responded to their desires.

On its own, Darkness's essence energy filled their entire bodies at that moment, and the Heavenly King Spirit Monster had lost track of them. 

It was then Darcel realized, though the yellow-eyed woman ruined them inside and out, not even she could heavily mess with their souls.

Although getting chased and being threatened by such a lowly beast they would've been able to kill so easily before only left more sour tastes in the trio's mouths.

Focusing on the present, Darcel was at least grateful enough that he could still completely mask their presence. Though not being able to move and they have to be so close together was a significant downgrade.

Aniela and Masami clutched on Darcel's tattered shirt as flickers of Darkness energy began spewing from their eyes. In Darcel's pupils, his abyss-like black eyes gained a noticeably darker hue.

Luckily for them, the time they needed to erase their presence wasn't long at all. They got it done in a mere couple of seconds. 

Like this, the trio stayed utterly still and silent for a few seconds.

They all were in each other's warm embrace, and yet, nerves continued to fill their veins. And right as the trio wondered what squadron they were about to see, an arrogant man's voice slew into their ears.

"Hm? Hey….what the? I could've sworn I sensed something here. I mean, they weren't particularly strong presences, but there was something faint….you all sensed it too, right?"

Being extremely careful in his movement, Darcel peered his head around the tree just enough so the squadron wouldn't notice them. His eyes narrowed with a dangerous light at who he saw.

It was seven frightening-looking men, all wearing obnoxiously bright white armor that stood out like a sore thumb. 

It was a White Demon Mercenary squadron! 

Out of all Mercenary groups, Darcel had a particular disdain for this group.

Just their general arrogant vibes and gross lustful nature never sit well for him. Though the more he thinks about it, the more Darcel realizes that he had a similar arrogant vibe just like these White Demon members.

Always assured of themselves, never believing anything could go wrong for them until it explodes right in front of their face. Shaking his head at that thought, Darcel focused on listening to their conversation.

"Hmmm….well, this year's Event certainly is strange. These beasts all have these odd tricks making them difficult to kill them. Most likely, what we sensed is some beast with remarkable hiding abilities. Or it could be these dams trees playing mind tricks on us."

The one talking was the seventh level Heavenly King head Captain there. As he explained his reasoning, the other White Demon members were nodding their heads in agreement.

And one of the other seventh level Heavenly King Captain had said, "Heh, well, you can't really say these beasts are all that troublesome now. I don't know what happened, but I'm glad something is making these wild beasts weaker. They probably have enough self-preservation instincts to hide like the rats they are."

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami silently blinked their eyes at the news. 

They immediately equated that Event to the yellow-eyed woman leaving the independent realm for good. Although, when they heard that Captain said the beasts somehow got weaker, that was another blow to their mental state. 

"Well, now what? My treasure charm was picking up on whatever was special was over here. But now, when those presences gone cold, so has the charm." The third seventh level Heavenly King Captain asked. 

Darcel couldn't accurately spot what he was holding, but it appeared to be some kind of dim necklace that had lost all of its lusters. 

"Eh. Whatever the treasure was over here must've gotten picked up by the same beat. Either way, they both aren't worthy enough for extra attention. Let's just continue on walking; the charm will act up again soon.'

The head Captain gave the order, and everyone nodded their heads. 

Soon, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami heard the crushing of snow again. The White Demon squadron continued walking right past the trio. Nobody in that squadron took a single glance in the trio's direction. 

As the White Demon squadron passed them, the trio didn't dare make any sudden moves. They patiently waited for several minutes for the White Demon squadron to go as far as away from them.

Once the White Demon squadron went a little bit past a  mile of their Spirit Sense radius, the trio felt relief wash over them. 

"Fuuu…." At the same time, they all released a huge breath they had sucked in for some time now.

"Sheesh! That was far too intense for my liking. Our top priority now is finding whatever treasure to boost our cultivation!" Masami actually had to wipe some sweat off her burrows while talking.

Aniela had put her hand to her chin and a pondering expression plastered on her face. "Well, those Demons aren't wrong. Surely, there could be a treasure around here."

Feeling it was a bit safer now, the trio slowly walked out of their hiding spot. Darcel's eyes were quickly roaming all over the forest, looking for anything odd.

And after only a couple of seconds of searching, Darcel's eyes stopped. 

Fifty feet to his left, his eyebrows raised in curiosity at a strange sight that he somehow didn't spot when the White Demon squadron was walking through here.