Quickly, the next three weeks went by, and for the kingdom of Tralenstein it was a time spent rebuilding and reorganizing.
The kingdom was now under new leadership, and spreading a new order took time and manpower.
Naturally, some of the nobles that had stayed, pushed back against the new laws that restricted their previous near absolute power.
Still, it was either the new queen’s way or the highway, and though some nobles decided to pack up and leave, most stayed, since it was not like they were losing all of their power.
Now they would just have to work a bit harder and could not take as much as they used to from the people or treat them as disposable.
Of course, most of the worst nobles had already been killed or imprisoned before the wars end, so the kingdom had already gone through a cleansing of the bad leadership that had grown throughout it.
Though along with the spreading of the kingdom’s changed political structure, the royal capital was also undergoing its reconstruction.
Even after these three weeks there was still many months or longer left to bring the city back up to its former glory, but many of the most important buildings and infrastructures had been restored.
However, now that three weeks had passed, it was time for Marcus and Mrazivý to go with Daniela and Marek to meet the mythic grade magic beast that had made its home in Tralenstein and protected it.
“Go ahead and land here. I do want to anger Lord Motis by flying directly into his domain.” Daniela said, as they reached the outskirts of a great forest that lay around eighty miles south of the capital city..
Doing as he was told, Marcus descended towards the ground and landed around fifty feet from the forest’s edge.
Then, once everyone had gotten off his back, Marcus dropped his form as a caladrius and changed back into his normal appearance.
“Okay, now we should move with care and head towards the center of the forest, where Lord Motis calls home.” Daniela said, before moving towards the forest.
Following behind her, Marcus, Mrazivý, and Marek, entered the forest, and almost immediately they felt a sense of foreboding.
They could tell they had just entered the territory of a very powerful entity, and it was not the only threat within this domain.
From what they had found out, this forest was full of powerful beasts and monsters, and anyone who entered unprepared was bound to never leave again.
Luckily, Marek was quite powerful, and while Marcus and Mrazivý could not contented with him quite yet, for their levels they were some of the strongest.
Walking deeper and deeper into the woods, they began to hear the sounds of large creatures fighting off in the distance, and the signs of their battles lay all around in the form of upturned earth and fallen trees.
“Stop!” Marcus yelled to the group having noticed a threat up ahead.
Following his directions, everyone froze and looked around for the danger that Marcus had noticed.
Yet even Mrazivý who had heightened senses did not find the threat that Marcus had noticed.
“Mraz, it is that tree around a hundred and fifty feet ahead of us. The one with the slightly darker coloration. Would you mind using your dragon eyes ability to appraise it.”
Nodding her head, Mrazivý did as Marcus had asked and was stunned to see that what appeared to be a tree was actually a powerful monster.
“You were right, that is definitely not a tree. It is a level fifty-eight faux tree scorpion lord.” Mrazivý said, confirming what Marcus had already figured out for the most part.
Still, while it was similar to the faux tree scorpions he had encounter in the Cordillera Depths Dungeon, this one was far larger and had much better camouflage.
In fact, if not for his life sense skill begin active, Marcus never would have noticed it and the massive scorpion would have gotten the drop on them.
Nevertheless, they had located the crafty ambush predatory, and at level fifty-eight, so long as they were prepared for it, most creatures would not be much of a threat.
‘Laser.’
Casting a heightened laser spell, Marcus sliced right through the scorpion’s tail that had taken the appearance of a tree, and the large monster screeched out in pain. Before it rapidly dug itself out of the ground as it thrashed around.
But the faux tree scorpion’s pain did not last long, for as soon as it dug itself out of the ground, Mrazivý shot forward and stabbed her sword into its head.
An instant later, she cast her tier five spell fridge blast inside the scorpion, and quickly the huge monster was turned into an icicle.
In only three seconds, Marcus and Mrazivý had dispatched a monster that would normally be considered a major threat to even small cities, showing off just how powerful they had become.
“Okay let us continue quickly, before anything else decides to come by.” Marek said, wanting to get through here with as little trouble as possible.
However, both Marcus and Mrazivý who were adventurers could not bear to leave behind such valuable materials, and the two of them quickly went to work on dismantling the faux tree scorpion lord. Much to Marek’s dismay.
Luckily, during this time, no other powerful creatures came by, and after just around forty minutes, the two of them had removed all of the scorpions most valuable materials and placed them into Marcus’ item box.
Once that was done, they continued on through the forest, doing their best to avoid any confirmations.
Though at one point two beasts that were in the mid-fifties and were battling it out, rolled in front of their group and it quickly became a free for all.
Still, it only took them a few seconds to deal with these beasts, and soon, they made it to the heart of the forest.
“So, this is the home of the mythic grade magic beast that truly reigns over Tralenstein.” Marcus said as he looked out in front of them.
Yet, he could not see far, as around the center of the forest, a dense fog was perpetually swirling around, making visibility very low.
Not even Marcus’ enhanced vision, or Mrazivý’s dragon eyes could seem to see through this fog, and life sense became muddled and was only effective for about thirty feet which was far shorter than its usual range.
“Yes, this is indeed Lord Motis’ home. Though this is my first time coming here myself, and all I have heard are stories. Still, as long as we walk through and head straight, we should come to where Lord Motis resides.” Daniela said trying to sound confident but with a little trepidation creeping into her voice.
Eventually though they had to move in, and after tying each other together with some rope, they plunged into the fog.
Now inside, they had a better understanding of just how oppressive the fog was, with anything further than around twenty feet away becoming heavily obscured, and things beyond around two hundred feet being impossible to see.
Nevertheless, they stayed on target and walked straight towards the center of the fog, and luckily they did not encounter any sort of beast or monster, until after around thirty minutes of walking when they came out into an open field.
Looking around, all of them could see that the field around them was very beautiful, being full of natural tressures that were very high quality, and in the middle was a crystal spring with a large tree growing out of it that gave off a mesmerizing aroma.
However, what quickly drew everyone’s attention was within the tree, and as they looked up, they were able to see the massive form of ruler of this forest.
And staring back down at them was a beast that had a body like a snow leopard, but on its back, it had a number of large quills sprouting out, that continued all the way down to its spiked tail.
Looking at it, Marcus estimated that it was around sixty-feet long down to the tail, and twenty-feet tall, holding an imposing form, and aura.
“A level eighty-three Bandersnatch!” Mrazivý said, with surprise as she used her dragon eyes to appraise the mythic grade beast.
Yet an instant later, the beast had dropped down out of the tree, its large form not even making a sound, or even disturbing the slightest amount of dust.
“Hm, I figured that a beast like you would know better than to appraise someone stronger than you, and in their own home.” Motis said towards Mrazivý, with a menacing tone.
Immediately, Mrazivý felt like running away, as she could tell she was no match for the creature in front of her that was sending out some hostility towards her.
Though Marcus just put his hand on Mrazivý’s shoulder and took a step forward and said, “I understand that it was rude for Mrazivý to appraise you, but I would ask that you not bully her.”
Smiling with an almost eerie expression, Motis said, “Very well. Since a great spirit is asking me, I suppose I can overlook a little rudeness this time. It is not like her ancestors did not do the same when we first met a long time ago.”
Motis then retracted the bit of hostility he had been sending towards Mrazivý, before waving one of his paws in front of him.
A second later the grass began to grow rapidly, becoming very tall and quickly shaped itself into a large table with two chairs on each side and one at the head.
“Please sit down and relax. You are my guest so there is no need to be so nervous. As long as you show me the respect I deserve, I will let all of you leave unharmed.”