138 The moving garden.

The Rank-7 Snakes were both giants. They appeared to be around the length of 15 meters!

So the onlookers were quite terrified when the Black Snake had suddenly jumped at Ozul from such a long distance.

Everyone expected another great battle to break out between the Snakes and Ozul, but they were proven wrong in the next moment. 

Many of the low-Rank mercenaries were not even able to follow the movements of the Snake. However, it wasn't hard for them not to see its landing since it was cut in two pieces!

For them, all they saw was the Snake Beast disappearing from its place and then reappearing on the ground near Ozul, but not as a whole!

Only Rufus was able to catch a glimpse of the Ball of Purity flashing past the Snake in mid-air before it fell on the ground as if a broken toy.

For a while, the people looking at the scene did not know how to react to this. Although they were happy that one of the Rank-7 Beasts was killed just like that, it also caused them fear.

Watching with their own eyes at how pathetic the Rank-7 Beast looked in death while even one of its hiss was enough to shake their bodies previously made them realize how weak they were.

They shivered in fear when they thought of how worthless they were in front of a powerful person when even the Rank-7 Beast was killed off like a worm!

Only some people like Raven, Blaze, and Clara had different thoughts. Although they had also realized how weak they were, it did not deter them from pursuing the path to power. Instead, they were only more motivated to work harder and be just as strong or even stronger than this.

On the other hand, the White Snake had an incredulous face when it looked at the corpse of its partner on the ground.

"Youss! What d-did you do!" The White Snake spoke in a trembling voice. The tone of her voice was even higher-pitched than the Black Snake. And it looked like she wasn't as fluent in speaking the human language as the Black Snake.

Ozul ignored the burning feeling of the Beast and slowly strode towards it. He could easily tell that the White Snake was both scared and burning with anger right now. Killing off her partner had obviously caused the rage while the fearful emotions were because she knew that one wrong move from her could cause her death in the very next second!

"W-what are you! Ssstop right there! Don't take a sssstep further!" The White Snake hysterically shouted while backing away.

No matter how arrogant she acted in front of the others, her life was on the line at the moment. What would she do with her dignity after death?!

Though before she could back away, several fine blades pointed just below her head in a way that it looked like a magical necklace!

"D-don't come close to me!" the White Snake shouted while squirming uncomfortably at her spot.

"And if I don't stop?" Ozul asked with a cold voice while slowly making his way towards her.

"W-what do you want!? Let me go, I won't cause you any trouble!" the White Snake asked with fear evident in her tone of voice.

"Do you think you are strong enough to cause me any trouble?" Ozul asked while raising his brows a little, which made the Snake panic. She did not know what to say as one wrong word from her could lead to her death.

"W-what do you want m-me to do?" She asked while stuttering. Although she was terrified, she was still able to realize that Ozul wanted something from her, or else, he would have killed her already.

"Simple. Just tell me what were you doing here? And what is this place?" Ozul did not beat around the bush. He could have searched this place himself, but why waste his time when he can just ask?

Moreover, he did not have to worry about the White Snake lying to him since it was a piece of cake for him to know if someone lied.

"That..." the White Snake seemed to be hesitating on whether to answer or not.

*Pukk*

Just when she was hesitating, one of the blades lunged into her tail. Blood spurted out from the wound after the blade came out.

"Ahhh!" she cried out loud in pain. Her tail stomped around the boulder on which she stood.

Because of the force behind the tail, the boulder, which was already cracked after the Black Snakes jump, broke down into smaller rocks.

Ozul went near her after the debris and rubble had settled down. He said in an emotional voice, "I am asking you for the last time. Either you tell me now, or never."

His tone sent shivers down the Snake's spine as she forgot about the pain from the wound.

"D-don't come near me! I... will tell you everything," said the White Snake as she got out of the rubbles.

"Hurry up. I don't have time," Ozul urged. The group of mercenaries also had their attention on them since they had nothing better to do.

"We... were here... to get the Ele... Se..." the White Snake whispered in such a quiet voice that it seemed like she didn't even say complete words.

"It seems that you don't want to live..." Ozul muttered while raising his brows. He wondered what was so secret about them being here that the White Snake wanted to hide so much.

As the blade hovering behind her head slowly pierced her scales, the White Snake shouted, "Ahh! Stop! Stop! We were here for the Elemental Ssseeds!"

"Elemental Seeds?" Ozul repeated. He hadn't heard this name before. 

This world had many wonders and mysteries yet to be solved and secret places that were yet to be discovered to this day! Ozul did not know what these Elemental Seeds were, but from the name and how the Rank-7 Beast was so protective of it made him understand that they were some kind of treasure.

"What are these Elemental Seeds?" Ozul turned around to ask Clive. As Ozul looked towards him, everyone else turned their attention to him as well. 

Clive, on the other hand, rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. Although he was well-versed in the knowledge of almost everything necessary, he hadn't heard the name of Elemental Seeds before.

It was either that information on this thing was too important to be revealed to people at his rank, or there was no data on this topic at all! And Clive was inclined to believe the latter to be true.

"I... don't know. I haven't heard about anything like this either." Clive replied. He had no clue whatsoever.

Ozul turned his head back towards the White Snake after not getting any answer that satisfied him. He did not try to find out why there was something in these Old Whispering Woods that Clive was not aware of as the Vice-Leader of the Silver Knights.

There could be tens of reasons. One of them might be that the Beast had their own naming sense!

"What are these Elemental Seeds?" Ozul repeated his question, but this time it was directed at the White Snake.

"... You don't know what Elemental Ssseeds are? Hisssh! Stop! I will tell you!" She cried out in pain when Ozul made the blade go a little deeper into her skin.

"Elemental Ssseeds are the ssseeds from the Elemental Lotusss." She began to explain.

Ozul was surprised that she did not try to lie. But he thought it was probably because she was too afraid to lie now that her life was on the line.

"What is this Elemental Lotus now?" Ozul asked with the same apathetic look on his face.

"It is a Lotus that blooms once only a hundred years. Even after the long span of time after it blooms, this flower is more difficult to find instead! However, the flower actually has no importance. Only the ssseeds are what every one of us craves for." The Snake did not hold anything back this time.

She had realized that the person asking her questions was already impatient, and if she delayed him any further, she would probably die.

"So, what is this place? I don't see any lotus here." Ozul asked. Although he did sense many strange things around this area, he did not see any type of flower that looked to something that would be named as Elemental Lotus.

"It has yet to bloom. This place is the garden that helps it bloom. The moving and alive garden. It is also the reason why it is so difficult to find the Elemental Lotus," the Snake explained.

"What do you mean?" Ozul asked curiously. Although he did understand that she called this place a garden as it was littered with strange plants, how was it moving and alive?

"You see. It is not moving right now, but after the Lotus Blooms, this thing starts moving on its own and finds some other place to settle in." She continued, "It was already lucky that we were able to find this after a wild guess about the fog..."

"How is it related to the fog?" Ozul asked when he heard the word.