Landlord World - Start with SSS talent

Noan teleported to a spot quite far from Aldric, finally stopping to catch his breath, letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Damn it! How the hell did that bastard find me here?" Noan muttered through clenched teeth.

But as he recalled Aldric's actions, a thought suddenly struck him—Aldric probably wasn't here to hunt him specifically. Everything might just be a coincidence.

"Could he be after the Killer Bees?" Noan frowned.

After all, both Aldric's actions and that strange compass required the blood of Killer Bees to operate, which could only mean Aldric was searching for the Killer Bees.

Or more precisely, he was after the King of Insect and Queen of Insect.

Noan sighed again, feeling like everything was gradually spiraling out of control.

Killer Bees, the quest, the Dragon, the Herbal Forest—and now a Fate Holder like Aldric had entered the scene.

Just what kind of place is this?

"Ha!" Noan let out another long sigh. "If only Malrik were here, things would be so much easier."

"Are you looking for me, my lord?"

"AGH!!!" Noan jumped in fright at the unexpected voice whispering right beside his ear.

He spun around to find Malrik standing right next to him, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

But then, suddenly remembering something, he frowned and asked, "Wait a minute! How did you get here?"

At that moment, Malrik was wearing a black cloak, his hands clasped behind his back.

He smiled and said, "My lord, while searching for you, I came across a spatial vortex in Khorvath's laboratory. So I decided to take a look inside and see if anything interesting awaited me."

"Once I arrived here, I sensed your energy and immediately came to find you."

Noan felt a little confused, recalling that the spatial vortex had supposedly vanished after he and Khorvath had entered this world.

He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it. In any case, now that Malrik was here, he once again had a powerful ally by his side.

Noan quickly recounted everything that had happened to Malrik.

Malrik stroked his chin and said, "My lord, I'd like to examine that stone pillar."

Noan nodded, then used his teleportation ability to bring Malrik to the stone pillar from earlier.

After carefully inspecting the pillar, Malrik sighed and said, "I'm sorry, my lord. I'm afraid I can't help you find Vylyss."

"Why not?" Noan asked, perplexed.

Malrik replied, "The writing on this pillar requires demonic magic to decipher. I don't possess magic or energy from the Demon Realm."

"Heh?!" Noan blurted out in surprise, immediately asking, "Are you joking? Don't you come from the Demon Realm?"

Malrik nodded and replied, "That's right. My lord, Skeletons are a lowly race—we're not allowed to set foot in the Demon Realm."

"We can only exist in the borderlands between two worlds."

"Fortunately, the Skeleton race is allowed to enter the human world. If not, Skeletons truly would have become a forgotten species."

"That's why Skeletons do not possess magic or energy from the Demon Realm."

"Ah!" Noan let out a disappointed sigh. "Looks like… everything's come to a dead end again."

"Not necessarily," Malrik spoke up just then.

Hearing Malrik's words, Noan latched onto hope like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline, quickly asking, "You mean…"

Malrik nodded, then grinned slyly: "Kekeke… My lord, have you forgotten there's someone who can lead us straight to the King and Queen of Insect?"

"Ah! You mean… Aldric?" Noan started, immediately remembering someone.

"Exactly. Kekekeke… My lord, based on your description, it seems he's in possession of a Life Compass." Malrik explained.

"It seems that Life Compass Aldric carries has been linked to the life force of the Queen and King of Insect, so whenever he uses the blood of the Killer Bees, it will guide him directly to them."

Noan nodded lightly, saying, "I understand now. But… Malrik, he seems much stronger than before. We can't get close to him."

"I've tried observing him from afar, but…"

"Kekeke… My lord, you possess a spatial affinity, don't you?" Malrik chuckled, "It's simple. All you have to do is… like this…"

…

"Tsk!" Meanwhile, Aldric sensed that Noan's "scent" had suddenly vanished and frowned, "He ran off, huh?"

"Fine. I'll find that bastard again once I'm done with my mission."

Aldric muttered, then continued running in the direction the Compass indicated.

In the distance, a tiny light was floating in the air like a firefly.

But on closer inspection, it wasn't a firefly—it was a small wisp of flame.

"He hasn't noticed us," Noan's voice whispered.

Of course, Noan's voice was barely a whisper—only Malrik could hear it.

"Of course, kekeke…" Malrik chuckled smugly. "My lord, soul fire can contain many souls within it. If we use the souls of the Killer Bees, we can mask our presence completely. Even if he reaches level 10, he'll never be able to detect us."

"Kekeke… This is a method I came up with myself, my lord, you—"

"All right! Enough, enough!" Noan groaned, holding his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Malrik was just as talkative as always, but Noan was still glad to have him here. Without Malrik, he would probably have been lost in the chaos of this place.

"Now can we follow him?" Noan asked quietly.

Hearing this, Malrik grinned. "Kekeke… Of course, my lord. We just need to keep a little distance."

As he spoke, Malrik lifted his bony finger into the air.

A small orb of fire appeared and then shot off into the distance.

"What are you doing?" Noan asked in confusion.

"My lord, I'm worried he might notice us, so I've set up a decoy flame that carries our energy signature and sent it far away." Malrik explained.

"Kekekeke… That way, he'll never suspect we're actually tailing him."

Noan's jaw dropped, full of disbelief. He'd thought he was cautious, but clearly, Malrik was on a whole other level.

He patted Malrik's shoulder and sighed, "Having you with me really is my good fortune."

"Kekeke… My lord, I also feel lucky to serve under you."

Noan let out a snort of laughter. "All right, no need to flatter me. Let's go—I'm worried something bad has happened to Vylyss."

…

At that moment, Aldric suddenly frowned, glancing into the distance. Then he clicked his tongue and muttered, "Tsk! That damned rat showed up again."

"I'll deal with you later. Right now, the Queen's mission is still the top priority."

As he spoke, he looked down at the compass in his hand. The beam of light was still pointing straight ahead, unwavering.

Aldric lifted his head, staring in the direction that light was leading him.

That place was shrouded in darkness, only broken here and there by faint glimmers of light from diligent fireflies weaving through the air.

Aldric frowned, intending to head in that direction, when suddenly he heard something.

Crack!

"Who's there?!" Aldric barked, slashing his sword at once.

Whoosh!

A crescent-shaped arc of sword energy swept out, cleaving through all the surrounding trees before slowly fading into the distance.

Aldric stayed on full alert, eyes sweeping the area, a wave of energy radiating from his body as he tried to sense everything around him—even a single blade of grass.

After a while, he shook his head and continued moving forward.

Far off in the darkness, Noan and Malrik lay flat on the ground.

Noan, thoroughly irritated, hissed, "Malrik, can you please be a little more careful? We almost died just now!"

"Kekeke… Sorry, my lord. I—I was controlling two fire orbs and moving at the same time, so I couldn't focus." Malrik chuckled awkwardly.

Noan let out a heavy sigh. Luckily, his instincts had been sharp enough just now; if not, he might have been split in two by Aldric already.

"Just be more careful." Noan growled.

Malrik scratched his head in embarrassment, then hurried after Noan, keeping close behind Aldric.

Aldric traveled for more than twenty miles before he found a black stone pillar inscribed with strange symbols.

Noan, seeing that stone pillar, could only remain silent.

"Damn it! That's the historical pillar of the Insect Kingdom."