Darcel made a grasping motion with his hand, sending out pure Spirit Qi towards the Qi Root Fruit. Initially, he was admittedly a little bit concerned that something would suddenly jump out to bite their heads off.

But thankfully, it seemed like this area threw the trio a bone.

Nothing dangerous jumped out at Darcel, and he was able to smoothly pull in the Qi Root fruit into his palm.

With the spikey fruit in hand, Darcel caressed its texture for a brief moment. Though it didn't have a design that looked like it would be pleasant to touch, Darcel was legitimately surprised when it felt so soft.

Darcel almost felt like he was squishing into a soft pillow or when he would caress either Aniela or Masami's breast. He felt a warm sensation course through his palm and traveled throughout his entire body just from touching.

And then there was the Qi Root fantastic fragrance. It was like he was inhaling the most natural and richest garden on this planet.

Darcel didn't regret coming here before, but now he felt even more glad about braving through those challenges for this treasure.

After he got a good feel, Darcel flashed the Qi Root fruit into his spatial ring. Upon doing so, an immediate change occurred within their surroundings.

It was the return of the hazy white mist!

And this time, the mist became immensely thick blinding, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's vision.

"Goddammit! Really, again?!" Masami loudly cursed out her annoyance.

Even Darcel and Aniela couldn't help but click their teeth as they also felt their annoyance rise.

They all were thinking, haven't they've been through enough?! Moreover, none of them weren't yet fully healed by their Healing Pills.

Darcel Spirit Sense scanned over each of them. And he sensed himself to be at sixty percent of his maximum capacity. Aniela was around half of her, and Masami was nearing his energy reserve level.

Because of their soul bonds, Darcel could actually see into the girl's energy reserves, though he doesn't use it often.

Primarily because previously, they rarely would get injured from their battles. Although now, Darcel just knew he would be using this ability a lot more often.

Focusing on the present, Darcel still tenses his body for any sign of action. Even as Aniela and Masami were frustrated, they also prepared their bodies for battle, though they were still feeling residual pain.

However, no matter their preparation, the trio quickly found it was simply unneeded.

The impossible to see white mist only lasted for a mere second.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami felt an instinctive reaction to blink. The next moment they opened their eyes, their whole surroundings changed!

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami began to rapidly blink their eyes now, feeling a small amount of disbelief that they actually made it out of the area. They were now currently in an open snowfield that had sparse trees littered all over the place.

Masami began scratching her fluffy fox ears as they twitched in slight puzzlement. "Huh...well...I won't lie; I was expecting another devious trap. Not to be plopped right back into the action so suddenly."

"Hmmm..." Aniela closed her eyes for a moment, expanding her Spirit Sense for a few miles. She flung it back open a split second after and told the others, "At least we're not in the middle of some squadron."

As she said so, Darcel and Masami were also spreading their Spirit Senses, searching out for any little detail. But like Aniela, they picked up on nothing.

Feeling a little bit of relief, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami slowly rose to their feet. As they stood up, each of them felt and heard some of their bones crack out its kinks from getting repaired by the Healing Pills.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami scrunched up their faces as it felt a bit uncomfortable from it. But, with each second passing, the trio was feeling their health quickly come back to them.

With what Darcel sensed now, he fathoms they could at least adequately fight without much hassle.

Masami began searching her eyes throughout the entire area, squinting her gaze on whatever she found a bit suspicious. She asked while looking around,

"Soo...what now? Should we just find a place to go and hide to absorb the treasure?"

Darcel searched his gaze around, but really, everything was blending in together in this area. He didn't sense anything of interest to go after, and there was no clear suspicion that they should avoid.

With a shrug of his shoulder, Darcel said, "Might as well. Let's go..." In the middle of his talk, he oddly trailed off.

Aniela and Masami peered their gazes onto him, curiosity filling both of their faces.

Darcel didn't have any expression like they were in danger. But he did stare into Aniela's beautiful face with slight questioning eyes.

Aniela inquisitively tilted her head, and Darcel asked her, "You know; actually, I was thinking about it previously. Back then, I was mildly shocked that you two didn't actually see the mist until I pointed it out. And I recalled then, Aniela, didn't you have a killer intuition that pointed us in the right direction several times before?"

"Eh? She really had something like that?"

Masami reacted before Aniela could even question. During her time with her, she couldn't recall at any moment Aniela using her intuition to lead them to someplace.

Aniela tilted her head more, and her eyes twinkled a bit. Her expression started to brighten as she said, "Oooh...ooh! That's right! I do remember doing that! But..."

In the middle of her sentence, the twinkle in her eyes vanished, and her expression turned dimmer. "I think that was just great luck, Darcy. For a while now, I haven't had any striking intuition. And I fear that yellow-eyed woman probably took away that ability for good. If that was even an ability..."

Aniela sighed with a little bit of emotion. But before either Darcel or Masami could say anything, her expression returned back to a serene small smile.

"Still! Leaving things to random luck can only get us so far. Let's just keep on walking; we found one cave before. I'm sure we can find one again!"

The way Aniela changed her expression to an optimistic one on the snap of a dime did remind Darcel and Masami she was always like this.

Honestly, they thought Aniela would need a bit more time before she returned back to this state. And even if it was only a short burst, the fact she was starting to do it again was a good start.

Darcel and Masami were even affected by her sudden upbeat tone, and they felt their own expression brighten a bit.

Darcel had then pointed to a random direction towards his left and began saying, "Since we're in agreement, let's walk down this way. Though, remember to always be ready."

"Right." Aniela and Masami nodded as a small flame of determination ignited within their eyes.

With Darcel in the lead, the trio started to walk off in the direction he pointed in. They all were expecting danger to come at them, but they felt slight assurance it wouldn't immediately come at them.

But after they only took a few steps, the trio abruptly stopped.

Darcel tightly knitted his eyebrows as several powerful presences suddenly appeared in his Spirit Senses. Whoever was above them was a mile above, and it was like they were ghosts!

With his downgraded Spirit Sense, Darcel had absolutely no way to track what technique they used to hide. Trepidation began to fill Darcel's mind as he genuinely can't catch a long enough break.

Then again, this was the high-intensity Mercenary Exchange Event.

Darcel knows sudden encounters like these should be par for the course. Though, it didn't make them any less frustrating when it did happen.

"Haaah...seems like we're destined to have the most deplorable luck now." Darcel quietly muttered under his breath.

At the exact same time, Aniela and Masami also froze with dread, sensing the same presence and feeling the same frustration.

Aniela shot her gaze to the sky with a sour expression. While Masami's foxtails were twitching around in annoyance as she said, "Just...what could it possibly be this time."

Right then, a booming voice echoed from the skies.

"Oh? What's a bunch of kids doing out here with that treasure on them? Tch, can't believe we were nearly worried for a moment."

The voice was a man speaking. Darcel, Aniela, and Masami could practically feel the overwhelming confidence oozing from his voice.

As they heard the man, the trio had then seen five figures appear in the skies.

It appeared to be five men wearing overly long and suspicious clothes. The trio could only guess they were all men since their appearance was difficult to tell.

Each person was wearing an overly long black coat with the hoodie up.

Besides the man that talked, there simply wasn't any well to precisely tell the difference apart from each other. The only thing they could make out was the slight facial feature sticking out from their hoodies.

Already, the trio felt some nerves about this squadron group. Usually, these Mercenaries groups always have flashy, distinct designs that set them apart from one another.

But this squadron looked like they're proficient in being sneaky.

Right then, the man in front of the group, the one who spoke before, suddenly said, "Well then. No need for us to be so careful, guys."

After he gave that causal order, Darcel, Aniela and Masami narrowed their eyes.

A considerable pressure crushed onto their bodies as this squadron group decided to release their Heavenly Aura. Even more dread stilled into Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's veins.

Four of the men's prowess was at the fifth level of the Heavenly Transformation realm.

And for the one that continued to talk was at the sixth level of the Heavenly Transformation realm!

A lineup that Darcel, Aniela, and Masami would've laughed at some time ago now gave them a tremendous sense of danger.