Chapter 780 A Trustworthy Leader (Part Two)
"Prince Matthew!" Catherine shrieked aloud to stop him. After being pushed aside by Matthew,
Catherine almost stumbled on the ground. She gathered herself up somehow and followed him.
"Please stop. You can''t go in. The miasma is too thick inside. You will die if you inhale too much such
poisonous miasma!" Catherine continued to warn Matthew.
However, thetter seemed to have turned a deaf ear to her warnings. Atst, she had no choice other
than chasing after Matthew towards the Labyrinth Swamp. Matthew halted as he reached the edge of
it. Catherine too came and stood right behind him. Matthew''s eyes were fixed on an unimpressive
stone which disyed a line of strange characters. Matthew squatted down slowly and observed the
characters carefully. All of a sudden there was a spark of joy in his eyes and his lips spread into a
comcent smile. Then he turned around and walked away without looking back. From beginning to
end, he didn''t even spare a nce at Catherine.
Catherine stood still at the edge of the Labyrinth Swamp, staring at the line of strange characters.
''What could this line of characters point towards?'' she thought to herself. At first, Matthew seemed to
be all set to enter the swamp even at the risk of losing his life, but when he saw this line of characters,
he turned around and left! Was this an indication that Harper could get out of the swamp?
"No way!" Catherine screeched, shaking her head from side to side. "How could it be possible? It''s
impossible! Harper can nevere out of the Labyrinth Swamp alive. The strongest danger in the
swamp is not just the poisonous insects or the miasma, but the flood of beasts. No one can survive the
flood of beasts. Whenever that happens, it leaves no trace of human existence. The beasts would not
even spare her bones. There is no way she cane out alive!"
In the meanwhile, inside the Labyrinth Swamp, everyone''s face looked ghastly and pallid after being
swept over by the flood of ants. It even weakened their enchanted barrier to arge extent. There was
a sudden influx of ants as that continued for more than an hour. It seemed as if all the ants inside the
swamp had gathered to attack them. Finally, as the flood of ants ended, all of them felt as if they had
got a new lease of life.
"If it weren''t for you, Harper, we all would have be the food for the ants," Diana said to Harper.
Slowly her rebellious attitude towards Harper was changing into a mark of appreciation and gratitude.
Diana could feel her knees trembling due to weakness. After the horrendous flood of ants passed, all
the trees in the Labyrinth Swamp had been reduced to dust. It was an indication of how terrible the
flood of ants was. It was next to impossible for any human being to be able to resist the attack of so
many ants at the same time.
Even Harper''s face looked pale this time. Perhaps excessive use of her spiritual energy had left her
exhausted. Hence, she sat quietly on the ground and closed her eyes to adjust her breath. The secret
guards were deputed to take care of Harper''s security. Diana sat aside and stared at Harper. By this
time, she was inplete awe of Harper.
"Howard, don''t you feel stressed to have such a powerful younger sister?" As Diana found Harper busy
in reviving her vital strength, she turned her attention towards Howard with a hope to have a chat with
him.
However, Howard neither inclined nor had the luxury to indulge in a chat with Diana. He had to be
vignt. They had already been through a lot. But their struggle had not ended yet. The Labyrinth
Swamp seemed to be even more alive and ready to throw more life-threatening challenges at them.
More so, Harper had be exhausted at the moment. If he let down the guard for a single moment,
all of them would be dead.
The twelve secret guards felt ashamed of themselves. It was their job to protect their master. But all the
martial arts skills that they had mastered since their childhood turned out to be useless. None of their
skills helped them in this situation. Each one of them was afraid of facing Matthew. They thought he
would despise them if he knew what was happening inside the Labyrinth Swamp.
However, the secret guards were not to be med. The Labyrinth Swamp was too powerful a ce
even for spiritually advanced and ster martial arts practitioners. Even though the secret guards were
a notch above the ordinary people and were extremely proficient in their craft, their levels of proficiency
were still not good enough tobat the challenges thrown at them inside the swamp. The only person
who could take such challenges head-on was Harper. In fact, it wasudable how she seemed to have
adapted to the swamp so well.
Surrounded by the secret guards from all sides, Harper sat adjusting her breath for quite some time.
Then she opened her eyes slowly and said in a very low voice, "Keep going. The deeper we go into the
swamp, the more dangerous it will be. We have to make haste and leave the swamp as soon as
possible."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Then they started making their way through the swamp as fast as they could without halting for a single
moment. The deeper they went, the more poisonous insects and other dangerous elements they saw.
All were intimidated by the dangers they faced at every step except for Harper. She seemed to be
undeterred even in the face of the most lethal situation.
"Your Highness, please go first. We..." one of the secret guards suggested, but Harper stopped him in
the midway.
"If I leave, you all will be dead in a matter of few moments!" Harper was the true leader who knew how
to keep everyone safe under her protection. She disyed the deftness of a warrior, quick decision
making skill of a minister, andpassion towards her subjects. She went around, checking each one
of the secret guards and found that some of them had been bitten by poisonous insects which made
the effects of the antidote pills weaker.
Harper became worried. It was indeed an rming situation for them. And if things went on like this, it
would slow down their pace. The longer they stayed in the Labyrinth Swamp, the more dangerous it
would be for them.
Harper remained thoughtful for a while. Then all of a sudden, she took out a dagger and slit her palm.
Then she smeared her blood on the shoulder of everyone else. "Energetic ones support the poisoned
ones," she said. "My blood can support you for two hours and prevent you from being attacked by
poisonous insects. During the two hours, we should hurry. Don''t forget to pay attention to your feet.
Don''t fall into the swamp. Nobody knows what is hidden in the swamp," Harper cautioned her followers.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Howard took out a handkerchief from his pocket and bandaged Harper''s hand with it. Then he ordered
others to carry on with their journey. They still had more than a hundred kilometers to cover before they
could reach the Phoenix City. But going by their current pace, they would still have to pass one full day
and night inside the Labyrinth Swamp. In the night, Harper could use the enchanted barrier to protect
the whole team. But in the daytime, the only thing that could protect them from the attack of insects
was Harper''s blood. And that would mean risking Harper''s life due to excessive blood flow.
"Please take care of yourself, Harper. If you fall, none of us would be able to go out of this swamp
alive," Howard said tenderly.
Harper was chewing Blood-generating Pills. Hearing Howard''s words, she put a handful of Blood-
generating Pills in Howard''s hand and said, "Take them. They can help increase blood. You also lost a
lot of blood."
Howard looked at the pills in his hand and silently put them into his mouth. Harper used highly
upgraded pills that were not avable to the other. Besides, it was rare for her to give her pills to others
so generously.N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.
Hearing their conversation, Diana came forward to ask for some Blood-generating Pills for herself as
well. She said that even she had lost excessive blood since she had been injured by Catherine, so she
needed nutrition too. In this way, as they moved ahead, all of them shared the Blood generating Pills
among each other.
"Harper," Diana called out as she hobbled on the path. Over the past few days, blood blisters appeared
on her feet, leaving her in pain.
"What''s the matter?" Harper turned around and asked in a concerned voice. Even after they had faced
so many challenges in the dangerous swamp, the profoundness of Harper''s voice was not lost. Her
strong leader-like voice still sounded clear and devoid of cruelty or uneasiness. It gave strength to her
followers and made people feel peaceful as if everything would be fine as long as she was there with
them.
"If I can get out of this ce alive, I will take you as my teacher!" Diana said with a smile.