Proofreader: M_W Miss Fierce

Everything is, of course, just an assumption. That's why Leo wanted to check deeper, whether Cassandra's assumption was really correct or not.

"Let's confirm the situation first," Leo said as he motioned for everyone to continue.

Although the small numbers of Sandstone Knight Spiders can more or less be used to confirmed Cassandra's assumptions, but he still chooses to see it with his own eyes as he wanted to know just what Magical Beast tribe is currently fighting against the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest.

He wants to know what species of Magical Beast are exactly the ones fighting against the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest, so as to prepare for countermeasures to defend or fight against them.

Aside from that, he also wanted to know just how much damage that unknown Magical Beast tribe had already caused to the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest.

In short, he wants to investigate and gather information about this unknown Magical Beast tribe.

Remaining oblivious about it and just making a plan once the situation finally comes was never his way of handling things. He always makes preparations for everything, even the least possible situation.

"As someone who has lived in the Sun Desert for many years already, just what Magical Beast tribe would dare to fight against a Sandstone Mother Spider's nest?" Leo asked the nearby Earthen Spirit race by his side, which if he remembered correctly, was named Eato, one of the two 5 Star Mages.

Eato turned to look at Leo before he quickly replied, "Basing on the Magical Beast food chain we have constructed after studying the behavior of the Magical Beast in the Sun Desert until now, there exist only a few that would actually choose to fight against this Sandstone Mother Spider's nest, especially since it has as a Sandstone Lord Spider. But almost all of those Magical Beast tribes are situated deeper in the Sun Desert, with only an exception of one, and that is the Magical Beast tribe of Cave Lizards."

"Cave Lizards?" Leo quickly asked, as he hasn't yet encountered such a Magical Beast.

"Cave Lizard, just like its name suggested, likes to live underground, especially if there are caves. This species likes to live in a place with an abundant water supply. They hunt for food by digging tunnels and looking for any preys that also likes to live deep underground, including the Sandstone Spiders," Eato said before thinking for a bit and continuing, "If Miss Cassandra's words really turned out to be true, then the reason why they are fighting against the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest right now should be because of the water supply that they have turned into their nest."

Leo right after followed up with, "What are the specialties of this Cave Spiders?"

"They have very sharp claws, which they use for digging the hard walls of caves to make tunnels. Their body is like a really hard armor, it's incredibly tough and durable, for sure it's to defend against whenever the tunnels they made fall down on them, allowing them to still survive and dig their ways out. Aside from that, they can see extremely well in the dark because their eyes have something akin to a night vision." Eato replied.

Hearing Eato's words, Leo nodded his head before focusing again on their current task.

Leo and the others continued for another hour before they could finally see with their own eyes the entrance of the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest, which at this moment had hundreds of Sandstone Spider's and Cave Lizard's bodies piling up in the front.

Seeing this, everyone could finally one hundred percent confirm Cassandra's assumption to be correct.

They also finally understood why they have only encountered a few powerful Sandstone Spiders away from the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest so far, and that is because they are actually focusing on the fight against the Cave Lizard tribe right in front of their doorstep.

The Sandstone Mother Spider's nest would obviously not bother with a minuscule problem which is them, considering that a much more bigger problem is right on their doorstep, right?

Every Magical Beast tribe would naturally react in such a way since their nest is where they keep on increasing their numbers, not to mention it is also their home. Once their nest is destroyed, then they can't keep on increasing in numbers as much as before anymore, causing their entire Magical Beast tribe to have difficulty continuing to exist.

At this moment, Leo and the others were hiding at the very corner, far away from the entrance of the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest and the ongoing battle happening right in front.

At the opposite corner of them was a big tunnel where a continuous stream of Cave Lizards keep on coming out to join the fight. While on the other hand, the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest keeps on sending ordinary Sandstone Spiders, Sandstone Soldier Spiders, and Sandstone Knight Spiders to defend their nest.

From time to time, the Cave Lizard's tunnel would be covered by webs, hindering the pathway of the Cave Lizards. But it would only last for a few seconds, since the very sharp claws of Cave Lizards could easily clear up the pathway once again.

Both sides are currently losing an equal amount of their soldiers. To be more precise, it was a ratio of 1 is to 1, meaning 1 dead Sandstone Spider is equal to a death of a 1 Cave Lizard.

It was really surprising, considering that the Sandstone Spiders are considered as the bottom feeders. But, looking closely at the fight, they finally realized the reason why.

The reason for the ratio of 1 to 1 is actually because the Sandstone Spiders are sending more numbers of their soldiers to fight off against one Cave Lizard, meaning the latter is in a very disadvantageous position and also has a difficulty of killing one due to the teamwork of the former. Moreover, each group of Sandstone Spiders is being led by a Sandstone Knight Spider, with a few Sandstone Soldier Spiders and a lot of ordinary Sandstone Spiders.

"This is really fortunate for us," Cassandra smiled in delight while watching the ongoing fight of the Sandstone Spiders against the Cave Lizards.

"No," Leo finally decided to reveal right now that the situation wasn't actually fortunate for them. He continued explaining, "We don't know exactly how long this fight has been going on, but just by looking at the piles of carcasses around us, then it should have been more than a week now. This means that both sides have received a significant decrease in their numbers already."

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth can't help but ask.

"Don't forget, Ethan's group is planning of luring the Magical Beast tribe of the Beast Lord Sandpit Worm. Once the Sandpit Worm tribe arrived, then they would most likely only be fighting against two Magical Beast tribes in their weakened state. What do you think this meant?" Leo solemnly asked the others.

Angel's face turned serious as she replied, "It meant that we would be fighting against a Magical Beast tribe that only received an insignificant amount of damage, which is impossible for us to defeat considering our current numbers right now."

"Leo," Veronica looked at Leo, "Why don't you use that weapon you have used when you fought against the Magical Beast hoard we encountered before arriving in Sandy Town. Even if we can't defeat them, we can't at most make them retreat, right?"

Hearing Veronica's words, Ash and Charlotte nodded their heads in unison to express their agreement.

"That's indeed possible! Although I don't know what exactly it was, but since it was able to drive away a Magical Beast hoard, then it should also be possible that we can use that to drive away from the winning Magical Beast tribe far from this place, allowing us to still be successful in our mission." Ash expressed her agreement.

"I have the same thoughts as Ash. So, Leo, how about let's use that item we used before once again?" Charlotte said.

Hearing the women's opinion, Leo could only shake his head as he replied, "I only have a few of those items in my Storage Ring, and those items have a very crucial role in our main goal. So, I can't keep on using them. Also, don't you see our current location right now? This is a cave, a very deep one to be more exact, so one wrong mistake here and it might just cause all of us to be trapped in this place, including those people in the 5 outposts. Although it's still possible for us to make our way out and escape, but are you sure that all of us will be able to survive? Moreover, after that, it would become extremely difficult to dig towards the water supply."

Leo smiled mischievously as he asked, "So, do you still want to use it?"

Cassandra and everyone immediately shook their heads after hearing Leo's explanation.

Of course, they don't want that!

They weren't that stupid and desperate to choose such means. If it's really impossible to reclaim this water supply, then they would simply choose to give it up, rather than sacrifice thousands of people.

"Though, there might still be a chance to turn everything around. Let's go," Leo said before quickly turning around to leave the place.

Everything that he had said was obviously a lie, especially the part where he had said he only has a few Chaos Orbs since he has tens of thousands of those in his Storage Ring. As for that other part; with him being able to control the Chaos Mana, that would certainly not going to happen.

His reason for not allowing the use of Chaos Orbs was simply because he would permanently lose the Chaos Orbs once he used them, just like the situation back then on their way to Sandy Town. With so many people nearby, he obviously can't turn the Chaos Mana back into Chaos Orbs that easily. Doing so would just be the same as revealing his secret to everyone, especially to the people of the Sandy Town, which he obviously doesn't trust yet.

In their current situation right now, it would be very easy for them to be able to know that what he had used was Chaos Mana, which would reveal a lot of his secrets. That's just so troublesome, so he'd rather not do that.

Instead, what he would do is dig a way to the surface and meet with Ethan's group. Once they meet, he would stop them from luring the Magical Beast tribe of the Beast Lord Sandpit Worm to the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest, allowing the Sandstone Mother Spider's nest and the Cave Lizards to keep on fighting until one of them won without anyone intervening. After that, they would then eliminate the winner.

With such a simple solution to their problem, why would he bother troubling himself, right?