H43 Treasure of the Māori

Book Cover

**Treasure of the Māori** is the 43rd book in the series.

## Synopsis

BECOMING THE BEST! ALEX APOLOGISES TO JACKAL!

On an assignment commissioned by the government of New Zealand to investigate an insect plague, Alex and co. stumble upon a chrysalis from another world in a mysterious subterranean passage. Its purpose is to find the beetle warrior. Meanwhile, Silver Tiger's men abduct the children in Jackal's orphanage, but with victory in sight, the last thing Silver Tiger expects happens.

## Cast

* Alex
* Lulu
* Jackal
* Crowbone
* Jones
* Silver Tiger

## Plot

### Chapter 1: Insect Plague

A long time ago, the Beetle Warrior slowly dies after defeating Chaos Larvae and wishes to fight alongside Pupa in his next life. Pupa enters hibernation mode.

In the present, Alex apologises to Jackal for costing him his job, but Jackal's intention was never remaining a mercenary. Jones calls them for a gathering. The government of New Zealand has made a letter of commission for adventurers to help investigate an insect plague.

At NZ, Alex and co. meet many insects, even the ones not seen in NZ. Pirozzi, a forest investigator, takes them to an ancient Māori site, where it's believed it is attracting the insects. Alex notices an image of Māui and thinks the site is related to him. Māui is a mythical Polynesian demigod hero who used his magical fishhook to catch a giant fish, which later became the island Alex and co. are standing on: Te Ika a Māui (Māui's Fish)

### Chapter 2: Company

Alex and co. attempt at solving the puzzle to activate the entrance's mechanism. If one blinks, he will be punished, so Alex keeps his eyes closed while stepping on footprints since it isn't considered blinking. The ground descends and insects follow. When reaching the bottom, Alex and co. see a boat with a lit torch. Meanwhile, Silver Tiger's men have come to Jackal's orphanage.

### Chapter 3: Goddess of Fire

As Alex opens a compartment of the torch's platform, everyone hears a voice telling them to return the last flame to her. It also tells the instructions of the compartment's puzzle. After solving the puzzle, the voice stops, the boat moves and the door opens. Alex thinks the voice belongs to the fire goddess.

One day, Māui was curious to know the origin of fire, so he put out all the villagers' fires. The next day, he told them he would borrow the fire goddess' fire. At the goddess' residence, the goddess gave Māui her fingernail. He tossed it into a lake and wondered what would happen if the goddess lost all her fingernails. Realising she had been tricked, the goddess used her last fingernail to shoot a fireball, but Māui dodged it. He brought a burning branch back to the village. As the goddess didn't want to hurt the village, she stopped attacking Māui.

The orphans are put in a helicopter. Coraline was given a message to pass to Jackal. On another island, Nacho witnesses the helicopter flying.

### Chapter 4: Wave

Alex and co. pass through Māori statues holding axes. Alex notices insects piling on a wire which triggers a trap. The statues drop their axes, so Alex imitates Whirl of the Mad King to speed up the boat. By the end, the torch has been put out by water. "Bird snakes" appear and chase after Alex and co. until reaching a waterfall. A bird snake makes a cut on Jackal. His blood drops on a giant beetle chrysalis. Pupa analyses the blood and begins metamorphosis as the DNA matches 99.99% with her former master. Green light holds Jackal as the insects go inside him.

### Chapter 5: Beetle Warrior

Alex thorws Lulu towards the chrysalis to destroy it. Pupa emerges and dodges Lulu. With the metamorphosis complete, Jackal is now in the Beetle Warrior suit. As the bird snakes come to attack, Pupa enters Jackal and transforms into Longhorn, the Space-Slashing Sword. Jackal swings Longhorn at the bird snakes, sending them to another realm.

The serpent in the subspace connecting worlds senses this. The fire goddess is enraged, so she unleashes more bird snakes. Jackal uses Longhorn as a normal sword as space-slashing can only be used once a day. Crowbone puts Alex on the fire goddess statue's finger. He notices a finger with no fingernail.

### Chapter 6: Fiery Fingernails

Alex tells Crowbone to carry the boat to him. He lights the torch with Luminus' flame. Crowbone inserts the boat into the depression. The fire goddess realises this is Luminus' flame, which is more ancient than her flames. She tells the bird snakes to move away because she sees Alex and co. as Luminus' servants now.

She accepts Luminus' flame and the tiki statues' heads break to reveal Māui's treasure. Mahuika, the goddess of fire, is speaking through the statue and tells Alex to ask Pupa about the insect plague.

Pupa comes from a distant planet, made to be part of the 5th generation of mass-produced autonomous weapons. Her creator sent her to Earth to find a candidate to be the Beetle Warrior. She managed to find one after several years. She told him about the otherworldly threats and he agreed to be Pupa's master. The Beetle Warrior can increase his power by finding artefacts hidden by the gods.

After many challenges, Pupa and the Beetle Warrior found the first artefact, Longhorn. A month later while in the Atlantic Ocean, Māui caught a colossal aquatic worm.

### Chapter 7: Chaos Serpent

Chaos Larvae were entering Earth through the portal's cracks. The Beetle Warrior took on the larvae while Māui took on the colossus. After defeating the larvae and seeing Māui about to be defeated, the Beetle Warrior channeled his remaining life force into Longhorn to slay the colossus, which ended his own life. He told Pupa he would reincarnate and search for Pupa, so she entered hibernation mode until he returned. Māui thought he killed the colossus and was proud. Over time, the colossus' body became NZ's North Island.

As for the insects, they came to Pupa to remind her the Lord of the Other-Space, the Chaos Serpent, approaches Earth. However, it cannot exit the Other-Space, so it sends its servants on its behalf to devour everything. The serpent is immortal because and it and the Other-Space are one.

Jackal takes off the Beetle Warrior suit by meditation, revealing the Beetle Warrior mark on his body. It can't be removed because the Beetle Warrior programme has already etched into Jackal's genes. Mahuika returns to her plane and the treasure now belongs to Alex and co. Meanwhile, the orphans are at Silver Tiger's mansion.

### Chapter 8: Unexpected Development

Nacho stomps into the scene and throws the kids back into the helicopter. He easily defeats Silver Tiger and his men. He takes Silver Tiger and the kids hostage to settle the score with Malone, Silver Tiger's father. With the kids, he thinks it will be easier to deal with Alex.

## X-Venture Continuity

### In the series

* Pupa's creator is one of the realm guardians who fought alongside Caelus and other realm guardians in H32 Hunt of the Adventure King. It is depicted on a mural in H37 Messenger of the Cat Goddess.