"Go away!" Lucian shouted at the spirit beast that had been following him around like a loyal dog.

Luna gave a careful look at the beast; she was uncomfortable with its presence and was glad it wasn't attacking the team. "I think it's trying to communicate with you." She said after the beast spoke in a strange language to Lucian again.

"I know." Lucian glared at the beast; he didn't understand what the beast was saying and wanted the spirit beast to leave him alone. He was sitting on his own; the beast only chose to follow him and ignored the others.

"Try using your beast magic to talk to it then." Marta suggested with a smile on her face.

Lucian had thought of it, but whenever he tried activating his magic, something else was flowing along with his mana stream, opening the channel in which mana flows in his body to something unusual. It was powerful but dark and corrupt, and Lucian didn't want to be part of it.

The huge white beast in front of Lucian waves his hand. At first, Lucian thought it was doing a hand sign. Everyone watched it with interest, and then Lucian realized that the beast was trying to make its long, shapeless hand point at Reed.

Lucian eyes went between the beast and Reed, wondering if the expression on the beast face meant it was trying to ask for permission to eat Reed, for a slight second it felt like a good way to get rid of Reed who was bound to be a problem in the future, and then another thought click in Lucian head, 'panic,' the beast was panicking. He studied Reed, who was obviously pretending as though he was sleeping. Lucian noticed the motion of Reed's hand and the magic circle he was using his body to hide. Reed was slowly absorbing the corrupt mana in the air in order to use it to fight against Lucian and his teams; that way he could be free from them.

"Shit!" Lucian quickly got up to his feet and moved over to Reed. He gave a powerful kick to Reed in the gut, breaking off the magic circle he had created along with his concentration to absorb the mana. "I thought I told you not to use magic in this place?!"

Soren, Marta, and Luna hadn't noticed what Reed was up to; they were surprised.

Reed groans in pain, "Your orders are for your teammate. I'm not your teammate, you damned villain. I'm someone who will slit your throat one day when I get the chance, and then I'll bring your head to my captain."

"He sounds passionate about it." Luna said mindlessly, making Marta glare at her.

"He's never going to get the chance." Soren's voice was dark and threatening.

"You damned fool." Lucian sat down in front of Reed, whose eyes were full of hate. "The only reason I'm not letting you kill yourself with the evil mana flowing around here is because you saved my life when you exposed the beast's weakness back when we were in the dungeon." Lucian scratched the back of his head, feeling weird for the truth he admitted. If Reed didn't tell anyone what he knew, regardless of his beast's ability, he wouldn't have been able to win against Wisteria. "One good turn deserves another."

Reed didn't drop the hate in his eyes as he said, "I wasn't trying to save your life, just mine." He admitted truthfully.

"Well, I'm trying to save yours." Lucian's voice sounded as though he had never considered the idea of letting the spirit beast eat Reed if it means that the annoying beast would leave him alone.

"Evil mana?" Luna asked; she has been curious about why Lucian won't let them use magic and has been waiting for him to give them an explanation.

Lucian nodded; he glanced at the spirit beast that had followed him to where Reed was. Since the spirit beast had panic because of Reed's actions, it means that he had good reasons to be suspicious about the mana that mysteriously increased their strength in an abnormal way.

"The one who actually saves Reed's life isn't me but this spirit beast."

"Spirit beast." Marta examined the beast; like the others, her system didn't inform her about the beast's identity.

"I thought you couldn't understand the beast?" Luna asked in confusion, making Lucian glare at her in irritation.

"I don't. It was a lucky guess." Lucian looked up at the dark void that acted as the only sky they had; when it was night, the light around them became darker. It was their only way of differentiating between night and day. "Ever since we fell down here… I still don't know where this is, but I'm going to call it the belly of Hlasked."

Soren snorted and quickly gave out an apology, "I'm sorry, Captain." He still couldn't stop the smile that pulled his lips.

"I would like to laugh too, only after we survive this; it won't be funny anymore if we end up dead." Luna's dark mood killed Soren's smile and made Reed and Marta tense.

"Ever since we came to the belly of Hlasked." Lucian repeated again, purposely, testing to see if Soren would laugh again, but he didn't. Thanks to Luna, everyone was taking him seriously now. "I can feel something mixed in the mana around here; it may seem like it's pure, but it's not. It's dark and corrupt; letting a mana like that mix together with our mana and magic core isn't a good idea."

The beast behind Lucian spoke in a weird language that sounded like an annoying screeching sound to the humans, making them use their hands to cover their ears.

"Shut up!" Lucian was exasperated as he removed his hand from his ears. "We can't understand you." The beast stopped, making Lucian realize that although he couldn't understand it, the beast could understand him.

"Maybe the reason the spirit beast is drawn to you is because of your beast ability." Reed spoke out. Wondering if Lucian was now half human and half beast.

"But when I healed Soren earlier, I didn't feel anything." Luna frowns at Lucian.

"If Captain Lucian and the spirit beast both say the mana is evil, I'm going to listen to them." Soren voices out in a relaxed tone.

"Likewise. But if Luna can't use her magic to purify the fruit and water, then what are we going to eat?" Marta asked; she was hungry but didn't want to be the first to admit it.

Beneath, Hlasked looked like a flourishing land; even the dry, stony ground made it seem impossible for its fruit and water pond to exist.

Lucian turned to the spirit beast. "What is safe to eat around here?"

The spirit beast begins to move slowly, leading Lucian and his team to a different path.

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