Lucian groaned in frustration. He had been studying the spirit beast for hours but still couldn't understand it; perhaps there was a better chance of him understanding the beast if he used his beast abilities. But Lucian didn't want to take the risk of letting the corrupt mana flow into his body.

"Don't give up!" Marta encouraged as Lucian rolled on the ground, resting on his tummy. "I believe that you can do it, Captain."

Luna stared up at the dark sky and wondered if there was any way for them to climb back up to the surface; the darkness over them looked endless. "Ask that beast if there is any way for us to get out of here." She said, "Staying here makes me feel like I'm buried alive."

"That's because we are all buried alive; the only difference is that we are not being suffocated by sand to make sure we don't ever try coming out of the grave." From Lucian's words, he was starting to realize that their condition had a resemblance to something those phony gods would do. Making their life a game for survival by putting them in immense danger while giving them a slim chance for survival, even though that chance was close to being impossible, as long as it was there, they were all meant to make use of it, even if they had to die trying, literally. "I think those damn gods are the ones who brought us here, but what I don't know is why. Maybe they got bored of watching us struggle against beasts on the surface of Hlasked, and they decided that burying us beneath Hlasked was better." Lucian's voice was mixed with anger.

"What do you mean by 'they are watching us?" Reed asked. He had never once thought of the possibility of everyone being watched, but knowing that the gods saw when his brother died and would have done something to stop it and yet chose not to made him angry. He thought back to the dungeon, how he watched the dungeon king stop Lucian from killing Wisteria, and wondered if the dungeon king acted on the 12 gods' order. Because the dungeon king wasn't kind enough to save anyone.

"They are always watching us." Soren replied in a flat tone. It hasn't been long since he joined Lucian, when Lucian revealed that fact to him and others on a cold night in the woods, where they were gathered together around a fire that had been set to keep them warm.

"Those 12 beings are evil and don't deserve to be gods." Marta said, "What right do they have to control our life and trap us here?"

Luna had a resigned expression on her face as she removed her gaze from the darkness above. "Since they are responsible, does that mean there is no way out?"

Lucian rolled over to his back. "Is there any way for us to return back to the surface?" He asked the spirit beast.

The spirit beast nodded and began leading them back to the same place they ran away from. Grove and his teammates weren't hanging around anymore, but human dead bodies lay all over the place. Dry blood and the rotten stench of flesh filled the air. Lucian gave a careful look at the dead players, his eyes focused on the ones who still had their faces intact without burns or the wounded mark of blades over them. They were players he had never seen before, not even in the dungeon. He couldn't explain where they came from, but he had a guess that they were swallowed up by Hlasked as well.

"They were killed by humans." Reed said, "I think it's by the same group that wanted you dead. But at the same time it could be someone else. Who knows how many humans were brought to the belly of Hlasked."

Marta gave a silent prayer for each dead body she came across. While Luna coldly passed the bodies without caring if she mistakenly stepped on a hand.

Luna gave a quick stride to where the spirit beast was; it was hovering over the tree, enlightened with mana. She looked at the overgrown tree that was strong and extended up into the darkness. "How is this thing supposed to help us leave this place?" She asked and gave a doubtful look to the spirit beast.

"This doesn't make any sense." Lucian said out loud. He knew that Grove and his team had a reason to kill him, but they had no reason to kill this many humans. Unless they have lost their mind. "This ruthless killing makes no sense." He repeated again.

Luna gave him some time to himself before saying, "Your beast led us astray." She felt pity for the life wasted and envisioned that it would be her soon unless she leaves the belly of Hlasked.

"I don't think so." Although Lucian couldn't understand the beast, it has never been wrong before. Lucian stretches out a hand to gently touch the beast; at the point of contact, his body freezes up.

—------------------------------------------------------

Dunstan broke the doors to Zinnia's chamber. "You mess with my magic?!"

Zinnia wasn't fazed by her broken door and kept her eyes on the hologram showing the players beneath Hlasked.

The Ghuoit servants in her chamber stop their cleaning after Dunstan's angry entrance.

"I wasn't the only one there at the meeting, so it could have been someone else."

Dunstan gritted his teeth. Zinnia is the only one among them who could mess with his magic. "I didn't even mention the meeting." He said it was because Zinnia was carelessly giving herself away.

"That was the last time we saw it, so it's obviously at the meeting." Zinnia removes her eyes from the floating screen. "You should be happy about this. Your hero is going to survive since he isn't with the others." She had been hiding the screen that shows Thorin and his team; now that Dunstan knows the truth, there was no point in hiding it anymore.

Dunstan magic was meant to bury every player involved in the game under Hlasked; however, because of Zinnia's interference, Thorin and his team were the only humans left on the surface of Hlasked, clueless of the players that had been buried.

"I don't need a weak hero, Zinnia." Dunstan said in a sharp tone, controlling his rage, "That hero has too many weaklings around him; all they do is feed his system to empower him. He's supposed to have passed the stage of being dependent on others for powers by now; he's supposed to be buried under Hlasked. That way he can get rid of the weaklings around him."

"You always have great expectations for your heroes, Dunstan; sadly, none of them have ever met your expectations and let their system level up past the 'Golden Heart.' It seems to me that your expectations for your players become worse after watching that villain." Zinnia smirks, "You can't blame the poor human boy for depending on others; don't forget that the flaw of his system came from you. Just because you were able to overcome it doesn't mean that the others will."

'You are wrong, Zinnia. I know that someone will one day.' Dunstan thought.

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