"You know what I'm talking about… if you don't want to die, then stop acting like an idiot." Sylas ignored his words; he knew that he would definitely tell them about it.
"Get ready, let's get going!" Sylas said.
…
Two days later, they arrived at their destination. Celeste looked around but saw nothing special and couldn't understand why Sylas insisted on coming here.
[Host, I feel a powerful aura over here.]
Before the system finished its words, a massive crack appeared in mid-air, as if the world was about to collapse.
What the—
[System Warning! System Warning!]
[DANGEROUS! DANGEROUS!]
The screen turned red, pulsing with violent, relentless flashes, like an alarm screaming in light.
Monsters emerged from the cracks, letting out roars. Sylas stood at the forefront, directing the beastmen to attack.
Celeste trembled. "What are these…?"
"Demon beasts," Sylas replied calmly. "I heard there's a level 7 demon beast here, and we came here for its demon core. Once I obtain it, I can advance to level 7."
While they were speaking, the beastmen had already finished off the demon beasts that had come out from the crack.
"Rrrr-agh!"
A thunderous roar tore through the sky.
An enormous monster stepped out from the crack, its massive form gradually revealing itself.
"Here it is…" Celeste heard him say.
Sylas set Celeste down on the ground and ordered Varkos to protect her. Then the two colossal beasts hurled themselves at each other, colliding with a deafening crash that shook the air.
"System… why would the demon beasts… come from these cracks?" She heard her own voice trembling.
[It was the god of the beasts who did so. It divided the world into two, with beastmen living on the Land of Vorgrathen and demon beasts living on the Land of Ashkara. It sealed the demon beasts away on the other side to protect the beastmen. The demon beasts that appear in this land are all those that escaped from the rift.]
"Why were they sealed…?"
[This was because…]
[ERROR! ERROR!]
Red flooded through her vision.
[CORE INSTABILITY DETECTED]
[FORCED OVERRIDE ENGAGED]
Suddenly, a violent shock slammed into her mind.
"Save her… she cannot die…"
"Help… don't abandon me… please…"
"We can no longer stay here anymore… we have to find a new world…"
"How can we just leave our people alone!"
"Run… she found us… She's coming for us!"
Fragments of memory surged in like a tidal wave, flooding her consciousness and threatening to tear it apart.
"Aaaahhh—!" she let out a piercing, agonized scream.
Just then, Lyra rushed forward, wielding a knife, and tried to stab Celeste. "If it weren't for you, Sylas would be my partner now! Go die!"
Seeing this, Sylas tried to intervene and save her, but the demon beast caught the chance to attack him, striking his body and sending him staggering back a few steps.
Lyra had rushed towards Celeste, her knife tip only a few meters from Celeste's heart.
[Danger! Danger!]
Celeste's mind was still tormented by painful memories, leaving her completely unaware of anything else.
Luckily, Lucien has already arrived.
His serpent tail coiled around Celeste, pulling her away. Lyra was unable to control her body; she fell forward, and the knife plunged into her. She died with her eyes wide open.
Silence.
Lucien quickly regained consciousness and took Celeste away.
When Sylas finally killed the demon beast and extracted its core, he saw the snake carrying Celeste away, too far for him to catch up. He was also too severely injured to pursue them.
"Celeste... don't think you can escape. The next time I find you... I will definitely make you mine."
…
On the other side, Lucien is taking Celeste to a subsidiary city in the very west, a city inhabited by the fox beastmen.
These past few days, Lucien had barely slept while searching for Celeste.
Some beastmen greedily stared at Celeste as he moved through the forest, but they dared not come near due to the intimidating aura of a level five beastman that Lucien emitted.
In the Land of Vorgrathen, there are a total of 3 main cities, with 15 subsidiary cities.
Although Lucien was already level 5 at such a young age, a true prodigy, he was simply unable to protect Celeste from Sylas or other evil beastmen on his own.
The only thing he could do was to rely on the powerful individuals in the cities, and there was a level 7 warrior in the subsidiary city for the fox beastmen. He can definitely protect Celeste.
Very soon, Lucien arrived at the city gates. The previously drowsy city guards instantly became alert upon seeing Lucien.
"Quick, go and report to the Young City Lord! A strong snake beastman is approaching the city!"
Upon hearing this, the foxes in the city were all terrified. The male fox led the female foxes to hide inside the house, and the soldiers looked cautiously at Lucien.
After a while, a young fox beastman stepped outside the city gate and approached Lucien.
"It's the Young City Lord! We are saved!"
His people were happy he had arrived, but Veyra couldn't relax at all.
He could sense... that serpentine beastman has definitely reached level 5, and he was totally no match for him.
But he didn't show this thought on his face, and instead asked, "High one, what brings you to our city?"
"I have no ill will towards your city; I'm just here to protect my mate. She's being targeted by those 'rogue beastmen,' so I think she will be safer staying in the city, protected by the strong individuals. I trust this city wouldn't refuse to protect a valuable female, would it?" Lucien responded.
Hearing his words, Veyra froze for a moment. Before his attention was all on Lucien, he didn't notice, but now, looking closely, he saw his serpentine tail coil around a sleeping female, which, based on what Lucien said, must be his mate.
"Every female is incredibly precious to all beastmen. If it's for their sake, then you are certainly welcome to come in. Please help yourself—"
He led the way, and Lucien followed him.