32 Intermission

The small clatter between the friends seized at the sound of the mysterious voice. As each of them are unfamiliar with whom this voice belongs to, they all readied themselves as they are not sure if the person is friend or foe. Everyone tried to find the source of the voice as their eyes frantically shifted all around the cavern and at each other.

A shady figure dressed in all black stepped out of the shadows and sincerely said, "I apologize to you juniors if I startled any of you, it was not my intention. Let me introduce myself, I am Chen Hong. The elder of the Chen family in Eksu City. And I am deeply impressed by some of you."

Everyone directly noticed the blonde hair middle-aged man when he showed himself. A deep scar runs across his face from just outside of his left eye the bottom of the right side of his jaw before it curves back up and ends just below his right ear. Anything discernable about his body is not visible due to his long robes only showing his face and hands.

Leo furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak but, he got cut off by Grik. "What exactly are you doing here exactly? Is this all of your doing?"

"Hey old man, I just want to get out of here. Please don't kill me." Grary pleaded with the old man. Vulgar remarks drifted into his ears before he felt a hard smack on the back of his head.

"Senior, please excuse my ill-mannered nephew. If you could please enlighten us with the reason you ventured down here." Dax made sure to be polite towards Chen Hong as his cultivation is at the ninth level of the kaholo realm, four levels above him. To large of a gap for him to cross. Although he suspects that all of them together can face off against him on equal grounds after seeing the abilities of Arbor, Sald, and Eos.

"Please excuse me if I am interrupting any mission from the mercenary guild, it was never my intention. My purpose here is the same as all of yours, to find the mastermind behind this place. After the last beast wave that attacked the city, I noticed a suspicious figure going through and collecting bodies of both animals and human casualties after the battle ceased. I watched him from the distant and thought nothing of it at first until this figure came back the following two nights. On the third night I decided to follow the person. As my specialty is geared towards support I dared not confront the person by myself and only followed at a distance. I eventually lost track when they came to this section of the woods. Since then I have been searching for traces. I found tracks outside the entrance yesterday. Eventually, I found my way here." Chen Hong narrated.

"You evaded the question. What is your purpose down here? To help the creator of these damn creatures, or to stop them?" Leo scoffed.

"Oh no, please to misunderstand. I originally wanted to investigate what that person was doing, but now after seeing these things, I have decided to stop them. We have a hard-enough time with the waves of beasts attacking the city anyways, we don't need an army of them." Chen Hong explained with an endearing voice to show his trustworthiness.

"Tagas, what do you think about this?" Sald looked around, "Where is he at?"

"TAGAS!" Sald yelled.

Arbors bloody hand popped out from the opposite side of the monstrosity, "Ya, ya, what ever you guys want to do, go for it. I don't care."

Arbor talked to himself while he rummaged through the beasts remains, "Those idiots are talking about what to do next while this beast can be broken down and sold for money. Technically we have no money since the market here isn't fit for the crystals we have. Why do I have to make all the decisions? Sald is calculative enough to make right decisions. May the heavens help if Leo tried to take command. All I want to explore this realm and see if there is anything exciting or if there are anything like the novels I read here. But nope, I've got to be the boss. They need to live a little."

"What were you going on about Senior Tagas? What about there not being a market for?" Ithaa's pubescent voice caused Arbor to jump slightly.

"Oh its nothing you need to worry about Itchy." Arbor assured Ithaa while he continued to dissect the corpse.

"What the hell, not even a single beast stone. I guess I'll just take the whole thing and let the buyer deal with it." Arbor motioned with his hand and put the beast into his spirit ring.

Chen Hong noticed Arbors actions out of the corner of his eye and stopped listening to the discussion he is having with Dax, Sald, and Leo. He, as the elder of the Chen, did not even posses a space ring. Yet, this young lad has one. While before he was being courteous towards them due to his strength, he realizes that he also comes from a strong background and must tread carefully. He quickly regained his composure and focused back in on the conversation. He now understands where he had got those weapons from and where they are stored.

No one else batted an eye because this was natural for them. Leo's group witnessed him use his space ring before. Thus, they figured that Leo's friends more than likely have one each.

"You didn't answer my question. And my name is ITHAA, not Itchy." Ithaa's voice became more stern and irritable as she articulated her name.

"You know I could that you supported Leo more than anyone else during that battle. Is there any particular reason? Have you taken a liking to him?" Arbor teased.

After being teased Ithaa embarrassingly said as she turned and walked away. "Don't change the subject. Hmp."

Arbor chuckled a little, "She will be a troublesome one." Arbor's gaze turned towards Sozoth who is currently standing off to the side, "I am more curious about her and what she is planning."

Soon enough the two parties came to terms and it was decided that Dax, against his better judgement will stay next to Chen Hong until he can be trusted. Even though their levels are different, Dax feels that he might hold his own if Chen Hong is truly more of a supporter in battle and does not posses any true battle abilities. But if he is geared towards support, why would he dare venture down here by himself? Or does he have comrades following behind him? Dax's past experiences as a leader drilled into him to keep his guard up against such a suspicious character.