In a Civilized Manner

"…Miss Darcie."

Although they didn't interact much, Edris remembered Darcie from their few conversations at the first floor pub. The girl with tiger teeth, who always seemed lively, who always kept a cheerful smile, was now reduced to one of the preys in line as they all trudged forward emotionlessly.

— Are you going to save her?

"What makes you think I can do that without getting myself killed?" Edris responded under his breath. "It'll be straight-up suicide. Our main goal right now is to find out where the Hunt is actually being held right now. That's where all the valuable information is going to be.

"After that, we'll go straight back to the surface. I have a feeling this 'hunt' is more complicated than expected. It's safer just to notify Dolan Zacriya of this and have him prepare reinforcement."

— So you're leaving her to die?

"I didn't know you were so righteous." Ignoring Ace's stoic stare, Edris swiftly moved towards the tunnel at the very right. "Here, let me ask a question. What's the best way to get rid of a limberry tree?"

— …

"Naturally, you can't be plucking out every single leaf, right? That would be both a waste of time and energy. Might even get yourself poisoned, if toxic insects are on there.

"The best way, then, is to yank the entire tree all out at once, roots included."

Obviously, the roots of this situation weren't going to be found here.

From the looks of the captives' overall conditions, they probably held a somewhat important role in the Hunt, one that required them to be physically in optimal conditions. Until its commencing, then, it was unlikely that the guards would injure them in any way, let alone put their lives at risk.

By now, Edris was at the closest pillar to the seventh entrance.

If his speculations were correct, this was not a half-sphere area they were in, but one in the shape similar to an hourglass.

He got this idea after looking at the structure of the chasm. Pillars that edged the chasm, staircases in the tunnels cages, spiralling cage placements—these elements all showed signs of not horizontal but vertical expansion.

He glanced up at what seemed to be the ceiling of the chasm, one that reached an incredible height.

The true location of the Hunt was likely on the upper half of the hourglass. And right now, the only way to go up was through one of the tunnels. People were still pouring out of the passageways as they were each led to a cage. Edris planned to sneak in the moment the last person leaves.

Three, two, one…

It was at that moment.

Edris leaned forward as the last person moved from the tunnel towards the centre, only to instantly freeze again.

A high-pitched cry broke the silence in the chasm. It came from none other than the seventh tunnel, the one Edris had planned on entering. Haven't yet even landed his first step, he gingerly retracted his foot and glanced around him. The sound occurred so abruptly that he had forgotten for a moment that he was currently invisible.

The cry, now escalated to a full-out scream, aimed to grow even louder in a pressing crescendo, as though corresponding to the emerging silhouette in the tunnel.

A child scrambled out of the darkness.

Her hands were chained like the other preys in the chasm, but unlike their emotionless states, a vivid, horrified expression was on her face. As another piercing scream erupted from her mouth, Edris noticed left half of the child's face was submerged in raven-black, webbing imprints; obscurring her already minature features, they were extending to the right side as well.

The child's sudden appearance threw everyone in a daze. Even Edris took a second to take in her presence before he stepped back to the side of a pillar.

The rampaging child looked young. Too young. Her beige clothes sagged as she darted all over the place, stumbling several times because she stepped on her own pants.

In the short span of seconds, she threw the entire chasm into chaos. While the preys still stood unresponsive, their leading figures in black began chasing after her. The little girl, with a height barely at Edris's waist, was unexpectedly nimble in her movements as she escaped several reaching hands.

"Where did she even come from? Stop her right now." The viscount had an annoyed expression on his face as he watched the child run about with seven adults scrambling after her.

Edris was leaning forward to get a better view of the situation when, without warning, a burst of mana exploded from the young girl's body.

He blinked in surprise. "To be manipulating mana at this age… This child's an Awakened too?"

The child looked young. Even younger than the boy from the Slums. Even so, she was still brought here as prey, because she's an Awakened.

Amidst the chaos, Ace spoke up with a rare tone of wariness in his voice.

— That's not simple mana.

"…What?"

Edris was about to ask further, but his words slid back down his throat at the sight before his eyes.

The child's mana burst had created a momentary pause between her and her pursuers. Taking advantage of this gap in time, she dashed around the chasm, making a sharp turn towards the tunnel she came from.

In other words, the tunnel that Edris was currently standing next to.

Below her, puddles of black seemed to be forming after her every step.

— It's black mana.

As she got closer, Edris subconsciously gulped. It was because the girl was no longer aiming toward the entrance but the pillar right beside it.

She was running straight at him.

"We need to go." Not a trace of calmness was left in his voice. "Activate the teleportation portal. Now!"

A faint glow appeared under his feet, but Edris remained alert. He didn't know what scared him more. The fact that the child used black mana or the glare in her eyes.

They seemed to contain a sea of flames.

The next second, something even stranger happened.

The child ran ridiculously fast. The wind drove her dark bangs past her forehead, exposing her fierce eyes that somehow made eye contact with Edris's own, even though the latter was currently invisible.

Maybe it was pure coincidence, perhaps she had noticed his presence, but the girl suddenly lunged and reached out. The momentum of her jump thrust her forward, and before Edris could step back, she snagged onto his arm. A surge of black mana followed her jump, splattering itself all over Ace's transportation circle.

Edris's heart dropped as his hood fell from his head.

As he froze on the spot, the child also stopped moving.

And so did everyone else in the chasm.

Still standing at the centre of the platform, Viscount Eathe stared dumbfounded at the random man with auburn hair that seemed to have materialised from thin air.

Heart pounding against his chest, Edris flinched as the girl's grasp somehow eroded a part of his cloak and now pushed its way through his flesh.

A mind-numbing pain shot through his brain, spreading towards every muscle in his body. Edris clenched his jaws and exhaled through his nose. Just as he decided to endure it until the teleportation circle activates, the glowing lines under his feet began to fade.

Then it disappeared altogether.

"You got to be kidding me–"

Edris inhaled sharply as more pain shot through his wrist. Ace, who had left his pocket after the spell malfunction, froze after seeing what happened.

He skimmed at the remnants of the circle on the ground, at the child who was stepping on the circle, and lastly, at the black mana dripping from her body onto the circle.

The child, who had remained motionless since gripping onto Edris, suddenly looked up, and her eyes met Ace's obsidian orbs.

Without warning, she reached forward.

Although Ace managed to dodge her action, he couldn't evade the single drop of black mana floating his way.

The drop of black mana sunk onto him, and in the next second, an illuminating light engulfed the ball of pink. The light soon expanded to the entire chasm, gleaming with a brightness that forced everyone to shut their eyes.

The world around them seemed to stretch outwards, distorting into the oblivion. After a brief moment, the light dissipated, leaving behind only bleached afterimages.

Already marching down his platform, Viscount Eathe blinked furiously to readjust his vision, only to fall stupefied at the renewed scene before him.

The man with auburn hair, who had been standing there mere seconds ago, was replaced by a familiar dark-haired man. The child, now unconscious, still maintained her hold on Edris. Blood trickled from the latter's wrist.

As if that wasn't strange enough of a sight, Viscount Eathe's bafflement only intensified as he shifted his eyes from the prophet to the whole other person that had manifested beside him.

Half a head taller than the prophet, this person had hair comparable to snow and eyes flickering like black granite. And most importantly…

Viscount Eathe's face scrunched together.

The person was completely naked.

Edris, with his mind muddled from pain, only stared blankly at the unknown face beside him. He rubbed his eyes, which had grown watery from the bright light.

"Ace…?"

He did not see this coming.

Seeing the ethereal-looking man react to his question was enough of a confirmation, and Edris inhaled deeply.

This whole situation was making it very hard for him not to swear.

Unfortunately, Edris's attempts at composure weren't shared by the man beside him. In the enormous chasm, the white-haired man's baritone voice reverberated through the air.

"What the fuck is all this?" Ace said.