Legendary Beast Master: Starting with Contracting SSS Rank Dragon
Chapter 61: The Second Floor

Chapter 61: The Second Floor

From the murals, Kael could guess that Tharnyx didn’t know about the restrictions on the Labyrinths. He had made the Labyrinth before the war ended, which meant the Beast God was still alive—so placing the restrictions should have been impossible.

’Why didn’t the Gods then just destroy Labyrinths like these? I can understand some other ones which can help in leveling up the humans, but what about this Labyrinth?’

Tharnyx was a powerful General under the Beast God, which meant his actions were definitely monitored, so why would the Gods leave the Labyrinths in the open?

’Heck, it’s in the middle of this damned forest. There’s no way any other race can access it till the beasts get too weak. Or maybe moving Labyrinths is tough even for Gods?’

However, then he shook his head and thought, ’I’m thinking too much. Maybe these Labyrinths are nothing for them. But then, why would they restrict beasts from entering?’

Kael had hoped to get some answers from the murals, and he did get some, but they opened up way more questions that he couldn’t answer.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and thought, ’I really need to find everything related to the previous Epochs.’

As he raised his head to look at the wall, he smiled. The first clue was right before him. He just needed to clear this Labyrinth to get the answers to his questions and also receive something that the Beast General left behind.

’It could also be a trap. Who knows if this guy wants to revive himself or something through me?’ Kael thought and glanced to his sides.

Kiona was waiting there silently, narrowing her eyes at the mural. She also wanted to understand these letters, but they were all bizarre symbols to her.

Sensing his gaze, she asked, "Master, can you teach me this language?"

Kael thought for a second before replying, "I’ll try in a safe environment, but it’ll be dangerous."

"Learning a language is dangerous?" Even Seth was surprised at his words.

"It’s complicated," Kael sighed.

He guessed that Tharnyx must have left behind something or some information that he didn’t want others to know—not even his fellow companions—so he used English to write and then made it forbidden.

In the murals, he talked about how he had made some mechanism for it, so Kael was sure that if he tried to teach it to Kiona, something dangerous might happen.

Kiona opened her mouth and then closed it. While she was disappointed, she didn’t voice out her thoughts. She also wanted to ask about the information written on the murals, but she refrained, guessing they could talk about it once they were out of the Labyrinth.

"Anyways, let’s see what the second floor is," Kael changed the subject and smiled. "I have an inkling that there are tons of D-Rank monsters on the other side of the portal."

They instantly forgot about other things, as their eyes glistened. More powerful monsters meant more hunting and more Soul Power.

That was the reason they had entered the Labyrinth in the first place.

Kael nodded in satisfaction seeing that expression and said, "Be careful, though. The second floor will be much more difficult than this one."

After that, he led them toward the portal, and they stepped through it without a moment of hesitation. They had grown up in battles, so they were ready for anything.

Just as their feet touched the other end, their vision blurred for a second before it returned to normal, and they were finally able to see the second floor.

Their eyes shifted as it was unlike anything they had expected. It was actually an open world full of forest, bright sunlight, and a beautiful river flowing in the distance.

Rather than a dangerous second floor, it looked more like a vacation spot. However, the more serene the atmosphere was, the more alert they became.

As hunters, they knew this situation was worse than facing a powerful monster head-on. Their muscles tensed up, ready to draw out attacks at any time.

Kael continued to look around and narrowed his eyes, ’Something is not right with this floor. Why do I feel like Tharnyx actually failed while creating this world?’

His perception was higher than others, and he felt weird looking at his surroundings. It felt like something was amiss, as if the world he was seeing was incomplete.

It was a strange sensation—like he and the world could coexist with each other unnaturally.

’That’s definitely a first for me. What the hell is happening?’ Kael thought, calmly assessing his situation.

"The sun is strange, Master," Kiona said, looking up at the bright sun. "The sunlight also feels weird."

"I also feel the same," Kael said. "Let’s check the forest. Maybe we’ll find what is wrong with this world there?"

Before doing that, he glanced behind him where the portal was and said, "We only have 3 days here before the reset happens. That might change the location of the portal."

Then, he added in his heart, ’Perhaps even the timing is strange here, so our perception will also be affected. Whatever, I’ll just see when that happens.’

Kael and Kiona once again rode the twin Flameclaw Lions as they dashed into the dense serene greenery. Aside from the rustling of leaves and other sounds of the forest, they noticed that there were no other sounds—like the noise of insects and bugs.

That was yet another thing telling him of the strangeness of the second floor.

As they jumped over a fallen trunk, Jon suddenly said, "Master, there’s a stench of blood ahead. Shall we go and check it?"

Kael thought for a second before nodding, "I’m also curious about it."

There were clearly no beasts or monsters in the forest, so how could there be blood?

Soon, they found themselves standing before a giant, thick tree with a brown trunk and crimson red leaves. It stood out because of its appearance from the other trees.

Kael ordered them to keep some distance from the tree, as he jumped off from Seth’s back and slowly approached the crimson tree.

Since there was clearly something messing with his perception, Kael didn’t completely trust his instincts, so he was incredibly cautious while reaching for the tree.

’Wait! If this is similar to that, then I shouldn’t be able to contact Alpha.’

[I am here, Master.]

Kael heaved a sigh of relief, as it was at least not something as dangerous as the Dark Cathedral. He then asked, ’What do you think?’

[There are certain anomalies in the world around you. It’s as if the one who was creating it is amateur in it and forgot details. It’s like the world-building of newbie novels.]

’That doesn’t make sense,’ Kael thought, staring at the crimson tree. ’The first floor was clearly much more difficult to create, and Tharnyx did such a great job at it. Unless he was in some predicament while making this floor, there’s no way he would make such mistakes.’

[I came to the same conclusion. That is why I think this is something that he arranged intentionally. Perhaps, this is also a test.]

Kael mulled over her words and found them quite reasonable. Just as he was about to respond to her, his blood ran cold as a chill shot down his spine.

His instincts didn’t tell him, but he knew he was in danger.