Legendary Beast Master: Starting with Contracting SSS Rank Dragon
Chapter 67: The Counter Measures

Chapter 67: The Counter Measures

There wasn’t anything left on the first floor to do for Kael and his group, and it was also completely empty, so they leisurely walked toward the entrance.

They weren’t in a rush to reach outside. They just strolled while talking with each other.

"By the way, the other races have probably detected the Labyrinth, so we’ll need to be careful," Kael said to remind them. "Keep an eye on your surroundings, and if you notice any change or anyone spying, inform me immediately."

"Eh? How will they know we have a Labyrinth?" Jon asked in confusion.

"Don’t underestimate the Churches," Kael sighed. "I’d be disappointed in them if they didn’t have a means to detect such things, especially with the Astral World involved."

"If that’s the case, then they’ll definitely launch a crusade to claim the Labyrinth," Kiona said. "It has happened in the past. Those detestable humans always like to claim things that don’t even belong to them."

"A full-scale attack is nigh impossible," Kael rejected the possibility. "If humans can detect the Labyrinth, so can other races—and they definitely won’t let the Labyrinth fall into human hands."

"But they don’t even need it," Seth said, having some knowledge of the Elves’ situation.

"No. Just because they don’t need it doesn’t mean they’ll let others have it," Kiona shook her head. "One extra Labyrinth—especially an ancient one—will definitely strengthen humans by a large margin. Not to mention, it could also become a strategic stronghold."

She sighed. "Every race wants to lay their claim on the world, so nobody wants to break the current balance. That will make them passive. Leaving the Labyrinth to beasts, who can’t even enter, is much better."

"Correct, but that doesn’t mean they will stay put," Kael nodded in agreement. "If the Labyrinth is activated, then it means someone entered it—and beasts can’t, so the only conclusion is that someone is cooperating with the beasts."

"Or someone very powerful has personally come here," Kiona added.

"That’s a possibility, but I’m sure they have means to keep each other in check so nobody can sneak in like that," Kael said. "That leaves the Hidden Organisations."

"Hidden Organisations?" Jon blinked. "What are they?"

"Just as the name suggests. They’re formed by a bunch of people who don’t believe in the orthodox Gods and instead worship some secret existence—most of the time, an Evil God or someone close to that level."

Kael frowned and muttered, "If that’s the case, then they’ll likely first check the recent actions of such groups and also station someone to keep an eye on the Labyrinth."

"It’ll be a problem," Kiona said.

"Yeah," Kael hummed, feeling like he was forgetting something. "Wait! If entering the Labyrinth means activating it, then doesn’t that mean it was also activated five hundred years ago?"

It wasn’t like they were the first to enter the Labyrinth, so why didn’t the Church lay claim to it back then?

"Five hundred years ago, the strength of the Beast Tribe was something else," Seth said with a sigh. "Although it wasn’t even close to that of the Orthodox Churches, it still could’ve dealt heavy damage to them if there was a war."

"Reasonable."

Kael was sure that the Labyrinth was located very deep, perhaps even at the center of the Valoran Wilds. So if any of the churches wanted it, they would have to come this far in.

And that was practically asking for a war, as beasts would never agree to their intrusion—even if they couldn’t access the Labyrinth. They already hated outsiders, so there was no way they would back down.

"It could be because of this," Kael nodded in agreement.

[Or perhaps it’s because of the Great Storm Tree, Master.]

’Huh?’

[It’s an anomaly even I can’t fully understand yet. It also affects the Astral World heavily, so perhaps anyone trying to locate the Labyrinth only gets the signals of the Storm Tree instead. Judging by how dangerous it is in the physical world, I can only imagine its state in the Astral World. Even Demi-Gods would be wary of approaching it.]

’So it’s not just a matter of avoiding war. That’s one point—but the other is they don’t even have the location,’ Kael’s eyes brightened, feeling his guess was right.

The only problem was that other races wouldn’t take the beasts into consideration this time. They had grown too weak, after all.

The humans might suffer a little, but they would definitely be willing to bear it as long as they could get the Labyrinth. The only thing stopping them now was their lack of knowledge about it and the other races’ stance on the matter.

They also had to deal with the Hidden Organisations, who could potentially unleash havoc in the Solvane Highlands while they were busy conquering the Labyrinth.

"All right, we can assume for the time being that there won’t be a full-blown army attack, which is a relief," Kael said. "But I’m sure they will send out scouts, so whenever we enter the Labyrinth, we’ll need to be careful."

He turned toward the twins and said, "This doesn’t apply to you two, because there won’t be much attention placed on you. After all, beasts can’t enter the Labyrinth. We should use this to our advantage."

"Can’t we just kill them?" Jon grunted.

"Idiot!" Kiona scoffed. "If a scout goes missing in our area, it’ll definitely make others suspicious. On the other hand, if the scout remains safe and discovers nothing aside from the Storm Tree, then the watch over this area will decrease."

"Then what about killing scouts from other areas?" Jon asked, still frustrated that they would be stuck in a passive position.

"That can work," Kael smiled. "We’ll just need to choose the area of hostile tribes. Actually, never mind. That’ll still narrow down their options, since we won’t be venturing too far."

Jon growled and lowered his head, but there was nothing he could do about the situation. Even if he wanted to rip those humans apart, he wouldn’t go against his master’s order.

"Don’t worry. There’ll come a day when you can fight them all you want," Kael smiled. "It’s not like we’ll just go into complete hiding. We’ll slowly increase our power and expand our Empire. Only then can we oppose giants like the churches."

But that wasn’t going to be easy. Building a whole nation right under the Church’s nose was going to be incredibly difficult—especially since even deities would eventually be involved.

’The only good thing is that those Gods can’t just descend whenever they want to deal with my Empire.’

Kael didn’t know the exact reason, but it was a fact that Gods hadn’t walked on land since the Great War in the Fourth Epoch.

Of course, they didn’t really need to descend to deal with him. There were thousands of ways they could influence the world. But he would find a way to face them too.

Amidst their conversation, they didn’t even realize when they had passed the lava lake and also the entrance of the Labyrinth.

Just as they stepped out, their feet halted as they found a woman waiting for them at the entrance.